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January 27 - February 5, 2019
It is not a surprise that Philistines get treated like Egyptians, since according to Genesis 10:13–14, they come from the family of “Mizraim,” the Hebrew name for Egypt. The Lord can handle the Philistines; long ago, He won a great war with their relatives, the Egyptians. As in the Exodus, Yahweh wars not only against a nation but against the gods of the nation. Yahweh’s throne is put in the temple of Dagon, because the Philistines think Dagon has defeated Yahweh. In the morning, the image of Dagon is fallen before the ark, and the next day, he is broken in pieces (1 Sam. 5:1–5). The Lord
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Moses warns Israel that they will be driven from the land if they do not obey the Lord. For a couple of centuries, Israel has been worshiping idols, and Eli’s sons are guilty of “very great” sins. Yet Israel is not being driven from the land. Instead, the ark, the symbol of the Lord’s presence in Israel, leaves. The Lord Himself takes on the curse of the covenant: He goes into exile in place of His sinful people. And while He is in exile, He defeats Israel’s enemies. This is a picture of the gospel: As Jesus defeated Satan and sin by His humiliation, so Yahweh defeats Dagon and Philistia by
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When David conquers Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 5, he brings the ark up into the city and makes plans to build a house for the Lord. But the Lord promises to build a house for David, a royal family that will include the Messiah (2 Sam. 7). Then, this “house of David” is going to build and keep the “house of God.”
These laws show that God approves the idea of kingship in itself. Adam was created to rule, and as the new Adamic race, it is fitting for Israel to have a king. Though it is not wrong for Israel to have a king, Israel sins in asking for a king in this particular way and at this particular time.
As the speech moves on, it becomes clear that the king is a judgment upon the people for rejecting Yahweh and His messenger, Samuel. Israel’s elders ask for a king “who may judge us.” Samuel tells them that is exactly what they will get: a king who will bring judgment.
When Israel cries out in her bondage in Egypt, when Israel cries out throughout the period of the judges, the Lord sends deliverers. But when the kings of Israel oppress the people, the people will cry out to the Lord, and He will not answer (8:18). That bond has been broken by the request for a king, and the Lord will send no deliverers. Because the people refuse to hear Him, He will not hear them.68
David is destined for the throne and mistreated by Saul, but he does not seize the kingdom by force and does not rebel against the Lord’s king. Like David’s later Son, Jesus, he entrusts himself to the Lord, who will raise him in due time.
Blessings on Obed-edom make David confident that Yahweh is not going to break out with plagues upon the city of David as He did upon the Philistine cities. The Lord’s blessing on a Gentile “provokes David to jealousy”
David, like Abraham, will have a great name; David’s son too will have a great name, for he will build a temple that connects heaven and earth, the true tower of Babel. David, like Abraham, is given a land for Israel to rest in (2 Sam. 7:11). As Abraham is promised that those who bless him would be blessed and those who curse him would be cursed, so David is promised victory over and peace with his enemies. God tells Abraham that his seed will bless the nations, and now David learns that this seed will come from him. All the promises of God to Abraham are now delivered to David, so that the
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Yahweh says his program, his purpose for the creation, will be fulfilled through David’s house, and particularly through the Son of David, Jesus Christ.
David does not respond like Saul. He does not blame Bathsheba or the people or God. He confesses his sin, and because of that, he keeps the kingdom.
Adam, who hasn’t learned to know good and evil, is not allowed to eat from the tree of judgment. Solomon has moved beyond Adam, and God allows him, as it were, to eat from the tree of knowledge. During Solomon’s reign, God keeps His promises to Abraham and David. Solomon is a blessing to the nations. Gentile rulers visit Solomon and confess their faith in the God of Israel.
For Solomon, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom, so the Gentiles, in learning wisdom, are learning about the God of Israel and His ways. As Israel shines as a light among the Gentiles, the treasures of the Gentiles are flowing to Israel and are used to build the Lord’s house.
The description of Solomon’s palace comes right in the middle of the passage talking about building the “house of Yahweh.” This means that Solomon’s house and the temple are both parts of something called the “house of Yahweh.” Nothing like this has happened in Israel before. Before this, the Lord has never shared His house. Priests serve in the tabernacle, but there is no king’s tent beside the tent of King Yahweh. But Solomon lives “in” the Lord’s house, as prince over Israel.
In 17, the Lord commands kings not to multiple horses, wives, or gold. Solomon sins in all three of these areas.
Any faithful Israelite living during the period of Solomon and David could see that God has not yet fulfilled His promises. David and Solomon are great, but there must be some greater King coming,
Kings is like Samuel in reverse: 1–2 Samuel moves from a distressed tabernacle to a new house, while Kings moves from the building of Solomon’s temple to its destruction.
The second commandment warns that those who hate God by worshiping Him through images will be punished to the third or fourth generations. This is what happens to the kings of Israel. They break the second commandment, and only one family rules the North for more than four generations.
Under Joshua, Israel destroyed the altars and shrines of the Canaanites, but Ahab is building them again. He marries Jezebel, a Sidonian princess. Tyre and Sidon are the twin cities of Phoenicia, and the man Sidon is the firstborn son of Canaan (Gen. 10:15). Jezebel is thoroughly Canaanite, and Ahab is jumping into bed with her. During Ahab’s reign, Hiel rebuilds Jericho, as if he’s trying to turn back the conquest. Trying to reverse the conquest is foolish. Ahab and his kingdom are in the land only because of Joshua’s conquest. When Ahab permits the conquest to be reversed, he’s giving up his
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Ahab’s plan almost succeeds. For a short time, a descendant of Ahab, Athaliah, sits on the throne of David and Solomon (2 Kgs. 11), and during her reign, there is even a temple of Baal in Jerusalem (11:18). Ahab’s plan almost succeeds, but it doesn’t—because of Elijah and Elisha, two prophets of God. Like Moses and Joshua, they lead the people out of “Egypt,” renew the covenant, and conquer the land, driving out Ahab’s “Canaanites.”
