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Jr High Sunday School Review – 4/13/08

Kings and Kingdoms

This week, the Middle Schoolers were learning about the division of the kingdom of Israel following King Solomon’s death. The prophet Ahijah told Jeroboam the Ephraimite, who had been an exile under King Solomon, that he would be given 10 of the 12 tribes to rule (1st Kings 11:29-33). Solomon’s successor Rehoboam made the split in the nation certain, by forsaking the advice of his father’s counsellors.

Jeroboam’s kingdom, which took the name of Israel, went through a succession of idolatrous rulers, with one king murdering another. One king, Zimri, actually only ruled for seven days!. All this resulted in a steady decline in the the nation until it was no more.

The Southern kingdom, Judah, didn’t fare much better. There were a total of eight godly kings out of 20, and under only three of them did the nation of Judah experience revival. We drew the conclusion that these kings were influenced heavily by the neighboring nations

– both in idol worship and in the manner in which the people of a nation followed their leader. We further noticed that it is difficult (although not impossible) for a godly leader to lead a godly life and influence everyone who is going in the wrong direction to reverse course.

We also saw in these descriptions of the kings, a good example of Pastor’s message the week before — that God’s first strategy may be to hold back from punishing sin, offering the sinner an opportunity to repent (Romans 2:4). Then if the sinner is unwilling to repent, God will bring pain in judgment of the sin (1st Peter 1:17). As with individuals, so it is with nations and their leaders.

Next week, we will look at some of the prophets that God sent to warn the people of their ways.

This past week, Middle schoolers studied the life of King Solomon. He was ordained by father, and more-importantly, by the Lord, to be Israel’s King following David.

The Lord appeared to him willing to grant him a wish – whatever he wanted (1^st Kings 3:3-14). Instead of a long life, riches, or the lives of his enemies; Solomon asked for an understanding heart and discernment. God gave him great wisdom, and also the things he DIDN’T ask for!

But Solomon developed a problem (1^st Kings 11:1-13). Likely because all the other kings around were doing it, he disobeyed God by multiplying to himself wives (700!) and concubines (300), many from the nations around him, and wound up following their false gods.

Even a man as wise as Solomon was able to fall into idolatry. From 2^nd Corinthians 6:14-18, we discovered that God has commanded us to avoid the unequal yoke – whether in friendships, in dating relationships, or in business partnerships. Our world view is different from that of those who do not know Christ. God has promised to bless mightily, those who maintain a pure relationship with Him.