Nehemiah: A diary of disaster

 

                Imagine that you were given the task of writing a report for God’s Old Testament people as we have encountered them up to this point.  How would they do?

                What mark would you give them for effort?  Every now and then they have declared their intention to do their best, but those intentions have never lasted that long!  They would get a very low mark for effort.

                What mark would you give them for behaviour?  Here are some words used to describe them—arrogant, stiff-necked, refused to listen, rebellious, disobedient and stubborn (see Nehemiah 9).  Imagine a child you know having all those things on their report!  They would get a very low mark for behaviour.

                What mark would you give them for learning?  They failed to remember, time and time they made the same mistakes, and they do not pay attention (again see Nehemiah 9).  It seems that they have learnt nothing over the long years of their history.  They would get a very low mark for learning.

                What a great disappointment they have been, how they have failed!

                They were repeatedly warned, and eventually they were suspended (sent into exile), but God did not give up on them—in his great mercy he did not put an end to them or abandon them, for the LORD is gracious and merciful (9:31).

Background

                In the last chapter we saw that the people of Judah were sent in to exile in Babylon.  What happened then?

                Well, the exile lasted around fifty years.  Then when Cyrus II conquered the Babylonians he issued edicts saying that the Jewish exiles could return and rebuild their temple.  Not all took advantage of this—although they had been forcefully taken into exile they had been well treated by the Babylonians.

                The first and main group of exiles to return left a year or so after Cyrus’ edict.  They were led by Zerubabbel, grandson of King Jehoiachin (see 2 Kings 24-25).  They set about restoring the temple.

                Seventy-five years later Ezra, a priest and a scribe, who has been described by many scholars as a kind of “secretary of state for Jewish affairs” in Babylon, was sent by the then Persian king ‘to enquire about Judah and Jerusalem with regards to the Law of your God’ (Ezra 7:14).

                Then 13 years later (445 BC) comes Nehemiah.[3] 

 

God the builder (chapters 1-6)

                Presumably Nehemiah had grown up as part of the exile community in Babylon.  When we meet him in chapter 1 he is a high ranking official in the court of the Persian King.  The book that bears his name contains his memoir—it reads like a diary.

                As we read through these chapters we can see that Nehemiah is a man of prayer, he is a great leader, and he certainly has the gift of administration.  He is also a man with a burden.  I mean this in the positive sense—where you may share God’s concern for a particular issue, for example you may have a burden for the youth of your town, for new residents in our land, or for global missions—God has put something of his concern for these things on your heart.

                Nehemiah’s concern was to do with Jerusalem—a city that he may not yet have visited.  Jerusalem was so much a part of God’s Old Testament plans and purposes.  When he heard of the state of that city (1:3) he was distraught.  For some days he mourned, fasted and prayed.

                We can see the content of his prayer in verses 5-11.  Like all Bible prayers it begins by telling God about God, it is only when focus on God is that we see our problems in their correct perspective.  ‘Only when we remind ourselves about him can we pray with due reverence, proper seriousness, correct self-awareness and knowledgeable faith.’[4]

                ‘O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commands’—all through the Old Testament we have seen God’s faithfulness to his promises, but the people haven’t kept their side of the bargain.

                For Nehemiah the walls of Jerusalem (which are central to this book) are a reminder of God’s covenant with Abraham—the promise that the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem will be the impregnable home of God’s faithful people.[5] 

                Nehemiah reminds God of his instructions given through Moses, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my name’ (1:8-9 see Duet. 30:4-10).  Nehemiah takes God’s word seriously and sets about trying to bring the people back to God.

At the end of chapter 1 we read that Nehemiah is cup bearer to the king, he tasted the kings wine before the king drank it encase it was poisoned.  It is the sort of job that you can’t look depressed on—if you do the king might think that there is something in the drink for him!  However, Nehemiah’s concern for Jerusalem was making him feel sad and it showed.  The king asked, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill?  This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”(2:2)[6]

                ‘I was very much afraid, but said to the king, “May the king live for ever!  Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?’ (2:2-3).

                The king then asked Nehemiah what it was that he wanted.  Nehemiah basically wanted everything that was needed to rebuild the walls.

