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Who is the David in
Ezekiel 37:25 They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever.
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And whose & how & when will he be prince for ever ?
The portion of Ezekiel 37 is about a series of prophecies about the future restored kingdom of Israel as illustrated by the metaphor of the valley of dry bones. The nation and its royal kingship will be miraculously restored!
It is a historical fact that following Ezekiel's time, the throne of David and the royal line was never restored. In modern times, it is now untraceable. In fact, according to Matthew's genealogy, the last person to be a rightful heir to the throne of David was Jesus Himself.
This is hinted at in the previous two verses - Eze 27:23-25
They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. "'My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever."
The fact that the future king who sits on David's throne would be prince forever suggests something other than a mortal appointment. The Pulpit commentary correctly observes for Eze 37:25
The phrase, my servant David (comp. Ezekiel 34:23, 24; Jeremiah 33:21, 22, 26; Psalm 78:70; Psalm 89:3, 20; Psalm 144:10), goes back to the Messianic promise of 2 Samuel 7:12-16, and cannot be satisfactorily explained as signifying the Davidic house (Smend), or as pointing to "a line of true rulers, each faithfully representing the ideal David as the faithful Ruler, the true Shepherd of his people" (Plumptre, on Ezekiel 34:23), inasmuch as Israel, after Ezekiel's day, never possessed any such line of rulers, and certainly no such line continued forever. The only feasible exegesis is that which understands Jehovah's servant David to be Messiah, or Jesus Christ, of whom the writer to the Hebrews (Hebrews 1:8) says. "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever."
The same theme is taken up again in v26 and confirmed that Messiah will sit on the metaphorical throne of David and establish his sanctuary among them forever. Thus, Eze 37 is an excellent and much loved Messianic prophecy, which we still look forward to seeing fulfilled. (It was only partially fulfilled when the Christian community, or the "kingdom of God" was established by Jesus in the first century.)
God promised that the line of David would continue right until the end times. (Christians believe that Jesus, a descendant of David, will take over the throne. During the Millennium, David will be resurrected as King of Israel, with Jesus's disciples as heads of the tribes of Israel.)
The Bible leaves little doubt that David's line was to continue through the present day:
Then this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “This is what the LORD says: If you can break my covenant with the day and the night so that one does not follow the other, only then will my covenant with my servant David be broken. Only then will he no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. ..." -- Jeremiah 33:19-21
Some secular (google "Jeremiah ark Ireland"), and some religious organizations believe that David's royal line wasn't extinguished. Instead, Jeremiah and Baruch took at least one of King Zedekiah's daughters (along with the Ark of the Covenant and Jacob's pillar (Lia Fáil, the Stone of Destiny)) to Egypt and thence to Ireland. The royal line and the coronation stone (Stone of Scone) were later moved to Scotland, and finally to England.
The current British royal family traces its ancestry back through this line. The Stone is used for coronations, and royal males are circumcised by a Jewish mohel.
This genealogy is obviously not totally accepted as fact by many modern historians, but the evidence is there, and it does make interesting reading. A free PDF is available: "The Throne of Britain: Its Biblical Origin and Future".
Ezekiel 37 is a vision concerning the resurrection and in-gathering of the scattered northern tribes of Israel in the last days, in the time of the messiah aka "the millennium". In the vision, "David" refers to Israel's anointed son of David, aka "the Messiah" ("messiah" translates the Hebrew for "anointed [one]" or "[the one] smeared with oil", referring to the rite by which kings and priests were consecrated. So, "David" refers to the promised son of David who would come and fulfill God's promises.
The chapter is predicting that the scattered and assimilated tribes of Israel, though as spiritually lifeless as a valley of dry bones would be resurrected spiritually and be drawn to Jerusalem for the grand finale of history: the arrival of the Messiah to take vengeance on his enemies and glorify the whole house of Israel in their own land.
First God promises the resurrection of the impossibly dead northern tribes:
NASB Ezekiel 37: 11Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’ 12“Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13“Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. 14“I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,” declares the LORD.’”
This began under John, who prepared the path, Jesus was sent to gather the lost and the apostles gathered the rest. Paul rested upon his laurels after having reached the whole of his target demographic.
The reunion of North and South in Jerusalem is described in the next section:
15The word of the LORD came again to me saying, 16“And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17“Then join them for yourself one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18“When the sons of your people speak to you saying, ‘Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?’ 19say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’ 20“The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. 21“Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. 23“They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.
There may be a reference to this here:
[John 4:9-10, 19-26 ESV] (9) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) (10) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." ... (19) The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. (20) Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." (21) Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. (22) You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (23) But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (24) God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (25) The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things." (26) Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."
Finally, not only are the tribes finally reunited in their own land, they are reunited under a single king for the first time in many centuries. To do this he may have had to raise some physically from the dead!:
[Matt 27:51-53 YLT] (51) and lo, the vail of the sanctuary was rent in two from top unto bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks were rent, (52) and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who have fallen asleep, arose, (53) and having come forth out of the tombs after his rising, they went into the holy city, and appeared to many.
So the "hireling" kings of Israel and Judah would be replaced with the son of David, the one Great Shepherd King of the Sheep and the Good Shepherd King of the Sheep in Ezek 34 and John 10.
