2 Kings 17:6-23 meaning

With 2 Kings 17:6-23, the chronology brings the end of the northern kingdom of Israel/Samaria.

The Writer of Kings Explains Why the Northern Kingdom Fell

The ninth year of Hoshea is 722 BC, the year of Assyria’s conquest. Scripture tells us that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Hoshea (2 Kings 7:3) and Hoshea began to pay tribute. Archeological history tells us that Assyrian king Shalmaneser V died during or just after the siege, and his successor Sargon II claimed the conquest of Samaria as his own (from the Khorsabad Annals).

It could be that Hoshea began paying tribute during the reign of Shalmaneser and when he died Hoshea thought he might make a better deal with Egypt. Or it could be that Shalmaneser broke Samaria and Sargon completed the deportations and consolidation. The writer of Kings skips those details. He names no Assyrian king at all, saying merely that "the king of Assyria invaded the whole land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years" (2 Kings 17:5).

The narrative picks up in this section with a terse declaration of Samaria’s demise: In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes (v. 6) (see map). Who the Assyrian king happens to be at the time is not particularly relevant because the agent behind those agents, as the next eleven verses will insist, is the LORD.

The geography of the deportation is precise and worth noticing. Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes trace a wide arc across the upper Mesopotamian basin and into what is now northwestern Iran. Halah probably refers to a district near Nineveh. Habor is the modern Khabur River that empties into the Euphrates, Gozan is identified with Tell Halaf in northeast Syria, and the cities of the Medes lie east of the Zagros mountains.

This geography tells us that Israel's dispersion is wide; the ten tribes are not held in one place where a return could be easily organized. Further, the dispersion is into Gentile heartland; Israel is now living among the very nations whose practices got them exiled.

Sadly, this dispersion lasts without end, in contrast to the later exile of the kingdom of Judah to Babylon, which had an expiration date. Eventually King Cyrus of Persia will decree that the people of Judah can return home, seventy years after they were first exiled. But no return will be decreed for the northern tribes of Israel. The phrase until this day in verse 23 makes that point explicitly to the original readers of Kings.

Since the author says in 2 Kings 17:19 that Judah still remained, we can infer that part of the purpose of 2 Kings was to warn Judah to turn from their disobedience to their covenant with God; this is a description of the covenant default provisions in Deuteronomy 28:15-68.

A similar post-mortem regarding Judah is expressed in 1 Chronicles 9:1, telling us that 1 and 2 Chronicles are written from a perspective of Judah after having been exiled. This tells us what is made abundantly clear in scripture—Judah did not learn and apply the lesson they could have learned from the fall of Israel. It will only be about one generation hence that Judah will fall to Babylon.

Although the writer tells us the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, the narrative hastens to dispel any thought that the primary causation is Assyria's strength or a political miscalculation of Hoshea in shifting his allegiance to Egypt. The passage next asserts that the reason Samaria fell is to enforce the breach of their covenant with God: Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods (v. 7).

The God they had abandoned is described with the clause who had brought them up from the land of Egypt. The God they exchanged for other gods is the God who broke the actual gods of Egypt to bring them out. Israel has not merely added pagan rituals to a Yahweh-centered life (which is already a contradiction, since Yahweh forbids idolatry at any level, and to center worship on Yahweh cannot include other gods even in the periphery); Israel's fundamental orientation of reverence has shifted. They are pointed at other gods now—they serve gods who promise to give them their desires instead of serving the God who has proven He is worthy of their trust.

That the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God points to their covenant breakage. Israel entered a covenant/treaty with God that took the suzerain-vassal treaty format common to the day. The distinction was that rather than a superior king who promised protection to an inferior king in exchange for loyalty and annual payments of tribute, God promised blessings in exchange for loyalty to Him through obeying His commands to love their neighbors as themselves. Further, God made His covenant directly with the people (Exodus 19:8).

The enforcement provisions for covenant breakage set forth in Deuteronomy 28:14-68 tell us that the fate of Israel and Judah was something they chose. The consequences of their choices were made clear, but they chose them anyway.

