This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The History of Salvation” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 20, 1990.
About this sermon
The northern kingdom rose to glory and then fell into civil war, Ahab’s wicked reign, and Jeroboam II’s brief golden age. The speaking and writing prophets rise to bring God’s judgment on that long decline.
Sermon transcript
Tonight our scripture reading is first of all from 1 Kings chapter 12. 1 Kings chapter 12 beginning with verse 21. 1 Kings 12 verse 21. See now what God says. Now, when Rehoboam had come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying, Speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, Thus says the Lord, You must not go up and fight against your relatives, the sons of Israel.
Return every man to his house, for this thing has come from me.” So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned and went their way according to the word of the Lord. Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel.
Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom will return to the house of David if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their Lord, even to Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah.” So the king consulted and made two golden calves, and he said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your God, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.” And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
Now this thing became a sin for the people who went to worship before one as far as Dan. And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah. And he went up to the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. Then he went up to the altar, which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart, and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense.” And then turning over to 2 Kings chapter 17, this is 2 Kings Chapter seventeen, verse seven.
Now, this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the Lord, their God. And had brought them up who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nation. whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel, which they had introduced. And the sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the Lord their God.
Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city, and they set for themselves sacred pillars and asherim on every hill and under every green tree. And there they burned incense on all the high places of the nations did which the Lord had carried away to exile before them, and they did evil things, provoking the Lord. And they served idols concerning which the Lord had said to them, You shall do. You shall not do this thing.
Yet the Lord were warned Israel and Judah through all his profits and every fear saying turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments my statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you through my servants the problem. However they did not listen but stiffened their neck like their fathers who did not believe in the Lord their God. and they rejected his statutes and his covenant which he had made with their fathers and his warnings which which he had warned them and they followed vanity and became vain and went after the nations which surrounded them concerning which the Lord had commanded them not to do like them and they forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves molten images even two calves and made an asherah and worship all the hosts of heaven and serve bail Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire and practice divination and enchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him. So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his sight. None was left except the tribe of Judah. Pray with me now.
What work, Lord, would your word do in our hearts? O Lord, by your word you created the world. By your word you did mighty things before the face of all the nations and for the sake of your people. By Your Word, You have saved Your elect. By Your Word, You give us new hearts that we might love You. You take away our stony hearts and You give us hearts of flesh that we truly might seek after You with all of our heart. May it be true, Lord, that we do just that so prompt us our God to follow you with these new hearts which you have given to us by grace through Christ our Savior. Amen.
But on the surface of things, it seems like the same old story. On the surface of things, it seems no different from what happens world round to all the nations, each of them in turn. As the course of nations go as the affairs of state work themselves out. Is this not the case? We have nation rising after nation, each in turn, and particular nations rising through the strength of newfound harmony, a newfound unity internally.
Things seem to come together, they meld, they mesh. And that’s usually under the eye of exceptional leadership, remarkable men, remarkable figures who orchestrate now the affairs of state. There is also a sense of destiny that invariably grips hold of a people under such leadership. And they, in a remarkable way, seem to be focused, intent, concentrated, and objective in view. pursuing a course.
Is it the glory. Of the God Pharaoh. Is it the power of succeeding kingdoms. Syria. Syria. Is it the naturalist glory of Babylon. The incredible culture of Greece. the wonderful unifying legal system of Rome. So, nations rise. They flourish, it seems, for a time. For a couple of generations, they are exceedingly strong.
But then, things begin to unravel. Things begin to fall apart, to disintegrate. Where there was once wisdom, even as it be the pragmatic wisdom of the sons of this world, it is replaced by foolishness. There had previously been that focus for the people. They set upon a singular objective, a sense of destiny possessed them. Now there are competing visions, a fragmentation, a breaking apart.
The nation breaks apart and decline sets in. And eventually the state, with its culture, part and parcel of this civilization, crumbled. What we observe in one nation, we seemingly observe in all. We see the cycle repeated again and again and again. so regular, so predictable is the past pattern, that earlier in our century, an unknown schoolteacher in Germany by the name of Oswald Spangler shocked the world by publishing a book entitled The Decline of the West.
And in that book, he claimed that there were scientific factors to be considered as you reviewed the rise and the fall of nations, the rise and the fall of civilizations. In fact, you could actually predict these rises and these falls. He said that you could chart nations from birth through development to death. And he held that nations and civilizations were like human beings.
That they were conceived and born, they grew and flourished, and then like humans, they declined and finally died. So on the surface of things, given the eye of the naturalist, Given the eye of the historian, it’s just a case of the same old thing. The wheel goes round one more time. The cycle continues. Israel is but a nation of the world. But notice her rhymes. It has begun under an ambiguous figure, the figure of Saul.
He reigned for 40 years, and despite his bad end, he had brought Israel to unprecedented heights as a nation. Then there were the subsequent reigns of David. He followed Saul, And David’s son Solomon followed him. Their combined reigns spanned 80 years, and bring before us the golden age of Israel’s national history. Eighty years of glory. Eighty years of unprecedented prosperity. remarkable progress for nation and for culture, expansion, conquest, economic boom, internal harmony by and large, despite that rebellion of David’s own son, Absalom. So, with the reigns of David and Solomon, Israel’s culture reaches its height. But then, you see, the premonitions of decline begin to appear. You know of Solomon. There’s a very interesting interpretation of the Song of Solomon. That interpretation goes along these lines.
The girl who is a chief figure in the Song of Solomon is not a happy bride. Oh, she was happy once. She was happy when she was in the hill country with her intended. Her betrothed. But Solomon had an eye for a beautiful woman. And as if he hadn’t enough yet. He cites this beautiful country girl.
And he takes her to Jerusalem to become part of his harem, thus breaking the bond between her and her shepherd lover. Solomon begins to act like the kings of the earth. One who takes what he wants, who grabs it selfishly, who possesses things in order to then raise a testimony to a monument for his glory, his greatness. So it is with Solomon that we have these premonitions of decline. Solomon wandering off after a number of pagan women. He actually joins their churches, an associated member. He worships their gods.
And he who has so much to say about wisdom and the training of children leaves the country in the hands of a son who is neither wise nor well trained. Who is that son? We’ve read about him tonight. His name is Rehoboam. Rehoboam is a disaster. He’s a tragedy.
The wise men tell him the route to follow in holding the nation together, rather than following the wise men He accepts the advice of his friends, those his own age, and they recommend increasing the burden laid upon the backs of the people, so that the splendor of Jerusalem may continue to shine brightly. So under Rehoboam, the nation is ripped apart in civil war.
He ends up king over Judah, southern tribe, and over Benjamin. Two tribes out of the twelve are his, the territory to the south. The kingdom is given the name Judah, and Jerusalem is the capital. But then to the north. In the north, the figure of Jeroboam, takes center stage. He was a man of great promise. He was a man over whom prophets of the Lord prophesied. He’s a man who should have known better. He’s a man who should have believed.
And as great a tragedy as Rehoboam is, Jeroboam is a greater tragedy, a greater disaster. He establishes himself then over the territory to the north, the other ten tribes. This kingdom is given the name Israel. The majority of the tribes are there. Its capital eventually will be the city of Samaria. We know something about that city.
Now this all takes place around the year 975 B.C. If you are interested in dates, I’m trying to keep things chronologically straight. Around the year 975 B.C., and over the next 254 years, eyes directed to the north and to Jeroboam’s realm. will watch the rise and fall, will survey the rise and fall of seven separate dynasties. And finally, the tragic collapse of the nation as a whole in the year… Can anyone help me?
721. So the Northern Kingdom will last from 975 B.C. to 721. It will finally be destroyed at the hands of the brutal Assyrians. The Assyrians, their empire, take shape to the north at the western end of the Tigris Euphrates Valley, the capital of which is Nineveh. Nineveh will be responsible for the destruction of Israel, the ten northern tribes, and Samaria in 721.
During these years, 254 years, the northern nation of Israel experiences two periods of extraordinary strength. They come in back-to-back dynasties. Of course, we have the initial strength under the reign of Jeroboam I. But then comes another period of great strength in the third dynasty, under that infamous figure, Ahab, the son of Amri, King Ahab.
Now, here’s a politically astute young man. Here’s a fellow who’s figured it out. He looks to his west. He looks to his east. To his east are the Syrians, not the Assyrians, but the Syrians. Get the difference between the two. The Assyrians are later. They’re in the north. Their capital is Nineveh. The Syrians are to the east. Their capital is Damascus. And presently, they’re a problem.
