September 13, 2020 National Collapse 2 Kings 24-25

 September 13, 2020 National Collapse    2 Kings 24-25

Let’s start by turning the clock back about a dozen years from our first reading.  We’ll also add a political perspective to lay beside the theological perspective we get from the Bible.  You may remember from the last two weeks that we were studying King Josiah.  He was noted as the most faith-filled of all the kings.  Josiah reigned from about 640 B.C. to 609 B.C.  Under his reign the nation grew to almost as big, if not as big, as it ever was.  The Bible makes it appear as if Judah was a completely independent nation.  Indeed it probably was in many respects.  However, if you were to ask an Egyptian ruler of the time period and they may give you a different story.  I suspect the Egyptians considered Judah to be more of a vassal state.  That makes sense on a number of fronts.  It explains why the Egyptian army felt it could travel freely through Judah as it sought to help the Assyrians in 509 B.C.  It also explains why King Josiah is killed when he goes to battle against the Egyptians.  

Whatever the case, no matter how independent Judah truly was the Egyptians were clearly a much larger and more powerful nation.

So Josiah dies from battle wounds in 609 B.C.  Josiah’s son Jehoahaz comes to power and reigns three months.  Pharaoh Neco, who killed Josiah, doesn’t seem to like this arrangement.  He confines him in a city away from Jerusalem.  Then Neco put Josiah’s son Elaikim on the throne and changed his name to Jehoiakim.  Jehoiakim submits to the Egyptian rule and begins to tax the land of Judah in order to pay the Egyptians’ demand for silver and gold.  Jehoiakim reigns from 609 B.C. to 598 B.C.  By that point Judah was definitely a vassal state to the Egyptians.

During this time the growing Babylonian empire had won a decisive victory against the Egyptians.  It was the year 605 B.C. and the remnants of the Assyrian Empire joined forces with the Egyptians against the Babylonians and their vassal states.  The battle took place in Carchemish, which is a city on the border of Syria and Turkey today.  With the defeat of the Egyptians the kingdom of Judah no longer had any real defense against Babylon.  King Jehoiakim decides he needs to play a very delicate game of international politics.  After the Egyptians are defeated at Carchemish in 605 Jehoiakim thought it prudent to sign a treaty with the Babylonians and become a vassal to them instead of the Egyptians.

That didn’t last long, however.  In 601/600 B.C. the Egyptians battle the Babylonians back to their homeland.  King Jehoiakim decides to change allegiance again and goes back to the Egyptians.

Getting dizzy yet?

It turns out to have been a bad decision.  The Babylonians resupply and drive back the Egyptians all the way to Egypt.  Things really look bad for Judah now.  Caught between two great empires, and in an attempt to stay alive, they’ve swapped allegiance far too many times.  In their push to Egypt the Babylonians lay siege to Jerusalem.  The author of 2 Kings interprets it theologically saying, “Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manassah, for all that he had committed, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to pardon.”  (2 Kings 24:3).

King Jehoiakim apparently dies in the Babylonian attack.  He is succeeded by his son Jehoiachin.  (Yes, all these guys have very similar names.)  The year is 597 B.C.  Jehoiachin decides to give himself up to the Babylonians.  They conquer the city, haul off the king, the wealth, and all the people of prominence; reported to be 8000-10000 in all.  All that’s left is the poorest people.

Jerusalem is conquered.  Things look bad.  

However, the Davidic bloodline in still alive.  The city still stands.  God’s house, the temple, is still there.

The Babylonians make Jehoiachin’s uncle, whom they rename Zedekiah, “king.”  That’s where our first Bible reading picks up.

The Bible doesn’t record a complete version of what Zedekiah tries to do.  From 2 Kings it sounds like Zedekiah tries to just revolt against the Babylonians on his own.  That sounds absolutely ridiculous all things considered.  But remember the powerful Egyptians are still there.  Not included in the Bible’s history is that the Egyptians make another surge in 592 B.C.  Zedekiah probably felt he was best making an alliance with the Egyptians.  It turns out to have been the ultimate mistake.

This time the Babylonians decide to finish things.  The Bible gives us enough detail that we can date events down to the month.  The Babylonians lay siege to Jerusalem in January 587 B.C.  The siege lasts eighteen months.  In July 586 B.C. the city wall is breached.  Zedekiah try to sneak away but they are caught and killed.  Then in August 586 B.C. the city is burnt, the houses are burnt.  The temple is burnt and destroyed.

All is lost.  The kingdom of Judah is no more.  The story is over.

The Babylonians set up a puppet governor to rule the area.  As we read, his name was Gedaliah.  He is assassinated.  Any remnants of the Jews moves to Egypt, their long time ally.

It is worth noting that the prophet Jeremiah was active all this time.  His message surely sounded like a treasonous one – go along with the Babylonians, let them take over, do not resist.  Jeremiah backed Gedaliah’s rule.  History doesn’t record what actually happened to Jeremiah but he was probably among those who traveled to Egypt where he died in obscurity.

At this point the wealthy and prominent Jews are in exile in Babylon.  Some Jews are refugees in Egypt.  And the poorest and weakest are left scattered around the area of Jerusalem.

Other than being a potentially interesting history lesson, what does this all mean?

The author of 2 Kings seems to take the point of view that they had it coming.  God was so fed up with their unfaithfulness that God decided to let them be destroyed.  From a political perspective we may get the feeling that the little kingdom of Judah was just swept up in the back and forth battles between Egypt and Babylon and was finally inevitably destroyed.

