1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

Lesson 61,  Geography Study Concerning the Scriptures, The Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, Continued

For the first few generations after Solomon, hostilities repeatedly erupted between Israel and Judah concerning their exact borderline. 

At issue ultimately was the alignment of the tribe of Benjamin, which was claimed by both kingdoms.

The king of Israel, Jeroboam established an altar at Bethel, a Benjamite city, and Rehoboam made a league with Benjamin to fight against Jeroboam in order to reclaim the Northern Kingdom. 

So Benjamin was in the middle of these two powers.

During the days of Abijah (came to power in the 18^th year of Jeroboam), an ambush was laid by Jeroboam near Bethel. (2)

Then during Asa’s reign, the Israelite king Baasha was able to press southward as far as Ramah, just five miles from Jerusalem, though he was later repelled. (3)

I Kings 15:16,  And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

A temporary reprieve was gained for Judah when King Asa decisively defeated an Ethiopian league headed by Zerah.

2 Chron 14:9-15, And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.

9. there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian--This could not have been from Ethiopia south of the cataracts of the Nile, for in the reign of Osorkon I, successor of Shishak, no foreign army would have been allowed a free passage through Egypt. Zerah must, therefore, have been chief of the Cushites, or Ethiopians of Arabia, as they were evidently a nomad horde who had a settlement of tents and cattle in the neighborhood of Gerar.

a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots--"Twenty camels employed to carry couriers upon them might have procured that number of men to meet in a short time. As Zerah was the aggressor, he had time to choose when he would summon these men and attack the enemy. Every one of these Cushite shepherds, carrying with them their own provisions of flour and water, as is their invariable custom, might have fought with Asa without eating a loaf of Zerah's bread or drinking a pint of his water" [BRUCE, Travels].

¹⁰Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah (Zeph ath ah) at Mareshah.

10. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array . . . at Mareshah--one of the towns which Rehoboam fortified (2 Chronicles 11:8), near a great southern pass in the low country of Judah (Joshua 15:44). The engagement between the armies took place in a plain near the town, called "the valley of Zephathah," [ROBINSON].

(Here is a good example of trust in the Lord) Later Asa did not do the same as he sent to Syria for help when Baasha the king of Israel came against him)

¹¹And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. ¹²So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the LORD, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil.

11-13. Asa cried unto the Lord his God--Strong in the confidence that the power of God was able to give the victory equally with few as with many, the pious king marched with a comparatively small force to encounter the formidable host of marauders at his southern frontier. Committing his cause to God, he engaged in the conflict--completely routed the enemy, and succeeded in obtaining, as the reward of his victory, a rich booty in treasure and cattle from the tents of this pastoral horde.

¹⁴And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exceeding much spoil in them. ¹⁵They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem.

In this case the battle lines were set at the city of Mareshah, about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem and the Ethopians were routed as far as Gerar (4).

But Judah’s fortunes changed dramatically in Joram’s reign. 

Not only was Edom able to repudiate Judean lordship, but also a confederation of Philistines and Arabs launched an attack on Jerusalem that captured some spoil from the royal city. (6)

Warfare between Israel and Judah was renewed during the time of Judah’s Amaziah. 

In preparation for a military operation against Edom, Amaziah hired some Israelite mercenaries, but then at the urging of a prophet, he discharged them before actually going into battle.

2 Chron 25:5-10,  Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield. ⁶He hired also an hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for an hundred talents of silver. ⁷But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the LORD is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim. ⁸But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle: God shall make thee fall before the enemy: for God hath power to help, and to cast down. ⁹And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this. ¹⁰Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger.

The outraged mercenaries proceeded to loot and murder their way back home. 

Vs 13,  But the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Bethhoron (about 14 miles east of Jerusalem) , and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil.

Amaziah then went to Edom and had a great slaughter over his enemies but he sinned against God by bringing back the gods of the chilren of Seir (another name for Edomites)

Verse 14,  Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them.

And so, when Amaziah returned in triumph over the Edomites, he requested a face-to-face meeting with King Jehoash of Israel, presumably to take up the matter of the mercenaries’ behavior. 

Unintimidated, Jehoash warned Amaziah to back off, which Amaziah refused to do. 

Each ruler then mustered his troops and met in battle at the city of Beth-shemesh (8).

Beth Shemesh (Judah)

[BETH SHEM-esh; “house of the sun”] An important border town in nw Judah, about 15 miles (24 km) w of Jerusalem. Strategically situated in the Valley of Sorek, defending a route from the plain of Philistia into the hill country of Judah, it was a fortified Canaanite stronghold before the Israelites captured it in the time of the Judges. The ark of the covenant was returned to Beth Shemesh by the Philistines after they were stricken with plague

Its fortifications were strengthened by David, but the city was later destroyed, probably during the invasion of Shishak about 918 b.c. A century later, Joash of Israel defeated Amaziah of Judah near the city. It was captured by the Philistines during the reign of Ahaz, but Tiglath Pileser III regained Beth Shemesh for Judah following Ahaz’s urgent appeal for help. Beth Shemesh was finally destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century b.c., never to be reoccupied. Called Ir Shemesh in Joshua 19:41.

