2009 European Bible Conference   October 23, 2009   He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.  John 3:31-34   The Significance of the High Places in the History of IsraelEvery time I read and consider the books of First and Second Kings, they always seem new to me. Many of the incidents regarding the kings of Judah as they appear in First and Second Kings are also recorded in Second Chronicles. This is why the content of First and Second Kings and that of Second Chronicles seem similar. It is thought that First and Second Chronicles was written later than First and Second Kings.However the two books were written from different perspectives. First and Second Chronicles is recorded with the house of David as the center, and it depicts the tribe of Judah with remarkable tolerance. These books are connected to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah which follow straight after and to the Israelites being taken as captives to Babylon and later returning to their land, and this is why the focus is on the tribe of Judah. On the other hand, the accounts in First and Second Kings are based on the facts and recorded with such precision that they may even be seen as callous. At the beginning of First Kings, we read how Solomon became king and how the temple was built through him. The Bible tells us, however, that until the time when Solomon built the temple, the people offered sacrifices at the high places since there was no temple of God. The offering of sacrifices at the high places took place during the time of David (see 1 Chronicles 16:39) and during the time of Solomon (see 1 Kings 3:2). The high places are referred to many times in First and Second Kings, and the fact that the Israelites burnt incense at the high places gives us much food for thought. Whenever I read First and Second Kings and, of course, Second Chronicles, it has made me curious as to what it means to be upright in front of God and live as I should before Him, and I have tried to find the answers to this. The Bible tells us that even though some of the kings of Judah lived their lives doing what was right in the sight of the Lord, they did not get rid of the high places and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. It also says that some of the kings were very wicked and walked in the way of the kings of Israel. Yet when we examine God’s words of teachings which He spoke continually through the prophets regarding the division into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah after the time of Solomon and the history of the kings which covered a period of about four hundred years, we can see that there was always a standard to be followed. It will be very helpful to you if you remember this when you are reading First and Second Kings. The same goes for First and Second Samuel. Before King David handed the sovereign power over to Solomon, he fought in many battles and gathered extensive political power, but in his heart he was always aware of his mission to build the temple. We can see this at the end of Second Samuel and the end of First Chronicles. David went through many difficulties, but even in the midst of all this, he made preparations for the building of the temple on an enormous scale, gathering gold to the value of about US$130 million. Oftentimes, when we read First and Second Kings, we end up forgetting why we are reading it in the first place and just read it without thinking. Unlike Second Chronicles which deals only with the kings of Judah, from about the middle of First Kings we have accounts of the kings of Israel, then the kings of Judah, then both the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, and there are even accounts about some of the prophets. It is difficult to follow the story line through from beginning to end. When we read First and Second Kings, we always need to keep in mind how the various kings lived in regard to the temple that David prepared and Solomon built. This is the most central theme of First and Second Kings. This is because the temple is a shadow of Jesus Christ. In the New Testament, in John’s Gospel it says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up … but He was speaking of the temple of His body” (2:19, 21), and in First Corinthians chapter 3, it says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (verse 16). Also, in Ephesians chapter 2, it says, “In whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (verses 21-22). There are several verses like these in the Bible and they are particularly relevant now as the Church has been in the process of being built up and completed in this world since the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down. We are living in the midst of this and have experienced being born again, but even though we may be living together in harmony, there are many times when we forget what the priority should be amongst the things we pursue in the course of our lives. First and Second Kings and First and Second Chronicles may be seen as teaching us this lesson.In the books of First and Second Kings, after talking about the kings of Israel a particular expression is used. After Solomon, the first king of Israel in the north was Jeroboam, and the first king of Judah in the south was Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. When the son of Solomon was king, God’s prophet, Ahijah, foretold that Jeroboam, the Ephraimite of the tribe of Joseph would be given ten tribes and that he would be king (see 1 Kings 11:29-36).After that, Rehoboam became king and many people came to him and asked that he reduce their taxes and ease their burden. It seems that the taxes Solomon gathered were very high. The Bible says that people came from all over and were amazed to see the glory of Solomon, but he must have needed to demand very high taxes in order to achieve this glory. But Rehoboam said, “My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! … My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!” (2 Chronicles 10:10, 14). Then the people answered, “What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse” (2 Chronicles 10:16), and they established Jeroboam as king and so the ten tribes became independent from Judah. At that time, Rehoboam intended to go north and fight with Israel, but God told him, through the prophet, “You shall not go up or fight against your brethren! Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me” (2 Chronicles 11:4). God had made His decision and this was happening according to His plan. Through the affairs of one family, God had shown us the lives of two brothers. And, through history, God told us of these two brothers’ journeys through life. Now, this same God had divided the nation of Israel into two.After this, the name of Jeroboam, the first ruler of the northern kingdom of Israel, follows the actions of the kings of Israel in the north in First and Second Kings like a shadow. When David was in the process of uniting the twelve tribes of Israel, it was the tribe of Judah that was the first to follow him. The person who was king before David, however, was of the tribe of Benjamin, and the people of the other tribes all followed the tribe of Benjamin. Earlier, we considered the patient and tolerant heart that David showed at that time. David demonstrated tolerance and persistently made every effort to bring all the tribes closer together. Also, in Second Samuel (although not in First Chronicles) it says that David’s son, Absalom, led a revolt against David and even the people of Judah turned against David.When we consider actions such as this amongst the kings of Israel, we should be aware first of all that these were acts of treachery against the temple of God. Ten of the tribes turned against the tribe of Judah. Then, as history continued to unfold, there were even kings of Judah (from the direct blood line of David) who betrayed the temple. This is a terrible matter. We need to study the Bible very carefully. As we see, some kings were wicked and others were upright before God. It is a mistake, however, if you of living an upright life before God as simply being a case of maintaining moral standards.Let’s turn to Numbers chapter 33 and read from verse 50.   Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess. And you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone’s inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’”  verses 50-56   God told them to drive out all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, destroy all their molded images, and take down all their high places. There is reference here to the “high places.” Then when we move on to First Kings, we find an account of what Rehoboam did.   And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. Now Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree. And there were also perverted persons in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.  1 Kings 14:21-24   Rehoboam did evil first by building high places on every high hill and under every green tree. Yet, Rehoboam was not the first to build the high places; that was Solomon. Solomon built high places for the gods of the foreign wives he had married. (see 1 kings 11:7-8)What exactly are these high places? They were altars built in places of a high elevation. What does this signify? One day, an angel by the name of Lucifer looked upon the throne of God and said, “I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most High.” He had it in his heart to sit beside God in the highest, but was cast down to the earth. The prophet Isaiah expressed the fall of Satan in this way: “How you are cut down to the ground.” (see Isaiah 14:12-14) This same Satan appeared to Eve, the mother of all mankind, and said, “If you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” It is Satan who wants to be like God and works endlessly to plant this attitude in the hearts of men. When Eve heard these words and then looked at the tree, she saw that it was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise. So she ate the fruit, and she gave some to her husband, and he ate it. (see Genesis chapter 3) As a result of this, all mankind fell into sin.For almost a thousand years after that, all the people born into the world lived their lives doing evil deeds. When man became too corrupt in God’s eyes, He made a clean sweep of the world. This was the time of Noah’s flood. After that, history continued to unfold and people spread out all over the world, developing civilizations here and there until they all converged again, this time around a place called Babel. They said, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly. Let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens.” (see Genesis chapter 11) The Bible continually provides lessons for us through events like this. The temple was ordained by God and it was entrusted to Solomon to build this place where the Lord would put His name. Yet, even though it very clearly stood there in Jerusalem, the people still built the high places. This represents precisely the condition of our own hearts. It is what is inside each and every one of us. We first need to distinguish between whether the kings acted rightly or wrongly, but the Bible is asking each of us to examine the state of our own hearts. The Bible tells us that the sin that grieves God the most is when we serve something other than God, when we serve our own hearts. (see Romans chapter 1)God’s dislike for these high places was not because He did not like the way they had been built. God had a definite purpose and in order to communicate His purpose to the Israelites so that they might be forgiven for their sins and offer animal sacrifices, He granted them the temple. Yet, even though they had the temple, they went out and built the high places. Some of the kings were good in God’s eyes and did everything well, except they did not take down the high places, and so the people offered sacrifices there (see 1 kings 15:14, 22:43 2 Kings 12:2-3, 14:3, 15:35).This represents the struggle against our own hearts which is harder to overcome than anything else in the world. The Bible tells us clearly what is the most precious thing in the world, what God most wants and what pleases Him the most. Even though we know this, we are not able to give up the things we like, the things that make us happy and the things that are pleasing to our eyes, and this is the yardstick by which we judge everything. The Bible is showing us here that this is the way we are. This is something we need to think about every time we read these words. The fact that the Israelites did everything else well but left the high places standing indicates to us that our hearts may become proud at any moment as we are living in this world in the flesh.   