I think it is helpful to keep both perspectives in mind.  Our own lives are not lives that are exclusively religious or exclusively societal.  We may feel torn between priorities.  We may try to make sense of what is going on in our lives through the lens of faith.  Sometimes this may work.  But many times it won’t.  Like the author of 2 Kings who is trying to understand why God has let this happen, many people believe misdeeds in the past are too great for God to ever forgive.  We may also want to feel God’s intentions more fully as we try to navigate the world.  And quite often I think we live like the last of these kings.  We want to do what is good and right and godly, but we also face realities around us that don’t make it easy.  We may end up dancing a delicate dance between priorities.

None of this is easy.  None of this is nice.  We certainly want to feel God more fully.  And like the Jews of that day, we struggle to understand why God’s help doesn’t come.  It may appear that God has forsaken us, that God is not reliable, or that God simply doesn’t care.

What is absolutely true from these passages is that God does not necessarily make life easy for faithful people.  The Bible doesn’t contain that message much.  No, a faithful person may not have an easier life, but a faithful person does have a solid foundation for life.

The Bible contains these difficult stories for good reason.  The Bible does not give us a Pollyanna view of life.  The Bible gives us a real picture of life; one that fits with our own times.

In the next two weeks we will discover God’s ongoing faithfulness to the people.  They were never abandoned.  They would discover that in time, and they would discover God was even bigger and more powerful than they first imagined.  When we face difficulties and when it looks like all is lost may we also make the same discoveries, for God is always faithful and God is always at work.

September 6, 2020 King Josiah's Faithfulness 2 Chronicles 35:16-27

 
There is a quote from T.S. Eliot that I think gives us a fitting start to talking about King Josiah today. Eliot wrote, “We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors’ victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph.”

In last week’s long reading about King Josiah’s rise to power and the massive reformation campaigns he brought to Judah we didn’t give any time to a disturbing prophesy that was made. Quite likely you don’t remember that when a long lost copy of the law from Moses was discovered King Josiah has a consultation set up with the prophetess Huldah. If ever there is a woman in the Bible who deserves more attention it is her! In 2 Chronicles 34:22-28 is recorded her sincere but saddening, perhaps enraging, message from the Lord. She says that the Lord knows and sees Josiah’s humble and penitent heart. The Lord knows the reforms and improvements taking place all across the nation. Reading from a distance and not knowing the end of the story we expect her to continue: thus the Lord will bless the nation and continue its prosperity. The Lord will give Josiah a long life and reign. After all, this is the kind of message given to kings like David and Solomon. Josiah is described as being far more faithful than either of them.

However, her message from the Lord is, “This says the Lord: I will indeed bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, so that have provoked me to anger with all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.”

To make a huge understatement… that’s disappointing! I want to cry out in rage. For centuries the prophets and priests have been crying out to the kings telling them to change their ways. And for centuries they didn’t, or rarely did. Now, finally, a truly faith-filled leader is running the country correcting the many wrongs that have existed. Josiah is a deeply faith-filled man, despite being very young. Surely God should give this nation another chance. For the first time ever things are looking promising.

But God’s word is that it’s simply too late.

That’s a theological point that deserves a whole sermon, if not a sermon series. Why would God not be kind and loving to this finally faithful people? We’re not talking about grace or forgiveness here. The situation doesn’t need the unmerited favor of grace. No forgiveness is needed because things are being done correctly. But God says, nope. I’ve decided to punish and destroy you. There’s no changing my mind.

When word of this reaches King Josiah we’d expect him to say something like, “Well, what’s been the point of all this? If God won’t even accept up when we’re acting in the right way then what’s the point of acting the right way!?!” We’d expect Josiah to give up on his reforms, to just sit back and indulge in whatever came to his whims.

But what does Josiah actually do? What does he do even though he has it from the Lord that his efforts will not be blessed, things will not succeed, and no matter how deeply righteous Josiah is his life’s works will be erased? Josiah stays faithful and continues his reforms. Among the things Josiah does is what we read today, institutes a Passover celebration the likes of which never happened before in terms of genuine faithfulness.

Even though Josiah knows God is going to ultimately destroy the nation anyway Josiah stays faithful. That is truly faith! In my opinion this is one of the greatest signs of faithfulness in the entire Bible.

If your faith is a strategy to get ahead or to have an easy life, or if your faith is a calculation on your part in order to get to heaven and not go to hell, then you faith is ultimately self-centered. It is a plan to get good stuff from God.

Josiah has no such plan or strategy. He loves God, and he loves God so much that he will remain faithful whether God rewards him or not. He will remain faithful even though none of his faithfulness will change God’s plans of destruction. Josiah’s faith is on par with Jesus’ when he prays in in Gethsemane before his arrest. That’s why we had that as a gospel reading today.

It is that level of faith that causes the Bible’s authors to call Josiah the most faith-filled king ever to reign. Remember that T.S. Eliot quote we began with: “We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors’ victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph.”

Next week and the week after we will look at the promised destruction that God brings. Without revealing too much here, we will find that in destruction and defeat the Jewish people discover a new, deeper, and more powerful understanding of God. It’s not a nice message to consider but it’s true. It would take that for the Israelites to truly understand the power and intentions of God.

