Israel Disobeyed its Law (2 Ki. 17:7-17)

5/31/2011 10:11:00 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Israel disobeyed its law

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  2Kings 17:7-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “  7 ¶  Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods 8  and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced. 9  The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the LORD their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10  They set for themselves sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11  and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the LORD had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the LORD. 12  They served idols, concerning which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this thing." 13  Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets." 14  However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God. 15  They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them. 16  They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17  Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him.”

 

            This section of Scripture is similar to what the Apostle Paul writes to the Romans in the first few chapter of that letter.  One of the differences is that in that letter Paul is giving an indictment to all of mankind including the nation of Israel.  Here the writer of 2Kings is just indicting only the nation of Israel along with some words about Judah.  There is no defense for the nation of Israel as first they started to worship idols in secret (verse 9), and then they did it openly and actually came to the point of killing their own sons and daughters by putting them through the fire in an act of worship to their idols. 

            Psalm 115:8 shows that people become like the gods that they worship, (Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them).  (Those who make them have become just like them, have become just like the gods they trust).  (Message)  The verse can be seen very clearly in the “Message” and so it was with the nation of Israel, for they became “vanity” (emptiness, nothingness) because the worshiped vain idols.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  These are some verses that bring fear to my heart for I do want to become like the God that I worship in fact that is what I, as a believer am suppose to do.  “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters (Romans 8:29 NLT). 

            I look at the nation that I live in and I see similar things’ happening to it that happened to Israel and to Judah and that brings fear to my heart.  An example is the homosexual issue, for when I was growing up there were homosexuals living in our country, but they were “in the closet” and now they brag so much of coming out of the closet.  When you read Paul’s letter to the Romans there is a slide that people and nations take as the slip to deeper and deeper sins and the last part of this slide is homosexuality.  Paul writes something like not only do people do these kinds of sins but they applaud those who do them too.  This is a very sad time to live in our country seeing it fall to the moral levels that it is falling to and knowing that judgment is not far off.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Give myself to the Lord for worship and for service so that I can be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

3.      Remember the need for the spiritual armor.

4.      Continue to pray about the job situation and also what spiritual reason that we are here.

5.      Pray that the meeting with the Pastor this week will happen and that it will be profitable.

 

5/31/2011 10:45:40 AM   

Israel Lost Her Land (2 Ki. 17:6, 18:9-12)

5/30/2011 9:48:58 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Israel lost its land

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  2Kings 17:6; 18:9-12

 

            Message of the verses:  “6  In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”

            “9 ¶  Now in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. 10  At the end of three years they captured it; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was captured. 11  Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and put them in Halah and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12  because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded; they would neither listen nor do it.”

 

            God is a covenant keeping God as He does not change nor change His mind.  God has a plan and nothing on the face of the earth or in heaven or any other place can stop the plan that the Lord has.  God made a covenant with the people of Israel and the land that they live on belonged to the Lord and the people belonged to Him too, and they disobeyed God’s Law and not because God is the only God and will not go against His character or His attributes he caused the Assyrian Empire to defeat Samaria, the northern kingdoms capital and move these people to another place just like Judah would go through in a few years, and all of that was because they disobeyed His Law and because God kept His covenant with them.

Israel’s disobedience would bring defeat in war:  “25  "The LORD shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways before them, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.  49  "The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, 50  a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.”  (28^th chapter of Deu).

God would bring oppression and slavery for breaking His covenant:  “29  and you will grope at noon, as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually, with none to save you.”  33  "A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually.  48  therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.  68  "The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, ’You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."  Also in captivity:  “36  "The LORD will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone.  43  "The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you will go down lower and lower.  63  "It shall come about that as the LORD delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the LORD will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. 64  "Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. 65  "Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. 66  "So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. 67  "In the morning you shall say, ’Would that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ’Would that it were morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see. 68  "The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, ’You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."

