“And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the LORD God of their fathers.” (2Ch 11:16 AV)
After the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam assumed the throne. Because of his idolatry, the LORD informed Solomon that the twelve tribes of Israel would be divided into two nations. Ten tribes coalesced around a man named Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon. As more of a statement of being different, and the fear the ten northern tribes would reunite because of shared worship in Jerusalem, Jeroboam went all in with idol worship and the worship of devils. As Israel (the ten northern tribes) committed to devil worship, the priests of Jehovah found no use. Their ministry was lost among wicked worship, so they left and came to Jerusalem. It was a pragmatic decision. If Israel were going to abandon Jehovah, they were not going to support His priests. They had to leave in order to live. What might be interesting here is that the bible stipulates who it was that left. “Such as set their hearts to seek the LORD” suggests some did not. There may have been priests who had such a situation that returning the Jerusalem was not necessary or desirable. Perhaps their situation was settled and ministry did not matter. How sad. What we do know is that those who desired to follow the LORD and serve Him went to where the LORD would be worshiped!
Someone might think this as a reverse missions devotion. Are not the people of God supposed to go out into a lost world as share the gospel to the lost? Yes. But this is different. Israel had the word of God. They had a relationship with Jehovah. God would send many prophets into Israel. Isaiah, Jonah, Elijah, and Elisha to name a few. When the priests left, this did not create a silent vacuum from God’s truth. God still sent messengers. Rather, when the priests left, they left because there was no ministry for them. The people of God did not want the hear the word of God taught. It was too bad for them that they didn’t want to hear it at all. The prophets of God made sure that they did. The priests of God had to leave. They lost their purpose. They lost any hope of a purpose. They could always return. If Israel would have gotten right and desired the LORD Jehovah, the priests could have returned. What is worth noting is that those from Israel who desired to remain faithful to Jehovah either made the trip to Jerusalem or relocated there. The congregation to whom the northern priests were sent came to them. In relocating, they condensed their ministry and continued.
We don’t want to consider logistics as much as we want to note the character of these priests. They had a heart for God. They wanted to live for God and serve God. They wanted to be among people who desired the same. I imagine it took a lot for them to uproot and relocate. They left their homes. They left their friends. I also imagine the hardest thing to do was to leave people with whom they had ministry, knowing they would never respond to God. In a way, this was a mercy. It is difficult to see a group of people turn their backs on God and want nothing to do with Him or His word. Especially after they had invested their whole lives with them. It took character to walk away from a failing ministry because God was more important than anything else in life. They had the courage to come apart. They had the faith to trust the LORD in spite of what it might cost them. They loved God, and of that there was no doubt.
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