David was the first king from the anointed leadership / messianic tribe of Ju-dah – hence the name Jew.
Jacob’s prophecy for the future lineage of David is grounded in past promises to God’s people.
- The sceptre shall not depart from [the individual] Judah, i.e. through his genetic descendants
- nor a lawgiver from between his feet [poetic repetition of the same concept in a different way, in this case stating the obvious in a subtle way of genetic transmission through sexual intercourse
- until Shiloh [the only time this word is used] come [the Seed of the Woman, Mary descended from Judah]
- Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine;
- he washed his garments in wine, AND his clothes in the blood of grapes:” (Genesis 49:10-11)
Solomon, the first heir to this dynasty, was known for his wisdom, documented in the collection of Proverbs. Yet, in a process well known to psychology, he let his physical desires overwhelm his better judgment, experiencing first his self judgment, documented in his journal Ecclesiastes, then God’s judgment, pronounced by God’s prophets.
Rehoboam followed Solomon. He was the typical spoiled brat of a wealthy family.
“And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king…And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee…My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins. I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions….the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David?…to your tents [bivouacs, war], O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.
But as for…the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.” (I Kings 12)
“And Abijam his son reigned in his stead…And he…also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.” (I Kings 13)
And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
- Abijah set the battle in array with an army of…400,000 chosen men:
- Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with 800,000 chosen men…
And Abijah said…ye think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with your golden calves…But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the LORD, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business…for we keep the charge of the LORD our God; but ye have forsaken him. And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you.
But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come about behind them: so…the priests sounded with the trumpets.
Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and…God delivered them into their hand…so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers.
Asa his son reigned in his stead.
- And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears…580,000
- Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a 1,000,000 and 300 chariots…
and they set the battle in array…And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude….So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and…the Ethiopians were overthrown…and they carried away very much spoil.
Asa…took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the Lord. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him…And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul…
And there was no more war unto the 35th year of the reign of Asa…
And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel…
And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David…Also…he sent to his princes…to teach in the cities of Judah. And with them he sent Levites…and with them Elishama and Jehoram, priests….And they had the book of the law of the LORD with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.
And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat…And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly; and he built in Judah castles, and cities of store.
And he joined affinity with Ahab…And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.
And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD…And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper…And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against…which were come against Judah; and they were smitten…And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.
Jehoram his son reigned in his stead…
Now…he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel…And he walked in the way of…the house of Ahab: for he had [Athaliah] the daughter of Ahab to wife…Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah…
the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians…And they came up into Judah…and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jeho-ahaz / Jehovah has taken possession of, the youngest of his sons.
so that after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: AND he died of sore diseases…[Quite likely associated with pagan sexually aberrant behaviors. Historical documentation of STIs dates back to at least the Ebers papyrus around 1550 BC.]
Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. (II Chronicles 22:21-23)
Details of Ahaziah in the post Treason! Treason!
Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign…
And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him..”
Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and…the king hearkened unto them. And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass….And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son.
And…at the end of the year…the host of Syria came up…and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus…
his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him…not in the sepulchres of the kings.
And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.
when the kingdom was established to him…he slew his servants that had killed the king his father.
Moreover Amaziah…numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them 300,000…able to go forth to war…
Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them. Wherefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Amaziah…
Then Amaziah…sent to Joash…king of Israel, saying, Come, let us see one another in the face. And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying…abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? But Amaziah would not hear…And Joash the king of Israel…brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obed-edom, and the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria. And…they made a conspiracy against him…and slew him.
Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah…
Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem…as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper...And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gurbaal, and the Mehunims. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly.
But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men: And they withstood Uzziah the king…the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD…And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death…and Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.
Jotham was twenty and five years old when he began to reign,
and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok / Righteous, as in Melchi -zedek. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD…So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God..the rest of…all his wars, and his ways, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign
Recall that Ahaz is simply the Hebrew pronunciation of Canaanite Ahab. And his affiliation with the Canaanites is demonstrated in his practices.
he burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him
- into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus.
- And into the hand of the king of Israel, who…slew in Judah an 120,000…in one day…carried away captive of their brethren 200,000 women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.
And this is the first, but not the last time we find the utter corruption of YHVH’s sanctuary. This becomes a repeating pattern in Jerusalem requiring cleansing by fire.
And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and…Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent…the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon. [See above with his father Ahaz’ transgression of just offering incense.] And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, upon the altar.
And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the LORD [East towards the rising sun], and put it on the north side of the [new] altar [which took the primary place.]
