Chapter
30: A Summary of God's Judgments
for
the Divided Kingdoms
Chapter
30 Contents
30.1
Introduction
30.2
The Northern Kings
30.3
The Southern Kings
30.4
Comparing the two kingdoms
30.5
The Mystery of God's Inaction
30.6
The Big Picture of God's Will
30.1
Introduction
I
am aware that in some ways the last five chapters have been heavy
going as we have sought to examine in some depth the lives of the
kings of both the northern and southern kingdoms
Whenever
we have considered judgments in earlier chapters we have always sought
to identify the wrongs that brought the judgment of God down on individuals
or groups of people and then the nature of any judgment that follows.
Remember,
we said from the earlier chapter in this book, the objective of disciplinary
judgments were to draw Israel back into a right relationship with
the Lord and for the nation to again be a light to the Gentiles'
i.e. to reveal God to the rest of the world.
Where
hearts were so set by pride or occult activity, those disciplinary
judgments sometimes turned into terminal judgments. Let's look at
both kingdoms and see if we can summarise in an easy-to-read form
what happened:
30.2
The Northern Kings
Here
are the sins and judgments of each king of the northern kingdom:
King
|
Sin
|
Judgment
|
1.
Jeroboam |
He
ignored God's prophetic help and when he became king he established
a replica religion with idols. |
His
family will be wiped out. Defeated by Judah . No record of his
mode of death. |
2.
Nadab |
Bad
as his father |
Killed
by Baasha |
3.
Baasha
|
Did
nothing to improve Israel 's spiritual state & was thus
condemned. |
Rebuked
by prophet Jehu. Later died but no record of mode of death |
4.
Elah |
Same
as his father |
Killed
by Zimri |
5.
Zimri |
Followed
the idol worship |
Zimri
committed suicide after a week of rule |
6a.
Tibni |
No
mention |
Killed
by others |
6b.
Omri |
Was
worse spiritually than the others |
No
record of any judgment |
7.
Ahab |
Ahab
was worse than any others. |
He
died trying to outwit the word of God, by being killed by a
stray arrow in battle. |
8.Ahaziah
|
Followed
idols like Jeroboam |
Died
from a fall, confirmed by Elijah |
9.
Joram |
Ditto
but not quite as bad as his father |
Killed
by Jehu |
10.
Jehu |
Ditto
|
Rebuked
but no record of his mode of death |
11.
Jehoahaz |
Ditto
|
Oppressed
by Aram . No record of mode of death |
12.
Jehoash |
Ditto
|
No
record of mode of death or other judgment |
13.
Jeroboam II |
Ditto
|
No
record of mode of death or other judgment |
14.
Zechariah |
Ditto
|
assassinated
by Shallum |
15.
Shallum |
Ditto
|
assassinated
by Menahem |
16.
Menahem |
Ditto
|
submitted
to Assyria , no record of death |
17.
Pekahiah |
Ditto
|
assassinated
by Pekah |
18.
Pekah |
Ditto
|
assassinated
by Hoshea |
19.
Hoshea |
Ditto
but not as bad as the others |
deported
by king of Assyria . No record of death |
Their
Sins
They
each take their lead from Jeroboam who established idol worship which
remained throughout the existence of the northern kingdom. With only
slight variations so that all fall to the same condemnation.
Their
Judgments
Of
these 20 kings we have observed in the northern kingdom, 11 of them
died violent deaths and 9 of them there is no record of how they died.
We
also note that the Lord used the following nations to discipline individual
kings: Judah Jeroboam / Aram Jehoahaz / Assyria Menahem / Assyria
Hoshea
It
would appear that often the Lord simply let this northern kingdom
get on without much interference but also often allowed the sinful
nature of powerful men to kill other powerful men.
No
doubt the state of the nation rarely changed from bad' as none of
the kings sought to bring about any substantial restoration.
30.3
The Southern Kings
Here
are the sins and judgments of each of the kings of the southern kingdom.
King
|
Sin
|
Judgment
|
1.
Rehoboam |
Caused
breakup of the kingdom
Was
unfaithful to God so disciplined |
King
of Egypt attacked and took land |
2.
Abijah |
His
heart was clearly not fully committed to the Lord |
No
judgments on him |
3.
Asa |
Sought
help from Aram and not the Lord against Israel . Did not seek
the Lord's help in illness in old age. |
Foot
disease possibly from the Lord and possibly died from it. |
4.
Jehoshaphat |
Later
allied himself with Ahab by marriage Failed to clear the land
of idol worship. Made alliance with king of Israel , built a
fleet with him, |
Rebuked
by God for alliance with Ahab.
Rebuked
for another alliance with Israel and fleet shipwrecked |
5.
