2. King after King after King
Week 6 • Day 2
“The Greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” - The Usual Suspects
“What are your thoughts about Christianity?” This question was posed to me and my work buddies during a casual conversation. As the only Christian in the room, I remember being excited to respond, but also feeling a tinge of fear. “Lord, help me say the right things and not misrepresent the message of the gospel,” I prayed.
Over the course of the conversation, I realized that most of my non-believing friends struggled with Christianity because they had a hard time recognizing any “sin” in their life. Why would they need a “savior” in their lives if there was nothing to save them from? Why even bother with a God who might change everything about your life if you feel like your life is already relatively good and enjoyable?
Recognizing our own sin continues to be a huge leap for humanity. God’s word, however, relentlessly points to our sinful nature.
We have just witnessed Solomon, the son of David, fall prey to a very similar pattern of sins as his father. Have we seen something like this before? Here we go again!
Just as Isaac follows in Abraham’s sinful footsteps and launches an ugly cycle of sin, we are now left to wonder whether Solomon’s actions would lead to a similar demise. Lo and behold, God decides to tear the kingdom away from the hands of Solomon and splits the kingdom territory between Jeroboam (a servant of Solomon and King of the Northern Kingdom of Israel) and Rehoboam (a son of Solomon and King of the Southern Kingdom of Judah).
And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” - 1 Kings 12:26–28
Throughout the book of Kings, God’s kingdom people are divided and are ruled by countless monarchs who would drag the nation further away from YHWH’s powerful rule. In the northern kingdom of Israel , all 20 of their kings stray away from the good rule of God. As a result, God hands over the northern territory of Israel to exile from the kingdom place via the Assyrians in 722 B.C..
And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced… - 2 Kings 17:7-8
Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God - 2 Kings 17:13-14
They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only. - 2 Kings 17:17-18
The Assyrians would use this newly conquered territory to house their many dispossessed captives creating a “melting-pot” of people and religious traditions. Thus, the descendants of the north would become known as the “Samaritans” with the reputation of impurity and corruption in the northern capital of Samaria.
THE SEARCH FOR THE SERPENT CRUSHER
The search for the promised Messiah, however, continues through the southern Kingdom of Judah ruled by the biological descendants of David and Solomon. In the Southern kingdom, only 8 out of their 20 kings were considered to be “good” in the eyes of YHWH. Would any of these 8 kings be the Messiah we are longing for?
In short, the answer is a resounding NO! Like Solomon, these sons would follow the lord in some things and compromise in others. The book of Kings ends by highlighting the last 2 “good” Davidic kings of Judah whose stories summarize the pattern of the previous 20 generations of rulers. First, Hezekiah shows promise by remaining faithful to God under siege and praying for healing. However, he eventually falters and leads a convoy of Babylonians to the wealth of resources stored inside the God’s temple place foreshadowing the conquest that is to come.
“Hear the word of the Lord: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. - 2 Kings 20:16–17
After Hezekiah, Manasseh brings the kingdom to the pinnacle of rebellion against God’s rule with his idol-worship, child sacrifice, sorcery, and murder.
Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle….Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. - 1 Kings 21:11-12, 16
It is at this point that God finally decides He is going to bring the same fate to the people of Judah as he did to Israel: exile out of the land by the hands of the Babylonian empire. Before He does that, the author highlights king Josiah. As Josiah’s priest Hilkiah cleans out God’s temple from a long history of abuse and neglect, he comes across the buried book of the laws of Moses. Josiah’s reaction…
Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us. - 2 Kings 22:13
The tragedy is that none of these kings were the royal seed of David we had hoped for. If you have ever read 1st and 2nd Kings all the way through, you know the difficulty of reading about king after king after king and never finding one who could escape from the kingdom of the serpent. Instead, the kings used their delegated rule to mislead God’s people and to literally bury the ruling commandments of God in God’s temple place after neglecting it for years. The result would be the loss of the kingdom.
GOD’S MERCY THROUGH THE PROPHETS
In the midst of the endless cycle of rebellion, God never fails to reveal His mercy! In fact, it’s as if God’s voice grew louder and louder through the prophets as His people drifted further and further away from Him. The most famous prophets in the book of kings - Elijah and Elisha - stood face to face with wickedness and will forever be remembered for bringing about some of the most memorable acts of God including (but not limited to) raising people from the dead!
(Elijah) “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” - 1 Kings 17:21–24.
(Elijah) Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” - 1 Kings 18:38-39
(Elisha) When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” - 2 Kings 2:9
(Elisha) When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. Then he summoned Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out. - 2 Kings 4:32–37
Like a Father pursuing His lost family of people, the God of Israel uses His voice of truth and His incomparable rule to confront wickedness. When this does not work, He uses the discipline of exile from the promised place as a punishment meant to correct the ways of His beloved people. Sure enough, the Babylonian empire would carry the southern kingdom of Judah to exile in 586 B.C..
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. And he burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, carried into exile. - 2 Kings 25:8–11
Do you see sin as a big issue in your life? God has given us these Old Testament stories to come face to face with humanity’s LONG history of rebellion! Ironically, this is a great starting point for the gospel message because we as Christians have hope in God’s mercy! There is hope that no matter how bad it gets, God still rules and will continue to pursue His people and will return them to the promised place!
Believe it or not, there is still hope in the gospel of the kingdom! Need proof?
While Israel was completely down-and-out and all hope seemed to be lost, the last passage in the book of Kings shares how God continues to work to preserve the lineage of David through king Jehoiachin right under the nose of the Babylonians.
And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table, and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived. - 2 Kings 25:27-30
Even in exile, the search continues and there is still hope that a Messiah from the line of David would rise from the pit of exile to take the scepter and crush the serpent once and for all! From the book of Kings, we are left to wonder who would God choose as the next deliverer and representative of the gospel of the kingdom?
Share the Gospel: Who is this royal descendant of David who will take the everlasting throne over God’s people and faithfully follow God’s rule? Will Israel ever have a human king who would use his delegated rule to trust in God and lead God’s people back into God’s kingdom place?