Amaziah was defeated and taken captive, and Jehoash’s troops ascended to Jerusalem, where they broke down part of the city wall and carried off hostages and precious booty. 

The sort of grim political refrain just described was muted early in the eighth century B.C. as the two kingdoms experienced something of a renaissance under the leadership of Israel’s Jeroboam II and Judah’s Uzziah.

Seizing upon the advantage that his father had gained against Aram at Aphek, Jeroboam II restored some of Israel’s borders that had existed in the days of David and Solomon. 

2 Kings 14:23-25,  In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam (this is Jeroboam the Second) the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years. ²⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. ²⁵He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher. ²⁶For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. ²⁷And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. ²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ²⁹And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.

Only scant information about those gains is known to us.  Amos 6:13-14, refers to capturing the cities of Lo-debar and Karnaim and to establishing a border from Lebo-hamath to the Sea of the Arabah (Dead Sea).

Uzziah’s exploits were no less impressive. 

He demolished the walls of the Philistine cities at Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod; drove south and restored the seacoast city of Elath, (Ezion-geber) (on the Gulf of Aqabah)to Judean control and forestalled the advances of the Meunim; contructed numerous fortresses in the wilderness; and received tribute from the Ammonites. 

But regrettably with all their newly-discovered influence, Israel and Judah reverted to their former ways of religious compromise and economic exploitation. 

God saw to it that their renaissance soon faded.

The kingdom of Judah was severely tested during the days of Ahaz. 

Early in his reign, a Syro-Ephraimite conferation marched south and laid seige to Jerusalem. 

2 Kings 16:5,  Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.

Again prisoners and a large amount of booty were carried off. 

As a result, Ahaz contemplated appealing directly to Assyria for support; Isaiah, however, urged him not to do so, pointing out that the confederation would be destroyed withing a relatively short time. 

Meanwhile, Ahaz’s preoccupation with northern threats had made him vulnerable to plunderings from the west and south. 

The Philistines moved to recover the cities of the Shephela, while the Edomites were emboldened to invade Judah itself. 

Pressed to the limit, Ahaz resorted to the unthinkable; he rejected the advice of Isaiah and appealed to Assyria for assistance. 

2 Kings 16:7-9,  So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me. ⁸And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. ⁹And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.

And seizing upon this opportunity of imperialism, Tiglath-pileser III undertook a number of campaigns against Damascus and Israel. 

In one of those, Tiglath-pileser’s army marched southward from Sidon, Tyre, and Acco, passed through the Carmel range, and eventually assaulted and captured the fortress at Gezer. 

After Gezer, the Assyrian monarch decided to take aim at the very individual who had invited him there in the first place. 

Being greatly outclassed in technology and manpower, Ahaz was forced to pay a heavy tribute.

2 Chron 28:17-27,  At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him. ¹⁷For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives. ¹⁸The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Bethshemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof: and they dwelt there. ¹⁹For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the LORD. ²⁰And Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not. ²¹For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not. ²²And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz. ²³For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. ²⁴And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers. ²⁶Now the rest of his acts and of all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

Hezekiah came to the throne in Jerusalem when the Assyrian Empire was reaching its zenith under Sennacherib. 

When this Assyrian ruler became preoccupied with a menace in his neighboring Babylonia, however, Hezekiah decided to rebel. 

2 Kings 18:7,  And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. ⁸He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

This laid the foundation for an all-out campaign to the west, which Sennacherib undertook through the coastal cities of Lebanon before razing a number of Canaanite municipalities, including Joppa, Ekron, and especially Lachish. 

From Lachish, Sennacherib turned his attention to Jerusalem, and in his own words, he “shut up Hezekiah in Jerusalem like a bird in a cage” (13)

Although Hezekiah was required to pay a huge sum in tribute, God miraculously delivered Jerusalem once again from annihilation.

But by the time the Babylonian kingdom arose some one hundred years later, the limits of God’s mercy had been reached.  Judah persisted in its evil ways, and Jeremiah (Jah will rise) even predicted that the Babylonians would be God’s agents to bring about Judah’s demise.

Jeremiah 21:3-7,  Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: ⁴Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. ⁵And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. ⁶And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence. ⁷And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.

So it was that the mighty hosts of Nebuchadnezzar plundered Judah and eventually demolished Jerusalem, its walls, palace, and Temple. 

They finally carried off many of Jerusalem’s inhabitants into captivity.