Jehoram |
Walked
in ways of kings of Israel (badly!) and did evil, and led his
people to worship other religions. |
Was
disciplined by the Lord using Libnah and the Philistines and
eventually a lingering cancer. |
6.
Ahaziah |
Committed
idolatry, fought alongside sinful Israel |
Executed
by Jehu |
7.
Athaliah |
A
bad queen |
Eventually
murdered |
8.
Joash |
After
Jehoiada's death led astray, abandoned the Lord and reverted
to idol worship |
Disciplined
by Arameans and murdered by own officials |
9.
Amaziah |
A
half-hearted king. Wanted to hire Israelites to fight against
Edom . Took Edomite gods and worshipped them |
Rebuked
by prophet twice |
10.
Uzziah |
When
he became powerful he became proud and foolish |
Confronted
by priests for his bad behaviour and afflicted by leprosy by
which he eventually died. |
11.
Jotham |
Unfortunately
his people were not faithful to God |
No
failures = no judgments |
12.
Ahaz |
A
bad king turning to idolatry, did not rely on the Lord |
Handed
over to Aram and later into the hands of Israel . |
13.
Hezekiah |
Pride
in showing of his wealth to the envoys of the king of Babylon
|
Rebuked
for showing off. Warning of Israel 's destiny |
14.
Manasseh |
Did
evil in every way possible |
Disciplined
by being carried to Babylon |
15.
Amon |
Did
evil |
Was
assassinated |
16.
Josiah |
Mostly
nothing wrong |
Died
after battle he did not need to fight |
17.
Jehoahaz |
3month
reign, presumably bad |
Deposed
by Egypt |
18.
Jehoiakim |
Did
evil |
Taken
to Babylon |
19.
Jehoiachin |
Did
evil |
Taken
to Babylon |
20.
Zedekiah |
Ignored
the Lord & did evil |
Refused
the Lord, taken into exile in Babylon |
This
is a much less clear picture than that of the northern kingdom. Let's
try and simplify the above table even more:
1.
Rehoboam |
Unfaithful
to God |
Pressured
by Egypt |
2.
Abijan |
Not
fully committed to God |
No
judgments |
3.
Asa |
Twice
didn't seek God's help |
Foot
disease |
4.
Jehoshaphat |
Made
2 bad alliances with Israel |
Rebuked
for alliances |
5.
Jehoram |
False
worship, did evil |
Pressured
by Libnah and Philistines |
6.
Ahaziah |
Ditto,
fought alongside Israel |
Executed
|
7.
Athaliah |
Wicked
queen |
Executed
|
8.
Joash |
Good
but later abandoned the Lord |
Pressured
by Aram , murdered |
9.
Amaziah |
Half-hearted,
worshipped Edomite gods |
Merely
rebuked |
10.
Uzziah |
Later
became proud & foolish |
Afflicted
by leprosy |
11.
Jotham |
A
good king |
No
judgments |
12.
Ahaz |
Worshipped
idols, did not rely on God |
Pressured
by Aram and Israel |
13.
Hezekiah |
Mostly
good but later proud |
Rebuked
for pride |
14.
Manasseh |
Seriously
bad |
Carried
off to Babylon (but returned) |
15.
Amon |
Did
evil |
Assassinated
|
16.
Josiah |
Best
king of both kingdoms |
No
judgments (self-destructed
in battle) |
17.
Jehoahaz |
Probably
bad |
Pressured
by Egypt |
18.
Jehoiakim |
Did
evil |
Carried
off to Babylon |
19.
Jehoiachin |
Did
evil |
Carried
off to Babylon |
20.
Zedekiah |
Ignored
God & did evil |
Carried
off to Babylon |
Trying
to summarise their lives:
i)
As a general assessment
Only
2 kings could be considered really good : Jotham
& Josiah
4
others were mostly good Asa, Jehoshaphat,
Hezekiah & Uzziah although
- Asa
twice failed to seek God's help
- Jehoshaphat
had a tendency of making bad alliances with Israel
- Hezekiah
was good until later he exhibited pride
- Uzziah
was the same
1
other should be mentioned as just half-hearted Abijah,
and got away without rebuke or judgment
ii)
In terms of the discipline/terminal judgment they received:
3
got away with no rebuke or judgment in any form: Jotham, Josiah
& Abijah,
3
were rebuked only Jehoshaphat, Amaziah, Hezekiah
5
were disciplined by being put under pressure from neighbours (in the
style of discipline that we have observed previously in Judges)
Rehoboam, Jehoram, Joash, Ahaz, & Jehoahaz
4
were killed, either assassinated or executed - Ahaziah, Athaliah,
Joash, & Amon
4
were disciplined by being carried off to Babylon Manasseh,
Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah
30.4
Comparing the two Kingdoms
As
we have gone through the chapters of 1 & 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles,
various things stand out:
1.
