Part III: Two Nations: Israel and Judah

Prepare to be shocked - The notion that Scripture teaches that the children of Israel became two kingdoms is absolutely correct! Yes, this blogger actually agrees with Herbert Armstrong about something! If it's really in the Bible, it's really in the Bible - PERIOD. Nevertheless, even here, Armstrong twisted this fact and perverted its implications to support his own narrative about Anglo-Israelism, and we will see that Scripture does NOT support his conclusions!

At the risk of a little repetition, I think that it is necessary to revisit some of the ground in Genesis which we have already covered, but with a little more detail this time. For, if we truly desire to understand this history from a biblical perspective, the story begins there! In the thirty-fifth chapter of that book, we read: "Now that Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again at Bethel. God blessed him, saying, 'Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. From now on your name will be Israel.' So, God renamed him Israel. Then God said, 'I am El-Shaddai— ‘God Almighty.’ Be fruitful and multiply. You will become a great nation, even many nations. Kings will be among your descendants! And I will give you the land I once gave to Abraham and Isaac. Yes, I will give it to you and your descendants after you.' Then God went up from the place where he had spoken to Jacob." (Genesis 35:9-13, NLT) So, we see that the name "Israel" has its foundations in this patriarchal story in the book of beginnings.

A little later on in the same chapter, we read: "These are the names of the twelve sons of Jacob: The sons of Leah were Reuben (Jacob’s oldest son), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, were Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant, were Gad and Asher. These are the names of the sons who were born to Jacob at Paddan-aram." (Genesis 35:22-26) As we will see later, each of these twelve sons were destined to themselves become the patriarch of a tribe of Israel. Indeed, this genealogy is so important to the narrative about the children of Israel, that it is repeated and expanded upon in the forty-sixth chapter of the same book (see Genesis 46:8-27)

Moreover, as we have already noted in the first part of this series, Israel gave his name to the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:1-20). We should also note that, eventually, Joseph would contribute two tribes to Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh). After all, remember, the birthright was Joseph's - he was entitled to a double share of his father's estate! This, however, also presents us with thirteen tribes instead of twelve. What about that? Everybody knows that there were twelve tribes of Israel. As the narrative unfolds in the Torah, we learn that God took the tribe of Levi out of the mix and made them the foundation of the Levitical priesthood under the terms of the Old Covenant (Numbers 1:47, 50, 2:33, 3:9, 12, etc.) - taking the number of tribes back down to twelve.

In the first chapter of the book of Exodus, we are told that the Israelites grew in numbers over the years that followed and were eventually enslaved by the Egyptians. Over the chapters which follow, we read the story of God's deliverance of the people of Israel from Egyptian slavery through the efforts of Moses and Aaron (Exodus 2-15). Eventually, God leads Moses and the Israelites to the foot of Mount Sinai and forms a covenant with them there (Exodus 19-24). This Covenant between God and Israel was the basis of EVERYTHING that followed in the Torah (the rest of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), and much of what happened throughout the remainder of the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament. Indeed, as Armstrong himself was fond of pointing out, the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy is critical to understanding the subsequent history of Israel from a biblical perspective.

Armstrong, however, did not appear to fully comprehend the distinctions between the promises made to Abraham, and the agreement which God made with his descendants, the Israelites. Although the Israelites were certainly the physical descendants of Abraham and potential heirs of the promises made to him, the Covenant or agreement which God made with them was CONDITIONAL - if you do this, I'll do that! If the Israelites were faithful to God and obeyed him, they would receive the land and prosperity promised to their forefather. Notice too, please, that if the Israelites failed to live up to the standards which God had outlined for them in the Torah, there would be very bad consequences for them!

In this connection, we read: "But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you: Your towns and your fields will be cursed. Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be cursed. Your children and your crops will be cursed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be cursed. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be cursed...The skies above will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron. The Lord will change the rain that falls on your land into powder, and dust will pour down from the sky until you are destroyed. 'The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will attack your enemies from one direction, but you will scatter from them in seven! You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. Your corpses will be food for all the scavenging birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away...The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you. 'You will plant much but harvest little, for locusts will eat your crops...You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity...If you do not serve the Lord your God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received, you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. You will be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. The Lord will put an iron yoke on your neck, oppressing you harshly until he has destroyed you...'The Lord will bring a distant nation against you from the end of the earth, and it will swoop down on you like a vulture. It is a nation whose language you do not understand, a fierce and heartless nation that shows no respect for the old and no pity for the young. Its armies will devour your livestock and crops, and you will be destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, olive oil, calves, or lambs, and you will starve to death. They will attack your cities until all the fortified walls in your land—the walls you trusted to protect you—are knocked down...Just as the Lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the Lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy. For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone! There among those nations you will find no peace or place to rest. And the Lord will cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair. Your life will constantly hang in the balance. You will live night and day in fear, unsure if you will survive."(Deuteronomy 28:15-66)

So, just as the reality of their ancestors' experience in Egyptian slavery had not negated God's promises to Abraham, their enjoyment of God's blessings did NOT fulfill them! In other words, their experience of God's blessings would be informed by their adherence to the terms of their agreement/covenant with him. God's promises to their forefather were immutable and irrevocable. However, whether or not they shared in those promises was entirely up to them! Moreover, as we have just read, the consequences of their failure would be catastrophic! They would fail as a people and a nation! Hence, we will obviously be revisiting the blessings and curses passage when we discuss the failure and redemption of Israel in Part V of this series.

