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Why does the Old Testament refer to Israel and Judah as two different kingdoms or nations of God’s people?
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The various kings and rulers of the land Israel in totality, had differences of opinion, varying loyalties – some advocating idolatry and evil, others clinging feebly to what God had commanded – all put together, The once great kingdom of David and Solomon parted and formed a Northern Territory and Judah. God loved all the people in these two separate kingdoms but each in turn, turned their backs on God from time to time.
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The people of Israel and Judah shared Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as their common ancestors. They shared a common origin and bloodline. But all these commonalities were physical. God was interested in their hearts and the purity of their faith. Faithfulness was what made them His people.
The children of Israel, i.e., Jacob, were chosen to be God’s people, to live in covenant with Him in a theocracy. They were to have no other gods. God granted them their request and gave them a human king so that they would be like other nations. But the crowning of an earthly king did not release their hearts from the covenant with God. They were to remain faithful to Him only and not worship any other gods.
King David, Israel’s second king was a man “after God’s own heart.” David ruled over a united kingdom of all twelve tribes of Israel. Because of David’s faith in God, God promised him an eternal kingdom (a promise God kept through Jesus.) The faith of Solomon, David’s son, was tainted by his worship of many false gods. Because of Solomon’s unfaithfulness, God stripped away ten of the original twelve tribes from the kingdom of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam.
The ten tribes that God stripped from Rehoboam’s kingdom, were called Israel throughout the remainder of the Old Testament. The remaining two tribes were called Judah, because they were ruled by the house of David who was from the tribe of Judah.
From it’s inception the kingdom of Israel was ruled by kings who were unfaithful to God. Throughout it is history Israel never returned to God. He used the Assyrian empire as His tool of judgment and destroyed the kingdom of Israel. Many of the people of Israel were relocated to other areas of the Assyrian empire.
The kingdom of Judah was ruled by a series of kings, all descendants of King David. Some were faithful to God and some were not. God remained faithful to Judah because of David. Finally, because of her unfaithfulness, God brought judgment on Judah. This judgment was the destruction of the temple, the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people of Judah by the Babylonian empire.
Unlike the kingdom of Israel who was never allowed to return to their homeland, God brought back the people of Judah from Babylonian captivity. They once again lived in their homeland, but except for a short period of time in their “between the testaments” history, they remained a people subject to foreign rulers. It was not until 1948 that they once again had a homeland to call their own.
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The united kingdom of David and Solomon divided into two separate kingdoms in 930 BC. Israel was the northern kingdom and Judah the southern kingdom. Israel and Judah had their own kings and leaders. Israel quickly turned from honoring and worshiping the one, true God. They turned instead to idol worship and worshipping Baal. They made alliances with corrupt kingdoms rather than heeding God's call to return to Him, that He would protect them.
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Because of the unfaithfulness of Israel. One followed (to a point) the True God the other was led astray to follow false gods. Just like us today, some follow the True God, other try to make their own way. They are deceived into thinking that some how there is more than one way, more than one god path to heaven. They are wrong.
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The split in the nation produced two kingdoms. Israel was the most corrupt God rejecting of both kingdoms. Judah wasn’t perfect but at least several of the kings tried to follow after God.