Fifty Shades of Grace Chapter 8

Chapter Eight—Adultery and Divorce

Did you ever read through the stories about the Old Testament Kings? First there was Saul who started out good but then became evil. Then David came along. He was a shepherd who took care of sheep, fighting off lions and tigers and bears…well maybe not tigers. But he was a courageous boy who fought off the giant Goliath with a little slingshot. He later became a courageous warrior and won victories over all of Israel’s enemies. David was a man after God’s own heart, and God loved David so much that he promised him that one of his sons would be a king who would do everything right and rule over his people forever and ever. Why couldn’t it be David? Well, even though David loved God with his whole heart, David wasn’t perfect. He committed several very bad sins like taking another man’s wife and then killing the man to cover up his sin. Just when we started to think David would be our hero, he had to go and blow it! 

David and Goliath

But then Solomon came along and he was the wisest man who ever lived. God especially loved Solomon and gave him all kinds of wisdom and made him rich and famous, too. Solomon was the one that God appointed to build the temple.

Solomon's Temple

All the kings of the earth came to bring him gifts and hear all his wisdom. Wow! We hope he will be the one who gets it all right, with all that wisdom and everything. But no. At the end of his life, he started to worship other gods. 

WHAT?!? 

HOW COULD HE DO THAT? 

Even the wisest man in the world has let us down. Why do we feel so disappointed? 

Rehoboam was the next king and he was only partly good but during his reign, God divided the kingdom into two nations: Israel and Judah. Jeroboam ruled over the ten tribes of Israel and he made golden calves for the people to worship and he told them a BIG FAT LIE! He said, “These are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” That is called rewriting history and rulers do it all the time to make their people follow them instead of God. Some of the people in Israel did not believe Jeroboam and they gave up all their property and possessions to go live in Judah so they could worship the true God. The nation of Israel never had good king again.

In 722 B.C. God finally divorced Israel! Remember how he made a marriage covenant with her in the wilderness? Remember what he told them about what would happen if they refused to obey? Well, Israel was never faithful to God again after Jeroboam. She committed spiritual adultery, worshipping other gods again and again, and God was patient for a very long time, but then he had to bring judgment on them. He issued a divorce decree and Israel was given over to the Assyrians. The Assyrians spread the Israelites out over the entire empire so that they lost their national identity and they never solidified to become a nation again. 

The nation of Judah was all that was left now and these people became known as Jews because that is much easier to say and spell than Judahites. The nation of Judah had some good kings and some bad kings. Abijah was the next king of Judah after Rehoboam and he was a bad king. His son Asa started out good, but then took a wrong turn and became bad. But Asa’s son Jehoshaphat was a very good king. King Jehoshaphat listened to the prophets of God and did what they told him to do. In most countries at that time, the king was the highest person in the land and he got to make all the rules. But in Judah, God was supposed to be the real king, and the prophets of God were his messengers to the kings, so the kings were supposed to listen to the prophets. 

Jehoshaphat was a good king who read the laws of God and  sent priests and Levites all throughout Judah to teach the people the laws of God. Then he even went out to all the cities himself to make sure they were getting it right! Do you think he might be the one who gets it all right and never does anything wrong? 

No. Jehoshaphat made some pretty bad choices. He made friends with the King of Israel who was one of the wickedest kings to ever live. His name was Ahab and he was married to someone even more wicked than he was. Her name was Jezebel and she worshipped lots of idols and killed the prophets of God. Ahab and Jezebel had a daughter named Athaliah and King Jehoshaphat made an agreement with Ahab that his son would marry Ahab’s daughter Athaliah. Boy, did that ever turn out to be a big mistake. 

Jehoshaphat also went to war as Ahab’s ally because he still believed the Israelites were God’s people. But they were not God’s people anymore and that was another big mistake. Jehoshaphat did continue to trust in God though and did very good things for the people, so even though he was a big sinner, he was a very good king because he trusted in God. 

Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram was the next king and he was the one who married Athaliah. He was an evil king who did not trust God and he was so bad that God gave him a horrible disease and he died in a lot of pain but nobody cared. Then his son Ahaziah reigned for a few years but died very young so his mother, that wicked Athaliah took over the throne. She was even more wicked than her mother Jezebel. She tried to kill all of her grandchildren! How wicked is that?!? But one of them—a little one year old baby—was hidden and kept safe until he was old enough to be king. 

Evidence of God's Grace to Me: