7 3 3 V 7 avid and the Kings of srael
avid and the Kings of srael very person who has ever lived has faced the powerful temptation of sin. t is how you handle the temptation that shapes your character. King avid revealed his character by how he handled sin. n the previous lesson, you learned about avid s sin with athsheba and his murder of her husband, Uriah. avid thought he could hide his sin. od allowed him to think that for quite a while. od, of course, knew what avid had done. ust like parents must correct their child when he or she disobeys, od had to correct avid and athsheba. od sent the rophet athan to confront avid and make him face his sins. here is always a consequence for sin. in is the cause; suffering is the effect. n this lesson, you will study what od told avid through athan and about avid s punishment for his sins. You will also learn the history of the kings of srael who reigned after avid. U V When athan confronted avid and exposed his sins, avid did not continue to avoid the truth. e finally faced his guilt for his evil actions. e admitted his sinfulness and began to repent toward od. You must always be quick to repent. o not continue to cover up and ignore your sin against od. od accepted avid s repentance for his sins, but e still had to punish him. he first punishment od pronounced was the death of the baby who was born conceived by avid s adultery with athsheba (2 amuel 12). oping that od would change is mind and spare the baby from death, avid humbled himself before od and fasted and fervently prayed for seven days. owever, the baby died just as athan had said. Verse 14 tells us why od had to punish avid. ead verse 14 and explain, in your own words, why od had to punish avid in this way. ecause of his sin, avid would also continue to endure other punishments throughout his reign (read verses 10-11). s avid grew older, his son bsalom began coveting his father s throne (2 amuel 15). bsalom managed to win the hearts of many of the people in srael. ventually, he led a rebellion against his father, breaking od s laws, including the Fifth ommandment. avid had to flee, much like he had fled from aul. bsalom gathered to himself an army of his followers and fought against those who were loyal to his father. ut od defended avid and gave his army the victory. efeated, bsalom fled for his life. While fleeing from the battle on a mule, bsalom rode under a giant oak tree. e did not see a low-hanging branch, and his hair and head got caught in the tree, lifting him off of his mule and suspending him above the ground. oab, avid s leading general, was told of bsalom s precarious situation. avid had commanded his servants not to kill bsalom, despite his violent rebellion. nstead of obeying avid s instruction, oab killed bsalom. avid s love for his son, even when he rebelled, reflects how much od loves human beings, even when they sin. Your parents are the same way. hey correct you when you disobey, but they yearn to forgive you, to help you grow and to be close to you. he love parents have for their child is a type of od s love. 2 Y
istock.com/vbel71 King avid taught and prepared the young olomon for his royal role, shown by this relief in oscow. ear the end of avid s reign, srael was experiencing a time of relative peace. he peace was a blessing from od, yet avid became vain about the power of his nation. e wanted a count of all the military-age men in srael so he could see how strong his army was and compare it to those of his enemies. hroughout avid s life, od had showed him that numbers of soldiers and human effort did not determine the victor it is od who determines the outcome. avid should have known better than to order a census. od was unhappy that avid had forgotten that all his victories had come from od, not men. ny victory that we gain as individuals or as a hurch comes from od. Yet it can be so easy to take the credit and to rely on ourselves. od wants to protect and provide for us, but we have to be willing to trust im and not ourselves. his is one of mankind s greatest sins self-reliance. od sent a prophet to avid to tell him he would be punished for his sin. ead 2 amuel 24 and list the choices for punishment that avid was given. 1. 2. 3. What did avid choose? Why did he choose that? hrough the punishment, od taught King avid and the nation of srael the vital lesson of trusting only in od. When we rely on ourselves, things go wrong. avid and srael were about to learn this lesson the hard way. avid received reports that 70,000 sraelites had been killed in a plague of disease, as an angel of od passed over the entire nation. avid hated to see people suffering and dying because of his sin (verse 17). e humbled himself before od and earnestly prayed for forgiveness. e wanted od to take his life instead of the lives of innocent people. od was moved by avid s prayer. e instructed him to go to t. oriah, to build an altar there, and to offer sacrifices to od. avid quickly obeyed od s instruction. hen od halted the plague. avid purchased the land where the altar was built. t would later be used as the location for od s temple, a reminder of the plague and od s mercy in ending it. avid wanted to build od a temple. ut od said he could not build it because he had shed too much V 7 3 3
