I DO NOT blame the people in Jesus’ time! They awaited a king! A king Saul, a king David…
- Saul (1020–1000 BCE)
- Ish-bosheth (Esbaal) (1000–991 BCE)
House of David
- David (c. 1003–970 BCE) – made Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
- Solomon (c. 970–930 BCE)
- Rehoboam (c. 930–915 BCE)
After Rehoboam reigned three years, the United Kingdom of Israel was divided in two – the northern Kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam, with its capital, first in Shechem, then Penuel, Tirzah, and finally Samaria, and ruled by a series of dynasties beginning with Jeroboam; and the southern Kingdom of Judahwith its capital still in Jerusalem and ruled by the House of David. Under Hezekiah rule in the Kingdom of Judah, the Neo-Assyrian Empire conquered and destroyed the northern kingdom 722 BCE leaving only the southern kingdom of Judah.
Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)
First Dynasty
Second Dynasty
Third Dynasty
Fourth Dynasty
No dynasty
Fifth Dynasty
No dynasty
Kingdom of Judah
- Abijah (r. 915–912 BCE)
- Asa (r. 912–870 BCE)
- Jehoshaphat (r. 870–849 BCE)
- Jehoram (r. 849–842 BCE)
- Ahaziah (r. 842–840 BCE)
- Athaliah (Queen) (r. 840–836 BCE)
- Jehoash (r. 836–796 BCE)
- Amaziah (r. 796–767 BCE)
- Uzziah (r. 767–750 BCE)
- Jotham (r. 750–735 BCE)
- Ahaz (r. 735–716 BCE)
- Hezekiah (r. 729/716 – 697/687 BCE)
- Manasseh (r. 697/687–643 BCE)
- Amon (r. 643–640 BCE)
- Josiah (r. 640–609 BCE)
- Jehoahaz (r. 609 BCE)
- Jehoiakim (r. 609–598 BCE)
- Jeconiah (r. Dec 9, 598– March 15, 597 BCE)
- Zedekiah (r. 597–586 BCE)
🤔 History? Or His Story?https://theologycurator.com/roman-empire-during-time-jesus/Mind you! The ‘comic relief’ was the inscription above the cross.
John 19:19 records, “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” John 19:20 continues, “Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.” Today, many times when the cross of Jesus is displayed, the letters INRI are placed on the sign above the cross. In Latin, the text “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS” would have been written, “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum.” Abbreviated, this phrase results in “INRI.” It is unlikely that the letters INRI were truly on the sign that Pilate placed over Jesus’ head, as John 19:20 specifically states that the sign was written in Aramaic, Greek, and Latin.
Although John’s gospel refers to the writing as a “title,” Mark and Matthew both refer to it as an “accusation.” It was customary to set up over the heads of persons crucified the crime for which they suffered, and the name of the sufferer. The accusation on which Jesus had been condemned by Pilate was his claiming to be the King of the Jews. Ironically, the “crime” for which Jesus was crucified is not a crime at all, but an absolutely true statement. Not only is Jesus King of the Jews, He is the King of all – the King of kings and the Lord of lords (Revelation 17:14 and 19:16). He is King over all the universe and all its inhabitants. And it was not any crime of His own that was nailed to the cross; it was the crimes (sins) of everyone who would ever put his or her faith in Him for salvation. He has “blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).
The acronym INRI represents the Latin inscription IESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDÆORVM (Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum), which in English translates to “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews” (John 19:19). John 19:20 states that this waswritten in three languages: Hebrew, Latin and Greek and was put on the cross of Jesus.
This says so much! At the birth of Jesus.The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2:13–23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the infant Jesus since King Herod would seek the child to kill Him. For Jesus was prophesied to be King of the Jews. But, in fact Jesus is King of The Universe! He has been placed above all things.Amazing! No? It was placed to subvert an uprising. In studying ‘culture; the Isrealites, a ‘wayward‘ people…https://bible.org/seriespage/2-perspectives-unfaithful-israel-hosea-41-19
The Assyrian captivity (or the Assyrian exile) is the period in the history of Ancient Israel and Judahduring which several thousand Israelites of ancient Samaria were resettled as captives by Assyria. This is one of the many instances of forcible relocations implemented by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian monarchs, Tiglath-Pileser III (Pul) and Shalmaneser V. The later Assyrian rulers Sargon IIand his son and successor, Sennacherib, were responsible for finishing the twenty-year demise of Israel’s northern ten-tribe kingdom, although they did not overtake the Southern Kingdom. Jerusalem was besieged, but not taken. The tribes forcibly resettledby Assyria later became known as the Ten Lost Tribes.
