Some events from the past are tipping point.

That is, if they had had a different outcome than they did, our world would be utterly

completely different. Maybe unrecognizable to us. The events in the scriptures we talk about

today are one of those key tipping points in history where the entire future of the world

hung in the balance. Hello, we're Scott and Maureen Proctor, and this is Meridian magazine's Come

Follow Me podcast, where today we will talk about the explosive events tucked into second kings

chapter 17 through 25. The history and context of the times will give the spiritual realities

discussed in these chapters vital meaning. After the death of Solomon about 928 BC,

the kingdom that David had united split. They became the kingdom of Israel in the north,

which loosely contained ten tribes, and the kingdom of Judah in the south, which was largely

made up of Judah's descendants. These two small nations were a vital land bridge, squeezed

between the two major superpowers of the day, Assyria and Egypt. Both Judah and Israel had certain

strengths. Judah had copper and iron resources, but Israel in the north had better rainfall and

a more fertile land. Both benefited in their position as a land bridge meaning they could bring

in considerable wealth through trade, but unfortunately it meant that they were often a battle zone

between Egypt and Assyria, their larger neighbors. Though the northern kingdom of Israel and Judah

in the south had come from the same origins as the children of Israel, they were often rivals that

war with each other, a condition that kept both of them weak. In the north of the 20 monarchs

that ruled, everyone was violent, reckless, and idle worshiping. Everyone. These 20 kings came

from five family dynasties, and it became common for a new king to kill all the descendants of

a previous leader to assure his place. During the 200 year period from the death of Solomon,

until the destruction of the northern kingdom, both kingdoms experienced times of independence

...