There are two books in the Old Testament that most of us probably don't visit too often. (1) 1 & 2 Samuel unpacks the stories of Samuel, King Saul, King David, and King Solomon. No King is greater than David, until the coming of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Christ Jesus, in the gospels. In the beginning, the tribes of Israel were united.
(2) Next comes 1 & 2 Kings. 1 & 2 Kings profiles all the kings who ruled over the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah after Solomon. It's in 1 & 2 Kings that we have the arrival of Elijah and Elisha. They are the two best known, early prophets. Historically, 1 and 2 Kings takes us from Solomon through three of the darkest periods in Israel's history. There were dark periods in Israel’s prehistory too. The period of the judges was a very dark period. But the worst is yet to come.
We've been in this series “Wrestling with God”. One of the most profound needs we have as God's people (especially in dark times) is to “know” God's voice. In 1 & 2 Kings, it’s like Israel has a frontal cortex lobotomy and lose all connection with God. The more Israel (and her Kings), and then Judah, lose connection with God, the more tragic and dire their situation grows.
“Knowing" God's voice is a little different than “Hearing“ God's voice. As a young child, Samuel, audibly “hears" God's voice but doesn't recognize it at first. In 1 Samuel 3:1 the Bible says, “The boy Samuel served the Lord in Eli’s presence. In those days the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.” (This is more often true than not true throughout history).
Nonetheless, 1 Samuel 3:2-3 says, “One day Eli, whose eyesight was failing, was lying in his usual place. 3 Before the lamp of God had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was located.” Now obviously, verse three is talking about a literal lamp. We know how lamps illuminate the darkness, and help us understand the darkness. Light is the first miracle of creation. Let there be light. But take note of the phraseology: “Before the lamp of God had done out.” This idea of illumination will occur in 1-2 Kings. No matter how evil a king, or upside down the kingdom, or how dark darkness grows… God in his mercy maintains a lamp for his people. In the gospels, Jesus comes as the light of world to a people living darkness!
Three times Samuel hears God's voice and answers “Here I am.” But he thinks it’s Eli, so he runs to Eli and says, “Here I am; you called me.” The third time Eli understands what’s happening and we read in 1 Samuel 3:8-10 that, “…Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 He told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So, Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The Lord came, stood there, and called as before, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel responded, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
This is “audible hearing." God audibly speaks to his prophet Samuel. God also speaks through prophetic visions and dreams. In the Bible good and evil people claim to have audibly heard, or received a word from God. But the question becomes how can you “know" God's voice?
In 1 and 2 Kings we have a series of prophets who claim to have heard from God. Samuel was a prophet. Nathan was a prophet who confronted David. But as Israel's Kings, and the Kings of Judah, become increasingly wicked… the number of prophets explodes. God refuses to leave his people “without a lamp" of revelation. Just as in creation God creates a greater light to govern the day, and a lesser light to govern the night… so God establishes various lamps to guide his people through dark times.
Let me describe the dark times that come upon Israel in 1 & 2 Kings. 1 & 2 Kings reminds me a lot of the book of Judges. We have this mind-numbing succession of overwhelmingly evil leaders emerge. It all begins with King Solomon. Last week we saw how every person is searching for true meaning, significance, satisfaction, and everlasting hope. The harder Solomon pursued these goals apart from God, the more hollow his life felt. He found himself “chasing the wind.” But then Solomon realizes the key to life! The beginning of all wisdom is to fear God! Boom!
But 1 Kings makes an unflattering statement about Solomon. 1 Kings 11:4-6 says, “When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. 5 Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not remain loyal to the Lord.”
The Bible asks, “What does it profit a man to hear the word of God if he doesn't combine it with faith?” In Solomon, the die is cast for most all the kings we read about in 1 & 2 Kings. Solomon was led astray by his wives. A striking feature of 1 & 2 Kings is how many kings were led astray into idolatry by their mother’s belief systems, and cultures. As king after king is introduced, the writer of Kings mentions each king's mothers and background. Instead of being men of God, these kings were pleasure of their wives, their mothers, their idols and goddesses, pleasers of powerful women like Jezebel. The testimony of kings is that men will do just about anything to please a woman!
1 Kings 11:9-13 says, “The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the Lord had commanded. 11 Then the Lord said to Solomon, “Since you have done this and did not keep my covenant and my statutes, which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12 However, I will not do it during your lifetime for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of your son’s hand. 13 Yet I will not tear the entire kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem that I chose.”
The writer of 1 & 2 Kings is concerned with explaining three dark turns in Israel's history. The first dark turn is why after Solomon, the Tribes of Israel were literally torn apart? You have the Ten Tribes of Israel that become profoundly corrupted with idolatry; meanwhile the Tribe of Judah, the Tribe of Benjamin, the city of Jerusalem stayed united. Why would God allow his Kingdom to be divided, his Kingdom to be torn? It’s like the North & South, in America's Civil war. After Solomon the Kingdom is divided and these warring factions emerge. Again, Why God?