However, even though the covenant breakage provision was enforced, Israel was not rejected as being His people. God promised that when Israel was disciplined for breaking His covenant, He would restore them (Deuteronomy 32:35-36). We see in Revelation 7:4-8 that the twelve tribes of Israel will still be in existence during the last days. Jesus promised that His twelve disciples would sit on twelve thrones judging Israel when His kingdom came (Matthew 19:28). God does not reject Israel as His people because His gifts and calling are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).

In a similar manner, New Testament believers are secure in their position as God’s children but are warned that disobedience leads to adverse consequences (Romans 1:24, 26, 28, 6:16, Galatians 6:8). Notwithstanding consequences for sin, New Testament believers are in Christ, a part of the new covenant in His blood. Since we are in Christ we cannot be rejected by God because He would be rejecting Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

The passage next names two sources of corruption which fed into Israel's disloyalty, the customs of the local nations and the customs of corrupt kings: And walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced (v. 8).

The first source of corruption is the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out—the Canaanite practices that the conquest under Joshua was supposed to remove from the land. Israel was tasked with eliminating these peoples and their exploitative culture but failed to do so. We can read of the practices of the Canaanites in Leviticus 18. They include a gross array of incestuous and exploitative customs, even extending to child sacrifice, the offering of the false god Molech (Leviticus 18:21).

These were the practices that caused God to judge these nations (Leviticus 18:25). Just as God warned, it then became the reason for Israel's subsequent exile (Leviticus 18:26-28).

The second source of corruption deals with the kings: the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced.

The kings of the northern kingdom set up institutionalized worship innovations that operated as a substitute covenant, displacing God's laws. Jeroboam I's calves at Bethel and Dan that supplanted worship in Jerusalem are blatant examples (1 Kings 12:26-30). But verse 8 generalizes the indictment to the whole royal succession. The kings actively manufactured pagan drift. The passage will return to Jeroboam by name in verse 21, but here it is already implied.

In verse 9, the nation did things secretly that disobeyed God in addition to conducting false worship in public: The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the LORD their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city (v. 9).

The geographic phrase from watchtower to fortified city is a merism—a literary device meaning "everything in between." The same construction is used for Hezekiah's reach in 2 Kings 18:8—meaning everywhere, from the smallest outpost to the largest city. There is no town in the northern kingdom without a high place constructed for idol worship. The corruption is total in extent, not merely concentrated in the capital.

The same is true with practice. Their disobedience was not just public, as in the high places. It isn't just that the sons of Israel were going along with the kings. This was also part of their private dealings, all those things done secretly. The point of verse 9 seems to be an indictment that the corruption was completely thorough in both spirit and extent. Even when no one was looking, they continued to do things which were not right against the LORD their God

The sacred furnishings of pagan worship are cataloged in verse 10. They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree (v. 10).

The sacred pillars are standing stones used in Canaanite worship to mark a deity's presence at a site, often associated with Baal. Asherim are wooden cult objects representing the consort goddess Asherah. Asherim refers to wooden symbols of a female deity.

The Ugaritic texts confirm Asherah as a major female deity in the Canaanite pantheon, often paired with male pagan deities of El or Baal. Idolatry of any kind is transactional in nature, where the worshipper offers a sacrifice in exchange for what they desire. Asherah was a supposed goddess of fertility—wombs, crops, herds.

The Asherah pole stood beside the male pillar, often a phallic symbol, at the high place. With Baal, the god of storms, the worshipper gained the promise of life and rain, two essentials in the ancient world. Perhaps not surprisingly, this fertility-laden cult included sexual relations with cult prostitutes as a part of the "worship."

Rather than loving God and loving others, this cult was exploiting others to get one's own way. Thus, rather than serving a priestly function to surrounding nations to show them the superiority of self-governance based on mutual love of others and trust in God, Israel become like their neighbors.

