Solomon, however, sadly turns his heart
away from the Lord because of his many wives. Ecclesiastes is his sad account
of his futile pursuits in life. Although Solomon was the one of the richest and
the wisest king in all of history, God told him that because of his
transgression, the Kingdom of Israel would be split. That occurred with
Solomon’s foolish son Rehoboam who trusted in his young buddies counsel as
opposed to the counsel of his father’s wise advisors.
Down the line we get to Asa, who served
God for a season but at the end of his life “sought Physicians and not the
Lord.” His son, Jehoshaphat, went on to serve the Lord although he compromised
the kingdom in wedding his son to wicked King Ahab’s daughter.
and Joram begat Ozias;
Uzziah (Ozias) served the Lord like his
grandfather (Jehoshaphat) and even became king at 16! However, in his old age,
he offered incense that was against the law for him to do since he was not a
priest and he received leprosy from the Lord as punishment.
9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and
Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
Hezekiah
(Ezekias) was a man who served God throughout his life. We only have one record
of his pride which was that he foolishly showed Babylonian ambassadors the vast
wealth of the Temple and thus whetted their appetite for conquest and war with
Israel. But we again see redemption as Hezekiah repents and the Lord promises
that he will spare Israel during Hezekiah’s lifetime.
