2 Kings 15-16
There is a stark contrast between the history of the kings of Judah and that of the kings of Israel. Judah was far from perfect, but most of the kings generally “did what was right in the sight of the LORD”. Most of the better kings had long and lasting reigns. Israel, on the other hand, failed to get it even close to right, with every king doing what was evil in God’s sight. Their reigns were often short and often ended with some conspiracy against the throne. There was a lot of unrest and upheaval, to say the least.
What intrigues me is that each king from either side is always compared against a single man – King David for Judah and King Jeroboam for Israel. I see a striking similarity in this to how Paul talks of the one man, Adam, bringing sin and death to all men (like Jeroboam did to Israel) and Jesus bringing grace and life (like King David). To peel that thought down one more layer, David was not the first king in Judah – Saul was. So Saul, like Jeroboam, was also a type of Adam, so to speak. This is all just another piece of the Bible’s multi-layered imagery of God’s Plan for the redemption of mankind. Fascinating.
Of course, Judah didn’t always get it right. King Ahaz in 2 Kings 16 is a good example. When the kings of Syria and Israel came against him, did he turn to God for help? Nope. Instead, he turned to the king of Assyria, even going so far as to rearrange God’s holy Temple around a copy of the Assyrian’s altar in Damascus. The Bible makes it very clear – I can continue in the ways of Adam, doing what is right in my own eyes on a path that leads to death and destruction, or I can choose life in Jesus. I, for one, desire to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD and to let God always be the one to whom I turn when I am in trouble.
Gal. 3
I like Paul’s image of the law as our guardian. I picture a prince, being raised by a hired hand – a guardian. This guardian gives the prince guidance and direction, but does not make the prince an heir to the throne. He is an heir to the throne because he is a child of the king. We are made children of God and heirs to His throne through Jesus Christ, not through the law. And since we now have Christ to give us guidance and direction, we no longer need the guardian (the law).