No. 780
“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Prov. 3:6)
In our July 2022 paper, we discussed how the unified kingdom of Israel, composed of twelve tribes, was split into two kingdoms after the death of Solomon, with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin being referred to as “Judah.” The remaining ten tribes, being more numerous, are most often referred to as “Israel,” but are sometimes called “Ephraim.” Having discussed in some detail the fall of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, we now consider the history of the kingdom of Judah.
It was during the reign of King Rehoboam that the united kingdom of Israel was split. Rehoboam was so affected by the experience that he and the people of Judah underwent a sort of religious reformation. The division in a sense worked to the advantage of Judah, in that it humbled them and drew them nearer to the Lord. The idolatrous course taken by the ten tribes made Judah more faithful in resisting the idolatry of the surrounding nations. As a result, the priests and Levites, as well as the more religious of the general population (“Israelites indeed”), deserted the ten-tribe kingdom and made their home in Judah. “So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years: for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.” (2 Chron. 11:13-17)
But before long Rehoboam, finding himself strong in his position as king, became lax with respect to religious matters, and he and the people began to neglect the divine law. (2 Chron. 12:1) As a rebuke for this unfaithfulness, the Lord permitted the army of Egypt under Shishak to invade Judah. This brought Rehoboam and the rulers of the people to their senses, and caused them to appeal to the Lord for help: “Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The Lord is righteous.” (2 Chron. 12:6)
Consequently, the Lord restrained the Egyptians, not allowing them to completely overwhelm the kingdom: “My wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem, by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants . . . So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made.” (2 Chron. 12:7-9) Rehoboam was thus reduced for a time to a subservient position. His kingdom lost much of the wealth it had accumulated under the reigns of Solomon and David. All of this was intended to teach them the important lesson: If the Lord let go of them they would be swallowed up by their enemies, and although the Lord demanded their obedience, He always made that obedience profitable to them in their temporal welfare.
The lesson learned from Shishak’s invasion seems to have profited Rehoboam and the people of Judah throughout the remainder of his seventeen year reign, and his son and successor, Abijah, was a king who acknowledged the Lord. When a war with the ten tribes of Israel followed after his succession to the throne of Judah, he addressed the ten tribes, drawn up in battle array, sending them a message: “And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have ye not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? . . . But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the Lord, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites . . . And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain . . . O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.” (2 Chron. 13:8-12)
Thus Abijah’s short three year reign was a good one in many respects, but his loyalty to the Lord did not lead him to completely eliminate the places of idol worship which had begun to be established in Solomon’s day. He failed to have the Lord’s approval, as his son, Asa, did after him: “And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God: For he took away the altars of the strange gods . . . the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.” (2 Chron. 14:2-3; 2 Chron. 15:17) Thus a right heart made Asa a great reformer and he destroyed the idols and altars, etc., some of which were dedicated to false gods, and some to the true God, Yahweh. The latter was, nevertheless, contrary to the divine instruction that no place of sacrifice should be recognized other than the temple. (Deut. 12:13-14)
Asa’s faithfulness to God laid him open to charges of being narrow-minded and bigoted by those who at that time considered themselves broad-minded and liberal. Asa even destroyed the idol which his mother had set up, and because she was using her influence in favor of idolatry, he removed from her the dignities of her position as a queen. All this showed that Asa’s loyalty and zeal for the Lord was from the heart and not a mere whim, nor was it from a selfish motive. In harmony with the divine covenant, a great blessing rested upon Asa and upon his kingdom, and during the first ten years of absolute peace he fortified his country, and strengthened the kingdom.
Twenty-five years after Shishak defeated Rehoboam and carried away the gold and treasures of the kingdom, another Egyptian army came against Asa, probably intent upon getting more spoils. But as God, according to His covenant with Israel, made the Egyptians to prosper because of unfaithfulness on the part of Rehoboam and his people, so now the Lord, under the same covenant, made Asa and his army to prosper because of their faithfulness to him, and gave them a great victory over the Egyptians.
In order that Asa and the people might know without a doubt that their victory was because of the Lord, a prophet was sent to them who said: “Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. . . . Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.” This message encouraged Asa to continue his warfare against idols, and as a result, they were completely abolished from the land. (2 Chron. 15:2, 7-8)
With Asa’s zeal and the zeal of his people increased, a great convention was held – a holiness convention: “And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul . . . And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about. . . . And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.” (2 Chron. 15:12-15, 19)
However, in the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, he sent a present of gold and silver to the king of Syria to obtain his aid in repelling hostile advances made by the king of Israel (the ten tribes). Although this did avert war and might be considered shrewd statesmanship, it was an error on his part, showing poor judgment. The Lord pointed this out to him through the Prophet Hanani, who upbraided him for relying on the King of Syria rather than on the Lord: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” (2 Chron. 16:1-9) Thus we see that the statement that Asa’s heart was right before God evidently signified merely that he honestly and conscientiously sought to do the Lord’s will as the king of Judah in the putting away of idolatry, and in the enforcement of the Mosaic law.
