But in any even - WOW!!! Talk about disobedience to the Lord!!!
So the books cover from about 975 – 560 BC – from the death of David to the death of his kingdom – about 400 years of turbulent times! Super-powers emerged (Assyria and Babylon) and it was said that “building a kingdom on this stretch of land was like building a bird’s nest on a busy highway!” The Israelites held together during the long reign (41 years) of Solomon then divided into two.
Judah became the southern kingdom comprised of only two of the twelve tribes – Judah and Benjamin and retained Jerusalem. The rest of the tribes created a northern kingdom and took with them the name of Israel. They are eventually overrun by the Assyrians and much later in 597 BC the southern kingdom is invaded by the Babylonians and Jerusalem is destroyed.
We learn that the “official ‘annals’ in the royal archives” kept the records of the facts and figures of wartime – some of which is included in the Bible, but mostly these books recount the sad story of division and decline – largely due to idolatry and Yahweh’s judgment upon His own people for forsaking Him. (Hmmm – is this beginning to sound familiar to us in the times we are in where the Lord is being removed from everything?) While the overall storyline of these books are faintly depressing, the underlying tone is one of hope and faithful determination.
Solomon – WOW – the narrators are full of praise about him – we learn about:
- His government
- David brought about a union of the 12 tribes, but Solomon established an organized state
- The entire country was divided into 12 major districts
- Each to provide provisions for the king’s court for one month a year
- Taxes were distributed across the entire country
- His buildings
- David wanted to build the temple, but God gave the task to Solomon – the man of peace.
- Hiram, king of Tyre provided cedar trees in exchange for food
- Canaanites became slaves to provide the labor
- Israelites were grouped into 10,000 and worked every third month
- There were 80,000 stonecutters, 70,000 common laborers and 3,600 foreman
- The Temple took 7 years to complete
- When it was dedicated to the Lord he offered up 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep
- Solomon also built:
- the House of the Forest of Lebanon
- the Hall of Pillars
- a hall for his throne
- a house for the daughter of Pharaoh
- his own “house” took 13 years to build – large enough to house his 700 wives, 300 concubines and their servants
- The Bible mentions one thousand, though they were not ‘wives’ in the sense that we use the word.
- There would have been about ten to twenty main wives – headed by the mother of the heir to the throne and including foreign princesses
- The current favorite
- Perhaps 80 – 100 secondary wives or concubines
- Thousands of female servants who did all the day-to-day work I the women’s quarters and royal harem.
- A great fortress was built and used to protect the temple.
- His trade with other nations
- Trade with Hiram to pay for the yearly cedar trees, stonecutters and other buildings – 125,000 bushels of wheat and 115,000 gallons of olive oil
- Horses and chariots from Egypt (even though against God’s command for kings in Deuteronomy 17:16)
- Sea trade for exotic treasures every three years
- His wisdom
- Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs
- Most of the book of Proverbs is attributed to him, as well as Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon and Psalms 72 and 127
- Even the Queen of Sheba had to travel to verify the reports she had heard about him and they exceeded what she had heard.
- Sheba is in modern day Ethiopia and Yemen
- According to ancient tradition, the queen took a child (Menelik) back to Sheba – hers and Solomon’s. The emperor of Ethiopia (the 225th and last emperor – overthrown in 1974) traced his lineage back to this baby – the bible does not mention it.
- Splitting the baby – famous example of justice
So . . . Solomon was a pretty smart guy – the wisest man who ever lived is how he is referred to. So what happened?
- His Fall
- Excessive taxation of the people
- Adding more and more wives and accommodating their religious preferences with pagan shrines - building ‘high places’ around Jerusalem for foreign deities – and Yahweh says, ‘I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you . . . ‘
- Although the kingdom was not damaged during Solomon’s day, his son experienced its division.
- No record of repentance by Solomon but possible the book of Ecclesiastes does reveal his realization of his wrong decisions.
- LUST took over – SERIOUS LUST!!! 700 royal wives and 300 concubines. He allows his heart to be turned away from Yahweh for the love of the ‘many foreign women’.
- He also builds ‘high places’ around Jerusalem for foreign deities . . . and Yahweh says, ‘I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you . . . ‘
And he does –
- During the reign of his son, Rehoboam, there is a revolt led by Jeroboam who establishes an alternate kingdom; a new capital (Shechem) and new cult centers (at Dan and Bethel) and even creates a new deity in the form of a golden calf (sound familiar?)
