♪♪♪ male announcer: Welcome
to "Our Jewish Roots," with insightful Bible teaching
from Israel by Dr. Jeffery Seif. This week, we begin our
examination of the kings of ancient Israel and Judah in
our series "King and Kingdoms." ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ David Hart: Thank you
for joining us today, my name is David Hart. Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart. Jeffrey Seif: And I am Jeffrey
Seif, and we are going to climb into the bowels of
biblical history and consider key people and key
moments in the Hebrew Bible. Kirsten: Through the kings
of Israel, the royalty. David: Bad kings, right? Jeffrey: Famous and infamous. Tragically, they didn't
fare all that well. Kirsten: There's a lot of drama
coming up in this series-- Jeffrey: This drama, there's
trauma, and there's triumph too when we figure the
King of kings, but will get to him later. Kirsten: That's good. David: Dr. Seif is on location
at the Mount of Olives. Let's go there now. Jeffrey: This is a great place,
and I've got great stories to tell you from it. It's a fascinating place. The great land of Israel,
the city of Jerusalem. You can hear bells, I imagine
I hear them behind me, someone celebrating something. There's good news,
there's bad news, there's all sorts
of news here. And today, we're going to
explore it with biblical views. I'm interested in
the book of Kings. Actually, an old Hebrew Bible,
1, 2, 3, and 4 Kings, from Saul at the beginning all the way to
the ending kings with the fall of the northern and southern
kingdom, and we're going to explore that in this
series, "Kings and Kingdoms." Now, I'm interested in
the principals, that is the principal kings
themselves, the principals. I'm also interested in the
principles, that is the values, the virtues that they
lived by or didn't live by. It's a great story. Some were on the rise,
others on the demise. We're going to
consider that story. Here I am on the Mount of
Olives, I'm going to go up the hill and talk to you
about it a little more. Stay with me. The story of Israel's kings
is rather complex. It's my job to make it simple
and to make it relevant to you, and I'm glad to do it
from here in Jerusalem. Speaking of here,
you'll see that I have here some paraphernalia
that goes with the story. A crown, these were
expensive, handmade, bejeweled. A scepter, a symbol
of authority. These were expensive too. These monarchs held these
as--they would point to a certain direction and
what they said went. "You, go.
You, come." They point, they move,
and the world moves. Similarly, there's
robes they wore. They were--they were
decked out. Of course, there's a tax base
that pays for all of this and more, and the prophets
warned about that, but the people insisted on it. I mention this because when we
look at the period of kings in the Bible, it's precipitated by
330 some odd years of misery. There's no centralized
authority, all the tribes were like states, but they
weren't forged in a federation. And they were weak,
they were constantly overcome by their
enemies. And I'm going to open up the
Bible in a second and you're going to see where people want
a monarch, they want a king. Mono was one, arche is
a Greek word for rule, they wanted a leader. And we're going to see
leadership's important. It's also important for that
principal leader to be tethered to biblical principles, and
that wasn't always the case. When we look at the story
of Israel's kings, it starts off with Saul, Shaul. But he wasn't bridled
by biblical virtues. He dissipates, he
evaporates, we see his demise. And against that backdrop,
we have the rise of David, who comes out of nowhere, providentially a man
after God's own heart. And led by that disposition,
we see that he enjoys success in life
against all odds. We see, however, that he
gets a little too attracted to that which comes with
his office, and he forgets the one who gave it to him. He starts living in an
entitlement mode, and that becomes
his undoing. Happily for him, however,
when we look at David, he turns, he repents, and that
salvages him and his dynasty. Solomon comes in short order
in the biblical text, and his emergence comes
with a lot of fanfare and success and
good things. But he just proves faithless
and spends the better part of his administration indulging
in that which comes with it, and this will be
his undoing. The net result, his son
Rehoboam comes to power, and with him comes a civil war,
the north and the south. There's a revolt. The united monarchy ceases, it's
what we call a divided monarchy subsequent to Rehoboam,
and the net result is political intrigue, war,
death, decay, disorientation goes
off the charts. The northern kingdom that breaks
away is going to have 19 kings, it's going to have 200 years of
history before it's destroyed, and 9 dynasties. Lots of intrigue, lots of
despair, we want to look at that and consider what happens
when people turn away from God. We want leadership that's godly,
not just in our broader cultural home, but in our
individual homes as well. We're going to see there's a
correlation between success in life and commitment to biblical
vision and virtue, doesn't matter who you are. Kings can think they're
above it all, but they're not, and we see that. We look at the story of
the northern kingdom, it spins into decay and
de-care and disrepair, and eventual dissolution. The southern kingdom is not
going to go through dynastic changes as was the
case with the north. They're going to have 28 kings,