COMPARISON TO GOSPEL AGE DEALINGS
To say one’s heart is right with God would mean a great deal more when used with respect to the Lord’s people of this Gospel Age. It would mean a full consecration in thought, and so far as possible, of word and deed. In fact, all of the Lord’s dealings with fleshly Israel were very contrary to His Gospel Age dealings with the Church. Under the covenant made at Sinai, God promised the twelve tribes of Israel that He would give them earthly blessings as a reward for their faithfulness to Him, and earthly adversities as punishments for unfaithfulness to Him. (See Lev. 26)
The Law Covenant, with all of its arrangements, was confined to the natural seed of Abraham – to typical Israel (divided into ten tribes and two tribes). A wholly different arrangement and covenant has been made by the Lord with the spiritual Israelites of this Gospel Age. They are promised neither earthly blessings, nor freedom from earthly tribulations. The faithful spiritual Israelite is promised, however, that all the tribulations permitted by the Lord will work out for his good, preparing him for future good things in the life to come, which God has in reservation for those that love Him. (Rom. 8:28) Natural Israel’s promises were all earthly, while spiritual Israel’s promises are all heavenly.
The kings and people of Judah prospered to the extent of their limited faithfulness to the Lord. Likewise, there are today those who are on the Lord’s side and get a blessing as a result, but nevertheless fail to have the Lord’s complete approval. It is not sufficient that we outwardly acknowledge the Lord to be our God; to obtain full divine approval we must be zealous, not only in having the Lord on our side, but zealous also and faithful in serving His cause. Such faithfulness means activity in the cause of truth, and effort to bring others into full accord with the divine law.
Many Christian people have made the very serious mistake of not noticing the difference between the covenant God made with fleshly Israel, and the different covenant and different regulations with spiritual Israel. They have naturally fallen into the mistake of seeking to follow after the course of natural Israel. For instance, while it was perfectly right for Asa to interfere with the other religions in the land under his control, overthrowing the false worship, burning the idols and destroying the altars and groves, it would be entirely wrong for any Christian king, president, governor, mayor, or anyone in any other position, to attempt to do likewise with the religious arrangements of others today. The duty of the spiritual Israelite is to worship the Lord according to the dictates of his own conscience, and to leave everyone else free to do the same, not interfering with anyone’s traditions or observances in any manner whatever.
The only way a Christian would be permitted to influence others would be by preaching – by making known to others the true God and the true worship. Even in this he would have no right to intrude upon others contrary to their wishes, but may merely make known the good tidings to those who have “ears to hear” – to those willing to be taught. A misunderstanding of God’s approval of things done in Israel and a failure to recognize the different law of this Gospel Age undoubtedly led to many of the religious excesses and persecutions during the Dark Ages.
On the other hand, the general recognition that freedom of religion and tolerance for all creeds is the proper thing now has caused many to look upon the Bible as not up to date – as countenancing bigotry, persecution, etc. They fail to see how or why anything other than religious liberty could have been proper at any other time, and as long as they view the matter from this standpoint, they are in great danger of becoming agnostic and unbelieving. We must clearly understand, therefore, why God approved of and blessed Asa’s actions while a similar course of action today among professed Christians would have the disapproval of the Lord and of those who have His spirit.
The difference is that Israel, as a nation, made a special covenant with God at Mount Sinai, by which every individual of that nation, including the children, were bound nationally and individually to God, to be His people. In return, God bound Himself to them to be their God, their king, and their protector. In that covenant the people further guaranteed that they would neither have, nor make images of, nor worship, any other god. Through that covenant, Israel became God’s “peculiar people.” They became His typical kingdom and He was their recognized King, and so it is written, “Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him.” (1 Chron. 29:23)
It was God’s throne all along, with earthly representatives merely sitting upon it. Hence, so long as Israel was preserved as a kingdom, it was bound by the will or law of its King, the Lord, which specifically demanded that all idolatry be put away. God separated this one nation from all the other nations of the earth, in order that He might make of them a typical nation or kingdom, foreshadowing in them the “holy nation” of spiritual Israelites to be gathered out of every kingdom, people, nation and tongue. He will soon organize those spiritual Israelites under Immanuel to be the Kingdom of Heaven, to rule and bless all the families of the earth. (1 Pet. 2:9-10; Luke 12:32)
It would be wholly improper now for the people of the United States, for example, to attempt to interfere in any manner or degree with absolute religious liberty, because the United States is not God’s kingdom, as Israel was God’s kingdom. He has never recognized any nation other than Israel, nor has He made a covenant with any other nation. (Amos 3:2) On the contrary, present governments are all reckoned as “kingdoms of this world,” in contrast to the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Anointed. (Rev. 11:15)
While the heavenly Kingdom, the antitype of Israel’s kingdom, is not yet set up in glory as the holy nation, nevertheless, in each individual heart of this “elect” class this principle applies: each “Israelite indeed” has entered into a covenant with the Lord that he will have no other gods, and that he will render worship to no other, but will serve the Lord with all his heart, with all his mind, with all his being, with all his strength. Just as the nation of Israel was obligated by its covenant to abolish all idols, so each individual Christian, of this new holy nation, is obligated, by his covenant to destroy every idol from his heart, and to worship the Lord only, and in the “beauty of holiness.” (Psa. 29:2)
JEHOSHAPHAT’S GOOD REIGN
Asa’s son, Jehoshaphat, succeeded him as King of Judah and followed in his footsteps: “And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father [ancestor] David, and sought not unto Baalim.” (2 Chron. 17:3) He copied David’s course of devotion to the Lord and did not seek the various forms of Baal-worship which had become the norm of the ten tribes and the various nations around them. The spectacles of Baal-worship and the connected licentious orgies were evidently strong attractions to depraved hearts, and must have exercised continually a seductive influence upon the people of Judah, who worshiped the unseen God, of whom no images or idols or sensual worship were permitted.
