Finding Jesus During the Divided Kingdom (2 Kings)

2 Kings 17:13-14 — Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets.” However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God.

Explanation: By His very nature, God does not blindside people. Before wrath is poured out, He sends warning so that repentance can occur. That happened before the Flood when Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” while he and his sons built the ark (2 Peter 2:5). He sent warning to Sodom and Gomorrah before judgment fell (Genesis 18 – 19). And He sent a reluctant prophet (Jonah) to preach to the wicked people of Nineveh.

Even now, He has raised up prophetic voices to speak truth into our society and warn of the wrath to come. We documented several of those in a recent series on Christ in Prophecy.

But the people of Israel and Judah were not merely oblivious to the warnings offered by the prophets and seers, they stiffened their necks and hardened their hearts against the warnings and against the God who sent them.

How far the Jews had fallen. When Moses led the elders of Israel to the mountain of God, they pledged the people’s loyalty to Almighty God (Exodus 24:7). But just eight chapters later in Exodus, the people would fashion a golden calf to worship. All of us are ‘prone to wander, prone to leave the God we love.’ Our own nation demonstrates that tragic truth. Generations are rising up right now that “[do] not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He has done…” (Judges 2:10).

Given this sad state of affairs, our hope is not in our ability to remain faithful; it is in Christ Who is forever faithful. Right now, the LORD is offering signs that point to Jesus’ soon return. He will be a Blessed Hope for those who have put their trust in Him, but a Holy Terror for those who have rejected Him.

Do not delay, and do not “stiffen your neck.” Instead, turn to the One who says, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me…” (Revelation 22:12).

“Amen. Come Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

Part 1

Tim Moore: We are delighted to welcome Dr. Douglas Petrovich, an esteemed professor of biblical exegesis from The Bible Seminary in Katy, Texas. And Dr. Petrovich, we are so glad you could be with us today.

Doug Petrovich: Thank you, Tim it is great to be with you, and you can call me Doug if you’d like.

Tim Moore: Well, I would certainly like to do that. Obviously I’m just plain old Tim as I tell people. So, Doug you have a unique perspective on the nation of Israel and its history. And as someone who has researched and can read actually read the ancient languages in their original texts, what can you affirm about the reliability of the Scriptures as revealed in the Old Testament?

Doug Petrovich: Well, I would say first of all that the Bible is definitely a historical document. It is not intended to be a collection of fables, or myths, or stories just drawn together, but it is actual history that has been recorded with events that took place in space and time. So, when we talk about biblical history we often go into the area of archaeology. We can demonstrate that through archaeological excavations and artifacts that have been found we can demonstrate that there have been important confirmations about various things related to biblical history.

And there is one exciting one that is in my new book that we will talk about at some point, which is the identification of Joseph and one of the titles that we read about that Pharoah gave to him, which is Controller of the Entire Land. There is an ancient inscription that mentions him with this title of Controller of the Entire Land. And of course, in Genesis 41:41 there is a reference there to how Pharoah elevated Joseph to a position where he was in charge of the entire land of Egypt. So, it matches perfectly with this inscription that has been found.

Tim Moore: I recently was doing a sermon on Joseph and his Egyptian name, and how insightful that was just to the position of responsibility he has. To follow up on that, obviously we do want to talk about your book later, telling people how they can get a hold of it, but what have you found pointing to Joseph, and really the origin of Israel as a nation identified as tribes who came out of Egypt?

Doug Petrovich: Lots that has been found; and it took nine years of research to put all of this together. One of the exciting things is that in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions I’ve been able to identify five members of the family, so that is Jacob, Joseph, Joseph’s two oldest sons Ephraim and Manasseh, Manasseh being the oldest, the older between the two. And then one of Manasseh’s obscure sons named Shechem that you only read about in Joshua 17:2, the only reference to Manasseh’s children.

Tim Moore: Wow. And so, the historical record, as opposed even to Scripture matches and proves to us that the Bible is true from beginning to end.

Doug Petrovich: It does, and it is chronologically sound as well. In fact, the foundation with which you have to properly synchronize Israelite history, and Israelite chronology with Egyptian history and Egyptian chronology, all of that is the basis on which you make proper synchronizations and talk about what happened at a certain point in time, and so forth. So, it’s all not only historically accurate, but it is chronologically accurate as well.

