Information Related to "The Experience of Israel and Judah: A Lesson for Today"
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In the Old Testament era, God worked primarily with the descendants of a man named Abraham. Abraham was a remarkable man to whom God had made promises because of Abraham's faithfulness to Him. The Bible focuses on Abraham's descendants through his grandson Jacob, the people of Israel (Israel being the name God gave to Jacob after he proved himself to God--see Genesis 32:28). These descendants were to receive many national blessings because of God's promises to Abraham.
The books of the Old Testament describe Jacob's descendants, the Israelites, growing into a mighty nation with whom God made a covenant. The essence of this covenant is spelled out in Deuteronomy 28, in which God promised them that if they obeyed Him, they would continue to be blessed. The penalty for violating this covenant was that they would suffer many curses and eventually be taken into national captivity.
During the first few hundred years that the Israelites dwelled in the Promised Land, they experienced a series of ups and downs, during which time they were guided in part by a system of judges. Eventually, during the tenure of Samuel, the last of the judges, Israel demanded a king. In response God gave them a monarchy but warned them that they would be subjected to government abuse at the hands of human kings (1 Samuel 8:10-18). Their first king was Saul, followed by David, Solomon and Rehoboam.
Rehoboam began his reign with strong signals that he would be an especially oppressive ruler (1 Kings 12:11), which led to Israel's division into two competing kingdoms. The larger of the two, in the north, retained the name Israel and consisted of 10 tribes. The smaller in the south, with its capital at Jerusalem, was called Judah, consisting of two tribes. Thus began a long history of intrigue, rebellion and often-times violence in the two separate nations.
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