Old Testament Core Seminar

Class 15“Kings”

Old Testament Overview

1

Introduction to Kings

2

• Four quick things to note before we begin:• Originally, they were one book.• We don’t know exactly who the author was, but we do know that

he (or they) drew upon many different historical documents to compile what we know today as First and Second Kings.

• Most likely took place during the time of the exile. • The events stretch from the crowning of King Solomon, in about

970 BC, all the way to the exile, 400 years later.

Introduction to Kings

3

OT Themes: God’s People w/o King

4

Moses and the Judges• Look at Deuteronomy 28:1-7 to see when God’s people had no

king at all.• If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his

commands:• You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.• The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your

land and the young of your livestock• Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed• You will be blessed when you come in and go out.• Your enemies will be defeated before you.

5

Go to verses 58-64.• If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law:• The LORD will send fearful plagues, harsh and prolonged

disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses• All the diseases of Egypt• Every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of

the Law, until you are destroyed. • From being numerous as the stars you’ll become few in number, • As it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in

number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. • You will be uprooted from the land and scattered among the

nations. God / | \ The People

6

• These same promises and conditions still stand throughout the book of Kings. They’re undercurrent of everything that happens.

God’s people with their First Faithful King (King David)• Focus of the whole of OT turns to the kings in the line of David. • It’s not that the people and their behavior are unimportant – but

that the king now serves as a covenant representative before Yahweh, on behalf of the people.

GK (covenant representative)

/ | \ The people

• Now God’s relationship with his people changes. • 2 Samuel 7 says that David’s kingdom “will endure forever.” • God will punish David’s descendants when they do wrong.• The promise of a forever kingdom is without conditions – it

doesn’t depend on his people doing anything.

7

• The blessings and curses of Deuteronomy are in full effect. • So is this promise of a kingdom that will last forever. • What’s going to happen? • Will the people have a king who obeys the law, so that they might

have blessing, • Or rebel and cause the people suffering? • And if they rebel and so are cursed according to God’s promise in

Deuteronomy, what happens to his promise in 2 Samuel?

God’s People with their fulfillment King 1 Kings 1-11

8

• Who is Solomon? 1 Kings 2:1-4• David on his deathbed he gives a charge to Solomon his son. • “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be

strong, show yourself a man, and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go, and that the LORD may keep his promise to me: 'If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'”

9

• In these words we see that David is again reminded of those two key promises: 1. That his line will never fail (v.4).2. That David’s descendants, (v.3), beginning with Solomon, are

charged to walk in God’s ways and keep His decrees and commands, if they are to experience God’s blessing.

• Again the focus will be on the kings and how well they are (or are not) keeping the “Law of Moses.”

• So what happens next? Will Solomon be this fulfillment king? • Chapter 3 tells what set Solomon apart from everyone else.• Verse 12 declares that because Solomon asks God for wisdom

“there will never have been anyone like” him. • The results in chapters 4-10 are clear: Look at 4:20-21

– In 4:20-21 there is “population growth, eating, drinking, happiness”; – in v 24-25 there is “peace and prosperity” in the land; – in v 34 there is world renowned fame for God’s people and their king

10

• The Lord even blessed Solomon and the nation with his own special presence by having him build the Temple in chapters 5-8.

• What was the primary purpose of the tabernacle?• God’s presence!• What are the differences between the tabernacle and the

temple?• A tabernacle is for traveling, and wandering, but a temple is

permanent. • In 1 Kings 8, the temple in Jerusalem is finally built and this is

what happened when it was completed. 1 Kings 8:10• Same thing as happened when the tabernacle was completed in

Exodus 40.• Solomon’s benediction is shot through with just about every

redemptive-historical theme that we’ve considered so far - fulfilled with the building of the temple and God’s presence with them.

11

• 10:56 "Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.

• v59-61: And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near the LORD our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day may require, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. Let your heart therefore be loyal to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments, as at this day."

