Kingly power abused.
Without doubt, the main cause of Israel's fall was the waywardness and vice of her kings. With few exceptions, they gave themselves up to evil ways. Corruption at the fountainhead became corruption in all the streams of national and domestic life. Idolatry was the root; and tyranny, anarchy, violence, and cruelly were the branches. This soon became intolerable to the surrounding nations.
I. KINGLY POWER WAS INTENDED AS A BENEFIT. What the shepherd is to his flock, the king should be to his people. He is intended to live and think and plan for their good. Wisdom, not self-will, ought to be his supreme counsellor. As an army cannot succeed without a commander; as a ship cannot voyage prosperously without a pilot; as a family cannot do well without a parent; so a kingdom must have a ruler. The administration of justice and of defence must have a living head. The appointment of a king, whether he be human or Divine, is a necessity for a nation's prosperity; and that king will be either a blessing or a curse.
II. KINGLY POWER MAY BECOME SELFISH. The man who is exalted to the highest place of honour is so exalted that he may serve the nation. But, in a measure, he holds an irresponsible office. There is no higher power which can control or restrain him. Hence there is a great temptation for the abuse of office. The man may use his power to aggrandize himself, to increase his pleasures or his magnificence. Setting aside prudence, wisdom, benevolent regard for others, he may become arrogant, self-willed, tyrannical. The lower appetites of his nature may rule him, and the effect will be as if a beast ruled the people. Though a lion is chief among wild animals, he is but a beast still; and the worst features of the untamed lion were manifest in the kings of Israel and of Judah.
III. KINGLY POWER, IF SELFISH, BECOMES DESTRUCTIVE. This young lion learnt "to catch prey, it devoured men." He who was set over the people to preserve life, to afford protection to their interests, perverted his high office, destroyed those he was appointed to save. The king is set in the stead of God, to reward obedience, and to punish transgression; by the abuse of his office he becomes an Apollyon, an ally of Satan. He destroys his people's peace, destroys their fortunes, destroys their lives. His misrule encourages violence on the high ways, private murder, civil war, foreign invasion, An evil king is a fount of death—the nation's executioner.
IV. KINGLY POWER, WHEN ABUSED, MUST BE FETTERED. "The nations set against him on every side … and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit." He who is unjust and violent in dealing with his own people will be unjust and insolent in dealing with surrounding nations. But neighbouring kings are more free to resent and punish royal insole,ice than are the subjects of the monarch. Hence it often happens that retribution comes from the mutual consent of foreigners. There is One who rules among the nations, higher that the highest king, and he can employ a thousand methods to restrain and chastise a tyrant. At times God employs the subjects of the realm; sometimes he employs death; sometimes he employs a foreign army—a foreign league. It is a perilous thing to tamper with righteousness.—D.