As Sure as the Dawn(131)

“Caleb,” Atretes said, smiling. “A good name.”

“Even Moses, who spoke face-to-face with the Lord, took the counsel of the ten who were afraid. Rebellion arose, led by Korah, while others, unconsecrated, were burning incense. God swallowed up many in the earth and sent fire to consume others.

“Because the people refused to believe and trust God, he made them wander for forty years in the wilderness. When all of the unbelieving generation had died, Moses spoke to the people. He gave the people the Law again and went up on the mountain, where he died. Joshua and Caleb, who believed God wholeheartedly, led the sons and daughters of the old generation into the Promised Land.” He prodded the fire, adding more fuel.

“God divided the Jordan River as he had the Red Sea, and the Hebrews crossed over with the ark of the covenant. Through God’s counsel, Joshua and the Israelites brought the walls of Jericho down and overran the city. From there, they conquered many cities, dividing the land, south to north, and then settled in it. The land was divided up among the twelve tribes, and for four hundred years God spoke to the people through judges.”

He grinned at Atretes. “One of them you would understand very well, for you share similar weaknesses. His name was Samson. But I’ll save his story for another time.” He tossed another branch on the fire.

“All during this time everyone did that which was right in his own eyes except Ruth, a Moabitess, and Samuel, who was promised to God before his birth. The kingdom was united for one hundred and twenty years and then the people told Samuel they wanted a king like the nations around them. The people rejected God and insisted they be like everyone else. God told Samuel to give them what they wanted, so Samuel anointed Saul, a tall, handsome, and well-formed young man who had no heart for God. Saul was proud and jealous as well as something of a coward. As the kingdom faltered under his rule, God told Samuel to anoint another, a humble, young shepherd named David. David was a man after God’s own heart. As a boy, he killed Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, with a sling and stone. The people loved him. That was reason enough for Saul to want him dead. Every attempt he made to kill David met with failure. Even his own son, Jonathan, loved and protected David. When Saul was killed in battle and Jonathan with him, David became king.

“He was a valiant warrior and the leader of a group called the mighty men. Their feats in battle are nothing short of miraculous. David secured the nation, but he fell into sin with the wife of one of his friends. Because of it, his family and kingdom were plagued with trouble from then on. Even his children were beyond control. They committed rape, murder, and even rebelled against him to try to take the throne. David’s one great dream was to build a temple for the Lord, but God denied him the privilege because he had blood on his hands. His son, Solomon, who reigned during a time of peace, had that privilege.

“When Solomon became king, he asked God to give him wisdom to rule the people. Because of his humility, God gave him not only wisdom but great wealth as well. Solomon is reputed to be the wisest and richest king who ever lived, in any kingdom, but even Solomon in all his earthly glory proved foolish and halfhearted toward God. He married women from the very nations God told the Israelites to destroy: Edomites, Hittites, Amorites, Egyptians. They set up their own altars and pulled him away from the Lord. He didn’t repent until he was an old man, and by then it was too late.

“The kingdom fell to his son Rehoboam, who refused the wisdom of the elder counselors of his father in favor of spoiled friends who had been raised in the palace. The people turned away and the nation was divided by civil war, Israel to the north, Judah to the south. There were nineteen kings of Israel, and not one had a heart for the Lord. There were twenty kings in Judah, and only eight sought God.”

Atretes was amazed. “After all God had done for them, they still turned away.”

“And God still loved them.”

“Why?”

“Because God’s love never changes. He’s faithful and trustworthy. God doesn’t think like man, Atretes. The Israelites were still his children, disobedient and proud, but still his. As they are today. Just as we all are by the fact of his creation. He set the Jews apart so that the rest of the nations might see God working through them, but his chosen people wanted to be like the rest of the kingdoms. God sent prophets to speak for him, warning them to repent or be judged, but they scorned and murdered every one of them.”

“He should have destroyed them.”

“We all deserve destruction, don’t we? And some of us are destroyed on occasion. God used Assyria to scatter Israel, and Babylon took Judah into exile. The exile lasted seventy years, long enough for an unbelieving generation to die, and then God worked upon the heart of the Persian king, who allowed Zerubbabel to return to Israel with a remnant of believers to begin rebuilding the temple. Esther became queen of Persia and saved the Jews from annihilation. Ezra and Nehemiah restored the temple, rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, and celebrated Passover.”