The prophet Huldah does prophesy that the destruction will not come right away but will be delayed, and that Josiah will die and be buried along with the other kings.

The account of Josiah’s death comes so suddenly. Everything seems to be going so well. And then Josiah goes out on a military campaign against the Egyptians. Interestingly it is the pharaoh of Egypt who speaks a word of God to Josiah saying that Josiah should not fight. But he does anyway. He is killed. It happens fast and without ceremony. The Bible does not elaborate.

Exactly what Josiah was thinking we aren’t sure. He attacks the Egyptians after their army has already traveled most of the way across Josiah’s territory. The Egyptians were going to help prop up the declining Assyrian Empire against the growing threat of the Babylonians. Possibly Josiah wanted to allow the Assyrians to be destroyed. The Assyrians had threatened his nation and been enemies for centuries after all. Possibly he was defending himself against the Egyptians. Possibly he was supporting the rise of the Babylonian Empire. 100 years earlier King Hezekiah, who we noted as being a trusting king, had begun building a diplomatic relationship with the Babylonians. Perhaps Josiah was supporting that. It was certainly foolish if he did because within a couple decades the Babylonians would be the ones to finally destroy Jerusalem. Whatever the case, Josiah does something both strategically foolish and he ignores a warning from God.

Very striking in all of this, 2 Chronicles tells us that the prophet Jeremiah utters a lament at the death of Josiah. This is striking because if you’ve ever read the book of Jeremiah you know that he never has anything good to say about anyone in authority.

Josiah stayed faithful even when faithfulness would not bring benefit to him. His love and commitment to God was so strong that nothing could make him sway from it.

Such faith is not easy to come by, but it is something we strive for. May your faith give you commitment to God whether you can feel benefits from it or not. Ultimately God is our creator and our savior. We do well to trust, knowing that we are loved by God forever, and that this life, important as it is, is also not ultimate in God’s designs.

August 30, 2020 King Josiah 2 Chronicles 34

     To understand King Josiah we do well to remember the dynamics of the territory of Judah and of the Middle East as a whole.  The Middle East is the crossroads between Africa, Asia, and Europe.  Every major empire that has ever developed on one of those continents and wanted to expand has had to control the Middle East.  It has changed hands many times throughout history.  The kingdoms of Israel and Judah are in the western end of the Middle East, but not quite to the Mediterranean Sea.  They were always small, and in terms of military or economic power, completely insignificant in the wider world.  Further, both are inland kingdoms.  They did not have any real coastline along the Mediterranean Sea.  Though called the “Promised Land” the land isn’t really all that great.  It’s adequate for survival, but not good enough for any nation based there to ever actually flourish.  It’s also not desirable enough in its own right for any other nation to want to come and conquer it.

As empires rose and fell around them, the little kingdoms of Israel and Judah were often overlooked.  They just weren’t worth conquering.  Often an invading army would just pass on through.  And quite often they existed as a vassal state to one of the surrounding empires. 

It was only during the time between major empires that the Israelites ever flourished or were really independent.  Such a time happened during the reign of King David and Solomon.  That was the 10^th Century B.C.E.  A similar thing happens during the time of King Josiah, in the 7^th Century B.C.E.  If you were in worship last week you’ll remember we read about King Hezekiah who was described as good; and most especially, trusting, of God.  During his reign in Judah the Assyrian Empire was growing and flexing its muscles.  It conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and seriously threatened the southern kingdom of Judah.  But despite laying siege to Jerusalem the Assyrians decide to abandon their attempt.  That was the 8^th Century B.C.E.

By the time we get to today’s Bible readings over 100 years has passed.  By then the Assyrian Empire to the northeast had declined and was on the verge of collapse.  The Egyptian Empire to the south west is weak as well, although probably exerting influence over the region.  And the Babylonian Empire in the east is on the rise to becoming a superpower.

Enter King Josiah.  He comes to power at eight years of age after his father is assassinated.  Presumably he had some very good advisers by his side because he appears to have led very very well.  He begins to expand the kingdom in all directions.  Archaeology gives us evidence of the southern limits of his expansion.  The northern limits are hard to draw, but he may have expanded the nation to almost the full size of what it was under King David.  He certainly regains control of most of the territory of Israel conquered by the Assyrians.  There is also evidence to show that he actually expanded the nation all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.  And so even though Josiah is hardly a mighty king (the nation under David really wasn’t all that big either) he certainly controls more than King Hezekiah did, which during the Assyrian invasion was probably down to about twelve acres! 

Along with Josiah’s territory expansion he embarks on the most thorough reformation and purification of Judah ever.  He utterly destroys religious sites to foreign deities.  He kills their leaders and he removes from office all those Jewish priests who had led worship in places other than the Jerusalem temple.  While people often call David the best king, and last week we saw Hezekiah described as the king who trusted God the most, 2 Kings 23:25 describes Josiah as, “Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.”  If this is true then Josiah rightfully deserves the title of the greatest of all the kings of Judah.

Central to his faithfulness is what we read today.  During repairs and renovations of the Jerusalem temple a book of the law is found; presumably hidden.  Biblical scholars believe this book is an early version of what we now call Deuteronomy.  Some suggest it was possibly the whole of the Torah, what we have as the first five books of the Bible – Genesis through Deuteronomy.  I suppose that’s possible, although those writings certainly were in a very different form from what we have today.  Whatever the case, exactly what it was and how old it was is impossible to tell.  Quite possibly it was faithful writings hidden from Josiah’s grandfather, who is described as a particularly bad and evil king.  Manassah was his name and he reigned for 55 years. 