• Notice that phrase in verse 56 “not one word had failed”. • The covenant mediator, the king, is bringing God’s blessings to his

people through his obedience.

12

• God’s people need a king, not only to receive God’s blessings, but also to help them display God’s glory to watching world.

GK (covenant mediator)

/ | \The people: Blessed, Glorifying God

• So God’s plan of redemption is complete! Victory is His, and there is no need for anything else. The victory of God has arrived in its entirety!

• Shocking: Solomon prays for his people at this seemingly perfect era, he also asks for God’s mercy if they sin …

• v46 "When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin)

• There are two problems here if you think about it:1. “No-one does not sin” (v.46) 2. God will keep his promises.

13

• Deuteronomy 28, Israel will be judged when they do not obey God, and that God will send them away if they disobey

• As a result, God’s people need a king to ask for mercy when they fail.

GK (covenant mediator)

/ | \The people: Blessed, Glorifying God … but needing mercy

• What’s next? The so-called fulfillment king will fall, and take all his people down with him. Chapter 11

• Solomon didn’t heed the advice in his very own Song, instead, as we read in verse 3, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Who led his heart astray.

• David wasn’t perfect, but at least he never served other gods; his heart was always fully devoted to Yahweh his God.

14

• Every king will be compare to David and starting with his first son who failed the test. That’s 11:6.

• Read 11:11 the kingdom is torn from David’s son.• But v13 shows God’s mercy!• A few points of application.

1. There is danger of how being a few degrees off God’s law can sends us in the wrong direction totally.

2. Solomon was wise, but in acting very unwisely in one particular area, he sinned greatly, and this led to the people’s downfall.

– Good advice for Christian leadership.

• Ultimately this passage shows God as so trustworthy. • He never breaks his promise with his people or David.

God’s People with their Flawed Northern Kings 1 Kings 12:2-2Kings 21

15

• The very first king of Israel, Jeroboam, immediately leads the people of Israel into idolatry.

• 11:28 - Jeroboam leads the people straight into making golden calves.

• It seals the nation’s doom. Read 14:15-16.• Some of the saddest words so far in all of redemptive-

history. The northern tribes are lost. But not for 200 years.• Jeroboam’s wickedness was so great that all the subsequent

kings of Israel will be compared to him!• No other one king of Israel is counted as evil.

16

• There're two prominent prophets in the Kings, Elijah and Elisha. 1 Kings 17- 2 Kings 13

• Why so important? They aren’t kings. • They speak word of Yahweh to the kings and to the people. G

PK (covenant mediator)

/ | \ The people: Blessed, Glorifying God…. but needing mercy• They have 2 jobs:

1. Remind the kings that they cannot do whatever they want. They are like covenant watchdogs, guardians of the covenant calling the kings and the people to faithfulness.

2. To proclaim the punishment that the kings and the people would endure if they didn’t repent

17

• The kings don’t listen and lead the people into further decay, and as a result they are displaced.

• 2 Kings 17 recounts the destruction of Israel by Assyria. • They bring in pagans to settle the land = a reversal of Joshua.• Yahweh takes covenant faithfulness very seriously. • This section reminds us:– That sin will eventually catch up with us. – We can run from sin for years, but we cannot ultimately run

from God’s judgment. – It will either cause failure in this life, as it did for Solomon, or

it will ultimately cause God’s judgment to be brought when we face death.

– Failing to trust and obey God’s word ultimately leads to destruction.

God’s People with their Flawed Southern Kings 1 Kings 12:2-2Kings 21

18

• Judah’s story is a bit different. Why? God’s promises to David.

• 1 Kings 15 for examples: a summary of the reign of Abijam. • “He committed all the sins his father had done before him;

his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been. Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong.” (NIV)

• Notice two things there:1. Even though Abijam did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, he was

not cast off and his son was established after him (verse 4).

