2016 Adult K-Group Bible Studies

2016 Adult K-Group Bible Studies

Hoffmantown Church

Lesson #23

Title—Divided Kingdom

Target Date—June 19

Part 2: Israel/Grace Demonstrated

Preface for Teachers

·  It has not be a long time since at least some of us taught God’s Timeline and the Chart of the Kings and Prophets, so you may want to summarize those parts of this lesson. If that gives you some class time to fill, you might want to present some examples of the kings and prophets, showing some of the specific issues and lessons to be learned from them, then and now.

–  One consideration is that the Timeline offered here is not a reference tool. Rather, the purpose is to give an overview that can be easily remembered and reproduced without “looking it up” by our members as they do their own study. Thus, repeating the information will help them use and retain the chronology of the Bible to better relate events and people to each other and place them in the proper contexts, i.e., better understand the Scripture.

Learning Objectives

·  Overview of the period of the Divided Kingdom, highlighting the

–  Kings

–  Prophets

–  Summary Biblical Timeline

Key Scripture Passages

·  1 Kings 12:1-24

Related Scripture Passages

·  1 Kings 12 – 2 Kings 25

·  2 Chron 10 – 36:21

References

·  “God’s Timeline” from previous HBC lessons.

·  Chart of “Kings of Judah and Israel and the Preexilic Prophets,” Walvoord, J. F., & Zuck, R. B., Dallas Theological Seminary. (1985). The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, p. 513.

Commentary

Introduction

·  In the previous lesson, King Solomon was blessed of God to build and dedicate the Temple in Jerusalem and to take Israel to its highest peak as a nation.

·  Then, his heart TURNED AWAY FROM THE LORD.

1 Kings 11:9–13 (ESV)

9And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. 11Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. 12Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”

·  Notice that Solomon’s disobedience was not a one-time thing; THIS HAS BEEN YOUR PRACTICE.

·  The tearing away of the kingdom is to be deferred until after his son becomes king, and

–  It is not to be complete; ONE TRIBE, FOR THE SAKE OF DAVID is to remain under the kingship of the line of David.

–  God also refers to His preservation of one tribe FOR THE SAKE OF JERUSALEM THAT I HAVE CHOSEN. Ref Deut 12:5; 1 Kings 11:32, 36; and 1 Kings 14:21.

–  This preservation of a “remnant” of what had been is referred to as a LAMP in 1 Kings 11:36. The lamp at times is dim and seemingly in danger of going out, but God sees that the flame never dies.

·  And God RAISED UP ADVERSARIES against Solomon (v 14ff). The narrative describes adversaries

–  From the south

–  From the north and

–  From within Israel.

·  The named adversary from within was Jeroboam, A EPHRAIMITE (i.e., from one of the northern tribes) and A SERVANT OF SOLOMON who supervised the FORCED LABOR that Solomon used on construction projects in Jerusalem, i.e., a member of Solomon’s “staff.”

·  The conflict between Jeroboam and Solomon became so intense that Jeroboam FLED INTO EGYPT … until the death of Solomon.

·  Notice in the narrative of these adversaries how God does not simply step back and allow events to unfold and take their due course. Far from it, He takes an active, direct role in the events of history, and He personally sees to it that everything He decrees willmostassuredly come to pass. God is NOT a passive observer in His creation. He worksall thingsaccording to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11). Not only doesGod create the stage upon whichthe events of historywill be played out, but Hescripts everything which will take place on this stage.

·  And so, the stage is set for one of the saddest parts of the OT—the nation, God’s chosen KINGDOM OF PRIESTS and HOLY NATION (Exo 19:6), is divided.

The Kingdom is Divided, 1 Kings 12:1-24

·  Upon the death of Solomon, his son, REHOBOAM, WENT TO SHECHEM, FOR ALL ISRAEL HAD COME TO SHECHEM TO MAKE HIM KING.