God’s Teachings through the ProphetsYet, the conduct of the kings of Israel was far worse. When it comes to the acts of the kings of Israel, there is always a comment to the effect that they followed the ways of Jeroboam, so let’s take a look at what Jeroboam did that was so terrible.   And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me.”’” Therefore they obeyed the word of the Lord, and turned back, according to the word of the Lord. Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there. Also he went out from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah.” Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi. Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.”  1 Kings 12:21-33   Many thoughts come to mind as I read these verses. A golden calf was first made by the Israelites and Aaron when they came out of Egypt. Also, it was through this incident of the golden calf that the tribe of Levi was separated out. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, having received the two tablets of stone upon which the law was inscribed, the people had made a golden calf and were dancing before it. When Moses saw this, he told those who would stand with him on God’s side to step forward, whereupon the members of the tribe of Levi came and stood with him. The tribe of Levi slaughtered those who did not stand on God’s side, and through this action, the Levites were blessed.Jeroboam, however, completely turned around what was established on Mount Sinai. Satan had done this. Aaron was well-known and Jeroboam would also have known the name of Aaron, but a long period of history had unfolded between Aaron at the time of the exodus and Jeroboam at the time of the divided kingdom. Yet, it was at this time that Satan regained what he had lost at the time of Aaron. It was a fearful incident. This kind of event did not just occur out of the blue. It is a continual battle. Through the golden calf incident, the tribe of Levi was separated out to hold the position of the priests and serve God in the tabernacle, and in this way the history of the Israelites began again in the wilderness. Then after the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, the temple was built through Solomon so that they could worship God there, but Satan interfered with this. Jeroboam had already heard and knew through the prophet that God had ordained him to become king of Israel over ten of its tribes. Even though he had become king in this manner, he feared that his political power might become weakened or he might lose his sovereign power altogether. He was not able to put his faith in God. So he designated a day similar to that observed by Judah on which sacrifices were to be offered, appointed priests who were not from the tribe of Levi, and told the Israelites, “This is how you are to worship God.” All the Israelites were deceived and fell for what he said. Yet, similar incidents occur as well within the religion of Christianity in this world today, a religion that has and discusses the Bible. They are making the same mistake. Many people do not know the true Church and have become separated from the fellowship, acting according to their own ways as Jeroboam did. There is a verse in the Bible that says, “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment” (Proverbs 18:1). The first thing a person does when he has separated himself from the fellowship is deceive others by making up some kind of doctrine that is very similar to, but not the same as, the truth. In the end this northern kingdom of Israel that started out in this way collapsed and disappeared. About 260 years after the time of Jeroboam, Hosea, the last king of Israel, came to the throne and the Assyrian Empire attacked and captured Samaria, which was the capital city of Israel (see 2 Kings chapter 17). When Samaria was under siege and before it was captured, there was even the dreadful case of parents eating their own children.This image of the Israelites as they thoroughly followed their own ways, not wishing to lose what they had established in regard to God, is a mirror image of each one of us as we are born and live in this world as sinners ignorant of the gospel. It was for this very reason that Jesus was crucified. It is just as the Bible says, “Our old man was crucified with Him” (Romans 6:6). In this way, the northern kingdom of Israel came to an end and disappeared. At that time, the ten tribes of Israel were scattered across the world. Some of them were even absorbed into the kingdom of Judah. Later, the people of Judah also committed similar sins. So the Bible says that the kings of Judah followed after the kings of Israel. As the generations of the kings of Israel continued, there arose a rebellion. A general by the name of Omri arose and killed the king and reigned in his place. Then his son, Ahab, succeeded to the throne after him. Ahab’s wife was Jezebel. An endless stream of prophets arose during this period, including the famous prophet Elijah. Elijah asked for the 450 prophets who worshipped Baal and the 400 prophets who worshipped Asherah to be gathered together, 850 prophets in all. Then he told them to build an altar and call upon their gods to see if these gods would make fire come down upon the altar. Elijah also built an altar in the same way.

정회원으로 가입하시면 전체기사와 사진(동영상)을 보실수 있습니다.