The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy Israels Golden Age Israel becomes a kingdom For the next several hundred years God sent prophets and judges to guide the people, to teach them His ways and resolve controversies among them. But many times they turned their back on Him (Psalm:78:56-57). They fell short in living up to their commitment to be a holy people. The Bible summarizes the era of the judges in these words: In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges:21:25). Yet during that era, and later, God heard their prayers in times of crisis and fought their battles when they cried out for His mercy (Psalm:106:39-45). He was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and regarded them, because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence (2 Kings:13:23). Finally Israel asked the prophet Samuel for a king. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and ... said to him, Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. So Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them ... Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them (1 Samuel:8:4-9). God honored their request and directed Samuel to anoint Saul—apparently one of the most physically impressive men in Israel—as their king (1 Samuel:10:17-24), God was willing to work with and support Israels king if he would behave righteously. But Saul became arrogant, stubborn and self-willed. Physically he appeared to be everything the people could have asked for as a king, but his heart was not right before God. So God decided to replace him. Paul explained 1,000 years later: And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will. From this mans seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus (Acts:13:22-23). The beginning of Israels golden age The story of Israels rise into a golden age during the reign of David and his son Solomon, and then its disintegration into two separate kingdoms, is a story of both triumph and bitter tragedy. Together these events underscore Gods faithfulness to His promises and the tragedy of human weakness. They also highlight the necessity for a major change in the human spirit and the return of Christ as the worlds only perfect king. During the reign of David and Solomon, God fulfilled His promise that Abrahams descendants would rule over a vast territory in the Middle East from Egypt to the Euphrates River. Israel became a great nation. But, because of the sins of Solomon and his successors, as well as the transgressions of the people themselves, Israel lost it all in the decades after Solomons death. Here is how it happened. David became ruler over the tribes of Israel in two stages. First the tribe of Judah anointed him king in Hebron (2 Samuel:2:3-4). From that city David reigned for about seven years before the other tribes made a covenant with him and also accepted him as king. Thus began a period of unity in Israel (2 Samuel:5:1-5; 1 Chronicles:11:3). As king, David inherited a large and effective military. About 350,000 armed warriors from the tribes of Israel attended his coronation ceremony (1 Chronicles:12:23-40). Soon he began to subdue the unfriendly neighbors who had plagued the Israelites for years. David reigned a total of 40 years, 33 of them from Jerusalem, the city he captured from the Jebusites and made Israels capital. His rule signaled Israels ascent to military and economic preeminence in the Middle East. Modern historians tend to ignore the biblical record and vastly underestimate the size and scope of Davids and Solomons kingdom. As the New Ungers Bible Dictionary explains: The tendency of scholars in the past has been to give scant credence to the biblical notices of Solomons power and glory ... Archaeology has vindicated the wide extent of the Davidic-Solomonic empire as delineated in Kings. The general historical background of the Davidic-Solomonic period has also been authenticated. Solomons glory used to be commonly dismissed as Semitic exaggeration or a romantic tale. It was contended that such a sprawling realm could not have existed between great empires like Egypt, the Hittites, Assyria, and Babylonia. The monuments, however, have shown that during the period from 1100 to 900 B.C. the great empires surrounding Israel were either in decline or temporarily inactive, so that Solomon could rule with the splendor attributed to him in the Bible (1988, Solomon). To be continued..
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 11:04:56 +0000
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