In Judah, morally worse than Israel, God raised up some righteous kings, in order to maintain His visible connection with them, until, forced to judge, the kingdom of Judah is carried away captive, as Israel had been. They took no heed of the judgment that fell upon the sister kingdom, nor were subdued by the many mercies received from God, who lingered long over the place where His name was recorded, even while declaring the sin of Judah to exceed that of Israel. (Ezek. 23) But their cup of iniquity, though not yet full, was rapidly filling; and at last the king of Babylon executes the decree of God. The rebellious nations are carried to Babylon, and Jehovah permits His city and His temple to be destroyed.
In the dealings of God with Judah and Israel, how mercy and long-suffering shine God would be a Savior-God, and was surely controlling all for the in-bringing of Messiah, who was also to be the Savior of the world. Also how marked is His judgment, for that man is always responsible for mercies received, and righteously must be dealt with on that ground. In a moral process man's responsibility has a prominent place. The wisdom of God combines the sovereignty of grace with judging man as a sinner. Mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, are seen in wondrous harmony.
While all the kings of Israel did evil, some of the kings, of Judah did right; yet the best of them presents but a checkered scene. The raising up of some who, in the words of scripture, did that which is right in the sight of the Lord, is the same grace which reserved Judah to the house of David, and kept up the external link as long as the temple stood, or at least till the time when the glory departed from it. (Ezek. 23) If more guilty than Israel, why did grace linger so long over them, and in captivity keep them from intermingling with the Gentiles, and at the predicted time bring back a remnant? To say that God delights in showing utmost grace where man has shown utmost sin, is blessedly true, but gives not the deeper reason of His long forbearance. God watched over them, and guarded them, and brought a company to Jerusalem for the great purpose of presenting Messiah to them, and accomplishing the counsels of mercy. This does account for the merciful forbearance which delayed to strike; and, even when wrath did strike them with the sword of Nebuchadnezzar, it was not a scattering that followed. Nor is Judah now, after the Roman judgment, so lost to sight as the ten tribes which were carried away by the Assyrian; so that they are, even after the sin and guilt of crucifying the Lord Jesus, reserved for some special dealing. And we know that they will be brought back to their land, while still rejecting the Christ, then to undergo the final trial and the great tribulation. For this reason the Jew is providentially kept apart from Gentiles, and carries his nationality written upon his forehead. A mark is set upon him, as upon Cain, only with this difference, that the mark upon Cain was to preserve him from human vengeance (Gen. 4:1515And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. (Genesis 4:15)), but the Jew is reserved for special judgment. May we not reverently say, his Brother's blood crieth to God for vengeance, for the Lord Jesus “sprang out of Judah"? They, not Israel (save in common with all men), crucified their King; and as the purpose of God kept them distinct from all Gentiles, that Christ might be born King of the Jews, so are they now distinguished and separate, to bear the special indignation for having rejected their true King. He whose right it is will then take vengeance upon those that would not have Him to reign over them. (Luke 19:2727But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. (Luke 19:27).)
The kings of Israel were not recognized as the representatives of the nation before God; there was no outward link between God and the people. In mercy God sent His prophets to re-establish (had it been possible) the normal link, to bring them back to the place they had left. In Judah the king did stand in that responsible position-if he did right, there was prosperity; if evil, judgment followed. Many prophets were sent to Judah, many warnings, and many invitations; but neither in Judah nor in Israel did prosperity hang upon the individual faithfulness or righteousness of the prophet.
While there are examples of faith in the latter days of the kingdom of Judah, a few bright glimpses among their kings-each example coming down to us in the shape of warning, or as a pattern-yet it is not as a whole a history of faith, but the recounting of God's moral processes with a stiff-necked race, until the time come for the fulfillment of His purpose in the advent of Christ.
There was a “due time” for Christ, yea, both time and place fixed in the everlasting counsels of God, when and where He should appear, and die for the ungodly. All through, from the beginning, God was preparing for the great moment. His forbearance toward Israel and Judah point onward to the cross; even as the cross declares His righteousness “for the remission of sins that are past.” (Rom. 3:2525Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25).) But His forbearance, His merciful interpositions, His raising up right-eons men to sit upon the throne of Judah, so that the whole line of kings should not be invariably evil, while assuredly proofs of goodness for the time then, are in the moral processes of God only subservient to the one great act in the history of time-we may say in the counsels of eternity. Before there was any creation, there was the eternal thought, as expressed in, “Lo I come to do thy will, O God.” So that all the previous dealings of God were preparatory and secondary to the cross. Heaven and earth are the creation of God; but this world has a character beyond that-it is a reconciled world, soon to be displayed in all the glory resulting from redemption. The heavens rejoice in it, angelic joy is heightened by it, for the glory of the cross reaches to and affects the utmost limit of the universe of God. It is the appointed pivot upon which all turns. If, then, God, in wondrous mercy, stayed His vengeance upon the guilty inhabitants of Jerusalem, and if, when judgment did fall, His controlling hand brought them back from Babylon, it was that in due time, and at the due place, Jesus should be born King of the Jews. It was written in the volume of the book of God's eternal counsels.