And king Ahaz…took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon the pavement of stones. And…the king’s entry…turned he from the house of the LORD for the king of Assyria. (II Kings 16)
And Ahaz…cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD
Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done…in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them. And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and…said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place….Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us…so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days…
And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets…And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel…
Isaiah is the key prophet in the southern nation of Judah who successfully kept his flock from being destroyed by first the Israelite / Syrian alliance, then by Tiglathpileser of Assyria even after King Ahaz had everything prepared in readiness for the man of sin, the son of perdition, to sit himself in the temple of God, showing himself to be God. Isaiah continued to exert a profound influence on all succeeding generations through his written words.
“The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah…
the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me…Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger…Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool…Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together.” (Isaiah 1)
And it came to pass…the king of Assyria…a great host against Jerusalem…And Rabshakeh said unto them, Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?…if ye say unto me, We trust in the LORD our God…? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it…Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?…Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand…
And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD…Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel…I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword” (II Ki 18-19)
At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah…And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things [demonstrating the value of an alliance with him]... Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him…Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
Trust only in YHVH!
And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: But…he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them…And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards…And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God…
Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,..and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God. Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.
And Amon his son reigned in his stead.
But he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them; And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more. And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house. But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon;
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father…in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images…in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent…to repair the house of the LORD his God…And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD…And Shaphan read it before the king..And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah…Go, enquire of the LORD…concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.
And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess…And she answered them...Thus saith the LORD…Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched. And as for the king of Judah…Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words…I have even heard thee also…thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same.
Then the king…went up into the house of the LORD, and all…the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it…And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers…
Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem…And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
After all this…Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.
The battle at Carchemish is one of the turning points in history.
The Assyrian and Egyptian empires were henceforth demolished, and the Babylonian Empire took over.
Nebuchadnezzar, after the victory at Carchemish, succeeded to the throne and founded an empire stretching from Egypt to Persia, through Palestine and Syria, from Lydia (Asia Minor) to the Persian Gulf. He control Media, as husband of the daughter of the king Ciassarre and, as a guarantor of a peace agreement between this latter and Lydia, even the same Lydia was under his control. This kingdom will be rich and famous for its culture and science. Moreover, the Babylonian king did not subjected the conquered peoples, but left to the local kings to control the people and their customs and traditions.
Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, [doubtless due to the alliance formed with Babylon by his grandfather Hezekiah] but disguised himself, that he might fight with him [and that didn’t work for Ahab either], and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot…and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah:
Jeremiah is called the Weeping Prophet.
Not only did he experience the horrors of war, starvation, siege, and captivity, he was called upon to tell the people of it, urging them to repent. Worst of all, they didn’t listen.
Jeremiah’s family turned against him and even plotted to kill him (Jeremiah 1:8, 11:21-23, 12:6). Over the years, he was whipped and put in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:1-3), attacked by a mob (Jeremiah 26:1-9), threatened by the king (Jeremiah 36:26), and ridiculed (Jeremiah 28). Some of Zedekiah’s princes had Jeremiah arrested, beaten, accused of treason, and thrown in jail (Jeremiah 37:1-15), from whence he was then thrown in a deep empty well (Jeremiah 38:1-6). He lived through the siege of Jerusalem along with the rest and was there as the people were taken away as captives.
Perhaps worst of all, Jeremiah was alone. He was not allowed to marry (Jeremiah 16:2), and his family abandoned him. The people turned against him and didn’t believe him. He was alone with the knowledge of the horrors coming for Judah.
And so was YHVH. So they kept each other company.
Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem.
Jeho- ahaz / YHVH has grasped was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
For Josiah interfering in his march towards Euphrates and possibly costing him victory over Babylon.
And Necho took Jehoahaz…and carried him to Egypt [typically to hold as a hostage for prompt tributes and peacekeeping].
And the king of Egypt made El-iakim / God Raises up his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jeho-iakim / YHVH Raises up.
One has to seriously wonder if Necho was one of the unrealized Hebrews who trusted YHVH, even to the point of attempting to straighten out Jehoiakim. But, to no avail.
Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.
Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the Lord, and made
Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD. And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar…
Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.
And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who
- slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary,
- and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.
- And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.
- And they burnt the house of God,
- and brake down the wall of Jerusalem,
- and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire,
- and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
- And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:
To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths… to fulfil threescore and ten years.
These are not the 7th days of rest but the 7th years of ecological rest of the land based on trust in the LORD to provide needs instead of overproducing for greed, and 70th years of financial rest from indebtedness of the people instead of exploitation.
People around the world say that America is the best place to live, despite its corruption. Yes, because of exploitation in those other countries not only by corrupt leaders but by America’s greed. Compare YHVH’s covenant with Israel to the pagan nations and you’ll see that, despite its corruption, Israel was the best place to live at that time.
Kingdom Come 