The United States Presidential Elections are such a lively
time in our world with all the scandals and accusations. I do appreciate
everyone’s opinions, even when I personally don’t agree because I know that
people all have different cultures and different world views to which they are
speaking from. I know that there are very few people within the general
population that want to harm or destroy the United States of America. But I
also know from what we can see in history there are things that do destroy
nations. We can’t use the Bible solely as our voting guide because the terms of
Israel as a nation were different than the terms of the USA, but we can see
some of the mistakes that were made at that time and try to avoid them in this
age. As far as scandal goes, Israel had severe scandals comparatively speaking,
but there were no social media sites or recording devices to catch all the
schemes behind the scenes. The sons of Jacob were historically nomadic, in that
they moved around the region with their herds. But eventually they settled in
Goshen due to famine. This is how the heirs of Jacob became a nation.
Genesis 46:26 And all the souls that came with Jacob
into Egypt, who came out of his loins, besides the wives of the sons of
Jacob, even all the souls were sixty-six. 27 And the
sons of Joseph, who were born to him in the land of Egypt, were nine souls; all
the souls of the house of Jacob who came with Joseph into Egypt, were
seventy-five souls.
28 And he sent Judas before him to Joseph, to meet him
to the city of Heroes, into the land of Ramesses.
We can see how the Masoretic Texts translated this city
name, the city of Heroes as Goshen. We also see the alteration of
the numbers of people in total. Jacob’s crew as 66, plus Joseph‘s family of 4
is 70, or Jacob’s crew as 66 and Joseph’s family as nine is 75. Joseph marrying
an Egyptian either negates his heirs here or includes them.
Gen 46:26-28 All the persons who came with Jacob into Egypt
— who were his own offspring, not counting the wives of Jacob's sons — were
sixty-six persons all told. 27 And the
sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two persons. All the
persons of the house of Jacob [including Joseph and Jacob himself], who came
into Egypt, were seventy. 28 And he sent
Judah before him to Joseph, to direct him to Goshen and meet him there; and
they came into the land of Goshen. AMP
This was the start of Israel’s (Jacob’s) family as a
nation. 75 people grew into about 600,000 when they left Egypt. Now the people
did not have a national code of ethics and religion before leaving Egypt but
they got one in the desert. Moses gave them social, moral, and governing laws,
as well as spiritual laws to follow as a nation, meaning all the laws were
applicable to all the people.
Numbers 1:44 This is the numbering which Moses and
Aaron and the rulers of Israel, being twelve men, conducted: there was a man
for each tribe, they were according to the tribe of the houses of their
family. 45 And the whole numbering of the children of Israel with
their host from twenty years old and upward, every one that goes out to set
himself in battle array in Israel, came to 46 six hundred thousand
and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.
Moses gave the people a strict code of conduct. Their new
nation was going to be a nation that abided under laws pertaining to their
religion. Let me say that another way, Judaism is a law and religion. Islam is a
law and a religion. Christianity is not a law and a religion. There is no
nation of Christendom. Jesus established it that way intentionally. Instead of
a national religion, Christianity could be practiced anywhere, under any
government rule because the tenants of Christianity are not tied to one nation.
People can be Christians in communist countries, or free countries, or
anywhere. Christianity is not dependent on a plot of land. One can love Yahweh
anywhere, even in Islamic countries. One can love their neighbor anywhere as
well. There are no laws in Christianity that would usurp government
authorities. This is exactly why Jesus established it in this manner. So we
have to be careful in our own thinking when we look at our own nation. We
cannot project the moral code we live under onto everyone else. The ideal way
things should work is that those living with the morality of Christianity
should look blessed, even in hard times, and that should be one witness that
Christians have for those who live morally apart from Christ.
The Israelites were a loose knit group of tribes when they
entered the Promised Land and had judge’s ruling over them. But as we know,
that did not go very well, in part because people were not very kind to one
another, and they practiced idolatry. The men of the tribe of Benjamin raped a
Levite’s wife until she was dead. This is not a political problem, this is a
heart problem. The 12 tribes had to gather to fight the tribe of Benjamin and
no one liked killing their brothers. Eventually we come to the time when this
group of tribal people wanted a king. Samuel had made his sons judges over
Israel, but his sons did not walk in the ways of their father Samuel and
instead wanted wealth by taking gifts and perverting judgements. Think about
this, the first problem for the nation of Israel, which was tribal at the time,
was unjust judges. Again these people were in authority over others, but were
not servants; they were self-serving people who have a heart problem.
