(34) And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them. (35) And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed forever.
Amidst all the dreadful denunciations, on the family, and posterity of Eli, what a precious scripture, what a precious promise, comes in here, to give comfort to the mind? I cannot think as some have thought, that this scripture had its accomplishment in the person of Zadok, and that the anointed, before whom this faithful Priest is said to walk, meant David king of Israel. Surely, Reader, none but the ever blessed Jesus could merit the title of faithful Priest. Neither could any be considered as the truly anointed of God, but He to whom the Spirit was given without measure, and who was indeed anointed to be, at one and the same time, the Prophet, the Priest, and the King, of his peopled. If any difficulty should seem to arise in the Reader's mind, how Jesus could be this faithful Priest, and yet walk before himself, as it were, in his other character, as the anointed of Jehovah; this objection is at once done away, by only considering how impossible it would be to prefigure him who fills all offices, unless by such means. Hence Joseph, who in all the grand events of his going down into Egypt; being cast into prison, exalted at the right hand of Pharaoh, and made Governor over the whole land; in all these, and numberless other features of character, he most strongly typified the Lord Jesus: yet Judah, who as strikingly pointed to the Lord Jesus, in his sweet office of Intercessor, is, in that same history, represented as interceding with Joseph. We must never, therefore, stretch any part of the sacred word so far, as not to remember the impossibility of representing divine things, by human, otherwise than in part. No doubt, in all the holy volume, Jesus is the sum, and substance. To him every type refers; every sacrifice points: in him all the promises are completed: and every prophecy is explained, Jesus is the Alpha, and Omega, of all; or, as Paul speaks, Christ is all, and in all. Colossians 3:11.