- Rehoboam doesn’t do much better – he establishes ‘high places’ on every hill and under every spreading tree – AND male prostitutes!
HIGH PLACES
In your Old Testament reading, these are mentioned 117 times – they were centers for Canaanite idol worship that the Jews were commanded to tear down. But instead, these places became idols that subtly seduced God’s people year after year—they couldn’t stay away!
What about today? Are followers of Christ still tempted by high places? Let’s ask it a different way: Do believers sometimes succumb to today’s “ism-idols” —rampant materialism, impure sexism or me-ism?
Our author, Nancy, opens our 2 Kings study taking us back to the beginning again – she reminds us over and over how God says to His people . . . “If you will do this . . . then I will do that . . . “ Feel free to read up on all of these yourself – they are contained in Leviticus 26:1-13; 26:14-20; Deuteronomy 4:25-28; 4:29-31; 28:1-14; 18:`5-65; Joshua 24:20; 1 Kings 9:4-5 and 6-9.
Suffice it to say . . . He asks for obedience and for His people to follow His laws. Simple, eh? Well, not so much because, over and over, they disobey – the worship false idols, they sacrifice their children to the false gods, they build high places, the erect Asherah poles, they offer sacrifices and burn incense. Over and over – they disappoint. Over and over God shows them mercy. He promised David that there would always be one of his bloodline on the throne – forever. IF his children obey Him. But they don’t. But He does – He always keeps one of his bloodline on the throne. He never disappoints – not them and not us. But, when the Israelites separated themselves from the Davidic Kingdom they also separated themselves from God and His promises.
We learned that thirty-two times in the books of the 1st and 2nd Kings, the king was “evil in the sight of the Lord” and only eight times was a king “right in the sight of the Lord.” Hmmm – four times as many evil as good / right. Here are just a few examples so we can understand why God was so disappointed:
Jeroboam, king in Israel – well, he decided he would create his own religion – this would prevent his people from traveling back to Jerusalem and maybe leaving his kingdom. He created two golden calves (hmmm – sound familiar?) for them to worship, along with shrines on high places. He anointed priests (really? Who gave him that authority?) And instituted a new festival and offered sacrifices to his “cows.” (See 1 Kings 12:25-33).
Rehoboam, king in Judah – built high places, erected sacred stones and Asherah poles; had male shrine prostitutes and the people performed the same detestable practices as those God had told His people to annihilate when He gave them over to the Promised Land. (See 1 Kings 14:22-23).
Ahab, king in Israel – he marries Jezebel (if you haven’t read about her – now’s the time) who was a devout follower of Baal; he succumbs to her religion, serves and worships him, sets up an altar to him in the temple he builds for him (seriously???) in Samaria and has Jericho rebuilt (perhaps he did not read about the curse in Joshua 6:26). (See 1 Kings 16:29-33).
Ahaz, king in Judah – sacrificed his son in the fire as an offering to the Canaanite gods and he offered other sacrifices and burned incense at the high places. (See 2 Kings 16:2-4).
Then we have Manasseh, king in Judah, who rebuilds the same high places that his father had destroyed; erects altars to Baal, made an Asherah pole; built altars to other gods in the temple of the Lord; sacrificed his own son; practiced sorcery and divination; consulted mediums and spiritists. He is a pretty bad dude!!! (See 2 Kings 21:1-9).
So . . . we know that God is all powerful and easily could have wiped these people out. Why doesn’t He??? Because He keeps His promises and He promised David that he would “maintain a lamp for David and his descendants forever.”
Let’s move on to a few of those who were “right in the sight of the Lord” but let’s remember that “right” did not mean “perfect.” They also had failures.
Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his days. He expelled the male shrine prostitutes and got rid of the idols that his father had made; he even deposed grandma Maacah from her position as the “queen mum” because she made an Asherah pole. BUT . . . he did not remove the high places. (See 1 Kings 15:9-15).
Jehoshaphat walked in the ways of his father, Asa, and rid the land of the rest of the male shrine prostitutes that remained after Asa. But . . . he also did not remove the high places. (See 1 Kings 22:41-46)
There was no one like Hezekiah of all the kings of Judah. He trusted in the Lord, held fast to Him, followed Him, and kept his commands. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones, cut down the Asherah poles, even broke the bronze snake that Moses made because the people were worshiping it and even gave it a name, Nehustan. But . . . even with all the right things he did – he succumbed to pride as he proudly showed off all his wealth to Babylon. He didn’t even appear to be concerned about how his actions would affect his future offspring when Isaiah, the prophet, told him “and some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” (See 2 Kings 18:1-8 and 20:12-19).