The faithfulness of the king and the people of Judah brought the divine blessing according to the covenant, and resulted in peace with surrounding nations and temporal prosperity – “riches and honour in abundance.” (2 Chron. 17:5) This further energized the king in the Lord’s service, and spurred him to make additional efforts to put away idols. Although these “groves and high places” had been prohibited and destroyed by his father Asa, some had apparently been secretly preserved by the people, or had sprung up again like weeds that must be continually removed. We may suppose that not all of these places were for Baal-worship, but that some of them were misguided attempts to modify or “improve” the worship of the true God.
We find the same thing happening among Christians who continually seek variations from and additions to what the Lord instituted. They take pleasure in these innovations, neglecting the Lord’s wishes and regulations. They have not learned that following the Lord’s will is far better and more acceptable in His sight and every alteration of the divine arrangement will eventually prove injurious.
King Jehoshaphat perceived that knowledge was necessary as a basis for faith and obedience, and he very wisely instituted a general system of instruction throughout his kingdom, so that the people might become intimately acquainted with the Word of the Lord. (2 Chron. 17:9) Thus he attacked the root of the evil tree of idolatry and disobedience with the ax of truth.
GOD’S WORD THE LAMP OF LIBERTY
Christian experiences conform to the course followed by Jehoshaphat. To the degree the Lord’s people know the instructions, promises, and warnings of His Word, to that degree they are liberated from earthly affairs and fully realize their obligations to the King of kings and Lord of lords.
With the Reformation movement, the Bible began to be translated into the living languages of the people and was no longer hidden as during the Dark Ages. The progress of the Reformation as well as civilization in general has kept pace with the study of the Scriptures. As the influence of the Lord’s Word in the time of Judah and Israel doubtless extended far beyond those who heard it taught, so likewise the influence of Scripture today extends far beyond those who actively study it. The spirit of the Truth is a spirit of liberty and civilization, even among those who do not love it or obey it.
With the greatly increased circulation of the Scriptures in civilized lands, we may wonder why greater blessings do not result, leading mankind into the right appreciation of the Lord’s grace and truth, and to obedience to His requirements. We may wonder why it instead is bringing, as the Scriptures forewarned and as we can clearly see, “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1)
First of all, the minds of the vast majority of people are fettered by the various conflicting false theories, human traditions, and creeds handed down from the Dark Ages. These have been used by the Adversary to blind the eyes of many, hindering them from a proper study and understanding of the Scriptures. Many who promote the circulation of the Scriptures also promote the misunderstanding of them. What our Lord said to the religious leaders at His first advent applies to the majority of religious teachers up to the present day: “Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.” (Matt. 15:6)
Furthermore, many who give the appearance of being religious, by attending religious meetings, owning Bibles, etc., are not religious in their hearts. They are not seeking to know and do God’s will, but are instead selfishly seeking to do their own wills, merely using the cloak of religion to hypocritically further their own aims. The breaking of the shackles of fear and superstition with the spirit of truth and liberty has merely made them free to do more evil. In the approaching great time of trouble, unrestrained liberty will run riot among those whose hearts have merely been freed from superstition but have not been bound to the will of God in Christ.