Passing by the evil kings of Judah, how marred are even the lives of those who are called righteous! There is in them the operation of grace, and their faith answering to it in measure; but there is also, and very prominent, governmental discipline for failure. In all individual faith, another series of lessons in its subjective energy, and in many instances the absence of energy; faith, as it were, lying latent, instead of in righteous activity, showing itself, not on the ground of known redemption, but of faithfulness to the law and the ordinances of the temple of God. And though on this ground the sphere of faith is comparatively limited, yet there is enough for us to learn as to the power of faith and the danger of failure.
Not one but failed, not one but endured special chastisement, For God, while fall of grace, never sets aside righteousness. Even now, under a dispensation pre-eminently of grace, God deals with believers in fatherly discipline, and makes us feel our responsibility; not, of course, as a question of final salvation, but with each one of present discipline and blessing. And if God has recorded the errors of others, it is for our profit. This is the character of God's book, that, while it reveals His ways of wisdom and grace, it also contains lessons for individual learning and daily use for practical holiness in the ways of faith. And this last is the more important. Intelligence as to the ways of God may be a great help to the understanding of what our place in Christ is before Him, and for the rendering a true corporate testimony to our standing in grace; but though there be no intelligence as to dispensational truth, though all corporate testimony break down, individual faith and faithfulness always remain as the characteristic of the saint, the importance of which is contained in the warning, “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” If a man stood alone, so far from removing him from the sphere of faith, it would be an occasion for its greater exercise. Indeed at this present time corporate testimony has so failed, that faithfulness for God seems to be reduced to mere individual action, and the most faithful, the most alone-his conduct the most liable to be misconstrued (to say the least) by others. The wreck of united testimony, and of the church's visible unity, as established at the first, is the foreseen end. For while every believer will escape safe to land, it is on broken pieces of the ship.
Asa, the grandson of Rehoboam, began well. He set aside his mother on account of her idolatry, but, when in trouble from Baasha, made alliance with Benhadad. When adversity draws a man from the path of righteousness, it is more serious than when seduced by prosperity. Adversity generally drives to God a saint who has wandered. It is one of the means grace employs. It was so with David. It is sometimes used to bring the wicked to repentance, as in the case of Manasseh. But when through it one, now in this dispensation of fullest light, who hitherto seemed to walk well, turns to the ungodly-to the world-for help from trouble, it is almost positive proof that there was no reality in his profession. When all is smooth, it is easy, comparatively, to assume the appearance of righteousness. When the testing moment comes, then is the proof or the disproof of reality. Our thoughts revert to the stony ground hearer, who in time of trouble falls away. Remarkable is God's word concerning Asa; though he did not remove the idolatrous high places, yet his heart was perfect with Jehovah all his days. (1 Kings 15:1414But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days. (1 Kings 15:14) Chron. 15:17.) Perfection is always in relation to the truth revealed. Noah was perfect; Job “perfect and upright.” To Abraham God said, “Walk before me, and be thou perfect.” But Israel and Judah had lost much of the knowledge of truth. The darkening influence of idolatry had long been hiding from them truth revealed before. God calls again, and reminds “Asa, Judah, and Benjamin” of His covenant, and their responsibility. This is much lower ground than where Abraham was Asa's perfectness did not equal that of Abraham. And the perfection of any before Christ came is far below, and different in character from, what the cross and a full redemption declares Christian perfection to be. Saul of Tarsus was, “touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” if Christ had not been revealed, he would have been perfect; but this same perfection became sin in presence of Christ. All that Saul of Tarsus boasted in, Paul the apostle despised. The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord made all the righteousness of the law to be refuse in his eyes. The perfection which was now disclosed to his faith is, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection from the dead.” This was the point before him, not yet apprehended by him, but God had apprehended him that he might attain to it. And the responsive energy of grace made him forget the things behind, and reach forth to the things before, and press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And then he immediately adds, “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded.” That is, our perfection here is knowing Christ risen on high as our measure, and that we have not yet attained to the mark. It is so high, so great, so blessed, that we shall not reach it till with and like Christ. To place it lower than this is to come short of God's standard, and to put one farther off morally from the perfection which God looks for from us while groaning in this tabernacle. It may sound paradoxical, but Christian perfection here is the looking for Christ's perfection. That is, we have not yet attained to it.
Asa could not have known this. In the earlier part of his life he walked in the path of righteousness according to the law, but he failed in his later years. He relied on the king of Syria, and not on God. “Herein thou hast done foolishly,” said the prophet. (2 Chron. 16:99For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. (2 Chronicles 16:9).) Asa is wroth, and puts the prophet in prison. One failure produces another; he “oppressed some of the people the same time.” God visits him, and he is greatly diseased in his feet. His physical condition illustrates the condition of his soul. He formerly walked well. Did he apprehend the truth taught? “Yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.”
