Lesson 3: Give Us a King - Kings Captivity, and Rebuilding
By Paul R. Blake
The period of Judges following the Conquest of the Promised Land was a difficult time for the children of Israel. It was a time when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). The Israelites demanded of God that He “make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1Samuel 8:5). There were some bright and pleasant times under the leadership of the judges; for example, there is the spiritually uplifting account of the Providential meeting and marriage of Ruth and Boaz, who became the great grandparents of king David as well as ancestors of Jesus. (Ruth 1 - 4) But in response to the rebellious call for a king, God sent Samuel to anoint Saul of the tribe of Benjamin to be the first king over Israel. (1Samuel 9:1 - 10:1)
Saul successfully united the fragmented nation and led them into battle against all adversaries. Yet this man, who was so shy in the beginning that he hid among the baggage and pack animals when he was to introduced as king, (1Samuel 10:21-22) became so arrogant that he presumed to disregard the direct command of God to completely destroy the Amalekites. (1Samuel 15:16-19) On one occasion, he failed to wait for Samuel the prophet and instead offered a sacrifice to God before battle, something that he was not permitted to do. (1Samuel 13:5-14) Samuel told him that the kingdom would be taken from him and his heirs and given to another man, but Saul stubbornly persisted in holding onto power and in falling deeper into sin in order to keep it. He even went so far as to make several assassination attempts on the life of David, he drove away his own son Jonathan for favoring David, and consulted with a witch about an upcoming battle because God would have nothing more to do with him. (1Samuel 28:5-19) Saul died as a suicide on the field of battle against the Philistines; and David, rightly anointed to be king, took his place. (1Samuel 31:4-5)
David, son of Jesse, may be the most well-known of all of the kings of Israel. In the New Testament, Luke records the words of God, Who said, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22). Much is written in scripture regarding David, but no higher praise has been given to him than that. David was a skilled poet and singer; he calmed king Saul when he was in one of his evil moods, and he wrote about half of the songs in the Book of Psalm. He was a gifted military leader; he not only drove back all neighboring invaders, but he expanded the borders of the kingdom of Israel to its broadest extent. He was a beloved leader; no king in Israel was ever loved more in life and mourned more deeply in death than was king David. From bringing down Goliath in his youth, to fighting one of Goliath’s sons in his middle age, to inspiring his men to heroically drive back the Philistines in his advanced years, David was the greatest king that ever sat on the throne of ancient Israel.
David’s son Solomon became his successor. Under his leadership, the glory of the nation of Israel reached its pinnacle. When God told him to ask for whatever he wanted, Solomon asked for wisdom to lead the people of the Lord. (1Kings 3:5-15) God made him the wisest of all men on the earth and added to his wisdom great riches and high honors. Solomon was dedicated to God in his early years, and God commissioned him to build His temple. Until then, the Ark of the Covenant was kept in the elaborate tent called the tabernacle. Now it would reside in a marvelous temple, the glory of which was unmatched in the world. And yet, even as Solomon was completing the temple, He observed that God is so great and so full of glory that He cannot dwell in a structure built by men, that even the universe is not big enough to contain all of His glory. (1Kings 8:27)
Even a good and wise king like Solomon is a man and is subject to temptation and sin. As Solomon aged, he taxed the children of Israel to the brink of poverty. But worse than that, he married multiple wives from among nations forbidden to the children of Israel, and then he allowed himself to be influenced by his many wives to reintroduce idolatry among the people. (1Kings 11:1-13) Even the wisest and best are not immune to falling into error. (1Corinthians 10:12)
Solomon’s son Rehoboam ascended to the throne at his father’s passing, and he was not as wise as Solomon. The aged counselors of the king admonished him to ease the burden of the people, but the younger friends of Rehoboam advised him to increase their load. He elected to listen to the younger men, and this foolish decision led to rebellion in Israel. The people divided forever into two smaller nations: Judah to the south composed of Judah and Benjamin under the leadership of Rehoboam and centered in Jerusalem, and Israel to the north consisting of the remaining ten tribes of Israel under the leadership of Jereboam eventually centered in Samaria. (1Kings 12)
Over the next few hundred years, Israel was ruled by nineteen kings, all of whom were wicked men who led the people further into sin and idolatry, the worst of whom may be said to have been Ahab. They continued their decline into sin and disarray until 722 BC when the Assyrian Empire destroyed their nation and carried the remnant into captivity and exile. Very few ever returned.