blood (1 hronicles 28:3). od s perfect character is founded on the nine fruits of is pirit, which do not include violence or fighting. ist all nine of the fruits from alatians 5:22-23. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. hroughout avid s reign, srael had fought many wars. od wanted is house to be constructed in a time of peace, prosperity and happiness. his is what srael would experience under the reign of avid s son olomon. ut od loved avid s attitude of eagerness to build im a temple, so e allowed avid to prepare for its construction. avid diligently drew up plans and set aside materials and money for the temple through the rest of his life. e made sure everything was ready for his son to begin building. Y When bsalom seized his father s throne, which commandment did he break? Why was it a sin that avid numbered the men in srael s army? he plague stopped when avid offered a sacrifice on t. oriah. What building would later be constructed there? Y W When od put to death the baby born of avid and athsheba s sin, e promised that their next son, olomon, would become king over srael. e also promised that under olomon s leadership, srael would enjoy peace and prosperity (1 hronicles 22:9). olomon knew that reigning over od s nation was an enormously difficult task. ecoming king as a young man was an awesome responsibility. od came to olomon in a dream one night and told olomon that he could have anything that he asked for. ow would you respond if od gave you such an opportunity? Write down one wish you would ask od for. You might not even consider asking for what olomon had asked for. Fill in the blanks from 1 Kings 3:9 to find out what olomon asked od for. ive therefore your servant an to your people. od was pleased that olomon asked for wisdom. e could have asked for more wealth or for power to destroy his enemies. nstead, he had a righteous attitude and recognized that he could not rule over od s people without wisdom from od imself. od granted olomon his request and made him the wisest man on arth. Fill in the blanks from verses 11-12 to read od s response to olomon s request. nd od said unto him, ecause you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself ; neither have asked for yourself, nor have asked the of your ; but have asked for yourself to discern judgment; ehold, have done according to your words ecause od blessed him with wisdom, olomon was able to judge the people of srael fairly. he whole nation was happy and prosperous because their leader judged and ruled them with wisdom from od. e had put srael s needs above his own desires when he made his request to od. s a result, the whole nation benefited. ecause olomon s request was so selfless, od not only gave him such great wisdom that he was the wisest man on arth, but e also gave him those things that he surely desired but did not ask for: riches and peace. od also told olomon that e would give him a long life if he did not compromise with obeying od s commandments (verse 14). olomon s example shows us that when you think of others instead of yourself, od hears your requests and e also takes care of you! hink the way that od thinks, and you will constantly focus your thoughts on the needs of others. When you think this way, od will want to bless those people and bless you! 4 Y
ews began to spread that olomon had great wisdom from od. is great wealth enabled him to construct major building and agricultural projects. srael became a great nation. ut of all the buildings that were constructed in srael, the temple in erusalem was the most impressive. od had given the pattern for its construction, and it was built with the finest materials as a symbol of od s perfection. eople from other nations visited erusalem just to view this magnificent structure. t the peak of his reign, od reminded olomon of the promise e had made to his father (1 Kings 9:5). od had told avid that his descendants would never cease to rule from his throne. his promise is still in effect today. od told olomon that if he would continue to obey is perfect law, then he would continue to prosper and live a long life. ut sadly, olomon strayed from od. e married 700 wives and had 300 concubines, which was a sin, and he allowed them to turn him away from od. any of his wives and concubines were entile, which was against od s instruction, and they worshiped pagan deities. hese women corrupted olomon s worship of the true od. od was displeased with olomon s unfaithfulness and sin, but e remembered is promise to his father avid. ecause of that promise, od did not take the kingdom from olomon. e waited until after he died and his son ehoboam ascended to the throne. When ehoboam began to rule, od split the kingdom as punishment for olomon s sins. Y he temple was built in the city of. Which king built the temple? avid or olomon Why did od not allow avid to build the temple? gary dorning/iabl eads of state from all over the world came to erusalem to see the wonders of olomon s vast wisdom and wealth. V 7 3 5
What did olomon ask od for? What monarch ruling today is a direct descendant of King avid and olomon? under the reigns of avid and olomon never occurred again. hey now entered a cycle of evil kings, curses and war. Very rarely did a righteous king ascend to the throne. ut when one did, it was a reminder that od blesses for righteousness and obedience to is law. t the end of his life, what was olomon s biggest failure? Y What did ehoboam do to cause the people to rebel? What curse did od inflict on srael because of olomon s sin? What was his mistake? K olomon had taxed the sraelites heavily. When ehoboam took the throne, the people asked the new king to reduce the burden. ehoboam sought counsel from the senior advisers who had counseled his father. hey advised him to lift the heavy tax as the people had requested. ut then ehoboam turned to his peers for advice. hey