Graduate 93: Advent, Day 16
(This is going up on 28 December 2007. I didn't realize that I neglected to post this until now. It's still being formally dated as 16 December 2007. Sorry about the lapse.)
God’s Faithfulness and Deliverance
2 Kings 18:1-19:37
There is a point about the history of the nation of Israel that I have neglected to mention which could lead to confusion since I have also not been very precise in how I have spoken in the entries that follow the ascendancy of King David. (Recall, that this post is actually going up after day twenty, so I’m back-tracking somewhat.) Under the reigns of Saul, David, and his son, Solomon, the nation of Israel was one united kingdom. In 928 B.C., owing to Solomon’s poor leadership at the end of his life, political upheaval, and a struggle for succession to the throne, the nation was divided. Judah and Benjamin became the nation of Judah and the other ten tribes formed the nation of Israel. The books of Kings and Chronicles record events in both kingdoms and some of the prophets of the time were active in both Israel and Judah.
The Israel of this period was ruled by consistently poor kings, beginning with Jeroboam who, for political reasons, refused to allow His people to worship in Jerusalem (which was in the territory of Judah) and set up alternative places of worship contrary to God’s commands. King Ahab, with whom Elijah was in constant tension, was a king of Israel (873-852 B.C.) Because of their consistent disobedience, God handed the nation of Israel over to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. So we read:
“Now it came about in the fourth year of King Hezekiah [of Judah], which was the seventh year of Hoseha son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria [capitol city of Israel] and besieged it. … Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile to Assyria. (18:9, 11)
Judah had an inconsistent record. Some of their kings followed God and some of them did not. As a result, the nation of Judah outlasted the nation of Israel by almost a hundred and fifty years, as well as the Assyrian empire which fell to the Babylonians around 609 B.C. But because they also failed to continue to follow God faithfully, after the example of Hezekiah about which we read, the nation of Judah was exiled to Babylon in 586 B.C.
Again, in the case of Hezekiah, God demonstrates His faithfulness and power. He is both able and willing to intervene and help and care for those who choose to follow Him and put their trust in Him. It is not as though God would like to help us, but cannot. That was probably the worry of Hezekiah and his people as Rabshakeh told them about all the other peoples whom they had defeated and whose gods had been of no help to them. Even in the face of eventual punishment and exile, in 19:30-31, He speaks of a surviving remnant that will be preserved by “the zeal of the LORD”. Over and over, the people and challenged—and we are challenged—to take seriously in whom we will place our confidence.
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
God’s Faithfulness and Deliverance
2 Kings 18:1-19:37
There is a point about the history of the nation of Israel that I have neglected to mention which could lead to confusion since I have also not been very precise in how I have spoken in the entries that follow the ascendancy of King David. (Recall, that this post is actually going up after day twenty, so I’m back-tracking somewhat.) Under the reigns of Saul, David, and his son, Solomon, the nation of Israel was one united kingdom. In 928 B.C., owing to Solomon’s poor leadership at the end of his life, political upheaval, and a struggle for succession to the throne, the nation was divided. Judah and Benjamin became the nation of Judah and the other ten tribes formed the nation of Israel. The books of Kings and Chronicles record events in both kingdoms and some of the prophets of the time were active in both Israel and Judah.
The Israel of this period was ruled by consistently poor kings, beginning with Jeroboam who, for political reasons, refused to allow His people to worship in Jerusalem (which was in the territory of Judah) and set up alternative places of worship contrary to God’s commands. King Ahab, with whom Elijah was in constant tension, was a king of Israel (873-852 B.C.) Because of their consistent disobedience, God handed the nation of Israel over to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. So we read:
“Now it came about in the fourth year of King Hezekiah [of Judah], which was the seventh year of Hoseha son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria [capitol city of Israel] and besieged it. … Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile to Assyria. (18:9, 11)
Judah had an inconsistent record. Some of their kings followed God and some of them did not. As a result, the nation of Judah outlasted the nation of Israel by almost a hundred and fifty years, as well as the Assyrian empire which fell to the Babylonians around 609 B.C. But because they also failed to continue to follow God faithfully, after the example of Hezekiah about which we read, the nation of Judah was exiled to Babylon in 586 B.C.
Again, in the case of Hezekiah, God demonstrates His faithfulness and power. He is both able and willing to intervene and help and care for those who choose to follow Him and put their trust in Him. It is not as though God would like to help us, but cannot. That was probably the worry of Hezekiah and his people as Rabshakeh told them about all the other peoples whom they had defeated and whose gods had been of no help to them. Even in the face of eventual punishment and exile, in 19:30-31, He speaks of a surviving remnant that will be preserved by “the zeal of the LORD”. Over and over, the people and challenged—and we are challenged—to take seriously in whom we will place our confidence.
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
posted by Metaphysician_delta | 2:00 AM
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