chapter 58
THE BEGINNINGS OF BECOMING LOST
The book of first kings 12:26 tells the story of when Israel split into two kingdoms.
David’s son Solomon became the wisest man who ever lived, except of course Christ, but he heavily taxed the people and when he died his son Rehoboam, became king.
The people sent a delegation with an ultimatum to him that if he would reduce their taxes they would serve him, otherwise they would reject him as king. Rehoboam’s response was to tax them even heavier. So the people decided against the Royal House of David and named as their King Jeroboam who had occupied what would today be called, prime minister under King Solomon.
The people chose a new capital, north of Jerusalem, in Samaria.
The Southern kingdom consisting of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and later some of Levi would return when the Northern Kingdoms leader, Jeroboam replaced the Levite priests to retain his control of his subjects.
The Northern Kingdom consisting of the tribes ; Ruben , Simeon, Dan ,Napthali, Gad ,Asher, Issachar, Zebulin, Ephraim and Manasseh, soon to become the Lost Ten Tribes.
Jeroboam came to power and immediately he became afraid that when his people journeyed to Jerusalemfor the annual holy day festivals, they would see and desire their old king, Rehoboam, to be there king once again, so he took swift, drastic action to protect his own position. He replaced the tribe of Levi, which comprised the priesthood, the most highly educated and knowledgeable of biblical law, with the lowest and most ignorant of the people, so he could control the religion, just as the gentile kings had always done.
This is when most of the Levites went back to Judah and became known as Jews. Jeroboam also set up two great idols for the people to worship as well as ordering the fall festivals to be observed in the eighth month, at a place of his own choosing, north of Palestine instead of in the seventh month at Jerusalem, as Almighty God had commanded. His most evil and devastating change was to move the Sabbath day from the 7th, to the 8th, that is to the day following the 7th day or the first day of the week, Sunday, the pagan day of Sun worship .
The number 8 in the Bible generally stands for a change or new beginning as in the 8 people, including Noah, in the Ark , giving the world a new beginning. The new beginning with Noah was a good change, purging the world of idolatry and sin , however this beginning brought idolatry and sin ,through the perverting of Almighty God’s Sabbaths, DIRECTLY to the tribes of Israel. Because of his fear of losing control of the people Jeroboam changed the time of the Holy Fall Festival , moved it from Almighty God’s holy city of Jerusalem and finally changed the Sabbath day from Gods holy day of rest to the pagan day of Sun worship and idolatry .
Through the rule of 19 kings and 7 successive dynasties, the 10 Tribed House of Israel continued in the twin sins of Jeroboam, idolatry and Sabbath breaking. Observing the Sabbath, being the “ perpetual covenant “(Exodus 31:16), and a “ sign “(Ezekiel 20:12) of identification. So as punishment for these sins, Almighty God in 721 to 718 BC, caused the House of Israel to be invaded, conquered and brought into captivity as slaves, to the kingdom of Assyria, modern day Germany.
Soon after the Assyrians left their land and migrated northwest through the lands that are now Georgia and Poland, to the land that is now called Germany today.