Bible Survey 1 Sam - 2 Chron — E.A. Johnston

The Rise of Kingship and the Failure of Saul

We're going to pick up our next session, friends, with a continuation of our Bible survey. We're going to be in 1 Samuel. The central message of 1 Samuel, it's a book about how God saw in his people desperation through Hannah's vow, restoration.

So the children of Israel put away the bales and the asterisks and served the Lord only. And initiation, now make us a king to judge us like all the nations, coronations. And there they made Saul king before the Lord and Gilgal, a reprobation.

So Samuel said to him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, a king forsaken. But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. We see a shepherd boy, David, kill a giant by faith. We see the same man as his faith fails, and he allies himself with the Philistines.

The self-will of Saul is at odds with the self-sacrifice of David. As the transitional period ends the rule of judges and begins the reign of kings, we notice that not only was Eli a failure as a parent, but so was the godless Samuel.

Throughout the high drama of this book, we see Samuel brought back from the dead. We see David as he fled, and we see Saul lose his head. The central events are Hannah's vow and prayer, Samuel as the last judge of Israel, Saul as the first king of Israel, David as the first king of Judah.

There are events of battles from without, war, and battles from within. Emotions of God's people as they play out the drama of this exciting book. The central figures, friends, are Eli, Hopnine, Phinehas, Hannah, Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, David, David's wives, and his mighty men.

The central verse can be found in chapter 8 and verse 7. And the Lord said to Samuel, heed the voice of the people and all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

And the central application, friends, is this. The key application for today's Christian is simply this. When God's people take their eyes off of him and focus rather upon self, there is calamity and circumstance, regret and choice, and pain from consequence.

How timeless are the examples and truths of this book when we today follow the world's lead to govern ourselves as Israel did in asking for a king to rule over them. We too reject God, whose influence in our daily lives is central to the Christian believer.

Human kings, rulers, and priests, as this book proves, often fail to guide the people of God properly because of self-interest, self-preservation, and self-importance. It is when we become little in our eyes, as Saul once was, that God can then use us, and we remain big in his eyes only as long as we obey and serve him.

Many a Christian has lived his or her life for self rather than for God, and has had to say at the end of it all with Saul, I have played the fool. We're going to take a look now at the book of 2 Samuel, friends, as we continue our Bible survey.

David’s Covenant, Sin, and Consequences

The central message of 2 Samuel begins with the report of Saul's death in chapter 1. And in chapter 2, David is anointed king of Judah. David then becomes king over all Israel in chapter 5. The book begins with several instances where David is found inquiring of the Lord.

He demonstrates his love for God through his actions, obedience, worship, and prayer. God acknowledges David's faithfulness and makes a covenant with him in chapter 7, verses 1 through 17. We continue to notice the words throughout the beginning chapters.

So the Lord preserved David wherever he went. David proves to be a sound administrator, a strong leader, a courageous general, a generous ruler. Had David's life ended in chapter 10, he would only be remembered for the aforementioned.

However, chapter 11 is the saddest chapter in the book of 2 Samuel, and the saddest chapter in King David's life. David sent Joab out to fight his battle and remained reclining on a couch of ease that fateful day.

That evening, with time on his hands, he strolls on the roof of his house. He stops to gaze at Bathsheba and her bath. He stares lustfully at her. He looks, lingers, and lusts, and he begins his downgrade of sin.

In verse 17 of chapter 11, we read, and some of the people of the servants of David fell, and Uriah the Hittite died also. Yes, some of the servants of David fell in battle. David fell upon a rooftop at ease.

The rest of 2 Samuel is a story of regret and turmoil played out in the family of King David. One can begin counting the consequences of David's sin. And the Lord struck the child, and being stronger than she, he forced her and lay with her.

Strike Ammon, then kill him. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. Oh, Absalom, my son, my son. The book ends with another account of how David is out of touch with God in numbering the people of God, and God is displeased, and the people suffer.

In chapter 24, oh, sin's misery. The central events of this book are the reign of David in account of his victories and failures. The central figures are David, Saul, Jonathan, Bathsheba, Uriah, Solomon, and Absalom.

The central verse can be found in chapter 11 in verse 27. So the Lord preserved David wherever he went. That's verse 8 -6, friends. 11 -27 is, but the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. The key application for today's Christian can be found in chapter 11.

When we, like David, take our eyes off of God and place them upon another, we lose sight of God and his plans and purposes and they become irreverent to us. It's easy to sin in our seasons of peace and prosperity.

