Ancient Israel: The Divided Kingdom

Extracted text from The_Divided_Kingdom.doc:

Youssouf Dembele

Ancient Israel: The Divided Kingdom The birth process of Israel as Gods people began with the call of Abram (Gen 12:1-3), the deliverance from the bondage of Egypt (Exod 3:ff), the covenant at Sinai (Exod 19:5-6), and culminated with the entrance in the Promised Land (Josh 1:1-4; 24:1-31). Out of all the nations

of the earth Israel was meant to be Gods treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation (Exod 19:5-6). A triple bond should hold strongly the individuals The Israelites They rejected

together: one blood, one God, and one land. lost sight of the purpose of their election.

God as their king and asked for a human king to lead them like all the nations (1 Sam 8:5-7; 9:11 Kgs 11). Beginning with Roboam, Solomons son and successor, Gods one nation was divided into two rival kingdoms: Judah in the south and Israel in the north, and remained so for more than two hundred years. Nineteen kings succeeded over Sin caused

the throne of Israel until its fall in 722 B.C. the division and the division increased sin.

Jeroboam, the

first king of Israel, made two golden calves, built shrines, appointed priests, and instituted his own religious service calendar. He even offered sacrifices, a function that His motivation

belonged to the priests alone (1 Kgs 12:33).

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Youssouf Dembele proceeds from political calculation and from distrust in God and in the people he is ruling. He wanted to avoid that the

kingdom reverts to Davids house, that the people give again their allegiance to Davids successors (1 Kgs 12:26-33). God sent a prophet to Bethel to pronounce a judgment against Jeroboams idolatry and to lead him to repentance, but this was for no avail (1 Kgs 13:1-10). Coup detat,

assassination, and machinations became the normal way of getting to power and of maintaining it. A dense spiritual darkness submerges the land. The people of God has rejected

Gods covenant, broken down his altars. The air rang with the shouts of a multitude of false prophets while Gods prophets were reduced to silence, put to death with the sword (1 Kgs 1:10). All the high places of the Holy Land

were covered and polluted with the smoke of idolatrous incenses and sacrifices (1 Kgs 11:4-9). deceiving prophets (1 Kgs 13:11-33). Prophets were

In spite of this

spiritual disaster, God was never left without witnesses, without men and women who stand before him to listen and execute his will (1 Kgs 17:1; 2 Kgs 3:14). Besides the many

prophets who exercised their public ministry at this difficult time,1 the Bible mentions men and women of faith

of these prophets are Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah. 2

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Youssouf Dembele who shined like stars in the darkness (1 Kgs 17:9-24; 18:716, 2 Kgs 4:1, 8-37). They stand as the remnant of Gods

people, as a vivid expression of Gods grace, faithfulness, and judgement (1 Kgs 19:18). The exhausting taxation and forced labor to build and maintain the temple and the royal palace and the arrogance of Solomons son Roboam are the immediate causes of the division of Gods one people. Its deep, real cause, The book

however, was Gods judgement against Israels sin.

of Kings forcefully presents the division and decline Israel as coming from God, as a punishment of the detestable, abominable, and crude ungodliness that provoked Gods anger in the Holy Land (1 Kgs 11:1-3, 9-10, 11-42). Sin led to

the downfall and destruction of Jeroboams house (1 Kgs 13:34), and to the decline of the whole kingdom. The Lord

used Assyria as his agent of judgement against the kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. (Isa 10:5). The apostle Paul laconically presents the significance of the Exodus event for the church in these words: These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come (1 Cor 10:11). the period of the divided kingdom. This same purpose fits What do we learn from

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Youssouf Dembele the things written about the divided kingdom for our warning and instruction? The events of the divided kingdom period reveal a God who is holy, loving, patient, jealous, and just. Because of his holiness and jealousy God cannot tolerate sin or share his glory with other gods (Exod 20:5; 34:14; Isa 42:8), but because of his love and patience he gives time and opportunities to the sinners to repent (Rom 2:4). All

the happenings of the period get significance in the light of these divine attributes. What happened to Israel warns

us that the exclusion of God from the political arena and the tolerance of sin are pregnant with serious, fatal consequences: anarchy, chaos, and decline. Surprisingly

enough, in many churches and for many Christian, God is becoming peripheral and sin is losing it gravity. Jesus,

the builder and source of life of the church, is standing at the door of many churches and knocking (Rev 3:20). The same

cause producing the same effect, sin and the marginalization of God resulted in the weakening, downfall, and decline of Israel (1 Kgs 13:34), they will produce the same effect in the church. However, as in Israel God preserved a remnant,

likewise the gates of hell will not prevail against the church (Matt 16:18). Is God at the center or on the brink

of the life of your church?

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Youssouf Dembele The history of the divided kingdom communicates the pertinent lesson that individual sin may have corporate implications. (1 Kgs 14:16). The leaders sin affects the whole community Because we live in a morally decaying

society, a society that praises open-mindedness and condonation of all kinds of evil, are not we becoming more sensitive to these requirements than to our role of salt and light of the world? Gods judgement over and punishment of Because of the dullness of our

sin begins here and now.

spiritual discernment, are not we unable to see them? The account of the events of the divided kingdom is a call to maintain the unity of the new people of God, the church. This must be done by putting God again at the

center of our individual and corporate life and by pursuing sanctification without which no one will see the Lord (Heb 12:14). We are not allowed to lower Gods standard.

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