                Nehemiah then went off to Jerusalem with all of the resources that God had given him through the king.  He is seen to be a great organiser—the unity and effectiveness with which the people work is impressive.  This is truly a group effort—involving rulers and priests, sons and daughters, perfumers and goldsmiths.  God’s people co-operating to fulfil a greater goal—if only this had been the story in the rest of the Old Testament!

                Not that the whole venture was plain sailing.  There was opposition and there were the attacks of their enemies.  Nevertheless the walls were completed in fifty-two days.  This was astounding and people took note: ‘When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realised that this work had been done with the help of our God’ (6:16).  God had done this—God the builder!

All looks well (chapters 7-12)

At the end of chapter 7 the people are secure in the promised land.  God has restored his people.  The question that remains however is ‘will the newly settled people be faithful to God as he has been faithful to them?’

In chapter 8 Ezra the priest reads and explains the Law of Moses to the assembled community.  As the stand and listen they hear of how God made a covenant with them, how he had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, and had given them rules to live by that they might please him and prosper.  They were stunned by what they heard—it seems that many of them had not heard the word of the LORD for a long time, possibly never.  The solemn assembly turned into a demonstration of humility, joy and tears.  They then celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.  In their turning back to God there is a sense of elation as they remember the abundance and goodness that is found in him.  

In chapter 9 the Levites lead the people in an act of public confession.  This chapter reads like an Old Testament overview.  They are told of God being the creator of the heavens and the earth, choosing Abram and promising him descendants and the promised land, giving the Law at Sinai, and proving for them (Genesis and Exodus in nine verses!!).

How had their forefathers responded to God’s actions?  They became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey your commands.  They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you preformed among them.  They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery (16-17).  Remember the low marks we gave them for behaviour and learning at the start of the chapter.  In the face of their unfaithfulness God remained faithful: But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.  Therefore you did not desert them . . . (17).

The Levites continued.  God had led them and fed them in the wilderness and given them the promised land.  How had they responded?  They . . . were disobedient and rebellious . . . (26).

Then we read of the cycle that was so evident in the book of Judges:  God hands them over to their enemies who oppress them, they cry out, in his compassion God sends them a deliverer, however as soon as they are at rest they again do what was evil in God’s sight (27-28). 

Despite many warnings they continued in their ways and so they were sent into exile (29-30).  However, because of his great mercy God had not put an end to them or abandoned them, for you are a gracious and merciful God (30).

The people were cut to the heart when they heard of the sins of their forefathers.  They call out to God to save them once more (remember they are still under foreign control) and they make a binging contract promising to keep the Law of Moses.  In chapter 11 Jerusalem is resettled.  In chapter 12 the walls are dedicated amid much rejoicing, the ‘sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away’ (43).

All looks well!  If the book of Nehemiah were to end at this point we might call it ‘the diary of delight’.  And if we were to write another report for them we could say ‘their behaviour and effort is greatly improved.’

Diary of Disaster (chapter 13)

                By the beginning of chapter 13 things may look well, but in this, the last chapter things turn horribly wrong.  It is now twelve years that Nehemiah has been in Jerusalem.  True to his word he goes back to King Artaxerxes who had given him leave in the first place. 

What happens when Nehemiah is away?  The people systematically go back on each of the promises that they had signed as a binding agreement.  Nehemiah records their sins with distressing detail.  You can almost hear the frustration and disappointment.  The diary of delight has turned into a diary of disaster!

                Israel’s history ends on a dismal note!  Go back to our report and we see that they still get low marks for effort, behaviour, and learning.  Indeed they have failed terribly.  The walls may have been rebuilt, but the people haven’t.

Conclusion

                We’ve reached the end of our Old Testament overview.  It ends in tragedy.  We have seen again and again how God has been faithful—he has added promise upon promise, he has persisted with his people, he has shown himself to be full of grace and compassion.  But his people have repeatedly rebelled against him.

                 The Bible would have the feel of an unfinished work if it ended here.  We still have not found the one who will crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15), the king from the tribe of Judah who will have the obedience of the nations (Genesis 49:10),[7] the Son of David whose throne will be established forever (2 Samuel 7:13).[8]  We still are left waiting for the new covenant that will change the hearts of God’s people and the new nation that will be a blessing to all peoples.

