Spiritual
life in Israel 922 to 587 BC
or:
Can the Leopard Change its Spots?
Next
I want to examine the sweep of history from the period of the
“judges” ( c. 1200 to 1020 BC) which we have just finished to the
final deportation of the Jews from their land to Babylon in 582 BC.
Actually I will pass over the reigns of Saul and David and start with
Solomon. 2 Chronicles spans this period of history from the
perspective of the influence of the kings on the religious life of
the nation.
Unsurprisingly
the boom and bust spiritual cycle continues. The kingdom splits in
two after Solomon's death. Chronicles concentrates on the Southern
kingdom of Judah which continues with kings who are descendants of
David and here the king of the day plays a pivotal role in the state
of national religion however there are mentions of the Northern
kingdom of Israel and here the officially sanctioned religious
institution is generally an arm of the king's rule. But that is a
story for later!
For
now I want to tabulate the kings and make brief notes about the state
of religion and their part in it. To complicate matters some “bad”
kings were converted and became “good” and (more often) initially
good kings went bad at the end of their reign.
.................................................................................
922
BC Rehaboam : Managed to set the Northern peoples in rebellion by
handling them in-diplomatically. Then abandoned God. Egyptians
attack. A prophet tells him; “You abandoned God therefore God has
abandoned you”. The leaders then humble themselves before God and
so they are rescued to the extent that Egyptians only carry off
plunder and make them a vassal state.
915
BC Abijah: Maintained the Temple services and trusted God when
attacked by a large force from the North and he was victorious over
them.
913
BC Asa: (2 Chron.14, 2ff) “Asa did what was
right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He removed the foreign altars
and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the
Ashera poles. He commanded Judah to seek the Lord the God of their
fathers and to obey his laws and commands.” When attacked by
a huge Cushite army, Asa cried out to God for help and they were
routed before him. Encouraged by a prophecy he went on to remove
idols from the whole land and captured territory and repaired the
Lord's altar in Jerusalem. He even deposed his grandmother for
worshipping Ashera. He enjoyed peace until the 36th year
of his reign.
873
BC Jehoshaphat: in his early years “he walked
in the ways his ancestor David had followed. He did not consult the
Baals but sought the God of his father and followed his commands
rather than the practices of Israel” … “he
removed the high places and Ashera poles from Judah.” “the
fear of the Lord fell on all the lands surrounding Judah, so they did
not make war with Jehoshaphat.” In a most spectacular
display, God causes the annihilation of a huge army from three
nations coming to attack Jerusalem (see2 Chron. 20) . However there
is a comment at the end that for all Jehoshapht's piety (and God's
deliverance of the nation from enemies!) “the
people still had not set their hearts on the God of their fathers.”
849
BC Jehoram : “when Jehoram had established
himself firmly over his father's kingdom he put all his brothers to
the sword along with some of the princes of Israel … He did evil in
the sight of the Lord.” Subject nations successfully
rebelled. A prophet warned him: “You have not
walked in the ways of your father … You have led the Judah and the
people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves … You have also
murdered your own brothers therefore
the Lord is about to strike ...” The nation was attacked and
invaded and plundered and Asa was struck down with a painful fatal
disease. “(Jehoram) passed away to no one's
regret ...”
842
BC Ahaziah: “He did evil in the eyes of the
Lord” Killed whilst visiting the king of Israel, then his
mother took power
842
BC Athaliah : A nasty woman! On her son's death she exterminated the
royal family and ruled. One baby prince, Joash was rescued and
brought up by the high priest in the temple of God in Jerusalem. When
he was aged seven with the help of the priests and army a coup was
staged and Athaliah was executed.
837
BC Joash. “Joash did right in the eyes of the
Lord all the years of Jehoida the priest” (who raised him).
He repaired the temple. “After the death of
Jehoida, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king and
he listened to them. They abandoned the temple of the Lord the God of
their fathers and worshipped Ashera poles and idols” God
sent prophets to warn them but the people did not listen. Then
Zechariah, Jehoida's son prophesied: “This is
what God says: 'Why do you disobey the Lord's commands? You will not
prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord he has forsaken you.”