1 Kings 8:1 And it came to pass when Samuel was old,
that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 And these are the
names of his sons; Joel the first-born, and the name of the second Abia, judges
in Bersabee. 3 And his sons did not walk in his way; and they turned
aside after gain, and took gifts, and perverted judgments.
4 And the men of Israel gather themselves together,
and come to Armathaim to Samuel, 5 and they said to him, Behold, thou
art grown old, and thy sons walk not in thy way; and now set over us a king to
judge us, as also the other nations have.
6 And the thing was evil in the eyes
of Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us: and Samuel prayed to the
Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, Hear the voice of the people, in
whatever they shall say to thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have
rejected me from reigning over them. 8 According to all their doings
which they have done to me, from the day that I brought them out of Egypt until
this day, even as they have deserted me, and served other
gods, so they do also to thee. 9 And now hearken to their voice; only
thou shalt solemnly testify to them, and thou shalt describe to them the manner
of the king who shall reign over them.
Notice the conversation here, Yahweh says that the people
rejected Him, not Samuel; but who rejected Yahweh and served other gods? The
Judges. The people had rejected him as well but ultimately the judges rejected
right judgement. I’m sure if the judges were just the people would not have
wanted a King instead of judges. Judges were instituted by Moses at the
suggestion of his father-in-law Jethro who saw how taxed Moses became judging
matters between people. Think about that, there were too many matters for one man
to judge. Over 600,000 people in the camp and Moses couldn’t judge all the
matters himself. Today we think that seems about right, but in those days there
should have been hardly anything to judge. This is where the people rejected
Yahweh, in their very basic everyday living. Everyone wanted what they believed
they were entitled to and fought among themselves.
This is simply a matter of people with corrupted hearts and
judges with corrupted hearts, and the rich had a better chance of getting their
matters judged in their favor as compared to the poor. We really don’t see
anything different here today, the rich usually get over on the poor in all
matters. Will electing one person as compared to another change that? Hardly. Samuel
tries to dissuade the people.
1 Kings 8:10 And Samuel spoke every word of the Lord
to the people who asked of him a king. 11 And he said, This shall be
the manner of the king that shall rule over you: he shall take your sons, and
put them in his chariots, and among his horsemen, and running before his
chariots, 12 and his manner shall be to make them to
himself captains of hundreds and captains of thousands; and to reap his
harvest, and gather his vintage, and prepare his instruments of war, and the
implements of his chariots.
The king will take your sons and make them soldiers for
himself. Hmmmm, anything different about this today? Whoever the leader of a
country is, is the one all the people serve. I know Jesus said that the
greatest leaders are the greatest servants, but in the devil’s world whoever
leads the nation uses all the people at his disposal for his military.
Unfortunately, it has been customary for nations not to serve the soldier who
returns from service, leaving men and women who have been wounded without
proper health care. There is nothing new under the sun. This is the devil’s
world, who is also known as the god of this world, or as Jesus calls him, the
prince of this world. His game is to make man fight against man and cajole man
into killing man, so that he can prove how stupid humans truly are. Let’s go
on.
1 Kings 8:13 And he will take your daughters to be
perfumers, and cooks, and bakers. 14 And he will take your fields,
and your vineyards, and your good olive yards, and give them to his
servants. 15 And he will take the tithe of your seeds and your
vineyards, and give it to his eunuchs, and to his
servants. 16 And he will take your servants, and your handmaids, and
your good herds and your asses, and will take the tenth of them for his
works. 17 And he will tithe your flocks; and ye shall be his servants.
