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The Setting For Chastisement

Pastor Bill Farrow

Daniel 1:1

[1] In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

 (Verse 1) - Most conservative scholars place this event about 607-605 BC or so. That puts it about 370 years after the split of the northern and the southern Kingdoms. Remember that the two Kingdoms went their separate ways [time line] after Solomon. Rehoboam ruled the Southern Kingdom and the very wicked Jeroboam ruled the Northern Kingdom. The Southern came to be known simply as Judah [chart of the make up of the two Kingdoms] even though Benjamin was a part of it as well. The Northern Kingdom, referred to as Israel after the split, comprised the other ten tribes that had a physical inheritance (remember that the Levites had no physical inheritance).

Though it is true that neither Kingdom was particularly godly, the Southern Kingdom of Judah did have several godly Kings [Chart of the Kings of both Kingdoms]. The Northern Kingdom had none. God sent prophets [chart of prophetic voices to both Kingdoms] and had provided the Scripture but it availed the Southern Kingdom little and the Northern none at all.

The Northern Kingdom went into captivity under the Assyrians in 722 B.C. [Map of the Assyrian Invasion] They never returned as a nation or as a group. Remnants of the various tribes migrated to the Southern Kingdom, but as a political and national entity, the north was finished. They would never be heard from again.

The Southern Kingdom persisted a bit longer, managing to last until 605 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar [Chart of Babylonian Kings] of Babylon [map of Babylonian empire] is sent by God to chasten Judah and take her into captivity. The actual story of all of the events surrounding this is quite extensive. We will only summarize it in this class. The end result was that Judah went into captivity as well.

The causes [chart of causes] of captivity on both sides was sin. Really, much of what went on in Israel's life epitomizer's sin! The sin of Jeroboam [Jeroboam's family tree] (The Northern Kingdom's first King) is often held up as the very essence of what it is to sin against God. The Northern Kingdom's story was one of sin entirely. The Southern Kingdom did little better, with only the occasional break in the pattern of sin in the form of a godly King who brought a measure of revival. That revival was never complete and was always short-lived. The North never experienced any real revival and marched steadily into the depths of sin's grasp.

Ultimately, neither Kingdom was able to overcome the compulsion to sin that eventually brought the judgment of God down around their ears.

The warning presented to us by the case of God's dealings with the Northern and Southern Kingdoms is both serious and sobering. It teaches us how patent God is, and yet how that patience eventually runs out. It teaches us of the love of God for His people, but that this is not a love at the expense of His holiness and His righteous character. It shows us that God is willing to go to great lengths, any length really, to accomplish His goals in the lives of His people. This is no haphazard or gullible God with which we are dealing. we need to recognize this and learn this lesson.

I need to examine my own obedience to the command of God and see to it that, as best I am able, I leave God no cause for chastening.