Lessons Learned from the Godly Kings of Israel

This text has not been written to show how much better the godly kings had been than the ungodly kings. It has not been written to try to show that God had loved the children of Israel more than the people of all of the other nations. To the contrary, this text has been written to show that in some instances that the godly kings had done some things that had been just as bad as any of the ungodly kings of Israel. It has been written to show that the Lord had loved the people who had opposed the children of Israel just like He had loved the children of Israel. The notion that He had showed special favor to one type of people over another is not scriptural. God has always loved all of the people of His Creation even if He has not always loved everything that they have done. He has also always loved all of the people of His Creation even when they have not loved Him back. So it is hoped that those truths will be very evident to anyone who reads this book.

In the pages that follow, four truths will be emphasized. The first is that the Old Testament saints had not been continually indwelled by the Holy Spirit in the same way as the New Testament saints. That means that they had not had the same advantages in trying to live for the Lord. The second is that the scriptures do not and had not been intended to share exhaustive details about everything and everyone within their historical presentations. That means that they might share a negative event about a godly king without being concerned with trying to offset it with a positive event. The scriptures had been written to show God's involvement with humanity and to show people how to find Him. They had not been written to show that the godly kings really had been godly. The third truth that will be often shared is that all people are sinners. Therefore, one should not expect too much of the godly kings of Israel even if they had been godly. The fourth truth is that they had not lost their salvation even though some of them had done some pretty bad things.

So with those few thoughts, it is hoped that the readers of this text will find it instructive and educational. It is important for the saints of God to study the scriptures so that they can grow in the Lord. But in addition to that, it is also a lot of fun to study history. It is fascinating to see who had lived when and what they had been doing. So this text has been written for some of those purposes, too. But ultimately everything in this book and in all of the books that I have written is to bring praise, honor, and glory to the Lord because He is worthy of all praise.