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The Incredible Story of the Book of 1st Kings – How Kings Rose to Power and Fell from Grace · truthunedited

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Speaker 1: Imagine a kingdom at the height of its power, where
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Speaker 1: gold was as common as stones on the streets of
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Speaker 1: its capital, a place where the wisest king in history
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Speaker 1: built a temple so magnificent that its stories echoed for millennia.
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Speaker 1: But what happens when wisdom meets temptation, when absolute power
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Speaker 1: corrupts absolutely The First Book of Kings takes us into
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Speaker 1: an epic drama of biblical proportions, where mighty kings rise
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Speaker 1: and fall, prophets challenge monarchs, and the fate of a
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Speaker 1: nation hangs by a thread from the palace intrigues of
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Speaker 1: Jerusalem to the dramatic confrontations on Mount Carmel. This is
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Speaker 1: a story of choices that altered the course of history.
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Speaker 1: Prepare for a journey through gilded palaces and scorching deserts,
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Speaker 1: where we will witness how Israel's greatest kingdom was divided,
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Speaker 1: a wisdom turned into madness, and how God used unlikely
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Speaker 1: people to change the destiny of entire nations. Our story
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Speaker 1: begins in the final moments of one of Israel's greatest kings, David,
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Speaker 1: the shepherd boy who became king, the warrior who defeated Goliath,
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Speaker 1: the composer of the Psalms, was now reaching the end
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Speaker 1: of his earthly journey. As the first chapter of First
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Speaker 1: Kings Verses one to four tells us, David was so
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Speaker 1: old and frail that even when covered with blankets, he
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Speaker 1: could not keep warm. The situation was so dire that
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Speaker 1: his servants came up with an idea to find a
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Speaker 1: young virgin to serve the king, lie beside him and
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Speaker 1: keep him warm. After a search throughout Israel, they found Abishak,
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Speaker 1: a young Shunamite of extraordinary beauty, who was brought to
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Speaker 1: the king to care for him and serve him. The
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Speaker 1: biblical text makes a point of stating that although she
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Speaker 1: cared for the King, David did not have relations with her,
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Speaker 1: a detail that would later become significant in the narrative.
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Speaker 1: This moment of fragility in the Great King David shows
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Speaker 1: us how even the most most powerful are vulnerable to time.
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Speaker 1: The man who once danced with all his might before
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Speaker 1: the Ark of the Covenant, as recorded in Second Samuel six,
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Speaker 1: could now barely keep warm. The warrior who had conquered
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Speaker 1: Jerusalem and expanded Israel's borders was now confined to his chambers,
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Speaker 1: dependent on constant care. Meanwhile, as we read in First
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Speaker 1: Kings Chapter one, verses five to ten, a power struggle
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Speaker 1: was beginning to unfold behind the palace walls. Indonesia. David's
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Speaker 1: fourth son, born to Haggeth in Hebron, saw his father's
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Speaker 1: frailty as an opportunity to seize the throne. The text
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Speaker 1: provides crucial details about his character. He was very handsome,
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Speaker 1: much like his late brother Absalom, and had grown up
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Speaker 1: without ever being disciplined by his father, who had never
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Speaker 1: asked him, why do you act this way? This failure
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Speaker 1: in Adonijia's upbringing reveals a patter that had already caused
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Speaker 1: problems in David's family before, particularly with his son Absalom.
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Speaker 1: Adoniesia was not originally first in line to the throne. Amnon,
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Speaker 1: the eldest, had been killed by Absalom in revenge for
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Speaker 1: Tamar's assault. Chiliab, the second son, is not mentioned in
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Speaker 1: the scriptures after his birth, suggesting he lightly died young. Absalom,
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Speaker 1: the third son, had died in his own rebellion against
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Speaker 1: his father. Thus, Adonija saw himself as the natural heir
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Speaker 1: to the throne, even though he knew his father had
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Speaker 1: promised the kingdom to Solomon, Bathsheba's son. To strengthen his position,
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Speaker 1: Adonija built a powerful base of support, as we see
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Speaker 1: in First Kings Chapter one, verses seven and eight. He
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Speaker 1: gained the backing of two key figures in the kingdom, Joab,
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Speaker 1: son of Zariah, the army commander who had faithfully served
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Speaker 1: David for decades, and Abiathar, one of the chief priests
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Speaker 1: who had been with David since his days fleeing from Saul. However,
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Speaker 1: other important leaders did not support his cause. The priest Zadok,
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Speaker 1: the prophet Nathan, Benaiah, one of David's elite warriors, and
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Speaker 1: David's mighty men remained loyal to the king. With these
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Speaker 1: alliances secured, a donager organised a grand feast near the
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Speaker 1: stone of Zohaleth by Enrogel, as recorded in First Kings
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Speaker 1: Chapter one, verses nine ten. He sacrificed sheep, oxen and
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Speaker 1: fattened cattle, inviting all his brothers, the king's sons, and
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Speaker 1: all the men of Judah who served the king. Notably,
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Speaker 1: he did not invite three key individuals, his brother Solomon,
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Speaker 1: the prophet Nathan, and David's mighty warriors. This deliberate exclusion
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Speaker 1: made his intentions clear. This was not merely a banquet,
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Speaker 1: but a political statement of his claim to the throne.
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Speaker 1: But God had other plans. The prophet Nathan, the same
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Speaker 1: man who had confronted David after his sin with Bathsheba
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Speaker 1: and who had delivered God's promise of an eternal covenant
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Speaker 1: with David's house, now took action once more. As we
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Speaker 1: see in First Kings Chapter one, verses eleven to fourteen.
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Speaker 1: He urgently approached Bathsheba. Nathan revealed at Anieja's conspiracy and
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Speaker 1: reminded Bathsheba of David's promise that her son Solomon would
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Speaker 1: be the next king. The plan Nathan proposed demonstrated his
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Speaker 1: political wisdom. Bathsheba was to go first before the king
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Speaker 1: to remind him of his oath, and while she was
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Speaker 1: still speaking, Nathan would enter to confirm her words. The
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Speaker 1: execution of the plan was flawless, as recorded in First
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Speaker 1: Kings Chapter one, verses fifteen to twenty one. Bathsheba entered
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Speaker 1: the king's presence, bowed before him, and when asked what
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Speaker 1: she desired, she reminded David of his sworn promise before
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Speaker 1: the Lord that Solomon, her son, would reign after him
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Speaker 1: and sit on his throne. She then informed him of
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Speaker 1: a Donijia's actions, explaining that he was already proclaiming himself
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Speaker 1: king without David's knowledge. Bathsheba emphasized that all of Israel
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Speaker 1: was looking to the king, awaiting his declaration of who
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Speaker 1: would succeed him, otherwise she and Solomon would be treated
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Speaker 1: as criminals as soon as David passed away following the plan,
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Speaker 1: While Bathsheba was still speaking to the king, as we
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Speaker 1: read in First Kings Chapter one, verses twenty two to
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Speaker 1: twenty seven, the prophet Nathan arrived and was announced. He
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Speaker 1: confirmed everything Bathsheba had said, questioning whether this succession had
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Speaker 1: truly been decreed by the king, as Adonija had already
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Speaker 1: hosted a great feast and was being hailed as king
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Speaker 1: by some. The strategy of double confirmation worked. David was
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Speaker 1: stirred into action. In a moment reminiscent of the David
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Speaker 1: of old, the king acts with decisiveness and authority. As
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Speaker 1: we read in First Kings one twenty eight to forty,
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Speaker 1: he calls Bathsheba back and reaffirms his oath as surely
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Speaker 1: as I swore by the Lord, the God of Israel,
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Speaker 1: saying that yore San Solomon shall reign after me and
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Speaker 1: sit on my throne in my place. So I will
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Speaker 1: do this very day. Then he summons Zadok the priest,
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Speaker 1: Nathan the Prophet, and Benigah, son of Jehoyada, giving them
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Speaker 1: specific instructions. They were to take the servants of their lord,
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Speaker 1: have Solomon ride on the king's own mule, a clear
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Speaker 1: symbol of royalty, as no one could use the king's
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Speaker 1: mule without his permission, and lead him to Gihon. There,
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Speaker 1: Zadok and Nathan were to anoint him king over Israel,
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Speaker 1: blow the trumpet, and proclaim, long Live King Solomon. The
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Speaker 1: scene that follows is of great historical and spiritual significance.
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Speaker 1: Solomon is brought to Gihon, anointed with the oil from
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Speaker 1: the tabernacle by Zadok and Nathan. The trumpets sound, and
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Speaker 1: all the people follow, playing flutes and celebrating with such
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Speaker 1: joy that, according to the text, the ground seemed to
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Speaker 1: shake from the noise. This celebration was not merely a
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Speaker 1: festive occasion, but a public confirmation of God's will and
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Speaker 1: the rightful choice of the king. Meanwhile, at Adenaija's banquet,
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Speaker 1: as recounted in First Kings one forty one forty nine,
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Speaker 1: the conspirators hear the sound of the celebrations. Joe ab
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Speaker 1: the seasoned commander of the army, recognizes the sound of
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Speaker 1: the trumpet and questions the commotion in the city. At
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Speaker 1: that moment, Jonathan, son of the priest Abiathar, arrives with
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Speaker 1: news Solomon has been made king with David's blessing, anointed
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Speaker 1: at Gihon, and is now seated on the royal throne,
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Speaker 1: with all the people rejoicing. Moreover, the king's officials have
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Speaker 1: blessed David, saying, may God make Solomon's name more famous
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Speaker 1: than yours, and his throne greater than your throne. Fear
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Speaker 1: grips the conspirators, and they flee in different directions. Terrified
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Speaker 1: for his life, Adonijia runs to the tabernacle and grasps
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Speaker 1: the horns of the altar, a symbolic act pleading for
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Speaker 1: asylum and mercy. As we read in First Kings one
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Speaker 1: fifty fifty three, when Solomon is informed, he demonstrates his
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Speaker 1: first act of wisdom as king. He promises to spare
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Speaker 1: his brother's life provided he proves himself trustworthy. If any
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Speaker 1: evil is found in him, he will die. Adonijia is
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Speaker 1: brought before Solomon, bows down to him and is sent home,
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Speaker 1: but the story does not end there. In his final moments,
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Speaker 1: as recorded in First Kings two one nine, David gives
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Speaker 1: his last instructions to Solomon. First, he encourage his son
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Speaker 1: to be strong and prove himself a man, following the
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Speaker 1: ways of the Lord and keeping his statutes, commandments, judgments,
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Speaker 1: and testimonies as written in the Law of Moses. David
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Speaker 1: reminds Solomon of the Lord's conditional promise, if his descendants
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Speaker 1: walk in the way of the Lord, faithfully following him
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Speaker 1: with all their heart and soul, David's lineage will never
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Speaker 1: lack a successor on the throne of Israel. Then, demonstrating
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Speaker 1: that there were still unresolved political matters, David gives specific
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Speaker 1: instructions on how to deal with certain individuals. Regarding joab
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Speaker 1: son of Zeruiah, David recalls the murders he committed, killing
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Speaker 1: Abner and Amasa during peacetime, shedding the blood of war
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Speaker 1: in a time of peace. Regarding the sons of Barzillai,
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Speaker 1: the Gileadite David asks that they be treated with kindness
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Speaker 1: and allowed to eat at Solomon's table, as they had
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Speaker 1: helped David during his flight from Absalom. Finally concerning Shemeh,
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Speaker 1: son of Gera, who had cursed him terribly on the
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Speaker 1: day he fled from Absalom, David leaves it to Solomon
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Speaker 1: to administer justice. With the kingdom firmly established in his hands,
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Speaker 1: Solomon begins consolidating his power through strategic alliances. As we
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Speaker 1: read in First Kings three IE, he makes an alliance
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Speaker 1: with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, by marrying his daughter. This
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Speaker 1: marriage was not merely a personal union, but a powerful
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Speaker 1: declaration of Israel's international status. Pharaoh's daughter was brought to
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Speaker 1: the city of David, where she remained until Solomon completed
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Speaker 1: the construction of his own palace, the House of the Lord,
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Speaker 1: and the walls surrounding Jerusalem. During this early period, as
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Speaker 1: noted in First Kings three two four, the people were
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Speaker 1: still offering sacrifices on the high places, because until then
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Speaker 1: no temple had been built for the name of the Lord.
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Speaker 1: The text tells us that Solomon loved the Lord and
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Speaker 1: walked in the statutes of his father David. Yet he
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Speaker 1: also offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places.