emphasized that as king, he should force the people to do his will and he should make the taxes even heavier. ehoboam unwisely listened to his peers instead of the older advisers. ehoboam spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, y father made your yoke heavy, and will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but will chastise you with scorpions (1 Kings 12:14). corpions are whips with metal and glass embedded in them, making them far more painful and destructive than regular whips. ehoboam was telling the people that he would be an oppressive king who viewed tax reduction as a sign of weakness. ut ehoboam s reasoning backfired. od used his ill-advised decision to carry out the punishment for olomon s sins. en of the 12 tribes of srael revolted against ehoboam. hese tribes set up a man named eroboam as their king. he only tribes that stayed loyal to ehoboam were udah, enjamin and a portion of evi. he 10 tribes in the north that revolted continued to be known as the kingdom of srael. he tribes in the south became the kingdom of udah. he peace and prosperity that the united kingdom had experienced fter the revolt, who ruled over the northern kingdom? Who reigned over the southern kingdom? Y efore ehoboam caused the northern tribes to rebel, od had prophesied to eroboam that e would give him the 10 tribes of srael. ut eroboam did not believe this promise from od even after it came to pass. very year, people from all the tribes would go to erusalem on the holy days to worship od. eroboam was worried that when the people from the 10 tribes went to erusalem for the festivals, they would be tempted to reunite under ehoboam. ather than believe od s promise, eroboam determined to solve the problem himself. e decided that the people must remain in srael during the holy days and not go to erusalem in the kingdom of udah. eroboam set up idols in two of his cities: an and ethel. e proclaimed new holy days of his own during which the people should worship these idols. nd he ignored od s priesthood of evites and chose priests of his own that he could control. eroboam quickly undermined the true religion and turned the people of the kingdom of srael from od to pagan religion. eroboam and the people knew that od s law forbids the worship of idols or anything else besides the one true od! hey knew that only od s holy days are sacred. ut they rebelled anyway. 6 Y
istock.com/cinoby ecause of King hab s disobedience to od, od cursed the nation with a long drought. od was angered by eroboam s lack of faith in is promise and by his fake religion that led people away from im. od told eroboam that e would take the kingdom away from him and all of his descendants would be cut off. ll of eroboam s sons were eventually killed, fulfilling od s prophecy. Y Which two commandments of od did eroboam cause the people to break? n which two cities did eroboam place idols? eroboam did away with od s holy days. ist in order the seven festivals that od originally gave srael (eviticus 23). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Z eroboam turned the northern kingdom of srael toward pagan gods (called aal or aalim). Kings died and new kings took their place, but none of them turned the people back to the true od. ut of all these evil kings, the ible says that mri did worse than all that were before him (1 Kings 16:25). nd yet, mri s son, hab, was even more evil. King hab married a entile princess, ezebel, daughter of the king of the Zidonians. ezebel influenced hab to lead srael to sin even more. he demanded that all the prophets of od be killed and replaced with her own pagan priests. od was indignant about the increasing sins of is people. e sent the rophet lijah to warn hab of impending punishment. lijah pronounced od s punishment for srael s sins and hab s poor leadership: here would be no rain or dew in the nation until od ended the drought (1 Kings 17:1). onths went by, and no rain fell. Wells dried up, rivers disappeared, and crops withered. he whole nation was afflicted by od s punishment. lijah was in srael, but he had faith that od would provide him with food and water to survive. od miraculously delivered food to lijah by using ravens, and he had water to drink from a brook in the forest. ut as the famine continued, the brook dried up. od told lijah to visit a widow whom e had chosen to take care of him. When lijah arrived at her house, she was gathering wood for a fire to prepare the last meal for her and her son. fter they ate that tiny bit of food, she knew they would starve to death. lijah made a bold request of the widow: repare me a meal first before making one for you and your son. V 7 3 7
istock.com/mirzamlk od gave the widow unlimited supplies of flour and oil because of her faith and obedience. have barely enough food for my son and me to eat one meal before it s gone, but you want me to prepare a meal for you first? she asked. lijah encouraged her to have faith, saying that if she did as he said, od would work a miracle for her: er almost-empty bag of flour and her jar of oil would last all the way until the drought ended. ow much faith do you have in od s promises? o you believe that e will do all that e says? his widow believed that od would keep is promise. he obeyed lijah. nd because of her faith, od followed through and caused her supply of oil and flour to last until the famine ended. fter three years, od instructed lijah to go to King hab. W When lijah met hab, he reminded him that the nation was suffering so badly because of disobedience to od s law. e told hab to gather all