Whatever the case, these found writings give Josiah something solid to go on for his reforms: he now has evidence to create a “right” way to worship.  He now has a set of religious laws by which to run the nation.  He knows how the temple is to operate and who is supposed to operate it.  He becomes even more zealous for faithfulness in his government and from the citizenship.  Josiah seems to know that God is fed up with the history of unfaithfulness.  He is determined to rid the nation of problems once and for all. 

I should note that praiseworthy as Josiah’s efforts may appear, in our age of pluralism plus a separation of church and state, we might be disturbed.  Under Josiah it was government imposing religious law.  In some places the law was very gracious and forgiving.  In other places, very strict.  We Americans aren’t used to the government telling us that it’s rules are God’s rules, no questions can be asked.

Overall though, Josiah is a refreshing model of leadership.  Where he may have gone too far it was done in good faith.  Rarely does someone with political and economic power consult with both political and religious leaders and truly launch a campaign to improve the faithfulness of the whole nation.  Josiah is strong, courageous, and yet there appears to be a sense of forgiveness and kindness to him.  There appears to be no trace of selfishness in Josiah.  He does not use religion to serve his own interests.  He is truly interested in serving faithfully.  Next week will look at his one and only recorded mistake, which will be his downfall.  And we will explore some truly angering theology that comes from his reign.  But for now let’s discover some amazing hope.

Josiah’s grandfather, bad king Manasseh, led for 55 years and made a huge mess of things.  Josiah’s father, Amon, became king at age 22.  He reigned two years before being assassinated by his servants.  That sounds horrible, but it may have been a good thing.  Apparently he was headed on a path even worse than Manasseh.  The servants weren’t going to let that happen.  Then along comes Josiah, king at age 8, and at age 16 begins a massive reform movement. 

In one generation we have a national transformation from despair and corruption to health and hope.  A wicked generation, doomed to failure, was being succeeded by a reforming, virtuous one.  It was an opportunity for a new unfettered life.  Things were going well.  The future looked promising.  The nation was growing in not only territory but also in independence.

I would not advocate for our nation’s government to operate in a way that would impose Christianity upon its citizens the way Josiah was able to impose faith upon his people.  However, it would be wonderful if in our nation, which is a nation of hatred, division, racism, injustice, consumption, greed, and more, the truth of God’s grace could suddenly take root.  I know we’re deep in a political season.  Don’t mistake me and think I believe that the results of this next election could bring an end to such things.  For no such change will come about from our leadership.  It must begin in the hearts and minds of the population.

I don’t mean to sound naïve or romantic, for the improvements in Josiah’s time weren’t easy or fun, but our prayers should be for a time when God’s love can truly be real in our hearts and in the hearts of our communities.

As the story goes on with King Josiah we are reminded of what has been true all along, the whole thing is in God’s hands.  The same goes for us and our future.  Nevertheless, whether massive improvements come to the hearts and minds of the American population or not, we ourselves have been saved by God’s grace.  And we ourselves are called to live that grace in all that we do.  It doesn’t matter if we ourselves create sweeping reforms or not.  It doesn’t matter whether people appreciate us or not.  We remain agents of God’s grace witnessing to his goodness in a world of darkness that desperately needs light.

August 23, 2020 King Hezekiah 2 Kings 18-19

King Hezekiah is known first and foremost as a king who trusted God. In fact he is described as a king who trusted God more than any king before him. Not even great kings David or Solomon are said to have had the trust of Hezekiah. And neither of them is described with as glowing a terms as Hezekiah. Now Hezekiah wasn’t perfect. We didn’t read about the whole of his reign. Late in his reign he does make some absolutely idiotic political blunders, and he makes an international alliance with the Babylonians which was both truly foolish and questionable in its faithfulness. Nevertheless, Hezekiah is described as a truly good and trusting king.

As an historical aside, these chapters of the Old Testament, which we seldom read, are among the most repeated and historically verifiable parts of the Bible. A similar independent account is found in 2nd Chronicles 29-32. Isaiah 36-39 also has a similar and independent account. Further, outside the Bible, Assyrian documents also speak of this.

For some reason, however, these chapters are often left in obscurity. We do well to read them because they teach us something very important for our lives. Perhaps they are left obscure because we do not really like what they teach us.

The sermon I wish I could give was this: And God saw the trust in King Hezekiah and because of it he blessed him and made him prosperous. His kingship was trouble free and the nation grew and became strong. Their flocks and herds grew. They had abundant harvests. The population all pulled together. They reduced corruption and crime. All the people worshipped and praised God for the blessings they were enjoying. And God used them as an example to all other nations. They were an example of how blessed life was for those who trusted in the Lord.

But is that what happened? Nope. That would be what we call a theology of glory. The theology of glory teaches that those who are faithful are prosperous and happy. The theology of glory is appealing, but it is a lie. If it were true Jesus would have been the wealthiest and most powerful man ever, and he never would have died.

Prosperity and ease is not how the story of Hezekiah goes. Theologian Choon-Leong Seow says this, “In the real world, even those who trust in God are confronted with political realities. For all his trust in God, Hezekiah had to suffer humiliation at the hands of a foreign intruder, and he even had to strip the Temple of its wealth, removing gold from the doors and doorposts of the Lord’s house in order to pay off the bully (18:13-16). Trust in God will not necessarily stave off actual political threats. Trust in God may not have immediate or manifest results.” (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 3, Pg. 273)

Ultimately, however, it is trust in God that brings about the leaving of the Assyrians and the elimination of the threat.

