King Saul and David, by now one of his strongest generals. David had to flee for his life. Eventually Saul died by the intervention of God and David took over. This whole saga is recounted in the Hebrew Scriptures in very human terms, but God’s hand lies behind the whole of history and King David was to become the greatest of all the kings of Israel.
When he was young, David was a mere shepherd boy with no lineage or power base, and yet it was he who was chosen by God to succeed Saul. It is important to understand that Israel did not see themselves as simply another state who happened to worship God. God was at the centre of their whole life and self-understanding. The debate over whether or not to have a king, and even which king to choose, was always couched in theological terms. David did not feel that he was worthy to build a temple for God and this task fell to Solomon, David’s son. Solomon was revered for his wisdom and wealth but lost some of his father David’s kingdom, and from then on the State of Israel began to contract, splitting into two to form a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. All the time, the Scriptures see God’s hand behind these developments and God, through the prophets who spoke in God’s name, directing the people and maintaining unity in the face of constant outside threats.
King Solomon had many wives and many of these were not Israelites; the problem was not multiple wives but that these wives brought with them worship of foreign gods. This practice continued and increased after Solomon’s death and, under King Ahab, the worship of the God of Israel almost disappeared or, at the least, was under grave threat. There were few genuine prophets left, but there was Elijah, one of the greatest of all the prophets. King Ahab had married a foreign wife, Jezebel, who had extended the worship of foreign gods into Israel. There were over 400 priests of this new god, Baal, and the God of Israel was increasingly ignored.
Elijah had to flee for his life because the priests of the other gods wanted to destroy him. God eventually came to Elijah and told him to stand on the mountainside. First a great wind came that tore at the mountains – but the Lord was not in the wind. Then came an enormous earthquake – but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then came a great fire – but the Lord was not in the fire. Finally, there was a still small voice asking Elijah, ‘What are you doing here?’ Alone, hungry, and isolated, Elijah felt that everything was hopeless. He replied:
I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.
(1 Kings 19:14)
Effectively the people of Israel had abandoned their God and Elijah was hiding in fear of being murdered. All hope seemed to have vanished, as is often the case in the long history of the people of Israel. God told Elijah to anoint two new kings, whom God names, and a new era begins. This is a pattern that runs throughout Israel’s history. Israel ignores God and seems to abandon worship and obedience entirely, but a small remnant remains faithful and rekindles once more worship and praise of the one true God.
Elijah issued a challenge to the priests of Jezebel’s god: Elijah and they would each take a bull and make an altar. Then the priests of Jezebel’s god were to call down fire from heaven by calling on their god. This they did, dancing round the sacrifice all day and cutting themselves whilst praying – but nothing happened. Elijah mocked them, saying, ‘Shout louder! … Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or travelling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened’ (1 Kings 18:27), but still there was no response. Finally, Elijah came forward to the altar he had built. He had water poured over his sacrifice and then called to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Fire descended from heaven and the sacrifice was consumed. Elijah had all the priests of the foreign god put to death. Jezebel was furious and vowed to kill Elijah. However, it was Jezebel who died and her body was fed to the dogs. The worship of one God was reintroduced across Israel.
After the death of Solomon there were a series of ineffective kings and Israel, now divided into two kingdoms, gradually became weaker and weaker. Warfare with neighbouring tribes or countries, as well as warfare between different leaders, was almost constant and the people of Israel saw themselves depending on their God for their protection. The weakness of Israel compared to the increasingly powerful neighbours that surrounded them was to culminate in possibly the most catastrophic event in Israel’s history – the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Jeremiah was another one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history. He called the people of Israel back to loyalty to God and to placing God at the centre of their lives, but the people did not listen. Like many of the prophets, he was ignored and scorned and felt his own life under threat. God’s Word, however, was commanding. He had to prophesy in front of the king, and the prophecy was uncomfortable, speaking truth to power is always likely to lead to opposition! He foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, the enslavement of the people of Israel and the death of the king. Not surprisingly, hardly anyone believed him. Jeremiah had no doubt that the prophecy would come true but he also had hope for the future. He bought a field to show his confidence that, one day, the people of Israel would be able to return after the destruction that he had foretold as imminent.
The Hebrew Scriptures see the Babylonians as agents of God punishing the people of Israel for their wickedness. The Israelites lost everything. Their identity was founded on three things: Temple, King and Land. All these were destroyed: the King was killed, the Temple was pulled down and the leading figures among the people of Israel were taken off into captivity. It should have been the end of the Israelites: one more little nation vanquished by a regional power and disappearing from the pages of history. That they did not do so was due to their faith in God and also the memory of their previous exile in Egypt. They maintained their identity in Babylon by seeing themselves as being in exile from their homeland. They showed loyalty and service to the Babylonian state but insisted on maintaining their religious identity, not intermarrying and above all maintaining their faith that God would deliver them and bring them back to their homeland. What was even more important was that they came to a startling new understanding of their relationship with God; being faithful to God did not depend on having a temple, or a king, or occupying a particular piece of land. It depended, rather, on inner loyalty to the covenant established between God and the people of Israel. They would not eat pork or work on the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week in the Jewish calendar, which God had commanded as a rest day); they would circumcise their male children; and they would obey the Torah (the first five books of what Christians regard as the Hebrew Scriptures). Above all they would not worship other gods, and the Hebrew Scriptures tell stories of the incredible bravery of people going to hideous deaths rather than break God’s commands. The startling and new idea that it was loyalty to the covenant with God, and to God’s commands, that was of central importance rather than worship in a particular building eventually made it possible for Jewish communities to flourish in any society, maintaining their identity and religious practices and yet otherwise being loyal to the state.
Eventually, after many years in Babylon, the Israelites were allowed to return and immediately started building the walls around Jerusalem and also rebuilding the Temple. In spite of their realisation whilst in Babylon that land and Temple were not essential, these ideas were, and are, deeply rooted in the Jewish psyche and returning to their homeland was a powerful symbol. In the centuries that followed, the armies of a number of empires swept over the small land of Palestine, and Israel did not regain full independence although still the dream remained. The conquering armies tried many ways to stamp out and destroy Jewish practices, identity and worship but none of them succeeded. Jewish armies were raised and destroyed and the inexorable forces of the mightiest armies of the world crushed whatever military power Israel managed to assemble. In the process tens of thousands of young men from Israel died convinced that they were fighting for their God and that God would deliver them. All these empires had conquered, destroyed and absorbed many local peoples but the identity of the people of Israel remained intact. The latest empire to control Palestine was that of Rome and it was, therefore, under the control of the Roman imperial power when Jesus was growing up.
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