Jehoshaphat walked in the first ways of his father and of David, and Jehovah was with him; so he waxed great exceedingly. When he had riches and honor in abundance, he joined affinity with Ahab. This is the opposite of his father's act, but a more common case. How often, when prosperity is in outward circumstances, worldliness and forgetfulness of God mark the condition of the heart! What a blessing it is, oftentimes, to be kept poor and low. The Lord said, who knew the seductive power of worldly prosperity, “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God?” A prophet is sent, and rebukes Jehoshaphat: “Shouldest thou help the ungodly?” In helping Ahab he nearly lost his life, but neither the danger, nor the prophet's rebuke, kept him from repeating the same error. He made an alliance with Jehoram, Ahab's son. This defiling affinity produced its fruits. Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, walked in the ways of Ahab. He had married a daughter of Ahab. When a godly household makes friendship with an ungodly one, the consequences are very terrible. God resents the unholy intimacy, and allows the evil of the ungodly to appear in the once godly household. The nation followed in the steps of evil, and Judah became like Israel, in a way that Jehoshaphat did not mean (2 Chron. 18:33And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramoth-gilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war. (2 Chronicles 18:3)), but which was retributive judgment from God.
Hezekiah's life is largely given, because in his reign there was in Sennacherib's attack of Jerusalem a foreshadowing of a still greater deliverance from a future king of Assyria. God so controls the evil and passions of men as to make it subservient to His purpose of giving an intimation of what He will yet do for His own glory.
But beside its typical character, what a proof that God was still waiting upon them! They were apparently never in greater danger and never more visibly did God appear for them. What a magnificent display of God's power on their behalf!-the power of grace for them, of judgment upon the man who said God could not deliver Jerusalem out of his hand, who said that the God of Israel was no more than the gods of the nations whom he had already destroyed. It was in vindication of His own name that God acted. But it was a call to the people, Will they now repent, and turn themselves from all their transgressions, so that iniquity be not their ruin? They heeded not, save for a brief moment, and after Hezekiah's death the old sin of idolatry appears worse, and the love of it ineradicable. All through this period of the kingdom of Judah it is a process of mercy and long-suffering. This was the way in which He was testing and proving man-all day long stretching out His hand to them. God's forbearance only gave opportunity for increased evil. Yet, if man was proved incorrigible in sin, it was preparatory, and a needed preparation, for the sovereign remedy of grace in Christ.
Hezekiah, like his predecessors, is tried, and, like them, fails. His miraculous healing from sickness, and the extraordinary sign given, struck Babylon with astonishment, and the king of Babylon sends congratulations to the king of Judah. His heart is lifted up, and he discovers the secrets of Jehovah's temple, and displays all his wealth to the ambassadors. Josiah is sent to pronounce judgment upon the kingdom. The fleshly things that he gloried in should become the prey of these very men. The die is now cast. Judgment may be delayed, but it is certain. God; in His wisdom, allows their cup of iniquity to run over, and the deep depravity of man, the patience of God, the need of a Savior, come out more distinctly as we pass on. Josiah was the most godly since David. His reign was the last bright gleam before the captivity, like a rift in the black cloud which was settling down upon the guilty people, through which a ray of sunlight fell upon the city, but only to make the succeeding darkness seem all the darker. In the eighth year of his reign, when he was sixteen, he began to seek after the God of his father David. For four years he sought God for himself, before he began to act publicly in purging Judah and Jerusalem. He began at the right point-with himself first. It is vain attempting to do the Lord's work, unless our own souls are right with God. Jehu was zealous, but zeal without personal piety only ends in worse dishonor and failure.
How low the people had fallen! the temple unrepaired, the book of the law lost, and its contents unknown. When found; it is read in the hearing of the king. What an index to the condition of the people, when the book of the law was hidden in the rubbish of the unrepaired and uncared-for temple! Josiah rends his clothes, and weeps before God. “Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same.” (2 Chron. 34:27, 2827Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. 28Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again. (2 Chronicles 34:27‑28).) His repentance and tears brought blessing upon himself, though it could not avert judgment from Jerusalem. The effect of the new-found law is, that a passover is kept such as had not been from the days of Samuel the prophet. Bright as the appearance was, it was but external. The prophet said, “This people draweth nigh to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” And “the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah.” After all this Josiah himself fails, and would measure his strength with Necho, king of Egypt. Why should he interfere in the quarrels of others? Why should any saint now meddle in the disputes of the world? Let potsherd strive with potsherd, a saint of God should not be mixed up in the strife. Josiah disobeyed God's word. Necho said God had sent him, and if it were only what Necho said, there would be no proof that God sent him; but the Spirit says, “The words of Necho from the mouth of God.” Josiah lost his life in the battle; though he were a good king as to his general life, God must vindicate Himself. With his death passed away all hope for Judah.