The Kingdom of God: The Rise and Fall of Israel

Before Israel had kings, it had no centralized government or political system. They were "governed" so to speak, by God alone. 

Initially, Israel was led by Moses, who went to have them set free from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. Finally after being set free from slavery, and then miraculously escaping the Egyptian army after Pharaoh, the king of Egypt changed his mind, Moses led them forty years in the wilderness of the Sinai before reaching the region that God promised they would occupy, known as the Promised Land.

Because of Moses's own disobedience to God, he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land, and after he died, Joshua became his successor, the man given by God to lead Israel into the Promised Land.

From the moment they left Egypt, though led by Moses and then Joshua, human leaders, every move they made was at God's direction. God spoke directly to these men, and they consulted God for just about everything. 

When they attempted to do things without consulting God first, or when they were just plain disobedient to God, they faced the consequences of God's discipline.

These people were the Kingdom of God, operating with God as their King. God alone guided, directed, protected, and provided for them.

When Joshua died, Israel no longer had a human leader, and they continuously "did evil in the eyes of the Lord." So God, in His anger, would raise up nations to conquer them. Then they would cry out to Him, and plead for His deliverance. In His great mercy, He would hear their cry and would send a "judge" to war against the conquering nation and release Israel from bondage. 

Twice in the book of Judges it says, "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." It's interesting that even though Israel continued to do evil in the sight of God, according to the total numbers given in the book of Judges, Israel was obedient to God a total of 340 years and disobedient 114 years (as per "Empire of the Risen Son" by Steve Gregg). Israel was not under human authority, which can suppress God's will and oppress the people, because a king will do what is right in his own eyes. For a people who know what is right in God's eyes, having the freedom of conscience to do what is right in his own eyes, rather than being forced to do what is right in the king's eyes, is the way to go and was seemingly God's preference for Israel. 

After Gideon (one of Israel's many judges) defeated Midian, the men of Israel said to him, "Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian." However, Gideon rejected their offer saying, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you." 

At the end of  the period of judges, God raised up the prophet Samuel who took the word of the LORD to all of Israel. Samuel had two sons that he made judges over Israel, however neither one of them walked in the ways of Samuel - i.e. the ways of the Lord. So the elders of Israel came to Samuel and said, "Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." 

This displeased Samuel, so he prayed to the LORD. The LORD said, "Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day - with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods - so they are doing to you also. 

Now therefore, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them..."

Samuel then proceeded to let Israel know EXACTLY what they were in for:

"the king will take your children for his service; he will take the best of your land and give them to his servants; he will take a tenth of your crops and livestock. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day" (paraphrase).

 

"Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, 'No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.'"  

So even though it was against God's will and better judgement, and God knew they were rejecting Him, He gave Israel what they wanted, and Samuel anointed Saul as their first king.

Saul ultimately failed and God rejected him as king, leaving Saul and going to be with David, who succeeded as a king suitable to lead God's people. God told Samuel that He provided Himself a king and later made a covenant with David that his kingdom and his throne will be established forever. Jesus, the King of Kings ultimately fulfilled this covenantal agreement as a descendant from the line of David, establishing His Kingdom when He came down to earth to dwell with mankind and to save them from their sins.

Other than David, throughout the period of the kings, we can see the suppression of God's ways and the oppression of Israel. In Solomon's later years as king, he turned away from God and fell into idolatry. God confronted him twice on the matter and commanded him to return to Him, but Solomon refused to obey Him. Because of this, adversaries of Solomon were raised up who came against Israel, ultimately leading to immense hardship and oppression for Israel.

When Solomon died and Israel went to make his son Rehoboam king, they hoped and pleaded with him to free them from the oppressive state they were in because of his father and predecessor. But rather than listening to the wisdom of Israel's elders, Rehoboam went with the advice of his peers, which was to increase their burden - i.e. oppress them even more. This caused many of the Israelites to leave and start their own nation under another king, Jeroboam, dividing God's Kingdom of Israel. This new nation became Israel, and Rehoboam became Judah. 

Israel appointed men as kings who were not related to David, and they all did evil in the eyes of the LORD, primarily by committing idolatry. Under God's judgement, Israel fell to the nation of Assyria.

Judah survived Assyria's conquest by the prayers of King Hezekiah, who listened to what the prophet Isaiah told him. However, other than King Josiah, the remaining kings of Judah did evil in the eyes of the LORD by turning to idolatry, which eventually led to God's judgement against them. Babylon invaded Judah, destroying the nation, the temple, and exiling the people, leaving no visible sign of Israel or the Kingdom of God. 

The hope now was for Messiah to come and restore the Kingdom of God. This has happened, but rather than happening by way of political restoration of Israel through an earthly king, God sent His only Son as a baby who was born in a manger, to save the entire world from sin and death. Those who are saved from sin and death, comprise the citizenship of God's eternal Kingdom, which for us eternity begins now, not at the point of death.