HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div
Here is a list of kings mentioned in the Bible for Israel, and when Israel and Judah became separate nations.
King Saul
King Saul was the first king of Israel and for a time was a good king, even prophesying (1st Sam 10:11-13) but God rejected him because of his disobedience to God. He never fully obeyed God and David was chosen to be the next king even though it would be roughly ten years before David would actually sit on the throne as King Saul sought after David’s life before he finally died.
King David
King David is the favourite of all kings for the Jews and in his lineage, of course, is Jesus Christ (Matt 1:6-17). Even though he committed adultery and conspired to have Bathsheba’s husband murdered, he repented (Psalm 51) and became Israel’s greatest earthly king and one of the most prolific writers in the Bible with the Book of Psalms.
King Solomon
King Solomon was the third king of Israel and the son of David and became the heir to the throne. He later married foreign wives who led his heart away from the Lord and into idolatry but he would later repent and wrote the greatest book of wisdom ever written; the Book of Proverbs as well as the wisdom literature of the Book of Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon.
Israel Divides
This was the time when the nation of Israel split and now there would be two lines of kings and Jesus’ saying proved to be true; a house divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:25). After Israel divided into two separate nations, they would eventually fall and be taken into captivity. The nation of Israel would fall into the hands of the Assyrian Empire and most of the nation of what is known as the Northern Kingdom would be taken captive. The Southern Kingdom, or Judah, would survive much longer, but in time they too would fall into idolatry and disobedience. Judah would be taken into captivity by the Chaldeans or the Babylonian Empire for seventy years.
The Kings of Israel
King Jeroboam
King Nadab
King Baasha
King Elah
King Zimri
King Omri
King Ahab
King Ahaziah
King Jehoram
King Jehu
King Jehoahaz
King Joash
King Jeroboam II
King Zachariah
King Shallum
King Menahem
King Pekahiah
King Pekah
King Hoshea
This was the last king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel as God sent them into captivity for continually falling into idolatry. The nation of Israel or the northern ten tribes of Israel would disappear from history but not forever.
The Kings of Judah
King Rehoboam
King Rehoboam was not the king of Israel but of Judah since only the tribes of Benjamin and Judah were included but the Levites were among those staying loyal to King Rehoboam and the nation of Judah.
King Abijam
King Asa
King Jehoshaphat
King Jehoram
King Ahaziah
King Athaliah
King Joash
King Amaziah
King Uzziah
King Jotham
King Ahaz
King Hezekiah
King Manasseh
King Amon
King Josiah
King Jehoahaz
King Jehoiakim
King Jehoiachin
King Zedekiah
This was the last king of Judah before they fell into the captivity of the Babylonians and would remain there for seventy years as written about in the Book of Daniel.
Conclusion
The cycle of prosperity included; forgetting God and His laws, falling into idolatry, being taken into captivity, repentance, restoration to the land and then prosperity again only to start the vicious cycle all over again. It was as if Israel never learned her lesson but many nations are falling into this same trap today. Once a nation is prosperous, they tend to forget the God Who brought them that prosperity. People are like this too. They cycle through times of prosperity, idolatry (might be money or possessions), troubles, repentance, restoration, prosperity, and then back into forgetting God again. How am I like this? How are believers like this? How are nations like this? We see what has happened to Israel in the past; can it happen again to the nations of the world? We often repeat history because we have failed to learn from it. Any nation that turns its back on God will have God turn His back on them and pay for that in a substantial way.