The phrase on every high hill and under every green tree is a standard prophetic way of describing the geographic saturation of pagan worship: not concentrated in shrines but diffused across the landscape (Jeremiah 2:20, 3:6, 17:2, Ezekiel 6:13, Hosea 4:13). The picture is of widespread practice, that every elevated spot and every shade tree served as a site of false worship.

Verse 11 quietly delivers the verdict that will play out in verse 18, which pronounces God’s removal of Israel from the land, according to treaty provisions: And there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the LORD had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the LORD (v. 11).

The phrase provoking the LORD uses a verb (Strong's H3707 "ka'as") that conveys not detached annoyance but personal grief and anger at betrayal. The image is not of a judge reading a verdict but of a covenant partner who has been repeatedly wronged. Israel vowed faithfulness (Exodus 19:8). But they repeatedly violated their covenant vows by doing evil things. The pagan practices of exploiting to gain carried over into their society, where the poor were abused and impartial justice was nowhere to be found. Some examples follow:

• Amos 2:6-7, 8:4-6, Israel tramples the poor into dust, traffics in human misery.
• Amos 5:7, 11-12, Micah 3:9-11, Isaiah 1:23, Israel is corrupt, perverting justice by taking bribes, refusing to care of the needy.
• Amos 5:10, truth is abhorred
• Hosea 4:1-2, lying, murdering, stealing, and adultery abound
• Hosea 12:7-8, violence and theft abound
• Micah 3:1-3, leaders hate good and love evil.

All this took place while Israel continued their religious rituals to Yahweh (Amos 5:21-24). But God abhorred their rituals because they were not attended with a change of heart; the purpose of worship is to turn hearts to God, not to appease or manipulate Him.

The nations had been carried away to exile by the LORD because of these practices. The Hebrew "gala" is translated had carried away to exile. In addition to words of removal, this root word is also translated variously as "uncover," and "discover" (as when something is revealed by being uncovered). The underlying idea is that something is removed.

In the case of the Canaanites, who dwelt in the land prior to God displacing them with Israel, God said this to Israel through Moses:

"Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the LORD your God."
(Deuteronomy 8:20)

Verse 11 can also be translated "as the nations did whom the LORD removed from before them" referring to Israel having displaced the Canaanites. This is likely the intended meaning. God had warned that if Israel defiled the land, they too would be displaced. In the case of Israel, their displacement was exile. Israel was supposed to have displaced Canaan through elimination, but failed to do so.

Israel is now doing the same things in the same land that the Canaanites before them did. As clearly stated in their covenant/treaty, Israel was a chosen people (Deuteronomy 7:6-8). But being chosen does not exempt Israel from the moral standard that took out the previous occupants of the land; it intensifies their accountability. The opposite is true; Israel was held to a higher standard because their job was to serve as a priestly nation, showing the world a superior culture based on love-of-neighbor as opposed to the pagan culture of the strong exploiting the weak.

Now the text zooms back to the most basic commandment of the covenant, They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing" (v. 12).

The first and second commandments of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-6) are the foundation of the covenant relationship—no other gods, no graven images. We worship what we fear. Our behavior is shaped by what we fear. When we turn from fearing God to serving idols, believing they can get us what we want, we are actually turning from trust in God to trust in self. This inevitably leads to self-seeking, which in turn leads to exploitation of others.

There is no ambiguity. "You shall not do this thing" was the clearest possible instruction. And Israel had, quite clearly, done the thing. As detailed in the prior verses, idolatry had fully permeated society, in public and in private, in scope and in degree.

The word Yet at the opening of verse 13 introduces the reality that Israel was given more than ample warning and time to repent: Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets" (v. 13).

God sent Amos and Hosea specifically to warn Israel to turn from their wicked ways. This was in addition to the warnings of earlier prophets like Elijah and Elisha, who were also ignored.

The LORD did not let the apostasy run silently. He sent prophets—all His prophets and every seer—across centuries to call them back. The northern kingdom heard Elijah and Elisha directly, but did not listen. Amos and Hosea were sent specifically to call Israel to repentance. Micah and Isaiah primarily prophesied to Judah, but also gave warnings to Israel.