When we become self-reliant, we push God away and assume the throne of our lives as we sit on the throne of our lives, acting without consulting God. We tend to forget that sin results in suffering. We lose sight of God's purposes and focus only on ours.

Solomon’s Wisdom, Idolatry, and the Divided Kingdom

We can repent and return to God as David did, but we must remain watchful for it is easy to fall back into sin. We're gonna look at 1 Kings now as a Bible survey and its central message. 1 Kings begins with David in his old age and his son Adonijah exalts himself and claims, I will be king.

Nathan the prophet comes to the rescue and gets Bathsheba to go to King David and ensure that her son Solomon will reign after his father rather than Adonijah. Solomon succeeds David as David dies and begins his unparalleled reign of splendor.

However, God gives Solomon divide guidelines to follow. So if you walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. Here is the if but principle of the Old Testament.

If you do this, then I, God will do this, but if you do not follow me, then I will do this. We see Solomon begin his reign well as he asked God for wisdom. We see Solomon end his reign poorly as his many foreign wives lead him into the gross sin of idolatry.

As chapter 11 of 2 Samuel relates the sad story of David's sin with Bathsheba, so too chapter 11 in 1 Kings marks the sad spiritual decline of his son Solomon as he turns his heart away from the Lord.

Before chapter 11, we see Solomon in kingly glory and neighboring peace. In chapter 11, beginning in verse 14, we see adversaries of Solomon rise up against him. Solomon reigned for 40 years. God had appeared to Solomon twice and blessed him more than any other king before or after him.

God is angry over Solomon's sin and tells him, because you have done this and have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

Solomon's son, Rehoboam, proves himself to be a fool as well as he speaks cruelly to the people. The one united kingdom is rent in two, the 10 tribes of Israel, the northern kingdom with Samaria as the capital, and the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the southern kingdom with Jerusalem as the capital.

The result is conflict. It comes to a dark head with the evil reign of Ahab, but God has his man of the hour, the prophet Elisha. The book then becomes a miracle book filled with wondrous acts of divine works as the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah.

The central events, friends, are the reigns of the king succeed in Solomon and Judah in Israel. Throughout the revolts and crowns won and lost, we see the sad moral decline of God's people as they follow their own hearts and serve idols of wood and stone.

The central figures are in age David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Jeroboam, King Ahab and Jezebel, Elijah and Elisha. And in chapter 11 and verse 12, we find our central verse. I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

And the key application, the central application for today's Christian is this. Sin has its suffering. Israel had the law. We have grace. Yet since we have more light, we should act right. And now we're gonna look at a survey of second Kings, friends.

Elijah, Elisha, and the Captivity of Israel

Second Kings central message begins with the euphoric account of the faithful prophet Elijah being translated toward heaven by an escort of horses of fire. Later in the book, we read of the tragic account of the unfaithful Jews being transported to Babylon by an escort of cruel taskmasters.

This book is also an account of the success of Kings to the thrones of Judah and Israel, the divided kingdom. And in this account of the many Kings, we encounter the sad lines of, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

That statement is a good summary of the many Kings who reigned over Israel in the North. There were a few good Kings, mainly in Judah in the South of whom we read, and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord.

Happy is the man who followed the commands of Jehovah. Of these good Kings, Hezekiah is a standout for, he destroyed idolatry in the land, and he led the people back into worship and the one true God of Israel.

However, to many inhabitants of the city Jerusalem, it was mere lip service and formalism. Their hearts remained divided as it clung to their false gods and evil habits. We witnessed good King Josiah as he repairs the temple and stands outside the city walls, destroying the altars of the idols.

The King broke down and pulverized there and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron. We are also shocked in discovering that conditions had become so godless with the inhabitants of Jerusalem that the book of the law had to be found.

And when it was, it was read by King Josiah, who's convicted by its truths. Now it happened when the King heard the words of the book of the law, that he tore his clothes. Oh, what a deplorable state Judah had become.

The heavenly highlight of this second book of Kings is the story of Elisha, the prophet of God who received Elijah's mantle and a double portion of the spirit. He wrought more miracles than Elijah. He divides the water, heals the water, multiplies the widow's oil, raises the dead, purifies a pot of stew, feeds a hundred men, heals a leper, floats an ax head, even his dead bones made a man come back to life.

The central events of this book are the historic accounts of the reigns of the Kings of Judah and Israel, the captivity. The central figures are Elijah, Elisha, King Ahab, and Jezebel, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Nahum, and Manasseh.