Ahab realizes he can’t fight wars on two fronts. He can’t be running off to the east and looking over his shoulder, wondering what’s going to happen if the Sidonians, for instance, Those fellows from Tyre and Sidon decide to move against him, the descendants of the ancient Phoenicians. So what does he do? He’s learned lessons from King Solomon. He marries the king’s daughter. He strikes up a bargain. Now this girl’s a real prize. Her name happens to be Jezebel. And she is devoted to the most hideous of all the ancient gods. She’s devoted to Baal. And she introduces Baal worship into Israel, and that under the eye of her husband. Marriage secures the Western Front.
It also multiplies income, because you know, Tyre and Sidon are coastal cities, they’re seaports, and now Ahab has access to the entire Mediterranean world. It’s a stroke of genius! His problem, however, continues to be from the East. from the Syrians, and he spends his entire reign trying to overcome them and the threat that they pose. And finally, because of the judgment of God, you know how wicked a man he was. He perishes in a battle with the Syrians. So that’s Ahab. You know about him. There’s one other notable figure.
This one comes from the fourth dynasty, from the dynasty of Jihu, which was the most impressive dynasty in the history, the 254-year history of the Northern tribe. This dynasty of Jihu lasted 115 years. That’s how impressive it was. And its most formidable figure was a fellow by the name of Jeroboam II. and Jeroboam II.
He reigned for 41 years, from 825 B.C. to 784 B.C. Now this fellow was even more remarkable than Ahab. Just as wicked, but more accomplished and more successful. For not only does he secure the western front, He actually defeats the Syrians, and along with them the Moabites and the Ammonites. Taboo!
This fellow is riding on the crest of a wave, and under him the golden age of the northern kingdom comes. Now Jeroboam II’s reign is followed by rapid decline. Two dynasties, the fifth and the sixth, come and go quickly. The seventh lasts only as long as the reign of Israel’s last king, Hosea. Hosea had turned to the Egyptians. The problems now are not east-west as they were in the days of Ahab and Jeroboam. They’re north-south.
You’ve got Egypt to the south, and you’ve got rulers in Egypt that think that they’re like the pharaohs of old and the glories of Egypt are going to return. But there’s this upstart empire to the north, the Assyrians. And they have some rather remarkable leaders themselves. You know of one of those remarkable leaders, a fellow by the name of Sennacherib.
But the guy who’s now taking the throne is a fellow by the name of Sargon. And if there was an ancient Hitler, this man was him. No mercy. Extermination. So he comes down on the northern kingdom with all of his might. He ravages the land. He destroys the capital city of Samaria. And as if that weren’t enough, he then takes all the people in chains deports them and they are lost.
Do you know where the ten northern tribes are? Does anyone? I mean with the exception of Herbert W. Armstrong and the Mormons. Now they know where they are. Well, the Northern Kingdom is gone. Gone. But has this just been another case of a nation having run its course, the same old thing? Object lessons for historians and scientists as they view the courses of civilization? Well, not quite.
For these are the people of God. Therefore, when we read about them, we sit up and take note in a way that we might not in reading the histories of others. These people are playing a role in the history of salvation. A role which other people are not. God will speak to us, even, through his dealings with them.
How tragically, two of the kings that we’ve spoken of ascended the throne to divine prophecy. We’ve already mentioned Jeroboam I. He had a prophet speak over him with respect to what could possibly have been his, and he deliberately chooses a different course. There was another, Jehu. Do you know that Jehu was anointed by Elisha? Remarkable fact. He was anointed by Elisha, the great prophet of God. But both of these figures, both of these kings, prove failures. We will see nothing of the Lord’s anointed in them. We will see nothing of God’s Christ in them. Now, this failure is especially clear to us in Jeroboam’s case, and that’s why I read the passage that I did this evening from First Kings.
You see what he has done. He’s a man who Solomon feared at one time. Did you know that? And in order to be saved from Solomon’s wrath, he had fled to Egypt of all places. He had sought sanctuary there, and when Solomon was dead, then he returned. He ran right into Rehoboam.
But what does he bring with him when he comes back? He brings the gods of Egypt. And he sets up altars and sanctuaries for them at Dan to the north, the northern border, and then at Bethel, the southern border. He’s hemming the people in, north and south, with his altars and his false gods.
Keep them at home. Don’t let them wander. And whatever you do, don’t let them go up to Jerusalem. Don’t let them in any way show deference to the throne of David, God’s truly anointed King. So he sets up his golden calves in Dan and Bethel He doesn’t want the people going up to worship at Jerusalem.
