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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been
Uriah’s wife, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father
of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham
the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of
Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah
the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to
Babylon.
Matthew 1:6b-11
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
Who was in the line of Jesus?
That was a question we started to take a look at
yesterday while looking at the opening verses of the first chapter of Matthew.
In just looking at the first 14 generations between Abraham and David, we found
many interesting people and today will be no different as we connect David to
those in the line of Jesus at the beginning of the exile to Babylon. Let’s look
at today’s scripture passage:
David was the
father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon the father of
Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the
father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of
Uzziah, Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father
of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon
the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the
time of the exile to Babylon. Matthew
1:6b-11
The first fourteen generation segment ended with David
and this one starts with him.
And why not?
For although David showed himself to be a sinner like any
other man, he was also a man who showed incredible courage and resiliency,
grounded in his faith in God. In fact, you’ll recall that David was aptly
described as a man after God’s own heart, interestingly enough not in the Old
Testament but the New. Paul spoke the following words in the synagogue at Pisidian
Antioch:
“After removing Saul, He made David their king. God testified concerning
him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after My own heart; he will do
everything I want him to do.’” Acts 13:22
Indeed, David was a special leader for the people of
Israel, a much needed leader for the nation after the failings of its first
king, Saul. In fact, David was so revered and loved by the Israelites that you
might think that his act would be hard to follow.
If you thought that, you would be wrong.
This is because Solomon, David’s son, turned out to be
special in his own way. I say this not just because God chose him to oversee the
building of His holy temple but because of what of what Solomon asked of God
when he was given the choice to choose anything.
Do you remember what he asked for?
The following scripture passage will refresh our
memories:
That night God
appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for whatever you want Me to give
you.”
Solomon answered
God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in
his place. Now, Lord God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for
You have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth.
Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to
govern this great people of Yours?”
God said to
Solomon, “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth,
possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not
asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern My people over
whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you.
And I will also give you wealth, possessions and honor, such as no king who was
before you ever had and none after you will have.” 2 Chronicles 1:7-12
How would you respond if God said He would give you
whatever you wanted?
I’m sure there are more than a few people who would ask
for material riches, tangible wealth which so often is associated with great
power, especially among royalty in biblical times. Solomon could have had great
prosperity and affluence but instead he chose to ask for something that was
priceless.
For how can anyone attach a value to the wisdom of God?
It’s virtually impossible.
Now look at how God responds to Solomon’s answer. Because
Solomon didn’t ask for anything except to be guided by God as he led the
Israelites, wanting to make sure he didn’t mess up the great privilege to be
king of God’s people, the Lord rewarded him with riches anyways, promising
wealth and possessions and honor unlike any other king before or after him.
Truly, if David was a man after God’s own heart, his son
Solomon was a man after God’s own wisdom.
So would this streak of greatness continue when Solomon
passed the throne onto his son, Rehoboam?
Not exactly.
This is because Rehoboam acted in ways that were very
unwise which led to terrible consequences.
Do you remember what happened?
Basically, the whole assembly of Israel came to their new
king and asked for relief from the oppressive heavy labor and yoke they
experienced under Solomon’s rule. Rehoboam sent the people away, asking them to
return in three days as he deliberated over their request.
To aid his decision making, Rehoboam first turned to his
elders who had served with his father. The elders advised Rehoboam to honor the
request of the people; if he did, he would win them over and they would always
be his servants.
Armed with this suggestion, Rehoboam then turned to some
younger men, men he had grown up with. These friends basically gave much different
device to the king, urging him to adopt more of a hard line response,
essentially telling the people that if they thought Solomon was hard on them,
he would be even harder.
And so armed with these two options, Rehoboam made a
choice and when the people of Israel returned for his decision, he opted to go
the way of his less experienced friends, bypassing the wise counsel of the
elders.
The outcome was disastrous because ten of the twelve
tribes of Israel broke away to form a new kingdom, Israel, and the nation
became divided (read about this whole account in 1 Kings 12), remaining that
way through the Assyrian and Babylonian attacks and their associated exiles.
After Rehoboam through the rest of this middle segment of
14 generations in the line of Jesus, we find a procession of kings, some good
and some bad. If you would keep score, here’s how it would look:
Abijah - bad
Asa - good
Jehoshaphat - good
Jehoram - bad
Uzziah - good
Jotham - good
Ahaz - bad
Hezekiah - good
Manasseh - bad
Amon - bad
Josiah - good
That’s 11 kings of Judah, 6 good in the eyes of the Lord,
5 bad. Not the kind of percentage God expected and it’s little wonder why
judgment eventually fell and fell hard on Judah.
Speaking of that judgment, this second of three segments
of fourteen generations found in the genealogy of Jesus ends at the start of
the seventy year Babylonian captivity. We’ll pick up after that in the last of
this three part series tomorrow. See you then.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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