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Speaker 1: The most prominent of these places was Gibeon, considered the
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Speaker 1: greatest high place, where Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings
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Speaker 1: on the altar. It was in Gibeon that one of
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Speaker 1: the most significant moments of Solomon's reign took place. As
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Speaker 1: recorded in verse Kings three five fifteen, the Lord appeared
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Speaker 1: to Solomon in a dream during the night. In this
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Speaker 1: divine encounter, God made an extraordinary offer to the young king,
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Speaker 1: ask for whatever you want me to give you. Solomon's
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Speaker 1: response would reveal much about his character and priorities at
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Speaker 1: that moment. Solomon begins his answer by acknowledging God's kindness
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Speaker 1: toward his father David, who walked in truth, righteousness, and
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Speaker 1: uprightness of heart. He also recognizes that God had shown
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Speaker 1: great mercy by giving David a son to sit on
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Speaker 1: his throne. With humility, Solomon describes himself as a little
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Speaker 1: child who does not know how to go out or
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Speaker 1: come in. He acknowledges the magnitude of the task before him,
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Speaker 1: governing a people so numerous that they cannot be counted Therefore,
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Speaker 1: his request is striking in its wisdom. So give your
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Speaker 1: servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to
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Speaker 1: distinguish between right and wrong. This response pleased the Lord.
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Speaker 1: As we see in First Kings three ten two fourteen,
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Speaker 1: God commends Solomon for not asking for a long life, riches,
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Speaker 1: or the death of his enemies, but rather for discernment
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Speaker 1: in administering justice. Because of this wise choice, God promises
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Speaker 1: to give Solomon not only a wise and understanding heart,
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Speaker 1: such as had never been seen before him and would
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Speaker 1: never be seen after him, but also what he did
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Speaker 1: not ask for, riches and honor, so that no king
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Speaker 1: would compare to him all his days. Moreover, if Solomon
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Speaker 1: walked in the ways of the Lord, keeping his statutes
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Speaker 1: and commandments as David did, God would also grant him
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Speaker 1: a long life. When Solomon awoke, he realized it had
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Speaker 1: been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, presented himself before
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Speaker 1: the ark of the Covenant of the Lord, offered burnt
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Speaker 1: offerings and peace sacrifices, and held a feast for all
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Speaker 1: his servants. The wisdom promised by God would soon manifest,
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Speaker 1: as recorded in First Kings three sixteen to twenty eight,
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Speaker 1: Two women who were prostitutes soon came before the king.
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Speaker 1: A complex situation was presented. They lived in the same
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Speaker 1: house and had given birth three days apart. During the night,
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Speaker 1: one of them accidentally lay on her baby, causing his death.
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Speaker 1: This woman then switched the babies, placing the dead child
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Speaker 1: next to the other woman and taking the living baby
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Speaker 1: as her own. In the morning, when the second woman
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Speaker 1: woke up to nurse her son, she discovered that the
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Speaker 1: dead baby was not hers. Now both women were disputing
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Speaker 1: the maternity of the living child before the king. Solomon's
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Speaker 1: proposed solution would reveal his extraordinary wisdom. After hearing both
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Speaker 1: women present their versions, seemingly impossible to verify, the king
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Speaker 1: called for a sword and ordered cut the living child
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Speaker 1: in two and give half to one and half to
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Speaker 1: the other. The reaction of the two women exposed the truth.
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Speaker 1: The real mother, moved by love and compassion, begged for
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Speaker 1: the baby to be given to the other woman, preferring
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Speaker 1: to see her son in another's hands rather than see
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Speaker 1: him killed. The false mother, on the other hand, agreed
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Speaker 1: to the division, saying he shall be neither mine nor
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Speaker 1: yours divide him. Solomon then revealed his strategy, ordering that
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Speaker 1: the living child be given to the first woman, recognizing
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Speaker 1: her as the true mother. This judgment had a profound
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Speaker 1: impact throughout Israel, as recorded in First Kings three twenty eight.
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Speaker 1: All the people heard of the sentence the king had
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Speaker 1: rendered and feared him because they saw that he had
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Speaker 1: the wisdom of God to administer justice. Chapter four of
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Speaker 1: First Kings provides a detailed overview of the kingdom's administration
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Speaker 1: under Solomon. In verses one sixth we find a list
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Speaker 1: of the kingdom's chief officials. Azariah, son of Zadok was
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Speaker 1: the priest, Elehorif and Ahija were secretaries. Jehoshaphat was the recorder.
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Speaker 1: Benaiah commanded the army. Zadok and Abiatha were priests. Asariah
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Speaker 1: oversaw the governors, Zabud was the king's friend, Ahsha managed
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Speaker 1: the royal household, and ad Niram's supervised for labour. The
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Speaker 1: administrative organization of the kingdom was impressive, as we read
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Speaker 1: in First Kings four seven nineteen, Solomon had twelve governors
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Speaker 1: over all of Israel, responsible for supplying provisions for the
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Speaker 1: king and his household. Each governor was required to provide
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Speaker 1: provisions for one month of the year. This structure ensured
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Speaker 1: a constant flow of resources to sustain the growing royal court.
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Speaker 1: The extent and prosperity of Solomon's kingdom are described in
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Speaker 1: First Kings four twenty twenty eight. The text states that
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Speaker 1: Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on
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Speaker 1: the seashore, eating, drinking, and rejoicing. Solomon's dominion extended over
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Speaker 1: all the kingdoms, from the Euphrates River to the land
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Speaker 1: of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. These
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Speaker 1: kingdoms brought tributes and served Solomon all the days of
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Speaker 1: his life. The daily consumption at the and Palace was immense.
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Speaker 1: Thirty corps of fine flower, sixty cores of meal, ten
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Speaker 1: fattened oxen, twenty pasture fed oxen, a hundred sheep, as
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Speaker 1: well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. For the
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Speaker 1: horses and camels, forty thousand stalls for chariot horses and
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Speaker 1: twelve thousand horsemen were required. Solomon's wisdom, as promised by God,
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Speaker 1: surpassed that of all others. In First Kings four twenty
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Speaker 1: nine thirty four we read that God gave Solomon wisdom
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Speaker 1: great understanding and a breadth of knowledge as vast as
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Speaker 1: the sand on the sea shore. His wisdom exceeded that
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Speaker 1: of all the people of the East, and all the
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Speaker 1: knowledge of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone, including Ethan
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Speaker 1: the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol and Dada, the sons of Mahul.
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Speaker 1: His fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations. The text
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Speaker 1: tells us that Solomon spoke three thousand proverbs, and his
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Speaker 1: songs numbered one thousand and five. He discover forced on
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Speaker 1: plants from the cedar in Lebanon to the hissop that
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Speaker 1: grows out of walls, as well as on animals, birds, reptiles,
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Speaker 1: and fish. People from all nations came to hear Solomon's wisdom,
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Speaker 1: sent by all the kings of the earth who had
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Speaker 1: heard of his knowledge. With his reputation established and his
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Speaker 1: kingdom flourishing, Solomon was ready to embark on his greatest project,
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Speaker 1: the construction of the Lord's Temple. The time of worship
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Speaker 1: in the high places was coming to an end, and
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Speaker 1: anew era in Israel's history was about to begin. With
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Speaker 1: his kingdom firmly established and prosperous, Solomon decided to undertake
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Speaker 1: the grand task of building a house for the name
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Speaker 1: of the Lord, fulfilling the desire that had been in
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Speaker 1: his father, David's heart. As recorded in First Kings five
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Speaker 1: one to six, Solomon sent messengers to Hiram, King of Tire,
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Speaker 1: reminding him of his past friendship with David. He explained
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Speaker 1: that David had been unable to build a house for
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Speaker 1: the name of the Lord because of the wars that
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Speaker 1: surrounded him, but now with peace secured, the time had come.
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Speaker 1: Solomon's request to Hiram was specific. He needed the famous
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Speaker 1: cedars of Lebanon, as there was no one in Israel
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Speaker 1: skilled in cutting timber like the Sidonians. In verse Kings
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Speaker 1: five seven to twelve, we see that Hiram was very
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Speaker 1: pleased to receive this message, blessing the Lord for giving
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Speaker 1: David a wise son to rule such a great people.
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Speaker 1: Hiram's response was favorable. He would supply both cedars and cypresses,
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Speaker 1: transporting them in rafts by sea to the location Solomon designated.
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Speaker 1: In exchange, Solomon would provide wheat and pure olive oil
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Speaker 1: for Hiram's household. This commercial alliance and peace treaty between
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Speaker 1: the two Kings would be fundamental to the construction of
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Speaker 1: the temple. The mobilization of workers for this grand project
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Speaker 1: was remarkable, as recorded in First Kings five thirteen to eighteen.
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Speaker 1: Solomon conscripted laborers from all over Israel, thirty thousand men
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Speaker 1: working in monthly shifts of ten thousand in Lebanon. Additionally,
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Speaker 1: seventy thousand men transported loads, eighty thousand cut stones in
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Speaker 1: the mountains, and thirty three hundred supervisors directed the work
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Speaker 1: force by the king's command. Large, carefully chosen and hewn
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Speaker 1: stones were cut to lay the foundation of the temple
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Speaker 1: with precision crafted masonry. The actual construction began, as stated
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Speaker 1: in First King six one, in the four hundred and
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Speaker 1: eightieth year, after the Israelites had come out of Egypt,
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Speaker 1: in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in
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Speaker 1: the month of Ziv, which is the second month. The
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Speaker 1: dimensions of the temple are detailed in First Kings six
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Speaker 1: two ten sixty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width,
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Speaker 1: and thirty cubits in height. The portico in front of
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Speaker 1: the temple was twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.
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Speaker 1: The windows were broad on the inside and narrow on
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Speaker 1: the outside. The structure of the temple was both complex
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Speaker 1: and magnificent. Against the wall, there were surrounding levels with
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Speaker 1: side chambers. The lowest level was five cubits wide, the
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Speaker 1: middle level was six cubits wide, and the third level
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Speaker 1: was seven cubits wide. The stones used for construction were
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Speaker 1: pre cut at the quarry, so no hammer, axe, or
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Speaker 1: any iron tool was heard during the building of the house.
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Speaker 1: As mentioned in First Kings six seven. The interior of
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Speaker 1: the temple received special attention as described in First Kings
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Speaker 1: six fourteen to twenty two. All the inner walls were
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Speaker 1: lined with cedar from the floor to the ceiling, and
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Speaker 1: the floor was covered with cypress boards. The twenty cubits
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Speaker 1: at the rear were par titioned off with cedar boards
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Speaker 1: to form the most Holy Place. The entire interior was
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Speaker 1: overlaid with pure gold, and a cedar altar was placed
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Speaker 1: before the sanctuary, also overlaid with gold. In the most
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Speaker 1: Holy Place, as stated in First King six twenty three
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Speaker 1: to twenty eight, two cherubim made of olive wood were placed,
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Speaker 1: each ten cubits high. The cherubim's wings stretched so that
23:26
Speaker 1: one wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the
23:29
Speaker 1: wing of the other cherub touched the opposite wall, and
23:33
Speaker 1: their other wings met in the middle of the house.
23:36
Speaker 1: The cherubim were also overlaid with gold. The walls of
23:40
Speaker 1: the temple were adorned with embossed decorations, cherubim, palm trees,
23:46
Speaker 1: and open flowers, all overlaid with gold, as described in
23:50
Speaker 1: First Kings six twenty nine thirty five. The doors were
23:54
Speaker 1: made of olive wood with cherubim, palm trees and open
23:58
Speaker 1: flowers carved into them, all covered with hammered gold. The
24:02
Speaker 1: inner courtyard was constructed with three rows of dressed stone
24:07
Speaker 1: and one row of cedar beams. The construction of the
24:10
Speaker 1: temple took seven years, as recorded in First King six
24:14
Speaker 1: thirty eight. It was begun in the month of Ziv
24:17
Speaker 1: and completed in the month of Bull, the eighth month
24:21
Speaker 1: in the eleventh year of Solomon's reign. But Solomon did
24:24
Speaker 1: not only build the temple, as stated in First Kings
24:28
Speaker 1: seven one to twelve, he also built his own palace,
24:31
Speaker 1: which took thirteen years to complete. The royal palace included
24:36
Speaker 1: the House of the Forest of Lebanon, measuring one hundred
24:39
Speaker 1: cubits in length, fifty cubits in width, and thirty cubits
24:43
Speaker 1: in height, supported by four rows of cedar columns. There
24:47
Speaker 1: was also the hall of Pillars, the Hall of the
24:50
Speaker 1: Throne where he judged, and a house for Pharaoh's daughter,
24:54
Speaker 1: whom Solomon had married. For the more specialized work, as
24:58
Speaker 1: recorded in First King seventh thirteen to fourteen, Solomon brought
25:02
Speaker 1: a man from Tire named Hiram, different from the King
25:05
Speaker 1: of Tire, the son of a widow from the tribe
25:08
Speaker 1: of Naftali and a Tyrian father. This Hiram was filled
25:13
Speaker 1: with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge to carry out all kinds
25:18
Speaker 1: of bronze work. Hiram's bronze work was extraordinary. In First
25:22
Speaker 1: Kings seven fifteen forty seven, detailed descriptions of his creations
25:27
Speaker 1: are found. Two bronze columns, each eighteen cubits high, named
25:32
Speaker 1: Jakin and Boaz, with ornamented capitals at the top. The
25:36
Speaker 1: molten sea, a large circular basin ten cubits in diameter,
25:41
Speaker 1: supported by twelve bronze oxen, ten movable bronze stands with
25:45
Speaker 1: wheels each four cubits in length, width and height, and
25:50
Speaker 1: ten bronze basins, one on each stand. Additionally, he made shovels, basins,
25:57
Speaker 1: and all the necessary utensils for theervis of the temple.
