Candice Claiborne’s Blog For Week Eight (Part II)
1318 words by cclaibor
For decades, the nation of Israel was content on having a series of judges serve as their immediate leaders. If ever in a time of crisis, these judges with God’s assistance would devise a strategic plan that would result in a great victory. The system of electing a judge whenever a problem arose was working out quite well up until the last judge, Samuel. From the beginning, Samuel was viewed as an exemplary man of God; in keeping with her promise to God for blessing him with a son, Hannah, his mother, vowed that he would be a Nazareth. Although deemed a good leader and good judge of character, it was becoming clear to the people of Israel that Samuel was getting old. Unlike their father, Samuel’s sons had no intention of continuing his legacy; instead they corrupted the system by accepting bribes that influenced their legal decisions. As a result Israel demanded that a king be appointed to lead their nation just like the other nations surrounding them. Samuel was very upset by this request, for he saw it as a sign of disrespect and lack of appreciation for the true king of Israel, God. However, when he approached God with the people’s demand for a king it was approved. Despite God’s acceptance of these wishes, Samuel warned the people that a king would enlist their sons in the royal army, force their daughters to serve in the royal harem, and require everyone to work on the king’s royal buildings.
The first king, Saul, that God appointed failed to measure up to God’s expectations and was soon replaced by a more deserving and worthy person. This person was David, the shepherd boy and the youngest son to Jesse in Bethlehem. One quality of David being a good king was that he was an experienced shepherd and had the patience and leadership skills to guide a flock of sheep so surely he could guide the nation of Israel. Another sign that David was a good king was that he was beloved by God and viewed as one of his favorites. God loved David so much that he entered a covenant with him that promised David a long-lasting dynasty in exchange for his obedience to God. In addition, David also secured the necessary materials and land to build God’s Temple in Jerusalem.
Although David was a good king, he couldn’t live forever and thus passed the throne to his son, Solomon, who later passed the throne to his son, Rehoboam. When Rehoboam took over the dynasty, he had enormous tension to deal with regarding his father’s mistreatment of the northern tribes. Tired of being overtaxed and overworked, the northern tribes demanded to know Rehoboam’s intentions for them before they provided their support for his reign. Instead of listening to his elder advisors and promising the northern tribes whatever they wanted, he listened to the younger advisors and threaten even harsher policies and treatment then his father previously implemented. In response to Rehoboam’s stupidity, the northern tribes seceded from the union and divided the United Kingdom into two separate monarchies.
Under the first king, Saul, the nation of Israel was growing stronger with the defeat of most of their enemies but because of the king’s impatience and disobedience to God his reign soon comes to an end. In the battle with the Philistines, he refuses to wait for Samuel to give the sacrifices to God to see if he will be victorious in the battle and after defeating the Amalekites he doesn’t kill the king or all of the livestock like God told him, so he is soon replaced by David. During King David’s reign, the capital of Israel is moved from Hebron to Jerusalem and he designates both the priests, Abithar and Zadock, as High Priest. For the most part King David is a good leader and even offers to build God a Temple; however his lying and trickery in dealing with Bathsheba leads God to bring a series of bad luck his way. After a long reign David becomes old and cannot be sexually active with women, which leads to the end of his time on the throne. David passes the throne to Solomon who is often viewed as the wisest man in the Bible. As king he strengthens his kingdom by rebuilding the wall and gate systems of several cities and establishing regional centers from which he and his officials can administer the nation. In addition, he also constructs a fleet of ships on the Red Sea which increased maritime trade to the south. Yet, Solomon’s greatest accomplishment is building the Temple. After Solomon’s death, his son, Rehoboam takes over the throne but his eagerness to rule the northern tribes with an even harder fist than his father leads to the Divided Monarchy. In 922 B.C.E , the United Kingdom is divided into Israel, which consist of the northern ten tribes of Israel and Judah, which often is refer to as the southern kingdom.
Israel’s first king, Jeroboam, tries hard to build up his kingdom. Fearful that he would lose his followers to Judah when they traveled to the Temple in Jerusalem, he built two golden calves at each end of the kingdom for worship. During this time, the kingdom of Judah was experiencing some difficulty as Pharaoh Shishak I invaded the southern kingdom and raided 150 cities in addition to stealing all the treasures inside the Temple, which is often speculated to be the Ark of the Covenant. After Jeroboam’s reign, a succession of kings came and got assassinated over the next century. The tenth king of Israel, Ahab, ruled with his wife Jezebel. His reign was corrupted by their crimes against their neighbors and their indulgence in other deities. Ahab’s sister, Athaliah and the crown prince of Judah, Jehoram have a son named Ahaziah who becomes king of Judah and teams up with his cousin Joram, who is the present king of Israel. Unfortunately, God appoints Jehu, the commander of King Joram’s army, as the new king and demands that he punish the descendants of Ahab for Ahab’s sins. After a bloody revolt, Jehu defeats his enemies and takes over Israel. In 721 B.C.E., under the Assyrian kings, Shalamaneser V and Sargon II, every major Israelite city is captured or destroyed and the nation of Israel falls, which results in the ten lost tribes. Despite Hezekiah and Josiah’s efforts to make amend with God, too much damage had already been done in the kingdom of Judah. After Josiah’s death, Babylon gains strength through conquest under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar. In 586 B.C.E., Nebuchadnezzar is able to breach the walls of Jerusalem, take over the capital, and destroy the Temple.
Schneider’s Did Jehu Kill His Family, discusses the significance of the famous Black Obelisk of the Assyrian king Shalamaneser III. This sculpture depicts Jehu as bowing down and paying tribute to the Assyrian king as well as mentioning that Jehu was the son of Omri. This inscription is very important because Jehu is most famous for killing all of Ahab’s, who’s father was Omri, descendants and taking over the throne and if Jehu was in fact a descendant of Omri than he would have kilt his family. Since the Hebrew Bible gives no suggestion that Jehu was neither the son nor descendant of Omri another explanation arises that proposes that perhaps Jehu is the son of Omri but through a different blood line with a different mother. Personally I don’t see any type of comparison between Osama Bin Laden and Jehu.