Judah Copied Samaria

Judah Copied Samaria 

I Kings 14:21-22 NKJV

[21] And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king. He reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put His name there. His mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. [22] Now Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. 

If you've followed these vignettes for a while, you will understand why its difficult to understand that what was happening in the northern kingdom appear to be happening in the southern kingdom as well. There appears to be an agreement to do evil in the sight of God. Why do people copy others to do evil? In 1 Cor. 11:1,  Paul enjoins us  to copy others so long as they copy Christ. This is Christina Fox in 2018, "...we often become like the people we’re around. Even if we don’t know them personally, we’ll often model ourselves after people we admire. Whether we copy fashion choices after a Hollywood starlet or adopt a famous preacher’s teaching style or take on the beliefs and attitudes of our parents, we mimic and imitate others". The people of Israel may have been in two kingdoms, but they were the same people. They had a tendency to embrace other gods so long as as there was no strong leader to pressure them. In Phil.3:17, Paul told the people to imitate the people doing what is right. Who are you imitating? Who are your models? Read: 3 John 1:11; 1Peter 2:21. Imitate what is right and spiritual. Unfortunately, Judah copied Samaria, and came out with their fate. Don't do it. Good morning.