19

• Why? “For David’s sake.” In the North there are 10 changes in ruling family, but in the South there were none. The line of David continued.

2. Abijam was compared to David, as were all Judah’s kings. • We see that some Judean kings were good, like Hezekiah in 2

Kings 18-20 and they did what was right, • About half of them were bad. • The godliness of the kings rises and falls - When we get to

Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, his reign is the worst yet. • Look at 2 Kings 21:11-12• As Jeroboam had sealed the fate of Israel, so Manasseh’s sins

brought this irrevocable prophecy. Judah will soon be taken captive just as Israel was.

• But just when it looks the worst a kings who exceeds even David in godliness and goodness is next … Josiah.

God’s People with their Finest King 2 Kings 22-23

20

• 1 Kings 13:2 - a prophecy almost 300 years before Manasseh• There will be a future king Josiah who will restore true

worship to Israel. • He arrives here in the closing chapters of 2 Kings. • Chapters 22 and 23 contains the things accomplished… he

finds the book of the law, he renews the covenant, he purges the land of idolatry… In fact look at 23:25.

• “Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.”

21

• For the first time in 45 chapters we have one king greater than David!

• But, tragically, Josiah meets a tragic end. • Judah will not escape final judgment and God’s promised

anger, because of Manasseh, will stand. • king Josiah dies in battle. • And again God’s plan of redemption through David’s line is

left hanging from a thread. • The solution was a godly king. But here he is, and we are still

left waiting.• This application turns to us as the need for a forever and

perfect King that beats death finally … our Savior Jesus. • There is also the danger of flirting with God’s mercy thinking

God’s people can act however they like, because God has made a promise to them.

22

• A savior King who obeys the law perfectly (where they can’t) will come, but they are to live in accordance with that King to receive blessing and fellowship with God.

GPK (covenant mediator)

/ | \ The people: Blessed, Glorifying God…. but needing mercy

God’s People with their Final King 2 Kings 24-25

23

• The final few chapters of Kings let’s to one last king. • Following Josiah there were three waves of attack by the

Babylonians.• Each attack they take a few more captives away, until, as

promised, they finally level Jerusalem and the temple.• Josiah’s great grandson, King Jehoiachin, is taken captive to

Babylon (24:15).• His uncle Zedekiah is set up by Babylon as a puppet king. • However, he rebels against the Babylonians.• His punishment? Just before his eyes are put out, his sons—

the line of David—are all killed in front of him.

24

• As Kings concludes, is the promise over for God’s people? • Do we draw a line through our diagram and think that God

starts again in the New Testament? • God’s plan of redemption certainly looks is in shambles• 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel are scattered and lost among the

nations, and the remaining tribes captive far away. • What about the King in the line of David?• Has Yahweh reneged on His promises? • Was Yahweh too weak to stop the Babylonian army? • This was the result of the sin of the kings – it now looks

doubtful that anything can be salvaged.• Hass the seed of the serpent finally finished his job killing off

the seed of the woman?

25

• There is just a little ray of hope left … one final descendant of David’s still alive!

• Just before Zedekiah took the throne: Jehoiachin, Josiah’s great grandson is exiled to Babylon.

• This is not good, but just as the book ends, Jehoiachin is released to dine for the rest of his days at the king’s table.

• It’s not much, but it’s a ray of hope! • One descendant of David is still alive!

God’s People with their Forever King

26

• We end on a great a cliffhanger• Who knows what God’s people in Babylon thought?• We know the end result – it’s not Jehoiachin… but Jesus, the

forever king. G

J (fully qualified mediator) / | \

The people: Blessed, Glorifying God…. but still needing mercy• Jesus completes our diagram.

27

• He is the one in David’s line who never breaks God’s law.• He displays God’s glory perfectly.• He brings God’s full judgment of our sin through his death.• He brings blessings to us • He intercedes for us pleading that God might show his mercy

if we turn and trust in Him.• We should be filled with great excitement that we have a

God who will keep his promises.