The Everlasting Covenant

A Record of Iniquity

If we take the kings that reigned over the northern portion of Israel after the kingdom was divided upon the death of Solomon, we find a worse record still. There were some righteous kings in Jerusalem; but beginning with Jeroboam, “who did sin, and who made Israel to sin” ³ each successive king over the rest of Israel was worse than the one before him. EVCO 452.2

Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, “did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.” ⁴ EVCO 452.3

Baasha “did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.” ⁵ EVCO 452.4

Omri, who built Samaria, “wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities.” ¹ EVCO 452.5

Yet bad as Omri was, “Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him;” “and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.” ² EVCO 453.1

Thus matters went on until the Lord could say by the prophet Jeremiah, “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh truth.” ³ Such a man was hard to find; “For among My people are found wicked men; they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore are they become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine; yea, they overpass the deeds of the heathen.” ⁴ EVCO 453.2