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2 Kings 24 - 25 and Psalm 53

4/24/2012

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         In this reading we enter into the lowest point of the history of Israel in the entire Old Testament.  How far we have fallen from Solomon’s glory!  Only two weeks ago we read, “Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.  They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life” (1 Kings 4:21).  Today we read that the dominion of all this territory has passed into the hands of another: “And the king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates” (2 Kings 24:7).  And the tribute that was brought to Solomon is handed over to others: “[He] carried off all the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the LORD, which Solomon king of Israel had made, as the LORD had foretold” (2
Kings 24:13; see also 25:13-17).  In the loss of land, people, dominion and Yahweh’s Presence, the promises to Abraham have been reversed.
         Despite the sadness that we feel as we read these chapters, we must understand them well, in part because there are six prophetic books linked with this period of history: Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah.  Therefore we want to have a good understanding of four key events that occur in these chapters.
         The first event is Judah’s loss of independence caused by Josiah’s death. 
Egypt and Babylon were fighting over the remains of the empire of the Assyrians, the old enemy of Yahweh’s people. The Assyrians were defeated in the destruction of their capital city of Nineveh in 612 BC and then of their next capital at Haran two years later.  In the year 609 BC, “Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates” (2 Chronicles 35:20), and just like the majority of international
transportation at this time, he went along the Mediterranean coast of the Promised Land. “Josiah went out to meet him” (2 Chronicles 35:20), possibly with the intention of imposing his dominion over a region that no longer belonged to Assyria.  “But he [Neco] sent envoys to him, saying, ‘What have we to do with each
other, king of Judah?  I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you’” (2 Chronicles 35:21).  But Josiah does not accept the warning; he attacks Neco on the plain of Megiddo and dies (2 Chronicles 35:22-24).  The prophet Jeremiah publicly laments Josiah’s death (2 Chronicles 35:25).
         Neco continues his march north and loses the battle of Carchemish to the Babylonians in 609 BC.  Returning to Egypt, he decides to impose his authority over the kingdom of Judah who has just placed Jehoahaz on the throne to replace his father Josiah as king (2 Kings 23:31; 2 Chronicles 36:1).  “Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold” (2 Kings 23:33).  The king of Judah, the reigning descendant of David, is taken prisoner!  At this moment, Judah loses its independence and will not recover it for centuries.
         Now the king of Judah is a puppet of Egypt: “And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim.  But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there” (2 Kings 23:34).  In submission to his new lord: “Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh.  He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco” (2 Kings 23:35).  The desire to regain lost independence is a strong motivation for the
decisions of the coming years.
         The second outstanding event is the change in authority over Judah when Egypt loses another battle at Carchemish in 605 BC.  As a consequence, the
Babylonians continue marching south and take over Egyptian territories including
Judah: “In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up” (2 Kings 24:1).  Now Jerusalem is put under siege, defeated and suffers its first deportation to Babylon, one that serves principally for the education of government workers for the administration of the new territory of Judah: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.  And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand” (Daniel 1:1-2).  “Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans” (Daniel 1:3-4).  Among these youths are Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
         The third event begins when Babylon is defeated at the Egyptian border in 601 BC, and Jehoiakim sees an opportunity to declare independence: “Jehoiakim became his servant three years.  Then he turned and rebelled against him” (2 Kings 24:1).  The events that follow do not depend so much on the strength of Babylon
nor on the strength that Jehoiakim thinks he has: “And the LORD sent against him
bands of the Chaldeans [Babylonians] and bands of the Syrians and bands of the
Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by his servants the prophets”
(2 Kings 24:2).  Jerusalem is put under siege again, Jehoiakim dies, and he is replaced by his son Jehoiachin who in 597 BC only has enough time to hand over the city and be carried off in the second deportation that includes many from the royal family, all the officials and mighty men of valor and all the craftsmen and smiths (2 Kings 24:10-16).  This group also includes another young man, Ezekiel, who will be called to prophesy in exile.
         Zedekiah is named king and governs during the fourth outstanding event, the final destruction of Jerusalem and the last deportation to Babylon in 586 BC: “For because of the anger of the LORD it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence” (2 Kings 24:20).  Jeremiah prophesies in Jerusalem, and Daniel and Ezekiel in exile in the years the approach this decisive moment in Yahweh’s judgment of His people.
         To summarize, these four main events are:
1)  The loss of Judean independence with the death of Josiah (609 BC)
2)  Babylon takes control of Judah and orders the first deportation (605 BC)
3)  After Jehoiakim’s rebellion, Babylon defeats Judah again and orders a second, larger deportation (597 BC)
4)  After Zedekiah’s rebellion, Babylon destroys Jerusalem completely and orders a massive deportation (586 BC)
         In the midst of this devastating judgment over Jerusalem, there still remains a tiny ray of hope.  After 37 years of captivity, the former king Jehoiachin who had reigned only three months is freed from prison and placed in a position of grace and
privilege by the king of Babylon (2 Kings 25:27-30).  Though without a kingdom, the house of David continues.
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2 Kings 21 - 23 and Psalm 119:169-176

