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    Kings of Judah
    Kings of Judah
    Kings of Judah
    Ebook216 pages2 hours

    Kings of Judah

    By Dr. Brian J. Bailey

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    About this ebook

    As the subject of leadership has lately risen in popularity, a question we can ask is “does character matter?” In this book on the Kings of Judah, there is a very sobering bottom line revealed through the lives of these kings.This book is a brief study of the lives of the twenty kings of Judah with a deeper account of the three greater kings: Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. Through this study of their lives, decisions, and influence, the reader will discover keys and warnings enabling him to avoid the pitfalls of life and to find and remain on the pathway to eternal life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZion Christian Publishers
    Release dateAug 2, 2017
    ISBN9781596656819
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      Book preview

      Kings of Judah - Dr. Brian J. Bailey

      THE KINGS OF JUDAH

      Dr. Brian J. Bailey

      Version 1.2

      The Kings of Judah

      © 2005 Brian J. Bailey

      Front Cover Design

       © 2005 Zion Fellowship, Inc.

      All rights reserved

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews.

      All Scripture quotations in this book are taken from the

      King James Version Bible unless otherwise stated.

      Revised May 2017

      in the United States of America

      Published as an e-book on July 2017

      in the United States of America

      E-book ISBN 1-59665-681-6

      For more information, please contact:

      Zion Christian Publishers

      A Zion Fellowship ® Ministry

      P.O. Box 70

      Waverly, New York 14892

      Toll free: 1-877-768-7466

      Fax: 607-565-3329

      www.zcpublishers.com

      Acknowledgements

      Editorial team: Rebecca Blodgett, Carla Borges, Trietia Dexter, Suzette Erb, Mary Humphreys, David Kropf, Justin Kropf, Denise Miller, Hannah Schrock, Caroline Tham, and Suzanne Ying.

      We wish to extend our thanks to these dear ones for without their many hours of invaluable assistance, this book would not have been possible. We are truly grateful for their diligence, creativity, and excellence in the compilation of this book for the glory of God.

      Preface

      In this book entitled The Kings of Judah, we have sought to draw truths from their lives, which will enable us to avoid the pitfalls of life, as well as to find and remain on the pathway to eternal life.

      It is noteworthy that our blessed Lord Jesus spoke more in His teachings on the perils and pains of hell below than on the pleasures and rewards of heaven above. He spoke of the broad way (with all its enticements) that leads to destruction. Likewise, the first nine chapters of the Book of Proverbs, which are a collection made by King Solomon of the teachings that he received from his father David, warn of the perils of sin.

      In the same vein, these studies on the kings highlight the lives of the wicked and their errors rather than the virtues of the righteous. The Wise King tells us,  One sinner destroyeth much good (Eccl. 9:18). We shall see how true this is in our studies. Some of these kings were responsible for the destruction of their nation unto many generations. The consequences of sin are eternal. In our lifetime, we can be responsible for turning many to righteousness and impacting the following generations by our example. Unfortunately, we can also cause many to miss the mark, for their eternal loss and to our eternal chagrin.

      Moses cried out on the plains of Moab to the children of Israel before he died, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live (Deut. 30:19). May we, too, by the grace of God choose the pathway of life and avoid the errors and iniquity of some of these kings of Judah.

      Introduction

      There were only three kings who reigned over the united kingdom (comprising all twelve tribes of Israel): King Saul, King David, and King Solomon.

      As we shall see, King Solomon was succeeded by his son Rehoboam. During Rehoboam’s reign, the kingdom divided into two—Israel (the Northern Kingdom) comprising ten tribes, and Judah (the Southern Kingdom) comprising two tribes. Rehoboam continued as king over the southern kingdom and was the first of 20 kings who sat upon the throne as kings of Judah.

      This book will seek to examine the characters of these kings of the Southern Kingdom for the purpose of instructing all who study their lives. Before we begin looking at the lives of these kings of Judah, it would be beneficial to examine briefly the background of the three preceding kings who reigned over all twelve tribes of Israel.

      King Saul

      The first king to rule over the united kingdom was King Saul of the tribe of Benjamin. He was anointed twice. There are three stages in our walk with the Lord—being called of God, being chosen by God, and being found faithful. Each step is preceded by the Lord’s anointing us. Thus, the significance in Saul being anointed only twice was that he had been called and chosen by God, but he had not been found faithful.

      Saul became an apostate. He turned away from following the Lord, and he was finally slain for his disobedience. In 1 Chronicles 10:13-14, Scripture says, So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; And inquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.

      We will now touch briefly on the lives of Rehoboam’s grandfather, David and his father, Solomon, in order to understand better the life of Rehoboam, the first king of Judah and the spiritual legacies that he inherited.

      King David

      The Lord replaced Saul with King David, who was of the tribe of Judah. He was known as a prophet, priest, and king. David was anointed three times, signifying that he was not only called and chosen, but also found faithful.

      In Acts 13:22, the Lord said of David, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. David followed the Lord with his whole heart and did not turn away to the right or to the left, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite where he fell into the sin of adultery and murder (1 Ki. 15:5). David repented fully of these sins, accepted God’s judgments, and was fully restored.

      David became the yardstick by which all his descendants were measured. Even our Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself, allowing Himself to be called the Son of David. As a result of his obedience and his walk with God, David received a wonderful promise from God. The Lord promised to be a Father to David’s children, not just to the immediate children, but to his whole lineage.

      This promise is found in 2 Samuel 7:12-15 where the Lord said to David, And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.

      King Solomon

      King David was succeeded by his son Solomon. Sadly, Solomon (David’s son through Bathsheba) was anointed but twice, thus signifying that he was called and chosen, but was not found faithful.

      Solomon was called Jedidiah (which means beloved of the Lord) when he was young (2 Sam. 12:24-25). When he became king, he sought the Lord.

      The Lord met Solomon and gave him wisdom, the like of which no man has ever had before or after, such that all nations sought to hear his words. God entrusted Solomon with the pattern to build the temple for the Lord to dwell in. Until this day, the temple has never been equalled on earth for its splendour, majesty, and the fact that the glory of God inhabited it.

      Sadly, despite his becoming the richest and wisest of kings, Solomon did not obey the rules that Moses had given the kings. One of those rules was that a king was not to multiply wives. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, many taken not from the tribes of Israel but from the heathen nations around (1 Ki. 11:3).

      This was in spite of the fact that God had warned His people not to intermarry with the heathen (Ex. 34:14-16). The result was, as God had fully forewarned Moses, they indeed turned the heart of Solomon away from following God.

      We read in 1 Kings 11:1-4, But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

      As Solomon’s heart had been turned aside, heathen temples dedicated to demonic forces were found all around the hills of Jerusalem. This was in direct contrast to God’s original intention of having magnificent worship through His temple.

      Solomon had received a prophecy from the Lord stating that if he obeyed the Lord, God would establish him and his descendants on the throne of Israel forever. However, if he chose to disobey the Lord, Israel would be cut off from the Promised Land.

      In 1 Kings 9:4-7, the Lord said to Solomon, And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people.

      Since Solomon’s life was so different from his father David’s, the Lord caused the kingdom to be divided after his death. Solomon came to the throne at 19 years of age, reigned for 40 years, and was succeeded by Rehoboam. (For further study, please see our book entitled, Studies in the Lives of David and Solomon.) On the following page is a chart showing the kings of Judah with the time and dates of their reign.

      KINGS OVER UNITED ISRAEL

      KINGDOM DIVIDES

      KINGS OVER JUDAH

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