The Divided Kingdom
Notes
Transcript
After Solomon's reign, God gave the northern 10 tribes to Jeroboam to rule, and left Judah, the southern tribe under the rule of Rehoboam. We read the accounts of the separate kingdoms of Israel in 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles. As you read through these accounts of the kingdoms, it is easy to focus on what the individual kings did. All of the kings of Israel (the northern tribes and kingdom) worshipped other gods. Some of the kings of Judah, the southern kingdom followed other gods, and some followed the Lord. As the kings went, so did the people... for the most part. There was always a remnant who followed the Lord. While is it easy to focus on the kings and their actions and the punishments they faced, the better focus is to see how God is working. What do we see about God through the mess of these kingdoms?
2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles cover the reign of David.
1 Kings 1-11, and 2 Chronicles 1-9 cover the reign of Solomon.
1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10 is when the divided kingdom began in 931 BC, with Rehoboam reigning in the southern kingdom, and Jeroboam reigning in the northern kingdom.
1 Kings covers the reigns of the first 4 kings of Judah, and the first 7 kings of Israel, up to about 853 BC.
2 Kings covers the reigns of the remaining kings, until they go into exile. The northern kingdom goes into exile in 722 BC, when they are conquered by the Assyrian Empire.
The southern kingdom goes into exile in 586 BC when they are carried off by the Babylonian Empire.
2 Chronicles follows the line of David, the kings of Judah.
The Northern Kingdom
The Northern Kingdom
Jeroboam
Jeroboam
During the reign of Solomon, God sent the prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam and promised him the northern 10 tribes . When Solomon died, God gave him the northern 10 tribes to rule. God told him that if he followed the Lord, his line and his kingdom would endure.
However, Jeroboam established his kingdom at Tirzah and then set up golden calves at Bethel.
After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan.
And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.
Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites.
What did God do?
The Unnamed Prophet
The Unnamed Prophet
By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering.
By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’ ”
That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.”
When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back.
Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.
Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.
The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.”
But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here.
For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’ ”
So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
Jeroboam did not repent of this sin, and did not return to following the Lord. In fact, his whole family line is cursed, and later wiped out.
Israel never does give up the worship of the calves instituted by Jeroboam.
Jeroboam, warned by two prophets of God.
What do we see about God?
God is patient
God reaches out to man in grace and mercy
God judges and punishes sin
Ahab
Ahab
What do you remember about Ahab? Worst of the kings of Israel, because not only did he continue the worship of the calves that Jeroboam introduced, he also brought in Baal worship.
God sent multiple prophets to Ahab - Elijah, Micaiah, Elisha, and other unnamed prophets. Also we know there were many other prophets at this time who are not named, because Obadiah hid them, and because Elisha worked with a whole group of prophets.
Even though the kings and people of Israel were rebelling against the Lord, God was patiently, in mercy and grace not giving them what they fully deserved, but instead sending his prophets to them.
Elijah
Elijah
What do you remember about Elijah?
1 Kings 17. predicts famine.
God feeds him by ravens. When stream dries up he goes to a widow in Zarephath. Oil, flour do not run out.
Mt. Carmel
God appears to him at Mt. Horeb/Mt. Sinai - God has kept a remnant 1 Kings 19:18 “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.””
Appoints Elisha.
Taken to heaven in a chariot of fire.
Elisha
Elisha
What do you remember about Elisha?
Probably one of the most famous incidents recorded with Elisha is when Naaman was healed of leprousy.
Naaman
Another famous incident: Aramean army blinded and led to Samaria.
“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.
Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
What do we see about God?
God is patient
God reaches out to man in grace and mercy
God judges and punishes sin
God desires everyone to be saved
Everyone who receives the Lord, believes in Him, will be saved
Even the wicket kings, when they would humble themselves, God would listen and help them, though unfortunately, they would not follow the Lord. They got the help and kept their evil ways.
Then Jehoahaz sought the Lord’s favor, and the Lord listened to him, for he saw how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel.
but ultimately, Israel, the northern 10 tribes, were conquered and carried off to exile by the Assyrian Empire.
Israel’s Epitaph
Israel’s Epitaph
All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods
and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced.
The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns.
They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.
At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger.
They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.”
The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”
But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God.
They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”
They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal.
They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left,
and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced.
Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.
When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin.
The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them
until the Lord removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.
What do we see about God?
God is patient
God reaches out to man in grace and mercy
God judges and punishes sin
God desires everyone to be saved
Everyone who receives the Lord, believes in Him, will be saved
The Southern Kingdom
The Southern Kingdom
now in the southern kingdom we have a similar situation. They have kings who have a facade of following the Lord, as the temple worship continues, but they also encourage the worship of foreign gods. Then there are good kings who follow the Lord. Then there are bad ones again. Up and down.
But it is the same when it comes to what we see about God. God continually reaches out by sending his prophets to the kings and the people.
Rehoboam
Rehoboam
Rehoboam, did not follow the Lord wholeheartedly. His mother was an Ammonite, and he promoted the Ammonite worship around asherah poles.
1 Kings 14.22-24, ‘even’ male prostitutes (1 Kings 14.24).
Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than those who were before them had done.
They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.
There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.
Shemaiah the prophet
Shemaiah the prophet
What did God do? He sent Shemaiah the prophet.
Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.’ ”
The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The Lord is just.”
When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.
They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”
What do we see about God?
God is patient
God reaches out to man in grace and mercy
God is faithful to his promises
God punishes sin
God desires all to be saved
God saves those who humble themselves and repent
God could have given all of Israel to Jeroboam. The reason he did not, was because of his covenant with David.
Manasseh
Manasseh
The worst of the worst.
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.
He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them.
He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.”
In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts.
He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
He took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple, of which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.
I will not again make the feet of the Israelites wander from the land I gave their ancestors, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them and will keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them.”
But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.
Unnamed prophets
Unnamed prophets
The Lord said through his servants the prophets:
“Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols.
Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hands of enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their enemies;
they have done evil in my eyes and have aroused my anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this day.”
Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end—besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
Manasseh evil. 2 Chronicles 33:10 “The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.” Captured, nose hook, led away to Babylon. Humbled himself. God restored him. 2 Chronicles 33:12–13 “In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.”
In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors.
And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.
What do we see about God?
God is patient
God reaches out to man in grace and mercy
God is faithful to his promises
God punishes sin
God desires all to be saved
God saves those who humble themselves and repent
Amon evil. did not humble himself.
Josiah did what was right, rebuilt temple. found law. repented. Huldah, prophetess, disaster coming but because you humbled yourself, you will be buried in peace and not see the disaster. Passover celebrated.
Jehoahaz 3 months
Eliakim/Jeoiakim evil. Nebuchadnezzar carried off.
Jehoiachin evil. 3 months 10 days. Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylon.
Zedekiah. evil. Prophet Jeremiah. Jerusalem destroyed.
Judah’s Epitaph
Judah’s Epitaph
The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place.
But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.
What do we see about God?
God is patient
God reaches out to man in grace and mercy
God is faithful to his promises
God punishes sin
God desires all to be saved
God saves those who humble themselves and repent
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives
as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.
He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