                As for those promises to Abraham!  If God is going to reverse the effects of the Fall and keep his promises he is going to have to deal with the problem of sin once and for all.  And so the scene is set for Jesus to step into history.  The story will continue . . .!!! 

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[1] Title taken from Full of Promise.

[2] The Samaritans on being refused the opportunity to collaborate, began to oppose the reconstruction.  As a result the work ceased for about fifteen years.  That it restarted again was largely due to the ministry of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (see Haggai 2:3-4 and Zechariah 4:9). 

[3] There is some debate concerning the dating of Ezra and Nehemiah—which came first.  I have given the traditional view.  For a justification of the traditional view see Motyer, Understanding the Old Testament, p.178.

[4] Motyer, The story of the Old Testament, p.175.

[5] Full of Promise, p. 69.

[6] David Jackman points out that the kings logic goes like this: ‘You are my cup-bearer, you are privileged, for I am the greatest king ever—so why are you not full of joy?’

[7] This prophesy was in part fulfilled by King David, but pointed beyond him to Jesus, who fulfils it fully.

[8] This prophesy was in part fulfilled by Solomon, but points beyond him to Jesus, who fulfils it fully.

The Exile: ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’

 

The Bible would be a very depressing book if it ended with 1 and 2 Kings.  In Kings we saw the kingdom divided.  Two hundred years later the ten tribes of the northern kingdom are conquered by the Assyrians[2].  Then at the end of 2 Kings we have what is known as the exile—Judah, the southern kingdom was conquered by the Babylonian empire, Jerusalem is destroyed, the temple is levelled, and thousands of prisoners were taken back to Babylon as exiles.  How did these exiles feel about this?  You can read Lamentations and see!  Psalm 137 capturers their feelings, ‘By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion[3]—as Boney M[4] reminds us!  

It is like the Fall has happened all over again—God’s special people have rebelled against God’s rule and been thrown out of their special place—in this case the Promised Land. 

So what now?  Is there any light at the end of the tunnel?  Has God given up on his people?  And what about those promises to Abraham?  We find the answers to these questions in the message of the prophets.  This morning we shall look at the message of three of them.

 

Isaiah[5]—preparation:

Let’s step back in time—to the southern kingdom, at least a hundred years before the exile.  A prophet named Isaiah is given a vision concerning Judah and its capital Jerusalem (Is. 1:1).

The message of Isaiah could be called ‘a tale of two cities’—faithless Jerusalem (i.e. the sinful city of Jerusalem, the people of Judah) (1:21) and faithful Jerusalem (1:26).  The question that runs all the way through the book is ‘how is the faithless city to become the faithful city?’[6]  The answer is through exile, through restoration beyond exile, and with (to quote a favourite phrase of Isaiah) ‘a new thing’ that God will do.

This new thing that God is going to do is that he is going to extend his salvation to the ends of the earth—remember that he had promised Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through his seed (Gen. 12:3), and God will bring about a new community—a new Israel, a new people of God.  God will do this new thing through the ministry of ‘my servant’.  Those passages that speak of this servant point ahead to Jesus,[7] reminding us that all of God’s promises come to fruition and fulfilment in his Son (2 Cor. 1:20).

Isaiah not only prophesied that the exile would happen, but that Cyrus would be the Persian leader who would bring God’s people back to their land (Is. 44:28-45:13).  So when the people are taken into exile, and they are told that the gods of Babylon had won the day and that the LORD is dead, those who had listened to God’s Word would know that that’s not true.  They knew that this was going to happen and that God would bring them through.  Isaiah’s is a ministry of preparation.

They were only a tiny remnant who believed that Word, but there was always a faithful remnant even in Babylon.

 

Jeremiah—expectation:

Jeremiah also prophesied before the exile—his ministry brings us right up to the fall of Jerusalem.  In Jeremiah 7, we have what is called the ‘temple sermon’—here Jeremiah is standing at the gate of the temple preaching to those who are going in and out. Read: 7:3-11.

