King and Country
After the reign of Solomon it seems pretty much downhill all the way for Israel and Judah. With a few exceptions, the kings either actively promote idolatry and the worship of pagan gods, or they simply let it happen without opposing it. And this puts the two kingdoms on a trajectory towards exile, as God had promised in the covenant made at Sinai. Time and again during this period we see how the king sets the tone for the kingdom. If the king will not remain faithful, then nor will the people (or at least most of them). They will follow where he leads. But there are some glimpses of hope:
- God continues to call kings and people back to faithfulness through his spokesmen, prophets like Elijah and Elisha.
- There is always a remnant who remain faithful, as Elijah finds out when he is at his most negative and desperate (see 1 Kings 19:18).
- While Israel and Judah prove unfaithful, God remains faithful to his promises. Dynasties rise and fall in the northern kingdom of Israel, but in the southern kingdom of Judah, the line of David survives. What is needed is a king in the line of David who will prove faithful …
… the very king that Paul and others are busy proclaiming in the book of Acts. In fact, one way of summarising the gospel message, at least for Jewish listeners, is ‘that Jesus was the Christ’ (i.e. the anointed king promised by God). This is what Paul argues from the Scriptures when he is given the opportunity (see Acts 18:28).
Paul puts it differently for Gentiles, who wouldn’t know about the Jewish messiah (‘messiah’ and ‘Christ’ both mean ‘anointed one’, in Hebrew and Greek respectively). In Athens Paul puts his message like this - the God who made everything wants you to repent of worshipping idols and reach out to him, because he will judge the world, and the judge has now been appointed (Acts 17). How would we put that message today – the same message, in language that people in our 21st culture can understand?
