2 Kings 10:31-33 “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin. (32) In those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel; and Hazael conquered them in all the territory of Israel (33) from the Jordan eastward: all the land of Gilead--Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh--from Aroer, which is by the River Arnon, including Gilead and Bashan.”
Just as God decides what a nation’s boundaries will be when He forms that nation, so it is that when a nation’s borders are diminished in anyway, then we can be fully assured that God is the one who is directing that process. In the above passage of scripture that particular truth is confirmed to us, for the passage declares that the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel. In other words, through the mechanism of war God caused Israel’s enemies to invade parts of her territory and annex the conquered areas, thus reducing Israel’s borders accordingly. This passage of scripture also reveals to us the reason as to why God reduces a nation’s borders, i.e. because of its sin. In other words, God uses the process of reducing a nation’s borders as an act of judgement pronounced on that nation.
Michael E.B. Maher
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