of srael at t. armel, including the 450 prophets of aal and the 400 prophets of the grove. When all the people had gathered, lijah boldly said, ow much longer will you waver in your commitment to od? f the ord is od, follow him; but if aal is od, then follow him. lijah told the people to bring two bullocks for a sacrifice. e gave one bullock to the prophets of aal and kept the other one as an offering to od. lijah told the prophets to prepare an altar to sacrifice the bullock, but not to light a fire to burn it. he true od would respond to their prayers and miraculously light a fire to consume the sacrifice. he prophets of aal prepared their offering first. hey built the altar, laid the wood on top, and then cried out to aal, hoping he would respond. hey began their pagan practice early in the morning. From morning to evening, they howled and jumped around the altar, but there was no response. aybe aal is asleep, lijah remarked. he pagan prophets then became even more extreme, cutting themselves and hoping that this drastic commitment to their god would get his attention. ut still, they received no answer, because aal was a false god that did not exist. n the evening, lijah prepared to offer a sacrifice to the one true od. e told the people to come closer, so they could observe everything he was about to do. e repaired the altar of od by setting up 12 stones, one for each tribe of srael, including the tribes in the kingdom of udah. e then placed the wood on top of the altar and the offering of the bullock on top of it. hen he did something unexpected: e began digging a trench around the altar. he people were puzzled by his action. e had four barrels of water poured over the bullock, wood and stones. nother four barrels were poured, and yet another four. total of 12 barrels of water were poured over the sacrifice. ven the trench was now filled with water. lijah wanted to make it clear that he was not using any sort of trickery. he people doubted that the od of lijah could light a fire on this altar, especially when the many prophets of aal had gone to such extremes for so long and received no miraculous answer. ut lijah was filled with faith. e said a short prayer asking od to show the sraelites that e is the one true od and that lijah is is servant. he prayer lasted perhaps less than half a minute. hen the true od, the od of srael, answered is servant s prayer in a spectacular way! Fill in the blanks from 1 Kings 18:38 to see how od responded. hen the of the ord, and consumed the burnt, and the, and the, and the, and licked up the that was in the. 8 Y
istock.com/rotislav _ sedlacek od dramatically proved to all of srael that e indeed is the one true od! he people were amazed by this intense fiery miracle. lijah ordered them to kill the false prophets of aal. hen he told hab that an abundance of rain was on its way to end the drought. hab returned to his palace and told ezebel everything that had happened. he was infuriated that lijah had exposed her prophets as false and had executed them. he sent a message to lijah: will do unto you as you have done to my prophets before this time tomorrow. either hab nor ezebel was moved to repent by od s miraculous display. nstead, their hearts were hardened. ezebel sent men to find and kill lijah. lijah fled. e felt oppressed and alone. is faith wavered. ut od remained with him, corrected him for doubting, and strengthened him. e told lijah that he was not completely alone: here were still 7,000 people in srael who had not worshiped aal. hroughout his reign, hab continued to rebel against od. ext to his palace was a vineyard owned by a man named aboth. hab looked out his window at the vineyard and desired to possess it. hab went to aboth and offered to trade his vineyard for a better one. ut aboth declined the offer because the vineyard was his family s inheritance. hab continued to covet aboth s property. his sin is very easy to commit. o you covet the possessions of others? his breaks the enth ommandment. ezebel plotted the death of aboth to claim his vineyard. ndulging in self-centered covetousness can lead to an evil and dangerous attitude. od wants to give you the desires of your heart, if you obey im. hab did not obey, so od did not bless him. When you feel tempted to desire the possessions of others, turn your thoughts to od and patiently rely on im to provide what is good for you. ftentimes, you might think that getting a possession would be good for you, but it actually would be bad for you. od knows, and e provides you with what you need. he more you stay free of the sin of covetousness, the more od can bless you. fter aboth refused his offer, hab returned to his palace and felt sorry for himself. ezebel decided to take the vineyard. he paid men to spread lies about aboth. eople believed the lies, and aboth was unjustly taken outside the city and stoned. ezebel told her husband what she had done, and hab was pleased! nstead of rejecting her evil sin or correcting her, he quickly went to the vineyard and claimed it as his own. od was very displeased with both hab and ezebel. e sent lijah to the king once again to deliver is judgment for their sins. aving a guilty conscience, hab grew fearful when he saw lijah approaching. lijah boldly told the wicked king all that od had spoken to him: ll of hab s children would be killed, and dogs would eat his wife. rieved by what he had heard, hab humbled himself before od. e fasted and asked od for forgiveness. ven though hab had done great evil, od took note of his repentance. ometimes you might feel guilty for committing sins, and you might think od won t hear you because you have done something evil. ut remember all the great evil that hab did, and remember that od heard even the prayers of this evil man. Why? ecause he turned his heart to od. o matter what you have done, if you will turn to od with a truly humble and repentant attitude, e will hear you! ut do not do it only temporarily, like hab did. You must do it day after day, whenever you sin. od had mercy on hab and said e would not allow the curses e had pronounced against hab s family to occur while hab was still alive. hree years later, srael was at war against yria. hab disguised himself as a soldier. e was killed in the battle, and his son haziah became the new king of srael. V 7 3 9
