Boasting in Military Might

KEY VERSE: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” —Proverbs 16:18

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: II Kings 14:1-3, 8-14

TO READ the accounts of Israel’s wars among themselves and their neighbors is depressing, and unless we know why the Lord permitted those things to happen we could question the Lord’s ability to overrule in behalf of his chosen people. When the Lord made the Law Covenant with the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, he had Moses read to the people the terms of the covenant, and then he said, “Now therefore if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation, … and all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.”—Exod. 19:5-8

One of the most important points in the covenant to which the nation of Israel agreed, was, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”—Exod. 20:2-6

The nation of Israel had a propensity toward idol worship. This failing was first demonstrated at Mount Sinai when Moses went up into the mount to receive instruction concerning the Law and the construction of the Tabernacle. He was gone for a period of forty days, and when the people saw that he delayed, they made a golden calf and worshiped it. It was at this time that God threatened to destroy the people and make a new nation of Moses. The account is recorded in Deuteronomy 9:13-29.

Until the Prophet Samuel, the Lord ruled the nation of Israel under a system of government properly called a theocracy, using judges to minister to the people. Samuel was the last of these judges. Even under this arrangement the people were involved in idol worship, and were disciplined by the Lord. During Samuel’s tenure as a judge, the people demanded a king. The Lord complied with their wish and set Saul over them as a king. At the time of the anointing of Saul, the Lord, through Samuel, said to the people, “If ye will fear the Lord and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God. But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers.” (I Sam. 12:14,15) Saul turned out to be a poor king, but his successor, David, was a good king—a man after God’s own heart. David was succeeded by his son, Solomon, who was a good king until the latter part of his reign when he yielded to the influence of his many heathen wives and turned to idol worship. It was from this beginning that the subsequent kings of Israel became more and more corrupt.

The Lord was severe in his chastisement of the people and the king when they transgressed; but when they repented, he blessed them. The succession of kings whom we have been reading about in I and II Kings were the product of this background and, of course, because they and the people were evil in the sight of the Lord, he permitted all the trouble that we have read about to come upon them. It was because of the special covenant relationship the Israelites had with the Lord that they were more accountable for their sins than other nations.

The Lord was patient and long-suffering with his people, giving them opportunities to repent before he brought calamities upon them. But more often than not, they remained a stiff-necked and prideful people. The Lord’s patience did come to an end, however, for we read in Ezekiel 36:17-20 of the cutting off of favor to them under their covenant. But in due time he will receive them again under the terms of a new and better covenant.—vs. 21-31; Heb. 8:8-13

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