Captivity
I Kings 12
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/Captivity.html
v. 16-17 “Rehoboam reigned over them” – here’s a major division in the OT. Israel is now split. The Hebrew nation has much in common w/ the US in its history...
Both were founded on the Word of God. [Revisionists try to rewrite history and say this wasn’t founded as a Christian nation.]
Both were tragically divided by Civil War. It was the south who seceded from the north in the US, but it was the other way around w/ Israel. Who’s the rebel now?
They had 3 kings for 40 years each: Saul, David, and Solomon. Then Solomon’s son Rehoboam came on the scene...and he was a knucklehead! He was a young, arrogant, prideful man. He led the nation into apostasy and civil war.
That war has lasted for almost 3,000 years now. In 70 AD when Titus the Roman General decimated Jerusalem the Jews were scattered over the earth and all hope was lost for a complete reunification. And there will be no complete peace until the Prince of Peace sets it up in the millennium.
Rev. 7 gives us a glimpse into the tribulation period when the kingdom is starting to come together.
The northern kingdom was known as Israel and the southern as Judah.
Jeroboam is over the north and Rehoboam is over the south.
v. 1-4 The children of Israel feel taken advantage of by their government. Again, we have much in common with them! After Solomon died the people chose Jeroboam to go to Rehoboam and serve as their spokesman. They wanted relief from oppressive taxation. Our forefathers left England for many reasons, including taxation w/out representation.
v. 4 Solomon had left being a shepherd leader to being a slave driver.
v. 5-6 Rehoboam did a couple things right. He took time to make his decision, and got advice from his elders.
Ill.—young people have many decisions to make and little experience. Their elders have much experience and no decisions to make. It’s God’s will to get the two together, the elder and the younger, and share generationally!
v. 7-9a Rehoboam already knew what he wanted to do, so he looked for someone else to back him up. People do that all the time. Our kids go from one parent to another to find their way. People go to different pastors and churches looking for someone to say what they already have decided to do...so they can feel better about doing it! A conscience soothing! We should find someone who will tell us the truth, not some ‘friend’ who will say what we want them to say.
v. 10-11 “You think you had it rough w/ my dad, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
The result was a divided kingdom in civil war. Rehoboam destroyed in 1 day what took his fathers 120 years to put together. He wouldn’t listen to wisdom, and decided to take the low road.
v. 16-17 Jeroboam is now over the north, and Rehoboam over the southern kingdom. This is important to understand from here on out as you study the Bible...they are a divided nation. They have always had many enemies from without, but also from within. You’ll read about Israel invading Jerusalem and scratch your head. But Jerusalem was the capitol of the southern kingdom, and Samaria of the northern.
The kingdom of Israel [north] lasted for 200 years after the division. They had 17 kings, and none of them were godly men, in spite of the pleadings of many prophets.
Amos, Obadiah, Hosea, Micah, and other minor prophets were trying to minister to each of the kingdoms. They were calling both to get right w/ God and with each other, or else.
Northern prophets include: Amos, Jonah, Hosea, and Micah. [their writings were to the north]
Southern prophets include: Obadiah, Habakkuk, Joel, Zephaniah, Isaiah, Jeremiah [also Lamentations], and Nahum.
There were also 2 ‘oral prophets’ who wrote no books, but did some great preaching to the kingdoms: Elijah and Elisha.
More about Jeroboam, the new ruler of the north: He faced a problem right away. He didn’t have Jerusalem to worship in. 3 times a year they needed to travel to worship, but they couldn’t do that. So he starts his own religion to false gods.
His 4 fold blasphemy:
1. Changed the religious symbols.
1 Kings 12:28
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
2. Changed worship centers.
Bethel and Dan were to be the new ones instead of Jerusalem. [11:36]
3. Degraded the priesthood.
Anyone could become a priest, not just those from the tribe of Levi as the Bible says. [12:31]
When he did this the real priests fled to Judah [the south]. The north backslid like never before.
4. Offered incense himself.
Saul did this, now Jeroboam, and later Uzziah. God punished all 3 for this. [12:33]
How did God deal w/ him for this?
13:1-4 He was paralyzed in the act. And later his son died as further punishment.
God judged the whole nation for this, and the north was overthrown by repeated invasions by the Assyrians.
Judah [south] had 19 kings and lasted about 200 years longer. They had a few good kings and bad ones. But the temple was destroyed, Jerusalem was burned, and God’s people were homeless. Imagine the feeling of being overthrown as a people. The Babylonians defeated the southern kingdom, and God’s people were taken into captivity for 70 years.
The prophets tried to warn them of these dangers, but they were scorned and persecuted. And then all their prophecies against them were fulfilled.
God would rather see His land devastated, Jerusalem ruined, the temple destroyed, and His people exiled than to see His people be such a bad testimony about what it means to follow Him.
And America is headed for judgment as well. How long will God’s mercy hold out?
A quote inscribed at the Jefferson Memorial:
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever.”
Now God’s children are in a foreign land as slaves. Why were they held there for 70 years?
It was to pay off a debt to God. The OT law had what was called a land Sabbath they were to observe. They had to allow the land to lie fallow a year for each seven years. But they didn’t follow it. For 490 years they violated that law, building up a charge account with God who always collects His debts!
Here’s a prophecy about this hundreds of years before it happened:
Leviticus 26:32-35
32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. 33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. 34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. 35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
Now, here’s when it actually took place:
2 Chronicles 36:18-21
18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. 19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. 20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.
Payday someday!
Ill.—I believe all Christians pay their tithes...either willingly or by force. You can give it or God can take it. One way includes promised blessings and the other way we won’t like! But God gets His.
Malachi 3:8-11
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
Once you get to the book of Ezra the 70 years have been fulfilled. King Cyrus of Persia issued proclamation that Jews could return home.
Ezra 1:2-4
2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
He says, You Jews have a choice. You can go do the work, or stay and help pay for it. Much like our missions program...you can give or go!
Ready for a blessing?
This next verse was written 170 years prior to the event:
Isaiah 44:28
That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
It’s another incredible proof of the reliability of the Word of God. It dares to predict the future and it has never been wrong!
Jeremiah 25:11
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Here the length is predicted...about 150 years previous to it happening.
Wow! This is awesome! I don’t want to give my life to a lie...but to the truth. What confidence we can have in the Word!
Next time, Construction, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the temple, and the nation of Israel.
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/Captivity.html