istock.com/klebercordeiro od is always ready to forgive us when we sin, once we repent. Y Which prophet of od delivered od s warning to hab? hab was married to. What pagan god did srael begin serving? ow long did the drought last in srael? What did lijah do to prove that the fire on the altar was not a trick? id lijah order the people to kill the prophets of aal? Yes or o Which of aboth s possessions did hab want for himself? What did ezebel do to get aboth s vineyard for her husband? V wo years into his reign, King haziah became very ill. e sent two messengers to inquire of the prophets of eelzebub, the god of kron, whether or not he would survive. ike the kings before him, haziah rejected the true od and turned to false pagan gods. e did not call on the prophets of the true od, because he knew that they would tell him what he didn t want to hear. od sent lijah to intercept haziah s two messengers and deliver a message from od to haziah: s it not because there is not a od in srael, that ye go to inquire of aalzebub the god of kron? (2 Kings 1:3). lijah then told the messengers what haziah s grave fate would be. ecause you have decided to look to a pagan god, said lijah, you will not get up from your bed; you will die in it. lijah then left, and the messengers turned back to deliver the disturbing news to haziah. haziah was displeased with the news the messengers brought back. e wanted to speak with lijah face to face. e sent one of his captains of 50 to locate lijah. When the captain found lijah, he disrespectfully demanded that lijah come before haziah. lijah said that if he were a prophet of the true od, fire would come down from heaven and consume all the men. hat is exactly what happened. King haziah sent another captain of 50 who approached lijah with the same disrespect and also suffered the same fate. King haziah sent a third captain of 50, but this man took a different approach. e dropped to his knees before lijah to show respect to him and his od. e asked lijah to value his life and the lives of his men. od instructed lijah to go with the captain and his men to meet haziah. When he arrived at the palace, lijah asked haziah, id you have to inquire of the prophets of eelzebub because there is not a od over srael whom you can inquire of? fter posing this question, lijah again confirmed that haziah would die. hortly after he left, od s prophecy was fulfilled and haziah died. Y xplain the lesson that you learned from the third captain of 50: 10 Y
Y K V fter haziah died, one evil king after another ruled srael. he nation spiraled deeper and deeper into sin. od had to correct srael on a national scale. Under the reign of King oshea, srael began paying tribute to the nation of ssyria, a powerful entile nation north of srael. arts of srael had already been conquered, and oshea grew fearful that the ssyrian king, halmaneser, would overthrow him. nstead of looking to od for protection, oshea turned to gypt. halmaneser found out that oshea was conspiring with the king of gypt and immediately put him in prison. fter removing the king from his throne, the armies of ssyria conquered all of srael. hen the king of ssyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to amaria, and besieged it three years (2 Kings 17:5). fter three years, every city in the northern kingdom had been ransacked and conquered by the entile invaders. ven though ssyria was a powerful nation, od had the power to save srael from invasion. ut the people of srael were far from od they did not trust im, they did not obey im, and they did not truly believe in im. he only way the od of srael could get through to is rebellious people was to use the brutal ssyrian nation to punish them for their sins. housands of sraelites were killed and thousands more were transported to ssyria to be slaves. fter they were taken captive, they forgot who they were. hey did not have a land of their own. hey did not keep the abbath and the other commandments of od. hey adopted the religions of the surrounding nations. hey also began to speak the languages of these nations. hey lost their identity and forgot that they were sraelites. For this reason, they became known as the lost 10 tribes of srael. n the next lesson, we will study what happened to these tribes, as revealed in he United tates and ritain in rophecy, by erbert W. rmstrong. istock/almir1968 he 10 lost tribes of srael are mainly scattered across urope today. V 7 3 11
King avid Word earch ublished by the hiladelphia hurch of od and produced in cooperation with mperial cademy. editor in chief erald Flurry cover ulia oddard/ 2018 ll rights reserved. Y Fruits of the pirit (alatians 5:22-23) od s holy days (eviticus 23) 1 Kings 3:9 1 Kings 9:5 1 Kings 18:38 1 hronicles 22:9 V Y K Z W F U K V Q K V Q U V W Y K Z V U Z Y Y Y Y U U W F V K F U Z Y VY V FV Z U K K U F VY