All of this from the 28^th chapter of Deuteronomy which I have just listened to and the chapter is a very sobering chapter that is in the Word of God.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am marveled at the way the Bible sometimes describes some important events in just a few verses.  The 28^th chapter of Deuteronomy has sixty-eight verses in it to describe what would happen to Israel if she obeyed or disobeyed, and yet in 2Kings there are only a few verses to describe the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel.  The crucifixion of Jesus Christ takes only a verse or two to say it was going to happen.  I trust that the Lord has put into His Word what He wants there and what I am to do is listen to it  and to learn and apply His Word to my life so that I can bring honor and glory to the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith For Today:

 

1.      Continue to read the Word of God and to study it and apply it to my life.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

3.      Give myself to the Lord this day for worship and for service.

4.      Put on the whole armor of God so that I can stand.

5/30/2011 10:30:36 AM

 

 

Israel Lost Her Leader (2 Ki. 17:1-5)

5/29/2011 7:54:22 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Israel lost its leader

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  2Kings 17:1-5

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned nine years. 2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, only not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute. 4  But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, who had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; so the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. 5 Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years.”

 

            This SD is the first sub-point of the second main point, “Israel, a captive nation,” in Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on 2Kings and parts of 2Chronicles.  In these five verses we pretty much read of the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel.  Assyria had already taken the tribes East of the Jordan River as recorded in 1Chronicles 5:24-26, so all that was left was the tribes West of the Jordan River.  The Assyrian leader had changed and would change again as Assyria besieged the capital of Northern Israel, Samaria, a name that would identify the northern part of Israel for years to come.

            It is interesting that it is written of Hoshea that even though he did evil in the sight of the Lord he was not as evil as the other kings of Israel, and was not compared to Jeroboam the first king of Israel.  He was defeated by the king of Assyria and was to pay tribute to him, but decided to seek the help of the king of Egypt to help defeat Assyria, but was found out and put in prison and then Assyria began to attack Israel and by 722 B.C. the northern tribes of Israel were defeated and a mixed people were put into the land.  As stated before there were representatives of all the twelve tribes of Israel in Judah so there are no lost tribes.  The book of Revelations states that there will be representatives of all twelve tribes in the tribulation period (See Rev. 7).

            Dr. Wiersbe states that there was many times that Israel went down to Egypt to seek help, and the first time was when Abraham did this.  This is a picture of going to the world for help instead of going to the Lord for help and I am sure that I am guilty of this in my life too.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I would suppose that “going to Egypt” for help is a sign that I have not learned contentment, for it surely shows a lack of patience on my part and learning contentment is also learning patience of which I need both in order to fully trust in the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      I give myself to the Lord for worship and for service and do not want to seek help from other sources other than the Lord.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

3.      Put on the spiritual armor.

 

5/29/2011 8:23:05 AM

           

 

Religious Compromise from 2 Ki. 16:10-20; 2 Chron. 28:22-27

5/28/2011 7:48:53 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Religious compromise

 

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  2Ki. 16:10-20; 2Chron. 28:22-27

 

            Message of the verses:  “  10 ¶  Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the pattern of the altar and its model, according to all its workmanship. 11  So Urijah the priest built an altar; according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, thus Urijah the priest made it, before the coming of King Ahaz from Damascus. 12  When the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar; then the king approached the altar and went up to it, 13  and burned his burnt offering and his meal offering, and poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14  The bronze altar, which was before the LORD, he brought from the front of the house, from between his altar and the house of the LORD, and he put it on the north side of his altar. 15  Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, "Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening meal offering and the king’s burnt offering and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their meal offering and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. But the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by." 16  So Urijah the priest did according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

     “17 ¶  Then King Ahaz cut off the borders of the stands, and removed the laver from them; he also took down the sea from the bronze oxen which were under it and put it on a pavement of stone. 18  The covered way for the sabbath which they had built in the house, and the outer entry of the king, he removed from the house of the LORD because of the king of Assyria.  19  Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 20  So Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David; and his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.”