Tim Moore: Well, that is one of the things that we emphasize here is the literal interpretation of Scripture from beginning to end, and the chronological and historical reliability. I love Joseph’s name, and that is what I harken to, Zaphenath-Paneah which is Egyptian but it has special meaning as well. Well, as we turn to 2 Kings we move through the period of the judges, and obviously the first three kings of Israel, Saul followed by David, and Solomon who both united the kingdom, and expanded it. We get to 2 Kings when this grandeur of a united kingdom had gone away, in other words had devolved into a northern kingdom of Israel, a southern kingdom of Judah. What was the wedge that drove these various tribes to separate into two different kingdoms?

Doug Petrovich: Well, it goes back to the choices that were made first of all by the kings, and second all by the people. David was a man after God’s own heart. Solomon, especially in his old age, he turned away from the Lord which is an amazing statement when you understand what we read about in the wisdom literature, especially the Proverbs. How could a man who knows God so well, and be so wise turn away from Him? And the Scripture says, actually in 2 Kings that it is his foreign wives who pulled his heart away from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And what they did of course is they brought in their own pagan deities, and Solomon essentially embraced those same deities and built high places, and built worship centers where they were worshipping these false gods. And this really is where it kind of began.

Tim Moore: And there is also a reference that we find a foreshadowing of another number that ends up in the later part of Scripture but one particular here of Solomon and his wealth, and in his wisdom gained a lot of income. How many talents of gold did he receive according to Scripture? Do you remember that?

Doug Petrovich: Oh, I don’t remember the exact number.

Tim Moore: Oh, I think you will it was 666 talents of gold, almost reflecting this heart that became more focused on materialism, the pull of the world, and his wives who brought in pagan influence. So that 666 came back even later, I find that to be just a beautiful, sad, way that the Lord weaves things into Scripture that come to bear later even in our understanding. Well, as the book of 2 Kings opens, obviously we have Elijah, and Elisha as these two figures who are prophets, spokesmen largely for God, and they regularly confront the kings, and powerfully demonstrate the providence of God to protect and provide to His people, if they will just honor and obey Him. Why didn’t they?

Doug Petrovich: That is a great question. But the leaders were guiding the people away from the Lord. And it was difficult for the people to follow when they didn’t have a king who was setting an example. So, really it comes back to the leaders, as it always does, it comes back to the leadership. If you have strong leaders who have their heart open to the Lord, and they are walking with God you are going to have people who see the kind of life that should be lived, and they will use it as a model and they’ll follow.

Tim Moore: Well, I also love the fact that even in the opening chapters of 2 Kings there are examples of how there is another important truth revealed even in the Old Testament, God’s providence, His blessing is not just for the Jewish people, although for the Jew first, but also for the Gentile. So, we can look back at examples like Rahab and Ruth, but right here in 2 Kings there are Gentiles who are blessed by the prophets of God, but really by God himself.

Doug Petrovich: And one example of that is a Shunammite woman, and she married into the sons of the prophets, and then her husband, of course who is in old age at the time he wasn’t able to give her a child and she was worried about this and she went to the prophet, she went to Elisha and she asked him about this. And he told her that she would be bearing a son within a year. And sure enough, a year later comes by and she bears a child. Well, once that child grows and he’s in his youth he somehow dies. And we don’t really know the story about it, what happened wasn’t recorded in the Bible, but he dies somehow. And at that point the woman of course who is connected to the prophets and connected to Elisha and she knows that God could intercede on her behalf. So, she has enough faith that she goes and seeks out the prophet Elijah, finds him and asks him to come. So, he comes to her house, and do you know what he does? He clears people out of the room. He lays on top of the body of her son. Eye on eye, hand on hand, leg on leg, lays on top of him fully, and he prays to the Lord, and what happens? But he comes to life.

Tim Moore: Yes.

Doug Petrovich: And that shows the incredible mercy that God has for this seemingly insignificant Gentile woman, the Shunammite woman who is not connected to the line of Abraham through blood, but because God’s love extends to the Gentiles we can see it in examples like this.

Tim Moore: We see it also with Naaman who was the commander of a foreign army. And let’s just say his faith was a little bit limited and even his obedience was grudging but he did obey, and so he went and washed in the Jordan River and was healed. Demonstrating God’s providence and blessing for people all around the world still today.

Doug Petrovich: Still today.

Tim Moore: Well, in 2 Kings what would you describe as being the theme of this book and how it relates to the overall purpose of God’s revelation?