26:01
Speaker 1: The amount of bronze used was so vast that, as
26:05
Speaker 1: noted in First Kings seven forty seven, Solomon stopped weighing
26:09
Speaker 1: it because it was beyond measure. All these items were
26:13
Speaker 1: cast in the clay ground of the Jordan Plain between
26:17
Speaker 1: Succoth and Zarathon. The gold objects were also numerous and precious.
26:22
Speaker 1: As recorded in First Kings seven forty eight fifty, Solomon
26:27
Speaker 1: made all the furnishings for the House of the Lord,
26:30
Speaker 1: the golden altar, the golden table for the showbread, the
26:33
Speaker 1: pure gold lamp stands five on the right and five
26:37
Speaker 1: on the left before the sanctuary, the flowers, lamps and
26:40
Speaker 1: tongs of gold, the cups, wick, trimmers, basins, ladles, and
26:45
Speaker 1: senses of pure gold. Even the hinges for the doors
26:49
Speaker 1: of the Inner House and the Temple were made of gold. Thus,
26:53
Speaker 1: all the work that King Solomon had done for the
26:56
Speaker 1: House of the Lord was completed. As mentioned in First
27:00
Speaker 1: King seven fifty one, Solomon brought in the things his
27:03
Speaker 1: father David had dedicated. The silver, the gold and the utensils,
27:10
Speaker 1: and placed them in the treasuries of the House of
27:12
Speaker 1: the Lord. The magnitude of this construction was unprecedented in Israel.
27:18
Speaker 1: The temple was not merely a religious building, but a
27:21
Speaker 1: symbol of Solomon's power and glory, and most importantly, of
27:25
Speaker 1: God's presence among his people. Now everything was ready for
27:31
Speaker 1: the most significant moment, the dedication of the temple and
27:35
Speaker 1: the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant to its
27:37
Speaker 1: new home. With the Temple completed, it was time to
27:41
Speaker 1: move the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to
27:44
Speaker 1: its new dwelling place. As stated in First Kings eight
27:47
Speaker 1: one two, Solomon summoned to Jerusalem all the elders of Israel,
27:52
Speaker 1: the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the
27:55
Speaker 1: Israelite families. They gathered in the month of Itthanim, the
27:59
Speaker 1: seventh month, during the festival. Signifying the religious and national
28:04
Speaker 1: importance of this moment. The procession to transport the Ark
28:08
Speaker 1: was majestic, as recorded in First Kings eight three nine,
28:12
Speaker 1: All the elders of Israel came, and the priests lifted
28:16
Speaker 1: the ark. They brought the Ark of the Lord the
28:19
Speaker 1: tent of meeting, and all the sacred furnishings that were
28:22
Speaker 1: in the tent. The priests and Levites carried them, while
28:26
Speaker 1: King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had
28:29
Speaker 1: assembled before the ark, walked ahead, sacrificing so many sheep
28:34
Speaker 1: and cattle that they could not be counted. The ark
28:39
Speaker 1: contained only the two stone tablets that Moses had placed
28:43
Speaker 1: there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with
28:45
Speaker 1: the Israelites after they came out of the land of Egypt.
28:49
Speaker 1: The moment the Ark entered the temple was marked by
28:52
Speaker 1: a supernatural event, as we read in First Kings eight
28:56
Speaker 1: ten eleven, when the priests came out of the sanctuary,
28:59
Speaker 1: a cloud would filled the House of the Lord. The
29:02
Speaker 1: priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud,
29:06
Speaker 1: for the glory of the Lord had filled the House
29:09
Speaker 1: of the Lord. This visible manifestation of the divine presence,
29:14
Speaker 1: known as the Shekina, was a clear sign of God's approval.
29:19
Speaker 1: In response to this divine demonstration, Solomon spoke profound words
29:24
Speaker 1: recorded in First Kings eight twelve to thirteen. The Lord
29:28
Speaker 1: said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have
29:32
Speaker 1: indeed built you a house to dwell in a place
29:35
Speaker 1: for your eternal habitation. Then, turning to the entire congregation
29:40
Speaker 1: of Israel who was standing, Solomon began to offer one
29:44
Speaker 1: of the most significant prayers in the Old Testament. Solomon's
29:47
Speaker 1: prayer of Dedication, found in First Kings eight fifteen fifty three,
29:52
Speaker 1: is one of the deepest and theologically richest texts in scripture.
29:57
Speaker 1: He begins by blessing the Lord, the God of Israel,
30:01
Speaker 1: who had fulfilled with his own hands what he had
30:04
Speaker 1: promised to David, his father. Solomon acknowledges that although since
30:09
Speaker 1: the day he brought his people out of Egypt, God
30:12
Speaker 1: had not chosen any city to build a house for
30:14
Speaker 1: his name, he had chosen David to rule over his people.
30:20
Speaker 1: In his prayer, Solomon recognizes the greatness and transcendence of God,
30:26
Speaker 1: as seen in First Kings eight twenty seven thirty. He
30:29
Speaker 1: admits that even the heavens and the highest heavens cannot
30:32
Speaker 1: contain God, much less the house he had built. Nevertheless,
30:36
Speaker 1: he asks that the Lord's eyes be opened day and
30:39
Speaker 1: night toward that house, the place of which he had
30:42
Speaker 1: said his name would be there. He pleads for God
30:46
Speaker 1: to hear the prayers offered in that place. The prayer
30:49
Speaker 1: then unfolds into seven specific situations in which the people
30:54
Speaker 1: would seek God in the temple. In First Kings eight
30:57
Speaker 1: thirty one thirty two, he speaks of cases of oaths
31:00
Speaker 1: between individuals. In verses thirty three thirty four, he addresses
31:05
Speaker 1: situations in which Israel might be defeated by enemies because
31:09
Speaker 1: of their sins. In verses thirty five thirty six, he
31:13
Speaker 1: mentions periods of drought due to the people's transgressions. In
31:17
Speaker 1: verses thirty seven forty he speaks of famine, pestilence, blight,
31:21
Speaker 1: crop diseases, and sickness. In verses forty one forty three,
31:26
Speaker 1: he intercedes for foreigners who would come to pray in
31:29
Speaker 1: the temple. In verses forty four forty five, he prays
31:33
Speaker 1: for the people when they go out to war, and
31:35
Speaker 1: in verses forty six fifty three he considers the possibility
31:39
Speaker 1: of exile when the people might sin and be taken
31:43
Speaker 1: captive to a foreign land. After this comprehensive prayer, Solomon
31:49
Speaker 1: arose from before the altar of the Lord, where he
31:52
Speaker 1: had been kneeling with his hands spread toward heaven, and
31:56
Speaker 1: stood up, as recorded in First Kings eight fifty four
31:59
Speaker 1: to sixty one. He blessed the entire congregation of Israel
32:03
Speaker 1: in a loud voice, asking that the Lord be with
32:07
Speaker 1: them as he had been with their ancestors, inclining the
32:10
Speaker 1: hearts of the people to walk in all His ways
32:14
Speaker 1: and keep his commandments, statutes, and judgments. The dedication of
32:19
Speaker 1: the temple was marked by extraordinary sacrifices. As we read
32:23
Speaker 1: in First Kings eight sixty two sixty four, the King
32:27
Speaker 1: and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord
32:31
Speaker 1: twenty two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep.
32:35
Speaker 1: On the same day, the King consecrated the middle of
32:38
Speaker 1: the courtyard in front of the House of the Lord,
32:41
Speaker 1: for there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the
32:45
Speaker 1: fat of the peace offerings. Since the bronze altar was
32:48
Speaker 1: too small to contain all the sacrifices, the celebration lasted
32:52
Speaker 1: a total of fourteen days, as recorded in First Kings
32:56
Speaker 1: eight sixty five to sixty six days for the dedication
33:01
Speaker 1: of the altar, and another seven days for the feast
33:05
Speaker 1: of tabernacles. On the eighth day, Solomon dismissed the people
33:10
Speaker 1: who blessed the king and went to their tents joyful
33:13
Speaker 1: and glad of heart for all the goodness that the
33:16
Speaker 1: Lord had shown to David his servant and to Israel
33:20
Speaker 1: his people. After the dedication of the temple, the Lord
33:24
Speaker 1: appeared to Solomon for the second time, as he had
33:27
Speaker 1: appeared to him in Gibeon. In First Kings nine three nine,
33:32
Speaker 1: God confirmed that he had heard Solomon's prayer and sanctified
33:35
Speaker 1: the house he had built. The Lord's eyes and heart
33:38
Speaker 1: would be there every day. However, this promise came with
33:42
Speaker 1: a serious warning. If Solomon or his descendants turned away
33:46
Speaker 1: from following God and served other gods, then Israel would
33:50
Speaker 1: be cut off from the land, the temple would be destroyed,
33:54
Speaker 1: and it would become an object of ridicule among the nations.
33:58
Speaker 1: The power and prosper of Solomon's kingdom continued to grow,
34:03
Speaker 1: as we read in First Kings nine ten fourteen. At
34:06
Speaker 1: the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built the
34:09
Speaker 1: two houses, the House of the Lord and the King's House, Hiram,
34:14
Speaker 1: King of Tire, having supplied Solomon with cedar, Cyprus and
34:18
Speaker 1: gold according to all his desire, received in exchange twenty
34:23
Speaker 1: cities in the land of Galilee. However, when Hiram came
34:27
Speaker 1: from Tire to inspect the cities, he was not pleased
34:31
Speaker 1: with them and called them the land of Cabul, a
34:34
Speaker 1: name that remains to this day. Solomon's construction projects were extensive,
34:39
Speaker 1: as recorded in First Kings nine fifteen nineteen. He built
34:43
Speaker 1: the Millow and the Wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazer,
34:46
Speaker 1: Megido and Gazer. The latter had been captured and burned
34:50
Speaker 1: by Pharaoh, King of Egypt, who gave it as a
34:53
Speaker 1: dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife. Solomon also built Lower
34:57
Speaker 1: beth Horon, Barlath Tadmore in the wilderness, all his store cities,
35:03
Speaker 1: the cities for his chariots, the cities for his horsemen,
35:06
Speaker 1: and whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon and
35:10
Speaker 1: throughout his domain. The organization of forced labor is also
35:15
Speaker 1: described in First Kings nine twenty to twenty three. All
35:18
Speaker 1: the remaining people of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizites, Hivites, and
35:23
Speaker 1: Jebusites who were not Israelites were subjected to forced labor
35:28
Speaker 1: by Solomon. However, Solomon did not enslave any of the
35:32
Speaker 1: Israelites Instead, they served as warriors, officials, commanders, captains, and
35:38
Speaker 1: overseers of his chariots and horsemen. The fame of Solomon
35:42
Speaker 1: spread throughout the region, attracting distinguished visitors. The most famous
35:47
Speaker 1: of these was the Queen of Sheba, as told in
35:50
Speaker 1: First Kings ten, one of five. Having heard of Solomon's renown,
35:55
Speaker 1: she came to test him with difficult questions. She arrived
35:58
Speaker 1: in Jerusalem with a great entourage, bringing camels laden with spices,
36:03
Speaker 1: an abundance of gold and precious stones. When she met Solomon,
36:09
Speaker 1: she spoke to him about everything in her heart, and
36:12
Speaker 1: Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing the king
36:15
Speaker 1: could not explain to her. The Queen of Sheba was
36:19
Speaker 1: impressed not only by Solomon's wisdom, but also by everything
36:23
Speaker 1: she saw. As recorded in First Kings ten sixty nine,
36:28
Speaker 1: she declared that not even half of what she had
36:31
Speaker 1: heard did justice to the reality. Solomon's wisdom and prosperity
36:37
Speaker 1: far exceeded the report she had received. She considered Solomon's
36:41
Speaker 1: men and servants fortunate, as they stood continually in his
36:46
Speaker 1: presence and listened to his wisdom. She praised the Lord,
36:50
Speaker 1: the God of Israel, who had placed Solomon on the throne.
