How did we get here?

Deuteronomy 4:1–2 NIV

Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

Do not add, do not subtract, do not ignore

Deuteronomy 4:9–20 NIV

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.” You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. And the Lord directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.

Do not forget, remember

Deuteronomy 4:25–28 NIV

After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

Warning

Repeat...

Deuteronomy 6:4 NIV

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Deuteronomy 6:10–19 NIV

When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.

So, with that in mind… the commands, do not add, do not subtract, do not ignore. Do not forget. Remember. Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, and mind…

How did we get here?

Solomon (ca. 970-930 B.C.)

1 Kings 3:1 NIV

Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem.

1 Kings 11:1–13 NIV

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

Divided Kingdom

Slide 1

Jeroboam (I)- [22 years] two golden calves, One in Dan, one in Bethel (Josiah (J) destroyed)

Rehoboam (J) - [18 years] high places, sacred stones and asherah poles on every high hill

Abijah (J) - [18th year of Jeroboam, 3 yrs] bad same as Rehoboam

ASA (J) - [20th year of Jeroboam, 41 years] Good. expelled male shrine prostitutes, got rid of idols, but did not remove high places. Commited to God. But in 36th year, made treaty with Assyria instead of trusting the Lord, and imprisoned the prophet who told him it was wrong, then also started mistreating the people. Did not reach out to God when he got an illness, and died.

Nadab (I) - evil for 2 years

Baasha (I) - evil

Slide 2

Elah (I) - evil 2 years

Zimri (I) - 7 days

Omri (I) - more evil, same sins

Ahab (I) - [38th year of Asa, 22 yrs]Jeroboam's sins, plus Baal and Asherah

Jehoshaphat (J) - [4th year of Ahab, 25 years], did what was right but did not remove high places, and made peace with Israel (evil Ahab). Prophet Jehu rebuked him, 2 Chron 19.2-3, and he again turned the people to the Lord, however high places not removed, and later made alliance with Ahaziah

Slide 3

Ahaziah (I) - [17th year of Jehoshaphat] evil 2 years

Jehoram (J) co regent

Joram (I) - [2nd year of Jehoram, 18th year of Jehoshaphat] evil, got rid of Baal (but not all), but kept the golden calves of Jeroboam

Jehoram (J) - [5th year of Joram] evil, (put brothers to death), married daughter of Ahab, Baal and Asherah. Elijah sent letter, 2 Chron 21.12-15, Lord allowed enemies to invade and carry off goods, struck him with a disease of the bowels, until his bowels came out and he died in great pain. People made no funeral pyre for him as they had for previous kings. 2 Chron 21.20 - He passed away to no one's regret.

Slide 4

Ahaziah (J) - [12th year of Joram] 1 year, evil

Jehu (I) - killed Joram and Ahaziah, killed priests of Baal, but kept calves of Jeroboam

Athaliah (J) - queen for 6 years

Joash (J) - [7th year of Jehu] repaired temple, good while priest Jehoida lived, and under Jehoida, people tore down Baal temple. Did not remove high places. After Jehoida died, listened to officials and abandoned the temple of the Lord, and worshipped Asherah poles and idols. Killed Zechariah, Jehoida's son for rebuking him. Arameans defeated, and he was murdered by officials

Jehoahaz (I) - [23rd year of Joash] evil, but sought the Lord for relief from Aram, and God gave them relief

Slide 5

Jehoash (I) - [37th year of Joash] evil

Amaziah (J) - [2nd year of Jehoash] did right, but not wholeheartedly, did not remove high places. Later, after God gave him victory, he tood the gods of the people of Seir whom he defeated, as his own gods. Prideful, fought Israel and lost

Jeroboam I (I) - [15th year of Amaziah] evil, but God in mercy saved Israel

Azariah (aka Uzziah) (J) - [27th year of Jeroboam] did right, and did not remove high places. Prideful, leprosy for burning incense in temple

Zechariah (I) - [38th year of Azariah] evil, 6 months

Shallum (I) - [39th year of Azariah] one month

Menahem (I) - [39th year of Azariah] evil

Slide 6

Pekahiah (I) - [50th year of Azariah] evil

Pekah (I) - [52nd year of Azariah] evil, Assyria conquered a number of cities

Jotham (J) - [2nd year of Pekah] did right, but did not remove high places and the people continued their corrupt practices.

Ahaz (J) - [17th year of Pekah, 16 yrs] evil, sfollowed Baals, acrified son in fire, sacrificed in high places, made treaty with Assyria to stop Israel from attacking him, replaced altar at the temple with a design from Damascus, he sacrificed, and used the original altar for himself

Hoshea (I) - [12th year of Ahaz (must have been longer coregency] last king of Israel, 9 years, evil

Slide 7

Hezekiah (J) - [3rd year of Hoshea] did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, removed high places, smashed sacred stones, cut down Asherah poles, broke into pieces the bronze snake moses had made, no one like him bc of his trust in the LORD, 29 years. Grew in wealth and fame. Became prideful at the end.

Manasseh (J) - 55 years, evil, rebuilt high places, Baal, Asherah, starry hosts, altars in the temple, sacrificed his son, practiced divination, consulted mediums and spiritists

Ammon (J) - 2 years, evil

Josiah (J) - 31 years, did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, repaired temple in his 18th year, book of the law found

Slide 8

Jehoahaz (J) - 3 months, evil

Eliakim / Jehoiakim (J) - 11 years, evil, became vassal of Babylon for 3 years, rebelled

Jehoiachin (J) - 3 months, evil, Babylonians captured Jerusalem,

Mattaniah / Zekekiah (J) - 11 years, evil, rebelled against Babylon, siege 2 years, defeat 586 BC

Gedaliah governor, 7 months

Don’t Add, Don’t Subtract, Don’t Ignore, Don’t Forget

Love the Lord your God with all your heart

Deuteronomy 4:29–31 NIV

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.

Hope