Doug Petrovich: Well, I would say first of all that 2 Kings actually, if you look at it in the Hebrew Bible it is not part of two books, it is one book in itself, so 1 & 2 Kings is one book in Hebrew. And probably the best understanding of what the theme is of that book is that it is the covenant failures of the monarchs. The covenant failures of the monarchs. So, ultimately 2 Kings would probably be best understood as the continuation of the covenant failures of the monarch.

Tim Moore: Wow, I love what you say about that, the covenant failures, not God’s failure, the failure of people. And so, that harkens to what I would ask next: Why did the northern kingdom fall? It fell to Assyria. And eventually of course Judah fell as well. But what does Scripture say regarding the fall of Israel?

Doug Petrovich: And certainly, there is a lot in Scripture that deals with this very question, and it is difficult even to say, we can easily find the beginning point. But one perfect example is when Solomon commits all the atrocities he does in Israel and turns his heart from the Lord and follows after pagan gods, God promises him that one of his servants would be raised up, and that that servant would take over part of the kingdom. And of course, He takes most of the tribes, pretty much all but the tribe of Judah.

So, Jeroboam I, he’s called by scholars, he becomes that first king of the northern tribe. And what he did is he led the people away from God, and into idolatry. He set up high places throughout Israel. He introduced foreign gods to them. He led them away from the worship of He who is, the covenant name of God. And Israel followed after him. So, that essentially is the launching point for the northern kingdom. And then the southern kingdom pretty much follows suit. They see what happens in Israel. They see all the enjoyable, enticing sin that their cousins in Israel have participated in, and they fall right into the same thing.

Tim Moore: Well, all of this is described clearly in 2 Kings 17, I would even say beginning in verse 7 and continuing down through verse 23. But the Lord says, you didn’t obey, you didn’t stay in that covenant relationship. I even sent prophets to warn and you did not listen to them. What does that say to us today in terms of God’s blessing that has been poured out on our nation alone, let alone others in this world, and yet are turning away from Him? Where do we fall given this principle?

Doug Petrovich: Sure, Tim and essentially this becomes a red flag for us. And it becomes a moment where we need to look into the mirror and say, for me individually, for my church, for my Christian culture, for us as believers around the world what are we doing as far as following the laws and the statutes, just as Israel did, but even more importantly from the heart, are we truly following after God, or are we falling into the kinds of sins that they did then? So, if we fall into such sins, then God is going to unleash His anger and His fury on us as He did with them.

And remember what happened then, they were carted off, the survivors, and of course most of them were killed, impaled by spears in many cases because the Neo-Assyrians were brutal people, they were among the most brutal of the ancient peoples. So, the few that survived, the small percentage that survived, they were carted off into parts of Assyria and had to interbreed with the people there and were forced to live a very degraded lifestyle. So, that’s a real important message for us, that if we give ourselves over to sin, and we do not repent as we need to, then such demise can befall us as well.

Tim Moore: Well, and the reality is too, we cannot follow leaders, whether they are elected leaders, political leaders, cultural leaders who are taking us in a wrong direction collectively. And we have a responsibility at least in this country for who we elect to lead us, and whether or not they reflect godly principles, the God of Scripture, or whether they are taking us to worship pagan gods, or to follow after false promises, and false hopes. So, Doug let’s turn back for a minute to Israel’s original deliverance and establishment of a nation. And you’ve done a lot of research into the archeological evidence pointing to the Exodus and even to the timing of the Jewish people leaving captivity in Egypt. What did you find?

Doug Petrovich: Well, essential, Tim I stumbled into evidence. And because of my prior research I already knew who the Exodus pharaoh was, that was Amenhotep II of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. And I already knew the timing of the Exodus, and that of course is from passages such as 1 Kings 6:1, which mentions exactly the right year when the Exodus took place because it was 479 and change, 479 years and some months before the building of the Temple under Solomon began. So, I already knew those things.

And then what I stumbled into was evidence that connects to the tenth plague on Egypt. And that’s in the form of the four animals we read about in Exodus 11 & 12, which is dogs, cattle, sheep, and goats. At the right site where Jacob and his family settled at that very site in the palatial district in Moses’ day, and this translates into the middle of the 15th Century BC, what we find there is mass burials, in other words multiple animals. Most of them are sheep and goats, and the majority of the sheep and goats were killed in their first year of age. Which when you read your English Bible its not quit that precise, in the way that it is worded, it says that they were 1 year old, for the time of the Passover. But really what it says in Hebrew is “ben shanah” which means son of a year, and the equivalent in English is less than a year. And that is exactly what fits the archeological evidence. And the very little pottery that is connected with those burials is the pottery that was used during the reigns of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II, his son the Exodus Pharoah, so it all fits perfectly.

