The Most Crucial Time For South Kingdom

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were seen as people who failed to listen to God’s commandments. Despite knowing beforehand that they would be punished for their disobedience, they still continued to commit sin. God tried to deter their misbehavior by promising them many blessings, but it worked to no avail. Due to the insubordination of the Israelites, He made sure that the promises He made to them would be withheld and that they would face consequences.

The time of transition from the Judges to the time of the first Kings of a united Israel was chaotic. The transition begins due to the failures of Samuel

Zechariah: 1-5 the Lord will destroy the enemy of Israel. Those who are opposed to Israel are always opposed to God. Israel is considered the church, so that means God is opposed to those who are opposed to the church. God loves Israel the physical and spiritual Israel. God will always fight for her. When God stretches out His hand and shakes the nations, it is in the utmost wrath. The only time that the worldly people will serve the people of God, is when Jesus reigns as King, and His people as His subordinates. God had saved Israel from out of the fire of captivity in Babylon. Satan tries to remind God of the sins. Jesus paid

When the Hebrew peoples lost everything and entered into captivity to Babylon, they were a lost and floundering nation. “After the days of Solomon, the history of Israel was a story of increasing apostasy and judgement” (Clowney, 2013, p. 185). Despite their breaking of the covenants, and sinning against God in the worst ways, God did not abandoned them. He was very unhappy, and sent many prophets to speak His words to try to bring them back into relationship with Him, then God sent judgements down upon them. However, through these judgements, He kept to His promise to Abraham to ultimately bless the nations of Israel. (Clowney, 2013, p. 193) When they were allowed by Cyrus to return to Jerusalem (Arnold & Beyer, 2008, p. 58), with permission

It is apparent that the Southern Kingdom would have to face God’s judgment. The northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria because of the sins and idolatries. Assyria tries to destroy Judah as well, but because of God’s intervention, the Assyrian army is slaughtered by an angel before they can enter Jerusalem. King, Hezekiah the righteous king who is supposed to have been one of Judah's very best rule survives. When he became ill and was told by an angel he was going to die the cried and prayed to God for help, and because he was the recipient of divine favor God gave him another fifteen years onto his life and reign after nearly dying. Yet, again, bad follows good, and the wicked king Manasseh starts doing all sorts of idolatrous

Israel and Judah survived the collapse of the united monarchy for 50 years after it fell. This was due mostly to the fact that there was no state that had achieved dominance around them (cite book pg. 158). After Omri was able to reform his alliance with Phoenicia Israel’s relations with Judah changed for the better. To symbolize the union between the two kingdoms, Ahab’s daughter was married to Jehoram of

The glory of the Lord is powerful enough to save the people from their captors. God will restore the people and make his name exalted. Similar to chapter 36, where the people are told there will be a cleansing of the nation and a new covenant, God will put his people back to where they belong. The people are once again shown to not be useful in this restoration, all the work will becuase of God, they can do nothing. God will breath and restore his people, they people themselves continue to sin.

By 704 BC, Hezekiah’s opportunity came. The assassination of Sargon II, lead to Sennacherib becoming the leader in Assyria. Under his leadership, he attempted to hold the Empire together. Due to Hezekiah wanting to relinquish his tides with Assyria, he withheld tribute. This was an open signal of rebellion. Other states in the area joined the rebellion and Hezekiah, in brokering an alliance with Egypt over the objections of Isaiah became the leader of the revolt. It took Sennacherib until 701 BC to quiet the other provinces sufficiently to turn his attention to Hezekiah. However, the Bible records an invasion of Sennacherib king of Assyria, in the 14th year of Hezekiah king of Judah. Assyrian records also give the account of the invasion of

During Hezekiah’s reign, he joined in a rebellion against king Sargon of Assyria, but the alliance suffered defeat (Wilcox, 2014). Fast forward, and king Sargon had died leaving the throne to his son Sennacherib, this transition provided the opportunity for another revolt against the Assyrians. Moreover, both the Egyptians and Babylonians requested Hezekiah’s support in the forthcoming rebellion. Meanwhile, the prophet Isiah warned against joining either kingdom in the insurgency, but Hezekiah disregarded Isiah’s counsel.

