The Fall of Solomon and a Divided Kingdom (2025 Foundations Lecture 11) скачать в хорошем качестве

The Fall of Solomon and a Divided Kingdom (2025 Foundations Lecture 11)

This is the eleventh video in the 2025 Renew and Burleigh Church of Christ Lecture Series: Foundations of Christianity. This lecture explores fall of Solomon (delivered by M. Lithgow) and looks at divided kingdom of Israel and Judah (delivered by G. Grove). The change-over occurs at around the 11 minute mark. Solomon’s fall marked a decisive turning point in Israel's history. Although he began his reign with extraordinary God-given wisdom and built the Jerusalem Temple, Solomon gradually violated the covenant standards set out in Deuteronomy. He accumulated immense wealth, military horses from Egypt, and, most dangerously, hundreds of foreign wives who drew his heart toward other gods. Scripture records that Solomon built shrines for deities such as Chemosh, Molech, and Ashtoreth, even within sight of Jerusalem, abandoning exclusive devotion to Yahweh Wisdom divorced from obedience becomes empty: Solomon’s intellectual brilliance could not protect him from spiritual compromise. Because of this unfaithfulness, God judged Solomon by raising adversaries against him and by decreeing that the kingdom would be torn apart after his death. Yet God tempered judgment with mercy by preserving a remnant for the sake of David and Jerusalem After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam rejected wise counsel and imposed harsher policies on the people, provoking the northern tribes to revolt. They crowned Jeroboam as king, dividing the nation into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah After the division, both kingdoms quickly descended into spiritual decline. Rehoboam in Judah tolerated pagan shrines and cult prostitution, leading to Egyptian invasion and humiliation, though he later showed some repentance. In the north, Jeroboam institutionalised idolatry by establishing golden calves at Dan and Bethel and appointing priests outside the Levitical line, creating a rival religious system that permanently corrupted Israel’s worship. Every northern king was later judged against this “sin of Jeroboam,” which led the nation further from Yahweh. In the south, Judah fared a little better, although it was still marred with corruption and idolatry. It did however retain Jerusalem and the Davidic line. Into this crisis of Israel and Judah God sent prophets, most notably Elijah. During the reign of Ahab, one of Israel’s worst kings, Elijah declared a drought, directly challenging Baal, the supposed storm and fertility god. At Mount Carmel, Elijah confronted Baal's prophets in a dramatic contest: Baal failed to answer, but Yahweh sent fire from heaven to consume Elijah’s sacrifice, proving that Yahweh alone is God. Even so, Jezebel sought Elijah’s life, and God met the weary prophet at Mount Horeb in a gentle whisper, reaffirming His sovereign purposes and commissioning new leaders for Israel The divided kingdoms illustrate a core biblical theme: unfaithfulness to God fractures both leaders and nations. Political events are not random but unfold under God’s sovereign rule, revealing that obedience leads to stability while idolatry brings long-term destruction.