I wrote last Saturday about the sad end of Solomon, whose wives and riches led him astray. Then beginning in 1 Kings 12, when the kingdom divides into the Northern 10 tribes (“Israel”) and the southern 2 tribes (“Judah”), we have a long slog of one king succeeding another and maybe a little something of what they did. Without getting too bogged down in details, one thing jumped out at me:

Each king is assessed according to how well he did or did not follow God.

That’s all that mattered. Some reigned long, some short. A few kings of Judah did follow God. No kings of Israel did. Here are some examples:

Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. (1 Kings 15.1 – 3, ESV)

In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as David his father had done. (1 Kings 15.9 – 11, ESV)

Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin which he made Israel to sin. (1 Kings 15.25, 26, ESV)

The first two were kings of Judah, both sons of the same father and mother: Rheoboam and Maacah. The first, Abijah, did not follow God, but his brother Asa did. We might wonder why, but we shouldn’t. All are free to make their own choices, regardless of their heritage or lack of heritage, and all are judged by those choices: see Ezekiel 18 – here are some snippets:

If a man is righteous and does what is just and right…walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord GOD. If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things (though he himself did none of these things)…he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself. Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise…[but] obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live. (Ezekiel 18, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, ESV)

When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it. For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. (Romans 2.12, 13, NLT)

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are [or what we have done]. (Romans 3.22, NLT, last phrase added.)