 

            “22  Now in the time of his distress this same King Ahaz became yet more unfaithful to the LORD. 23  For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him, and said, "Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me." But they became the downfall of him and all Israel. 24  Moreover, when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God, he cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he closed the doors of the house of the LORD and made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem. 25  In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers, to anger.  26  Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27  So Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel; and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.”

 

            It seems that Ahaz had sold his soul to the king of Assyria whom he went to see and thus became a puppet of this evil king.   Tiglath-pileser was the king of Assyria and the one who would eventually take the Northern tribes of Israel into captivity and would also try and defeat the nation of Judah, but would not be able to do so, but I am getting ahead of the story.

            For whatever reason Ahaz built an altar in Jerusalem like the one that he saw in Damascus, whether Tiglath-pileser told him to do so or whether he did it on his own is not the real point here, he did it.  And if the high priest in his day would have had the guts that the high priest had in Uzziah’s day this would not have gotten done, but it seems like much of Judah was going with the flow of what this evil king wanted.  Compromise to the Law of Moses was happening during this time, and it seems that there is a lot of compromise going on in our churches today.  Warren Wiersbe quotes a portion from A. W. Tozer’s book “Keys to the Deeper Life,” in his commentary on this section.  Tozer writes:  “Aside from a few of the grosser sins, the sins of the unregenerated world are now approved by a shocking number of professedly ‘born again’ Christians, and copied eagerly.  Young Christians take as their models the rankest kind of worldlings and try to be as much like them as possible.  Religious leaders have adopted the techniques of the advertisers:  boasting, baiting, and shameless exaggeration are now carried on as a normal procedure in church work.  The moral climate is not that of the New Testament but that of Hollywood and Broadway.” 

            This is the way it was back in the days of Ahaz and it seems to be that way in 21^st century America, and that way in many of the churches across our land.

            Ahaz eventually died but he was not buried in the place where the kings of Judah were buried showing that he was not worthy of being buried there.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Compromise and worldliness are much a part of the church in America today and it is hard to find a church that is not affected by the world.  Seeker churches water down the preaching and the truth of the Bible in order to attract unbelievers and thus become more like the unbelievers that they are trying to attract than the faith that they are to follow.  I surely do not want to compromise the faith that I believe and know to be true, but that is a very difficult thing to do.  Modern technology is wonderful if used for the glory of God, but it is so easy to use in a compromising way that it sometimes scares me to use it.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      By the grace of God I will not compromise with the world.

2.      Give myself to the Lord for worship and for service.

3.      Continue to learn contentment.

4.      Remember the truth of Psalm 101:3a.

5.      Remember the truth of Psalm 139:23-24.

 

5/28/2011 8:37:19 AM

 

           

Political Compromise (2 Ki. 16:1-9; 2 Chron. 28:1-21)

5/26/2011 9:38:54 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Political compromise

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                  Reference:  2Kings 16:1-9; 2Chronicles 28:1-21

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. 2  Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done. 3  But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from before the sons of Israel. 4  He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

   “ 5 ¶  Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war; and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. 6  At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram, and cleared the Judeans out of Elath entirely; and the Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day. 7  So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son; come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me." 8  Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9  So the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and captured it, and carried the people of it away into exile to Kir, and put Rezin to death.”

 

            “1 ¶  Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do right in the sight of the LORD as David his father had done. 2  But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also made molten images for the Baals. 3  Moreover, he burned incense in the valley of Ben-hinnom and burned his sons in fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel. 4  He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills and under every green tree. 5  Wherefore, the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Aram; and they defeated him and carried away from him a great number of captives and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who inflicted him with heavy casualties.