These links between Elijah and Moses are not just there to help us enjoy the story. The point is that Elijah’s ministry is like Moses’. Moses is the great prophet who sets up the tabernacle and sacrificial system. In Elijah’s day, worship has been corrupted, especially in the Northern Kingdom. Elijah’s mission is to call Israel back and to rebuild the foundations for the worship and life of Israel. Elijah’s mission is to call Israel to renew the covenant.
But Elijah’s exile is a sign telling Israel that the whole nation will go into exile if they do not repent.
The fact that Elijah is fed by ravens is a sign that, in exile, he will be sustained by Gentiles. Later, Israel will be sustained by Gentiles while in exile (see
Elijah’s sojourn among the Gentiles has another meaning as well. The prophet of the Lord, who bears the life-giving Word, is rejected by Israel and goes to bring God’s blessing to the Gentiles. Jesus later says that Elijah’s ministry to the widow of Zarephath is a picture of the Jews’ rejection of the Messiah and of the Messiah’s turning to the Gentiles
He is more like the greater Elisha, Jesus, who does miracles of food and gives life rather than take it.
Yahweh is a God who brings life from the dead. So far as Athaliah is concerned, “all the royal seed” has been killed. But in fact, the Lord has saved a new Moses from this female Pharaoh, and he will rise to lead Israel out of “Egypt,” renew the covenant, and rebuild the house of God.
From his infancy, Joash’s true “home” is the temple, and this means that his true father is Yahweh. “King’s son” means that he is both David’s son and the “son of God,” a title that God promised to give to Solomon
Joash, like Solomon, is the high point of an important period of history. But like Solomon, he sins and the kingdom again is threatened.
By fleeing, Jonah shows he doesn’t want to stand before the Lord as His servant anymore. If being a prophet means helping Assyria, Jonah wants to resign.
He doesn’t want to be a prophet, but the Lord makes sure that he is.
Jonah flees from the Lord’s presence and resigns his post as a prophet because he doesn’t want to run the risk of converting the Assyrians. And the first thing he does is convert a boatload of pagan sailors.
The sailors convert when they hear a few words from a single prophet. Israel is more hard-hearted than these pagans.
If the nations swallow up God’s prophet and God’s people, it is to save them from drowning in the sea.
The Assyrians taunt the men of Jerusalem, saying that they should not expect Hezekiah or Yahweh to save them, since no gods have been able to stand against Assyria. But Hezekiah’s response is far different than that of the Northern kings. He takes the letter of Sennacherib into the temple, lays it before the Lord, and calls upon Him to hear the blasphemies of the Assyrians and defend Himself.
Sick kings often picture a “sickness” of sin within the kingdom, and Hezekiah’s “death and resurrection” is a sign that Judah too will recover from her illness.
Idolatry never stays within the temple but always has an effect on the way people live.
Though Judah has turned to the Lord, He does not turn from His anger. During the reign of Manasseh, Judah passed the point of no return. Judah will suffer the fate of her sister Israel.
The message is clear: Shiloh is happening all over again. The Lord is forsaking His house because Judah has forsaken Him.
The word spoken by the prophet plucks up and tears down, plants and builds. The prophetic word of God clears out the rubbish and makes a new world.
In the end, Jeremiah gives the people hope, but the hope is for a rebirth after a long period of exile and “death.”
As a prophet, Jeremiah may stand in God’s council and bring complaints before the Judge.
Jeremiah’s exodus is not an exodus into Jerusalem but an exodus out of Jerusalem, into the waiting arms of Nebuchadnezzar. For Moses, life comes by fighting against the Canaanites. For Jeremiah, life will not come by conquest but by surrender.
He says that Nebuchadnezzar will take the city, that there will be no peace, and that the exile will last seventy years. Nobody wants to hear what he has to say, and it’s easy to see why. With Babylon beginning a siege against the city, everyone thinks it’s time for all the Jews to work together. Jeremiah seems to be dividing the people, and some Jews think that Jeremiah is discouraging the army
False prophets think everything is okay because they believe Yahweh will protect His people and His house, no matter what Judah does.
If Jehoiakim will be like Hezekiah and fear the Word of the Lord and listen to the prophet, Solomon’s temple will not become like Shiloh.
After Babylon makes all the nations of the earth reel in madness and fear, she too will drink the wine of the wrath of God, become drunk, and
Jeremiah has talked about Judah as the Lord’s firstfruits. Firstfruits are holy food that should not be eaten by anyone but a priest. Judah, too, is holy food, so that anyone who devours her is taking the Lord’s food for himself. Nebuchadnezzar has devoured Israel and is going to be held guilty.
Ezekiel and Daniel are in Babylon at the same time that Jeremiah is preaching in Jerusalem and at the same time that Zedekiah is king in Jerusalem. Both of them trust the Word of the Lord given through Jeremiah and work for the peace of the city. And, as the Lord promises, in Babylon’s peace, they find peace.
Now, in another “Passover,” Yahweh the Warrior is sending His troops to carry out the ban against Judah, which has become an “Egypt” and a “Canaan.”
Raised by the power of the Word of Yahweh, Israel and Judah will be made into “one new man;” the two will become one flesh.
