Whoever is the leader of our particular nation here on earth, we all know who is the King of Kings.
But worldly rulers do exist & have existed for all of history. In the story of Judah there were some 40+ kings, all loyal to the Lord.
In this period leading up to the blessed time of Christmas, we thought it would be fun to look into the lives of some of these kings… but, of course, we will have holiday events & activities posted too as they come up., Judah itself was not an entity at the time of Jesus birth. Although of course, there were Jews who lived in the traditional Jewish homelands, these lands were ruled by Rome, as was to fatefully play out in the life of Christ.
The actual Kingdom of Judea ended in 586 BC when it was conquered by the Babylonians. This lead to the break up of the Jewish people into scattered tribes & the destruction of the great city of Jerusalem & the Temple of Solomon. It was the end of a 344 year reign for the dynasty started by Saul & continued by David.
Even after 586 BC, many of those still living in Babylon considered their leaders to be the kings in exile or exilarchs.
This was, of course, a difficult time for the Lord’s people, but it was also a time of growth & consolidation of the foundations of belief, as trying times so often are. This is the time when Isaiah & Ezekiel were written & we got the final version of Jeremiah. It was also a period of emphasis on increased holiness & purity.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves… next we will look at the life of Saul, the first King of Judah.
