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
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