You see, God had made Hezekiah a capable leader. Hezekiah had the skills to lead and to lead pretty well. He knew how to keep his people together while under threat of destruction from an enemy. He knew how to negotiate. He knew when to bend and when to stand firm. He knew how to bring about God’s will in the nation and rid it of many destructive practices.

It is perfectly fine to pray to God for solutions. It is fine to hope for supernatural ones. But also remember just how capable God has made you to be.

Ourselves as individuals, and even more so as a community, have many God-given skills and abilities. We should recognize them, grow them, and use them.

I know it can all be very frustrating. Sufferings are real. Pain from a medical condition can be intense and long lasting; permanent even. We may pray for relief. And we can hurt so deeply from grief or shame or loss. Fear and anger are powerful forces in our lives. We may wish that God had not made us able to feel as we do and hurt as we do. I do not minimize how tough and painful life is for many people. But in all of that, we must remember how capable God has made us to be. We can solve problems. We can overcome obstacles. We can ease pain, and support the broken, and help the helpless.

Perhaps an important lesson from King Hezekiah is to realize just how powerful and capable God has already made us to be. So yes, like Hezekiah, pray to God and ask for help. But also recognize the incredible resourcefulness and creativity God has already given you.

Faithfulness to God and earthly ease and prosperity do not go hand in hand. Faithfulness will not protect you from tough realities. But faithfulness will give you the framework you need to live in the capable way God created you to live.

Even if everything does fall apart – indeed in time it will for the people of Judah – our sovereign God is still in control. We can trust in that!

August 16, 2020 Bad Kings 2 Kings 8:16-27

A refrain you’ve been hearing from me for weeks as we’ve looked at the kings of the ancient Israelites is that God stays true to promises made even when people are perpetually unfaithful. We could take that approach again today. Last week we took a glimpse of the kings of the northern kingdom, which had the name Israel. And we realized that after the nation split into two the north pretty much had a series of kings that the Bible describes as “evil.” The kingdom of Israel was ultimately destroyed by the Assyrian Empire in 722 B.C. That left the southern kingdom of Judah; one lone tribe that stayed faithful to the Davidic dynasty of kings. Our passage from 2 Kings today shows us a few things:

We see the reality that the two nations – Israel and Judah – were not always at war with one another. Sometimes they cooperated. Sometimes they made alliances. Sometimes the leaders intermarried.

We also see that the southern kingdom of Judah started off small and then slowly lost power over time. Bit by bit surrounding territories either rebelled and left or were conquered by other nations. To live in Judah during those centuries was to be living in a country that was dwindling a bit more away each and every day.

The third thing we see is that, at least from the author’s perspective, the northern kingdom of Israel did not have a monopoly on bad kings. The south had it’s share as well. In fact, of the twenty kings Judah had after Solomon twelve of them are said to have “done what was evil in the sight of the Lord” and only eight of them are said to have “done what was right.” We’re going to spend the next three Sundays looking at two of these good kings. Today, however, we note the bad ones. We are going to look at what a king had to do in order to be classified as “evil”.

Certainly things like greed, exploitation, and injustice were things that would get a king on the evil list. But it appears that chief among the reasons was if that king also worshipped foreign deities.

Early on Judaism was hardly an organized religious belief system. Much of ancient Judaism can be traced to things coming from ancient Canaanite religious beliefs active in the same area. Many of these Canaanite religious had rituals on the “high places” which were usually altars, or rock piles, set up on a hilltop or mountain. These ancient Canaanite religious can be classified as fertility religions. Practices often included ritual prostitution, child sacrifices, animal and grain sacrifices, the burning of incense, and the worship of the Canaanite god Baal. Baal was a weather god associated with thunderstorms.

While the Bible’s main storyline is that God called the people from slavery in Egypt and returned them to the promised land, a close reading shows that’s not the only story. There is a significant branch of ancient Israel that always was in the promised land. Their religious rituals and worship sites weren’t all that different from the Canaanites. In fact the worship may have been mixed together. Certainly before the temple was built in Jerusalem and became the religious center for Judaism Jewish worship also generally took place on the high places.

Inevitably there was a great deal of confusion and mixing of religions between the Canaanites and the Israelites. How a king handled the high places and Canaanite religion became a key measure in whether a king was considered good or evil.

Today’s reading doesn’t specifically mention high places or Canaanite religion, but it does raise the fact that King Jehoram of Judah has married the daughter of King Ahab of Israel. That would make her the daughter of Ahab’s wife Jezebel. Jezebel was a strong supporter of Baal worship and one of the Bible’s greatest female villains.

It appears as if the kings of Judah who were considered evil tended to worship, or at least allow the worship, of Baal in addition to their worship of the Jewish God Yahweh.

In this age of pluralism and tolerance we may find this forbiddance of another religion to be close minded and antiquated, especially since both Judaism and the Canaanite religions had similar roots. But let’s realize something more carefully. These actions of these evil kings have things for us to learn.

When we define a “god” as something supernatural that is “out there” beyond time and space we are missing something. A god is anything to which you turn for trust, hope and guidance. The ancient kings were consulting other gods for guidance and for help. Perhaps we do not have high places where we burn incense and offer sacrifices, but the temptation to have multiple gods is still there.

