Men and women, such as Samson, Gideon, Deborah, and Barak (Heb.11:32), would stand as giants and champions upon the pages of their national history in their ongoing struggle for continued freedom and independence -- a blessing promised and given by their God to their forefathers if they remained faithful and obedient, but a national judgment by other nations if failed. Later in this Period of Judges, this national zeal and personal courage would become focused and symbolized in their continuing judge, priest, prophet, and leader, Samuel, and who himself in his old days, after overwhelming pressure from the people for a successor, would eventually appoint a first king (I Sam. 8). Thus began the Period of the Kings. It must be remembered here, that God never intended the twelve tribes of Israel to have an earthly king. He alone would be their ruler, preparing them for the time when He would manifest Himself through His Son, their expected messiah, and assume His rightful position upon His millennial throne. Israel was to prepare all nations of the earth and be the door through which they would come to Him. All would bow before Him alike, Jew and Gentile, subject and king, calling Him the only One, Lord of Lords and King of Kings. The world was to learn through Israel that there was only one God of creation and that He was also a God of Redemption for this fallen creation. They were to teach this and His name to the kingdoms of the earth.

Although Saul would be their first (1053 B.C.), it was the second, their well-loved king David in 1013 B.C., one said to have been after the very heart of God, who would come to epitomize everything good and desirable about an earthly kingdom. At its best, his would be the standard by which all other kingdoms would be measured (II Chr.7:17-22; 17:3; 21:12; 28:1; 29:2; 34:2-3). And it would be through his lineage, they would say, a descendant would come (and indeed did - Mat.1:23; Lk.2:11) and assume his throne (and thus will - Isa.9:6-7; Mt.19:28; 25:31-34; Lk.1:32-33; Acts 2:30; Heb.1:8; Rev.3:21; Ro.14:11; Ph.2:10). It was through David's dream and driving desire, a temple for God's glory would be erected during his son's time.

Nevertheless, for a time, this national faithfulness would cease. Its decline would begin in his son Solomon's reign (973 B.C.), himself admitting the myriad of foreign gods through his many wives and concubines. At the end of his reign in 933 B.C., the great kingdom would be divided, never to rise in such splendor again until the coming of the messianic millennial kingdom at the end of the ages. To the north would be called Israel, composed of ten tribes, with its capital in Samaria, and to the south, Judah, comprised of the two remaining tribes, with Jerusalem continuing as her capital. The contrasted brevity of Israel's kingdom to Judah's is indicative of how far removed from God and bloody and rapid were the succession of Israel's kings. Over the next few centuries (200 for Israel, 400 for Judah) nineteen kings would come and go respectively in each nation, none of which from Israel would turn or allow his people to return to God. Pagan altars would be erected at her northern and southern borders and pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem for holy days would be forbidden. Among these kings, likely the one most well known to us, was Ahab, and his wicked pagan wife, Jezebel. During this time, Elijah and his successor, Elisha, would appear as prophets to this kingdom. Including other prophets before and after them, none would be able to return Israel to their binding Mosaic covenant with God. Assyria from the north would finally sweep away Israel (northern kingdom) in 721 B.C., never again to return (giving rise to the commonly know term, "the lost ten tribes of Israel"), leaving hope only for the now tiny nation of Judah to the south to learn from her sister's example. But learn she would not.

Of Judah's nineteen kings (one wicked queen), only eight could be classified as somewhat good, attempting at some point in their reign a returning of some degree to the laws of Jehovah. Although Hezekiah (aided by the prophetic ministry of Isaiah) may be the best remembered by most (because of the miracle in his life - Isa.38), it was likely Josiah who was the most consistent in his endeavor to restore faithfulness to their covenant with God under Mosaic law. Finally, after many unsuccessful attempts by God to get her to return totally to Him, in 606 B.C. He allowed Babylon to take possession. Not Ezekiel's nor Jeremiah's prophetic work would be sufficient to intervene in this time.

Thus she began under foreign domination and continued down her destructive rebellious path, until finally in 586 B.C., God turned away from her entirely, allowing Jerusalem and her cherished Temple to be destroyed and all but a dispersed few of the poorer class taken captive to Babylon. There, for the next 50 years, with their harps hung in silence in the willows by the rivers of Babylon (Ps.137), their song would cease and a remnant would learn their long-delayed lesson. They would introduce the synagogue form of worship, study and teach the Law, and return in 536 B.C. with renewed patriotism and religious zeal, never to bow under another nation's ways and gods again. The temple would be rebuilt in 515 B.C. and the Mosaic Covenant zealously restored and forever embraced. From the plagues in Egypt to the stripes of Babylon, God had been attempting to correct and mold their minds and hearts to fidelity of Him. And so they emerged, with a new song in their hearts and upon their lips (Ps.126).

As a result of having been separated from Egypt as a cult, and grown and settled as a nation within a rich land of promise, a nation at one time that excelled all others in glory, so much so that kings and queens from afar came for a personal look bearing many gifts, the Jew since did not feel that it was their destiny to live within this land under any foreign rule. Since 606 B.C., they had lived under the banner of heathen kings, first Babylon, then Persia, next Greece, and finally Rome, except for a short period of independent rule under the Hasmonaeans from 167 to 63 B.C. At times, foreign powers, some themselves called "God-fearers" by the Jews, were sympathetic and co-operative to Jewish freedom, culture, and religious practices, as was seen under Cyrus in the early days of Persian rule. Meanwhile, as the years passed, rulers came to power without an appreciation for the history of their nature and struggle for survival as a people under divine covenant and viewed them as divisive and a threat to the commonwealth of their country. As Hellenism expanded, for some, this desire to mainstream the Jew into their own culture took on a very personal and often tragic tone. Jewish freedom was denied, religious practices forbidden, and death for noncompliance to their orders for allegiance was exacted with swift vengeance. Such was the time that led to the Maccabean revolt against the then Syrio-Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes (167 B.C.) and the independent Jewish era that followed.