The ancient Assyrian ruins dissect the wealth of a powerful monarch. From 720 BC to about 683 BC, Sennacherib reigned. The Bible revealed that during the reigning of the Jewish king Hezekiah, Sennacherib came to overthrow Jerusalem and the Angel of the Lord. Sennacherib slewed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When Sennacherib returned to Assyria, he was murdered by his own son. By being humble and faithful than his father, Hezekiah asks God for a sign to help him prepare for the possible invasion of the Assyrians during Sennacherib's reign. II Kings 18:13 confirmed that in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria conquered and overpowered all the fenced cities of Judah (Bible History Online, 2018). Hezekiah was given

First, the Divided Kingdom. From studies, the Old Testament and other sources have it that not long after the reign of Saul, David, and Solomon the Kingdom of Israel was divided into two kingdoms. Despite warnings from many prophets, both kingdoms repeatedly turn from God. The Divided Kingdom, of the South and North, period follows the continuing story of Scripture in the books of 1 Kings (chapters 11-22) and 2 Kings. And this period is recounted in three acts: the division of the kingdom, the resulting northern kingdom (which takes “Israel”), and the resulting southern kingdom (which takes the name “Judah.”). Assyria and Babylon force the divided kingdoms into exile. Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed.

Aside from conflicting religions, Jewish people also encountered other problems with the monarchy. Hebrews believed that Yahweh was their king and his laws were their laws. In the monarchy, the tribes of Israel appointed a human king and obeyed his laws instead of divine law. This created conflict between the Hebrews that followed the laws of the king, and the Jewish that followed Yahweh and the law of the Torah. The Children of Israel that settled in Palestine between 1250 and 1050 BC found themselves amidst a corrupt monarchy. The monarchy thrived on arbitrary power, large divisions in the economical gap, vast poverty, heavy taxation, slavery, bribery and

Isaiah who is an 8th century prophet of Judah came onto the scene when both the nation of Israel and Judah were divided kingdoms. Judah in Isaiah days had been under rulers such as Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Ahaz who would play a pivotal role in the Immanuel prophecy found in Isaiah chapter 7. This message or covenant lawsuit that is profound comes from God through Isaiah the son of Amoz. However, it begins with a vision of the activities of Israel and Judah. In his (Isaiah) vision he sees and announces God’s displeasure of this rebellious people. Israel had forgotten the role they were to play in God’s purpose for Humankind, their exodus from Egypt, and the Mt. Sinai covenant. Furthermore, with increasing threat from the Assyrian and the emulation of the practices of idol worshipping, bloodshed, and their faithless immorality, it became prudent that God would gain their attention by reminding them that save for a few remnants they (Judah and Jerusalem) would experience the same faith of Sodom and Gomorrah. This lawsuit emphasizes the fact that God had given them prosperity, yet they refused to serve him, He send them warning and the warnings went unheeded, therefore He would now bring the ire of His judgement to them by fire (Isa. 1:7). Moreover, Isaiah continues to inform the children of Israel of God displeasure as he (Isaiah) tell the oracle

God in verse 7, one judgment after another, though it was a holy nation, God would cut off Israel. This brings the destruction of the royal family, though it is not particularly threatened by anyone; if the kingdom is torn down then so is the king of that kingdom. And so the temple, though it is a holy house, which God himself has hallowed for His name sake, shall be abandoned and laid desolate (v. 8, v.

The present day situation in Israel may be the most difficult political situation in world history. It dates back to thousands of years before Christ, and deals with a large number of issues including political, religious, and cultural issues. In order to understand the current day issues, we must first understand the Biblical and historical issues. In this paper, I will first explore what the later books of the old testament, specifically the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah, and Malachi, and than talk about the modern day issues. This was an interesting part of the Bible to research, because it is the part that most people know very little