Tim Moore: It all fits perfectly. I dare say that many of us probably get more of our understanding of some of that era of biblical history from movies like The Ten Commandments instead of actually diving into the Word of God or doing the research like you have done archeologically and through your understanding of those Near Eastern languages, and ancient texts. You know some Christians, and a lot of Christians I dare say, like to say, proclaim, “I’m a New Testament Christian.” In other words, I focus on what is revealed from the Gospels forward as if to discount the relevance of the Old Testament to their faith all together. But the Apostles consistently referred to the Old Testament to validate Jesus as the Messiah, and to point to His fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. So, as an expert of the Old Testament what would you say to those who claim to be New Testament Christians?

Doug Petrovich: Well, you know there was a moment that is recorded in Luke 24 when Jesus was walking on a road to a city called Emmaus, and there were two men that were walking and they didn’t know who He was. He had already risen at this time, and He didn’t disclose His identity to them. And He asked them about the things that were going on in Jerusalem and they basically say to Him, can’t you see what is going on? Haven’t you heard about these things. And what it says there at the end of that narrative is that Jesus, after He revealed Himself to them, that He talked to them about all that was true of Him in the Old Testament, through the Pentateuch and through the prophets and how He is a fulfillment of all these things. So, can you image the incredible truth that they heard that’s not even recorded in the Bible? So, at the end of the day if the Old Testament is important to Jesus, and it clearly was in that conversation, shouldn’t it be important to us? I would think it should be extremely important to us.

Tim Moore: It certainly is. Second Kings admittedly contains some very horrifying scenes. We have cannibalism during the siege of Samaria. We have two women sharing their sons for dinner, if you will. And then we have a Moabite king who sacrifices his son to inspire his forces to battle and to win a victory against Israel. On and on. The loss of the Shunammite woman until he is restored to life through the prayers of Elisha. Where in the midst of all that human suffering can we see Jesus Christ in 2 Kings?

Doug Petrovich: And certainly, Jesus doesn’t appear physically until around 500 years later, so He is not there at the site with them, but we see mercy in so many ways. And one of the ways I think that is important where we see mercy is with Jehu’s destruction of the Temple of Baal and of course that was the pagan god who was the king of the gods at that time in the first millennium BC in the Levant, and of course the Israelites lived in Levant.

So, this is the god that the peoples of the land went after more than any other, and the Israelites followed right after that. So, what happened was, God raised up Jehu to destroy the temple of Baal. And what he did also he collected all the prophets, and all of the priests, and all of the followers of Baal and he essentially herded them into one building and he had his men kill every one of those people.

Why did he do that? Sounds like such a terrible thing. Those were the people responsible for leading God’s people away from God. So, God had to clean, to purify His country, and His people, and His land, and that’s how He did it. So, essentially you are seeing the mercy of God through that act of judgment. So, the very fact that we see that taking place demonstrates a level of mercy looking ahead to the protection of God’s people, which is of course a picture of the mercy of Jesus, that He extends His loving kindness to all who would believe in Him.

Tim Moore: Well of what we call 1 & 2 Kings or a single unified book in Hebrew offers a sweeping overview of the nations of Israel and Judah and their eventual taking into captivity and leading into exile. Where is there hope in such a narrative? And Doug, for your personally where do you find hope as we follow down that same path toward destruction even today?

Doug Petrovich: Sure, and Tim I actually want to kind of mix it up here. When we talk about hope we usually want to look at from a human perspective, from a physical three dimensional perspective. But really I think the best place we can see hope is from a spiritual perspective, from an eternal perspective, which ultimately is God’s perspective.

So, when I see things like the way that God has taken off, carted off His people into captivity we see with the Northern Kingdom, and then of course later it shows up with Judah too as they go to Babylonia, when I see that that shows me hope. Why? Because what God is doing there is that He is protecting His righteousness. He has to be righteous. He has to be just. He has to be pure because that is inherent within His character. So, when He zealously protects His righteousness by taking sin and dealing with it in a difficult and painful way, what that shows me is that we can have hope in God because the message of the Gospel comes to life. Because my sin then becomes all the more vivid to me. And my hope in eternity with God is changed completely when I realize what God has done with me in solving my sin issue and nailing it all on the cross with Christ.