Then we have Josiah who repaired the temple. When the Book of Law was found he tore his robe and sent the priest off to learn more from the prophetess. He responded to what he learned by burning the articles made for Baal, tore down the Asherah poles, he deposed the priests who were making offerings in the high places, restored Passover; put away mediums and necromancers. However, with all he did – it was not enough to assuage the wrath of the Lord from turning away from his people after he died. (See 2 Kings 22:1 - 23:30)
Now . . . it looks like there might be some unification of the kingdoms. Jehoram from David’s line in the south marries Athaliah, the daughter of a king of Israel in the north. Their son, Ahaziah, takes the throne in Jerusalem. BUT . . . when he dies, his mother, Athaliah, tries to kill off all the descendants of David who might lay claim to the throne so that she can take the throne herself. This is the ONLY time a non-descendant of David sits on the throne over Judah during this period.
As we know (Jeremiah 29:11) God ALWAYS has a plan to prosper and to protect the royal line of King David. We read about this in 2 Kings 11, but briefly . . . a baby from David’s line, Joash, was hidden in the temple for seven years at which time he is crowned king and brought back to the royal palace. Athaliah is put to death.
Throughout these two books we are reminded over and over (then, as now) that the Lord is full of grace – a grace we often spurn by our disobedience and idolatry. He constantly reminds us of how faithful He is to us (in spite of ourselves) and how faithful we should be to Him. He continued to warn them over and over by sending them prophets. It is not as if they didn’t know – He was not silent – He kept His promise.
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon besieged Jerusalem, took King Jehoiachin / his family / his military / his people to Babylon, leaving behind only the poorest of the poor, and took all the treasures of the temple that King Solomon had made (as the Lord said would happen). He made Mattahiah (Jehoiachin’s uncle) king in his place and renamed him, Zedekiah. King Neb burned down the Temple, broke down the walls of Jerusalem and carried off the people (except the poor who were left to tend the vineyards and fields).
Has the line of David ended? NO! Jehoiachin is released from prison by King Neb’s successor, Evil Merodah and is given a seat of honor at his table. So you see . . . God’s promises are never broken – a son of David would reign on his throne forever. If you aren’t sure – read Matthew 1:6-16 and you too will be convinced.
Question: "Who was Asherah / Ashtoreth?"
Answer: Asherah, or Ashtoreth, was the name of the chief female deity worshiped in ancient Syria, Phoenicia, and Canaan. The Phoenicians called her Astarte, the Assyrians worshiped her as Ishtar, and the Philistines had a temple of Asherah (1 Samuel 31:10). Because of Israel’s incomplete conquest of the land of Canaan, Asherah-worship survived and plagued Israel, starting as soon as Joshua was dead (Judges 2:13).
Asherah was represented by a limbless tree trunk planted in the ground. The trunk was usually carved into a symbolic representation of the goddess. Because of the association with carved trees, the places of Asherah worship were commonly called “groves,” and the Hebrew word “asherah” (plural, “asherim”) could refer either to the goddess or to a grove of trees. One of King Manasseh’s evil deeds was that he “took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple” (2 Kings 21:7). Another translation of “carved Asherah pole” is “graven image of the grove” (KJV).
Considered the moon-goddess, Asherah was often presented as a consort of Baal, the sun-god (Judges 3:7, 6:28, 10:6; 1 Samuel 7:4, 12:10). Asherah was also worshiped as the goddess of love and war and was sometimes linked with Anath, another Canaanite goddess. Worship of Asherah was noted for its sensuality and involved ritual prostitution. The priests and priestesses of Asherah also practiced divination and fortune-telling.
The Lord God, through Moses, forbade the worship of Asherah. The Law specified that a grove of trees was not to be near the altar of the Lord (Deuteronomy 16:21). Despite God’s clear instructions, Asherah-worship was a perennial problem in Israel. As Solomon slipped into idolatry, one of the pagan deities he brought into the kingdom was Asherah, called “the goddess of the Sidonians” (1 Kings 11:5, 33). Later, Jezebel made Asherah-worship even more prevalent, with 400 prophets of Asherah on the royal payroll (1 Kings 18:19). At times, Israel experienced revival, and notable crusades against Asherah-worship were led by Gideon (Judges 6:25-30), King Asa (1 Kings 15:13), and King Josiah (2 Kings 23:1-7).