And the central verse, friends, is found in chapter 17 and verse 20. And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them and delivered them into the hands of plunderers until he had cast them from his sight.

And the central application for today's Christian is to be on guard against the enemy of our souls, Satan. We too, like Israel, can become captive by our lusts, conquered by our enemy, and become objects of disdain to a holy God.

We today should study the historic history of man in this book, the political, the personal, the pitiful, the powerful. History can be an apt schoolmaster for those attentive students who study, obey, and act accordingly to the precepts of God.

David’s Preparation for the Temple in 1 Chronicles

Now we'll take a look at 1 Chronicles, friends, in our Bible survey. The central message of 1 Chronicles begins with nine chapters of genealogies from Adam to David. The compilation of this book was painstakingly done to record the statistics of the lineage of the Jewish people as well as details of the building of the temple in Jerusalem by Solomon.

Amidst the statistics, we encounter captains and chiefs, porters and priests, workers and musicians. The record of the family trees then leads to the Davidic reign. We read about the devotion and detail that King David purposed in preparing the temple construction for his son, Solomon.

David did all the preparatory work, which included the planning and the provisions of the gold, silver, brass, timber, and the workers, and he did the praying. Solomon, because of his father's vast temple preparatory work was able to step in and begin construction with the full support of the people, with all the vast resources of the kingdom behind him.

David even exhorted the people to stand behind Solomon and give liberally of money, time, and support. Solomon oversaw the construction. He led the priests and people in the consecration, and after the temple was completed, he officiated in its dedication.

The central events of this book are the historical genealogical records and reign of David. The preparatory work of the construction of the temple. The central figures are David and Solomon, various tribes and families, priests and workers, and the central verse, friends, can be found in chapter 17 and verses 11 through 12.

And it shall be when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

And the central application for today's Christian believer is, we must never lose sight of personal and national worship. God must be central to our lives if we are to serve him effectively. We must maintain both personal and corporate worship for the glory of God.

The throne of God must ever be before our eyes, and Jesus must be always on the throne of our heart. There cannot be true service to the king of kings without utter and complete surrender to his lordship in our lives.

We too must give liberally to preserve the temple of worship, the church, and we must also be careful to maintain the body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who resides within us and enables us to glorify God with our lives.

Solomon’s Temple and Judah’s Reformation

Well, I want to finish up this Bible survey in this session, friends, with 2 Chronicles. And its central message is concerned with the continuing theme of 1 Chronicles, the Davidic covenant and the building of the temple.

Whereas 1 Chronicles is centered mainly upon the story of David, 2 Chronicles is primarily focused upon Solomon and the fulfilling of and continuation of the building of the temple. The book begins with an account of Solomon requesting wisdom from God and taking that wisdom to orchestrate and implement the actual building of the temple in Jerusalem.

His father, David, had done most of the preparatory work. Now we'll see King Solomon completing the purpose of the completion of the temple. We were amazed as we read of the building and furnishing of this glorious temple.

Its bronze altar is 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet high. The bronze sea is 7 1⁄2 feet tall and 45 feet round. What an awesome spectacle this temple of Solomon must have been. From the golden lampstands to the golden cherubim, the cost alone of the temple was incredible.

Gold was not spared, bronze was not spared. We read in chapter four in verse 18, and Solomon had all these articles made in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze was not determined. But the main thing that occupies the temple is the Lord himself.

The Shekinah glory rested there. The house of the Lord was filled with a cloud so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

The chronicler goes on to give us accounts of the various kings who occupied the thrones of the divided kingdom. Even though Judah had more good kings in Israel, we see a sad list of wicked kings in Judah.

And the book ends with the prophecy of the prophet Jeremiah being fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem found in chapter 36 and 21. To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years.

And the central events of the book are the history of the Southern kingdom, Judah alternating on the pendulum of apostasy and reformation. Much reformation is seen in the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah.

The central figures are Solomon, Rehoboam, Asa, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Josiah. And the central verse, friends, is found in chapter 17, excuse me, chapter seven, verses 17 through 20. As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked and do accordingly to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and my judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom as I covenanted with David your father, saying, you should not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.

But if you turn away, then I will uproot them. The key application for the Christian today is to not do like Israel and forsake God. We must be ever gazing heavenward and fixing our eyes upon Jesus. This world, sin, and the flesh will distract and defeat us if we fail to keep our eyes fixed on God.

And memorize verse 714, friend, which is our key revival verse.