The second dark turn is why God allowed Israel's enemies, and most prominently, the King of Assyria lay waste to Israel and take them into captivity? This is an amazing thing to read in 1 & 2 Kings. God tears Ten Tribes away from Solomon's son, and leaves him with just the tribe of Judah. The Ten Tribes form their own national identity, they have their own kings and kingdom. The overwhelming majority of prophets (including Elijah and Elisha) speak against the kings and kingdoms of the north. God doesn't leave them without a lamp—the prophets are a guiding light, a guiding lamp to these ten tribes. But the Ten Tribes (now called Israel) lose their way. Their kings do great evil. God severely punishes Israel until finally the king of Assyria comes, attacks, destroys, and carries the Jews out of their promised land into captivity in Assyria. Why God? Why would you allow an evil king or nation victory over your chosen ones? Why did you punish Israel while seemingly preserving Judah?
The third dark turn is why God allowed Judah's enemies, and most prominently the king of Babylon, to lay waste to the great city of Jerusalem? So, as you read 1-2 Kings pay careful attention. There are dual, torn kingdoms being chronicled. Under Saul, David, and Solomon “All the Tribes of Israel” were united as “All Israel". But after Solomon, starting with his son Rehoboam and Solomon's servant Jeroboam, a division emerges. From then on you have the “kings of Israel” and the “kings of Judah.”
In 1 Kings 11:35-36 , in the 1st Dark Period, we read an amazing thing. God explains, “I will take ten tribes of the kingdom from his son and give them to you. 36 I will give one tribe to his son, so that my servant David will always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city I chose for myself to put my name there.” In all that God does, in discipline, in judgement… God in his mercy always leaves a lamp to light way back home. It's like Motel 6. God says, I'll leave a lamp or a light on for you. The purpose of a lamp is to help you understand, but then escape the darkness.
Just by way of summary, what lamp, what light might God's people have had? First, they had the lamp of creation. The Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God. They knew the one true, Living God, maker of heaven and earth. There was never any reason to chase the idols and gods of the surrounding nations.
Second, they had the lamp of the Patriarchs, the Lamp of God's Promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Twelve Tribes. They knew Gods salvation history, God's working and dealings with their ancestors. It was open, verifiable history. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. They could know God from their own history. Their history was a lamp.
Third, they had the lamp of Passover, of God's mighty deliverance out of Egypt. They were slaves but became sons or children of God! How did they get out of Egypt to form a national identity? How did they get to the land? It was God!
Fourth, they had the lamp of God's Covenant, of God's Law. God spoke to Moses on the Mountain, and gave them his commandments. So long as they followed the Law it would go well for them. But God also gave them the Lamp of the Tabernacle, and the Ark of the Covenant. God visibly led them, illuminating their path with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day.
Fifth, they had the lamp of God's city Jerusalem, and his Holy Temple, and his Kingdom. Again, so long as they honored God, Israel's leaders enjoyed God's anointing and his favor. Israel as One Nation prospered. There wasn't any other nation like Israel on earth. Under David, Israel was the envy of every kingdom. But when Solomon turned from God, a death spiral was set in place, in which Israel and eventually even Judah, lost all its privileges, protections, and blessings.
But Sixth, they had the lamp of God's Holy Prophets. Whenever Israel turned from testimony of Creation, the Patriarchs and Promises, The remembrance of their great Deliverance, the Covenant, the Law of Moses, the Temple… God raised up his servants the prophets by the hundreds! Obadiah. Elijah. Elisha. Micah. These are a few mentioned in 1 & 2 Kings. Most were men, some were women. They would hear or receive a word of God, and they would declare it as warning. Whenever the Kings would listen to the prophets, repent, and turn from their wicked ways, God would reverse the kingdom's fortunes. But whenever the kings disobeyed God's word, things would go from bad to worse.
At first, the kingdom was divided into two. God preserved Judah as a remnant, showing his favor. But both the North and South ignored every lamp God provided. I don't know how you ignore the prophets Elijah and Elisha. I intended to chronicle each of their extraordinary lives and ministries. God gave them each a message, and the boldness to hold the kings and kingdoms of Israel and Judah accountable. God confirmed his words in the lives of his prophets with signs and wonders, with powerful encounters. But no matter what God's people heard or saw, they kept turning from the light, into darkness. They were without excuse. They knew God's word, his commandments, his way.
This pattern of disobedience in 1 & 2 Kings made me think of 2 Peter 1:16-21, “For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased!” 18 We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
As much as we imagine the northern Israel, and southern Kingdom of Judah were without excuse… we have been given a seventh, and even greater light, the light of revelation of Jesus Christ, God's One and Only Son. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the light of the world. He is the resurrection and the life. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords! The Father's own booming testimony from heaven was, “This is my Son, whom I love, listen to him!” Psalm 119:105, Gods word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path. Proverbs 6:23 says God's commandments, his teachings, his reproofs and disciplines are a lamp! 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Let’s walk by light while have the light.