Judah had a few bright moments. Beginning with Saul, there were twenty six kings over the original nation of Israel and the subsequent nation of Judah. Of twenty six, only five of the kings “did what was right in the sight of God.” Jehoshaphat was a good man, but he had a weakness for evil friends. Hezekiah was a good king, but he foolishly displayed the wealth of Judah to Babylonian visitors, who, years later, returned and sacked the city of Jerusalem. Josiah was an honorable king who instituted reforms in Judah to return them to faithful service to God, but he did not do enough, and it was already too late to avert their fate.
Ultimately, the Babylonians came to Jerusalem, robbed the temple and treasury, destroyed the city, killed most of the inhabitants, and carried away a small host of people to be servants in Babylon. They remained in exile for seventy years; however, once again, God did not allow them to experience utter hopelessness. In the midst of all of the sorrow and hardship, a few remarkable persons shone like stars on a dark night. Esther, a Jewish maiden, was put in a position by God to be chosen to be queen by king Ahasuerus of the Medo-Persian Empire. As queen, she and her uncle Mordecai were able to deliver God’s people from a genocidal plot of Haman, one of the king’s men. Daniel rose from being a eunuch in service to the Chaldean king to a position of great influence and power in the empire, and from that place he was able to influence the exiles to remain faithful until God returned them home from captivity.
In 538, Cyrus the Persian king issued an edict that ended the exile of God’s people, and they began to return home and rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Over the course of the next 105 years under the leadership of honorable men (Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah) and the direction of dedicated prophets (Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) they continued this work until the scriptures called the Old Testament came to a close in 433 BC. The Bible is rather silent about what happened in the years between the close of Divine revelation in Malachi and the beginning of New Testament revelation. Lesson four will consider the resumption of inspired testimony in the New Testament with the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Even a good and wise king like Solomon is a man and is subject to temptation and sin. As Solomon aged, he taxed the children of Israel to the brink of poverty. But worse than that, he married multiple wives from among nations forbidden to the children of Israel, and then he allowed himself to be influenced by his many wives to reintroduce idolatry among the people. (1Kings 11:1-13) Even the wisest and best are not immune to falling into error. (1Corinthians 10:12)
Solomon’s son Rehoboam ascended to the throne at his father’s passing, and he was not as wise as Solomon. The aged counselors of the king admonished him to ease the burden of the people, but the younger friends of Rehoboam advised him to increase their load. He elected to listen to the younger men, and this foolish decision led to rebellion in Israel. The people divided forever into two smaller nations: Judah to the south composed of Judah and Benjamin under the leadership of Rehoboam and centered in Jerusalem, and Israel to the north consisting of the remaining ten tribes of Israel under the leadership of Jereboam eventually centered in Samaria. (1Kings 12)
Over the next few hundred years, Israel was ruled by nineteen kings, all of whom were wicked men who led the people further into sin and idolatry, the worst of whom may be said to have been Ahab. They continued their decline into sin and disarray until 722 BC when the Assyrian Empire destroyed their nation and carried the remnant into captivity and exile. Very few ever returned.
Judah had a few bright moments. Beginning with Saul, there were twenty six kings over the original nation of Israel and the subsequent nation of Judah. Of twenty six, only five of the kings “did what was right in the sight of God.” Jehoshaphat was a good man, but he had a weakness for evil friends. Hezekiah was a good king, but he foolishly displayed the wealth of Judah to Babylonian visitors, who, years later, returned and sacked the city of Jerusalem. Josiah was an honorable king who instituted reforms in Judah to return them to faithful service to God, but he did not do enough, and it was already too late to avert their fate.
Ultimately, the Babylonians came to Jerusalem, robbed the temple and treasury, destroyed the city, killed most of the inhabitants, and carried away a small host of people to be servants in Babylon. They remained in exile for seventy years; however, once again, God did not allow them to experience utter hopelessness. In the midst of all of the sorrow and hardship, a few remarkable persons shone like stars on a dark night. Esther, a Jewish maiden, was put in a position by God to be chosen to be queen by king Ahasuerus of the Medo-Persian Empire. As queen, she and her uncle Mordecai were able to deliver God’s people from a genocidal plot of Haman, one of the king’s men. Daniel rose from being a eunuch in service to the Chaldean king to a position of great influence and power in the empire, and from that place he was able to influence the exiles to remain faithful until God returned them home from captivity.
In 538, Cyrus the Persian king issued an edict that ended the exile of God’s people, and they began to return home and rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Over the course of the next 105 years under the leadership of honorable men (Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah) and the direction of dedicated prophets (Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) they continued this work until the scriptures called the Old Testament came to a close in 433 BC. The Bible is rather silent about what happened in the years between the close of Divine revelation in Malachi and the beginning of New Testament revelation. Lesson four will consider the resumption of inspired testimony in the New Testament with the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Scriptures Used In Text
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