Daniel Unlocked #11. The Journey Begins.
As we study the book of Daniel, one powerful point will come through. God is not only sovereign over all the nations but also intimately acquainted with each of us, at even the deepest level. For example, as we will see in Daniel 2, He was able to give a pagan king a dream. To be able to get into someone’s mind while that person is sleeping and implant a dream reveals a closeness that we cannot even begin to fathom. At the same time, as we will see, the nature of the dream reveals that God is ultimately in control even of the world’s vast empires and knows how everything is going to end. What comfort and hope can we draw from these depictions of reality? At the same time, how does it make you feel to know that the Lord is so close that He knows your very thoughts?
After the reign of Solomon, the twelve tribes of Israel spit in two and engaged in sporadic civil war. The 10 northern tribes made up one group, and Judah (the largest tribe) and Benjamin made up the southern kingdom.
The dominant world power at the time was Assyria. In about 740 BC and finishing in 722 BC Assyria invaded Israel and took the 10 northern tribes captive. This was because of their disobedience to God and the way He had directed that they should live. In 701 BC the Assyrians under Shalmaneser marched south into Judah; however, they were unable to capture Jerusalem due to the Lord’s intervention (see 2 Chronicles 32:22).
The Lord had long warned Israel of judgment, going all the way back to Moses’ stern warning in Deuteronomy 28:62–65. 2Kings 17:13 says,
“Again and again the Lord had sent his prophets and seers to warn both Israel and Judah: Turn from all your evil ways. Obey my commands and decrees—the entire law that I commanded your ancestors to obey, and that I gave you through my servants the prophets.”
Many attempts had been made to turn the people back to the Lord, including efforts by Elijah and Elisha, two of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history. Both these men were prophets to the Northern tribes of Israel.
2Kings 17:15–18 describes the many ways in which Israel sinned against the Lord, leading to His judgment upon the land: Israel broke the Law, worshiped other gods through idols —even burning their children as offerings—and used divination as part of their godless lifestyle. God was not going to destroy them because of His covenant with Abraham – they would go into captivity! Only the two southern tribes had remained faithful, and they stayed in the land given to Abraham.
Though a remnant remained in the north, the nation of Israel was under Assyrian rule, and the rest were deported and made servants in Assyria. The Assyrians replaced them with people from other nations they had defeated (listed in v24). The descendants of these foreigners and the remnant of Israel were later simply called “Samaritans.”
During the time of Christ, the Samaritans were despised as an “unclean” people because of their mixed ancestry and rejection of temple-based worship.
Thank you Ross for your knowledge and sharing this with many.
it’s a wonderful to know what a mighty God we serve and while ever we remain faithful to him he,ll always look after us God bless you