Notable, But Stained Past

Notable, but stained past.  We learn early on in our reading of the kings of Israel and Judah, that there are good and bad kings.  Those kings who do right before the Lord and those who do evil by disobeying the Lord.  Abijam was an evil king who continued in the same sinful path as his father before him.  One might ask, why doesn’t God just remove the kingship from that family.  The reason is, “But for the sake of David, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up his sons after him and by preserving Jerusalem.  For David did what was right in the Lord’s sight” (1 Kings 15:4-5). Abijam is noting continuing in the kingship because he is faithful and doing a good job.  He is continuing in the kingship because of God’s mercy and faithful promise to David that one of his descendants would always be on the throne.  So, David is certainly a notable example.  His faithfulness to the Lord is remarked upon by further stating that David had not turned aside from anything the Lord had commanded him all of his days (v.5).  The unfortunate part, is there is one exception mentioned, “except in the matter of Uriah the Hethite” (v.5).  Uriah, the faithful solder in David’s army who was performing his duties as a solder, while David was taking a break from performing his duties as king.  I have been told that you may doing a 100 things right, but it is the one wrong that people will remember.