Born To Win Podcast - With Ronald L. Dart

Almost any kingdom will get a little tired and old in 300 years. The House of Israel only made it a little more than 250 years. And Israel must have been worn out by the end of the long reign of King Manasseh. No one did more to corrupt the worship of God than did Manasseh in his day.The strange thing about all this was that it was not so much ordinary sin that destroyed Israel, it was idolatry. And the idolatry was not merely a pattern of setting up idols and bowing down to them. The idolatry involved destroying the lives of their own children, both in sacrifice and in temple prostitution. What makes idolatry different from other sins is that it destroys the way back to God for the repentant sinner. By the time King Manasseh died, some 330 years after the death of Solomon, the worship of Jehovah was on the rocks in Judah.And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. Amon was twenty and two years old when he be

There are some strange things about the way God works that I am not sure I understand. I know what he does, it just isn’t always clear why he does it the way he does. Take Sennacherib, king of Assyria, as a case in point. Isaiah, in his prophecy, acknowledges the truth of something Sennacherib said. He was a rod in God’s hand to chastise Israel. But the lesson that creeps out from this is that if God ever gives you a job to do, it is not a good idea to get on your high horse as you do it.When the King of Assyria besieged Jerusalem, he said quite frankly that God had sent him down there. I’m not sure he had any reason to think that. It may have been no more than a ploy on his part. But whatever the case, he went way over the line, as Isaiah will say in his prophecy. He wrote what I would call a smart-alec letter to Hezekiah that insulted God, and Hezekiah had the presence of mind to take that letter into the house of God and lay it out before him. He prayed a very short prayer. He acknowledge

Should we take God seriously? it may seem a stupid question to ask, in a way. We’re dealing with someone here who could blink his eyes and start the Big Bang. God spoke the word, and out of that comes a universe that is some 14 billion light years across. That’s who we’re talking about here, with that kind of power. But I’m asking it anyway because it seems to me that a lot of people really don’t—they really don’t take God very seriously. It's been said that the First Commandment reveals that our relationship with God is not casual—it’s rather covenantal. And I am persuaded that a lot of people take God very casually, and I want to explain to you what I mean. If you’d turn to the 50th psalm, there is coming a time when God will come, not quietly, but in a storm of fire devouring before him...

The Middle East is a very curious place, but I hardly need to tell you that. For instance, everyone learns the parable of the Good Samaritan in church, and they learn that the Samaritans were pariahs to the Jews. I wonder, though, how many people know that the Samaritans are still there. Fewer still will know the story of how the Samaritans came to be.The Assyrians carried all of northern Israel captive into lands beyond the Euphrates, and lest the land go to waste—just lie there and grow thorns—they imported people from other parts of their empire to settle there. After they arrived, though, they had a serious problem with wild animals, and assumed that it was because they didn’t know the God of the land. So the king of Assyria sent back a priest to teach them the right way. Presumably, this priest brought a copy of the Torah with him, because the Samaritans copied it and made it their own.There is a document called the Samaritan Pentateuch. It is a Hebrew copy of the first five books of th

Reading through the stories of the last kings of the house of Israel, I always get a feeling of ineffable sadness. That nation had been served by two of the greatest prophets who ever lived—Elijah, the archetype of all prophets, and Elisha, who had a double portion of the spirit of Elijah. There were only two more significant prophets during the entire history of the house of Israel. The first was Amos, who wrote during the last years of Jeroboam II. Then came Hosea, who wrote as the age of violence descended upon Israel. But after Hosea, God seems to have written Israel off. And I guess you have to expect that. There comes a point in time—when prophets are sent to them…and ignored, when they drop deeper into sex and violence—that they are judged as simply being beyond redemption. There is no significant prophet who speaks during the last 40 years of the kingdom.In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and captured Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Jano

It was now 126 years after the death of Solomon and the division of the Kingdom of Israel into two houses—the House of Israel and the House of Judah. A man named Amaziah came to the throne to rule for 29 years. To give you a feeling for the passage of time, if you count forward from the Declaration Independence—a similar sort of division—that 126 years would bring you to 1902. The comparable time period would be from 1902 to 1931. In Ussher’s chronology, this was 849 BC.And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did.2 Kings 14:3 KJ2000Note, he doesn’t hearken back to Solomon to look for an example, but to David. Now, we all know what a rounder David was at times, and a bloody man. So what does it mean when we look back to David as a kind of archetype? Well, the key element with David is that, while he did sin and was chastised for it, David never allowed idolatry to flourish and never

