The Difference Between Israel and Judah

            After King Solomon sinned, he was told that his kingdom would be taken away from his son, Rehoboam. However, for the sake of King David (his father) only ten of the tribes (which would become Israel) would be given to Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam. The remaining two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, stayed loyal to Rehoboam, whose kingdom became Judah.

           There are a couple differences between the two kingdoms. First, the characters of the kings are different. In Judah, most of the kings are good, however some of them are bad. Good or bad kings depend on their faith in God. On the other hand, every single one of the Israelite kings was bad.

           Another thing was the worship of the people. King Rehoboam is known as a bad king; however, he did not have idols. King Jeroboam did not want his kingdom to be like Judah, so he allowed idol worship. Some of the people of Israel did not agree with this, so they left Israel to join king Rehoboam. Others just stayed and put up with their king. However, this led to idol worship throughout Israel until it fell! As for Judah, some of the bad kings made idols for their kingdom to worship, but they were later destroyed by later kings.

            The final difference is the consequences for sin. In Israel, many of the consequences for sin had to do with the death of their descendants. For example, King Ahab was the worst (as in most sinful) king in Israel and Judah! Because of this, a prophet told him that all his descendants would die violent deaths. Most of his descendants were murdered. One of them even fell out of a tower, which later caused death. Whenever a king of Judah sinned, the consequences had to do with the kingdom.

          Altogether, there are many differences between the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. The character of the kings, the worship, and the consequences for sin. I cannot wait to learn about another civilization next week.