The Pride of the Northern Kingdom of Israel

Let's go back to the golden days of King David and King Solomon. Even today, the Jews look back on that remarkable era as the greatest in their history.  

Both David and Solomon, however, fell from grace through women: with David it was Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah.

Solomon who had many wives and concubines taken from nations outside the covenant.  He allowed his wives to bring their own gods with them and even placed images of those gods in the Temple.  He also taxed his people mercilessly to support his lifestyle.

When he died, his kingdom was fractured.  Rehoboam, Solomon's heir, continued his father's merciless taxing. Jeroboam, who was critical of Solomon and his reign, rebelled and took ten of the tribes of Israel with him.  They remained in the north with Samaria as their capitol. The southern Kingdom of Judah was left with two tribes: Judah and the small tribe of Benjamin.  During the next centuries, Judah had 3 righteous kings:  Jehoshaphat,  Hezekiah, and Josiah. Israel had none.

The history of covenant breaking among the Israelites

Ba'al               Astarte

Soon after the split, King Jeroboam of the Northern Kingdom created two centers of worship, each with a golden calf to represent Jehovah (obviously, they were not conversant with the 10 Commandments.) Soon other gods were worshipped in the high places: Ba'al,  Astarte, and Moloch. Astarte was a fertility goddess and sexual immorality was associated with her worship.  Moloch was the god of war who required the sacrifice of children

Let's look at the many things to break the covenant with the Lord.
They had many other "gods." They created idols and images of these gods

They murdered (even their own children); they honored no moral code of behavior in sexual things (even making it a part of their worship); they stole; they lied; and they coveted.

One example can be found in First Kings 21 in the Old Testament.  Ahab was King of Israel.  Even though he had great riches, he coveted the vineyard of a man named Naboth.  When Naboth refused to see, Ahab went into a sulk and refused to eat.  When his wife, Jezebel, found out what was bothering him, she arranged false witnesses to commit perjury and falsely charge Naboth with blasphemy.  Naboth was stoned to death and Jezebel informed Ahab that Naboth was dead, and Ahab stole the vineyard.

The Lord sent prophets such as Elijah to warn Israel. Over the centuries God gave Israel multiple chances to repent or turn back from the multitudes of sin. Repeatedly they ignored the warnings and continued to turn toward false gods.  They prosecuted and even killed God's prophets.

What happened when they had sinned beyond the ability to turn around?

Tomorrow.

©Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson, 2019