–  SHECHEM—An appropriate place to crown a king, where

§  God first appeared to Abram (Abraham) in the promised land (Gen 12:6-7),

§  Joseph was buried (Josh 24:32, and

§  The people of Israel dedicated themselves anew to keeping the Law soon after they first crossed the Jordan into the land (Josh 24:1-27).

·  But, before Rehoboam was made king,

–  The leaders of the northern tribes of Israel,

–  Along with Jeroboam, the adversary of Solomon in ch 11, who had returned from Egypt when he heard of Solomon’s death,

–  Asked for relief from the heavy tax burden that had been theirs under Solomon.

–  If Rehoboam would LIGHTEN the YOKE upon them, they committed to SERVE him as king.

·  Rehoboam TOOK COUNSEL WITH THE OLD MEN, WHO HAD STOOD BEFORE SOLOMON, and they advised him to accede to their request.

·  However, Rehoboam listened to his contemporaries, who advised him take a hard line: WHEREAS MY FATHER LAID ON YOU A HEAVY YOKE, I WILL ADD TO YOUR YOKE. MY FATHER DISCIPLINED YOU WITH WHIPS, BUT I WILL DISCIPLINE YOU WITH SCORPIONS.

·  And ISRAEL HAS BEEN IN REBELLION AGAINST THE HOUSE OF DAVID TO THIS DAY (v 19), and

·  Jeroboam was made KING OVER ISRAEL

–  (For the time of the Divided Kingdom, “Israel” usually refers to the 10 northern tribes who rebelled against Rehoboam, though sometimes the meaning is the whole of the original nation. Only the context clarifies the usage.)

·  THERE WAS NONE THAT FOLLOWED THE HOUSE OF DAVID (i.e., Rehoboam, the rightful king in the line of David) but the tribe of Judah only.

–  (By this time, Judah had subsumed the tribe of Benjamin (see Judg 19 – 21) so that Benjaminites were sometimes identified, e.g., King Saul and the apostle Paul (Phil 3:5), but the tribe had no separate official stature.)

·  Israel has become separately Israel and Judah, the Kingdom Divided. The date of the division has been determined to have been 931 bc.

·  V 21 tells of Rehoboam returning to Jerusalem to mount a military campaign TO RESTORE THE KINGDOM, but God sends the word to stand down. The division is FROM ME (GOD) in judgment against the sin of Solomon. The subsequent restoration of the kingdom will also be “from God.”

·  Thus, two nations, Israel and Judah, and two kings, Jeroboam and Rehoboam.

The Kings of Israel (the North)

·  From the very beginning, Jeroboam began to lead Israel away from the things of Yahweh.

–  He established Shechem, not Jerusalem, the city God had chosen for Himself, as the capital of the North.

–  To undercut the people’s historical (at least, customary) commitment to David, the Ark, the Temple, and Jerusalem, Jeroboam erected TWO CALVES OF GOLD (v 12:28) in Bethel, just north of Jerusalem, and Dan, in the far north. He told them that these were the gods WHO BROUGHT YOU UP OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT. It is uncertain whether his intent is to offer new symbols of, or substitutions for, Yahweh. In either case, he is explicitly moving the nation away from the Law that God has revealed and given as their guide for relating to Him. They were to have no other gods and no images.

§  There is a beautiful park at Dan where visitors can see ruins and reconstructions of the worship center there.

–  He MADE TEMPLES ON HIGH PLACES.

–  He APPOINTED PRIESTS … WHO WERE NOT OF THE LEVITES.

–  He established feasts (on dates THAT HE HAD DEVISED IN HIS OWN HEART) in place of those they had previously observed per the Law of Moses.

–  He established sacrifices and offerings separate from those ordained by Lord God Yahweh.

·  I.e., led by King Jeroboam from the very beginning, Israel (in the North) deliberately and explicitly departed from the ways of Yahweh that they had been taught and commanded in the Law of Moses.

·  As ususal, God warned Jeroboam of the error of his ways, but he made no change, and

·  His son was killed two years after he ascended the throne, ending Jeroboam’s “dynasty,” in accord with prophecy (ch 14).