Jehoshaphat’s efforts to increase knowledge of the Lord among the people led to a greater respect for Yahweh, not only among the people of Judah, also among the surrounding nations. Although those nations evidently considered that each nation had its own god, they apparently knew that Israel’s God, Yahweh, was a “God of gods,” the Almighty God, superior to their own. Some of the heathen kings seemed to grasp the situation so clearly that they reasoned that if they could cause the people of Israel to commit idolatry, then their God would no longer fight for them and they could be defeated in battle. Thus when the surrounding nations saw the growing devotion to Yahweh among the people of Judah, they became fearful: “And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.” (2 Chron. 17:10)
This is often how the world reacts to spiritual Israel. The worldly recognize in a general way that there is some truth in Christianity, and they fear injuring those they sense to be true children of God. They sense the truth of the statement, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31) Hence the great Adversary, Satan, and his willing servants attempt to lead us into temptations of selfish desires and pride to separate us from the Lord and start us on a course of evil.
JEHOSHAPHAT’S THREE MISTAKES
The record of Jehoshaphat’s reign seems to show only three serious mistakes, and the implication is that none of these was recognized by the Lord as being wholly intentional, but as being partly errors of judgment.
His first and most serious mistake was affiliating with the weak and wicked Ahab, the king of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel. Jehoshaphat accepted the friendly advances of Ahab, perhaps out of courtesy and possibly with the thought of reuniting with the ten tribes at some future time. He agreed to join with Ahab in battle against the Syrians, despite the Prophet Micaiah warning of disaster in battle, in opposition to the assurances of success given by four hundred false prophets called by Ahab. In the defeat that followed, Jehoshaphat was spared while Ahab was killed.
Upon his return home, the Lord sent a prophet to him who said, “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.” The lesson was not lost upon Jehoshaphat, as evidenced by the fact that shortly after this, when appointing judges throughout Judah, he instructed them, saying, “Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.” (2 Chron. 19:2-3, 6-7)
This mistake of Jehoshaphat contains a lesson for spiritual Israelites who are seeking to follow the Lord’s counsel. If it was improper for the king to “help the ungodly,” it would be even more improper for spiritual Israelites to follow such a course. How many have been led into disobedience and various improprieties by neglecting Paul’s admonition: “Be not deceived: evil communications [associations] corrupt good manners.” (1 Cor. 15:33) To the extent possible, we should keep company with those that love the Lord, so that our friends and associates are the Lord’s friends who honor Him with their lips and serve Him from the heart. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly . . . But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” (Psa. 1:1-2)
Jehoshaphat’s second mistake was joining in partnership with Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, in the construction of a fleet of vessels to trade in the gold of Ophir as Solomon had done. The Lord sent a rebuke to Jehoshaphat through a prophet, saying, “Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.” (2 Chron. 20:37) This is another lesson for the Lord’s people: do not associate with those who are known enemies of the Lord.
Jehoshaphat’s third mistake was to arrange a marriage between his son and the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. He doubtless thought the marriage might result in reuniting the divided kingdom in the hands of his son. He seemed to forget that the Lord was fully capable of reuniting the kingdom without any assistance, if He saw fit to do so. The daughter, having inherited the evil nature of her mother, eventually led her husband and the nation of Judah into Baal worship. This evil influence continued during the eight year reign of her husband, the one year reign of her son, and her own six year reign, after she had murdered all but one of her grandchildren. She was killed when the people revolted against her evil rule and her grandson, Joash, then seven years of age, was anointed king.
During the wicked queen’s reign, the temple of the Lord had fallen into decay and an imposing temple of Baal had been built. It seems the young King Joash decided on his own that the temple should be repaired without advice from his adult advisor, a priest. A contribution box was placed at the entrance of the temple, and the priests exhorted the people to remember Moses’ commandment with respect to giving. (Exod. 30:11-16) Thus the money was raised and the repairs to the temple were completed. (2 Chron. 24:4-13)
REPAIRING THE ANTITYPICAL TEMPLE
The Apostle refers to the Church as a whole as the antitypical Temple of God, in which each individual Christian is a member. (1 Cor. 3:16-17) Our Lord spoke of His Church from this standpoint when He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19) He was referring to the Church, His body, and the glorification of that body on the third thousand-year day, at the beginning of the Millennium. Each one of the Lord’s people is to be very zealous that the Temple be kept in good condition, in good repair. To this end, the Apostle urged the members of the Temple to build up, encourage and restore one another. (Gal. 6:1)
During the Dark Ages, the nominal temple of God, the nominal church, fell into great disorder through false doctrines and practices, priestcraft, superstition, and general degradation. Much was done to cleanse and renovate this nominal temple during the Reformation movement of the sixteenth century, but those who recognize the true Temple of God, as shown in the divine Word, realize that the nominal temple is still in a deplorable condition.
The nominal temple is not the real Temple, and it will soon be abandoned. The work of this Gospel Age has been to quarry, chisel, fit, shape, and polish the living stones for places in the true Temple of God. Then the glory of the Lord will fill it: “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matt. 13:43; 1 Pet. 2:5)
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The above is based on Reprints 2362-2367.
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