WBC-10-The Divided Kingdom (part two)

The Divided Kingdom (part two) THE DIVIDED KINGDOM: SECOND PERIOD, TO THE FALL OF SAMARIA The second period of the divided kingdom extends from the beginning of Jehu’s reign over the Northern Kingdom to the fall of Samaria (the end of that kingdom), which was in the 6th year of Hezekiah, King of Judah. The principal dated events of this period appear on the following table:

The foregoing table covers a period of 174 years. It begins with a new dynasty in Israel, that of Jehu, who overthrew and completely exterminated the house of Omri, and stamped out Baal-worship. As a reward for this service, the Lord promised Jehu that his children of the fourth generation should sit upon the throne of Israel (2 Kings 10:30). We see, by the foregoing table, that this promise was fulfilled; for there were four kings of his line, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, and Zechariah. But it is written that "Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam which made Israel to sin" (2 Kings 10:31). Consequently "In those days the Lord began to cut off the ends of Israel (marg.); and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel, from Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites" (2 Kings 10:32-33). This second period begins in Judah with a usurping queen, a daughter of the house of Ahab, on the throne, and with none left of the seed royal of the house of David but an infant of one year. Yet God did not suffer the house and lineage of David to be extinguished, but preserved the one frail life upon which it depended. In the 7th year of Athaliah, Jehoiada the priest brought about a great political revolution, as a result of which the child Joash, then seven years of age, was proclaimed king, and Athaliah was put to death (2 Kings 11:1-16). At the same time Jehoiada brought about a great religious revival; for he caused the king and the people to enter into a covenant with the LORD, that they should be His people. Jehoiada, moreover, broke down the house of Baal, his altars and images, and slew Mattan, the priest of Baal (2 Kings 11:17-18). He also acted as instructor to the young king; with the happy result that "Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada instructed him" (2 Kings 12:2). Jehoiada lived to be 130 years old, and was buried with royal honours among the kings in the city of David, "because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and toward His house" (2 Chronicles 24:16). But after the death of Jehoiada, Joash departed completely from the Lord. For he and all the princes of Judah left the house of the Lord, and served groves and idols; wherefore "wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass" (2 Chronicles 24:17-18). Moreover, when the Lord sent prophets to them to bring them again to Himself, they would not give ear; and when Zechariah the son of Jehoiada reproved them, they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. Wherefore the king of Syria came "and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people. So they executed judgment against Joash. And when they were departed (for they left him in great diseases) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him upon his bed" (2 Chronicles 24:19-25). Thus it is seen that the evil effects of Jehoshaphat’s "affinity" with Ahab extended to the fourth generation.

Joash was succeeded by his son Amaziah, who also did well in the first part of his reign of 29 years, but towards the end he introduced the worship of the gods of the Edomites; wherefore God suffered him to be defeated by Jehoash, king of Israel, after which a conspiracy was made against him, and he was slain (2 Chronicles 25). The Interregnum From the statements of the text (2 Kings 14:17 and 2 Kings 15:1) it appears that the throne of Judah was vacant for a period of 11 years between the death of Amaziah and the accession of his son Uzziah (or Azariah, as he is called in Second Kings). This appears from the following facts: "Amaziah lived after the death of Jehoash, king of Israel, fifteen years" (2 Kings 14:17). This was An. Horn. 3308 (see Table 10). Uzziah did not come to the throne until the 27th year of Jeroboam II (2 Kings 15:1). The death of Jehoash was in the year 3293. Addng 27 years gives 3319 (by the Israelitish inclusive reckoning) as the year of Uzziah’s accession. Thus we have, between 3308 and 3319, a period of 11 years, during which the throne of Judah was vacant. The reason why Uzziah was not crowned as king earlier is seen in the fact that, when he came to the throne, he was but 16, so that he was only 5 years old at the time of the death of his father, Amaziah.

There was also an interregnum in Israel between the reign of Jeroboam II and that of Zechariah; for Jeroboam’s 41st year, which was his last, coincided with the 15th of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Zechariah did not succeed until the 38th of Uzziah (2 Kings 14:29; 2 Kings 15:8). This makes an interval of 22 years.