The people had reasoned that because God had promised David that his dynasty would never end (2 Sam. 7) Jerusalem, David’s capital, could never be conquered.  They believed that because the temple was in Jerusalem the city would never be destroyed.  They thought that they were safe to do as they pleased.  However, Jeremiah warns them that there is a consequence to their actions.  As we remembered last week, in Deuteronomy (see Duet. 28:15-68) God had warned his people that if they deserted him he would drive them out of the Promised Land.

Jeremiah’s message is also a message of hope.  He points them beyond the exile, and encourages them to see the God is going to do something new: Read 31:31-33.

 

Ezekiel—restoration:

One of the confusing things about the fall of the southern kingdom, Judah is that it happens in two stages.  Firstly, in 597 BC when the Babylonians defeat Judah and take some of its inhabitants into exile, then in 586 BC, when the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and the temple and take thousands of more away.

Ezekiel was among the first group to be taken to Babylon.  From 593 BC, when he is thirty, he begins prophesying to the exiled community—telling them of the events in Jerusalem and preparing to minister to the bigger number of exiles that will come to Babylon when Jerusalem falls. 

Ezekiel contains a tremendous message of encouragement about what lies beyond the exile.[8] 

God will give his people a new heart:  Read Ezekiel 36:24-26.

This will produce a new unity.  Ezekiel 37:17, “Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.” There is going to be a new Israel that is united in a way that the old Israel wasn’t.[9]  Verse 24, “My servant David—this isn’t King David, he’s been dead a long time by this stage, this is the promised king in the line of David, will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd.”

Then in chapters 40-48 there is talk of a new city and a new temple.  In chapter 47 we read of a river—it’s the river of life, flowing out from this new temple—from the place where God’s presence is manifested, it flows out into the entire city.  The river rises becoming deep enough to swim in.   ‘It is picture, a visionary picture, of the overwhelming blessing of God flowing out from his presence—so deep, so rich, so full that you do can’s do anything but swim in it.  And that is Ezekiel’s vision for the future of God’s city and God’s temple.’[10]

 

Conclusion: We began our sermon wondering if there was any light at the end of the tunnel.  Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel say there is!  The promises of God to Abraham and David are now focused on the post-exile community.  We are going to sum-up by seeing how they point to a new exodus, a new covenant, and a new nation.

 

1. A New Exodus:  In Exodus we saw the captives set free.  They are liberated from Egypt and become a unified distinct nation—the people of God.[11]  Similarly a great theme in Isaiah is that the captives are going to be set free—a new Exodus!

Read Isaiah 40:3.  A highway is being constructed!  The valleys are filled in, the mountains are knocked out of the way, so that there can be a straight road on level ground.  For the LORD is coming back from Babylon with his people, bringing them home to Jerusalem.

When did this happen?  Well in 538 BC Cyrus said ‘you can go back to Jerusalem’.  But these words go beyond that, in John’s Gospel they are used of the ministry of John the Baptist (John 1:23). 

When does the exile end? 538 BC, yes!  When does the Exile really end?  When Jesus comes!  ‘He is the one who ends the Exile!  He is brings the new Jerusalem, the new Israel, the new community into existence.  He is the one who produces the new Exodus . . . the New Testament says “it is happening, God is bringing his people, his new people into existence”, this is the new Exodus.’[12] 

 

2.  A New Covenant:  We mentioned the new covenant when we looked at Jeremiah.  It is worth remembering that while this new covenant is greater than the old it works on exactly the same principles—God in his grace rescues people, draws them to himself, makes promises to them, and says ‘if you want to enjoy those promises live if faith and obedience.’

This new Covenant, as we saw in Ezekiel, involves the Spirit within us.  This is why the new Covenant law is not written on tablets of stone—outside of us, but is written deep within our hearts.  It enables us to want to be like Jesus, to want to be his people, to governed by his commandments, and obedient to his will.

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit only lived within certain individuals, such as kings (1 Sam. 10:6; 16:3) and prophets (Ezekiel 2:2)[13] to equip them for particular tasks, but now in the new Covenant he lives within all of God’s people.  In the Old Testament we have noted the continued failure of God’s people, but now in the new Covenant that failure has been remedied as God actually entering into the personality of his people to transform us. 

This is the blessing of the new Covenant, God changes us from within.  It doesn’t happen to perfection in this life, but it starts—and it can grow, more and more and more.  We will never be sinless in this life, but we can sin less.  We can grow in grace. We can know the power of the Holy Spirit enabling us to live holy lives.