Where do we put our trust? With the current pandemic I hear a lot about the economy. Based on the conversations I hear I’d say that if America has any god it is the economy.

Now, I don’t want to speak against the prudent use of economic policy to make sure the goods and services people depend upon are available and robust. However, consider this. Perhaps we don’t have “high places” but what are you doing when you go to consult with a financial planner? Are you not going to a place, and is the financial planner not in some ways like a priest who is an expert at the religion of finance, and are you not working with that person to develop strategies to put you in a financial place that will take you to a place that is stable and secure?

I don’t mean to trash financial planners and professional investors, but I hope you get the point. How many times do you think people consult financial planners with this scenario: a person just inherited $800,000 and wants guidance about how to invest it in ways that promote racial justice and environmental sustainability. Not too often, is my guess!

Similarly, if you go for career advice are you not also going to a place, consulting with an expert of sorts, and using that experience to set your life’s direction. How often do you think career consultants are approached by someone who says, “Help me connect with ways to serve God.” Not too often is my guess!

Or one more from the world of insurance. Is not insurance protection from the unknown and uncontrollable. Again, I don’t mean to trash the insurance industry, but it can have religious, or god-like qualities. You go to the “high place” of the insurance agent, or perhaps the agent comes to your home – a mobile priest; and the agent (an expert in the profession or “religion”) helps you to critically determine how you want to protect your life and your assets.

There are other examples I could create too. My point is, perhaps the evil of these ancient kings isn’t so distant after all. And perhaps their “evil” wasn’t as offensive as we might be tempted to think at first. I hope you are sensing there are parallels to our lives too.

Yes, we need to be responsible people. We need to work hard. We need to contribute to the economy and have career plans and have insurance on things and invest wisely. But let us also realize all of these things can be gods. They all have their high places. They all have their “priests”. And we can very easily put our trust in them rather than in our own God.

If someone were to put a summary of our lives in the Bible may they say, “And she/he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” Rather than, “she/he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” For our God is the one and only true God. God is the only secure place to trust and have faith.

August 9, 2020 Northern Kingdom – Israel 1 Kings 15:24-35

I've recently been the victim of my own cleverness; or perhaps, my attempt at cleverness. Those of you who have mowed the church lawn know that it is no easy task. Not only is the lawn large there are steep banks along the roads, the ponds, and the stream. While the commercial Ferris mower we have is an amazing machine and it can handle some touch terrain, I believe just about everyone who’s ever mowed has a story of getting it stuck; and the embarrassing call for help to get it back out. Fortunately no one’s ever sunk it in one of the ponds!

There are lawnmowers made that you can tow behind a little lawn tractor. They can be swung off to the side to let a little lawn tractor mow a wider swath. I’ve long thought it would be great if the church had one. Since we also own a little lawn tractor I thought someone could drive the tractor on a level place and the mower could be towed off to the side and down over the bank. The problem is such mowers aren’t exactly cheap. The lowest cost ones I’ve found run around $1600.

Earlier this year I came across an ad on Craigslist for two of them. Neither ran and they looked to be in pretty rough shape. But the guy wasn’t asking much and I decided to take a look. Now, smart person that I am (or so I tell myself), I took a guess as to what parts would be needed and priced them before I even looked at the mowers. When did go to see the mowers I looked them over what I thought was pretty thoroughly and felt that despite the fact that they were in truly bad shape I could combine the two of them into one good mower. And I could do it with minimal parts and expense.

I was even more proud of myself because I thought I probably wouldn’t have to do a lot of the work. I decided I’d let my son’s Boy Scout troop do it as a service project. It would be a fun project for them and be educational. Plus since being thrifty is part of the scout law it would fit that too. Oh how I can fool myself into thinking I’m wonderful!

So I brought the mowers home and decided to do some preliminary work. I order the couple parts I thought would be needed to get one of the engines running. Two of the parts fit on perfectly. The third, however, the “standard” carburetor, did not. It turned out that the standard part did not fit and I had to buy a special one – which cost four times the amount of the standard one. Ouch.

At that point I decided I’d better make a detailed list of all the other parts I needed before spending any more money. As I made my list I discovered indeed the main parts I knew I needed all along were actually pretty cheap. But there were numerous little adaptors and specialty parts that were expensive.

Now this wasn’t looking so cheap after all. I’d be at the price of buying a good used one by this point.

But I’m undeterred. I have some basic metal working skills and the mowers are pretty straightforward. I decided I’d just buy some generic parts and make some modifications to make them work. So, as I start taking detailed measurements I began to see just how deeply rusted the underside of these mowers really are. There was just no way to combine them and add some generic parts and get a decent mower at a reasonable cost.

Reluctantly I gave up. Last Saturday my son and I took them up to Alpco and sold them for scrap – and as scrap they were worth far less than I paid. Lesson learned… until I forget it!

I give this lengthy introduction because I believe it can give us a framework to understand how the Bible is portraying God as God interacts with the people of Israel.

