Getting Job-ed
“Therefore my people go into exile…” Isaiah 5:13 ESV
Picking up where we left off in the last article, we observed the Davidic Covenant, in which, God promises to have a King that will come from the lineage of King David that will rule forever. Most would have thought that Solomon would have fulfilled that promise as the heir to the throne. However, Solomon had about 1,000 wives and concubines and also turned his heart over to idolatry (1 Kings 11). Eventually, it is believed that Solomon turns back to Yahweh (Ecclesiastes 12, 2 Chronicles 9), but nonetheless, he could not have been the King that was being discussed in 2 Samuel 7.
The Spiral
One would think that the people of Israel would have learned from Solomon’s mistakes with God. However, of course, they do not. Eventually, from sin and rebellion against God, the Israelite kingdom splits into the northern kingdom (named Israel) and the southern kingdom (named Judah). Nearly all of the kings that followed did what was evil in God’s sight, with the exception of a very few (for instance, Hezekiah and Josiah in Judah).
Sin and rebellion against God ran ramped from all of the citizens, but most importantly, from the king’s leadership. So God judges them by placing His indictment: they are going to lose the land that was promised to them and go into exile under pagan rulers as judgment.
How can this be?? God’s chosen people in the land that He promised and they’re taken away by pagan rulers to foreign lands? This was the consequence of constant rebellion against God. God sent His prophets to preach repentance to them, which resulted in no repentance (Isaiah 6:8-13). Though a few kings turned to Yahweh, their campaigns died out with them for the people to turn to Yahweh (2 Kings 22-23). The consequence? Exile to foreign lands under pagan rule.
A Glimmer of Hope
2 Kings 25:1-26 notes the fall and captivity of Judah to the pagan nation of Babylon as a judgment from God on the nation. However, 2 Kings 25:27-30 notes that Jehoiachin king of Judah was graciously released from prison and actually dined regularly at the king’s table of Babylon with his daily needs provided for. Although not much, it’s a glimmer of hope for the line of King David.
What’s the point?
The point is that God is always faithful to His word, even when by covenant terms (think legal agreement terms) He is not bound to an agreement when one of the parties failed to uphold their end of the bargain. By God’s grace, He is faithful to an underserving people. Christmas shines that light: Jesus came as the rightful heir to the throne of David to redeem an undeserving people for Himself. The failures of the kings in the Old Testament were pointing to the victory of the King that was coming.
-Austin
