Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
A nation divided is a painful thing to see isn’t it my friends?
You and I live in a world with North & South Korea; North & South Sudan; the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland; and most of us remember North and South Vietnam. Many countries, like America, have suffered terrible civil wars, but remained a united nation. Some other nations are torn by deep division, warfare and suffering, but have yet to formally divide into two nations.
Israel’s story, as told in the Bible, is one of the saddest accounts of nations torn by division. The Bible tells us Israel is unique in many ways from all other nations in the world, did you know that? Israel was the only nation founded by God’s Covenant promise with one man, Abraham, and his miraculous descendants, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob’s 12 sons. (Gen. 17) The only nation declared by God to be ‘God’s Chosen people’, (Ex. 19) and called by God to live in Covenant relationship with God, occupying a land provided by God. (Gen. 15:18,19) The only nation delivered from slavery by God. (Ex. 12) The only nation designed by God to be a ‘theocracy’, with God Himself as its leader. (1 Samuel 8)
But in the past few days I’ve been leading us through a very tragic time in Israel’s history, the actual implosion of the nation of Israel into TWO nations! This was NOT the result of any outside enemy or invasion. It happened immediately after the death of King Solomon when Solomon’s son Prince Rehoboam assumed the throne of Israel. But many of the people of Israel revolted against new King Rehoboam’s harsh demands and asked one of Solomon’s trusted leaders, Jeroboam, to be their king! This tragic turn of events is described for us both in 1 Kings 11,12 & 2 Chronicles 10 & 11.
May I take this moment, my friends, to explain that the four books of 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles are similar to the 4 Gospels in the New Testament in this way: The Kings & Chronicles are two different accounts of the same period of time in Israel’s history, the period of the KINGS; just as the four Gospels are FOUR different accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus. Kings & Chronicles differ in several ways, yet sometimes they are almost identical while at other times an event in one account does not appear at all in the other account. Thus walking through them in parallel, as we are doing, is the best way to gain the full picture of what God wants us to know about this remarkable time in Israel’s history. And I’m trying to help us see how it is so profoundly significant as it relates to what is happening in Israel and surrounding nations TODAY, in 2024!
As we’ve seen in 1 Kings 11 this tragedy of Israel splitting into two kingdoms did not happen by accident, rather it was God’s judgment upon His people for the unrepentant sins of King Solomon and the nation who followed Solomon in turning away from God and embracing the worthless idols of the nations around them.
It’s vital we understand this! In Israel’s case, don’t separate politics or economic stability or military activity or even climate from the spiritual and moral condition of Israel’s leadership and her people and the relationship God has designed for them to have with God!
God’s promise to His people Israel, from the days of Jacob and his family, has been consistent. If and when Israel honors God through their obedience to His commandments, His instructions and guidance, THEN God blesses and protects Israel. If and when Israel turns away from God and either becomes secular with no interest in God or worse, follows after the idols or gods of other nations, THEN God disciplines in His love, seeking to draw Israel back to Him or if Israel is unrepentant and unresponsive to God, God will remove His hand of protection and allow judgment to come upon His people, Israel!
This Biblical description of the division of Israel happened as God Himself raised up three different adversaries against King Solomon (1 Kings 11:14, 23, 26). God had promised Jeroboam that if he honored God and followed God’s guidance, God would bless him as leader of the breakaway nation of 10 tribes who would retain the name Israel. (1 Kings 11:29-33)
But Jeroboam failed badly and turned his back on God by having golden calf idols fabricated; declaring these calf idols to be the gods of Israel, and constructing places of worship for these golden calf idols built at Bethel and Dan. (1 Kings 12)
Please understand my friends that this point in history is very significant, for the 12 tribes, united, nation of Israel was dividing into two nations: Two tribes, Judah & Benjamin, with Jerusalem as their capital became the ‘Southern Kingdom’ and assumed the name JUDAH. The other 10 tribes became the ‘Northern Kingdom’ and retained the name ISRAEL, and the city of Samaria became its capital. This occurred within months after King Solomon’s death in 930bc. From that day to the present day, the nation of Israel has never again become a reunited nation of all 12 tribes, occupying the totality of the land it occupied in 930bc! Did you get that, my friends?
From that division of the nation of Israel in 930bc until 1948 there was never again formal, united, nation of Israel and while some Jews sometimes occupied some of the land, they almost always lived under the domination of some larger empire such as the Babylonians or Persians or Romans! From 1948, when Israel was again formed as a nation by the UN and given some of their ancient land, through these past 75 years to the present, much of the land area known as ‘Israel’, has also had within its borders several sections of ‘Palestinian occupied territory’. And even Jerusalem and the Temple Mount itself have since 930bc to the present day, never again been fully under Israeli control! Do you see the significance, my friends, of what we have been considering over the past three days as recorded in 1 Kings 11-13 and 2 Chronicles 10,11?
No place in the world has more historical, spiritual and Biblical significance than the land of Israel. Visitors from the farthest corners of the world flock there in huge numbers continually, simply to walk the land of the Bible, and yet today, once again, terror and division and great danger fills the land of Israel. As we walk together through the pages of Kings & Chronicles in these next weeks, I believe we’ll gain a much better understanding of WHAT is happening in Israel today and WHY.
At the same time, God remains Sovereign over all things and He is watching very carefully every event and every person in every place in our world. May I close today by urging us to pray for Israel and all the world leaders who have a voice and influence in what is happening in Israel these days. Yesterday marked 7 months since the October 7th Hamas attack!
Psalm 122:6 says: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Here’s a wonderful song, filmed in Jerusalem during a more peaceful time, that echoes those wonderful words of Psalm 122, and tomorrow I’ll meet you back here as we rejoin King Jeroboam at his strategic moment in history!
Today’s Scripture: 1 Kings 11, 12, 13.
Choose below to read or listen.
1 Kings 11, 12, 13 1 Kings 11
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1 Kings 121 Kings 13
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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