History is Shaped by Human Choices

As we begin, I want to make a comment about the Israelite concept of history. In God's remarks to Solomon, a couple of times he said that he would establish Solomon's throne forever. And we see other places in the prophets where God promises that something will be true forever.

But it's very important that we understand how the Bible understands history in contrast to the pagan understanding. The pagan understanding is that everything that has happened had to happen, and everything that will happen had to happen. Everything is connected.

Time is an endless cycle, coming from nowhere, going nowhere, and everything in the cosmos is interconnected with everything else. This is how the horoscope is understood. On the day you were born, the stars were in a certain configuration, and that configuration then dictates what the rest of your life will look like.

You think you have choices, but you really do not. History is determined. Therefore, the task of the prophet in the pagan world is to try to understand where these connections are working, and therefore what has to happen to you in the future. That's called “omenology.” There are signs, there are omens, that give clues as to what has to happen in the coming days. 

The Hebrew Bible does not understand history in that way at all. Omenology is forbidden strictly in the Bible. You must not pursue omens. You must not try to figure out what's going to happen on the basis of what has happened, or on the basis of the stars, or on the basis of a flight of birds, or the entrails of a sheep. No, you must not, because history is shaped by human choice. Amazing, amazing. 

And so, the prophet says, here's what's going to happen. It's going to happen. It's certain, if you fulfill the conditions. That you and I shape the future. 

Now, let me hasten to say, we don't determine the final outcome. That's in God's hands. He has the final outcome securely in his hand. But how we reach that outcome, and we saw it there in Solomon's pray. If the worst should happen, then God, we depend upon your grace and your forgiveness to somehow redeem us from that tragedy.

So, you're going to be on the throne forever, if you and your descendants fulfill the conditions. Israel, you will never be troubled by the nations again, if you meet the conditions. So, history is not determined in advance. History is shaped along the way by human choices. 

In a real sense, this goes all the way back to Genesis 3. Why is the world in such a mess? Well, Satan fell from heaven, he brought a third of the angels with him, and the world has been in a mess ever since. No, the world is in a mess because the first two humans made a tragically sinful choice.

Dr. John Oswalt

From the class, 1 and 2 Kings, lecture 6 on Solomon's Achievements, Glory and Reckoning