The act of Jeroboam, given the prophecies, given the actions themselves, it’s a case of pure apostasy. The man has deserted the truth and that wholesale. And in so doing, he is rejecting then the claims of David’s dynasty over him and his people. God would have used him. But he rejects David’s dynasty and the claim of that dynasty.
And God is absolutely committed to David. and David’s lineage, from which ultimately comes the Lord Jesus Christ. So, this apostasy then with which the Northern Kingdom began with Jeroboam was never corrected throughout the 254 year history. Not one of its leaders corrected the apostasy of Jeroboam the first.
How deep, just how deep this apostasy ran is evident from Ahab’s reign. We now arrive at that point where the state attempts to eradicate the voice of God. You remember what Ahab did after being goaded by Jezebel? He set about to execute all of the prophets of God, to eradicate any testimony concerning God, the true God.
This was the period, you know, for Elijah’s ministry. Rain stops three years. None of it. The people are congregated to Carmel, Mount Carmel, where there’s this confrontation between the prophets of Baal and Elijah. If Baal is God, follow him. If the Lord be God, follow him. The people halted, you see. They said nothing, until it was evident who had won the contest.
This is the period of Elijah’s ministry, and Elijah then is followed by Elisha. And together, these prophets brought upon Israel a testimony to God’s greatness and a testimony to his ultimate purposes. But God’s final assault upon Israel, these tribes to the north, will come through writing prophets, not Elijah and Elisha are speaking prophets, but there are writing prophets that then arise in the course of Israel’s history. And particularly during the reign of Jeroboam II, when Israel was experiencing its greatest height, the zenith of its civilization, The first one that we hear about is Jonah.
We have a book from him. He’s a prophet to the northern kingdom during the days of Jeroboam II, whose mission is to speak of God’s judgment upon Israel and his grace to the Gentiles. You remember, he sent to Nineveh to preach repentance. He doesn’t want to go. Why? Because he also knows, as a prophet of God, that ultimately, none of us is going to be responsible for destroying Israel. But he also speaks cryptically about the means by which this great transition will be accomplished, this transition from God’s purpose is focused upon Israel exclusively to a time in which his purposes will be directed towards the Gentiles. You remember the prophet fleeing God cast into the sea when the waves of the sea revolt?
God prepares the fish to swallow him up. In his sin, in effect, Jonah dies three days. He’s in the belly of that fish, in the depths of the sea, but then he is raised up by the power of God for a preaching mission to the Gentiles. Likewise, Jesus Christ himself will come and take upon himself our sins. He will die. He will go down into the depths. But three days later, he will be raised up as a sign to Israel but also as the means for the proclamation of the gospel of salvation to the nations, to the ends of the earth.
There are two other writing prophets during the time of Jeroboam II. One is Amos, one who is sent from the southern kingdom to the north to proclaim the will of God. The other is Hosea. Amos will declare how far Israel has departed from the Lord’s covenant, and Hosea will declare how often.
And now, God’s patience is exhausted. He has sent his speaking prophets, he has sent his writing prophets. And his patience is exhausted. So you come to 2 Kings 17, and that indictment that is read out there, that powerful indictment. And God brings upon these people an irremediable judgment. And in that you see a portent of hell. It’s a portent of hell. Irremedial judging. And when God begins to judge, He starts with the house of God.
Now, we might think that the lesson from all of this is to be played out along the lines of the history of nations as they run their course in the history of the world. We might think that the lesson in all this has some special application to us as a nation. Israel was a nation. We are a nation. We match up nation to nation, right? If we as a nation can avoid Israel’s problems and sins, we will be spared, our lives will be serene, and we will live permanently and peacefully within the land forever. This type of reasoning suffers from two mistakes. The first one is this.
God’s message is addressed to his people. His people are his church, not this nation. The replication of Old Testament history with respect to the nation of Israel is not matching up Israel with the United States of America. The application is matching up Israel with the Church. In the Old Testament, the people of God happen to be a nation. In the New Testament, they are made a unique nation, a nation under the leadership of Jesus Christ, a nation made up of all tribes, tongues, races, We are of the commonwealth of heaven.
We transcend the nation. As much as we love our country, and we do, as precious as the United States of America is to us, there is no special promise in the word of God with respect to her. Now that may be hard for some of us to accept, but it’s true. As much as we love our nation, as much as we are determined to serve her and honor her and take…
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