Day Twenty-Eight -- Paying the price of disobedience
2 Kings 15:27 to 2 Kings 25:30
We could see it coming; this was not going to end well. Israel (the northern kingdom) never regained its standing with the LORD from the day Jeroboam led them to split from the united kingdom that flourished under the leadership of David and his son Solomon. Including Jeroboam, 19 kings ruled over Israel (none from the House of David) and all of them were described as 'evil.' Conquered, "the people of Israel were taken away from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there"[2 Kings 17:23]. These are known as the lost tribes of Israel.
We might have had more hope for Judah (the southern kingdom). After the split of the united kingdom it too had 19 kings, noticably all from the House of David. Their final scorecard shows that 10 of the kings were considered 'good' and 9 were listed as 'evil'. Translated into baseball terms, they had a .526 batting average, which would be good enough for a slot in the sport's Hall of Fame. Judah even had its all-star king in the person of Josiah. None of this, however, is good enough as it falls short of any real definition of faithfulness to God. In the end, disobedience has emptied all of the Promised Land of God's people, save for "some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields" [2 Kings 25:12].
Has the LORD ordained a period of Sabbath for the Promised Land? It certainly could use a break from the warfare and desecration brought on by an unruly people.
We could see it coming; this was not going to end well. Israel (the northern kingdom) never regained its standing with the LORD from the day Jeroboam led them to split from the united kingdom that flourished under the leadership of David and his son Solomon. Including Jeroboam, 19 kings ruled over Israel (none from the House of David) and all of them were described as 'evil.' Conquered, "the people of Israel were taken away from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there"[2 Kings 17:23]. These are known as the lost tribes of Israel.
We might have had more hope for Judah (the southern kingdom). After the split of the united kingdom it too had 19 kings, noticably all from the House of David. Their final scorecard shows that 10 of the kings were considered 'good' and 9 were listed as 'evil'. Translated into baseball terms, they had a .526 batting average, which would be good enough for a slot in the sport's Hall of Fame. Judah even had its all-star king in the person of Josiah. None of this, however, is good enough as it falls short of any real definition of faithfulness to God. In the end, disobedience has emptied all of the Promised Land of God's people, save for "some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields" [2 Kings 25:12].
Has the LORD ordained a period of Sabbath for the Promised Land? It certainly could use a break from the warfare and desecration brought on by an unruly people.
No comments:
Post a Comment