Week 1: Introduction
Old Testament Historical Context
In Genesis, we read about the patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacob has twelve sons who become the fathers of the twelve tribes. Jacob and his family go to Egypt during the famine while his son Joseph had become vizier or second-in-command to Pharaoh.
In Exodus, we read that the Israelites were prosperous and multiplying. And when a new Pharaoh came, who did not know Joseph, he saw them as a threat and enslaved them. They were in Egypt about 400 years when the Lord sent Moses to deliver them from Egypt. And this is the meaning of the word Exodus. In Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, the Israelites receive the Law from God, build the Tabernacle, and are wandering through the desert for about 40 years until they reach the Promised Land. Then, in the book of Joshua, Joshua (the disciple of Moses) leads them to take conquest of the land and to distribute it among the twelve tribes.
In the book of Judges, the key verse that is repeated several times is that "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." The Israelites would fall into idolatry or sexual immorality and be taken by another tribe like the Midianites or the Philistines or the Ammonites. Then God would raise up for them a Judge - typically, someone who could lead their military to victory. And they would come out and give thanks to God and promise not to fall again... and then promptly fall again. And the cycle would repeat. This lasted about 400 years and gave us Judges like Deborah, Gideon, Samson, Jephthah and culminated with the last judge - Samuel the priest.
In the time of Samuel, the Israelites ask for a king. Samuel doesn't like the idea and tells them - you have a King... God is your King. But they request someone to lead them "like the other nations." This is when we go from a Theocracy to a Monarchy. King Saul is anointed as the first king, and he starts off pretty good. But he did not honor God and did not obey God's commandments. He offers a sacrifice in place of Samuel, although he is not a priest. When God instructs him to wipe out the Amalekites, he keeps their king (King Agag) alive. He makes rash decisions.
The Lord chooses David to be anointed as the next king and to replace King Saul. King David is described by the Lord as "a man after My own heart." King David is not perfect. He falls into sins like adultery and murder - but he is repentant. He spends years in tears of repentance and this is exemplified in many of the Psalms. Every king after him would be compared to him; he becomes the gold standard. Good kings will have something like "because he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done." Or "He walked in the earlier ways of his father David." Evil kings are described as "he was not wholly true to the Lord his God as was the heart of his father David." King David conquested Jerusalem and made it the capital of the Kingdom, and purposed in his heart to build a Temple for God there. But because he had blood on his hands, the Lord did not allow him to build the Temple - instead, his son Solomon would build it.
When King David died, his son Solomon became king. Solomon is famed for asking the Lord to give him wisdom - and the Lord gave him wisdom. Solomon built the Temple of God, and reigned over Israel with wisdom. Israel became a great nation and a wealthy nation. People came from all over the world to hear the wisdom of Solomon and the Lord Jesus will later on reference the visit of the Queen of Sheba. But Solomon fell for foreign women and their gods and his heart turned from the Lord. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines; women from the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites and a daughter of Pharaoh. And the women turned his heart from God to their gods. And the Lord responded to this by saying "Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen." (1 Kings 11) This servant of Solomon is called Jeroboam. The prophet Ahijah tells him of God's plan and warns him: "Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you." Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam but Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt and stayed there until the death of King Solomon.
That is the background of what we will start reading this wee.
On Monday, we will read the account of the split of the Kingdom and the beginning of idolatry in the Northern Kingdom. We will focus on the Northern Kingdom for three weeks, until we reach its fall and captivity to Assyria in Week 4. Then, for three weeks, we will focus on the Southern Kingdom until we reach its fall and captivity to Babylon in Week 7. The important part of our study will not be just the history and the stories, but the words of the Prophets. The Lord never left His people without a witness to His word. He always had a prophet there to remind them to turn back to the Lord. He always had a prophet there to remind them of the consequences and what would happen if they did not. Even in the stories we already discussed; the prophet Samuel revealed to King Saul what the Lord commanded; the prophet Nathan is the one who rebuked King David when he committed adultery and murder; the prophet Ahijah told Jeroboam how the Lord would give him ten tribes and keep two to Solomon. In Week 1, we will see the Prophets Elijah and Elisha. In Week 2, Hosea. In Week 3, Amos. In Week 4, Jonah, Nahum, Obadiah and Isaiah. In Week 5, we will read about Isaiah and the deliverance of Judah from the Assyrian Captivity. In Week 6 Micah. In Week 7, Joel, Zephaniah, Habakkuk and Jeremiah. And that will take us to the Captivity of Judah.
I pray that this study will enrich our lives with reading the Scripture daily, and meditating on the word of God. May the Lord use this plan for His glory and for our edification leading to our salvation. May we reach the Holy Pascha week with a strong foundation for hearing the Prophecies read, and a strong spiritual foundation.
Wishing you all a blessed Holy and Great Fast