Both kingdoms succumbed to terminal judgments:
- The
northern kingdom with the fall of Samaria in 722BC (a 208 year life)
- The
southern kingdom with the fall of Jerusalem and start of Exile occurred
in 587BC (a 343 year life)
after the breakup of the kingdom after Solomon about 930BC
2.
The difference in constancy':
a)
the northern kingdom was constantly in a state of idol worship and
none of the kings appeared spiritual or sought to change the spiritual
state of the nation.
b)
the southern kingdom varied immensely.
- Some
kings were no better than the kings of the north
- Some
kings were good throughout
- Some
kings were good as long as they had a good mentor
- Some
kings were mostly good but failed later in life, either by drifting
away from God of falling to pride.
3.
The lengths of reigns
- The
lengths of reigns in both kingdoms appear to have NO correlation
to the spiritual state of the land or the spiritual state of the
king
Northern
|
Southern
|
1.
Jeroboam (22) |
1.
Rehoboam (17) |
2.
Nadab (2) |
2.
Abijah (3) |
3.
Baasha (24) |
3.
Asa (41) |
4.
Elah (2) |
4.
Jehoshaphat (25) |
5.
Zimri (1 week) |
5.
Jehoram (8) |
6a.
Tibni (unknown) |
6.
Ahaziah (1) |
6b.
Omri (12) |
7.
Athaliah (6) |
7.
Ahab (22) **** |
8.
Joash (40) |
8.
Ahaziah (2) |
9.
Amaziah (29) |
9.
Joram (12) |
10.
Uzziah (52) |
10.
Jehu (28) |
11.
Jotham (16) |
11.
Jehoahaz (17) |
12.
Ahaz (16) |
12.
Jehoash (16) |
13.
Hezekiah (29) |
13.
Jeroboam II (41) |
14.
Manasseh (55) **** |
14.
Zechariah (6m) |
15.
Amon (2) |
15.
Shallum (1m) |
16.
Josiah (31) |
16.
Menahem (10) |
17.
Jehoahaz (3m) |
17.
Pekahiah (2) |
18.
Jehoiakim (11) |
18.
Pekah (20) |
19.
Jehoiachin (3m) |
19.
Hoshea (9) |
20.
Zedekiah (11) |
We
have given a 4-star rating to the two apparently worst kings, one
in each kingdom Ahab and Manasseh and the incredible thing is
that their reigns were so long, in fact some of the longest in their
kingdoms.
Only
Jeroboam II and Jehu had longer reigns in the northern kingdom than
Ahab.
No
other king reigned as long as Manasseh in either kingdom.
In
Manasseh's case it is thought that he was taken to Babylon somewhere
about three quarters of the way through his reign before being returned
and so possibly something like the last ten years might have been
the additional years of grace after he repented in Babylon . Even
taking that period away that would have meant that his reign which
was spoken about negatively so strongly, was still at least forty
years.
30.5
The Mystery of God's Inaction
God's
involvement
I
can hear the likes of Richard Dawkins saying, See, it just proves
there is no God. Nothing happened when it should have done. It just
goes to prove there is no God or of there is one he doesn't care!
But
that would ignore the number of times God spoke through His prophets
and warned them what He was going to do which He did if they did
not repent. (see Chapter 26 Appendix 1). Throughout the chapters of
these three books there is an awareness of the presence of God watching
over all that is happening. He is there and He interacts with the
kings through His prophets again and again.
Reason
for Inaction: 1. Revealing sin
As
we commented in earlier chapters sometimes it seems as if God is reluctant
to impose Himself on the life of a nation but rather leave us to work
through our national lives, and in so doing reveal to the world the
foolishness of mankind and the grace of God through the things that
go on.
Observing
these centuries when Israel was a divided kingdom, as you read through
the chapters you see that there are times when the king was good and
presenting a good example but the people were worshipping idols and
were far away from God. On the other hand the spiritual life of Israel
clearly fluctuated greatly and we see that especially when one of
two of the good kings of the south call their people back to God and
much is made of it. However, much of the time, the general national
consensus seems to indicate a people who care little for God most
of the time. Although that seems the general outlook, there are always
a minority who remain faithful to God (which we'll see in the next
chapter).
Reason
for Inaction: 2. Allowing sin to built up
This
aspect of God holding back was seen even in the early days of Abram:
Gen
15:13-16 "Know
for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not
their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they
will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your
fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation
your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites
has not yet reached its full measure ."