   “ 6 ¶  For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah 120,000 in one day, all valiant men, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. 7  And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king’s son and Azrikam the ruler of the house and Elkanah the second to the king. 8  The sons of Israel carried away captive of their brethren 200,000 women, sons and daughters; and they took also a great deal of spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. 9  But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army which came to Samaria and said to them, "Behold, because the LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage which has even reached heaven. 10  "Now you are proposing to subjugate for yourselves the people of Judah and Jerusalem for male and female slaves. Surely, do you not have transgressions of your own against the LORD your God? 11  "Now therefore, listen to me and return the captives whom you captured from your brothers, for the burning anger of the LORD is against you." 12  Then some of the heads of the sons of Ephraim-Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai-arose against those who were coming from the battle, 13  and said to them, "You must not bring the captives in here, for you are proposing to bring upon us guilt against the LORD adding to our sins and our guilt; for our guilt is great so that His burning anger is against Israel." 14  So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the officers and all the assembly. 15  Then the men who were designated by name arose, took the captives, and they clothed all their naked ones from the spoil; and they gave them clothes and sandals, fed them and gave them drink, anointed them with oil, led all their feeble ones on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers; then they returned to Samaria.

   “ 16 ¶  At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria for help. 17  For again the Edomites had come and attacked Judah and carried away captives. 18  The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland and of the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages, and they settled there. 19  For the LORD humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the LORD. 20  So Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. 21  Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the LORD and out of the palace of the king and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.”

 

            I was very upset yesterday because when I was doing this devotion my computer made it all disappear.  This is not the first time that this has happened to me, but when it happened yesterday I had almost finished the first part of my devotions.  I decided not to finish yesterday because of being so upset and that is why I am doing the finishing work today on this section of Scripture.

 

            Ahaz was a very cruel and wicked man and yet if one reads Isaiah chapters six through eight it will be clear that the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah spoke to Ahaz and ask him to seek a miracle from the Lord.  Ahaz did not want any sign from the Lord so the Lord gave him a sign, and that sign was that a virgin would have a child.  Now the word for virgin in the Hebrew does not mean that the woman did not ever have sexual intercourse, but when the OT was translated into the Greek language the word virgin did mean that the woman who was a virgin never did have intercourse.  At any rate this sign was speaking of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and the Lord revealed this to the ungodly king Ahaz. 

            Ahaz had aligned himself with the king of Assyria and the king of Syria and the king of the northern kingdom of Israel did not like this and so they attacked Judah and did much damage to them.  If the king of the northern part of Israel would have won a total victory over Judah this could have caused the nation to be one nation under the awful rulers of the northern kingdom and so the Lord did not allow this to happen even though Ahaz was a very ungodly king, and the reason was that God had made a promise to David that the Messiah would come from his line and even thought Babylon did eventually defeat Judah the line of David did not stop as his line was protected by the Lord and Jesus Christ was born into the line of David.

            In his commentary on this section Warren Wiersbe asks a question that is surely prevalent in our day, and that is “Does the Lord still chasten nations today as He did in ancient days?’’  He gives the answer in the following statement, “The prophet Amos makes it clear that God knows the sins of the Gentile nations and holds them accountable (Amos 1-2). 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look back over the history of Judah and in particular the line of David I can see how it is that the Lord took care of David’s line even though from time to time it seems that this was an impossible task that by doing it the Lord would not go against His character and against His attributes.  One of the attributes of the God is wisdom and God has the greatest wisdom of anyone and can look down the tunnels of time and know how it is that He will keep His plan working.  I am glad for this wonderful attribute of wisdom that the Lord has, for God has a plan for my life and I believe that because of His wisdom He will see to it that that plan will come to fruition.  For this I am so very thankful, and I am also very thankful that I can serve and worship the Lord because of the grace that He has bestowed upon me. I believe that all of God’s attributes were involved in my salvation as they were all present at the cross in order to make my salvation complete and again for this I am thankful.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.       Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.

