365 Reflections

For all the spiritual decline that runs throughout the narrative of 2 Kings, the end of the book is particularly shocking. Judah's last king, taken captive into Babylon and imprisoned for decades is graciously released at the hand of Evil-Merodach and set up for a life of peace and security. 2 Kings 25:27–30 (ESV) And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 28 And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table, 30 and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived. Why would kings end like this? Why would God allow the wicked lineage of king...

Josiah exemplifies for us a resolute desire to rid the land of Israel from all vestiges of evil practice. When the writer of 2 Kings unpacks for us the several stage process of his purification of Israel, we find out just how long-standing and involved the idolatry of Israel was. 2 Kings 23:4–5 (ESV) And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens. Josiah's reforms begin with the priests - those who led the false worship of Judah. This is importan...

No matter where you are, seek God and good things will result. Josiah is case in point. What's amazing is that he comes from a line of self-centered kings. Yet he will stand out. What's more amazing is who was involved in making Josiah King. His father Amon was betrayed and killed and the people struck back at his assassins and placed Josiah, his son on the throne.  2 Kings 21:24 (ESV) But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. What's even more amazing is that Josiah became king at a younger age than even Manasseh. 2 Kings 22:1 (ESV) Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. The turn about that Josiah will bring to Judah begins in his 26th year of life when a simple decree to care for the temple is sent out. 2 Kings 22:3–5 (ESV) In the eighteenth ...

The legacy Hezekiah leaves behind for his children is one of riches, fame, healing, and deliverance from his enemies. But his heart was proud and he never gave God the honor He deserves toward the end of his life.  The result of Hezekiah's life is extrapolated in the testimony of his son, Manasseh. But first I remind you of Hezekiah's wealth and privilege provided him by the gracious hand of the Lord. His nation was under the threat of Assyria and the Lord sent his angel to destroy 185,000 troops in the night to secure him peace. He was intended to die by illness but his earnest prayer to God yielded a miraculous recovery. On top of these things, he increased in wealth substantially. At the visit of the Babylonian emissary it says this: 2 Kings 20:13 (ESV) Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house , the silver , the gold , the spices , the precious oil , his armory , all that was found in his storehouses. You could say Hezekiah lived the good life to the...

The news for Judah seems dismal. The threats of Sennacherib loom over the land. Will Judah fall to Assyria as the Northern tribes of Israel did? The propaganda from Assyria seems certain and pulls no punches letting the people know it. Hezekiah sends messengers to Isaiah and Isaiah responds with words of assurance that the Lord will frustrate the king of Assyria yet Hezekiah sees very little in the way of victory even after the words. Instead, Rabshakeh, the minister of propaganda keeps taunting the defenders on the wall and pronouncing inevitable defeat. After all, there were many nations before Judah who called out to their “gods” and they were vanquished. What made Judah different?  The answer is found in the theme of Hezekiah’s prayer offered in 2 Kings 19.  2 Kings 19:14 (ESV) Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD. Hezekiah takes the taunts of the enemy and “spr...

When the Northern nation of Israel is deported into Assyria, the king of Assyria repopulates the land with exiles of other nations. This was a strategic practice of ancient kings to remove people from their land and resettle it with strangers. Why? Because gods of the ancient world were considered territorial deities. An ancient king would, therefore, consider the captive people totally powerless to rise up if he displaced them from their land. When this happens, the resettled immigrants are oblivious to Israel's laws and they suffer immediately at the hand of the Lord for their pagan ways.  2 Kings 17:25 (ESV) And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. The king of Assyria decides to remedy this problem by sending a priest from Israel back to teach them how to worship the God of Israel so as to keep peace in the land. The result of this is a religiously mixed group of people who wor...

Pride is popular today. We see our world celebrate it, rejoice in it, and base their entire lives on it.  But pride is deadly.  The 14th chapter of 2 Kings introduces us to one half-hearted king after another. The names are hard to follow because many of them repeat and the narrative keeps moving back and forth from the Northern 10-tribe nation of Israel to the Southern 2-tribe nation of Judah. I will do my best to simplify the story for you. We start in the South with Amaziah.  2 Kings 14:1–2 (ESV) In the second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. Amaziah will follow the Lord half-heartedly. His moderate commitment is still blessed as he will have great success against the Edomites dwelling in the south, that ancient rival nation descended from Esau.  ...