36:53
Speaker 1: The wealth of Solomon's kingdom was extraordinary. In First Kings
36:58
Speaker 1: ten fourteen twenty two, we learned that the weight of
37:01
Speaker 1: gold brought to Solomon each year was six hundred and
37:04
Speaker 1: sixty six talents, in addition to revenues from merchants, traders,
37:10
Speaker 1: all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land.
37:13
Speaker 1: The king made two hundred large shields of hammered gold
37:16
Speaker 1: and three hundred smaller shields, which were placed in the
37:20
Speaker 1: House of the Forest of Lebanon. His throne was made
37:23
Speaker 1: of ivory and overlaid with pure gold, featuring six steps
37:27
Speaker 1: and twelve lions, one on each side of every step.
37:31
Speaker 1: All of the king's drinking vessels were made of gold,
37:34
Speaker 1: and every object in the House of the Forest of
37:37
Speaker 1: Lebanon was pure gold. Silver was considered of no value
37:42
Speaker 1: in Solomon's time. The kingdom's commercial prosperity was also remarkable.
37:47
Speaker 1: As we read in First Kings ten twenty three twenty nine,
37:51
Speaker 1: King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the Earth in
37:55
Speaker 1: both wealth and wisdom. He had a fleet of Tarsish
37:58
Speaker 1: ships sailing the seas along side Hiram's fleet, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes,
38:04
Speaker 1: and peacocks. Every three years. His merchants imported horses from
38:08
Speaker 1: Egypt and various other regions. The whole world sought an
38:12
Speaker 1: audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had
38:14
Speaker 1: placed in his heart. Each visitor brought gifts silver and gold, objects, garments, armor, spices, horses,
38:22
Speaker 1: and mules. Silver became as common in Jerusalem as stones
38:26
Speaker 1: and cedar, as abundant as the sycamore trees in the lowlands.
38:30
Speaker 1: Despite all his wisdom and the divine blessings he had received,
38:35
Speaker 1: Solomon began to stray from the ways of the Lord.
38:39
Speaker 1: As told in First Kings eleven one to three, the
38:42
Speaker 1: king loved many foreign women, in addition to Pharaoh's daughter, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians,
38:50
Speaker 1: and Hittites, people of whom the Lord had worn the Israelites,
38:54
Speaker 1: saying you must not intermarry with them, nor they with you,
38:59
Speaker 1: for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.
39:02
Speaker 1: Yet Solomon clung to these women in love. He had
39:05
Speaker 1: seven hundred wives, princesses and three hundred concubines, and his
39:10
Speaker 1: wives led his heart astray. The spiritual impact of these
39:14
Speaker 1: unions was devastating, as we read in First Kings eleven
39:18
Speaker 1: four eight. When Solomon grew old, his wives turned his
39:22
Speaker 1: heart toward other gods, and his heart was no longer
39:25
Speaker 1: fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart
39:28
Speaker 1: of his father David had been. Solomon followed Ashterith, the
39:32
Speaker 1: goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.
39:38
Speaker 1: He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and
39:40
Speaker 1: did not follow him fully as David had done. He
39:43
Speaker 1: even built a high place for Kemosh, the abomination of
39:47
Speaker 1: the Moabites, on the hill east of Jerusalem, and for Molik,
39:51
Speaker 1: the abomination of the Ammonites. He did the same for
39:54
Speaker 1: all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to
39:58
Speaker 1: their gods. Divine judgment did not delay. In vers Kings
40:03
Speaker 1: eleven nine to thirteen, we see that the Lord became
40:07
Speaker 1: angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from
40:11
Speaker 1: the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to
40:14
Speaker 1: him twice. Although God had explicitly commanded him not to
40:18
Speaker 1: follow other gods, Solomon did not keep what the Lord
40:21
Speaker 1: had commanded. Therefore, the Lord said to Solomon, since this
40:25
Speaker 1: has been your attitude, and you have not kept my
40:28
Speaker 1: covenant and decrees. I will surely tear the kingdom away
40:31
Speaker 1: from you and give it to one of your subordinates. However,
40:35
Speaker 1: for the sake of your father, David, I will not
40:38
Speaker 1: do this during your lifetime. I will tear it out
40:41
Speaker 1: of the hand of your son. Yet I will not
40:43
Speaker 1: tear the whole kingdom away. I will give one tribe
40:47
Speaker 1: to your son, for the sake of my servant David,
40:50
Speaker 1: and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.
40:54
Speaker 1: Divine judgment began to manifest through the rise of adversaries.
40:59
Speaker 1: As recorded in First Kings eleven fourteen twenty two, the
41:02
Speaker 1: Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon Hadad, the Edomite
41:07
Speaker 1: from the royal line of Edom during David's reign. When
41:11
Speaker 1: Joab went to bury the dead and struck down all
41:14
Speaker 1: the men in Edom, Haddad, then just a boy, fled
41:18
Speaker 1: to Egypt with some Edomite servants. Pharaoh not only welcomed
41:22
Speaker 1: him but also provided him with a house, land, and provisions.
41:27
Speaker 1: Haddad gained so much favor that Pharaoh gave him in
41:30
Speaker 1: marriage the sister of his own wife, Queen Tappanes. When
41:34
Speaker 1: Hadad heard in Egypt that David had rested with his
41:37
Speaker 1: ancestors and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead,
41:41
Speaker 1: he requested permission from Pharaoh to return to his homeland,
41:46
Speaker 1: becoming an enemy of Israel. Another adversary was Resin, son
41:52
Speaker 1: of Eliada, as told in First Kings eleven twenty three
41:56
Speaker 1: twenty five, he had fled from his master, Hadadezah, king
41:59
Speaker 1: of dans Zoba, and gathered men around him, becoming the
42:03
Speaker 1: leader of a band of rebels. When David defeated them,
42:07
Speaker 1: he went to Damascus, where he reigned and remained a
42:10
Speaker 1: persistent enemy of Israel throughout Solomon's reign, just as Haddad did.
42:15
Speaker 1: He despised Israel and ruled over Aram. But the most
42:20
Speaker 1: significant adversary arose from within the kingdom itself. In Verse
42:24
Speaker 1: Kings eleven twenty six twenty eight, we are introduced to Jeroboam,
42:29
Speaker 1: son of Nebat, an Ephraemite from Zeredah and a servant
42:33
Speaker 1: of Solomon. His mother, Zerua, was a widow. He was
42:38
Speaker 1: a strong and capable man, and when Solomon saw how
42:42
Speaker 1: industrious he was, he appointed him over the entire labor
42:46
Speaker 1: force of the house of Joseph, that is, the tribes
42:50
Speaker 1: of Ephraim and Manasseh. The divine calling of Jeroboam is
42:55
Speaker 1: described in Firs Kings eleven twenty nine to thirty nine.
43:00
Speaker 1: At that time, when Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet
43:04
Speaker 1: Ahija the Shylonite, met him along the way. Ahijah was
43:09
Speaker 1: wearing a new cloak, and the two were alone in
43:11
Speaker 1: the field. The prophet took the new cloak he was
43:14
Speaker 1: wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said
43:17
Speaker 1: to Jeroboam, take ten pieces for yourself, for this is
43:21
Speaker 1: what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. See I
43:26
Speaker 1: am tearing the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and giving
43:29
Speaker 1: you ten tribes. He will have one tribe for the
43:32
Speaker 1: sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem,
43:35
Speaker 1: the city I have chosen out of all the tribes
43:40
Speaker 1: of Israel. The prophet explained that this would happen because
43:45
Speaker 1: they had abandoned the Lord and worshiped Ashtreth, the goddess
43:49
Speaker 1: of the Sidonians, Kemosh, the God of the Moabites, and Milcombe,
43:54
Speaker 1: the God of the Ammonites. They had not walked in
43:58
Speaker 1: the ways of the Lord to do what was right
44:00
Speaker 1: in his eyes, as David had done. However, God would
44:04
Speaker 1: not take the entire kingdom from Solomon's hand, but would
44:08
Speaker 1: allow him to remain as prince all the days of
44:10
Speaker 1: his life for the sake of David. Yet from Solomon's son,
44:15
Speaker 1: God would take the kingdom and give ten tribes to Jeroboam.
44:19
Speaker 1: To his son, he would give one tribe so that
44:22
Speaker 1: David his servant, would always have a lamp before the
44:25
Speaker 1: Lord in Jerusalem, the city he had chosen to place
44:28
Speaker 1: his name there. The Lord promised Jeroboam that if he
44:32
Speaker 1: walked in all his ways, doing what was right in
44:35
Speaker 1: his sight, keeping his statutes and commandments as David had done,
44:39
Speaker 1: he would be with him, build him a lasting dynasty
44:42
Speaker 1: as he had built for David, and give Israel to him.
44:46
Speaker 1: God would humble David's descendants because of their idolatry, but
44:50
Speaker 1: not forever. When Solomon learned of this prophecy, as recorded
44:54
Speaker 1: in First Kings eleven forty, he sought to kill Jeroboam,
45:00
Speaker 1: but Jeroboam fled to Egypt to Shishak, king of Egypt,
45:05
Speaker 1: and remained there until Solomon's death. The end of Solomon's
45:09
Speaker 1: reign is briefly described in Verse Kings eleven forty one
45:14
Speaker 1: forty three. The rest of Solomon's acts, all he did
45:17
Speaker 1: and his wisdom are written in the Book of the
45:19
Speaker 1: Acts of Solomon. He reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel
45:23
Speaker 1: for forty years. Then he rested with his ancestors and
45:27
Speaker 1: was buried in the city of David. His father. His
45:31
Speaker 1: son Rehoboam, reigned in his place. However, the succession would
45:36
Speaker 1: not be peaceful. As we read in First Kings twelve
45:40
Speaker 1: one five, Rahoboam went to Shechem because all Israel had
45:44
Speaker 1: gathered there to make him king. When Jeroboam, son of Nibat,
45:48
Speaker 1: who was still in Egypt, where he had fled from
45:51
Speaker 1: King Solomon, heard this, he returned from Egypt. They sent
45:54
Speaker 1: for him, and Jeroboam, along with the whole assembly of Israel,
45:58
Speaker 1: came to speak with Rihoom, saying, your father placed a
46:02
Speaker 1: heavy yoke on us. Now lighten the harsh labor and
46:06
Speaker 1: the heavy yoke he imposed on us, and we will
46:08
Speaker 1: serve you re Heboam answered, go away for three days,
46:14
Speaker 1: then come back to me. So the people left during
46:18
Speaker 1: these three days, as recorded in First Kings twelve sixty eleven,
46:22
Speaker 1: Rehoboam sought two very different sources of council. First, he
46:27
Speaker 1: consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon while
46:30
Speaker 1: he was alive. They advised him, if to day you
46:34
Speaker 1: will be a servant into these people and serve them,
46:37
Speaker 1: and if you speak to them with kind words, they
46:39
Speaker 1: will be your servants forever. However, Rehoboam rejected this advice
46:45
Speaker 1: and consulted the young men who had grown up with him.
46:48
Speaker 1: They advised him to respond harshly to the people. My
46:51
Speaker 1: father made your yoke heavy, but I will make it
46:54
Speaker 1: even heavier. My father disciplined you with whips, but I
46:59
Speaker 1: will discipline you with scorpions. The decisive moment came when,
47:03
Speaker 1: as we read in First Kings twelve twelve fifteen, Jeroboam
47:07
Speaker 1: and all the people returned on the third day as
47:10
Speaker 1: the king had instructed. The king answered the people harshly,
47:15
Speaker 1: rejecting the advice the eldest had given him. Instead, he
47:20
Speaker 1: spoke according to the advice of the young men, saying,
47:23
Speaker 1: my father made your yoke heavy, but I will make
47:26
Speaker 1: it even heavier. My father disciplined you with whips, but
47:30
Speaker 1: I will discipline you with scorpions. The text tells us
47:34
Speaker 1: that the king did not listen to the people because
47:36
Speaker 1: this turn of events was from the Lord to fulfill
47:40
Speaker 1: the word he had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite, to Jeroboam,
47:45
Speaker 1: son of Nebat. The people's response was immediate, as recorded
47:51
Speaker 1: in verse Kings twelve sixteen to twenty. When all Israel
47:55
Speaker 1: saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered,
47:59
Speaker 1: what share do we have in David? We have no
48:01
Speaker 1: inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tense, Israel,
48:05
Speaker 1: look after your own house, David. So the Israelites went
48:10
Speaker 1: home Rehoboam continued to reign only over the Israelites who
48:14
Speaker 1: lived in the cities of Judah. When he sent out Adoram,
48:18
Speaker 1: who was in charge of forced labor, all Israel stoned
48:22
Speaker 1: him to death. King Rioboam, however, managed to escape to
48:26
Speaker 1: his chariot and flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been
48:30
Speaker 1: in rebellion against the House of David to this day.
