2020-05-22
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I began presenting the OT Timeline, and I neglected to mention that the Iron Age began sometime during King David’s rule over Israel. Beforehand, Samuel (1060-1020 BC) had been the prophet. This was during the reign of Saul (1051-1011 BC). It’s interesting to note that, the Israelites in David’s time were dealing with the Philistine enemies repeatedly. Their weapons were made by the Philistines who had iron when the Israelites didn’t. A young David’s army at one point had no weapons, except for the leaders, and thus, had to rely on their ability to make the Philistines think they had them. David was king from 1011-971 BC.
By the end of last week’s devotion, I had reached the time when the prophet, Nathan, told King David that he could not build a temple to God, because he had too much blood on his hands from all the battles in which he had participated. Nathan told David that his son, Solomon, would build the temple instead. After much political jockeying around, Solomon became king of Israel and ruled from 971-931 BC. He was the last king of a united Israel before the 1st Diaspora happened. He completed the temple in 960 BC. Once again, Israel divided itself into Judah in the south and Israel in the north. This national division happened at the end of Solomon’s reign, with Jeroboam I (931-920 BC) as the first in a string of 19 evil kings of Israel and Rehoboam I (931-913 BC) as the first of a mixed evil and good group of kings in Judah. Just before and during the divided kingdom, Isaiah
What brought these kingdoms to a halt was the Assyrian Captivity (722 BC-444 BC) of Israel and the Babylonian Captivity (602-444 BC) of Judah. Together, these captivities of the Jews were the First Dyaspora and the results of God increasing anger over what the Jews were doing. Herein, was God’s will to discipline the Jews but not destroy them, as He has done with all their enemies up to that time (Amalekites, Ammonites, Basanites, Moabites, Edomites, Canaanites). Isaiah (742-687 BC) was called as a prophet in 742 BC and served until the 40th year of Hezekiah’s reign as king of Judah. Hezekiah (716-687 BC) was a good king about 300 years before Christ’s birth. Isaiah’s book was written about 681-680 BC. In this period Shalmaneser V (726-722 BC) ruled Assyria. Later, Sennacharib (704-681) ruled Assyria. During the divided kingdom, Jeremiah (650-582 BC) was the prophet for Judah.
The book of Ezekiel recounts God’s physical departure from the temple [EZEK 10: 1-5] in response to idolatry practiced by the priests in the Jerusalem temple [EZEK 8: 9-17]. Daniel recounts the fall of the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in 539 BC when the Medo-Persians took over yielding meaning to the handwriting that appeared on the wall at Belshazzar’s banquet [DN 5: 1-31]. This is when Daniel did what Belshazzar’s seers and magicians couldn’t do and explained the meaning of “Mene, mene, teckal, upharsin” (vss. 23b-31). The minor prophets and other remaining books of the OT discuss some of the idolatry (the sin God hates the most) was done that made God so angry. These years are called the Exilic Era. Toward the end of the exile, the Persians, under Darius (the Mede) and then, Cyrus the Great (king of Persia) gained power over Egypt (525-405 BC), and the exiled Jews began being released from captivity. In 444 BC, he began sending the first of three waves of Jews back to their homeland. These waves were led by Ezra, Zerubbabel (Governor), and Nehemiah, in that order. Meanwhile in about 612 BC, the capital of Assyria called Nineveh fell to the Babylonians and Medes. The prophet, Zechariah (522-509 BC), offered is predictions. The books of Haggai and Malachi tell the story of how the people of the newly released Jews built the walls to the city and their homes, delaying by over 30 years the reconstruction of the temple, which had lain in ruins. They also tell the story of the need for reform of the priests. This brings us to the end of the OT.
PRAYER: O Lord, the layout and stories of Your plan of salvation have many lessons for us that deserve and demand human attention and yet, many humans don’t attend to them. Your Spirit has made me realize that the only way to avoid catastrophe in one’s life is to heed history’s lessons. The individual stories of prominent prophets, kings, and even ordinary people have much that is vital to tell us. We believe that Jesus Christ is King and Lord of us all. We also believe that You waited until Your perfect time to bring Him to earth, so that He could make the one and only sacrifice necessary for our salvation, eternal forgiveness, and justification. We are so grateful that You didn’t just stop at telling us what pleases You and what doesn’t. I’m writing this as we are remembering Christ’s crucifixion-Good Friday. On Sunday, it will be Easter, the celebration of His resurrection. Christ is our life, as He alone atoned, giving us the chance to gain eternal life and fellowship with You. We express our love and devotion to Him. Our hearts are open to Your Spirit, Who fills them with the love Christ taught us.
We know You are near to us and love us as no other being does. This is a great and undeserved gift of Your grace, and we acknowledge it, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Having read the book of Maccabeus 1 (which is the first book of the Apocrypha), I feel compelled to express my opinion that it was omitted from canon at the Council of Jamnia (90 AD) for political reasons. It takes place during what theologians call the Intertestamental Period-an interruption of Biblical historical narrative from about 721 BC until the birth of Christ. The Holy Spirit commands that I write the next installment on the timeline beginning with that period and then, continuing into the NT. Interestingly enough, the story of the Jewish guerillas under Judah Macabee and how they dealt with the forces under Antiochus IV Ephiphanes, king of the Selucids (the mixed nation of Greeks and Arabs occupying the area north of Israel, which is today Lebanon and Syria). Antiochus was evil and extremely anti-Semitic. His story involves the quintessential affront to Jews, the Abomination of Desolation.
I’ll leave the rest for next week and give you an update on our own time, as I’m writing this devotion. We are still self-quarantined due to the Corona virus outbreak. To date 1,000,000 people have died from this horrific virus. I urge us all to continue to pray for the welfare of our medical people and first responders, even after the danger from this outbreak is over. Thankfully, Boris Johnson, prime minister of England, has been released from the intensive care unit, and the Queen Elizabeth II is still healthy. We don’t know when the danger will have passed sufficiently for us in the USA to return to normal life. Thankfully, our God has brought advancement of our technology to allow our churches, synagogues, and mosques to live-stream services. That is especially true this Holy Week. The need to self-quarantine and obey “social distancing,” has led us to hold precious our relationships with family and friends, as well as the Lord. We are constantly reminded of how dependent we must be on Him. I hope and pray that protection from future viral outbreaks will be put in place. Let me end this devotion with the gratitude I feel for all those who put their lives in danger so that this outbreak ends soon.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2020. All Rights Reserved
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