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The E100 Readings in July
The last section of E100 readings ended with the comment that the people would have to address the question of leadership.
This month’s readings take us into the history of the Kingdom of Israel, and introduce us to some of the greatest characters of the Old Testament, prophets and other wise people as well as the rulers.
The desire for a king arose partly from the disorder that prevailed when the people relied on heroes of the moment to rescue them from disaster, and partly from a desire to be like the other nations around who seemed to enjoy much more stability in government.
Samuel, the prophet who gave the Jews much good advice over the years, was not happy with the people’s request, and sought help from God in guiding the people.
God told him to let the people have their desire, but to warn them that having a king would not solve all their problems, indeed it could very well make things worse for them, because deciding to have a king was tantamount to rejecting God’s rule over them.
This was borne out during the history of the Kingdom of Israel, in the behaviour of some of the kings who encourage the people to worship other gods and adopt some of the customs of nations whose practices were far from the requirements laid down in the Ten Commandments.
Saul was the first king, a charismatic figure, but at times unstable.
He was followed by David, who established the kingdom and ruled with great success, so much so that future generations were sure that a saviour would come from one of his descendants.
But he, too had his weaknesses, and some of his treatment of his subjects left much to be desired.
He was followed by Solomon, who was renowned for his wisdom, but did not always let it govern his own actions.
Many of the warnings that Samuel had given about the way power could corrupt embodied themselves in Solomon – he amassed wealth for his building projects, but used his people as slave labour to get the work done.
The greatest achievement of his reign was the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. But he also allowed people to worship foreign gods too.
When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam was proclaimed king, but he was challenged by Jeroboam, who had previously rebelled against Solomon.
Jeroboam asked Rehoboam to ease the burdens that Solomon had laid on the people. Rehoboam didn’t take the advice of his older counsellors, but listened to the younger ones.
He told the people that his father had laid a heavy yoke on them, but he intended to make it even heavier, to ensure that people stayed loyal to him.
Jeroboam then went to the north of the country with ten of the original Jewish tribes, and established the Kingdom of Israel.
Rehoboam was left with the other two to form the kingdom of Judah.
The two books of Kings concentrate almost entirely on the northern Kingdom, until it is conquered by the Assyrians in 721 BC.
The Southern Kingdom was eventually destroyed, and the people taken into Exile by Nebuchadnezzar in 597BC.
Throughout the history of these two Kingdoms, kings and people alike were advised and challenged by prophets, men who kept on reminding the Jews of the need to come back to faithful worship of, and obedience to, God.
There are some great names on the prophets’ roll-call: Nathan (challenging King David); Elijah (challenging Ahab in Israel); Isaiah (advising kings in Jerusalem, and Second Isaiah working with the Exiles in Babylon); Jeremiah (working in Jerusalem and later encouraging the people in Exile); Malachi ( working after the Exile).
There were others writing and speaking (or singing) too.
Some of the Psalms belong to this period, and there were other collections of wise sayings, proverbs, which would have encouraged the people in difficult times.
Growing through all the later part of the history recorded in the Old Testament is the hope that one day a Saviour, Messiah, would come to set the people free.
Perhaps the hope was more for political freedom than anything else. Our next section of readings will show us that God’s salvation would take a rather different path.