And all these prophets stood on the foundation of Moses, Joshua, and Samuel, whose words I commanded your fathers. These commands were given in what God calls My statutes, the law which I commanded your fathers, as well as God’s word as sent through the prophets. God’s law is contained in the covenant treaty.

These are the commandments Israel had vowed to keep as their part in the covenant relationship (Exodus 19:8). Now, because they have violated their vows, refusing to love God and love their neighbor, the enforcement provisions of the treaty are being invoked (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). Israel's exile is an enforcement of these provisions, as was set out and agreed to in the covenant agreement.

The image of the stiffened neck in verse 14 comes out of agricultural life—an ox that will not bow its neck to the yoke is useless to the farmer and dangerous to itself. However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God (v. 14).

This speaks to the message of repentance God sent Israel through His servants, the prophets. They had ample warning, but would not listen. They refused to repent. So they suffered the consequence God had promised and they had agreed to.

The phrase like their fathers throws the indictment backward across the generations; the people who failed to listen to Elijah were the predictable continuation of the wilderness generation that failed to listen to Moses. The charge did not believe in the LORD their God makes the point that their root failure was a failure of faith, not merely of behavior.

They did not actually believe the LORD was who He said He was, did what He said He had done, or would do what He said He would do. Instead, they trusted in idols, which is ultimately to say they trusted in themselves (since idols supposedly do the bidding of the petitioner). In this respect Israel become prideful. We can see in Habakkuk 2:4 that the opposite of faith is pride.

Human pride is faith in self above faith in God. The fundamental shift required to live in the humility of reality is to recognize and believe that God knows what is in our best interest far better than we know for ourselves.

The progression in verse 15 is the heart of the diagnosis of Israel's prideful refusal to follow God: They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them (v. 15).

They rejected His statutes and His covenant, treating the binding terms of the relationship as voidable. They followed vanity and became vain. The Hebrew word for vanity (Strong's H1892 "hebel") is the same word that runs through Ecclesiastes, meaning "vapor," "emptiness," "that which has no substance" (Click here to see our commentary on Ecclesiastes 1:2). Ecclesiastes predicts that attempting to make sense of life through our own experience and understanding (i.e. self-reliance) ends in futility and leads to madness, folly, and evil. We see the evidence of this played out in the history of Israel.

The worship of self and empty things to rationalize focus on self inevitably leads us to being alone and empty. By 722 BC, the northern kingdom had so thoroughly identified with the surrounding nations that there was no covenant or moral reason for it to continue to exist as a distinct entity. They had betrayed their covenant purpose to be an example of self-governance based on loving their neighbors, so were removed (Exodus 19:6).

Although Israel was rejected from being a priestly nation and from living in the land, they were not rejected as being God's people. God never revokes His promises (Deuteronomy 7:6-8 Romans 11:29.) This is confirmed by the fact that God speaks of the descendants of the exiles from the northern ten tribes again returning to the land (Amos 9:14-15, Matthew 19:28, Ezekiel 37, Revelation 21:12).

Next, the writer of Kings specifies the catalog of what violating the covenant looked like in practice: They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal (v. 16).

The two calves are the golden calves Jeroboam I installed at Bethel and Dan when the kingdom split (1 Kings 12:28-29). Jeroboam described them in his own words as the gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Thus, they were an obvious substitute for their covenant God Yahweh.

The host of heaven refers to astral worship—sun, moon, and stars treated as deities, a particular Assyrian and later Babylonian influence. Baal was the chief Canaanite storm god, the principal target of Elijah's contest at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18). Verse 16 catalogs essentially every category of pagan worship the ancient Near East offered, and says Israel was practicing all of them simultaneously.

There is no single fatal flaw being described; there is comprehensive religious syncretism. We know from Amos 5:21-24 that Israel also performed ritual worship to Yahweh. But God rejected their worship because it was not attended with a changed heart of obedience. God’s intent for worship was a changed heart that served the poor, loved the truth, and sought justice and mercy.

Verse 17 names some of their gravest sins: Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him (v. 17).

Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire refers to child sacrifice, typically associated with worship of Molech (Leviticus 18:21, 20:2-5). The historical context of child sacrifice is supported by the Phoenician "Tophet" remains at Carthage and the Punic colonies, providing archaeological corroboration for the practice in the broader Canaanite religious world. "Topheth" means "place of fire" according to Strong's dictionary, and is a word that appears in 2 Kings 23:10, where the godly reformer Josiah is said to have "defiled Topheth" meaning he tore down the places of child sacrifice.

Divination and enchantments covers the range of forbidden occult practice catalogued in Deuteronomy 18:9-14. These kinds of magic were aimed at controlling the worshipped deity to perform the worshipper's request.

Sold themselves to do evil is a striking phrase. The covenant relationship had been an arrangement of free worship of the LORD; they had exchanged it for bondage to evil. We can see the same idea expressed in the New Testament; Paul asserts that when believers live in sin, they are trading freedom from sin for bondage under sin’s reign (Romans 6:16).

The verb provoking repeats the same root as verse 11—the personal grief and offense of a betrayed covenant partner. Verse 18 delivers the verdict of covenant breakage: So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah (v. 18).

The phrase removed them from His sight (literally from His face) is covenant enforcement language—to be in someone's face in Hebrew thought is to be in active relationship with them, in their presence, on their agenda. To be removed from the LORD's face is to be put outside the covenant community.

The phrase none was left except the tribe of Judah refers to Judah's kingdom, which by then had absorbed other tribal elements. The tribe of Benjamin is also still in the south. The inheritance of Simeon was intermingled with Judah (Joshua 19:1, 9). Also, remnants of other tribes had moved to Judah at various points (2 Chronicles 11:13-17, 15:9).

The writer of Kings is making a categorical statement: as a political and religious entity, the northern kingdom is over. The writer of Kings now shifts his attention to the southern kingdom of Judah: Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced (v. 19).

Verse 19 uses the same words customs and introduced as verse 8. The structural parallel tells us that the writer of Kings is telling Judah: you are doing exactly what they did. The fact that you are still in your land does not mean you are exempt. It means your hearing of this account is another warning. Judah allowed Israel's customs which they had introduced to corrupt them as well.

Accordingly, God invoked the provisions for breaking the covenant: The LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight (v. 20).

The word descendants is literally "seed" and out of His sight is literally "from His face" in verse 20, echoing the same covenant-removal language as verse 18. The timeline opens out slightly here. Afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers describes the entire pattern of progressively harsher discipline across the northern kingdom's history—the Aramean invasions, the various Assyrian campaigns under Tiglath-Pileser III before Shalmaneser V finished the job. The exile was not a sudden lightning strike. It was the last stage in a long process of warning and discipline.

The Hebrew word translated as rejected is the same word used in Leviticus 26:15 to describe covenant breakage:

"if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant."
(Leviticus 26:15)

God never revokes His promises (Romans 11:29). And God had promised to Israel that they would be His people. So this should be read as: 'you rejected my covenant so I am now removing the covenant blessings from you and invoking the cursings.' Deuteronomy 28:1-14 sets forth the blessings God promised for covenant obedience. When Israel rejected His covenant ways, and ignored the warnings of the prophets, they chose instead the cursings, as set forth in Deuteronomy 28:15-68.

The cursings include provisions that their sons and daughters would go into captivity (Deuteronomy 28:41), they would be conquered by a foreign nation, as we see in this passage (Deuteronomy 28:49-52), and they would be scattered among all the peoples (Deuteronomy 28:64).

The next verse summarizes the root of rebellion. God appointed Jeroboam as king over the northern kingdom. God promised Jeroboam a dynasty if he would listen to God and follow His ways (1 Kings 11:38). Instead, Jeroboam led Israel into sin: When He had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit a great sin (v. 21).