but only eight of them are going to prove themselves to be
men after God's own heart. The net result too is that the
southern kingdom is going to experience all kinds of decay
and disorientation as well. Well, rather than just talk
about the Bible story, I want to take a look at it, if you
will, where it all begans-- where it all begins,
excuse me. Where it all began,
past tense, for the purpose of
kings and kingdoms. We're looking in the
book that we call 1 Samuel. The reason why I say that we
call 1 Samuel is because the ancient Hebrews called this
1 Kings, and what we call 2 Samuel 2 Kings, et cetera. But any case, never mind that. In chapter 8, verse 5,
people are pressing the prophet to anoint. They want God's
hand in the matter. They want God's approval. They want his anointing, but
they want a singular king. And they press him
vociferously, they're pressing, "Appoint for us a
king to judge us." Now, with that, they
weren't just looking for an administrator for
their civil affairs. True, they wanted
that, but beyond that. Well, I would imagine the reason
why they appealed to that is Samuel, the guy they were
appealing to, was the judge, but he was regional,
not national. And not wanting Samuel's sons as
a replacement, they say, "Give us a king to judge us." But really they're looking for
more than that, they're looking for someone to bring them
together in a federation and give them good success by
uniting their energies to stave off the troubles of the day. Used to be back in the day
if the tribe of Issachar was invaded, so was it--it
was Issachar's problem. But now if a singular tribe is
invaded, the king sends forces to bear from all the tribes. The thinking is, and it makes a
lot of sense, that they can have good success because the king
can marshal more energies in order to have success. And this is true in principle,
but as we're going to see time and time again in the biblical
text, and I hope you see it when you cast your vote for whatever
you're voting for or for the way you live your life, that there
are things that can make sense in a human sense, but as we're
going to see, people need to be tethered to biblical
vision and virtue. One thing that's clear in the
biblical text is that when it comes to kings,
kingdoms, leaderships, success in life, it's fidelity
to biblical literature that pays the dividends. ♪♪♪ Jeffrey: It's one thing
to dress like a king, it's another thing to
actually be one. And if you're going
to be a king, you have to have a kingdom. The word "kingdom" itself is
a conflation of two words, the king's domain. That is the area
where the king rules. If a king is going to
rule from an area, a king is it going
to need a capital. And no one knew that more than
Israel's essentially first and arguably greatest king. Well, there was one before
David and we'll get to that in a moment, but David himself,
when he came into his own, he really felt that compulsion
to go for capital city in a place known today
as Yerushalayim. The city itself or the area
itself, however, was inhabited by the
Yebusi, the Jebusites. And here, this is an "Our
Jewish Roots" exclusive, we're taking you
right to the place. We're retrojecting
back in time 3,000 years. If these stones could talk, they
would speak of the Jebusites who built these as part of
their fortifications. We read in the biblical
literature about the Jebusites, and we learn how David
stealthily got the better of them and established his city
and his capital not right here, but up there in
the city of David. I love taking you to it,
and I love taking you to the Bible that tells
the story of it. And as we look at kings and
kingdoms, indeed that's a story that
we need to tell. Men are always clamoring
for power, and there is so much political intrigue
associated with it because people want
to wear the crown. I mention that because we see
political intrigue in advance of David's ascension to power. There's political intrigue
throughout his reign, all kinds of tensions. And then in David's waning
years, there's political intrigue associated with
who's going to succeed him. I'm going to open up the Bible
in a little bit and speak to that, but now just the
issues associated with that. In a series that deals with
kings and kingdoms, even in biblical literature, we see all
kinds of machinations at work yesterday much as we see
them today as individuals are jockeying to be the man of
the hour with the power. A difference in the biblical
economy, however, is that leaders were not elected,
leaders were selected. That is to say the story begins
with God himself appointing, anointing in fact. We know in biblical literature
the word "mashiach" or messiah means
anointed one. It might as well mean appointed
one because there's providence at work with God
picking a person. Well, God picks the person
with a net result is they're given power. Their keeping power and using it
successful is predicated not on the dint of their own
determination, but to the extent that they adhere
to biblical principles. I say that because as we go
through this series and we're really just beginning it now, as
we go through a series looking at kings and kingdoms, you are
going to hear me alighting upon issues associated with
faithfulness to biblical vision, virtue, and value. That in and of itself, according
to the biblical text, lends itself toward the
success of the kings and then the success of the kingdoms. I'm going to open up the Bible
a minute and we're going to see how that's played out, that is
