This is the Bible Book Club. I'm Heather and I'm Susan. And we're in the book of First Kings. Welcome to the club.

Last episode in chapters 10 and 11, Solomon attained influencer status and his wealthy, wise reputation was extolled worldwide.

And for good reason, his kingdom was draped in gold, and his shipping trade traveled the world

spreading his reputation and acquiring even more gold treasures.

And so, of course, everyone wanted to meet him.

And many did, and then they brought gifts, and some of the gifts were women who became his wives. Some of the wives worshipped other gods and some of the other gods were attractive to Solomon. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He broke the covenant, and there were consequences to Solomon and also to Israel.

The peace came to an end. Okay, let me set up this next section of First Kings. I'm going to

summarize what's going to happen in the rest of First Kings and Second Kings because Chapter 12 begins a new era,

the era of the divided kingdom, with Israel in the north,

retaining 10 tribes, and Judah in the south with two tribes, it says one, but it's Judah and

Benjamin. The divide sets the stage for ongoing conflict, rebellion, decline, and captivity.

The crux of all we will read is right there in the center.

Conflict division, rebellion, decline, captivity. There will be conflict amongst God's people.

There will be division in the nation of Israel. God's people will rebel against God. Both kingdoms will decline without God, and the people will be carried off into captivity. Rebellion is the heart of Israel's

decline. Each of the two kingdoms will rebel, and the northern kingdom of Israel will be taken captive by the Assyrians in Second King 17.

The southern kingdom of Judah will be taken captive by the Babylonians in Second Kings 24.

When we finish the books of kings, the kings will have led God's people right back where they started into slavery and still very much in need of a savior.

The ultimate sin in Israel's journey from conflict to division to rebellion to decline to captivity was a lack of repentance. Israel could have turned,

but they didn't. As a result, there were consequences. The lesson for us is that rebellion without

repentance leads to captivity. It may not look like the kind of captivity is really experienced,

but it will be devastating just the same.

If you think about it, there are probably people in your life right now being held captive,

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