Abijah succeeded Rehoboam as king of Judah. The text very conspicuously omits any mention of Abijah being of the anointed line of David, which is interesting given how heavily Abijah leaned on this anointed bloodline thing when he railed against Jeroboam and Israel. And he must have at least been on good terms with God because he eventually angered Israel into attacking Judah and fended them off handily because, as the book says, God was on his side.
That's pretty much all Abijah did during his reign though. Next king:
Abijah's son king Asa ruled over a period of peace. He was a big fan of the Lord and oversaw the removal of all kinds of shrines and ashera poles which I guess were all there during his father's reign? After a decade the cushites came and attacked though, leaving a lush, Indian paradise to come take over a whole bunch of desolate Middle-eastern tumbleweeds. This seems a little bit like Oregon invading Arizona to me, but Judah was a power-house around this time so maybe it was just a matter of principle.
Anyway, Asa was tight with God so he won easily and the cushites went home defeated. Then God spoke to the prophet Azariah and told him to tell Asa that He would be found if Asa would seek Him and that Asa could turn Judah back toward God if he tried. Asa did try and had all the pagan idols in Judah destroyed (again? more thoroughly?) and restored the temple that Solomon had built.
Honestly, I didn't realize that Judah had turned away from God since Solomon's time. This is all happening withing the "18 year reign of Jeroboam" in Israel, so it's not like we're looking at a long, slow decline over several generations here. Judah must have forgotten about God literally within months of the death of Rehaboam. I guess there's probably a lesson there about how much damage a lame representative can do to the church. David did pretty well and the nation flourished. Solomon did pretty well and the nation flourished. Rehoboam was kind of a jerk, spending the credibility that his predecessors had earned, and the nation splits, both side descending almost immediately into idolatry.
Later in king Asa's reign, he stripped his grandmother of her political power because she promoted the worship of foreign gods, and he sent a bunch of treasure to the king of Damascus to restore a treaty from back in Solomon's day. This latter move proved to be a mistake because, even though it worked out well in the short term and Israel stopped causing trouble with Judah, Asa relied on this treaty in stead of relying on the Lord. A prophet told Asa as much and Asa was angry with him and put him in prison, then started oppressing the people. I think the moral there is that once you start turning your back on God, it's a small step to becoming a huge jerk. So Asa had a good start, but eventually screwed up being in charge. Next king:
Jehosephat was the son of Asa, but the text also refers to David being his ancestor so now we finally have some evidence that we're still talking about the line of David here. Jehosephat fortified the border with Israel and removed the high places and Ashera poles. He's the third king in a row to have removed the high places and Ashera poles, so I guess the people must have been just sort of constantly erecting these things all through these times. Jehosephat sent teachers and Levites around through Judah teaching people about the Lord. Smaller groups in the area like the Philisitnes and the Arabs paid tribute to Jehosephat. It's interesting that a pretty solid indicator of how tight the king is with God seems to be what the neighboring pagan tribes think about him. Whenever a Jewish leader is really on the up an up, all the key gentiles in the area also think that he's great. God said in Exodus that He would reveal himself to anyone who honestly sought Him, although he was talking specifically to Moses and the Israelites. There seems to be a theme though of foreigners outside of the Jewish tradition still knowing that God is God, and supporting whomever God supports. Balaam and Malchizedek come to mind specifically.
That's pretty much all Abijah did during his reign though. Next king:
Abijah's son king Asa ruled over a period of peace. He was a big fan of the Lord and oversaw the removal of all kinds of shrines and ashera poles which I guess were all there during his father's reign? After a decade the cushites came and attacked though, leaving a lush, Indian paradise to come take over a whole bunch of desolate Middle-eastern tumbleweeds. This seems a little bit like Oregon invading Arizona to me, but Judah was a power-house around this time so maybe it was just a matter of principle.
Anyway, Asa was tight with God so he won easily and the cushites went home defeated. Then God spoke to the prophet Azariah and told him to tell Asa that He would be found if Asa would seek Him and that Asa could turn Judah back toward God if he tried. Asa did try and had all the pagan idols in Judah destroyed (again? more thoroughly?) and restored the temple that Solomon had built.
Honestly, I didn't realize that Judah had turned away from God since Solomon's time. This is all happening withing the "18 year reign of Jeroboam" in Israel, so it's not like we're looking at a long, slow decline over several generations here. Judah must have forgotten about God literally within months of the death of Rehaboam. I guess there's probably a lesson there about how much damage a lame representative can do to the church. David did pretty well and the nation flourished. Solomon did pretty well and the nation flourished. Rehoboam was kind of a jerk, spending the credibility that his predecessors had earned, and the nation splits, both side descending almost immediately into idolatry.
Later in king Asa's reign, he stripped his grandmother of her political power because she promoted the worship of foreign gods, and he sent a bunch of treasure to the king of Damascus to restore a treaty from back in Solomon's day. This latter move proved to be a mistake because, even though it worked out well in the short term and Israel stopped causing trouble with Judah, Asa relied on this treaty in stead of relying on the Lord. A prophet told Asa as much and Asa was angry with him and put him in prison, then started oppressing the people. I think the moral there is that once you start turning your back on God, it's a small step to becoming a huge jerk. So Asa had a good start, but eventually screwed up being in charge. Next king:
Jehosephat was the son of Asa, but the text also refers to David being his ancestor so now we finally have some evidence that we're still talking about the line of David here. Jehosephat fortified the border with Israel and removed the high places and Ashera poles. He's the third king in a row to have removed the high places and Ashera poles, so I guess the people must have been just sort of constantly erecting these things all through these times. Jehosephat sent teachers and Levites around through Judah teaching people about the Lord. Smaller groups in the area like the Philisitnes and the Arabs paid tribute to Jehosephat. It's interesting that a pretty solid indicator of how tight the king is with God seems to be what the neighboring pagan tribes think about him. Whenever a Jewish leader is really on the up an up, all the key gentiles in the area also think that he's great. God said in Exodus that He would reveal himself to anyone who honestly sought Him, although he was talking specifically to Moses and the Israelites. There seems to be a theme though of foreigners outside of the Jewish tradition still knowing that God is God, and supporting whomever God supports. Balaam and Malchizedek come to mind specifically.
No comments:
Post a Comment