2 Kings 13:20–21 (ESV) So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. 21 And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet. For 50 years, Elisha had been Israel's lifeline. Now, as the nation continues its descent into immorality and pagan heathenism, he dies. Imagine this moment if you will. Your nation seems to be on an irreversible course toward exile. God had already promised such in 1 Kings 14: 1 Kings 14:15–16 (ESV) the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger. 16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.” You have to th...

We can say we love God and say we believe and truth Him, but the rubber hits the road when we give to and go to work on His house - the Church. In 2 Kings 12, we have a righteous king on the throne following the debacle that was the wicked queen Athaliah. 2 Kings 12:2–3 (ESV) And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. 3 Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places. Now Jehoash's first move as the king in the narrative is incredible. He decides to call for a rebuilding campaign over the Temple. 2 Kings 12:4–5 (ESV) Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into the house of the LORD, the money for which each man is assessed—the money from the assessment of persons—and the money that a man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of the LORD, 5 let the priests take, each from his donor, and let them...

Athaliah is not your average mom. She's vengeful, wicked, hateful, and evil. And that's putting it lightly. What she does in 2 Kings 11 is shocking. Upon the death of her son, King Ahaziah in Judah, she eliminates the entire royal family. Thankfully, one of Ahaziah's sisters, Jehosheba and her husband, Jehoiada the high priest at the time steal one son away and protect him for 6 years. His name was Joash and he would be the saving grace of Judah.  2 Kings 11:1–3 (ESV) Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family. 2 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. 3 And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the LORD, while Athaliah reigned over the land. It's a sto...

Jehu, king of Israel was a man on fire. The Lord appointed him to wipe out the sin of Israel and he acted with intense zeal in accomplishing that task. At one point he boasted to an associate:  “Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD.”  2 Kings 10:16.  Yet there is a lesson for the modern church in the life of Jehu. Let us first recount his expedition of vengeance.  Once anointed Jehu unleashed a torrent of God's wrath on the unfaithful royal families of both southern and northern Israel. Joram (Ahab's son), Jezebel, and all 70 of Ahab's sons were killed. He piled the heads of Ahab's sons at the gate in a proud display of his accomplishment. Ahaziah, the king of Judah and all his relatives were slaughtered at Jehu's command. Finally, Jehu coordinated a fake Baal worship ceremony in order to bring all the Baal worshippers into one place and he commanded his men to slaughter all of them as well. You could say Jehu was the John Wick of the Bible.  Yet in spite ...

For the better portion of 1 and 2 Kings, we have looked at the troubles sin and national apostasy has brought on the Northern kingdom of Israel while Judah in the South has remained in the background. We remember that Judah and Benjamin stayed loyal to the house of David while the 10 northern tribes of Israel followed the detestable ways of the nations around them, barely staying in existence at times and being constantly saved by God's prophets.  Now in 2 Kings 9, the southern kingdom will have to be saved from the northern kingdom's evil ways. God does this, not because they deserve it but because He is faithful to His promises. And that matters for you and me. But let's look at what happens first. 2 Kings 8:16–17 (ESV) In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, began to reign. 17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. We a...

Why does the Tabernacle have a court? Exodus 27:9 (ESV)   “You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side. God has instructed Moses to build the Most Holy place where God would dwell, the Holy Place where the priests would minister and now the court. But the simple question is why is it necessary for a court to exist? Why not just a place for God to dwell when we need to remember He's there or need a question answered? The court exists to teach God's people to actively and intentionally come into His presence with honor, praise and sacrifice. The court was off limits to those outside the covenant people of Israel. Gentiles were allowed in the court if they bound themselves to the terms of the covenant along with Israel. They too would have to take the necessary steps to come before the God of heaven and earth. The idea of a court yard for God's dwelling would send ...

Exodus 20:16 (ESV) "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Lying is not usually considered that big of a deal. We even rename it to make it sound more "innocent." We say it's a "white lie" or we call it fibbing or "stretching the truth just a bit" or even exaggeration. All of them seem harmless but can often be small ways in which we deceive others for our own advantage.  Notice that this command is the first command to conclude with the words, "against your neighbor." Lying is a living offense against someone in your community for your own benefit. Murder takes a life, adultery takes stolen pleasure, stealing takes property from someone else. A lie is self-advancement over others. The original intention of this command refers to lying in court against someone else.  We really come to understand the depth of God's heart in this command when we realize how easy it was to condemn someone in the ancien...