48:34
Speaker 1: When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent
48:37
Speaker 1: for him made him king over all Israel, and only
48:41
Speaker 1: the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the House of David.
48:44
Speaker 1: With the kingdom divided. Rehoboam's first actions demonstrated his inexperience
48:50
Speaker 1: as a ruler, as we read in First Kings twelve
48:53
Speaker 1: twenty one twenty four. When he arrived in Jerusalem, he
48:57
Speaker 1: gathered the entire House of Judah and the te tribe
49:00
Speaker 1: of Benjamin one hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors to
49:04
Speaker 1: fight against the House of Israel and restore the kingdom
49:07
Speaker 1: to Rehoboam son of Solomon. However, the word of God
49:11
Speaker 1: came to Shemaiah, the Man of God, instructing them not
49:14
Speaker 1: to go up or fight against their brothers, the Israelites,
49:18
Speaker 1: but to return home, for this event was from the Lord.
49:22
Speaker 1: They obeyed the word of the Lord and went home
49:25
Speaker 1: as he had commanded. Meanwhile, in the northern Kingdom, Jeroboam
49:30
Speaker 1: began establishing his rule, as recorded in verse Kings twelve
49:34
Speaker 1: twenty five twenty seven. He built Shechem in the hill
49:37
Speaker 1: country of Ephraim and lived there. Then he went out
49:40
Speaker 1: from there and built Pennil. However, Jeroboam soon became politically anxious.
49:47
Speaker 1: He thought to himself, now the kingdom may return to
49:51
Speaker 1: the House of David if these people go up to
49:54
Speaker 1: offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.
49:57
Speaker 1: Their hearts will turn back to their lord, Rihoboam, King
50:01
Speaker 1: of Judah. They will kill me and return to Rihoboam,
50:04
Speaker 1: King of Judah. This concern led Jeroboam to make a
50:08
Speaker 1: decision that would forever change the spiritual course of the
50:12
Speaker 1: Northern Kingdom, as we read in First Kings twelve twenty
50:15
Speaker 1: eight thirty three, after seeking council, he made two golden
50:19
Speaker 1: calves and said to the people, it is too much
50:22
Speaker 1: for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods,
50:26
Speaker 1: o Israel, who brought you up out of the land
50:28
Speaker 1: of Egypt. He placed one in Bethel and the other
50:32
Speaker 1: in Dan. This act became a sin, for the people
50:35
Speaker 1: went as far as Dan to worship before one of
50:37
Speaker 1: the calves, but Jeroboam did not stop there. He also
50:41
Speaker 1: built shrines on the high places and appointed priests from
50:45
Speaker 1: among the people who were not from the sons of Levi.
50:49
Speaker 1: He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the
50:51
Speaker 1: eighth month, similar to the festival celebrated in Judah, and
50:55
Speaker 1: offered sacrifices on the altar. He did the same in Bethel,
51:00
Speaker 1: sacrificing to the calves he had made, and he also
51:03
Speaker 1: appointed priests for the high places he had established there.
51:07
Speaker 1: On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the month
51:10
Speaker 1: he had chosen in his own heart, he went up
51:12
Speaker 1: to the altar in Bethel and burned incense, thus holding
51:16
Speaker 1: a feast for the people of Israel. The divine response
51:20
Speaker 1: to this apostasy was swift, as recorded in verse Kings
51:24
Speaker 1: thirteen one to six, a man of God came from
51:28
Speaker 1: Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord. Just
51:31
Speaker 1: as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.
51:34
Speaker 1: By the word of the Lord, he cried out against
51:37
Speaker 1: the altar, Altar, Altar, this is what the Lord says,
51:41
Speaker 1: A son named Josiah will be born to the house
51:44
Speaker 1: of David. He will sacrifice on you the priests of
51:48
Speaker 1: the high places who burn incense on you, and human
51:52
Speaker 1: bones will be burned on you. That same day he
51:56
Speaker 1: gave a sign saying, this is the sign that the
51:58
Speaker 1: Lord has spoken. The altar will be split apart, and
52:02
Speaker 1: the ashes on it will be poured out. When King
52:05
Speaker 1: Jeroboam heard the word that the man of God had
52:08
Speaker 1: proclaimed against the altar, he stretched out his hand from
52:11
Speaker 1: the altar and said, seize him. But the hand he
52:15
Speaker 1: stretched out against the man withered and he could not
52:18
Speaker 1: pull it back. The altar was split apart and its
52:22
Speaker 1: ashes poured out, just as the Man of God had
52:26
Speaker 1: prophesied by the word of the Lord. Then the King
52:30
Speaker 1: pleaded with the Man of God to intercede with the
52:32
Speaker 1: Lord his God and pray for him, so that his
52:35
Speaker 1: hand might be restored. The Man of God prayed to
52:38
Speaker 1: the Lord, and the King's hand was restored and became
52:42
Speaker 1: as it was before. The story of this Man of
52:44
Speaker 1: God continues in First Kings thirteen to seven thirty two,
52:48
Speaker 1: with a tragic ending. Though he initially refused the king's
52:52
Speaker 1: invitation to eat and drink, remaining faithful to God's command
52:57
Speaker 1: not to eat bread or drink water in that place,
53:00
Speaker 1: he was deceived by an old prophet from Bethel. This
53:03
Speaker 1: prophet lied claiming that an angel had spoken to him
53:07
Speaker 1: by the word of the Lord, instructing him to bring
53:10
Speaker 1: the Man of God back. Because he disobeyed the Lord's command.
53:15
Speaker 1: The Man of God was killed by a lion on
53:18
Speaker 1: the way. Despite these signs, as First Kings thirteen thirty
53:23
Speaker 1: three tells us, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways. Instead,
53:29
Speaker 1: he continued appointing priests for the high places from among
53:32
Speaker 1: the lowest of the people. Any one who wanted to
53:35
Speaker 1: become a priest he would consecrate. In First Kings fourteen
53:39
Speaker 1: one eighteen we see the consequences of this stubbornness. When
53:43
Speaker 1: his son Abijah became ill, Jeroboam told his wife to
53:48
Speaker 1: disguise herself and go to Shiloh to consult the prophet Ahijah,
53:53
Speaker 1: the same prophet who had foretold that Jeroboam would become
53:57
Speaker 1: king over Israel. Although the prophet was blind due to
54:01
Speaker 1: old age, the Lord revealed to him that Jeroboam's wife
54:05
Speaker 1: was coming. He delivered a severe message. Because of Jeroboam's idolatry,
54:10
Speaker 1: The Lord would bring disaster upon his house, wiping out
54:13
Speaker 1: every male descendant of Jeroboam. His son would die and
54:17
Speaker 1: would be the only one of Jeroboam's household to receive
54:20
Speaker 1: a proper burial because in him alone was found something
54:25
Speaker 1: pleasing to the Lord. The divine judgment on the Northern
54:29
Speaker 1: Kingdom is declared in First Kings fourteen fifteen to sixteen.
54:34
Speaker 1: The Lord would strike Israel, making it like a reed
54:38
Speaker 1: swaying in the water. He would uproot Israel from the
54:41
Speaker 1: good land he had given to their ancestors and scatter
54:45
Speaker 1: them beyond the river, because they had provoked him to
54:47
Speaker 1: anger by making a sherer poles. The Lord would give
54:51
Speaker 1: up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he
54:54
Speaker 1: committed and caused Israel to commit. In Judah. The spiritual
54:59
Speaker 1: situationation was also dire, as recorded in First Kings fourteenth
55:04
Speaker 1: twenty one twenty four Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned
55:09
Speaker 1: over Judah. He was forty one years old when he
55:12
Speaker 1: began to reign, and he ruled for seventeen years. In Jerusalem.
55:16
Speaker 1: Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking
55:19
Speaker 1: him to jealousy with their sins more than their ancestors
55:23
Speaker 1: had done. They built high places, sacred pillars, and a
55:27
Speaker 1: sharer poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.
55:33
Speaker 1: There were also male shrine prostitutes in the land, following
55:37
Speaker 1: the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had
55:41
Speaker 1: driven out before the Israelites. Judgment was not delayed, as
55:45
Speaker 1: we read in First Kings fourteen twenty five twenty eight.
55:48
Speaker 1: In the fifth year of King Rehoboam Shishak, king of Egypt,
55:52
Speaker 1: attacked Jerusalem. He took the treasures of the House of
55:56
Speaker 1: the Lord and the royal Palace. He seized everything, including
55:59
Speaker 1: the gold shields that Solomon had made. In their place,
56:04
Speaker 1: King Rehoboam made bronze shields and assigned them to the
56:07
Speaker 1: officers of the guard who protected the entrance to the
56:10
Speaker 1: royal Palace. After Rihoboam's death, as recorded in First Kings
56:14
Speaker 1: fifteen one eight, his son Abijah reigned over Judah. He
56:19
Speaker 1: followed all the sins his father had committed before him.
56:22
Speaker 1: His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God,
56:26
Speaker 1: as the heart of David, his ancestor had been. Nevertheless,
56:31
Speaker 1: for David's sake, the Lord gave him a lamp in
56:33
Speaker 1: Jerusalem by raising up his son after him and establishing Jerusalem.
56:38
Speaker 1: There was war between Rihoboam and Jeroboam throughout their reigns,
56:43
Speaker 1: and also between Abijah and Jeroboam in the Northern Kingdom.
56:48
Speaker 1: After Jeroboam's death, his son Nadab began to reign over Israel.
56:52
Speaker 1: As we read in First Kings fifteen twenty five thirty one,
56:56
Speaker 1: he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,
56:59
Speaker 1: walking in the ways of his father, and in the
57:02
Speaker 1: sin that he had caused Israel to commit. Basha, the
57:06
Speaker 1: son of Ahijah, from the house of Isaka, conspired against
57:10
Speaker 1: him and struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to
57:13
Speaker 1: the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were besieging the city.
57:19
Speaker 1: Basha killed him in the third year of Asa, King
57:23
Speaker 1: of Judah, and reigned in his place. As soon as
57:27
Speaker 1: he became king, he struck down the entire house of Jeroboam,
57:31
Speaker 1: leaving no survivor, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord
57:35
Speaker 1: spoken through his servant Ahijah the Shilanite. The reign of
57:39
Speaker 1: Basha is described in the First Kings fifteen thirty three
57:43
Speaker 1: thirty four. He began to reign over all Israel in
57:46
Speaker 1: Terza in the third year of Asa, King of Judah,
57:50
Speaker 1: and ruled for twenty four years. He did what was
57:53
Speaker 1: evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in
57:56
Speaker 1: the way of Jeroboam, committing the same sin by which
58:00
Speaker 1: had caused Israel to sin. Inverd King sixteen one seven,
58:04
Speaker 1: we see that the word of the Lord came to Jihu,
58:08
Speaker 1: son of Hanani, against Basha, declaring that since he had
58:12
Speaker 1: followed the ways of Jeroboam, the Lord would completely destroy him,
58:17
Speaker 1: making his house like the house of Jeroboam. This prophecy
58:21
Speaker 1: was fulfilled through his son Ailah, who reigned in his place.
58:26
Speaker 1: As recorded in First King sixteen eight fourteen, Ailah began
58:30
Speaker 1: to reign over Israel in Terza in the twenty sixth
58:32
Speaker 1: year of Asa, King of Judah, and ruled for two years.
58:37
Speaker 1: His servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against
58:41
Speaker 1: him while he was drunk in Tiza at the house
58:43
Speaker 1: of Asa, who was in charge of the household in Tiza.
58:47
Speaker 1: Zimri entered, struck him down and killed him in the
58:51
Speaker 1: twenty seventh year of Asa, King of Judah, and reigned
58:55
Speaker 1: in his place. As soon as he began to reign
58:58
Speaker 1: and took his seat on the throne, he struck down
59:01
Speaker 1: the entire house of Basha, leaving no male survivor, neither
59:05
Speaker 1: relatives nor friends. Zimri's reign, however, was extremely brief, as
59:11
Speaker 1: we read in First Kings sixteen fifteen to twenty, he
59:14
Speaker 1: ruled for only seven days in Terza. The people were
59:18
Speaker 1: camped against gibbethon which belonged to the Philistines. When they
59:22
Speaker 1: heard that Zimri had conspired and killed the king, all
59:26
Speaker 1: Israel made Omri the commander of the army king over Israel.