The leader will take your female children, forcing them to
serve him, and take your land and the fruit of your land. He will tax you as a
tithe and you will be paying the salaries of the people the leader chooses who
will serve him. Again nothing different here, today in many nations women have
no rights. You are forced to pay a tithe/tax to the king (President) to pay the
salaries of his servants. The Government will take your land and the fruits of
your land. Yes that happens today as well. The people got a king, Saul. But he
was not a model king. He did establish a national army and the people were
forced to serve him. He didn’t listen to Yahweh very well.
A better king was anointed before the old king died. David
was anointed by Samuel to be king but David had his faults too. He led the
people to war, had several wives, was a peeping tom and impregnated the wife of
one of his soldiers’. He then got that innocent soldier killed. David’s family
was out of control, and attempted to usurp David as king. Let’s not forget the
time that David did a census count of Israel and 70,000 people died due to his
disobedience, leaving an open door for the devil. Yet David was always
repentant. When David recognized he had done something wrong he repented. In
the case of the census he offered his own life for the people to be spared. The
key in David’s leadership was that he repented, he offered apologies. David
kept the laws and the religious practices of Yahweh, but in his personal life
he made mistakes. Do our public leaders offer apologies when people die at
their hands? Do our leaders publicly repent for their personal misconduct? That
is the difference between a leader whom God exults and one God disregards.
Solomon took over after David died and he built the temple.
Solomon was the wisest man in the world, and that is what he asked the Lord for
at his coronation, Wisdom. In his wisdom, he kept Israel at relative peace with
her neighbors by marrying women from the neighboring countries. That practice
got a bit out of hand. Solomon put heavy burdens on the people to build the
temple and the palace. Once Solomon died, the kingdom split. Jeroboam was prophesied
over as king of the northern tribes of Israel before Solomon died.
3Kings 11: 26 And Jeroboam the son of Nabat, the Ephrathite
of Sarira, the son of a widow, was servant of
Solomon. 27 And this was the occasion of his lifting
up his hands against king Solomon: now king Solomon built the
citadel, he completed the fortification of the city of David his
father. 28 And the man Jeroboam was very strong; and Solomon saw the
young man that he was active, and he set him over the levies of the house of
Joseph.
29 And it came to pass at that time, that Jeroboam
went forth from Jerusalem, and Achia the Selonite the prophet found him in the
way, and caused him to turn aside out of the way: and Achia was clad with a new
garment, and they two were alone in the
field. 30 And Achia laid hold of his new garment that was upon him,
and tore it into twelve pieces: 31 and he said to
Jeroboam, Take to thyself ten pieces, for thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
Behold, I rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give thee ten
tribes. 32 Yet he shall have two tribes, for my servant David’s sake,
and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the
tribes of Israel. 33 Because he forsook me, and sacrificed to Astarte
the abomination of the Sidonians, and to Chamos, and to the idols of Moab, and
to their king the abomination of the children of Ammon, and he walked not in my
ways, to do that which was right before me, as David his father did. 34 Howbeit
I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, (for I will certainly resist
him all the days of his life,) for David my servant’s sake, whom I have
chosen. 35 But I will take the kingdom out of the hand of his son,
and give thee ten tribes. 36 But to his son I will give the two remaining tribes,
that my servant David may have an establishment continually before me in
Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name
there. 37 And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign as thy soul
desires, and thou shalt be king over Israel. 38 And it shall come to
pass, if thou wilt keep all the commandments that I shall give thee, and wilt
walk in my ways, and do that which is right before me, to keep my ordinances
and my commandments, as David my servant did, that I will be with thee, and
will build thee a sure house, as I built to David.
Now the reason the kingdom was going to split was due to
Solomon forsaking Yahweh, sacrificing and building altars for his wives.
Solomon was not repentant. Solomon had too many wives to please. Solomon seems
to have become depressed, in that he had everything one could want but
recognized it was all meaningless. His wisdom showed him the Spirit of Wisdom
in a tremendous way, but even with the Spirit of Wisdom Solomon struggled to
find meaning on this earth. Most of us come to that place when we recognize
that we have an eternal life with our Savior to look forward to, but we have to
live this life on earth under the devil’s rule, first. We sometimes lament for
the future that we will have, and dread the life that we have to live now.
