Kings Era Ends

Lessons From The Kings

In the Old Testament books that tell the stories of the kings, we see the great depths of God’s feelings — feelings of love, pain, jealousy, anger, hate, pleasure — feelings we know well, because we have this same feelings.

Feeling: Jealousy

God warns us that He is a “jealous God.”

God’s jealousy is pure. His jealousy is a zealous determination to protect and nournish that which He loves. While God does not betray His beloved, He is often betrayed by those who profess to love him. With God, and with man, betrayal brings hurt, brings anger. Betrayal can be forgiven. However, when we are betrayed again, and again, the time comes when we say, “No more! And we separate ourselves from our beloved.

There is another kind of jealousy, however, that comes from envy, from coveting what belongs to others. Coveting breaks God’s rules.

We know God’s rules: the Ten Commandments. Far too many of us think of them as a bunch of “don’ts.” Actually, their purpose is to anchor us in love — love for God, love for self, love for one another.

Killing another, sexually betraying one’s mate, stealing from another, testifying falsely against another, coveting what belongs to another — all these, show hate and disrespect toward others. And the “doer” of such acts reveals his/her false sense of superiority/entitlement over others.

Jealous envy drove Cain to murder his brother Abel. King Saul’s jealousy of David cost him his crown and his life.

“A sound heart is the life of the flesh:
but envy the rottenness of the bones.”
— Proverbs 14:30

Feeling: Anger

There is righteous anger, such as anger over man’s inhumanity to man.

In the stories of the kings, we find that children are sacrificed to gods of wood, of stone; there is no justice for the poor. We find the lust for sexual pleasures given “religious” approval. We find the children of Israel turning from the God who saved them, to gods they make for themselves.

God is angered, and justly so.

Then, there is the anger that comes from man’s hate toward others, and sometimes, hate for self.

Anger that results in one taking action to protect self and others is OK. Anger that results in harm to self or others for no just reason is not OK.

Proverbs 22:24 advises: “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:”

Ecclesiastes 7:9 warns: “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.”

Feeling: Hate

Hate is a destroyer, and the cause of so much misery. Yet, there are evil things deserving of hate. 

In Scripture, we find that God hates:

A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
Feet that be swift in running to mischief,
A false witness that speaketh lies,
He that soweth discord among brethren.
— Proverbs 6:14-17

Hate, anger, and jealousy — without good reason — can fill our heart, soul, and mind with darkness.

Love will lead us to the Lord, and bring a good life to our days on earth.

And yes, there will be sadness; let it pass and be grateful for it; it shows you love. In love, there will be memories to cherish and treasure. It is far better that love fill one’s heart, mind and soul. It brings a light into life, and brightens the darkest of times.

Feeling: Pleasure

When Solomon became king of Israel, the Lord asked what Solomon desired. Solomon asked for an understanding heart to judge God’s people.

Solomon’s request pleased the Lord. “And God said unto him, ‘Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;

‘Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days (1 Kings 3:9-14).’ ”

Solomon, for a time, served the Lord, and the kingdom of Israel well. He built the House of the Lord; Israel prospered. Solomon was famous for his wisdom, and his wealth. Then Solomon’s love for many women, and his acceptance of their “gods,” led him away from the God of his fathers, the God of Abraham.

The Book of Ecclesiastes begins with:

“Vanities of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanity; all is vanity.”

What is meant by “all is vanity?”

Webster defines it as inflated pride in one’s self; also as something vain, empty or valueless.

In essence, the person who is vain, who is a slave to vanity, desires to be “better” than others, “above” others. The person may even “idolize” self.

And, indeed, the vain person is an empty person.

In Ecclesiastes, words attributed to Solomon says: “And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly … (Ecclesiastes 1:17).”

And the king who had everything, tried everything under the sun, ended his words of wisdom with:

“Fear God, and keep his commandments:
for this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good,
or whether it be evil.”
— Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Feeling: Fear

Fear is the feeling not shared by God and man. Man fears; God does not.