this jockeying for power and what God does with it. "The Lord declares to you
that the Lord himself will establish a house for you. When your days are over and you
rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring
to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will
establish his kingdom." Coming here now from the very
base of the Jebusite city of old, and you can see
it's the base 'cause we're right down
to bedrock now. And you can see with
the Yebusi, the Jebusites
placed rocks on top. They're building up their city
and their fortifications all around, but we're
right here at the bedrock. To me, it's a good point to
talk about building a life on good bedrock. Jesus talked about a good
foundation that's built solidly, and then it stands
the test of time. There's so much political
intrigue with power, dynasties come and go, and it's good to
have a foundation to build upon. And the Scriptures,
it's just the best foundation that I know of. And we can see when we look
at the life of David, Saul himself was initially
the king, but he got too much into being the king. He wanted to wear the
robe and have the power, but he didn't want to do that
which went with the job. He wound up losing
the power and the job. David, on the other hand,
seemed to march to the tune of a different drummer. He, in fact, was a man
after God's own heart. And the Torah
beckons individuals-- [speaking in Hebrew] We're to love the Lord with all
our hearts, soul, and might, and that's a great
foundation for a leader. Unfortunately, when it comes
to leadership, there's all kinds of
machinations and intrigue. And sometimes there's pretense
of obedience to the Lord, but it doesn't work
out in substance. I note that because even in
David's own life, when we open up to 1 Kings in the first
chapter, we're told that Adonijah the Haggith
exalted himself, saying, "I will be king." Now, this was
David's fourth son. Two were killed, we don't know
what happened to the one between them, but this fellow figured
he--you know, "I am the heir and I'm
entitled to this." You know, and David is waning
with his faculties and with his health, so he
asserts himself. What's going to happen
is Bathsheba, his wife, is going to inform him,
"Time out, stop. No, it's Solomon who's
the one to succeed." I mention this because when
it comes to politics, there's always political
intrigue and jockeying. I think it best to look for
individuals who are endeavoring to build on bedrock of good
promise as opposed to scheming and manipulating the way to get
to the top with fancy words and extension of
their own ambition. I don't mind ambition, but what
would I look for in a leader, and as we look at kings and
kingdoms in the Bible, you're going to see what the Bible
looks for in leaders and holds them accountable to, is
whether or not they build their own lives and
kingdom on the bedrock of biblical faith,
vision, and virtue. More on that as we
continue in our series. male announcer: Our resource
this week, the series "Joshua: More Than
a Conqueror" on DVD. This eight-program series
reveals how Joshua went from spy to Moses's apprentice, and
then became the faithful leader of the Israelites during the
conquest of the land of Canaan. With dramatic reenactments,
vital teaching from Dr. Seif, insight from Chaim Malespin,
music, and much more. Contact us and ask for your
copy of the DVD series "Joshua: More
Than a Conqueror." announcer: If you only watch
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tour of Israel and Petra, or a cruise to
Greece and Ephesus. Please contact us
for more information. Kirsten: There's a
wealth of extra content on our social media sites. Find us there, lots
to watch and read. David: This series Dr. Seif
will be teaching on location. We could not do any of this
without your financial support, so we just want to say
thank you so much for that. Right now, let's go to Sarah
Liberman, and she's going to be teaching us this whole series
"Words of Praise and Worship." Today's word is praise. ♪♪♪ Sarah Liberman: Shalom haverim. Welcome to our new series of
"Words of Worship in Hebrew." I am so excited as a worship
leader to bring these words to you because I know that
they will change your life. You see, in English, we have
about two words to describe praise and worship, but in
Hebrew, when you study what the Word says, you will
understand that there's so much more of the expression
of worship and praise, and I know that it will
transform your life. Our first word today is the word
"lehallel" which comes from the root word "hallel,"
which means praise. We have over 400 of these
references In the Bible in verses like, "Great is the
Lord and greatly to be praised." Or, "Let everything that
has breath praise the Lord." [speaking in Hebrew] Now, the word "hallel"
means to brag, or to boast, or to be the greatest fan. You know, like when people go to
watch their favorite sports, or group, or rock band, they're
yelling out, they're shouting out, they're boasting about
the great accomplishments of their idol. This is the same attitude
that we have in worshiping God. It is to be the biggest and
greatest fan of the Lord. So, next time you're in
a worship service, I hope that you
think about this. And when you praise and you
worship God, you exhort him and you become the greatest fan
that you can be of the Lord. Let everything that has
breath praise the Lord. ♪ One of your own. ♪ ♪ Call him to meet us, ♪ ♪ establish his throne. ♪ ♪ I have chosen
a shepherd ♪ ♪ after my heart. ♪ ♪ King of my people, ♪ ♪ my anointed one. ♪♪ ♪♪♪ David: We love having Marty