Again Israel was established as a law and a religion that
worshipped Yahweh and the leader was to be a practitioner of the laws and
religious services of Yahweh. When Solomon heard of this prophecy he wanted to
kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt until Solomon died. Rehoboam,
Solomon’s son, took over the kingdom and now look what happens.
3 Kings 12:1 And king Roboam goes to Sikima; for all
Israel were coming to Sikima to make him king. 2 3 And the people
spoke to king Roboam, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy; 4 but
do thou now lighten somewhat of the hard service of thy father, and of his
heavy yoke which he put upon us, and we will serve thee. 5 And he
said to them, Depart for three days, and return to me. And they departed.
6 And the king referred the matter to
the elders, who stood before Solomon his father while he was yet living,
saying, How do ye advise that I should answer this people? 7 And they
spoke to him, saying, If thou wilt this day be a servant to this people, and
wilt serve them, and wilt speak to them good words, then will they be thy
servants continually.
I love the words of the wise older men, “If thou wilt this day be a servant to this
people, and wilt serve them, and wilt speak to them good words, then will they
be thy servants continually” Rehoboam had the opportunity to become a great
public servant, but he instead took the opportunity to be selfish. This happens
when younger people ride the wealth of their parents and do not have to work
for sustenance, spiritual, or political, position. By receiving money and
position without working for it, one becomes prideful and cocky.
3 Kings 12:8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men
which they gave him, and consulted with the young men who were brought up with
him, who stood in his presence. 9 And he said to them, What counsel
do ye give? And what shall I answer to this people who speak to me, saying,
Lighten somewhat of the yoke which thy father has put upon us?
10 And the young men who had been brought up with him,
who stood before his face, spoke to him, saying, Thus shalt thou say to this
people who have spoken to thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, and do
thou now lighten it from off us: thus shalt say to them, My little finger
shall be thicker than my father’s loins. 11 And whereas my
father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I also will add to your yoke: my father
chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
The younger men counseled Rehoboam to essentially increase
their tax burdens. But the people didn’t like that. Some rulers, leaders,
kings, and presidents forget that the people they lord over are people with lives
and opinions. If the people of the kingdom are miserable under someone’s rule it
will manifest in civil unrest and civil disobedience. Eventually there will be
a civil war or a split from the leadership. Today some leaders assume that the
general population should work harder and harder to support the kingdom, but at
some point the aged population can no longer work. The younger generations see
the burden of the older generations, and recognize the bondage they are going
to be in when they are older. They then give up, check out, leave the nation,
or simply underachieve because their destiny has been created by the elite rulers
and they don’t like what they see. In other words why work hard if all I get
when I’m old is more burdens instead of “living the dream”. But Rehoboam, like
many political leaders, doesn’t care about that. He doesn’t care about the
people at all and demands more money from them.
3 Kings 12:12 And all Israel came to king Roboam on
the third day, as the king spoke to them, saying, Return to me on the third
day. 13 And the king answered the people harshly; and Roboam forsook
the counsel of the old men which they counselled him. 14 And he spoke
to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your
yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips,
but I will chastise you with scorpions.
15 And the king hearkened not to the people, because
the change was from the Lord, that he might establish his word which he spoke
by Achia the Selonite concerning Jeroboam the son of Nabat. 16 And
all Israel saw that the king did not hearken to them: and the people answered
the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we any
inheritance in the son of Jessae. Depart, O Israel, to thy tents: now feed
thine own house, David. So Israel departed to his tents.
17 18 And the king sent Adoniram who was over the
tribute; and they stoned him with stones, and he died: and king Roboam made
haste to rise to flee to Jerusalem.
19 So Israel rebelled against the house of David until
this day. 20 And it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam
had returned out of Egypt, that they sent and called him to the assembly, and
they made him king over Israel: and none followed the house of David except the
tribe of Juda and Benjamin only.
The people stoned the tax collector. Think about that, they
were so angry they killed their version of the Internal Revenue Service. The
people were already feeling a heavy burden in taxes due to all the building and
they were tired. We have heard people say ‘everyone should pay their fair
share’. What they imply is that the rich should pay more than the poor. The
reality is the rich have ways of hiding their wealth “off shore” so as not to
pay, and the poor are exempt from paying, so it is the middle wage earners who
pay the most per their income. Keeping the burden high forces the middle income
wage earners to find ways to earn more money so that they can provide for their
families, yet as they earn more they are taxed more. Notice in this story
Rehoboam and his young friends were the well-off ones. They expected to receive
money from the people who had less money than they did. What? They should have
been serving the people with all their wealth. But Rehoboam was cocky and his
friends were greedy.
This was part of the Lord’s plan to split the nation, because
there was idolatry in the leadership of the house of Israel. Solomon’s wives
brought in other gods and built high places and sacrificed to those other gods.
But the idolatrous practices didn’t stop there. We know that the religious
leaders brought defiled practices into the temple. Therefore not only were the
political leaders corrupt, the religious leaders were corrupt too. People were
supposed to be abiding by laws that were part of their religion, and the
political leaders and the religious leaders were to adhere to the laws and
precepts of Judaism more so as leaders of the people. To serve the people the
political leaders and the religious leaders were to be doing what was right
before the Lord first, then the people were to follow their example. From this
point on both nations went into a downward spiral. Both had some good kings and
some bad kings, and both nations went into captivity. The people became slaves
to kings from other nations. Remember these people were the heirs of Jacob,
they went into Egypt as a family with 75 people. They left Egypt after 400
years with enough people to be called a nation.
The devil is the god of this world, he does not care about
humans, and his focus had been on destroying Jacob’s heirs, the nation that was
established upon the precepts of relationship with Yahweh. Once the Israelites
were all dispersed, they attempted to establish their nation again, this time
under the rule of different nations, Assyria, Greece, Rome. Israel didn’t
become an independent nation until 1948. But today they have no temple, so if
their political leaders are not followers of Yahweh they will fall again.
We have to wonder if Jesus ran for President of the United
States what the smear campaign against him would be like. The Pharisees, the
religious leaders, ran quite a public vilification of Jesus’ character
attempting to turn the people against him. The Roman political leaders didn’t
care much for all the quarreling amongst the Jews, but they didn’t see Jesus as
a threat to their own office. Jesus’ character was publicly crucified long
before he was physically crucified. One day he will be king of the earth, and
He will reign over all. No voting, no political campaigns, no debates. Really
if we think about it, there is an election that will affect us for all
eternity, it is whether we choose Jesus the Messiah or the devil who is
currently god of this world. Our earthly votes will not change much. There is
corruption in the political arena and corruption in the religious arena. Even
if we elected a “Josiah” our nation would go right back to our own vomit
because it is the hearts of humans that have to change. Let’s look at what
Josiah did.
4 Kings 23:4 And the king commanded Chelcias the high
priest, and the priests of the second order, and them that kept the door, to
bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal,
and for the grove, and all the host of heaven, and he burned them without
Jerusalem in the fields of Kedron, and took the ashes of them to
Baethel. 5 And he burned the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of
Juda had appointed, (and they burned incense in the high
places and in the cities of Juda, and the places around about Jerusalem); and
them that burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, and to the moon, and to
Mazuroth, and to all the host of heaven.
6 And he carried out the grove from the house of the
Lord to the brook Kedron, and burned it at the brook Kedron, and reduced it to
powder, and cast its powder on the sepulchres of the sons of the
people. 7 And he pulled down the house of the sodomites that were by
the house of the Lord, where the women wove tents for the
grove. 8 And he brought up all the priest from the cities of Juda,
and defiled the high places where the priests burned incense, from Gaebal even
to Bersabee; and he pulled down the house of the gates that was by the door of
the gate of Joshua the ruler of the city, on a man’s left hand at the gate of
the city. 9 Only the priests of the high places went not up to the
altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, for they only ate leavened bread in the midst
of their brethren. 10 And he defiled Tapheth which is in the valley
of the son of Ennom, constructed for a man to cause his son or
his daughter to pass through fire to Moloch.