4/24/2012

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         After seeing the righteousness of Hezekiah and the great redemption that Yahweh worked for Judah in 2 Kings 18 – 19, it is difficult to read about Manasseh’s iniquity in 2 Kings 21.
         He is not ignorant of Yahweh’s commands; it appears that his policy is calculated to systematically contradict them.  “For he rebuilt the high places that
Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an
Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them” (2 Kings 21:3).  He profanes the house of Yahweh by making it a center of idolatry: “And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers.  He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger” (2 Kings 21:6).  The worst kings up to this point, the ones that provoked the most condemnation for Yahweh’s people
(Jeroboam, Ahab and Ahaz) cannot even compare with Manasseh and his evil.  The narrator must go back to pre-Israelite times to find a comparison with his iniquities: “And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel” (2 Kings 21:2).
         And that prepares us for the condemnation that Judah will receive for these actions.  We’ve read the warnings several times: “But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you” (Leviticus 18:26-28).  “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.  And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out
before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them” (Leviticus 20:22-23).
         Therefore judgment is coming: “Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle” (2 Kings 21:12).  Notice that this sentence echoes the introduction to the judgment that
Yahweh declared to Samuel against the house of Eli in 1 Samuel 3:11.  Then He told Samuel, “Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever” (1 Samuel 3:14).  This
suggests that the judgment in 2 Kings 21:12 likewise will be
astonishing, national and without the possibility of cancellation.  Like the house of Eli, Manasseh has passed the limit, and the entire nation must suffer the consequences.
         This is a judgment directed by Yahweh: “I am bringing… I will stretch…” (2
Kings 21:12, 13) There is no doubt who will execute justice against Manasseh.  The events of the coming chapters will not occur by accident.  He who worked so often in Judah’s favor now will direct His sovereignty and power against it.
         This is
a judgment in conformity with historical precedents: “I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab” (2 Kings 21:13).  Yahweh does not act in an arbitrary or uncertain way; He always judges in accordance with His eternal righteousness.  If someone wants to see how He will punish, Judah only needs to look back to see what happened to the ten tribes in the north in 2 Kings 17.
         This is
a complete judgment that will remove iniquity completely: “I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down” (2 Kings 21:13).  Like washing a dirty plate, the judgment against Jerusalem will be
complete, leaving no sign of its former uncleanness.
         This is a judgment in which
Judah will experience abandonment by the God that they have abandoned: “And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the land of their enemies” (2 Kings 21:14).
         It is
a judgment of historical proportions: “They have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day” (2 Kings 21:15).  It is directed to the accumulation of sin through generations because the people have not repented of past sins but have nursed and multiplied them.
         The announcement of this certain, astonishing, national, unchangeable and cumulative judgment with Yahweh’s abandonment of His people makes our reading of Josiah’s reforms in 2 Kings 22 – 23 that much more impressive.  Just as Manasseh worked decisively to establish idolatry, Josiah worked to uproot it and solidify worship of Yahweh.  Notice the military campaign of destruction and defilement that Josiah leads in 2 Kings 23:4-20.  He even goes beyond the borders of Judah to eliminate idolatry!  We can compare this to the military campaigns of Joshua, or those of David against his enemies after his royal throne is established, or of Jehu against Ahab’s royal house, but in this case the enemies are not Canaanites nor Israel’s neighbors but idols, places of idolatry and the priests who promote it.  Josiah not only defeats and pulverizes them but ritually contaminates them so that they never can be used again.
         Along with this military campaign against idolatry, Josiah leads the people in devotion to Yahweh comparable only to the best moments of greatest thankfulness for His grace: “And the king commanded all the people, ‘Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant’. For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah” (2 Kings 23:21-22).  “Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, nor did any like
him arise after him” (2 Kings 23:25).
         That is what makes the following verses about the judgment on Judah so shocking: “Still the LORD did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.  And the LORD said, ‘I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there’” (2 Kings 23:26-27).  The judgment over the nation of Judah is so certain that even a king as repentant and devoted as Josiah cannot derail it.
         Therefore, two sobering lessons stand out in today’s reading: 1) we don’t know the day or the action in which Manasseh crossed the line to unleash this kind of judgment against Judah.  But when it happened, there was no way of stopping its consequences.  Wouldn’t it be better to repent of our sins immediately instead of continuing to pamper and play with them, not knowing when Yahweh finally will declare, “Enough”?  2) Is Yahweh worthy of devotion, repentance and worship… even though these actions may not counteract the future judgment of our societies?  Josiah’s life demonstrates that Yahweh is worthy of the reformation of all aspects of our daily lives, even if that reformation does not eliminate all the consequences of our sins or the judgment for having committed them.  May Yahweh be praised even when His devastating judgment is about to be launched.
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2 Kings 17 - 20 and Psalm 108

