{"id":80708,"date":"2024-11-30T22:20:12","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T04:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=80708"},"modified":"2024-11-30T22:20:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T04:20:12","slug":"kings-in-jerusalem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/kings-in-jerusalem\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings in Jerusalem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by S. Scott Smelser<\/p>\nSaul<\/strong> was handsome,
\nSaul was tall,
\nSad to say,
\nthat was all,
\nfrom the throne
\nhe was rejected,
\nand a shepherd
\nwas selected.\nDavid<\/strong> took Goliath down.
\nDavid’s line would keep the crown.
\nKing Saul’s daughter
\nwas David’s wife,
\nWhat Saul wanted
\nwas David’s life.
\nDavid lifted not his hand
\nagainst the Lord’s anointed,
\nEven if some of his men
\nwere likely disappointed.
\nA man of sheep,
\nA warrior strong,
\nA man who sinned
\nand did great wrong,
\nHe confessed his sin.
\nHe mourned in song,
\nFor a clean new heart
\nHe prayed and longed.\nSolomon<\/strong> gave wisdom
\nto the young and simple.
\nHe gave us many proverbs,
\nhe also built the temple.
\nSolomon was very rich
\nand he was very wise,
\ntill he ignored what he had taught,
\nand followed foreign wives.\nKing Rehoboam<\/strong>
\nwanted to be tough,
\nhe thought, “I’ll show ’em”
\nand spoke very rough.
\nSo, leaving Rehoboam,
\nthe northern tribes all sided,
\nwith new king Jeroboam
\nand the kingdom was divided.\nAbijam opposed the idols
\nJeroboam had put in.
\nBut Abijam also walked
\nin his own father’s sin\nAsa<\/strong> usually
\ndid good and right,
\nbut when corrected,
\nhe reacted in spite.\nA very good king
\nwas Jehoshaphat<\/strong>,
\nsending out teachers,
\nand things like that,
\nBut he offered to evil
\na welcome mat.
\nJoining Ahab’s daughter
\nto his own son Joram,
\nwho became more evil
\nthan the kings before him.
\nBy Joram’s bloody sword
\nhis own six brothers fell
\nHe walked after Ahab
\nand wicked Jezebel.
\nHis wife, their daughter,
\nthe wicked Athaliah,
\nTheir son, the next king
\nthey named Ahaziah<\/strong>,
\nAn evil mama’s boy
\nduring his short reign,
\ntill Jezebel was killed,
\nand Ahaziah slain.\nWith her puppet king dead,
\nAthaliah<\/strong> took the throne,
\nshe killed the royal heirs,
\nkilling grandkids of her own.
\nBut a baby boy was saved
\nby a sister of the king.
\nProtected by a priest,
\nit was kept a secret thing.
\nWhen the boy turned seven,
\nJehoida brought him out,
\n“Long live the king!”
\nAthaliah heard them shout.
\nSo she was put to death,
\nwhile claiming it was treason,
\nbut Joash<\/strong> grew up well,
\nand Jehoida was the reason.
\nSo Joash started off ahead,
\nfar better than most after him,
\nbut once the guiding priest was dead,
\nhe turned and followed Asherim,
\nWhen a prophet gave rebuke,
\nand showed what he’d forsaken,
\nhe had the prophet stoned to death,
\nand his own life was soon taken\nAmaziah<\/strong>, like his father,
\nstarted better than he ended,
\nafter he defeated Edom
\nthen their idols he befriended.\nYoung Uzziah<\/strong>
\nbecame a great king,
\nhe set his heart
\nto do the right thing.
\nTaught by a prophet
\nand seeking the right,
\na builder, a farmer,
\na great king of might,
\nHe defeated Philistines,
\nand expanded his powers,
\nHe armored his men,
\nand built catapult towers,
\nBut he entered the temple,
\nwhere priests were allowed,
\nhe ignored their warnings,
\nfor he’d become proud.
\nSo, a leper he turned,
\nfor assumption and pride,
\nand a leper he stayed
\ntill the day that he died.
\nSo, in a separate house
\nthe Leper lived aside,
\nwhile Jotham filled his seat,
\nhaving seen the cost of pride.
\nSo, though a king of might
\nit went not to his head,
\nand unlike other kings,
\nJotham served the Lord instead.\nJotham’s son and Jotham’s grandson
\nwould be very different kings:
\nAhaz was a wicked failure,
\nHezekiah did great things\nAhaz<\/strong> sacrificed his sons,
\nhe sinned as heathens did,
\nthen attacked on every side,
\nin a heathen trust, he hid.
\nIsaiah brought a message
\ntelling Ahaz not to fear
\nfor Israel and Damascus,
\nwould both soon disappear.
\nBut trusting not the message,
\nand trusting not the Lord,
\nAhaz put his trust instead,
\non Assyria’s pagan sword.
\nHe made a copy of an altar
\nof the gods of an enemy,
\nthinking since their gods helped them-
\nthose gods will now help me.
\nHe also shut the temple doors,
\nwhile idol gods he served.