As a quick summary of the Bible’s story line: God chooses Abraham and says he will make him a great nation. Abraham’s twelve great-grandsons become the root of the twelve tribes of Israel. Those tribes develop and grow after the family moves to Egypt. The Bible’s story line skips centuries but we meet them again as a numerous people but long enslaved in Egypt. God stays true to his promises to Abraham. Moses is sent and empowered to free them, they are led to the Promised Land. God guides them to conquer the Promised Land and God raises up “judges” or leaders for the people when the need arises. But all throughout the people grumble and aren’t happy with God. Quite frankly, they’re a pain. Eventually their complaints take the form of saying they want a king – just like all the other nations have. God reluctantly gives in and raises up Saul as king. Saul disobeys. God raises David as king and this time promises everlasting faithfulness to David’s bloodline as king. But David also messes up. David’s son Solomon messes up as king too. Solomon’s son Rehoboam continues to mess up and the nation divides. Eleven of the twelve tribes reject the Davidic leadership and set off on their own. Those eleven tribes retain the name of Israel. The only tribe remaining under Davidic rule is the tribe of Judah, and that becomes the name of the little remaining nation. We’ll continue the story of Judah next week, but for this week we look just at Israel.

The history of Israel is not pleasant. The passage from 1 Kings we read is typical of the Bible’s description of Israel’s leaders. Kings rise and kings fall. Almost none of them are good or faithful. The incoming king often comes to power by killing the existing king. Then the new king kills all the old king’s descendants. On and on it goes. Some kings rule for a long time. Some for just a couple years. You get the sense that Israel is an unstable nation that is constantly in conflict and never really safe.

Corruption and exploitation appear to have been constant. The rich got richer at the expense of the poor. The leaders make all sorts of deals with surrounding nations and are not faithful to God. It almost becomes a refrain in the Bible as each of the kings is described, “He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of his ancestor and in the sin that he caused Israel to commit.”

In the same way I felt like I tried option after option to put together a good mower for church God tries and tries with the people. God is gentle. They don’t seem to care. God is stern. They listen for a little but fall back into old ways all too soon. God sends prophets to them. The prophets usually go to the leadership and proclaim the truth: they are corrupt, they are evil, they are not following God’s will. The prophets warn of destruction in the future if things don’t improve. Some of the most famous prophets in the Bible were focused on Israel; people like: Hosea, Amos, Elijah, and Elisha. You may remember some of the famous stories of Elijah and his conflict with evil King Ahab and his infamous wife Jezebel. But nothing seems to help.

Eventually God decides to just scrap it. The whole idea was great originally. God would work through a chosen people to bring the whole world into better relationship with him. Being the chosen people wasn’t intended to be a prideful thing but an example to the world sort of thing – this is what life is like for those who live according to God’s design. But it didn’t work. As the Bible portrays it God held on and held on, reluctant to give up. But eventually God realizes the lost cause.

In 722 B.C. the kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian Empire. The government was destroyed, the people were dispersed, the religious beliefs seem to have disappeared.

However, God had promised beforehand never to give up on these people. The southern kingdom, the tribe of Judah hangs on. Geographically it was about the size of a county in New York State. And it was just about as powerful; which is to say not powerful at all. Somehow, someway with empires rising and falling around them: Egypt, Assyria, and even to some extent Babylon, the little nation struggled along semi-independent for centuries.

We’ll follow them through and get to their collapse in September. But even then God promises to save a remnant. And indeed God does.

As we read through the kings and the history of these people I hope we can feel God’s desires and struggles. In Isaiah 65:2 God says, “I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices…”

Eventually this sets the stage for the coming of Jesus. There we see God has not given up on this failed attempt to reconcile humanity. God has found a way to fulfill the promises made yet take a completely different, and ultimate course. St. Paul used this understanding when he wrote the letter to the Romans. Jesus is the climax of Israel’s history. It is a story of the strange stumbling of Israel, and in Jesus the ingathering of all people. God has been, is, and will remain faithful to the promises made to us his children. We can take comfort and strength in that knowing how determined God is and how unwilling God is to give up on us.

August 2, 2020 Jeroboam/Rehoboam 1 Kings 11:41-12:19

Bible translators usually try to keep the Bible a family friendly book, even when it gets graphic or gristly. However, you lose the no-holds-barred bluntness of the original authors sometimes. Take today’s reading from 1 Kings. Rehoboam, son of Solomon, and heir to the throne has just taken power. Now Solomon, wise as he supposedly was, did a lot of unwise things. By the time he died he had forsaken a lot of the ways God had called him to live. In fact he was becoming like Pharaoh of Egypt using forced labor and slaves in order to accomplish his projects.

As the story goes when Rehoboam takes power he consults with his father’s advisors. They suggest roll back the forced labor and go softer on the people. They had good reason for their advice. Of the twelve tribes of Israel the only one that was ever really faithful to King David and King Solomon was their home territory of Judah. Jerusalem, the capitol, was in Judah’s territory. Judah was basically the southernmost of the tribes and Jerusalem being there meant it was not centrally located. Rehoboam was certainly arrogant and cocky, but he wasn’t entirely stupid. He decides to have his coronation as king not in Jerusalem, but farther north in Shechem. This was both a show of force but also a display of commitment to the tribes farther north. Lightening their forced workload would be a great sign of goodwill and win the hearts of the northern tribes.

And so the wise old advisors suggest just such a work lightening. Rehoboam’s younger advisors – and don’t take these guys as cocky teenagers; These are more like 40 year-olds – they tell him to take a tough approach and crack down even harder. Their advice is, “…say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.’” Well, that’s a euphemism at best! Rehoboam is not talking about his pinky finger!!! This is a bunch of cocky powerful guys who are full of themselves talking. You know what they mean.