4/23/2012

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         In today’s reading the Assyrian threat overflows its banks.  It completely
swallows up the nation of Israel: “In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes” (2 Kings 17:6).  The judgment declared against idolatry and disobedience to the covenant centuries before has been fulfilled: “I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste” (Leviticus 26:33). “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all
things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against
you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything.  And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.  The LORD will bring a nation
against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the
eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, a hard-faced nation who
shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young (Deuteronomy 28:47-50).  The ten tribes of the north are conquered and taken into exile.
         A land empty of inhabitants is of no use to the Assyrians, so in accordance with their policy of exile, they send other nations to settle in the Promised Land: “And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel.  And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities” (2 Kings 17:24).  They mix devotion to the pagan gods of their places of origin with devotion to Yahweh: “They feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away… So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images.  Their children did likewise, and their children’s children – as their fathers did, so they do to this day” (2 Kings 17:33, 41).  The descendants of these people from outside the covenant with Abraham and Moses will remain in the Promised Land; seven centuries later they will appear in the New Testament under the name “Samaritans”.
         But the Assyrians did not stop with the conquest of Israel: “In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them” (2 Kings 18:13).  Sennacherib sent an official, the Rabshakeh, to threaten and intimidate the people so that they would rebel against the weak anointed one of Yahweh and turn themselves over to the powerful king of Assyria. Yahweh responds with an impressive salvation.  He declares to His enemy, “I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me.  Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came” (2 Kings 19:27-28).  He promises
Hezekiah, “For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band
of survivors.  The zeal of the LORD will do this…  I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David” (2 Kings 19:31, 34).  And He immediately fulfills the promised salvation.
         Despite the mercies shown to him, Hezekiah once again trusts the nations who do not know Yahweh for salvation, this time seeking alliance with Babylon (2 Kings 20:12-19).  The Assyrian threat will be replaced by the Babylonian threat. 
Judgment against sin will continue until it is completely uprooted.
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2 Kings 13 - 16

4/22/2012

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         As you read, be aware of the following themes:
        Israel’s persistence in disobedience: Yahweh’s judgment against the kings of Israel is repetitive because their sin is repetitive: “He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them” (2 Kings 13:2; see also 13:11; 14:24; 15:9, 18, 24, 28).  Despite the clear indications that this false religion through the two golden calves in Dan and Bethel was invented by the mind of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:26-33), despite the clear judgment by Yahweh against Jeroboam for his idolatry (1 Kings 13:1-10; 14:1-14; 15:29-30), despite Yahweh’s clear judgment against other Israelite kings for continuing these practices (1 Kings 16:1-4, 12-13, 19) and despite His clear judgment against all Israel for participating in the same (1 Kings 14:15-16), the kings of Israel obstinately practice the institutionalized sins of their predecessor.  Like uncontrollable weeds, rooted sin persists in protecting its turf and in spreading further.  Like uncontrollable weeds, this sin will not be eradicated without decisive action.
        Judah’s persistence in disobedience: Although the people don’t submit to the established religion of the two calves, they nevertheless devote themselves to idolatry: “The high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places” (2 Kings 14:4; see also 15:4, 35).  Their sin accelerates during Ahaz’s reign.  He makes changes in the temple to incorporate the latest pagan fashions (2 Kings 16:10-18).  Even worse than this: “He walked in the way of the kings of Israel.  He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel” (2 Kings 16:3).  The sacrifice of a son to a pagan god in itself is an abomination, but it is especially offensive when it is a possible candidate to reign on the throne of David through Yahweh’s covenant.  It is difficult to conceive of an act of rebellion against Yahweh more worthy of condemnation.
        
