First the Bride

ANE kings were, often literally, believed to be sons of the gods. We find something like the same notion in the Davidic covenant: “I will be a Father to him, and he will be a son to Me,” Yahweh tells David, apropos specifically of Solomon.

In the Bible, though, Yahweh already has a son – Israel (Exodus 4:23). If the Davidic king is a son of Yahweh, it is because he is the representative of the corporate son (as I argued at length in my commentary on Samuel). In Israel’s history, then, corporate sonship comes first , and only later is it embodied in a single man.

The movement of Scripture as a whole is more complicated: Adam as individual, representative son; Israel as Adamic people, Yahweh’s corporate Son; Davidic kings embody the corporate son, and Jesus comes as the climax of that Davidic line, as the true Israel in flesh; and then we’re back to corporate sonship in the Son.

In its overall movement, then, the Bible frequently reverses the movement of Genesis 2. In Genesis 2, Adam is first, then Eve. At the consummation, the Bridegroom goes conquering before the Bride is revealed. But then there’s also this movement: First the bride, then the bridegroom. Israel before David; Israel before David’s son. Even Jesus comes to a pre-existing Bride.