It is a sobering thought to consider that the Kingdom of Israel was once ruled by a woman—but not a very good woman. To secure her throne, she had all the royal children murdered. But a priest, Jehoiada, hid one of the boys, and thereby hangs a story. Athaliah, the queen, ruled for six years until the boy Jehoash was seven. Then the priest and the army conspired to dispose of her and place the young Jehoash on the throne. It was a good choice. The idealism of youth served Israel well for many years. The story is told in 2 Kings, chapter 11.And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord’S people; between the king also and the people.2 Kings 11:17 KJ2000Mind you, they are not going to be the people of Baal. They are not going to the people of no god or a nameless, generic god. They are Jehovah’s people. It turns out it was none too soon, because the worship of Baal was gaining a foothold in Judah.And all the people of the land went into

Are you angry? Are you mad at what is going on in government? If you are a Republican, you are probably mad at the Democrats. If you are a Democrat, you are mad at the Republicans. If you are an independent, you get to take your pick. But even here, we are forgetting something really important. Remember something Abraham Lincoln said to a generation of Americans:It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.That last line rings down through time. And it serves to remind us that if we need someone to blame, someone to be angry toward, we really ought to look in the mirror. Blame congress, blame the pres

Evil has lasting consequences. Not only was King Ahab corrupt, so were his children, who learned in their mother how to get the things they wanted. The corruption of his sons seemed inevitable, and the results of that corruption as inevitable as tomorrow’s sunrise. Of course, repentance was just as open to his sons as it had been to Ahab. It was just that none of them availed himself of it.Old sins do not go away of themselves. Trust me, they will be back. And they came back for Ahab’s family in the person of one Jehu, who became king of Israel and was commissioned of God to take care of some unfinished business with the family of Ahab and Jezebel. In 2 Kings, chapter 9, Joram (alongside King Ahaziah of Judah) joined battle with Jehu, and Joram was killed.Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take him up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and you rode together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden upon him; Surely I have see

All through this period of Kings, there is pattern that develops. The people would fall away, go after idols, and suffer all the results of that. In Judah, though, they would occasionally be led back to God by a reforming king—and God’s holy days would often be the reason for the reform. They showed the way back to God and out of idolatry.But in the House of Israel, from the time of Jeroboam, those holy days were gone. In a way, the people could no longer find the thread that pointed the way back to God. They were cut off. So in all their 250-year history, there was never a revival. There was never a good king that brought them back to God. They had lost the way and just couldn’t get it back. And now comes on the scene a very violent king of the House of Israel.And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead: And when you come there, look there for Jehu the son of Jehosh

The days of the prophet Elisha seem to have been somewhat unique in the history of Israel. Prophecy was vital in those days, but most of it was delivered orally. We don’t encounter much in the way of writing prophets until somewhat later. One Jewish writer, though, had this to say about a much later time in the history of the Jewish people that sheds a little light on this fact:At the same time, the prophets and the schools of prophecy, or sons of the prophets, as they are called in the Bible, were apparently centers of study and speculation in these spheres. The prophecy died out in the era of the great assembly, and this institution was faced with the additional task of handing down the spiritual heritage of the prophets to a younger generation.This comes in a discussion of the oral law and how it was handed down to later generations. Jewish scholars worked hard at this, and finally put together a written form of the oral law, called the Mishnah, and later, the Talmud. So the sons of the prophets is a

I’m still amazed at how many would-be prophets want to take on the mantle of Elijah. I think I mentioned that I have met three or four Elijahs in my time. What’s funny is that and I don’t recall anyone claiming to be a successor of Elisha, who had double the power of Elijah. That man is astonishing. But there is a reason for that. The reason is that Elijah was carried away and no one knew about his demise.Elijah was taken away and his death not recorded because he would serve as the archetype of prophets and because God intended to bring him back—not the man himself, but his spirit and power. And there is another curious aside: the idea of two men, overlapping but with one succeeding the other is repeated in the Bible. John the Baptist, according to Jesus, came in the spirit of Elijah, and then John the Baptist was followed by Jesus. And apparently this pattern will occur yet again. There is this scripture that always has people looking for Elijah:Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming o