 

3.  A New Nation:  In Isaiah and Ezekiel we can see that God is going to form a new faithful people.  There will be a new Zion, a new city of God, a new community into which all the nations of the world will come and find God’s blessing.  If you are born-again you are one of God’s new covenant people, we are the new Israel (Galatians 6:16).   

With this in mind what does it matter whether we are British or Irish or Portuguese or Romanian?  It won’t win us any favours with God nor will it exclude us from the offer to become one of his people.  For God is forming an altogether different kind of nation, a new Israel, made up of people from every country.  And one day this multiethnic, multiracial people will gather around his throne praising God for his salvation (Rev. 7:9).  

All this things are fulfilled through the Lord Jesus, and by his Spirit within the lives of those who trust him and obey.

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[1] This sermon is composed largely of material adapted from David Jackman’s Bible Overview Lectures (with a little help from Full of Promise).

[2] They were never to have a separate existence again

[3] Zion is another name for Jerusalem.

[4] Boney M was a pop group from the 70’s and 80’s—if you are too young to remember!

[5] Isaiah is one of the great books of the Old Testament.  It has been called the Romans of the Old Testament.  It explores such themes as the Sovereignty of God, sin, judgement, salvation and the new creation.  With the possible exception of the Psalms, Isaiah is quoted or alluded to in the New Testament more than other Old Testament book. 

[6]When you get to the end of Isaiah you find that the faithful city is now a place to which all the nations are been gathered to by God (see Is. 66:10-12, 20). ‘. . . in the Bible you should always read the beginning of every book and the end of every book with special attention because it will tell you the themes of the book’ Jackman.

[7] Supreme among them is Isaiah 53—a great passage about the cross.   For Jesus as the servant of the Lord see Acts 8:26-40 and Philippians 2:5-11.

[8] We can divide Ezekiel into three sections.  Firstly, a chapter 1-24, are before the fall of Jerusalem—in these Ezekiel prophesies, to those already in exile, the fall of the city and as things unfold he interprets why these events are happening.  Then in chapters 25-32 we have oracles to the foreign nations.  Finally, after Jerusalem has fallen, and from this point Ezekiel’s ministry is one of tremendous encouragement about what lies beyond the exile—it is a ministry of restoration.

[9] In verse 23 we have the words, ‘they will be my people, and I will be their God.’  This is the great promise of the covenant that we see again and again in the Old Testament.  We see the ultimate fulfilment of this promise in heaven (Revelation 21:3).

[10] Jackman.

[11] In line with the people part of the promise!

[12] Jackman.

[13] In Exodus 31 the Spirit fills the craftsman Bezalel and the other craftsmen to enable them to construct the tabernacle, but he didn’t remain permanently within them.  

1 Kings 11-22 and 2 Kings: ‘The Kingdom Goes’

 

I’m not a regular diamond buyer, but I am told that if you are buying diamonds the seller will place them on a black velvet cloth when you are viewing them.  The purpose of this cloth is to highlight their beauty.  Against this dark background their brightness is seen in its fullness.

In some ways the kings of the Old Testament are like that black velvet cloth to Jesus.  So many of these kings are simply awful and you are left thinking, ‘Israel needs a different sort of king!’  The king they need is Jesus.  When Jesus comes the gloom and darkness of Israel’s sinful kings serve to highlight the beauty of Christ’s kingship.[1]

 

Solomon’s reign was a time of peace and prosperity.  In line with God’s promise to Abraham, God’s people were in God’s place enjoying God’s blessing.  These were the golden days for Israel.  However, the good times are not to last.  Solomon acts as the king was not to act (see Duet. 17:16-17)—hoarding gold, gathering chariots and horses, and marring many foreign wives who turn his heart after their gods.  Just like Israel, as we have observed them right throughout our studies, Solomon refused to follow the LORD wholeheartedly.

The consequences are disastrous.  For David’s sake, God delays his judgement until Solomon dies (see 1 Kings 11:11-13), but then causes civil war and the kingdom begins to disintegrate.     

The rest of 1 and 2 Kings traces the decline of the once great kingdom.

