SAUL - ISRAEL'S FIRST KING
You will remember that for about 300 years the twelve tribes of Israel had been loosely governed by judges. The last and greatest of these was the prophet Samuel. But the children of Israel wanted to be like their neighbors; they came to Samuel and asked for a king. Although God was much displeased with their request, He instructed Samuel to anoint as their king a young man named Saul who stood "head and shoulders" above the people. The people gathered at Mizpah and were presented with their new ruler who was so timid that he hid among the baggage.
Saul began his forty-year reign well. Israel was beset by enemies and he undertook the task of driving them back. His army defeated the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Moabites, the Edomites and others. Soon Saul was a popular figure among the people. But his popularity went to his head and he ceased to be a humble servant of God. Instead he became self-willed, bent on doing things the way he wanted them done, regardless of the will of God. On one occasion he was commissioned to "totally destroy the Amalekites." Instead he spared the king and saved some sheep and cattle to sacrifice. Because he had disobeyed the Lord, Samuel rebuked him with the words, "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams" (1 Samuel 15:22). From that time on, God rejected Saul as king.
After Saul's rejection (although he was still reigning), God commanded Samuel to anoint privately as his successor a young shepherd boy named David, one of the greatest of all Bible characters. After his anointing, David was called upon by Saul to play the harp for him whenever his spirit was troubled. Saul deeply loved him and selected him as his armorbearer. David quickly rose to prominence by slaying with a sling the champion of the Philistines, the giant Goliath. The ensuing glory given David provoked the jealousy of Saul who began to suspect that David was trying to supplant him as king. From that time on Saul sought to kill David and for years hunted him as an outlaw over the hills of Israel.
Perhaps the most beautiful friendship in the Bible is that of David and Jonathan, the son of Saul, who, although he realized that David would become king instead of himself, constantly sought to save David from his father's anger. Saul and Jonathan both fell in battle with the Philistines to prepare the way for David as king.
DAVID - MAN AFTER GOD'S HEART
After Saul's death David was crowned king of the tribe of Judah while Saul's son, Ishbosheth, reigned over the rest of Israel. When his kingdom collapsed after seven years, David's authority was extended over all Israel. David selected Jerusalem as his capital and set about the task of making Israel a great nation. In successive wars he expanded the kingdom from the Nile to the Euphrates River.
David was truly a man after god's own heart. The lord declared of Him, "i have found david son of jesse a man after my own heart; he will Do everything I want him to do" (acts 13:22). The psalms written By david are an expression of his complete devotion to god. This Consecration was especially evident in his constant willingness to Obey all the lord's commands. We may learn from him that we cannot Expect the approval of god unless we are always willing to do what he Asks of us without question.
In spite of David's success and his faithfulness to God, he made one grave mistake that followed him to his death. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. Some stories have portrayed Bathsheba as a siren who intentionally seduced David. Nothing in the Bible bears out this idea. To cover up his sin, David had Uriah placed in the thick of battle so that he might be killed, and then, when he was dead, took Bathsheba as his wife. All of this greatly displeased God, and Nathan the prophet was sent to rebuke David by telling him the parable of the ewe lamb (2 Samuel 12). David repented, but his troubles now began. His son Absalom murdered his own brother. Later Absalom led a revolt against David and died in the attempt. For a time David was forced to flee. Adding to his grief, another son, Adonijah, attempted to usurp the kingdom with the help of David's trusted general, Joab. To forestall the kingdom falling into the wrong hands, David had his son, Solomon, crowned king while he was yet alive. Shortly thereafter David died, bringing to an end the forty-year reign of a great man of God.
SOLOMON - FROM WISDOM TO IDOLATRY
Solomon's rule was in sharp contrast with his father's. While David had faced turmoil for almost his entire reign, Solomon's was one of unbroken peace. He began auspiciously. In a dream he asked of God wisdom rather than riches and honor, and because of his thoughtful request was rewarded with all three. Solomon's wisdom is known to all. Three thousand proverbs and 1005 songs came from this sage! Much of his wisdom is recorded for us in the three books which he wrote and which we will study in another lesson. Politically he extended the influence of Israel to its greatest height, making it a world power.
The fabulous wealth of Solomon astounds us, even in this day. He had 1400 chariots, 12,000 horsemen and an annual income of 666 talents of gold (that's about 25 tons of gold). And he didn't have to pay an income tax! On one occasion he was given an outright gift of 120 talents of gold (that's about 4 ½ tons) by the queen of Sheba. When she visited Solomon to see if all the reports of his fame were true, she was so amazed that she exclaimed, "But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard" (1 Kings 10:7).
The greatest of all Solomon's accomplishments was his building of the temple of God to replace the tabernacle in which Israel had worshiped since the wilderness wanderings. It was built by 183,000 men in seven and a half years. Probably no structure in the world's history has equaled it in cost. David, Solomon's father, had collected 100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver for the construction of the temple not counting large quantities of bronze, iron, wood, and stone (1 Chronicles 22:14). That is about 3,750 tons of gold and 37,500 tons of silver.
