The Lord Rejects Israel

Studying the Old Testament is nothing short of an adventure. It's like a movie with a loooong, slow beginning, and when you're about to adopt the fact that nothing ever happens, it starts unraveling before your eyes and all those boring descriptions make sense.

I have just finished reading a segment in biblical history, in the time from the splitting of the kingdom of Israel in 930 B.C. to the fall of Jerusalem in  585 B.C., backwards. King by king, I made my way through the time and geography of constant tension between God and his people.

Why backwards? I dunno, maybe because I'm dyslexic and backwards makes more sense. But it gave me a new perspective on God's love. A new perspective on consequences of sin.

It was also helpful to follow a timeline, because 1, I'm a visual learning type, 2, those names all sound the same to me, so it's confusing when I don't know who killed whom and became king of that, and 3, so I can understand the time relations better. I made the timeline myself; taped together some print paper sheets, drew a line and decided that 20 cm would represent 100 years. Inserting all the kings, prophets and enemies took time, and I have done it gradually over the passed 2 years or so. It's not perfect, I just wanted a timeline that works for me, ready to use for the study of old testament. When I read a prophet, I would like to know who the king was at that time, and what the political situation was in the time of his ministry.

It has proved very helpful in my most recent study, as I have said, backwards, from the end of the kingdom of Juda, to Solomon's death. In fact, I'm quite proud of my timeline.

Today I read 1 Kings 14 and it shook me profoundly to find that immediately after the splitting of the kingdom to North (Israel) and South (Juda), God rejects Israel and says terrible and frightening things about the King Jeroboam and his kingdom.

And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the Lord’s anger by making Asherah poles. ¹⁶ And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.
1 Kings 14:15-16

How deeply was God's heart broken to say that of his beloved people? At the first glance, it sounded too harsh for the God as I know Him to be, merciful, loving and forgiving. It is especially difficult to swallow keeping in mind all that the people of Israel had thus far witnessed of God's glory and power.

But since I've just read all about the kings who followed, I assume God knew that the damage that Jeroboam imposed on the heart of faith was beyond repair. The evidence is there; the sins of the following kings all reference the severity of Jeroboam's fall. Well, there was one who did even worse, Ahab, but that's another story. In late 9th century B.C. one king, Jehu, reformed religion, and brought the people of Israel back to monotheism, but not for long. Baals and asherahs kept coming back. Eventually, God brings and end to both kingdoms.

And then it hit me. Maybe God let them go because that was the only way to possibly have them back. Maybe he left them over to the mute and rigid gods they wanted to worship, so that they would see how empty life is without one true God, and they they would return willingly. Refined. Humbled. Maybe. If I think of Hosea, probably.

(Interesting, I just checked, and Hosea served around the time of Assyrian conquest of Israel.)

What a powerful, dramatic, tragic moment in time. My mind is reaching for the moment back in time when a different decision should have been made. God told them that a king was not a good idea, they didn't listen. God told them to kick out all the indications of other peoples and religions from Canaan in the time of conquest, they didn't listen. Maybe if they had, there would be no problems with the neighbors in the time of judges, and they would never have requested a king .Maybe if they had faith after crossing the red sea, and got to Canaan in a few weeks instead of 40 years, it would have been easier to obey, because Moses would still be alive. Maybe ... if they had read the Bible... =) If they had known that their idolatry would lead to their destruction... If they had believed the prophets that their sin would ruin them...

Great. I've managed to depress myself with a wonderful Bible study.

But maybe... God scattered them so that they would be on their own a little. Into the desert, like Hosea's wife. In the middle of nowhere where they are not distracted by each other's ramblings, but a little lonely and miserable, with memories of the glory days. Maybe they would come back to Him not as a nation, but as individuals with free will, and in Him find unity with each other.