 

Israel and Judah—Samaria and Jerusalem—Jeroboam and Rehoboam

After Solomon’s death his son, Rehoboam,[2] comes to the throne.  However, the ten northern and eastern tribes rebel against him and set up their own kingdom under Jeroboam.[3] The kingdom is divided.

The northern kingdom, confusingly, is called Israel.  Its capital is initially Shechem, and later Samaria.  The southern kingdom, Judah, has Jerusalem as its capital.  1 and 2 Kings can be a confusing read as the narrative jumps back and forth between the two kingdoms.[4]

 

The Northern Troubles: Jeroboam—Ahab—Jehu

In the Full of Promise study book that we looked at in the home groups, we were given a list of verses referring to some of the kings of Israel—the northern kingdom.  It asked us how the kings seemed to be doing.  Of each we read that they did evil in the eyes of the LORD.[5]  They didn’t do well!

Jeroboam is Israel’s first king.  He worries that the people will want to go to Jerusalem, in the southern kingdom, to meet with God at the temple. So he sets up two alternative shrines in Bethel and Dan, putting a golden calf in each.  He declares, ‘Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt (1 Kings 12:28).  He is attempting to combine the pagan calf symbol with the worship of the LORD.[6]  Jeroboam is remembered as the one who caused Israel to sin (1 Kings 14:16 and 2 Kings 17:21-23).

The most notorious of Israel’s kings is Ahab who, as a result of his marriage to Jezebel of Sidon, introduces Israel to the worship of Baal.  The prophet Elijah confronts Ahab about his religious and ethical behaviour.  At Mount Carmel Elijah demonstrates that it is the LORD not Baal who is God (1 Kings 18).

Of all the kings of the northern kingdom only one, Jehu, is commended; he alone rids Israel of Baal worship (2 Kings 10:28).  Nevertheless, he continues to promote the use of the golden calves set up by Jeroboam.   

In the year 722 BC—two hundred years after the kingdoms divided, the Assyrians attack Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom, and destroy it.  We are left in no doubt why this happens: All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them out of Egypt (2 Kings 17:7).  Both Israel’s kings and its people failed to obey God.

The people of the northern kingdom were largely deported, and their country was colonized with Syrians and Babylonians.  The resulting mixed population was the origin of the Samaritans—who were so despised by the Jews at the time of Christ.

 

 

The Southern Problem: Rehoboam—Hezekiah—Josiah

So the northern kingdom ended in disaster.  What about the southern kingdom—Judah, how did it do?  It didn’t do much better!  Again Full of Promise gives a list of verses, this time with reference to some of Judah’s kings.  Most of the references tell us of kings who did evil in the eyes of the LORD.[7]  

Despite having kings from the line of David, and the temple in their capital Jerusalem, Judah also degenerates into rebellion against God.  Like Solomon they turn their hearts to other gods and are not fully devoted to the LORD their God.  When we read of their failure to be a distinct people, we might ask ourselves ‘are we different from the world around us?’  And when we read of their lack of faithfulness we need to ask ‘are we wholehearted in following God?’  For as Christians we too are called to be distinct (see 1 Peter 1:13-16).

King Hezekiah and King Josiah try to turn the people’s hearts back to God, but ultimately they are unsuccessful.  Josiah promotes religious reform when a copy of the law—which appears to have been some edition or part of the Book of Deuteronomy,[8] is found during repairs in the temple.  But the change does not go far enough or deep enough to deflect God’s anger.  They have broken the covenant and are going to be punished (see 2 Kings 23:26 and Jeremiah 3:10).  In Deuteronomy God had warned his people what he would do if they deserted him—he would drive them out of the Promised Land (Deut. 28:15-68), and this is what happens. 

In 597 BC the Babylonians defeat Judah and take some of its inhabitants into exile in Babylon.  Soon afterwards, in 586 BC, the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and the temple, and thousands more are taken away.

Do you remember Bony M’s ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’?  Words from Psalms 137, which was written by exiled Jews.  No wonder they wept, so much had been lost.  The golden age under Solomon surely seemed a very distant memory. 

 

Conclusion

The Bible would be a very depressing story if it ended with 2 Kings.  It seems that everything that we have been working towards—God’s people, in God’s place, enjoying God’s blessing has crumbled before us.  But there is hope because this is not the end of the Bible’s story.