Yahweh’s patience and grace in the midst of Israel’s sin: “And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael. Then
Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him, for he saw
the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them”(2 Kings 13:3-4).  “He [Jeroboam II] restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the sea of Arabah… for the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel.  But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash” (2 Kings 14:25-27).
         The approach of a new threat: The Assyrians appear for the first time. They are a new empire centered in the north of Mesopotamia near the Tigris River and based on military conquest through extreme violence and intimidation and an insatiable desire to make all peoples submit to them.  They practice forced resettlement and exile of entire ethnic groups to ensure submission. Their conquests have grown progressively closer to Israel during this period, and they appear in the Bible for the first time in 2 Kings 15:19 when Menahem pays them to confirm his reign on the throne of Israel.  A very dangerous relationship has begun.  Already by 2 Kings 15:29 the Assyrians have taken the northern part of Israel and for the first time sent a part of Yahweh’s people into exile.  Then in 2 Kings 16:7-9, King Ahaz of Judah repeats the error by putting his trust in the Assyrians for his security.  They defeat the longtime enemies of Yahweh’s people, Syria. But what has happened to placing trust and finding security in Yahweh?
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2 Kings 9 - 12 and Psalm 36

4/21/2012

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         The prophecies fulfilled in today’s reading have been pending for years. Recall
what we saw in previous readings:
         When Elijah went to Sinai to file suit against Israel for its idolatry and its stiff-necked attitude toward the covenant, Yahweh responded, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus.  And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.  And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.  And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death” (1 Kings 19:15-17).  A large part of the fulfillment of these prophecies occurs in today’s lecture.
         After Ahab killed Naboth and took his vineyard, Yahweh sent Elijah to announce his judgment: “Behold, I will bring disaster upon you.  I will utterly burn you up, and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel.  And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you have made Israel to sin.  And of Jezebel the LORD also said, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel’” (1 Kings 21:21-23).
         Afterwards when Ahab demonstrated some remorse for what he had done, Yahweh said, “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me?  Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster upon his house” (1 Kings 21:29).
         Notice at least four aspects of the fulfillment of these prophecies in today’s
reading:
         The precision of the prophecies from Yahweh: Many years have passed, and many events have taken place, but Yahweh’s judgment arrives exactly as he declared.  Yahweh directed each person and each action without overlooking any
detail, and He did all of it naturally.
         The speed at which they are fulfilled: It’s been a long wait since the sentencing in 1 Kings 19, but when the moment arrives for fulfillment, nothing can stop it.  The time for repentance has passed already; there is barely enough time to recognize judgment when it arrives.
         The purpose of Yahweh’s judgment: Of course, judgment punishes Ahab’s royal house, but it also purges the cult of Baal from the country.  Yahweh’s judgment has a purgative function in addition to a condemning one so that His remaining people are sanctified and sin is completely uprooted.
        
Yahweh’s judgment stands in contrast to His faithfulness to the house of David: The house of David is purged also when Jehu kills Ahaziah, David’s descendant who: “Walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was son-in-law to the house of Ahab” (2 Kings 8:27).  Ahaziah’s death even motivates his mother to try to exterminate the entire royal household (2 Kings 11:1), just as was done to the house of Jeroboam, of Baasha and now of Ahab.  But instead of allowing David’s house to be exterminated, Yahweh preserves it: “But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom.  Thus they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death” (2 Kings 11:2).  And in time, there is a revival in the relationship between Judah and Yahweh when Joash comes to the throne: “And Jehoiada [the high priest] made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people, that they should be the LORD’s people, and also between the king and the people…  So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword at the king’s house” (2 Kings 11:17, 20).
         In summary, we see that Yahweh’s judgment is certain and quick, that it is executed to purge sin and iniquity as well as condemn, and that protection from judgment comes from aligning oneself with Yahweh’s anointed one. Once again, the events of 2 Kings urge us to repent of our sins before it is too late, and they compel us to find salvation and protection from judgment by trusting only in Yahweh.
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2 Kings 5 - 8