2.      Continue to seek to learn contentment even though by doing so makes my life difficult at times.

3.      Remember Psalm 101:3, “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.”

4.      Remember the spiritual battle that I am in and be protected by the spiritual armor.

5.      Psalm 139:23-24.

5/27/2011 9:26:42 AM

 

Jotham, A Virtuous King (2 Ki. 15:32-38; 2 Chron. 27)

5/25/2011 8:10:06 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Jotham, a virtuous king

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  2Ki. 15:32-38; 2Chron. 27

 

            Message of the verses:  “32 ¶  In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah became king. 33  He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. 34  He did what was right in the sight of the LORD; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. 35  Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD. 36  Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 37  In those days the LORD began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. 38  And Jotham slept with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Ahaz his son became king in his place.”

 

            “1 ¶  Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. 2  He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done; however he did not enter the temple of the LORD. But the people continued acting corruptly. 3  He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD, and he built extensively the wall of Ophel. 4  Moreover, he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and he built fortresses and towers on the wooded hills. 5  He fought also with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed over them so that the Ammonites gave him during that year one hundred talents of silver, ten thousand kors of wheat and ten thousand of barley. The Ammonites also paid him this amount in the second and in the third year. 6  So Jotham became mighty because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God. 7  Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, even all his wars and his acts, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 8  He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. 9  And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Ahaz , his son became king in his place.”

 

            I would suppose that if you look at the total of forty kings who reigned over Israel, both the united kingdom and then the divided kingdom that the majority of them were evil kings, for all of the kings of the northern kingdom were evil kings and then most of the southern kings did evil in the sight of the Lord.  In yesterday’s SD as far as the commentary that Warren Wiersbe gave he named all of the good kings in the Southern kingdom, and they were as follows, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah.  Then he goes on to write the following, “Of course at the top of the list is King David.”  I notice that he did not include Solomon in the list of good kings and I suppose that he should not be there for of all of the kings of Israel he was probably the most gifted king and yet the most wasteful of all of his gifts.  Another thing one can read about is these good kings is that many of them did not get rid of the high places where Israel would sacrifice, sometimes to the Lord and sometimes to idols.

            Now as far as King Jotham he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but did not remove the high places.  He co-reigned with his father Uzziah after Uzziah went into the temple and received leprosy and the thing that I do not understand is that he died when he was forty-one years old and there is no explanation of why he died.  He did conquer the Amorites while he was king and received tribute from them after he conquered them.  He built the walls of Jerusalem that had been destroyed earlier by the northern kingdom.  The Bible does not really record a lot about Jotham when he was king and yet he was a good king.  His son Ahaz would not be a good king and with this thought in mind Warren Wiersbe directs his readers to the 18^th chapter of Ezekiel for an explanation of this good king and evil king history of Israel.  I listened to this chapter and it says that a person who is evil will pay for his sins, not his son, and if an evil person changes then he will live and if a righteous person changes he will die. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  In that 18^th chapter of Ezekiel I surely can see something that has been a theme in my devotions for some time and that is to finish strong.  I believe that one aspect of finishing strong is to continue to learn contentment, for when one really knows contentment one really believes that the Lord is in charge and even though at times, life does not seem good, by realizing that the Lord is in control of all things and in the end all will be good then I can continue to be content in my life.  This is a difficult thing to learn in that the best way to learn this is to go through some difficult times of which there have been a few in my life at this season of my life.  I must continue to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord and continue to learn contentment.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Continue to learn contentment.  (Phil. 4:11)

2.      Remember Psalm 101:3 “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.”

3.      Remember Romans 12:1-2.

4.      Remember Psalm 139:23-24.

 

5/25/2011 9:14:30 AM

 

 

 

           

Five Nortorious kings (2 Kings 15:8-31)

5/24/2011 8:00:48 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Five notorious kings

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  2Kings 15:8-31

 

            Message of the verses:  In this section of Scripture there are five kings and some of their deeds described, all of which are evil, for all of the kings in the northern kingdom did evil in the sight of the Lord.  Not one of them is described as a good king and of the twenty that reined in the Southern kingdom only nine who are described as good kings with King David at the top of the list.

