December 8, 2021
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Reading along with us in 1 Kings? Here’s today’s reading:
1 Kings 15 (NIV)
Abijah King of Judah
1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah became king of Judah, 2and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maakah daughter of Abishalom.
3He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been. 4Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong.....Continue Reading
1 Kings 15: it’s confusing that both Jeroboam and Rehoboam had sons named Abijah. Jeroboam’s son died, but Rehoboam’s son became king when his father died. God was angry at all the idols the Judeans put up. It’s vey hard to keep track of all the wars going on at that time.
It continues to amaze me the effect on Israel and then Jerusalem of David having done right in the eyes of the Lord. Solomon gets to build the temple, as God promised David, plus Solomon gets help from Hiram to do so. Solomon obviously experienced many other blessings as well.
All of that makes it shocking to read Chapter 11. Still God is blessing David’s family in Chapter 15. What a mighty, faithful and awesome God we serve.
And so the line up of righteous and unrighteousness kings begins. At times it is hard to get the names straight when the names are similar or the same, but all the kings of Israel are evil and often times the evil is associated with Jeroboam and the evil he started. Periodically we get a righteous king in Judah, like Asa, and David is usually the reference point for that. To me, it can be a frustrating read to see kings lead the people astray even after they see all that God does to bless or to discipline. But we also have evil hearts, and but for the grace of God, there go I.
1 Kings 15
It is frustrating to read king after king make the same mistakes and not learn from past mistakes. God is honoring David’s faithfulness and protecting the throne keeping his family there but apart from Asa this group of kings not only disobeys the Lord but encourages all the people to follow him into disobedience.
It really helps to look at a map when figuring out which king is where. So confusing once the kingdoms have split. Interesting that the Bible does not just break off and follow one kingdom – Israel or Judah, but follows both simultaneously….these are God’s people and He is tracking them.
The point I made in the previous chapter (I think) about the heart being the crux of the relationship with God is reinforced here. The people forsook God WITH THEIR HEART when they followed other gods. David sinned greatly, but he loved God consistently.
“And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father.
Nevertheless for David’s sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:
Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.”
Another thing I think is interesting is a point made about Asa:
“And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father.
And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.”
Asa removed the sodomites. We have allowed the sodomites to infiltrate our churches and our increasingly accepting that behavior as accepted, normal, even “loving”…instead of recognizing it as sin that must be repented of. I know it seems mean, but we know that not only does God call the behavior an “abomination,” but we know from “the science” that it is rife with problems to put it mildly.
Another thing Asa did was take his own mother’s idols and burn them.