HIS-tory, Part 9: Enter the Outsider (1-2 Kings)

Summary: 

When Solomon acts as a political King but not a spiritual leader, he opens the door in the Kingdom of Israel for state-sanctioned worship of other gods.  And so the LORD raises up a mysterious prophet named Ahijah to announce the split of the kingdom into North (Israel) and South (Judah).  As these two kingdoms fall into spiritual decay, God begins to preserve his promise, his word, and his presence among the people through strange outsiders called "prophets."  Elijah and Elisha, Obadiah and Isaiah, Amos and Jeremiah, these men set the tone for the way God will show himself to the world... for the rest of history.  Their credentials are not in their blood, but in the power of the words they speak, the God acting through them.  They create an expectation for a true king who is also an outsider.  

Notes: 

The Grand Story and the Great Kingdom

• (1 Sam 12:14-15)

Ripped in Two (or… 12).

Institutional Chaos: Up, Down, All Around.

Enter The Outsider

• Ahijah, 1 Kings 11:26-40
• Elijah, 1 Kings 17 – 2 Kings 2
• Elisha, 1 Kings 19 – 2 Kings 13
• The Company of Prophets

Not of this World