Biblical account
The captivities began in approximately 740 BCE (or 733/2 BCE according to other sources).[1]
And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day. (1 Chronicles 5:26)
In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and he took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria. (2 Kings 15:29)
In 722 BCE, nearly ten to twenty years after the initial deportations, the ruling city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Samaria, was finally taken by Sargon II after a three-year siege started by Shalmaneser V.
Against him came up Shalmaneserking of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.
And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. (2 Kings 17:3–6)
And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes: because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORDcommanded and would not hear them, nor do them. (2 Kings 18:11–12)
The term “cities of the Medes” mentioned above may be a corruption from an original text “Mountains of Media“
The Book of Kings states several times that the entire people of the Kingdom of Israel had been taken into exile by the Assyrians. Some believe that the Books of Chronicles information about the fate of the Northern Kingdom adds up differently. What is often cited is 2nd Chronicles, Chapter 15, which mentions that there had been people from the hill-country cities of Ephraim and Manasseh who were captured by the Judean king, Asa of Judah. And Asa, sojourning among the Judean kingdom population, returned practicing the Hebrew belief. However, this is a mis-characterization of the events. Since those scriptures clearly declare that it was at a time when the Northern Kingdom was still intact, this happened in an era before the Assyrian Captivity.
The Isrealites awaited a Messiah.https://www.markbarnes.net/2005/11/waiting-for-god-old-testament-expectation-of-the-messiah/As they have in time; they asked for a king; which started with Saul.
Israel Asks for a King
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of yourfields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answeryou in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him’ John 1:11
In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Mark there is an account of a visit by Jesus to his hometown with his followers. On the Sabbath, he enters a synagogueand begins to teach. It says that many who heard were ‘astounded’, and that they were offended, asking “is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary?”. It adds that he could do no ‘deeds of power there’ except to heal a few sick people. Amazed at the community’s lack of belief in him, Jesus observes that “Prophets are not without honour, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” (Mark 6:1-6)
The account given in the Gospel of Matthew differs from this account by having those in the synagogue describe Jesus as the “son of the carpenter” and stating that he could not do many deeds of power (rather than none). (Matthew 13:54-58)
The Gospel of Luke moves this story to the beginning of Jesus’ preaching in Galilee, to introduce what follows. In this version, Jesus is described as performing a public reading of scripture; he claims to be the fulfillment of a prophecy at Isaiah 61:1-2. (Luke 4:16-30)
In Matthew and Mark the crowd is also described as referring to Jesus as being the brother of James, Simon, Joseph, and Judas (in Mark they also mention, but do not name, Jesus’s sisters) in a manner suggesting that the crowd regards them as just ordinary people, and criticising Jesus’ quite different behaviour.
Luke adds that Jesus recounted stories about how, during the time of Elijah, only a Sidonian woman was saved, and how, during the time of Elisha, though there were many lepers in Israel, only a Syrian was cleansed. This, according to Luke, caused the people to attack Jesus and chase him to the top of a hill in order to try to throw Jesus off, though Jesus slips away. Some scholars conclude that the historical accuracy of Luke’s version is questionable, in this particular case citing that there is no cliff face in Nazareth. There are, however, several sharp precipices in the vicinity.
The negative view of Jesus’ family may be related to the conflict between Paul the Apostle and Jewish Christians. A. N. Wilson suggests that the negative relationship between Jesus and his family was placed in the Gospels (especially in the Gospel of Mark) to dissuade early Christians from following the Jesus cult that was administered by Jesus’ family: “…it would not be surprising if other parts of the church, particularly the Gentiles, liked telling stories about Jesus as a man who had no sympathy or support from his family.” Jeffrey Bütz is more succinct: “…by the time Mark was writing in the late 60s, the Gentile churches outside of Israel were beginning to resent the authority wielded by Jerusalem where James and the apostles were leaders, thus providing the motive for Mark’s antifamily stance… (p. 44).” Other prominent scholars agree (e.g., Crosson, 1973; Mack, 1988; Painter, 1999).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rejection_of_JesusWe can follow that the people expected a leader. Many followed Jesus for this reason!