Now, between twelve separate and semi-autonomous tribes eventually coming together in a kind of loose confederation, and then coalescing into a nation, there is a whole lot of biblical ground to cover. For our purposes, however, we will only hit the highlights of that narrative. To begin with, the story of Israel's conquest of the land promised to their forefathers begins in the book of Numbers, encompasses some of the material included in Deuteronomy, and runs throughout the book of Joshua. Likewise, the story of the tribes' consolidation into a loose confederation under the leadership of special "judges" designated by God himself is recounted in the book by the same name. Of particular interest to us, we read in the final verse of the book: "In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes." (Judges 21:25)

Even so, we read in the book of I Samuel, that Israel achieved a high degree of unity under the effective and decisive leadership of the judge by the same name (I Samuel 2-7). Even so, after he had judged Israel for many years, we read: "As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba. But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice. Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. 'Look,' they told him, 'you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.'" (I Samuel 8:1-5) So, Scripture tells us that the local leaders from all over the land of Israel asked Samuel to appoint a king to rule over them. Moreover, the fact that this was NOT God's idea is made very clear in this narrative.

Continuing with the account, we read that: "Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. 'Do everything they say to you,' the Lord replied, 'for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.'" (Verses 6-9) So, following God's instructions in the matter, Samuel proceeded to tell them that their new king would draft their sons to serve in his army, designate others to harvest his crops, and make their daughters to prepare food for him (verses 10-13). He went on to tell them that their king would also appropriate their lands and property for his own use and would impose burdensome taxes on them to support his administration (verses 14-17). Samuel finished by warning them that "When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you." (Verse 18) Nevertheless, we are informed that the council of elders persisted in their demand for a king, and that the Lord instructed Samuel to give them what they wanted (verses 19-22).

In the following chapter, we learn that God chose a man from the tribe of Benjamin - named Saul - to be the new king, and Samuel then anointed him as king (I Samuel 9-10). Of course, throughout this narrative about the appointment of Saul as king, the Israelites are portrayed as being completely united in their support of the newly minted monarchy. In the chapters that follow (11-15), we read of how the new king was completely dependent upon Samuel to support and prop up his reign over Israel. Unfortunately, as the account progresses, it becomes clear to God and Samuel that Saul was the wrong choice for king (I Samuel 15:10-11).

As a consequence, we read that God eventually instructed Samuel to anoint a new king (I Samuel 16:1). Continuing with the account, we learn that God designated a young man from the tribe of Judah - by the name of David - to be the next King of Israel (16:2-13). Unfortunately for the new king-designate, we are informed that God decided to leave Saul in place as king for the time being, and that David ended up serving in the old king's household (16:14-23). And, as we might imagine, this led to a great deal of tension between the two men - which at times manifested itself as open hostility (chapters 17-30). Then, in the final chapter of the book, we learn that Saul's reign came to a catastrophic end with a massive defeat at the hands of the Philistines at Mount Gilboa. Indeed, we are informed that Saul and his heir (Jonathan) were killed in the melee.

Nevertheless, in the following book (II Samuel), we learn that David's path to the throne after Saul's death was NOT a smooth one. Indeed, in the second chapter of the book, we learn that David was proclaimed King of Judah, but a younger son of Saul (Ishbosheth) was proclaimed King of Israel! In fact, as the account continues, we learn that a battle is enjoined between the supporters of the two kings, and that David was triumphant over the forces of Israel (verses 12-17). In the third and fourth chapters of the book, we learn that the contest between the two men continued until Ishbosheth was finally murdered. Then, finally, in the fifth chapter of the book, we are told that David was proclaimed king over all of the Israelites.

Now, in the next part of this series, "The House of David," we will study the promises made to David and his descendants and learn about some of David's successors and what happened to them and the kingdom(s) they ruled over. Even so, we have established in this section that the "children of Israel" eventually came together to form a single nation under the last of the judges, Eli and Samuel. Next, we learned that the local leaders among the various tribes petitioned Samuel to appoint a king to reign over them, and that he anointed Saul to fulfill that role. The new king, however, quickly failed to measure up to the position, and Samuel anointed another young man to be king - without actually removing Saul from that position. This led to years of infighting within the kingdom, defeat by their adversaries, and the splitting of the kingdom into two nations after Saul's death, each with its own king. Hence, we see in this biblical history the seeds of the two kingdoms that would develop after King Solomon's death. As we will see, this history of unity and division would play itself out in ways that would have far reaching implications for the children of Israel, and the story that Herbert Armstrong would create for them. Stay tuned!