with us, he will be with us throughout this series. Kirsten: Marty has been a friend
of this ministry for many years, and
so has Avi Lipkin. And recently, Jeff sat
down with Avi to speak about the kings of Israel. Let's go to that
conversation now. Jeffrey: Avi, so good
to be with you. Avi Lipkin: Great to be back
with you again. Jeffrey: We're kind of tethering
into a program here that's looking, among other things,
at Saul and David, political struggle, the
right kind of person, the right kind of
ideas to emerge. What do you think
about all of that? Avi: Well, we are looking
at different stages in the history of Israel. As you know, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob were a family. We went to Egypt, we
came out a people. We came to the land of
Israel and we were tribes, and we had judges,
and we had no king. And all of a sudden, the
people clamored for a king. And God says, "You don't need a
king," but the people wanted it, so we got a king,
and that was Saul. Terrible things happened
to Saul and Jonathan. And after Saul and Jonathan,
we see the rise of King David. And King David turned us not
into a nation, but a superpower, and it was a great thing. We were all the way from
Egypt to the Euphrates. Jeffrey: Yeah, it is an
evolutionary process at one level. I'm not speaking in the
scientific term, but you just did the whole good
part of the history of the Old Testament
in 30 seconds. How does it apply to the modern
world that we live in? Any thoughts? Avi: Well, again, we went
into the Holocaust as a-- like a family. We were butchered,
we were killed. And then one of the greatest
miracles in human history was the resurrection of
the state of Israel. And Jews came home
from all over the world. Actually, Jews and
some Christians also. And I predict that for the
future also, that many Jews and Christians will be
moving to Israel. And all of a sudden, we see
Israel in a little compact United Nations partition plan
becoming the 1949 borders, then the '67 borders,
then '73 borders. And we are now, I believe, in
the period before a major war at some stage with major border
changes as a result of ISIS causing complete collapse of
the Arabic countries around us, creating a vacuum,
and then we pull in. So, this is kind of
like a neo-David era. Jeffrey: Yeah, and so
to your point, difficulties notwithstanding,
the kingdom expands. There's obstacles, there's
tensions, but by God's grace, we all carry on. ♪♪♪ David: Dr. Seif, you have
some impressive titles under your belt like, let's see,
policeman, pastor, and today you look like a professor. Jeffrey: Well, yeah,
30 years of Bible college seminary professor. Why do you ask? David: Well, what is this? Kirsten: Well, 'cause this looks
like a score card, something. Jeffrey: Well, a report card,
you know? I wanted to give a grade. Kirsten: Those always
make me nervous. My palms are sweaty
right now. David: I see a red one over
there too, a red one. Jeffrey: You know, I'm not God. Saul right off the bat,
I give him an F. I'm very unimpressed by him
pretty much from the get go. He was in it for himself, he
wasn't minded to lead, and he didn't want to brave the
hazards, jump into the fray and take care of business. So him, sorry Saul,
it is what it is. I'm a tough teacher. David: You are. Jeffrey: David, it's not
a whole lot better. To tell you the truth, I like
David personally. I mean, he's one of my favorite
figures in the Bible, I love it. You know, he starts off, you
know, Judea's in trouble, and it expands under
his administration. As a leader, he's just the
best of the best of the best. Good heart, you know, jumps
into the fray, a warrior. I love all that, but I have
trouble forgiving him because of Bathsheba. I think he had too many
women personally. There are eight wives,
never mind concubines. Kirsten: A to a D. Jeffrey: You know, yeah, it's
kind of like, well, you know, overall, I just got to finish up
with a D, you know, because I'm just reminded, you know, as a
leader, as a politician, I give him an A, but I look at him
through a religious lens and I'm very unimpressed by the
deal with Bathsheba, the adultery, the
murder, the deceit. God could forgive him
that, his own sons didn't. The end of his days end in
misery, he's running from his own kids, there's
turmoil in his own house. David: Seems like there's
a little theme there, maybe backsliding. Jeffrey: Yeah, I think
he went backwards. The grace of God, you
know, put a check to that, and I trust I'll see him on the
other side of the grave-- Kirsten: But he was still a man
after God's own heart, right? Or did he lose that? Jeffrey: Well, he lost it for
a season, he regained it, but he lost his family
even in regaining. You know, God forgave him,
his sons didn't apparently because again, he finishes
poorly in that regard. On the whole, as far as leaders
go, pound for pound, he's as good as they get in
the Old Testament. But it's hard for me to
overlook those indiscretions. Kirsten: Let's keep
that humility in the hunger for God, yes? Jeffrey: Yes. David: Looks like just the
beginning also of what we're going to learn. Jeffrey: It's just the
beginning, yes. Let's not make the same
mistakes, what do you say? Kirsten: Come back-- Yeah, I was just going to say,
come back next week and join us for another
"Kings and Kingdoms." Jeffrey: Please do. Until then, sha'alu
shalom Yerushalayim. David: Pray for the peace
of Jerusalem. announcer: Join us right now
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