Matthew 4:25 states, “And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.” In the context of Matthew 4, here are five reasons people followed Jesus.
1. THERE WAS A CLEAR IDENTIFICATION (MATTHEW 3:13–17)
Matthew 3 records the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was glad to identify with the man John the Baptist, the message of repentance, and the manifest of the gospel of the kingdom. Jesus was not wishy washy when it came to identifying with what He believed and why He believed. He was meek yet bold, silent yet strong, humble yet confident in His baptism which identified Him.
Leaders do not have the luxury to be unclear when it comes to identification. If you have been called to lead, you absolutely cannot be afraid to identify clearly and publicly with who you are and what you believe. People will not follow nor respect an individual who is called to lead yet timid about identifying who they really are. On a side note, let me add that Jesus did this with all humility. Leading like Jesus will never cause you to be abrasive, rude, loud, and obnoxious. None of these traits are Jesus’ leadership traits. Humbly identify yourself with Christ, the gospel, the Bible, and the Christian faith, but do so with a spirit of humility.
2. THERE WAS A CONQUERING OF TEMPTATION (MATTHEW 4:1–11)
Jesus, following His baptism, was lead into the wilderness and tempted by Satan forty days and nights. It has always been interesting to me that this identification of baptism was immediately followed by a testing to prove His identification. Jesus passes this test with flying colors by correctly quoting and applying the Scriptures. Jesus was followed by many because of the purity of His life. People watched Jesus and knew that He was genuine. Pilate even said he could find no fault in Jesus.
Spiritual leaders must conquer temptation if they are going to lead people. People need examples that live a life of purity and will not succumb to the fiery darts of Satan. Jesus was worthy of following because He lived a life of purity and example to those who followed Him.
3. THERE WAS A CONTRASTING ILLUMINATION (MATTHEW 4:12–17)
Jesus begins to preach and comes into a region of spiritual darkness. The Scriptures states in Matthew 4:16 “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light sprung up.”There was just something different about Jesus!
He brought light to darkness, hope to hopelessness, faith to doubt, love to hate, and life to death! Everywhere and everyone He met saw a great difference and felt the difference when He was with them. Spiritual leaders should strive to leave people better than where they found them. The only way to make a difference is to be different! Jesus changed the world because the world could not change Him!
4. THERE WAS A CONFIDENT DIRECTION (MATTHEW 4:18–22)
Jesus calls His inner circle of disciples to vocational ministry in Matthew 4. While calling them, Jesus knew exactly where He was going, where He wanted them to go, and how to get it all accomplished.
“And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”—Matthew 4:19
5. THERE WAS A COMPETENT COMPASSION (MATTHEW 4:23–25)
I am constantly amazed at the compassion of Jesus. He was intimately involved in ministering to other people, but His compassion was competent. His compassion was not just a “I’ll be praying for you brother” type of compassion. Jesus knew how to solve problems that people presented to Him.
Leadership is not about identifying problems only, it is about solving problems. Dr. Tom Malone once said to me: “The greatest churches and pastors are the churches and pastors that fulfill the Great Commission and resolve the problems that come along with it.” Problems are always going to arise because people always have problems. People are not the problem, but people have problems. Jesus never ran away from the problems, He was compassionate and component to resolve the problems that arose while ministering to people.
I am so thankful for every book on the subject of leadership I have read, but I have yet to find a greater leader or book written on leadership than Jesus Christ and His Word. Let’s strive to lead like Jesus today!
http://ministry127.com/pastoral-leadership/5-reasons-people-followed-jesushttps://www.google.com/amp/s/www.biblegateway.com/passage/%3fsearch=Mark%2b6-10&version=NLT&interface=ampWhat were the people looking for? what do we look for today?Much like the Isrealites upon the line of Moses, they wanted a leader! we have a leader! And a Head! The Head Crowns it all! Cold, Hunger, Sleep, Movement, Work, Desire, Wants and need….Where do these come from? In god’s Image, we are made! God spoke and it is!
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Thank you so very much. Be continually blessed in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Thank you, be blessed with The Peace that passes all understanding, IJ , Amen
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