Tim Moore: Wow, that is beautifully said. And that is an important sentiment, putting things in an eternal perspective, in a godly perspective and not just on the human dimension, although His care and love is for us. Well, Doug I am so grateful that you joined us today. But I want our viewers to know how they can follow you and your research, and maybe get a copy of your book.

Doug Petrovich: Sure, Tim. And you can find me on academia.edu, I have a webpage there with lots of materials that are downloadable for free. Peer reviewed articles that I have published, other writings, several translations of biblical books that I have done that are up there. Lots of great documents that are there and available for people to look at and benefit from. But in addition to that of course is my new book which is “Origins of the Hebrews: New Evidence of Israelites in Egypt from Joseph to the Exodus.” And this is nine years of research that has gone into this book. And an amazing amount of incredible artifacts and historical synchronisms between the Israelites and the Egyptians. That’s really a one of a kind book, because there is no other book that has been attempted like this that actually provides evidence for Israelites in Egypt for the 430 years that the Bible describes.

Tim Moore: Well, I am so glad that you have brought your expertise to us today. I hope you will come back and share it with us again. Doug, thank you for what the Lord has laid on your heart, the insights He has given you and for joining us today.

Doug Petrovich: My pleasure, Tim, and I look forward to coming back.

Tim Moore: We’ll have you back.

Closing

Tim Moore: I’m joined once again by my co-host, Nathan Jones. And, let me say this about Nathan: If you regularly tune in to our Christ in Prophecy television program but have never visited our Christ in Prophecy website, you are really missing out.

As our Internet Evangelist, Nathan maintains a platform that contains an incredible library of Lamb & Lion resources. You can watch past episodes of Christ in Prophecy, download our bimonthly magazine, “The Lamplighter,” order books, and DVDs, read one of our thousands of articles, or simply engage in dialogue regarding Bible prophecy.

Nathan interacts daily with visitors to our website and our social media platforms from across the country and around the world.

Nathan Jones: Well, thank you, Tim I appreciate that plug. And I think that our internet evangelism ministry reaches the 4.5 billion people out there accessible on the internet, so I’m excited about it. Folks, we’ve been encouraging you to go dig deeper on our weekly “Jesus in the Old Testament” episodes by visiting our website and to review the Key Verse Commentaries listed under each video. But there is so much more there.

Tim Moore: You know the same thing could be said about the entire Word of God. There is so much more there. And the promises contained in Revelation, for those who read and heed the book apply to the entire Word of God, for those who read, study, and heed what it contains.

Nathan Jones: And we do hope you’ll visit our website to find our commentary on 2nd Kings 5:1-14 and 17:13-14, our key verses this week.

Well, I enjoyed hearing Dr. Petrovich’s insights into 2nd Kings, and learning about the archeological and historic validations of God’s Word, including the history of the children of Israel into Egyptian captivity.

Tim Moore: Yeah, I did too. And I was really grateful for his insights that he shared with us regarding God’s determination to protect His own righteousness and holiness. You know some of the difficult episodes in the Bible make sense when you read them from God’s perspective instead of man’s perspective.

Nathan Jones: Yes, and when we understand what the foul offensiveness of our own sin is to a Holy God, we begin to realize the amazing love He has demonstrated for us. As Paul wrote, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Tim Moore: He certainly did. You know folks 1 & 2 Kings, and Chronicles offers a historical narrative of the nations of Judah and Israel. His covenant relationship with the Jewish people, His chosen people, points to the relationship He offers to us a Christians as well. And the prophecies of the Old Testament, revealed through Jewish prophets, point to Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah who offers salvation to Jew and Gentile alike.

Nathan Jones: And there are so many lessons in Israel’s history, and so much prophetic significance tied together with Israel, that we frequently draw attention to what God is doing relative to the Jewish people even today. So, if you’d like to drill down on “Israel in Bible Prophecy,” Dr. David Reagan’s book by that same name is a great resource. It is going to inform your understanding and bring the promises of Scripture alive before your very eyes. And for a gift of $20 or more, including shipping, we will ship it to you. Just call the number you see on the screen.

Tim Moore: The theme for this episode has been focused on 2 Kings and is the kingdom divided. But God promised that in the end times He would draw the Jewish people back to the Promised Land and establish them, again, as one nation, undivided on the mountains of Israel. He has certainly done just that.

Speaking of the validity of His promises, next week we will turn to Ezra and focus on “Promises Kept.” Until then, I’m Tim Moore.

Nathan Jones: And I’m Nathan Jones, saying, look up, be watchful, for the Lord, who strongly supports those whose heart is completely His, is drawing near.

End of Program