Man fears many things — pain, loss, lack of belonging. Man fears lack of water, food, shelter. Man fears the disasters of winds and water and fire and famine. Man fears the destructions of war. Perhaps most of all, man fears death.

God has no fear. And if we put our trust, our faith in God, He will take away our fear. Even in death, we will have nothing to fear.

Indeed, it is written: “… the day of our death is better than the day of our birth (Ecclesiastes 7:1).”

Seeking the Dead

The Old Testament (and the New Testament) reveal a place for spirits of the dead. And God warns against seeking contact with the dead: 

“Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God (Leviticus 19:31).”

King Saul disregarded those words.

When Saul was fearful of the Philistines gathering to attack Israel, he asked the Lord for guidance. When the Lord would not answer, Saul disguised himself, and went to a woman having a familiar spirit. He requested that the woman “bring up” the dead prophet Samuel. When this was done, Samuel asked Saul, “Why has thou disquieted me … .”

Saul answered that God had departed from him. Samuel told Saul that the Lord was now his enemy, and Saul’s kingdom would be rent from his hand. Samuel also told Saul that on the morrow, “shalt thou and thy sons be with me.” (See Samuel Chapter 28)

This vivid picture of the dead prophet Samuel talking to Saul reveals a spirit world that God has declared off limits to the living.

The “why?” for this apparently is that seeking those in the afterlife for answers shows lack of faith in God. Also, many who claim such afterlife power are phonies. They seek profit through fraud.

King Manasseh also ignored God’s warning.

“And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger (2 Kings 21:6).”

Yet, when Manasseh was in affliction, and he turned to the Lord, and humbled himself, the Lord heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.

“Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God (2 Chronicles 33:13).”

Again, we have a glimpse of a forgiving God.

Feelings About Slavery

There are those who claim that God approves of slavery. That’s like saying God approves of adultery. Truth is, that God recognizes both adultery and slavery exist because of man’s greed, and the lust for power and self pleasure.

When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against the cities that were left, King Zedekaih had made a covenant with the people at Jerusalem. Every man should let his Hebrew servant go free. This applied to man or maid servant. And the people obeyed. But later, they had a change of heart and forced the servants to return.

A disapproving God gave the prophet Jeremiah a message:

“I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.

“And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

“Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth… “And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you.

Behold, I will command, saith the Lord, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant (Jeremiah 34:13-22).”

Rule By King Not God’s Way

God knew that kings, and castles, and even great temples, along with the rituals that come with them would become vanity and distraction, and would greatly burden the people.

Nonetheless, the children of Israel wanted a king. God first chose Saul, who was a disappointment; then, He chose David, who mostly led in the way of the Lord. Yet even David committed adultery and murder. And though God forgave a remorseful David, there were grave consequences for his sins.

When David wanted to build a house for the Lord, God let it be known that He was content to live in a tent.

Yet, because of man’s desire for a temple, God allowed David’s son Solomon to build a great temple, a temple that God himself planned.

Solomon’s taxation to pay for the temple, houses for himself and his 700 wives, along with with other lavish structures, indeed proved burdensome.

And the house build for the Lord, came to be called Solomon’s Temple. It seems the great Temple was more for men, than for God, who was content with a tent; and who had Heaven as His throne, and Earth as His footstool.

But most of all, the unfaithfulness of the children of Israel caused God to turn away from them. Time and time again, He forgave. Time and time again, they betrayed.

When things went wrong, the people turned to God; soon after He forgave, soothed their pain, righted their wrongs, they returned to other gods.

The books of Kings, and Chronicles above all, show that rule by king was not seen by God as the best rule for man. However, it seems that when man will not listen to God, God lets man go his own way. And when man continually turns away from God, and turns to ways of evil,  man must suffer the consequences that come with wrongful choices, wrongful acts.

Next: The Prophets