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Sunday, January 24 2010
History is filled with irony (or hypocrisy, depending on whether or not what happened was in accordance to the LORD's will; a direct command by the LORD is neither ironic nor hypocritical - it's pure and righteous, period). Nations that were at one time subject to the rule of other nations, sometimes reversed the role. Such was the case of Israel in the time of David and Solomon (see The United Kingdom) when the Israelites had risen up from a nation of freed Egyptian slaves to itself the ruler of nations, from Egypt to Iraq (see Emperor David).
"8:1 And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Methegammah out of the hand of the Philistines.8:2 And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.
8:3 David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates. 8:4 And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David hocked all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots." (2 Samuel 8:1-4 KJV)
"The king of Moab hath rebelled against me"
Israelite imperialism (see also Emperor) continued after the The Division Of Israel during which both The Northern Kingdom (known as "Israel") and The Southern Kingdom (known as "Judah) ruled over other nations. Sometimes, the occupied nations attempted to fight for their political freedom. Such was the case of King Mesha of Moab who rebelled against King Jehoram of Israel (see Kings of Israel and Judah and Israelite Dynasties).
"3:4 And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the Wool. 3:5 But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead [see also The Fall Of Ahab and Jezebel], that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel." (2 Kings 3:4-5 KJV)
Jehoram apparently didn't think that he could defeat the rebels himself. He sought help from Jehoshaphat, king of Judah (another irony, since Israel and Judah had declared independence from each other in the same way that Moab was now seeking its freedom from them; Israel and Judah had actually fought wars against each other for that and other reasons - see Jews At War With Israel).
"3:6 And king Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time, and numbered all Israel.3:7 And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle?
And he said, I will go up: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses.
3:8 And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way through the wilderness of Edom." (2 Kings 3:6-8 KJV)
The LORD (i.e. Jesus Christ - see 'Before Abraham Was, I AM') delivered the victory to Israel and Judah. It was to be an onslaught: "3:18 And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. 3:19 And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones" (2 Kings 3:18-19 KJV)
"3:21 And when all the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them, they gathered all that were able to put on armour, and upward, and stood in the border. 3:22 And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood: 3:23 And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.3:24 And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but they went forward smiting the Moabites, even in their country. 3:25 And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone, and filled it; and they stopped all the wells of water, and felled all the good trees: only in Kirharaseth left they the stones thereof; howbeit the slingers went about it, and smote it.
3:26 And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom: but they could not. 3:27 Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel: and they departed from him, and returned to their own land." (2 Kings 3:21-27 KJV)
Fact Finder: Will Israel and Judah ever be reunited?
See The Gathering of Israel and Judah and David, Future King Of Israel
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This Day In History, January 24
41: Roman emperor Caligula was assassinated. Caligula had succeeded Tiberius, who ruled the Roman Empire at the time of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. (see also New Testament Roman Emperors)
1076: German bishops renounced their subjection to Pope Gregory Synod of Worms (Vorms, rendered in English as Worms, is a city in Germany).
1458: Matthias Corvinus was elected the king of Hungary, He was the son of the popular Hungarian nationalist leader John Hunyadi.
1568: The Spanish imperial governor, the Duke of Alva, declared William I (William of Orange) of the Netherlands an outlaw. William was a leading founder of Dutch independence.
1639: The Fundamental Orders, regarded by some as the New World's first constitution, was written by representatives from three towns in Connecticut.
1742: Charles Albert of Bavaria was proclaimed Holy Roman Emperor as Charles VII. Charles opposed the Hapsburg, Francis, husband of Maria Theresa (see Emperors and Popes).
1848: James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in California.
1915: A British fleet under the command of Admiral Beatty defeated the German navy under Von Hipper at the Battle of Dogger Bank. During that First World War battle, the cruiser Blucher was sunk, killing 870.
1965: Winston Churchill died at age 90. He served as the Prime Minister of Britain during the Second World War.
1966: Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru (India's first prime minister), became prime minister of India after the death of Sri Shastri.
1972: On Guam, a Japanese soldier from World War Two was discovered. Shoichi Yokoi had spent 28 years in the jungle with the belief that the war that ended in 1945 was still ongoing.
1978: A Soviet Union satellite, powered by a nuclear reactor, re-entered the earth's atmosphere and disintegrated over northern Canada.
1981: Millions of workers in Poland boycotted their jobs to support the Solidarity trade union's demand for a 5 day work week. The communist government eventually relented.