59:31
Speaker 1: That very day, in the camp, Omri and all Israel
59:34
Speaker 1: went up from Gibbethon and besieged Terza. When Zimri saw
59:38
Speaker 1: that the city had been taken, he entered the palace
59:41
Speaker 1: of the king's house, set it on fire around him,
59:44
Speaker 1: and died. A civil war followed. As recorded in First
59:48
Speaker 1: Kings sixteen twenty one twenty two, the people of Israel
59:52
Speaker 1: were divided into two factions. Half followed Tibney, son of Ginnath,
59:57
Speaker 1: to make him king, and the other half followed Omri.
1:00:00
Speaker 1: But the people who followed Omri prevailed over those who
1:00:03
Speaker 1: followed Tibney, son of Ginnath, so Tibni died and Omri reigned.
1:00:09
Speaker 1: Omri's reign marked a new phase in the history of
1:00:12
Speaker 1: the Northern Kingdom, as we learned from First King sixteen
1:00:16
Speaker 1: twenty three to twenty eight. He began to reign over
1:00:19
Speaker 1: Israel in the thirty first year of ussa king of Judah,
1:00:23
Speaker 1: and ruled for twelve years. He reigned in Terza for
1:00:26
Speaker 1: six years. Then he bought the hill of Samaria from
1:00:30
Speaker 1: Shema for two talents of silver, built on the hill,
1:00:33
Speaker 1: and named the city he had built Samaria, after Shema,
1:00:37
Speaker 1: the former owner of the hill. Omri did what was
1:00:41
Speaker 1: evil in the sight of the Lord, acting more wickedly
1:00:45
Speaker 1: than all who were before him. He followed all the
1:00:48
Speaker 1: ways of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and in his sins
1:00:52
Speaker 1: by which he led Israel to sin. After Omri, his
1:00:56
Speaker 1: son Ahab became king, as recorded in verse Kingsis sixteen
1:01:00
Speaker 1: twenty nine thirty three. Ahab began to reign over Israel
1:01:05
Speaker 1: in the thirty eighth year of Asa, king of Judah,
1:01:08
Speaker 1: and ruled for twenty two years in Samaria. He did
1:01:11
Speaker 1: what was evil in the sight of the Lord, more
1:01:14
Speaker 1: than all who were before him, as if it were
1:01:16
Speaker 1: a trivial thing to walk in the sins of Jeroboam.
1:01:20
Speaker 1: He also took Jezebel, daughter of Ethbal, king of the Sidonians,
1:01:24
Speaker 1: as his wife, and went to serve and worship Baale.
1:01:28
Speaker 1: He built an altar for Baal in the House of Baal,
1:01:31
Speaker 1: which he had constructed in Samaria, and made an asherer poll.
1:01:36
Speaker 1: Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of
1:01:38
Speaker 1: Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who
1:01:41
Speaker 1: were before him. During his reign. As mentioned in First
1:01:46
Speaker 1: King sixteen thirty four, Heal the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho at
1:01:50
Speaker 1: the cost of his first born Abiram. He laid its foundations,
1:01:55
Speaker 1: and at the cost of his youngest son, Segub, he
1:01:58
Speaker 1: set up its gates. In accordance with the word of
1:02:01
Speaker 1: the Lord spoken through Joshua, son of Nun, the stage
1:02:06
Speaker 1: was set for the emergence of one of Israel's greatest prophets,
1:02:11
Speaker 1: Elijah the Tishbite. In one of the darkest moments in
1:02:14
Speaker 1: Israel's spiritual history, one of the most remarkable figures of
1:02:18
Speaker 1: the Old Testament arose. As we read in First King
1:02:22
Speaker 1: seventeen one, Elijah the Tishbite, from among the inhabitants of Gilead,
1:02:27
Speaker 1: presented himself before Ahab with a bold declaration, as surely
1:02:32
Speaker 1: as the Lord, the God of Israel lives before whom
1:02:36
Speaker 1: I stand, there will be neither due nor reign in
1:02:40
Speaker 1: these years except at my word. This was not merely
1:02:44
Speaker 1: a weather forecast, but a direct challenge to the worship
1:02:48
Speaker 1: of Baal, who was regarded as the god of rain
1:02:51
Speaker 1: and fertility. Immediately after this declaration, as we read in
1:02:57
Speaker 1: First King seventeen two six, the word of the Lord
1:03:00
Speaker 1: came to Elijah instructing him to hide by the brook Cherith,
1:03:04
Speaker 1: east of the Jordan. There he would drink from the brook,
1:03:08
Speaker 1: and the Lord had commanded ravens to sustain him there.
1:03:11
Speaker 1: Elijah obeyed the word of the Lord, and the ravens
1:03:15
Speaker 1: brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread
1:03:18
Speaker 1: and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
1:03:21
Speaker 1: This period of isolation served as preparation for Elijah, but
1:03:25
Speaker 1: it did not last forever, as recorded in First King
1:03:29
Speaker 1: seventeen seventy nine. After some time, the brook dried up
1:03:33
Speaker 1: because there had been no rain in the land. Then
1:03:37
Speaker 1: the word of the Lord came to Elijah instructing him
1:03:40
Speaker 1: to go to Zarafath, which belonged to Sidon, and stay there,
1:03:44
Speaker 1: for the Lord had commanded a widow to provide for him.
1:03:48
Speaker 1: The encounter with the widow of Zarafath is one of
1:03:51
Speaker 1: the most striking episodes in Elijah's ministry, as we read
1:03:55
Speaker 1: in First Kings seventeen to ten to sixteen, when he
1:03:58
Speaker 1: arrived at the city gate, he found a widow gathering sticks.
1:04:03
Speaker 1: He asked her for water and a piece of bread.
1:04:06
Speaker 1: The woman replied that she only had a handful of
1:04:08
Speaker 1: flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug,
1:04:12
Speaker 1: and was gathering sticks to prepare a final meal for
1:04:15
Speaker 1: herself and her son before they died of hunger. Elijah
1:04:19
Speaker 1: told her not to fear, but to first make a
1:04:21
Speaker 1: small loaf for him, then prepare food for herself and
1:04:25
Speaker 1: her son. For thus said the Lord, the jar of
1:04:28
Speaker 1: flour would not be used up and the jug of
1:04:31
Speaker 1: oil would not run dry until the day the Lord
1:04:34
Speaker 1: sent rain upon the land. The woman did as Elijah
1:04:39
Speaker 1: had said, and she, Elijah and her household ate for
1:04:43
Speaker 1: many days. The jar of flour was not exhausted and
1:04:47
Speaker 1: the jug of oil did not run dry, in accordance
1:04:51
Speaker 1: with the word of the Lord spoken through Elijah. But
1:04:55
Speaker 1: the widow's faith would be tested even more deeply, as
1:04:58
Speaker 1: we read in First Ki seventeen seventeen twenty four. After
1:05:02
Speaker 1: these things, the woman's son, the mistress of the house,
1:05:06
Speaker 1: became ill, and his illness was so severe that there
1:05:10
Speaker 1: was no breath left in him. The woman questioned Elijah,
1:05:14
Speaker 1: asking if he had come to bring her sins to
1:05:16
Speaker 1: remembrance and to kill her son. Elijah took the boy
1:05:20
Speaker 1: from her arms, carried him to the room where he
1:05:23
Speaker 1: was staying, and laid him on his bed. He cried
1:05:27
Speaker 1: out to the Lord three times, stretching himself over the boy,
1:05:32
Speaker 1: and the Lord heard Elijah's voice. The boy's soul returned
1:05:36
Speaker 1: to him, and he revived. This miracle confirmed to the
1:05:41
Speaker 1: woman that Elijah was a man of God and that
1:05:43
Speaker 1: the word of the Lord in his mouth was truth.
1:05:46
Speaker 1: After three years of drought, as recorded in First Kings
1:05:50
Speaker 1: eighteen one to six, the word of the Lord came
1:05:53
Speaker 1: to Elijah in the third year, instructing him to present
1:05:56
Speaker 1: himself to Ahab, for the Lord would send rain upon
1:05:59
Speaker 1: the land, and the famine was severe in Samaria, and
1:06:03
Speaker 1: Ahab had summoned Obadiah, the steward of his house, who
1:06:07
Speaker 1: greatly feared the Lord and had hidden a hundred prophets
1:06:10
Speaker 1: of the Lord, fifty in each cave. When Jezebel was
1:06:14
Speaker 1: killing the Lord's prophets to search for water sources and
1:06:18
Speaker 1: pastures to save the horses and mules. The meeting between
1:06:21
Speaker 1: Elijah and Obadiah described in First Kings eighteen seven fifteen
1:06:26
Speaker 1: reveals the tense atmosphere of the time. When Obadiah met Elijah,
1:06:32
Speaker 1: he bowed down and questioned if it was really him.
1:06:36
Speaker 1: Elijah asked him to announce his presence to Ahab, but
1:06:40
Speaker 1: Obadiah was afraid, explaining that Ahab had searched for Elijah
1:06:45
Speaker 1: in every nation and kingdom, and he feared that after
1:06:49
Speaker 1: delivering the message, the spirit of the Lord would take
1:06:52
Speaker 1: Elijah elsewhere, leading to his own death. The confrontation with
1:06:57
Speaker 1: Ahab finally took place as told in First Kings eighteen
1:07:01
Speaker 1: sixteen nineteen. When Ahab saw Elijah, he said, is that
1:07:05
Speaker 1: you o troubler of Israel? Elijah replied that he was
1:07:10
Speaker 1: not the one troubling Israel, but rather Ahab and his
1:07:13
Speaker 1: father's house, for they had abandoned the Lord's commandments and
1:07:17
Speaker 1: followed the Bales. Then Elijah proposed a challenge to gather
1:07:22
Speaker 1: all of Israel at Mount Carmel, along with the four
1:07:25
Speaker 1: hundred fifty prophets of Bail and the four hundred prophets
1:07:28
Speaker 1: of Asherah who ate at Jezebel's table. The showdown on
1:07:32
Speaker 1: Mount Carmel is one of the most dramatic moments in scripture,
1:07:37
Speaker 1: as recorded in First Kings eighteen twenty to twenty four,
1:07:40
Speaker 1: Ahab summoned all the Israelites and gathered the prophets on
1:07:44
Speaker 1: Mount Carmel. Elijah approached the people and said, how long
1:07:49
Speaker 1: will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God,
1:07:53
Speaker 1: follow him, but if Bail is follow him. But the
1:07:57
Speaker 1: people said nothing. Then Elijah proposed a test. Two bulls
1:08:02
Speaker 1: would be prepared, one for Bale's prophets and one for him.
1:08:06
Speaker 1: Each group would prepare its sacrifice, but put no fire
1:08:10
Speaker 1: to it. The god who answered by fire he would
1:08:14
Speaker 1: be God. Details of the confrontation are narrated in First
1:08:19
Speaker 1: Kings eighteen twenty five twenty nine. The prophets of Bail
1:08:23
Speaker 1: prepared their sacrifice and cried out to Bail from morning
1:08:26
Speaker 1: until noon, O Bail answer us? But there was no voice,
1:08:30
Speaker 1: no answer. They danced around the altar they had made.
1:08:34
Speaker 1: At noon, Elijah mocked them, saying they should cry out louder.
1:08:39
Speaker 1: Perhaps their God was deep in thought, busy traveling, or
1:08:42
Speaker 1: even sleeping. They shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords
1:08:46
Speaker 1: and lances, as was their custom, until their blood gushed out.
1:08:51
Speaker 1: They continued their frantic prophesying until the time of the
1:08:54
Speaker 1: evening sacrifice, but there was no voice, no response, no attention.
1:09:00
Speaker 1: Then it was Elijah's turn, as we read in First
1:09:03
Speaker 1: Kings eighteen thirty thirty five, he called all the people
1:09:07
Speaker 1: to come closer and repaired the altar of the Lord
1:09:10
Speaker 1: that had been broken down. He took twelve stones according
1:09:14
Speaker 1: to the number of the tribes of the Sons of Jacob,
1:09:16
Speaker 1: and with them he built an altar in the name
1:09:19
Speaker 1: of the Lord. He dug a trench around the altar,
1:09:23
Speaker 1: arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, and laid
1:09:26
Speaker 1: it on the wood. Then he instructed them to fill
1:09:29
Speaker 1: four jars with water and pour it over the burnt
1:09:32
Speaker 1: offering and the wood. He did this three times until
1:09:36
Speaker 1: the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench.
1:09:39
Speaker 1: Elijah's prayer, recorded in First Kings eighteen thirty six thirty seven,
1:09:44
Speaker 1: was simple and direct, Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel.