God’s work among his Old Testament people was never meant to be the final fulfilment of the gospel promises.  The history of Israel points towards something bigger and better.  Even at the height of the Old Testament we only have a shadow of the perfect kingdom that God will establish to Jesus Christ. “Yes, it was great for the Israelites to be rescued from slavery to the Egyptians, but that rescue is just a pale shadow of the perfect redemption achieved by Jesus on the cross (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7).  Yes, it was wonderful for the Israelites to have God’s presence in their midst in the tabernacle and the temple, but those structures were just shadows of the one in whom the presence of God was perfectly manifest: ‘The Word became flesh and made his dwelling [or “tabernacled”] among us (John 1:14).  And yes, David and Solomon were great kings, but Jesus is far greater (Mark 12:35-37; Luke 11:31).”[9]   

 

One last thing before we finish.[10]  In the northern kingdom we see the rise and fall of several dynasties (that is a succession of kings from the one family).  However, in southern kingdom God sticks with one dynasty—that of David.  Why?  Because God had promised David that his dynasty would last forever.[11]

So in the north Ahab’s evil leads to the passing of the throne to a new dynasty.  However the behaviour of Jehoram in the south (who is described as walking in the ways of the house of Ahab[12]) does not result in a change dynasty.  The narrator explains that it was, for the sake of his servant David, the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah.  He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and  his descendants forever’ (2 Kings 8:19).[13]

2 Kings closes offering hope that the Davidic monarchy will be restored.  Ishmael, ‘who was of royal blood’ (2 Kings 25:25), flees to Egypt; Jehoiachin, king of Judah is released from prison in Babylon and being given ‘a seat of honour . . .’ (2 Kings 25:28 see also Jeremiah 52:31-34).  The survival of these two is surely significant and as Old Testament scholar Dessie Alexander points out, ‘That one should be in Egypt and the other from Babylon is also noteworthy, for the book of Kings contains several examples of individuals returning from exile and being enthroned in order to fulfil God’s purposes.’[14]

The king who will eventually bring the fulfilment to God’s promises will still come from David’s line!

 

 

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[1] Full of Promise, p. 57.

[2] “. . . Rehoboam is portrayed as arrogant and foolish for refusing the advice of ‘the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime’ (1 Kings 12:6).  This is why the majority of Israelites rejected him as king, preferring Jeroboam.”  Alexander, p. 91.

[3] See 1 Kings 11:26-40 and 12:1-24. 

[4] ‘The story of the divided monarchy is not easy to follow, as we try to understand the relations between the two kingdoms, their involvement with the mighty empires to their north and south, and the intervention of the prophets who spoke boldly in the name of Yahweh to kings and commoners alike.  The biblical story is further complicated by the fact that much of it is told twice, once in the Books of Kings and once in the Books of Chronicles, the chronicler (possibly Ezra) writing later with the clear object of emphasising the importance of the southern kingdom, the Davidic dynasty and the temple cultus.’  Stott, Understanding the Bible, p.60.

[5] For example, 1 Kings 15:25-26; 15:33-34; 16:29-33, 22:51-53.

[6] ‘Aaron had said exactly the same after he and the people had made another golden calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the law from God (Exodus 32:4).  This idolatrous worship is the besetting sin of Israel throughout its existence.  It is only a matter of time before God acts in judgement’ Roberts, The Big Picture, p.85.

[7] For example 2 Kings 8:16-19; 16:1-4; 21:1-6

[8] Stott, p. 67.

[9] Roberts, p. 87.

[10] This point is taken from Alexander.

[11] Way back in 1 King 11 when God tells Jeroboam that he is going to be king, he says this, I will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.  God has a future plan for the Davidic dynasty.

[12] 2 Kings 8:18, 27.

[13] Even when confronted by an evil king, God was firmly committed to keep his covenant with David.

Another illustration of God’s concern for the house of David comes in 2 Kings 11.  There the queen mother attempts to annihilate the remaining members of the Davidic line.  One baby boy is rescued and hidden in the temple, where he remains for six years until he is publicly enthroned.

[14] Alexander, p. 95.