·  The rest of the kings of Israel varied somewhat in their evil before God.

–  Some even experienced a modicum of success as king, politically and economically.

–  But none was generally attributed as walking in the ways of Yahweh.

·  To use a modern term, Israel was on a “slippery slope,” tending further and further from God and His truths and commandments, until finally,

·  In typical fashion, God raised up an ungodly nation to the north, Assyria, which eventually annihilated Israel in 722 bc, a little over two centuries after the division.

·  And Israel was not just defeated. As in other conquests, Assyria took many of the Israelites and distributed them throughout the Assyrian empire and moved people into the land of Israel so that the Israelite identity and culture were destroyed.

–  The Ten Northern Tribes truly became the Ten Lost Tribes. (More on that subject later.)

The Kings of Judah (the South)

·  Rehoboam was of the line of David and the appropriate king of Judah, but he, similar to Jeroboam in Israel, led the nation into doing WHAT WAS EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD, v 14:22-24, including overt idolatry.

–  Application: When we consider that Rehoboam was the son of one of the pagan wives Solomon brought to Jerusalem and for whom he fostered idolatrous worship, it is not too surprising that Rehoboam DID WHAT WAS EVIL. Let’s be reminded of our responsibility to model before our children (even when they are old enough to have children of their own) lives committed to seeking and following the Lord. We might not see all the consequences in our lives, but sin is sin and sin brings destruction. Thus saith the Lord!

·  And in Rehoboam’s fifth year as king, Shishak of Egypt came against Rehoboam and took much of his wealth. Egypt did not, however, establish continuing dominion over Judah.

·  THERE WAS WAR BETWEEN REHOBOAM AND JEROBOAM CONTINUALLY, v 30. This probably consisted of border skirmishes between the two nations.

·  When Rehoboam died, the Davidic line was extended via his son Abijam, and it continued through the succession of kings over Judah.

·  These “Davidic” kings varied in their commitment to the Lord and His law.

–  Some, e.g., Asa in v 15:11, DID WHAT WAS RIGHT IN THE EYES OF THE LORD, AS DAVID HIS FATHER HAD DONE.

–  But others either compromised the ways of God by tolerating idolatry in Judah, e.g., Jotham, v 2 Kings 15:34-35, or

–  DID NOT DO WHAT WAS RIGHT IN THE EYES OF THE LORD, e.g., Ahaz in v 16:2.

·  The net result was that Judah was on the same slippery slope as Israel, drifting away from God and His ways, but, due to some more godly kings, survived for longer before they finally fell to Babylon in 586 bc, 345 years after the division.

The Prophets of the Divided Kingdom

·  During the reigns of all these “little kings” (my designation for all the Judean and Israelite kings after Saul, David, and Solomon), the two nations were served by a number of “prophets,” i.e., men called by the Lord to deliver messages, i.e., “the word of the Lord,” to the kings and/or people. These men are “forth-tellers,” proclaiming the messages they have been given by God, not just foretellers, predicting future events.

–  (“Prophet” is a more general term than just applying to the time of the Divided Kingdom; God has had continuing need for getting His word to people, i.e., “forth-telling.” But the prophets of the time of the Divided Kingdom played a particular, time-specific role—delivering God’s warnings of the looming demise of Israel and Judah.)

·  The messages of these prophets followed a general pattern.

–  You are guilty of sin, acting in ways contrary to what God has commanded.

–  Change your ways, or

–  Suffer the consequences (of both the destructive nature of the sin and God’s redemptive judgment).

–  In short, the prophets repeatedly told them, “Shape up, or else!”

·  The historical and scriptural outcome shows with abundant clarity that they did not “shape up” and “else,” i.e., judgment, happened.

·  The prophets are typically identified as to whom their messages were to be delivered. E.g.,

2 Kings 1:3–4 (ESV)

3But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? 4Now therefore thus says the Lord, You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah went.