1:09:50
Speaker 1: Let it be known to day that you are God
1:09:52
Speaker 1: in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that
1:09:56
Speaker 1: I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, Lord,
1:09:59
Speaker 1: Answer to me, so that these people may know that you, Lord,
1:10:03
Speaker 1: are God, and that you have turned their hearts back again.
1:10:07
Speaker 1: The response was immediate and dramatic, As told in First
1:10:11
Speaker 1: Kings eighteen thirty eight thirty nine, fire fell from the
1:10:14
Speaker 1: Lord and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones,
1:10:18
Speaker 1: and the dust, and even licked up the water in
1:10:21
Speaker 1: the trench. Seeing this, all the people fell face down
1:10:25
Speaker 1: and said, the Lord he is God, The Lord he
1:10:29
Speaker 1: is God. The victory was complete, but also severe. In
1:10:34
Speaker 1: Verse Kings eighteen forty Elijah ordered that the prophets of
1:10:38
Speaker 1: Baale be seized, and none escaped. They were taken to
1:10:41
Speaker 1: the Kishon Valley, where they were executed. After this dramatic
1:10:46
Speaker 1: display of God's power, it was time for the promised reign.
1:10:50
Speaker 1: As recorded in First Kings eighteen forty one forty six,
1:10:53
Speaker 1: Elijah told Ahab to go up, eat and drink, for
1:10:58
Speaker 1: there was the sound of a heavy rain. While Ahab
1:11:02
Speaker 1: went up to eat and drink, Elijah climbed to the
1:11:04
Speaker 1: top of Mount Carmel, bent down to the ground and
1:11:08
Speaker 1: put his face between his knees. He told his servant
1:11:12
Speaker 1: to look toward the sea. The servant looked seven times,
1:11:15
Speaker 1: and on the seventh time he reported seeing a small
1:11:18
Speaker 1: cloud as small as a man's hand, rising from the sea.
1:11:24
Speaker 1: Elijah sent word to Ahab to prepare his chariot and
1:11:28
Speaker 1: go down before the rain stopped him. Soon the sky
1:11:31
Speaker 1: grew dark with clouds and wind, and a heavy rain fell.
1:11:35
Speaker 1: The hand of the Lord was upon Elijah, and he
1:11:38
Speaker 1: tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of
1:11:41
Speaker 1: Ahab all the way to Jezreel. But the victory at
1:11:44
Speaker 1: Carmel was followed by a moment of deep despair, as
1:11:48
Speaker 1: we read in First Kings nineteen one four, when Ahab
1:11:52
Speaker 1: told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had
1:11:55
Speaker 1: killed all the prophets with the sword. Jezebel sent a
1:11:59
Speaker 1: messenger to Elime, vowing that by the next day he
1:12:02
Speaker 1: would be like one of those prophets. Elijah was afraid
1:12:07
Speaker 1: and fled. To save his life. He went to Beer Sheba,
1:12:10
Speaker 1: which belongs to Judah, left his servant there, and traveled
1:12:14
Speaker 1: a day's journey into the wilderness. He sat under a
1:12:18
Speaker 1: broom tree and prayed that he might die, saying, it
1:12:21
Speaker 1: is enough now, o Lord, take my life, for I
1:12:25
Speaker 1: am no better than my ancestors. The Lord's care for
1:12:28
Speaker 1: his discouraged servant is touching. As recorded in First Kings
1:12:32
Speaker 1: nineteen five eight, Elijah lay down and slept under a
1:12:36
Speaker 1: broom tree, when suddenly an angel touched him and said,
1:12:40
Speaker 1: arise and eat. He looked, and there by his head
1:12:45
Speaker 1: was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar
1:12:48
Speaker 1: of water. He ate and drank, then lay down again.
1:12:52
Speaker 1: The Angel of the Lord came a second time, touched
1:12:55
Speaker 1: him and said, arise and eat, because the journey will
1:12:59
Speaker 1: be too great for you. So he got up, ate
1:13:02
Speaker 1: and drank, and with the strength from that food, he
1:13:05
Speaker 1: traveled forty days and forty knights to Horeb, the Mountain
1:13:09
Speaker 1: of God. At Horeb, as told in First Kings nineteen
1:13:14
Speaker 1: nine fourteen, Elijah entered a cave and spent the night there.
1:13:19
Speaker 1: Then the Word of the Lord came to him, asking
1:13:22
Speaker 1: what he was doing there. He replied that he had
1:13:25
Speaker 1: been very zealous for the Lord because the children of
1:13:28
Speaker 1: Israel had abandoned the Lord's covenant, torn down his altars,
1:13:32
Speaker 1: and killed his prophets with the sword. He alone was left,
1:13:37
Speaker 1: and now they sought to take his life. The Lord
1:13:40
Speaker 1: told him to go out and stand on the mountain
1:13:42
Speaker 1: before him, a great and mighty wind tore through the
1:13:46
Speaker 1: mountains and shattered the rocks, but the Lord was not
1:13:50
Speaker 1: in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but
1:13:53
Speaker 1: the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake
1:13:56
Speaker 1: came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
1:14:00
Speaker 1: And after the fire there was a still small voice.
1:14:05
Speaker 1: When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his cloak,
1:14:09
Speaker 1: went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
1:14:12
Speaker 1: In the cave on Mount Horeb, the Lord renewed Elijah's mission,
1:14:17
Speaker 1: as recorded in First Kings nineteen fifteen ten eighteen. God
1:14:22
Speaker 1: sent him back on his way to the wilderness of
1:14:24
Speaker 1: Damascus with three specific tasks to anoint Hazael as king
1:14:29
Speaker 1: of Syria, Jehu son of Nimshi as king of Israel,
1:14:33
Speaker 1: and Elisha son of Shafat, as his prophetic successor. The
1:14:37
Speaker 1: Lord declared that whoever escaped the sword of Hazael Jihu
1:14:42
Speaker 1: would kill, and whoever escaped the sword of Jehu Elisha
1:14:46
Speaker 1: would kill. But God also revealed something comforting he had
1:14:50
Speaker 1: preserved in Israel seven thousand people who had not bowed
1:14:55
Speaker 1: Tobal or kissed him. Elisha's calling is described in First
1:14:59
Speaker 1: Case Kings nineteenth nineteen to twenty one. Elijah found Elijhah
1:15:04
Speaker 1: plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he
1:15:07
Speaker 1: was with the last pair. Elijah passed by him and
1:15:11
Speaker 1: threw his cloak over him, a symbolic gesture of transferring
1:15:15
Speaker 1: prophetic authority. Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah and
1:15:19
Speaker 1: asked to bid farewell to his parents. Then he returned,
1:15:23
Speaker 1: took a pair of oxen, slaughtered them, and used the
1:15:26
Speaker 1: oxen's equipment to cook their meat, giving it to the
1:15:29
Speaker 1: people to eat. Then he arose, followed Elijah and served him. Meanwhile,
1:15:35
Speaker 1: a new threat arose against Israel, as recorded in First
1:15:39
Speaker 1: Kings twenty one six. Ben Hadad, king of Syria, gathered
1:15:44
Speaker 1: his entire army along with thirty two kings, horses and chariots,
1:15:48
Speaker 1: and went up besieging Samaria and waging war against it.
1:15:53
Speaker 1: He sent messengers to Ahab, King of Israel, inside the city,
1:15:57
Speaker 1: demanding his silver, gold, wives, and most handsome children. Ahab
1:16:02
Speaker 1: initially agreed, but when Ben Hadad also demanded the right
1:16:06
Speaker 1: to search the palace and the houses of his servants,
1:16:10
Speaker 1: taking whatever was valuable, Ahab refused. After consulting with the elders.
1:16:15
Speaker 1: Ben Hadad's response was menacing, as we read in First
1:16:19
Speaker 1: Kings twenty ten eleven, he swore that the dust of
1:16:22
Speaker 1: Samaria would not be enough to fill the hands of
1:16:25
Speaker 1: all his men. Ahab wisely replied, tell him, let not
1:16:30
Speaker 1: the one who puts on his armor boast like the
1:16:33
Speaker 1: one who takes it off. This answer enraged Ben Hadad,
1:16:37
Speaker 1: who then ordered the attack on the city. At this
1:16:40
Speaker 1: critical moment, as recorded in First Kings twenty thirteen fifteen,
1:16:45
Speaker 1: a prophet approached Ahab and said, thus, says the Lord,
1:16:49
Speaker 1: do you see this great multitude? Behold to day. I
1:16:53
Speaker 1: will deliver them into your hand, so that you may
1:16:56
Speaker 1: know that I am the Lord. When Ahab asked by
1:16:59
Speaker 1: whom the victory would come, the prophet answered that it
1:17:02
Speaker 1: would be by the young men of the provincial leaders.
1:17:05
Speaker 1: Ahab then gathered the young men of the provincial leaders,
1:17:09
Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty two in total, and after that
1:17:12
Speaker 1: the rest of the army seven thousand Israelites. The battle
1:17:17
Speaker 1: that followed was an overwhelming victory for Israel, as recorded
1:17:22
Speaker 1: in First Kings twenty sixteen twenty one. They set out
1:17:25
Speaker 1: at noon while Ben Hadad was drinking and getting drunk
1:17:28
Speaker 1: in the tents along with the thirty two kings who
1:17:31
Speaker 1: supported him. The young men of the provincial leaders went
1:17:36
Speaker 1: out first. Ben Hadad was informed that men had come
1:17:40
Speaker 1: out from Samaria, and he ordered them to be taken alive,
1:17:43
Speaker 1: whether they came in peace or for war. But the
1:17:47
Speaker 1: young men of the provincial leaders and the army that
1:17:50
Speaker 1: followed them struck down their opponents. The Syrians fled, and
1:17:55
Speaker 1: Israel pursued them. Ben Hadad, king of Syria, escaped on
1:17:59
Speaker 1: horse back with some horsemen. The King of Israel attacked,
1:18:04
Speaker 1: struck down the horses and chariots, and inflicted a great
1:18:07
Speaker 1: defeat upon the Syrians. The prophet warned Ahab to strengthen
1:18:11
Speaker 1: himself because the King of Syria would attack again the
1:18:15
Speaker 1: following year. As we read in First Kings twenty twenty
1:18:20
Speaker 1: three twenty five, the servants of the King of Syria
1:18:24
Speaker 1: told him that the gods of Israel were gods of
1:18:27
Speaker 1: the mountains, which was why they had been stronger. They
1:18:31
Speaker 1: suggested that if they fought Israel in the plains, they
1:18:34
Speaker 1: would surely be stronger. They also advised removing the kings
1:18:38
Speaker 1: from their positions and replacing them with captains, as well
1:18:42
Speaker 1: as rebuilding the lost army. The second battle took place
1:18:46
Speaker 1: at Affek, as recorded in First Kings twenty twenty six
1:18:50
Speaker 1: thirty the Syrians positioned themselves at Affek for battle. The Israelites,
1:18:55
Speaker 1: having received supplies, went out to meet them. They camped
1:18:59
Speaker 1: opp them, looking like two small flocks of goats, while
1:19:03
Speaker 1: the Syrians filled the land. The Man of God warned
1:19:07
Speaker 1: Ahab that because the Syrians had said the Lord was
1:19:10
Speaker 1: the god of the mountains and not of the valleys,
1:19:14
Speaker 1: he would deliver the entire great multitude into Israel's hands.
1:19:20
Speaker 1: After seven days of waiting, the battle began, and in
1:19:25
Speaker 1: a single day, the Israelites killed one hundred thousand Syrian infantrymen.
1:19:31
Speaker 1: The remaining soldiers fled to Affik, where a wall collapsed
1:19:34
Speaker 1: on twenty seven thousand of them. Ben Haddad, who had
1:19:38
Speaker 1: fled to the city, hid himself in an inner chamber.
