December 16
The reign of Kings Saul, David and Solomon lasted
just
120 years. Each ruled for 40 years.
The
reign of King David was the golden time of Israel’s history.
Jerusalem was the capital of the kingdom, and it prefigured our
final
home with God; the “Heavenly Jerusalem”.
The
climax of this time came when David’s son, Solomon built the
Temple
at Jerusalem; a fitting place to house God’s Ark of the
Covenant.
Solomon’s Temple was magnificent, but the good times were not to
last.
Solomon
grew proud and disobeyed God’s commands. He gathered money and
power, taxing his people heavily. He made agreements with pagan
nations, and the women they sent to live at Solomon's palace as wives
brought idolatry into Israel.
When
Solomon died, his son, Rehoboam became king. Rehoboam was even
harsher with his people.
In
disgust, 10 tribes of Israel broke away and formed their own
kingdom
in the north. They called their kingdom, the Kingdom of Israel.
(This
happened around the year 930 B.C.)
Only
2 tribes stayed united to the king; the tribe of Judah and the
tribe
of Benjamin. They called their kingdom in the south the Kingdom of Judah.
Those
who belonged to the Kingdom of Judah were called “Jews”.
So
now there was a divided kingdom; the Kingdom of Israel in the
north
and the Kingdom of Judah in the south.
The
Kingdom of Israel had a problem, though. Jerusalem was the only
place
where God allowed sacrifices to be offered, and Jerusalem was south in
the
Kingdom of Judah.
The
king of Israel, King Jeroboam, did not want his people to go
back to
Jerusalem, so he set up idols for them to worship instead;
golden
calves which he set up at the places of Bethel and Dan. (3 Kings
12:26-28)
This
is how the people of Israel became separated from the true worship
of
God.
Of
all the kings of Israel, Achab was the worst. He, “did more to
provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, than all the kings of
Israel
that were before him” (3 Kings 16:33)
King
Achab (Ahab) married a pagan woman named Jezebel, who worshiped
the
idol Baal. He built an altar to Baal and Jezebel killed the
prophets
of the One True God.
For
this, God punished Israel by sending them no rain for 3 years.
Then
around the year 870 B.C., God told the prophet Elias (Elijah) to
go
to Israel. Elias said to the people, “How long do you halt
between
two sides? If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then
follow
him…I only remain a prophet of the Lord: but the prophets of
Baal
are four hundred and fifty men.” (3 Kings 18:21-22)
Then
the prophets of Baal set up an altar and called upon their god
to
send fire to consume their offering.
All
morning, they called and called. Elias told them to call louder,
since their god didn’t hear them. “Maybe Baal was talking with
someone else,” Elias said to them, “or maybe he was at an inn,
or
on a journey!…Maybe he is asleep!”
The
prophets yelled louder and jumped over the altar. They cut
themselves
with knives but no fire came to burn their offering.
Then
it was Elias’ turn. Elias built an altar and put the offering
upon
it. Then to show that nothing is hard or impossible to God,
Elias had
lots of water poured over the altar.
Then
Elias prayed, “O Lord God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel,
shew
this day that Thou art the God of Israel…and that according to
thy
commandment I have done all these things. Hear me, O Lord, hear
me:
that this people may learn, that thou art the Lord God.” (3
Kings
18:36-37)
“Then
the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the holocaust, and the
wood,
and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was
in the
trench.”
And the people returned to the true God and God caused the rain to fall again.
But Queen Jezebel was angry. She wanted to kill Elias, but Elias escaped.
Elias was on the run for a long time. He got tired and discouraged, but God sent an angel to give him food. After he had eaten, Elias walked 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb.
When he reached Mount Horeb, God showed Elias that His voice was not to be found in the mighty wind, or in the earthquake, but rather in the gentle breeze. This is a good thing to remember: God does not speak in noise and confusion, but in silence. If we want to be God’s friends, we must learn to be quiet sometimes and listen to His voice.
Elias was a prophet for many years. Then one day, God told Elias to go to Jericho. When he got to the river Jordan, Elias took his mantle and struck the waters and the waters parted, so that Elias crossed on dry land. And God sent a fiery chariot and took Elias away.
As he was going up, Elias dropped his cloak to his helper, Eliseus. Eliseus would continue to lead the people to God.
Like Henoch (Mathusala’s father), Elias did not die.
The Apocalypse says that Elias and Henoch will come back at the end of the world to oppose the anti-Christ.
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