39 And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, Elohim save king Solomon.

The next class of priests above them is to consist of the Levites, the sons of Zadok (Ezek. 44: 15). These will have no immediate communication with the people in performing the

service, but will officiate immediately between the people's priests and "the Prince," who is then High Priest, and Yahweh's anointed for ever.

Zadok signifies just or justified. Zadok, who was contemporary with David and Solomon, is their representative father in the priesthood, as David is their representative father in the faith. Hence in the priesthood, the saints are "the sons of Zadok"; in the royalty, "the sons of the Prince" (Ezek. 46: 16); and in the faith "the seed or sons of Abraham."

Eli and his sons were rejected as representative sacerdotal men, because the sons were wicked, and Eli honoured them above Yahweh. Therefore Yahweh said to him,

"I will raise me up a faithful priest, who shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind; and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for

ever" (1 Sam. 2: 29,35).

He must therefore become immortal. Now under the Mosaic Covenant this "faithful priest" was Zadok, who walked before David and Solomon. When Absalom and Israel rebelled against the Lord's anointed, Zadok and Abiathar remained faithful with Yahweh and his king.

But when David was about to die, Abiathar, who was descended from Eli, conspired to make Adonijah king instead of Solomon; while Zadok continued faithful to David.

Solomon, however, being established on the throne,

"thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord; that he might fulfil the word of the Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh."

He told him he was worthy of death, but he would spare his life for his father's sake, because he suffered with him in Absalom's rebellion; he therefore exiled him to Anathoth, and promoted Zadok to the high-priesthood in his room (1 Kings 1: 7, 39; 2: 22, 26, 27, 35).

Now these were representative events. Yahweh will raise up the faithful of the house of Levi, even Zadok and his sons, and they shall walk before His Anointed for ever —even before the "greater than Solomon" when, in "the city of the Great King," he sits and rules upon his throne as a priest bearing the glory (Zech. 6: 12, 13), as Prince of Israel for ever.

This superior class of Levites "shall come near to me," saith the Lord, "to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood: they shall enter into my holy place, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge."

From the seventeenth verse to the end of this chapter are the ordinances for the lowest class of Levitical priests.

— "Faith in the Last Days," pp. 122-134