When He had torn Israel from the house of David refers to 1 Kings 11-12—the LORD's judgment on Solomon's idolatry. The LORD tearing away of the ten tribes from being under Judah’s reign was itself a divine action. We see this in the pronouncement of the prophet Ahijah (1 Kings 11:30-35). Jeroboam took the kingdom God granted him and immediately used it to set up rival worship at Bethel and Dan, fearing that pilgrimages to Jerusalem would erode his political legitimacy (1 Kings 12:26-30).

That decision drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit a great sin. Every northern king who followed is evaluated in Kings by whether he walked in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat; unfortunately, the answer is always yes. Jeroboam set up the calves in places of worship for political expediency, refusing to trust the Lord’s word (1 Kings 12:26-29). This created a structural obstacle to faithfulness to the LORD. Subsequent kings consistently chose to follow Jeroboam’s example.

This section closes with a pronouncement of the final judgement: The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them until the LORD removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day (vv. 22-23).

The Assyrian exile happened as an enforcement of the covenant breakage. It happened according to the warnings God gave Israel—as He spoke through all His servants the prophets. Nothing about the Assyrian conquest in 722 BC was unforeseen, unannounced, or arbitrary. The prophets had been telling Israel for two centuries exactly what would happen if they did not return to Yahweh. They did not return.

The clause until this day dates the writing of this account; the deportation has not been reversed at the moment the book of Kings is being compiled. The northern tribes did not return when Cyrus's decree allowed Judah's return in 538 BC. They were dispersed into the Assyrian empire and absorbed. There is no record of a return of the northern ten tribes in scripture. However, God does speak of the descendants of the exiles from the northern ten tribes returning in the future (Amos 9:14-15, Matthew 19:28, Ezekiel 37, Revelation 21:12).

This section can be viewed as a case study in the Mosaic covenant. The writer of Kings provides an example of how the covenant treaty provisions operated. God said in Deuteronomy 28 what would happen if Israel broke covenant. Every category of warning in Deuteronomy 28:15-68—defeat by enemies, deportation, scattered among the nations, no return—is realized in 2 Kings 17:6-23.

The section is the historical proof that the LORD does what He says He will do. That is comforting if you are on the side of His promises. It is sobering if you are reading the account from the perspective of Judah and recognizing the same patterns in yourself.

The same logic applies to those who have been given more (Hebrews 2:1-3, 10:26-31): if the LORD did not spare judgement on a kingdom He had brought out of Egypt, where He had walked with them through patriarchs and judges and prophets and kings, no reader has reason to assume He will spare judgment on anyone who treats His word the way the northern kingdom did.

It is important to remember in all this that God never has nor never will reject Israel from being His people (Romans 11:29). In fact, as Paul asserts "all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:26). This is also promised within the covenant treaty (Deuteronomy 32:35-36). What is at stake is the reward of inheritance. Israel inherited the land, but their continued possession of the inheritance required obedience to God's covenant/treaty.

In a similar manner, New Testament believers are granted an inheritance in Christ to reign with Him as "sons"—servant leaders. The promised reward for faithfulness is to be given rule over many things (Matthew 25:21).

The path to gain this reward is through following Jesus's example through the suffering of death (Hebrews 2:9-10). It is to set aside self (pride) and walk in the humility of reality, recognizing that God knows what is best for us better than we know for ourselves (Luke 9:23, 14:27, 33). Each New Testament believer has God as an inheritance; that is unconditional (Romans 8:17a, 2 Timothy 2:13).

But in order to share Christ's inheritance and reign with Him requires believers to walk in the obedience of faith and overcome temptation, even as Jesus did (Revelation 3:21). It requires suffering as He suffered (Romans 8:17b). In the new covenant, God’s law is written on our hearts. The Holy Spirit dwells within each believer. Therefore, it is reasonable to say New Testament believers have a higher standard (Luke 12:48).

The New Testament believer can, therefore, make apt application of this sobering reality. Sin has consequences. Sin leads to death (Romans 6:23). Death is separation, and, for believers, sin separates us from walking in fellowship with God and gaining the blessings that come from that fellowship. We can seek the blessings of the world, which we find will, in actuality, be cursings (Romans 6:16).