Now the text doesn’t say he actually used those words when he addressed the northern tribes. If he did there’s absolutely no surprise that they rebelled! If he didn’t, his words are still pretty harsh. The already strained forced laborers are going to be pushed even harder. That may sound familiar to us. What did the Pharaoh do to the Israelites when they asked for a reduced workload? He made it harsher.

It seems that God’s chosen leaders in the family of David aren’t ruling any better than anyone else. It appears as though being chosen by God to lead does not mean extra righteousness. The northern tribes rebel. We didn’t read on enough to cover it, but Rehoboam does consider putting together an army and retaking control. Perhaps it could have worked. But Rehoboam does decide to take advice from a prophet named Shemaiah who says it is all God’s will and he shouldn’t buck against it.

We’re going to spend next week, just one week, looking at the northern kingdom. It survives a couple hundred years before being conquered by the Assyrian Empire in the year 722 B.C. On the whole the Bible describes its leaders are bad and evil. Even Jeroboam, God’s chosen person to lead the separation of the nation is quite corrupt. He has his own political agenda and he has no problem manipulating religion to suit his agenda. And even as he speaks of liberation of the people from Rehoboam his allegiance is to himself.

As we’ve looked at Kings David and Solomon I’ve said over and over again that God remains true to promises made to them despite how sinful and even disobedient they become. We’ll see that continue. This week though, raises two other issues about God.

First, and the easiest to grapple with, is that God usually chooses the underdog. God is also against oppression. Oppression can come in many forms, from literal slavery all the way to policies and programs that lead to one person rising above another. Our nation continues to grapple with such issues in racism. And just like the racism issues our country continues to struggle with, the systems of oppression are often very complex. They are also often deeply woven into the fabric of society. We who are for the most part in the dominant part of our society need to be willing to constantly examine ourselves and our assumptions. It is not easy to do. In fact it's quite hard. But it is consistently the way of God to connect most with the oppressed. And it is a good way for us to constructively and critically work for a better tomorrow for all of God’s people.

Systems of oppression are of course also beyond just race. Look at Jesus’ preaching and teaching. He was constantly pushing against systems that left the poor, widows, orphans, and anyone less than perfect, powerless.

Again, engaging any of this stuff is hard work. People being what they are, also start to exploit it. We see that in the book of Acts and in some of Paul’s later writings where people learn to exploit the generosity of Christians and the gift of God’s grace. There’s nothing new about that!

The second issue with God is more perplexing. God chooses Saul as the first king. Then God does not support Saul as Saul asks and Saul messes up. Because of that God decides to reject Saul as king and goes with David instead. For some reason God stays with David and Solomon despite their many mistakes. However again, God decides to break up the kingdom after Solomon because of Solomon’s mistakes.

Many times in the Bible we find God doing things to justify punishing people. We’ll see that in the weeks to come as we continue with the kings. The way God is portrayed in the Bible is highly inconsistent. Sometimes God seems loving and forgiving. Sometimes God seems very harsh and unfair. Sometimes God appears to be almost playing games with people.

All in all it is very unsettling. As Christians we have the New Testament which is a largely refreshing and basically consistent view of God as gracious and loving. However the Old Testament does still convey authority for our faith. We are wise to realize it.

I’ve said many times that the Old Testament authors are not afraid to be blunt and to tell ugly truths about things. They are also not afraid to say the same about God.

I think we’ve all experienced God being more silent than we’d like. We ask for guidance and feel like we hear nothing in reply. We ask for help in a struggle and that help never seems to come. We see other people who for whatever reason seem to be more successful and happier. We can even see outright greed and corruption at work yet the greedy and corrupt seem to just get away with it more and more.

Where is God’s justice? Where is this kindness and grace we hear about so much from the Bible? Why doesn’t God uphold the righteous and downcast the evil?

These are all good questions. They are all very human questions. They are all part of the reality of many people’s lives.

I do wish the life of a faithful Christian would be measurably better than a person of no faith. It would make sermons be so easy – they would be lessons in morality. Evangelism would be easy too – just tell people about Jesus and they’d feel their lives getting better. But that is not how things work.

All these things fall into what Lutherans like to call a “theology of glory.” A theology of glory is where faith makes sense and good people get good things and faith-filled actions are noticeably successful. By contrast though, reality is the theology of the cross. Here we realize the truth of how God works. The cross is the last stop for sin, death, and everything that separates us from God’s love. The theology of the cross is not about finding hardship or suffering to endure in life. The theology of the cross trusts that things are in God’s hands no matter how good or bad things go.

The Old Testament authors didn’t have Jesus and his crucifixion to go on to put together a theology of the cross. However, their writings get at it. God is faithful – always. That goes for whether we can feel it or sense it or not. The theology of the cross sometimes calls for radical trust that God is still with you when everything is falling apart around you. The theology of the cross knows that a divine rescue may not happen, but God’s love is still there.

I want to end with this prayer by Anselm of Canterbury:

O my God, teach my heart where and how to seek you,

where and how to find you…

You are my God and you are my All and I have never seen you.

You have made me and remade me.

You have bestowed on me all the good things I possess,

Still I do not know you…

I have not yet done that for which I was made…

Teach me to seek you…

I cannot seek you unless you teach me

or find you unless you show yourself to me.

Let me seek you in my desire, let me desire you in my seeking.

Let me find you by loving you, let me love you when I find you.