It was during the reign of Jeroboam II that Jonah the prophet, the son of Amittai, of Gath-hepher, prophesied (2 Kings 14:25). Those were days of" bitter" affliction in Israel (v. 26). It was the time of a great earthquake, the gravity of which is indicated by the fact that the prophet Amos, the herdsman of Tekoa, dated his prophecy with reference to its occurrence (Amos 1:1). The " "Twentieth" Year of Jotham In 2 Kings 15:30 is a statement which has given rise to what Anstey calls "one of the most interesting, and at the same time one of the most illuminating puzzles of the chronology of this period." The statement is that Hoshea made a conspiracy against Pekah, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, "in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah." But Jotham reigned only sixteen years; so apparently we have, as Lightfoot said, "Jotham reigning four years after he is buried." But the statement is perfectly correct as a matter of chronology; for the death of Pekah did take place in the 20th year after the accession of Jotham. So the question is, why is the event dated from the beginning of Jotham’s reign, instead of from that of Ahaz, who had been actually on the throne for four years? Why did the writer of 2 Kings ignore the accession of Ahaz? The reason is found in the extreme wickedness of king Ahaz, because of which "the Lord brought Judah low." For Ahaz "made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord."

"He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus," which "were the ruin of him and of all Israel." And he "shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and to provoke to anger the Lord God of his fathers " (2 Chronicles 28:19-25). This explains why the accession of Ahaz is ignored in 2 Kings 15:30. As John Lightfoot says, "The Holy Ghost chooseth rather to reckon by holy Jotham in his grave than by wicked Ahaz alive." The Reign of Ahaz

King Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, reigned for 16 years, and did wickedly from beginning to end. "For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made molten images for Baalim. Moreover, he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen "(2 Chronicles 28:1-4). "Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. For Pekah, the son of Remaliah, slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand m one day, all valiant men; because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers" (2 Chronicles 28:5-6).

Isaiah had prophesied during the hostilities between Judah and Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, declaring by the Word of the LORD that their attempt to take Jerusalem should not succeed. Isaiah also bore a message to Ahaz through the symbolical name of his son, Shearjashub, which means "the remnant shall return" (Isaiah 7:1-8). Apparently the immediate fulfillment of this prophecy was the release, by Pekah’s men (when met by the prophet Oded, by whom the Lord sent them a message) of the 200,000 captives (including women and children) which they had brought up with them out of Judah (2 Chronicles 28:8-15). The Prophecy of the Virgin Birth of Christ

It was at this time that God, through Isaiah, sought to recover king Ahaz and to turn him to Himself and lead him to trust in Him, by bidding him ask a sign of the Lord, either in the depth or in the height above. But Ahaz was so hardened that he refused even to prove God in this way. This brought forth the prophecy of the Virgin-birth of Christ, which prophecy God addressed, not to Ahaz personally, but to "the house of David," of which Ahaz was the representative, saying: "Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Irnrmanuel" (Isaiah 7:10-14). This is the first prophecy quoted in the New Testament (Matthew 1:20-23), and is, of course, of funda­mental importance. It foretells the great event to which the chronological line of the Bible was leading "the coming of Christ. It further declares that the Son who was to be born to a virgin of the house of David, was GOD coming in the likeness of men, and for their salvation. But, what is most pertinent to our present purpose, it declares that, though the men of the house of David should be all as unfit to rule as was king Ahaz, nevertheless, God would raise up an horn of salvation in the house of His servant David, by causing a virgin to conceive and bring forth a Son, Who should save His people from their sins.

It is recorded that "At that time did king Ahaz send to the kings of Assyria for help. …For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz." However, the king of Assyria "distressed him, but strengthened him not…And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord: this is that king Ahaz" (2 Chronicles 28:16-22). So evil was the life of Ahaz that they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings. The period to which our attention is now directed (that which extends from the accession of Jehu as king of Israel to the extinction of the northern kingdom) is distinguished as the era of the prophets "Isaiah, Joel, Hosea, and others "through whom God, in His faithfulness, sent urgent and solemn warnings to His people, " rising up early and sending them," seeking thereby to turn the people from their evil ways, which were fast leading them to destruction, and to recall them to Himself. But the general trend of things was down­ward, and in the reign of king Ahaz conditions were at their worst. The recovery during the reign of Hezekiah was but for a time; and even the warning given by the judgment which overtook the kingdom of Israel did not avail to stem the tide of apostasy in Judah. Had the people been living in obedience to the law there would have been no need to send prophets to them. Therefore the sending of the prophets was a mark of an evil state of the people. The general burden of all their messages was one of rebuke for the sins of the people, warnings of the consequences of persisting in their evil ways, and urgent calls to repent and return to the Lord.