UNITED AND DIVIDED KINGDOMS

Old Testament

UNITED KINGDOM

• 1 & 2 Samuel
• 1 &2 Kings
• 1 &2 Chronicles
• Acts 13: 20-22 explains how the people came to be ruled by a king:
• ¹⁶ Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: ¹⁷ The God of this people ^[d]Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with ^[e]an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. ¹⁸ Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness. ¹⁹ And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment.
• ²⁰ “After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. ²¹ And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²² And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’

1 & 2 Samuel

• Narrates the story of Israel during the times of the Prophet Samuel 🡪 King Saul 🡪 King David
• Transition from Judges through to that of the Monarchy
• Samuel was the last of the judges and first of the national prophets
• He then anointed Saul the first King of Israel and David his successor

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First Samuel

• Last judge of Israel: Samuel
• Leadership transfers from Samuel to Saul – why?
• ⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, ⁵ and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 1 Samuel 4-5
• Saul anointed as the first King of Israel (1 Samuel 13-15)
• Saul and David then became friends, and later David was persecuted by Saul (1 Samuel 16-31)

King Saul

• Tribe of Benjamin
• Did not follow God’s command regarding the sacrifice (1 Samuel 13)
• Did not wait for Samuel before offering a sacrifice
• Impulsive (1 Samuel 14)
• Did not allow any of his people to eat anything until he took vengeance on his enemies
• Disobedience (1 Samuel 15)

²² So Samuel said:

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,�As in obeying the voice of the Lord?�Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,�And to heed than the fat of rams.�²³ For rebellion is as the sin of ^[d]witchcraft,�And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.�Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,�He also has rejected you from being king.”�

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Second Samuel

• David was a local King in Hebron for 7 years (2 Samuel 1-4) 🡪 then became a national king in Jerusalem for 33 years (2 Samuel 5-10)
• 2^nd Samuel tells us all about the story of King David
• Records one of God’s great covenants with Israel – the Davidic Covenant
• ¹² “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the ^[d]blows of the sons of men. ¹⁵ But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶ And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before ^[e]you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”

King David

• Humble: 2 Samuel 7: 18
• ¹⁸ Then King David went in and sat before the Lord; and he said: “Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far?
• Failure and Repentance: 2 Samuel 11-12
• David and Bathsheba
• Obedient

DIVIDED KINGDOM

• 1 & 2 Kings: deals with the kings of the nation, beginning with the glorious reign of Solomon and ending with the captivity of Judah by Babylon

1 Kings

• Written by Jeremiah the prophet
• 600 BC
• Begins with the death of David 🡪 enthronement of Solomon
• History of the kings of the Divided Kingdoms
• Northern Kingdom: Israel
• Capital of Samaria
• Southern Kingdom: Judah
• Capital of Jerusalem

King Solomon

• David’s son
• Solomon was the third and last king of the United Kingdom 🡪 he built the temple and expanded the kingdom
• BUT THEN:
• ⁹ The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. ¹⁰ Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. ¹² Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

The Divided Kingdom: 2 kingdoms, 2 evil kings

• King Jeroboam: North
• ⁷ Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. ⁸ I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. ⁹ You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have aroused my anger and turned your back on me. 1 Kings 14: 7-9

• King Rehoboam (Solomon’s son): South
• ¹³ The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, ¹⁴ he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” 1 Kings 12 : 13-14

2^nd Kings

Ishtar Gate

Built in 575 BC under King Nebuchadnezzar II of the Babylonia empire. This gate was built on the North side of the city as a processional entranceway.

1 & 2 Chronicles

• Essentially a recap of everything from Samuel to Kings
• 1 Chronicles: Recounts the story of the end of Saul’s reign 🡪 King David’s reign 🡪 preparations for building the temple
• 2 Chronicles: Solomon’s reign 🡪 ten tribes rebel 🡪 history of the Kings leading up to the captivity 🡪 Babylonian captivity

Thank you

References:

• NKJV
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvnIyEVkk_Y
• Abouna Karas

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