11 And he burned the horses which the king of Juda had
given to the sun in the entrance of the house of the Lord, by the treasury of
Nathan the king’s eunuch, in the suburbs; and he burned the chariot of the sun
with fire. 12 And the altars that were on the roof of the upper
chamber of Achaz, which the kings of Juda had made, and the altars which
Manasses had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, did the king pull
down and forcibly remove from thence, and cast their dust into the brook of
Kedron. 13 And the king defiled the house that was before Jerusalem,
on the right hand of the mount of Mosthath, which Solomon king of Israel built
to Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians, and to Chamos the abomination of
Moab, and to Moloch the abomination of the children of Ammon. 14 And
he broke in pieces the pillars, and utterly destroyed the groves, and filled
their places with the bones of men.
15 Also the high altar in Baethel, which Jeroboam the
son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that high altar he tore
down, and broke in pieces the stones of it, and reduced it to powder, and burnt
the grove. 16 And Josias turned aside, and saw the tombs that were
there in the city, and sent, and took the bones out of the tombs, and burnt
them on the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord which the
man of God spoke, when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the feast: and he turned
and raised his eyes to the tomb of the man of God that spoke these
words. 17 And he said, What is that mound which I
see? And the men of the city said to him, It is the grave of the
man of God that came out of Juda, and uttered these imprecations which he
imprecated upon the altar of Baethel. 18 And he said, Let him alone;
let no one disturb his bones. So his bones were spared, together with the bones
of the prophet that came out of Samaria.
19 Moreover Josias removed all the houses of the high
places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel made to
provoke the Lord, and did to them all that he did in Baethel. 20 And
he sacrificed all the priests of the high places that were there on the altars,
and burnt the bones of men upon them, and returned to Jerusalem
21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep
the passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this
covenant. 22 For a passover such as this had not
been kept from the days of the judges who judged Israel, even all the days of
the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Juda. 23 But in the
eighteenth year of king Josias, was the passover kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.
24 Moreover Josias removed the sorcerers, and the
wizards, and the theraphin, and the idols, and all the abominations that had
been set up in the land of Juda and in Jerusalem, that he might keep the words
of the law that were written in the book, which Chelcias the priest found in
the house of the Lord. 25 There was no king like him before him, who
turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his
strength, according to all the law of Moses; and after him there rose not one
like him. 26 Nevertheless the Lord turned not from the fierceness of
his great anger, wherewith he was wroth in his anger against Juda, because of
the provocations, wherewith Manasses provoked him. 27 And the Lord
said, I will also remove Juda from my presence, as I removed Israel, and will
reject this city which I have chosen even Jerusalem, and the
house of which I said, My name shall be there.28 And the
rest of the acts of Josias, and all that he did, are not these
things written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Juda?
Everything sounds wonderful, at this point Judea was
spiritually cleaned up, the nation was now keeping the Passover, and everything
seems to have been on the right track. We don’t know all the things Josiah did,
but after all the good he did, he was killed by Pharaoh Nechao. That seems a
shame, doesn’t it? Well it is, but who is the god of this world?
4 Kings 23:29 And in his days went up Pharao Nechao
king of Egypt against the king of the Assyrians to the river Euphrates: and
Josias went out to meet him: and Nechao slew him in Mageddo when he saw
him. 30 And his servants carried him dead from Mageddo, and brought
him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre: and the people of the land
took Joachaz the son of Josias, and anointed him, and made him king in the room
of his father.
31 Twenty and three years old was Joachaz when he
began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: and his mother’s
name was Amital, daughter of Jeremias of Lobna. 32And he
did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers
did. 33 And Pharao Nechao removed him to Rablaam in the land of
Emath, so that he should not reign in Jerusalem; and imposed a tribute on the
land, a hundred talents of silver, and a hundred talents of gold.
At this point in history we may not understand this but
Egypt was taxing the Judeans. Then Pharaoh put someone else in the position of
king in Judea. What? How does Pharaoh have that kind of power in Judea? Not
only does Necho impose a tax on Judea, and replaces the king of Judea, he even
changes Eliakim’s name to Joakim. Wow. This seems so odd because we don’t recognize
that Egypt was controlling Judea in these years. Let’s keep going.
4 Kings 23:34 And Pharao Nechao made Eliakim son of
Josias king of Juda king over them in the place of his father Josias, and he
changed his name to Joakim, and he took Joachaz and brought
him to Egypt, and he died there. 35 And Joakim gave the silver and
the gold to Pharao; but he assessed the land to give the money at the command
of Pharao: they gave the silver and the gold each man
according to his assessment together with the people of the land to give to
Pharao Nechao.
36 Twenty-five years old was Joakim
when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his
mother’s name was Jeldaph, daughter of Phadail of
Ruma. 37 And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the lord,
according to all that his fathers had done.
Here we see a nation levying taxes and putting specific
political rulers in power in Israel, but they had not physically conquered
them. That seems to happen today as well. We have puppet governments in place
that are controlled by other nations, and the people have no idea that they are
not under the puppet government rule but the shadow government’s rule. If we
think about imposing debt, Necho imposed debt on Judea with intimidation. Judea
had to pay to keep Necho from conquering them. By that manipulation, Judea then
had a leader who was bound to whatever Necho wanted. Today, nations have those
same types of debt, as well as monetary debt. Whoever one is indebted to is the one they
submit to. Who is the USA indebted to? They are the shadow government. Whoever
has been in political office in the USA is the puppet government. Follow the
money, find the thief.
After this point Judea became servants of Babylon as well.
Then all the surrounding nations attacked Judea at different times. Judea was
finally freed from the taxation of Egypt when Babylon attacked Egypt.
4 Kings 24:1 In his days went up Nabuchodonosor king
of Babylon, and Joakim became his servant three years; and then he
turned and revolted from him. 2 And the lord sent against him the
bands of the Chaldeans, and the bands of Syria, and the bans of Moab, and the
bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them into the land of Juda to
prevail against it, according to the word of the Lord, which he
spoke by his servants the prophets. 3 Moreover it was the purpose of
the Lord concerning Juda, to remove them from his presence, because of the sins
of Manasses, according to all that he did. 4 Moreover he shed
innocent blood, and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would
not pardon it. 5 And the rest of the acts of Joakim, and
all that he did, behold, are not these written in the book of
the chronicles of the kings of Juda?
6 And Joakim slept with his fathers: and Joachim his
son reigned in his stead. 7 And the king of Egypt came no more out of
his land: for the king of Babylon took away all that belonged to the king of
Egypt from the river of Egypt as far as the river Euphrates.
These wars and scrimmages weakened Judea until the nation
went into captivity in Babylon. Puppet government leaders and shadow government
leaders forced Judea to do things a strong nation would never do. These are
just some of the things that the children of Jacob suffered because their
hearts were not right with Yahweh. The people’s hearts were not right, and the
political and religious leaders were not right. Manassas shed innocent blood
and Yahweh does not pardon that. That is the thorn in the side of many nations,
where the devil has a legitimate place to attack people. Many political leaders
shed innocent blood in different ways, casualties of war, abortion, eugenics,
lack of medical care, and on and on it goes. Only Jesus knows what is going on
in world governments. The hearts of all humans are corrupt, everyone wants what
they think they are entitled to, and the rich can get what they want from
unjust judges. The condition we are all in is due to the prince of this world.
So what is one to do? Nations come and go, some live in peace longer than
others, but the hearts of the people and the leaders are the origin of problems
in the devil’s world. David repented regularly for his mistakes and he was
credited for that. Josiah spent fourteen years cleaning up Judah, even holding
a Passover, and the nation still went into bondage. One good leader, who is
spiritually connected to Yahweh couldn’t keep the devil from destroying the
nation because every infraction is accounted for in the devil’s realm. We know
that with Yahweh we do not get what we deserve, that is called grace, but with
the devil we do get what we deserve because the devil shows no mercy to the
children of Yahweh.
Elections come and elections go, we have the strength to
endure whatever comes our way. Whether our candidate wins or loses, or one side
has more corruption that the other side, our election in Christ is sure. Don’t
misunderstand, our vote is important and we will explore that next week. There
is simply more at stake for us personally than we recognize. Meanwhile, we can
love people anywhere. We can serve others any time. We can show the love of
Jesus Christ to our lost and dying world no matter who our leaders are. No one
can stop us from walking in love.