4/20/2012

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         The outstanding theme in these chapters is Yahweh’s surprising salvation in contrast with His devastating judgment.
         I say, “Surprising salvation” because it reaches those whom we least expect to be saved.  Naaman, the general of the Syrian army, is first on the list when by faith in the God of Israel and the word of His prophet he is saved of leprosy.  Jesus notes the shock, even the offense of this healing / salvation when He preaches in the synagogue in Nazareth and says, “There were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4:27).  The people of Jesus’ time were not willing to celebrate God’s salvation and healing of one of their enemies in preference to all of the leprous
Israelites.  In reaction: “When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.  But passing through their midst, he went away” (Luke 4:28-30).  This underlines the shocking salvation that we read about today.
         Not only that, but at the same time, devastating judgment touches an Israelite, even the servant of Yahweh’s very own prophet.  He dreams of enriching
himself through this shocking salvation even to the point of feigning an urgent
request from the prophet in order to carry away happily about 150 pounds of silver and two new changes of clothing to a secret hiding place.  And he is punished when he and his descendants receive the leprosy that had clung to Naaman.
         The salvation of the Syrian general does not mean that Yahweh has abandoned Israel, however.  But it is interesting to notice in these chapters that the poorest and least influential Israelites are the ones who enjoy Yahweh’s salvation: a poor son of the prophets who drops a borrowed axe, lepers who first discover that the Syrians have abandoned their camp, and the Shunammite and her son who survive the seven-year famine by living outside Israel and who suddenly have their lands and lost income restored.  Yahweh takes joy in demonstrating His salvation to the poorest and neediest among His people.
         And His humble remnant will need His salvation and protection more than ever because even worse days are coming: “And Hazael said [to Elisha], ‘Why does my lord weep?’  He answered, ‘Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel.  You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will kill their young men with the sword and dash in pieces their little ones and rip open their pregnant
women.’” (2 Kings 8:12).  Yahweh’s devastating judgment has only begun to manifest itself; all who would listen must run to find their refuge in Him.
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Timeline 1 Kings and 2 Kings

4/19/2012

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         Click here to find a timeline for 1 and 2 Kings.  The first document is one page and covers the whole book of 1 Kings.  The second covers 2 Kings and is three pages long.  They include:
         the name of each king,
         the year that he came to the throne,
         the number of years he reigned,
         a memorable detail about the reign of each one,
         references to his reign in 1 and 2 Kings and Chronicles and
         the names of the prophets who wrote and preached during his reign.
I hope you find this tool to be useful as you read through the maze of names in these four books!
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2 Kings 1 - 4

4/18/2012

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         Elisha gives us a concise question to summarize the main theme of these chapters when he returns to the banks of the Jordan River: “Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, ‘Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?’” (2 Kings 2:14)  We see abundant evidence of the response here: reigning on high in His glorious dominion, attentive to the needs of the remnant that He has preserved by grace.
         He protects His prophet Elijah from the threat of arrest by Ahaziah. He
receives Elijah, and then manifests His power through Elisha.  He heals the waters of a city.  He preserves the kings of Israel, Judah and Moab by giving them water in
the desert and victory over the Edomites.  He provides abundantly for a widow.  He blesses the Shunammite with a son and resurrects him from the dead.  He removes the poison from a stew for the prophets and fills them when there is little food.  Over and over, Yahweh demonstrates His caring provision and protection for His
remnant.
         On the other hand, He demonstrates His justice.  Elijah has a question for
King Ahaziah: “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?” (2 Kings 1:3)  At least Jeroboam in the middle of all his idolatry looked for the prophet of Yahweh when he sent his wife to consult him on the life of their son (1 Kings 14:1-3); Ahaziah prefers to listen to a pagan god, and therefore will die (2 Kings 1:16).  A large group of young men leave the center of idolatry called Bethel to threaten, berate and humiliate Yahweh’s prophet.  In accordance with the curse of Leviticus 26:22 (“And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children”), 42 of them are mauled (2 Kings 2:24).  Though Yahweh’s enemies may have terrestrial power and superiority of numbers, they cannot withstand the burning of His wrath.
         Throughout these events the same questions confront us: Will we identify ourselves with Yahweh even in times of need, of weakness, of threat and
tribulation?  Or will we be carried along by the thinking of the majority and of the powerful in the world?  Will we maintain our devotion to Yahweh even when it is not fashionable?  “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?”  Elijah, Elisha and the remnant in 2 Kings experience that Yahweh is sufficient and worthy of praise especially in these kinds of situations.
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    Ken Kytle serves as pastor of Iglesia bautista La fe en Cristo near Atlanta, Georgia.

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