 

            Zechariah (verses 8-12). “  8 ¶  In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months. 9  He did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin. 10  Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him before the people and killed him, and reigned in his place. 11  Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 12  This is the word of the LORD which He spoke to Jehu, saying, "Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel." And so it was.

It is interesting that there are twenty-nine people in the Bible with the name Zechariah, and this Zechariah was the last of generations of King Jehu to reign.  He did evil in the sight of the Lord just as all of the other kings had done and so he was assassinated like four other kings in this section of Scripture.  The nation was going downhill fast and so it is said that “God often gives a nation just exactly the leaders it deserves.”

 

Shallum (verses 13-15).  “13  Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned one month in Samaria. 14  Then Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and struck Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed him and became king in his place. 15  Now the rest of the acts of Shallum and his conspiracy which he made, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.”

I think that it is interesting that all five of these kings are described in one paragraph in this chapter of 2Kings, while most of four entire books are used to describe the activities of King David.  Shallum only reigned for a total of one month and he too was assassinated, and then his assassin took over as king.

 

Menahem (verses 16-22).  “16  Then Menahem struck Tiphsah and all who were in it and its borders from Tirzah, because they did not open to him; therefore he struck it and ripped up all its women who were with child. 17  In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel and reigned ten years in Samaria. 18  He did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin. 19  Pul, king of Assyria, came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his rule. 20  Then Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver to pay the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned and did not remain there in the land. 21  Now the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 22  And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son became king in his place.”

One can see how cruel this king was for when he killed Tiphsah the city where Tiphsah was from did not like what he did and so he went into that city and ripped open all of the pregnant women, something that Hosea the Prophet said would happen in Israel.  “Samaria will be held guilty, For she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, Their little ones will be dashed in pieces, And their pregnant women will be ripped open.” 

Menahem compromised with the Assyrians and gave them thirty-seven tons of silver which he extorted from the wealthy people in order for them not to attack Israel.  They returned in twenty years.

 

            Pekahiah (verses 23-26).  “23  In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years. 24  He did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin. 25  Then Pekah son of Remaliah, his officer, conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, in the castle of the king’s house with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites, and he killed him and became king in his place. 26  Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.”

            There is not much to say about this king except that he was the son of Menahem, that he reigned for two years, that he was assassinated and that he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

 

 

            It is good to notice that all of these kings of the northern kingdom were made king while only one king was reigning in the southern kingdom, that would be King Uzziah.  Pekah became king in the last year of King Uzziah’s reign. 

            Pekah was a military man and this was probably why he was able to reign for twenty years, but while he was reigning Tiglath-pileser who was the king of Assyria attacked Israel a number of times and took many of the towns in Israel along with Philistine territory and even up to Damascus in Syria.  Pekah was killed by a man who will turn up in 2Kings 17 and his name was Hoshea who was pro-Assyrian in his political views. 

            Dr. Wiersbe has an interesting footnote on Pekah:  “Pekah united with Rezin, king of Syria, in trying to force Ahaz, king of Judah to join forces with them in opposing Assyria.  It was out of this context that the famous messianic promise of Isaiah 7:14 was born.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There seems to be a theme that I have been thinking about and have mentioned in a few of these Spiritual Diaries from time to time and that theme is to finish strong.  It came up again yesterday in the life of King Uzziah, who did not finish strong, and it surely can be applied here to these kings of Israel who not only did not finish strong, but they all did evil in the sight of the Lord so they did not even begin strong.

            In a couple of places in the NT the author asks his readers to look at the OT and learn from the mistakes that the people of the OT made so not to make them.  There has been a lot to learn from this cast of characters in this section of not what to do and one of the things that I want to do is something that none of them did and that is finish my life in the service of the Lord strong.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Finish strong.

2.      Seek the Lord to find out what it is that He has for me to do while living in Hawaii.

3.      Give myself to the Lord for worship and for service this day.

4.      Remember the spiritual battle that I am in and the need for the spiritual armor to be put on.

5.      Continue to learn contentment.

 

5/24/2011 9:02:34 AM