In all of the Bible, who is the greatest example of leadership (apart from Jesus, of course)? Without a doubt, it’s David. When you speak of David in a Biblical context, the name needs no modifier. You don’t have to call him King David for a Bible reader to know exactly who you are talking about. His name occurs more than 1,000 times in the Old Testament alone.A curious fact: No one else in the Bible was ever named David. This is, I think, very unusual given the very human proclivity for naming kids after famous people. Yet, with David, it didn’t happen. It is almost as though God intended for David to be, and always be, one of a kind. Names in Hebrew mean something, and until recently, I had never looked at the meaning of David’s name, nor had I ever thought much about the characteristics of this man that made him such a great leader.He is easily the most influential and dominant figure in the Old Testament. He was the youngest of eight sons. His brothers thought he was arrogant. The

One of the most dramatic moments in all the stories of the Bible is that moment when Elijah and Elisha have crossed over the river Jordan, and a great whirlwind comes down from heaven, and a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire carries Elijah away. It was really something to see, I suppose. It was the moment when power was transferred from Elijah to Elisha, and Elisha received a double portion of the spirit of Elijah—along with his mantle. But there’s a puzzle here, and it isn’t so much that change of power. Later on, Elisha will fall sick and die of his sickness. Why was Elijah taken away so dramatically? Why didn’t he just follow his course; why didn’t he go to bed one day and die like Elisha did? What’s with this chariot and horses of fire?The assumption is that Elijah was taken up into heaven, but no one at the time thought so. The school of the prophets sent men everywhere looking for his body—wherever the tornado that took him away might have dropped him. And

It has been 62 years since the death of Solomon. For 62 years there have been two Israels: the House of Israel, now with a capital in Samaria; the House of Judah, capital in Jerusalem. You can cast your mind back 62 years from today and get a feeling for the passage of time even if you weren’t alive then. There are many old people who still remember King Solomon. And with the reign of King Ahab in Samaria, we can see how quickly a nation can go to ruin under bad leadership—how quickly they can go down the drain. And they were never, in all their history, able to find their way back.As the book of 2nd Kings opens, the scene changes from the wretchedness of King Ahab to the reign of Jehoshaphat in Jerusalem. It is more than a little confusing, simply reading straight through these books, because they are not in strict chronological order—instead interleaving events of the two kingdoms. At the end of 1 Kings, the editors dispose of King Ahab:So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and the

Not everyone gets this, but let me have a run at it anyway: God does not care for centralized authority. That is not to say he hasn’t allowed it. And I realize that, in one sense, everything that happens is allowed by God or it wouldn’t have happened. But there is another sense in which God seems to say, Okay, what you are asking for is not the best thing for you, but I will let you do it and work with you in it. But, you are going to have considerably more pain if you go this way. A case in point is the occasion when Israel asked for a king. God didn’t like it, but he allowed it. He then proceeded to tell them what was wrong with the idea. Nevertheless, they insisted, and God didn’t reject them out of hand because of it.But there is one thing that comes through to me in that story. (This was discussed back in the series before this, on the Book of Samuel.) It is that God endorses and supports maximum freedom for a people, and that he recognizes that power corrupts. Consequently, when

In my time, I have followed a lot of election campaigns. I remember sitting in a car, in the rain, in England listening to the Democratic National Convention on the BBC when Lyndon Johnson was nominated. But in all my years of following elections, I have never seen anything quite like this election season. The political process has always been a little crazy, but this one is really strange—and I find myself wondering every time it rolls around, Is this the best we can do?As a nation, we probably expect too much of our leaders and too little of ourselves. Like everyone else, I marvel at the weakness of people running for office, and I sometimes forget that they are merely a reflection of ourselves. I recall those famous lines from Abraham Lincoln about government of the people, by the people, and for the people and I don’t see how we can escape responsibility for what our leaders do and don’t do. We can’t sidestep that issue. If there are no strong leaders before us, it is our fault.I w

I simply cannot imagine a greater prophet than Elijah. He was not a smooth man, like I suspect Isaiah was. Isaiah was a poet, and a great one at that. I see no hint of poetic utterance in any word Elijah ever spoke. But then, every prophet that God ever called was chosen for the job at hand and for the people he was sent to talk to. One prophet was a sheep herder; another a fruit picker. They were pretty much ordinary men until God made them extraordinary. And as far as I can tell, none of them were really looking for the job when they got it. They were not self-assured men, either. Take Elijah as a case in point.No prophet who ever lived, before or since, has had the massive validation that Elijah got. He stopped the rain for three-and-a-half years just to get everyone’s attention. Then he called down fire from heaven in the sight of all the people in the most dramatic way possible. Having ridiculed false prophets in the most graphic of terms, he had the people bring them down from the mountain and kil