\nHe was not buried with the kings,
\nan honor he’d not deserved.\nTo the throne came Hezekiah<\/strong>,
\nthe great King and the good.
\nBeing nothing like his father,
\nhe did opposite what he would.\nThe northern kings of Israel,
\nhad never walked well,
\nand in year four of Hezekiah,
\nthe Northern kingdom fell.
\nShalmenezer and Sargon,
\nthe kings of Assyria
\nconquered all the northern tribes
\nand they took Samaria.
\nIn year four of Hezekiah,
\ncame destruction of the north,
\nthey’d not listened to the prophets,
\nwhen the Word of God went forth,
\nbowing down to graven idols,
\nserving many pagan things,
\nand the North from start to finish,
\nhad always only evil kings.\nThe divided kingdom over,
\nso now Judah stood alone,
\nwith Isaiah as a prophet,
\nand Hezekiah on the throne.
\nHe opened up the temple,
\nand renewed the sacred rites,
\nhe tried to lead the people back
\nand took down idol sites.
\nThen Assyria invaded,
\nand took town after town,
\nbut Jerusalem was spared
\nwhen an angel took them down.\nManasseh<\/strong> ruled,
\nboth long and wrong,
\nHe was one of the worst.
\nWorse even than the Canaanites,
\nwho’d been cast out at first.
\nEven into the temple,
\nhe brought idols accursed.
\nHe later had a change of heart,
\nbut the nation was not reversed.\nAmon<\/strong> was a wicked king,
\nbut soon was off the throne,
\ntwo years in, the king was killed,
\nby servants of his own.\nHis little son Josiah<\/strong>,
\na boy of only eight,
\nbecame the King of Judah,
\nand was one of the great.
\nHe set his heart to serve the Lord,
\nwhen he was not yet grown.
\nHe followed God and was the last,
\nof good kings on the throne.\nHis sons and grandson followed him
\nbut they were evil all:
\nJehoahaz<\/strong> was taken out
\nwhen Pharaoh came to call.
\nNeco took him down to Egypt,
\n(where that was the end of him),
\nand replaced him with his brother
\nwhom he named Jehoiachim<\/strong>.\nThen Jehoiachim was taken,
\nby the King of Babylon,
\nAnd his son Jehoiachin<\/strong>,
\nmet the same fate further on.\nHis uncle Zedekiah<\/strong>
\nwas the last king taken out,
\nand his sons were killed before him
\nand then both his eyes put out.\nThen Jerusalem was taken,
\nand the temple it was burned,
\nand the walls were broken down,
\nin a judgment they had earned.\nAfter many years as captives,
\nthen a remnant would return,
\nlike Zerubbabel, then Ezra,
\nNehemiah, all in turn.\nThen, for many years, they waited
\nfor the promised righteous King,
\n’til the shepherds came to see Him
\nwhen they heard the angels sing!\n

Notes:<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Some of the information is from Kings, and some from Chronicles.<\/li>\n
  • If you prefer some of the “also-known-as” names in your classes, feel free to substitute them as needed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by S. Scott Smelser Saul was handsome, Saul was tall, Sad to say, that was all, from the throne he was rejected, and a shepherd was selected. David took Goliath down. David’s line would keep the crown. King Saul’s daughter was David’s wife, What Saul wanted was David’s life. David lifted not his hand against…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1532],"tags":[358,621],"class_list":["post-80708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-resources","tag-bible-class","tag-kings"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1869,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-did-saul-reign-in-israel\/","url_meta":{"origin":80708,"position":0},"title":"When did Saul reign in Israel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 26, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When did Saul rule Israel? How long was his reign? Answer: While the information given in the Bible has been repeatedly proven accurate, dates have been a particular challenge because earlier cultures did not use fixed calendars as we do. Instead, time was measured based as elapsed from certain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-adonijah-killed-by-solomons-orders\/","url_meta":{"origin":80708,"position":1},"title":"Why was Adonijah killed by Solomon’s orders?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why was Adonijah killed by Solomon's orders? Answer: To understand the dynamics a bit, we need to understand that typically succession of a king went by birth order. \"Sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; his second, Chileab, by Abigail the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61814,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-return-of-the-king\/","url_meta":{"origin":80708,"position":2},"title":"The Return of the King","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Samuel 19:15-39 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0King David\u2019s son, Absalom, had lead a successful revolt against the king \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0David had to flee for his life - II Samuel 15:13-14 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was a time of great confusion as people did not know who would eventually succeed. Loyalties became\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26101,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/didnt-god-support-polygamy-by-offering-david-more-wives\/","url_meta":{"origin":80708,"position":3},"title":"Didn’t God support polygamy by offering David more wives?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've heard many ministers respond to why God allowed polygamy by saying that it's like divorce. God allowed it but it wasn't His will. I disagree with that response. After King David sinned with Bathsheba God said to David if you had only asked \"I\" (God) would have given\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1980,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-did-king-david-do-as-king\/","url_meta":{"origin":80708,"position":4},"title":"What did King David do as king?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What did King David do as king? Answer: I don't know if you are asking for a summary of David's accomplishments or what the duties of a king were in David's time. 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