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Through much of Kings, the parallel of North and South has been deigned to emphasize the South’s apostasy. When the South becomes a mirror-image of the idolatrous North, it's a sign of Judah's doom. Here, the mirroring goes the other way: Yahweh's faithfulness to David's house is reflected in His faithfulness to Israel for the sake of Abraham (vv. 22-25). This gives us considerable insight into the situation of post-Reformation Christendom. Israel, despite her idolatries, despite several generations of Omride rule, and despite a king and queen that had explicitly abandoned Yahweh and promoted Baal, is still Yahweh's covenant people. Yahweh continues to bless them in ways they do not deserve. This ultimately makes the idolatry far worse, but the continued existence and prosperity of Israel is a lesson to Judah about God's faithfulness.
It is sometimes suggested that a church goes apostate when it begins to persecute saints and reformers. But here we have Israel, which has been engaged in a systematic extermination of prophets, still considered the covenant people of God.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 at 12:42 PM
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1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
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A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
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