Reason
for Inaction: 3. Desire for Repentance
Perhaps
we should also remind ourselves of something we saw in the early chapters,
a threefold declaration in Ezekiel that God does not delight in death
but much prefers repentance that can then release His blessing on
His people. (Those references were Ezek 18:23,32 & 33:11). Throughout
the historical books we have been examining, God's desire has been
for repentance, a restoring of the relationship between His people
and Him and that we see through every prophetic word.
Reason
for Inaction: 4. Allowing the repentance process' time to work
We
should also remind ourselves of a means that God uses to bring disciplinary
judgment, where He lifts off His hands of restraint or protection
in order to allow discipline to come so that eventually repentance
might flow. The principle of this is seen in Romans 1, the national
practice in Judges, and in individual example in 1 Cor 5:1-5 and 2
Cor 2:5-11.
Let's
remind ourselves again of the basic New Testament teaching encapsulated
by the apostle Peter: The
Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone
to come to repentance. (2 Pet 3:9)
That is a primary reason for God's apparent inaction; it is the realization
that sometimes repentance takes a long time to come. There are times
when it never comes but in those situations the guilty person on the
day of judgment can never say I didn't know or I wasn't given enough
time!
30.6
The Big Picture of God's Will
An Overall Understanding
Looking
at these four reasons above, note the first two are about allowing
mankind to express their free will which is so often seen in the form
of Sin self-centred godlessness resulting in unrighteousness and
where this freedom is unrestrained there are a number of illustrations
in the Bible of how it continues to grow. The Lord sometimes steps
back, lifts off His hands of restraint and protection, simply to allow
mankind to be revealed for what it is. Unless we see the reality of
mankind's sin, we will not see either the need for salvation or God's
grace which holds back.
Ignoring
the sin is no answer; it will not just get better, the evidence is
there to the contrary. Although God has provided a way for Sin's guilt
to be dealt with through the death of Jesus Christ, yet that way can
only be applied when repentance occurs which involves the individual
or nation, to face their sin, face their guilt and plead for forgiveness.
An
Example of a Sinful Lifestyle
While
a person or nation is set in their self-centred godlessness, they
can never be open to receive God's goodness which always involves
coming in line with God's design for us. Let's give a practical example.
A man is running his business and in a variety of ways is corrupt
giving and taking bribes, bullying staff, avoiding paying taxes,
cheating on his accounts and so on. Now apart from all those things
being wrong, they create negative undercurrents which will work against
the company's long-term success; for example, a hostile staff, angry
customers and suppliers, and a tax man watching from the side line
just waiting for an opportunity to examine the books and prove corruption
and cheating.
Now
add a spiritual dimension: this man is living and working with a style
of life that is directly contrary to God's design which involves truth
and integrity, honesty and goodness, and God sees that this man can
be polluting the lives of others over whom he has influence, which
is unjust. God cannot bless such a state of affairs and will ultimately
one day hold that man to account on the final day of judgment. In
the meantime in His wisdom, God may see this man's vulnerability and
see that with a little pressure on him, his empire of corruption can
be brought down and the man brought to repentance. In His wisdom the
Lord may wait, either watching for that man's life to come to an end,
or for circumstances to come in line to achieve that bringing down
and subsequent repentance. The Lord Himself may act to reveal that
corruption. Now His sovereign activity my simply be to bring an end
to that unrighteousness or it may be to bring about repentance if
he sees that is possible (and only He knows if that IS possible in
every case.)
Viewing
Israel
Now
if we apply this example to the activities of Israel northern or
southern kingdoms we can suggest that God acts or does NOT act
- in accordance with
what
He knows can be brought about, on one hand, and
what
He wants to reveal to a watching world on the other hand.
His
hope and His activity will always be in the light of either of
these two outcomes, because His desires, as revealed in the Bible,
will always be to bring good and counter evil and for His heart to
be revealed to those with eyes to see who may then respond to Him.
It is, if you like, a double desire to
Protect
His world AND
To
draw people on this world to Himself to receive His love and goodness.
The
ongoing life of the divided kingdom of Israel has been complex, involving
lots of different people, all of whom express their humanity in different
ways. A few express it in a clear desire to know God and conform to
His design for us, while a majority express their sinful natures in
a variety of ways.
Ongoing?
The
more we ponder over these chapters, the more we will see the folly
of the sinfulness of mankind AND the wonderful grace of God.
Because
the end of these chapters bring us to the destruction of Jerusalem
and the exile of the people, we would be unwise if we did not go on
to consider in much greater measure the motivation, activities and
outcomes of God's two major mouthpieces at this time Jeremiah and
Ezekiel so that we may understand even more fully God's heart that
led up to that apparent catastrophe for Israel. That is where we will
go in the next chapter.