1:19:41
Speaker 1: As we read in First Kings twenty thirty one thirty four,
1:19:45
Speaker 1: his servants told him that the kings of Israel's house
1:19:48
Speaker 1: were merciful kings. They dressed in sackcloth, put ropes on
1:19:52
Speaker 1: their heads, and went to the King of Israel, pleading
1:19:56
Speaker 1: for Ben Hadad's life to be spared. Ahab not only
1:20:00
Speaker 1: spared him, but also called him his brother and made
1:20:03
Speaker 1: a covenant with him, allowing him to establish bazaars in Damascus,
1:20:07
Speaker 1: just as his father had done in Samaria. This undue
1:20:11
Speaker 1: mercy toward a declared enemy of Israel would have consequences,
1:20:15
Speaker 1: as we read in First Kings twenty thirty five forty three,
1:20:19
Speaker 1: one of the sons of the prophets, by the word
1:20:22
Speaker 1: of the Lord, asked his companion to strike him, but
1:20:26
Speaker 1: the man refused because he disobeyed the lord's command. A
1:20:31
Speaker 1: lion killed him. The prophet then asked another man to
1:20:34
Speaker 1: strike him, and this man struck and wounded him. The
1:20:38
Speaker 1: prophet disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes and
1:20:42
Speaker 1: waited for the king on the road. When Ahab passed by,
1:20:46
Speaker 1: the prophet told a parable about a prisoner who had
1:20:49
Speaker 1: escaped under his watch, and the king pronounced judgment. His
1:20:53
Speaker 1: life would be taken in place of the prisoners. Then
1:20:56
Speaker 1: the prophet removed the bandage from his eyes, and Ahab
1:20:59
Speaker 1: reckonedized him as one of the prophets. The message was
1:21:02
Speaker 1: clear because he had let go of the man whom
1:21:05
Speaker 1: the Lord had devoted to destruction. His life would be
1:21:09
Speaker 1: taken for the life of that man and his people
1:21:12
Speaker 1: for the people of that man. Following these events, an
1:21:15
Speaker 1: episode would further reveal the corrupt nature of Ahab and Jezebel.
1:21:20
Speaker 1: As recorded in First Kings twenty one one four. Naboth,
1:21:23
Speaker 1: the jezreelite, had a vineyard in Jezreel, next to Ahab's palace.
1:21:28
Speaker 1: The king proposed buying it or exchanging it for a
1:21:32
Speaker 1: better one, but Naboth refused, saying the Lord forbid that
1:21:36
Speaker 1: I should give you my ancestor's inheritance. Ahab returned home,
1:21:41
Speaker 1: resentful and sullen, lay down on his bed, turned his
1:21:45
Speaker 1: face away, and refused to eat. Seeing her husband in
1:21:48
Speaker 1: this state, as we read in First Kings twenty one
1:21:51
Speaker 1: five to sixteen, Jezebel asked him why he was so upset.
1:21:55
Speaker 1: When she learned the reason, she said, do you now
1:21:58
Speaker 1: govern the kingdom of Israel? Get up, eat and cheer up.
1:22:02
Speaker 1: I will give you Naboth's vineyard. She wrote letters in
1:22:05
Speaker 1: Ahab's name, sealed them with his signet, and sent them
1:22:09
Speaker 1: to the elders and nobles of the city. In the letters,
1:22:12
Speaker 1: she ordered them to proclaim a fast, set Naboth before
1:22:16
Speaker 1: the people, and have two false witnesses accuse him of
1:22:19
Speaker 1: blaspheming against God and the King. This was done, and
1:22:23
Speaker 1: Naboth was stoned to death. When Jezebel heard that Naboth
1:22:27
Speaker 1: was dead, she told Ahab to take possession of the
1:22:30
Speaker 1: vineyard that Naboth had refused to sell. Divine judgment came
1:22:35
Speaker 1: through Elijah. As we read in First Kings twenty one
1:22:38
Speaker 1: seventeen to twenty four, The Lord commanded the prophet to
1:22:41
Speaker 1: meet Ahab in Naboth's vineyard and declare, Thus says the Lord,
1:22:46
Speaker 1: have you killed and also taken possession in the place
1:22:50
Speaker 1: where the dogs licked up Naboth's blood, they shall lick
1:22:53
Speaker 1: up your own blood. Ahab said to Elijah, have you
1:22:57
Speaker 1: found me, my enemy? And he replied, I have found
1:23:00
Speaker 1: you because you have sold yourself to do what is
1:23:03
Speaker 1: evil in the sight of the Lord. The judgment would
1:23:07
Speaker 1: be severe. The Lord would bring disaster upon Ahab, cutting
1:23:11
Speaker 1: off all his male descendants, both free and slave, in Israel.
1:23:17
Speaker 1: His house would be like that of Jeroboam and Basha,
1:23:20
Speaker 1: because he had provoked the Lord and led Israel into sin.
1:23:24
Speaker 1: Concerning Jezebel, the Lord declared that dogs would devour her
1:23:28
Speaker 1: by the wall of Jezreel. Surprisingly, as recorded in First
1:23:33
Speaker 1: Kings twenty one twenty five twenty nine, when Ahab heard
1:23:36
Speaker 1: these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, fasted,
1:23:41
Speaker 1: and walked humbly. Then the word of the Lord came
1:23:44
Speaker 1: to Elijah, saying that because Ahab had humbled himself, the
1:23:48
Speaker 1: disaster would not come in his days, but in the
1:23:51
Speaker 1: days of his son. Ahab's story was nearing its end,
1:23:55
Speaker 1: as we read in First Kings twenty two one to four,
1:23:59
Speaker 1: after three years without war between Syria and Israel, Jehoshaphat,
1:24:04
Speaker 1: king of Judah, went down to visit the King of Israel.
1:24:07
Speaker 1: Ay have proposed that they go together to recover Ramoth
1:24:11
Speaker 1: Gilead from the King of Syria. Jehoshaphat agreed, saying, I
1:24:16
Speaker 1: am as you are, my people, as your people, my
1:24:19
Speaker 1: horses as your horses. However, Jehoshaphat asked that they first
1:24:24
Speaker 1: inquire of the Lord. As recorded in First Kings twenty
1:24:28
Speaker 1: two five to twelve, Ahab gathered about four hundred prophets
1:24:32
Speaker 1: and asked whether he should go against Ramoth Gilead. They
1:24:37
Speaker 1: answered affirmatively, but Jehoshaphat asked if there was still another
1:24:41
Speaker 1: prophet of the Lord to consult. They have admitted that
1:24:44
Speaker 1: there was one more, Mechaiah son of Imlah, but that
1:24:47
Speaker 1: he hated him because he never prophesied anything good about him,
1:24:52
Speaker 1: only evil. The confrontation between the false prophets and Machiah
1:24:57
Speaker 1: is dramatic, as we read in First Kings twenty two
1:25:01
Speaker 1: thirteen twenty eight. When the messenger went to summon Michaea,
1:25:05
Speaker 1: he urged him to agree with the other prophets and
1:25:08
Speaker 1: predict success. Michaea replied, as the Lord lives, I will
1:25:14
Speaker 1: say whatever the Lord tells me. Initially, he sarcastically repeated
1:25:19
Speaker 1: what the other prophets had said, but when Ahab commanded
1:25:22
Speaker 1: him to speak only the truth in the name of
1:25:24
Speaker 1: the Lord, Michaea revealed his vision. He saw all Israel
1:25:29
Speaker 1: scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd. He
1:25:34
Speaker 1: explained that he had seen the Lord on his throne
1:25:36
Speaker 1: with the heavenly host around him, and a spirit had
1:25:40
Speaker 1: volunteered to be a lying spirit in the mouths of
1:25:43
Speaker 1: Ahab's prophets. Zedekiah son of Chennana, struck Michaiah on the
1:25:48
Speaker 1: cheek and questioned when the spirit of the Lord had
1:25:51
Speaker 1: left him to speak to Michaea. Mechaea responded that he
1:25:55
Speaker 1: would know on the day he fled into an inner
1:25:58
Speaker 1: chamber to hide. Ahab ordered my Caya to be thrown
1:26:02
Speaker 1: into prison and fed only bread and water of affliction
1:26:05
Speaker 1: until he returned safely. Mekaiah replied, if you return safely,
1:26:11
Speaker 1: then the Lord has not spoken through me, and he added,
1:26:14
Speaker 1: hear this, all you people. The battle at Ramoth Gilead
1:26:18
Speaker 1: would be fatal for Ahab, as we read in First
1:26:21
Speaker 1: Kings twenty two twenty nine forty, he devised a plan
1:26:25
Speaker 1: to disguise himself a battle while Jehoshaphat wore his royal robes.
1:26:30
Speaker 1: The king of Syria had commanded the captains of his
1:26:32
Speaker 1: chariots to fight only against the King of Israel. When
1:26:36
Speaker 1: they saw Jehoshaphat, they thought he was the King of Israel,
1:26:39
Speaker 1: but when he cried out, they realized he was not Ahab. However,
1:26:45
Speaker 1: a man randomly shot an arrow and it struck Ahab
1:26:49
Speaker 1: between the joints of his armor. The king was propped
1:26:52
Speaker 1: up in his chariot against the Syrians and he died
1:26:56
Speaker 1: at sunset. The blood from his wound flowed to the
1:27:00
Speaker 1: bottom of the chariot. By evening, a proclamation went out
1:27:04
Speaker 1: through the army, every man to his city, and every
1:27:08
Speaker 1: man to his own land. They washed the chariot at
1:27:12
Speaker 1: the pool of Samaria, where the prostitutes bathed and dogs
1:27:16
Speaker 1: licked up his blood. According to the word of the Lord,
1:27:21
Speaker 1: Jehoshaphat was thirty five years old when he began to reign,
1:27:25
Speaker 1: and he ruled for twenty five years in Jerusalem, as
1:27:29
Speaker 1: recorded in First Kings twenty two forty one fifty, he
1:27:32
Speaker 1: walked in all the ways of Aesa his father, not
1:27:35
Speaker 1: turning aside from them, doing what was right in the
1:27:38
Speaker 1: eyes of the Lord. However, the high places were not removed.
1:27:42
Speaker 1: The people still sacrificed and burned incense on them. Jehoshaphat
1:27:47
Speaker 1: also made peace with the King of Israel. The rest
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Speaker 1: of Jehoshaphat's deeds, the power he displayed, and how he
1:27:54
Speaker 1: waged war, are written in the book of the Chronicles
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Speaker 1: of the Kings of Judah. He also expelled from the
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Speaker 1: land the remaining cultic Sodomites, who had persisted since the
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Speaker 1: days of his father Esa. At that time, there was
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Speaker 1: no king in Edom, only a governor. Jehoshaphat built ships
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Speaker 1: of Tarshish to go to a Fear for gold, but
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Speaker 1: they never set sail because the ships were wrecked at
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Speaker 1: Ezion Gaba. Then a Haziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat,
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Speaker 1: let my servants sail with your servants in the ships.
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Speaker 1: But Jehoshaphat refused. In Israel, as recorded in First Kings
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Speaker 1: twenty two fifty one to fifty three, a Haziah son
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Speaker 1: of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in
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Speaker 1: the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and he
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Speaker 1: ruled over Israel for two years. He did evil in
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Speaker 1: the eyes of the Lord, walking in the ways of
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Speaker 1: his father, his mother, and Jeroboam son of Nibat, who
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Speaker 1: had caused Israel to sin. He served Bail, worshiped him,
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Speaker 1: and provoked the Lord, the God of e Israel, to anger,
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Speaker 1: just as his father had done. Thus, the First Book
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Speaker 1: of Kings ends showing the contrast between the kings who
1:29:08
Speaker 1: followed the Lord and those who turned away from him.
1:29:12
Speaker 1: The story would continue in the Second Book of Kings
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Speaker 1: providing more examples of how the choices of leaders profoundly
1:29:18
Speaker 1: affected the fate of their nations, and how faithfulness or
1:29:22
Speaker 1: unfaithfulness to God brought direct consequences upon the people of Israel.
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Speaker 1: And so we come to the end of this incredible
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Speaker 1: journey through the First Book of Kings, a narrative that
1:29:34
Speaker 1: shows us how wisdom can turn into folly, how power
1:29:38
Speaker 1: can corrupt even the wisest of men, and how God
1:29:41
Speaker 1: remains faithful even when his people stray. If you were
1:29:46
Speaker 1: moved by these stories of rise and fall of courageous
1:29:49
Speaker 1: prophets and kings faced with difficult choices, share this video
1:29:54
Speaker 1: with someone who might also benefit from these valuable lessons.
1:29:58
Speaker 1: Every story in the Book Kings teaches us something about leadership, faithfulness,
1:30:04
Speaker 1: and the consequences of our choices. If you haven't subscribed
1:30:08
Speaker 1: to the channel yet, this is the perfect time to
1:30:11
Speaker 1: join our community. We have more fascinating biblical series planned,
1:30:16
Speaker 1: including the continuation of this story in the second Book
1:30:19
Speaker 1: of Kings. Turn on notifications so you don't miss any episode.
1:30:25
Speaker 1: Let us know in the comments which part of this
1:30:27
Speaker 1: story impacted you the most. Was it Solomon's wisdom, Elijah's
1:30:32
Speaker 1: courage on Mount Carmel, or perhaps the consequences of Rehoboam's decisions.
1:30:38
Speaker 1: Your participation enriches our discussion and helps us create even
1:30:43
Speaker 1: better content. Thank you so much for following along. See
1:30:47
Speaker 1: you in the next video.