The great wealth of Solomon eventually led to his undoing. He sought every kind of pleasure and married 700 wives and 300 concubines. Most of these were idolaters and what a time he must have had in trying to please them all. His high cost of living led him to tax the people heavily, much to their dissatisfaction. His reign had started with wisdom and wealth; it ended with women and idolatry. When his forty- year rule ended he was a thoroughly disillusioned and unhappy man. In his revelry he had laid the groundwork for the division of his great kingdom after his death. This we shall study in our next lesson.
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(The little tribe of Benjamin was so small it was virtually swallowed up by the tribe of Judah.) 2 Kings and the last part of the books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles tell the complete story of the Divided Kingdom.
THE NORTHERN KINGDOM OF ISRAEL
The story of the northern kingdom is not a happy one.
During its 253 years of history it had one bad ruler after another, not a single one of its 19 kings actually being "good". Nine dynasties or families of kings reigned during this time. Several kings were murdered and their places were taken by usurpers. Jeroboam was so afraid that the people would go back to Jerusalem in Judah to worship and desire Rehoboam for their king, that he set up two golden calves at Dan and Bethel for them to worship. So angered was God at his action that He sent Ahijah to him to predict the downfall of Jeroboam's house and the doom of Israel. The prophet declared, "And the LORD will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their forefathers and scatter them beyond the River, because they provoked the LORD to anger by making Asherah poles. And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit" (1 Kings 14:15-16).
After Jeroboam's death, idolatry became even more rampant than before, and under Ahab, the seventh king, worship of the idol god Baal was introduced. During its first eighty years the northern kingdom was almost continually at war with Judah. The ascension of Ahab to the throne sank Israel to its lowest depths. Ahab married a foreign woman, Jezebel, daughter of the king of Tyre.
She brought along her idols and soon abolished the worship of God in Israel. It is doubtful that a more evil, unscrupulous woman is described in the entire Bible and Ahab was so spineless that he yielded to his wife's evil designs. God sent the prophet Elijah to cry out against this idolatry. Elijah conducted a contest with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, and when they were proved false he had them killed. This intensified the determination of Jezebel to kill Elijah, but she never succeeded in her attempt.
Perhaps the best of all kings of Israel was Jehu who succeeded Ahab's son as king. With a ruthless determination he had Jezebel killed and Baal worship abolished. But his zeal ran out and he never did away with the golden calves set up by Jeroboam. Of most of the kings who followed Jehu it is said they "departed not from the sins of Jeroboam." Israel's political strength reached its greatest height since Solomon under Jeroboam II, but idolatry again grew worse. God carried out His promise made by Ahijah to punish and scatter Israel. In 722 B.C. the powerful Assyrian king carried the people of Israel into Assyria. They NEVER returned. From this point the story of the Jews is that of the Kingdom of Judah.
THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM OF JUDAH
Judah was smaller and weaker than Israel. Yet, through its 388 years of history it remained much closer to God.
Several kings were very good and on the whole the bad were not so evil as those of Israel. All were of the family of David. Judah began to decline under Rehoboam, but during the reigns of good kings Asa and Jehoshaphat a great revival swept the land. In the following years Judah borrowed the religion of Baal from Israel. It remained for King Hezekiah to completely root out idolatry. He and his great-grandson Josiah were the two best kings to rule Judah. But Hezekiah's son, Manasseh, was as evil as Hezekiah was good. In his fifty-five year reign he introduced every form of idol worship he could think of and even burned his own children with fire as a religious rite. This caused God to promise through the prophets that Judah would be severely punished for its idolatry.
After Josiah became king he set out to bring the people back to God. When the lost book of the law was found in the temple, Josiah instituted such a religious revival as his people had never seen.
Following Josiah's death, Judah descended rapidly. All the remaining kings were bad and weak. Judah was soon made a "satellite" of Babylon, and when the kings dared to rebel, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 606 B.C. carried most of the people into captivity as the Assyrians had done with Israel over 100 years before. Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, governed a few that remained, but in 587 B.C. he too and most of the rest were also carried into Babylon. This punishment of God taught the Jews a lesson. Never again did they return to idolatry.
THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY
The Jews remained in Babylon seventy years before any returned. Our Bible knowledge of the captivity is largely gained from the books of Daniel and Esther. While Daniel is a book of prophecy, it also contains much history and many fine stories such as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, Daniel in the lions' den, and the handwriting on the wall. Esther tells us how a Jewish maiden became queen, and how she saved her people from almost certain destruction when they were about to be slain.
THE RETURN
In 536 B.C. Zerubbabel led many of the Jews back home. He began a new temple to replace Solomon's which had been destroyed when Judah was carried into captivity. Ezra, the great priest and scribe, led another group back eighty years later and shortly afterwards Nehemiah returned with a third group to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The story of these returns is told in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Not all the Jews returned nor was the Kingdom of Judah re-established after the return.
The book of Nehemiah ends the historical portion of the Old Testament, but from secular history we know that in the following 400 years before Christ the Jews were ruled mostly by the Persians, Macedonians, and Romans except for a brief period of independence under the leadership of the Maccabees.
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