Joash the king had him murdered. “at the
turn of the year the army of Aram marched against Joash; it invaded
Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the people.”
800
BC Amaziah: “ He did what was right in the
eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly” He later conquered
a neighbouring country – but brought back their idols and started
to worship them. He refused to hear a prophet sent to warn him. He
challenged Israel, but was defeated, captured and lost all the
valuables from his palace and the temple. He was eventually
assassinated by conspirators.
783
BC Uzziah: “He did what was right in the eyes
of the Lord … he sought God all the days of Zechariah who
instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God
gave him success” Later he became proud and tried to usurp
the priestly role: he was struck down instantly with leprosy.
742
BC Jotham: “He did what was right in the eyes
of the Lord … The people however continued their corrupt
practices.” he was successful in battle. “Jotham
grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the Lord his God”
735
BC Ahaz: “He made cast idols for worshipping
the Baals. He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and
sacrificed his sons in the fire, following the detestable ways of the
nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He
offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places on the
hilltops and under every spreading tree. Therefore the Lord his God
handed him over to the king of Aram ...” Other surrounding
nations pressed attacks. “the Lord had
humbled Judah because of Ahaz … because he had promoted wickedness
in Judah and been most unfaithful to the Lord.” He also
closed the temple and built pagan altars throughout Jerusalem.
715
BC Hezekiah: “He did what was right in the
eyes of the Lord” He opened the temple. He ordered the
priests and Levites to clean out and consecrate the temple.
Re-instituted Passover and sent couriers round the country with the
message: “People of Israel, return to the
Lord, the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob that he may return to you
...” There was a great assembly in Jerusalem for the feast
of unleavened bread and “When all this had
ended the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah
and smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Ashera poles ...”
When the Assyrian King Sennacherib invaded, God miraculously rescued
Judah. Sennacherib withdrew to his own country and was assassinated.
687
BC Manasseh: “he did evil in the eyes of the
Lord … he rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had
demolished, he also erected altars to the Baals and built Ashera
poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts. He built altars (to
the starry hosts) in the temple of the Lord …
He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom,
practised sorcery, divination and witchcraft and
consulted mediums and spiritists.” …
“the
Lord spoke to Manasseh and
his people, but they paid no attention so the Lord sent the army
commanders of the king of Assyria who captured Manasseh … then
Manasseh humbled himself greatly before the Lord … who brought him
back to Jerusalem … Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God … he
got rid of the foreign gods … the people however continued to
sacrifice at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.”
642
BC Amon: “he did evil in the sight of God”
his officials conspired and assassinated him.
640
BC Josiah: “he did what was right in the eyes
of the Lord” He was 8 when he became king. At age 16 he
“began to seek the God of his ancestor David”
At 18 “he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem
of high places, Ashera poles and carved idols and cast images.”
At 26 he ordered the repair of the temple, during these the “Book
of the Law” was found. He called all the people together, read out
the book of the Covenant, and renewed the covenant – to follow the
Lord and keep his commands. He made all in the country serve the
Lord. “As long as he lived, they did not fail
to follow the Lord the God of their fathers.”
609
BC Jehoahaz: only reigned 3 months before he was removed by the king
of Egypt
609
BC Jehoiakim: Installed as a vassal to Egypt. “He
did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Babylonian king
Nebuchadnezzar invaded and took him captive to Babylon.
598
BC Jehoiachin: Installed as vassal to Nebuchadnezzar, “he did evil
in the eyes of the Lord”. He was summoned to Babylon and replaced
by his uncle Zedekiah
597
Zedekiah: made king as vassal to Nebuchadnezzar, taking an oath of
allegiance in the Lord's name. “he did evil
in the eyes of the Lord and did not
humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah who spoke the word of the
Lord.” He also broke his oath and rebelled against
Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonians besieged Jerusalem. Zedekiah rejected
God's promise of safety if he surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar.
Jerusalem fell in 587. Zedekiah's sons were executed in front of him,
he was then blinded and taken in chains to Babylon along with most of
the survivors. The city was looted and the temple destroyed.
Those
are the main facts. Next post I shall attempt to draw some
conclusions from them.
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