PM May 6th 2 Kings 13

May 6^th              2 Kings 13        Jehoahaz King of Israel

1: In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. 2: And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. 3: And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, all their days. 4: And Jehoahaz besought the LORD, and the LORD hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. 5: (And the LORD gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as beforetime. 6: Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.) 7: Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing. 8: Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 9: And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his son reigned in his stead.

Jehoash King of Israel

10: In the thirty and seventh year of Joash king of Judah began Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. 11: And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin: but he walked therein. 12: And the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 13: And Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat upon his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Elisha dies - a man raised

14: Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. 15: And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. 16: And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. 17: And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. 18: And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. 19: And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. 20: And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. 21: And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

Wars with Syria

22: But Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 23: And the LORD was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet. 24: So Hazael king of Syria died; and Ben-hadad his son reigned in his stead. 25: And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel.

2 Kings 14        Amaziah King of Judah

1: In the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel reigned Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah. 2: He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 3: And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did. 4: Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places. 5: And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, that he slew his servants which had slain the king his father. 6: But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin. 7: He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day. 8: Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look one another in the face. 9: And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle. 10: Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? 11: But Amaziah would not hear. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongeth to Judah. 12: And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to their tents. 13: And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim unto the corner gate, four hundred cubits. 14: And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king's house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.

Jehoash dies

15: Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 16: And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead.

Amaziah dies

17: And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. 18: And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 19: Now they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish, and slew him there. 20: And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21: And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 22: He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

Jeroboam II King of Israel

23: In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years. 24: And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 25: He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher. 26: For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. 27: And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. 28: Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 29: And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.

Here we have the record of the life and death of kings of Israel and Judah. And we have the sad record of Elisha’s death. First we have the beginning of the reign of Jehoahaz in Samaria. He was a throughly bad King doing evil in Gods sight. The Lord was so angry with him that he gave him into the hand of an enemy called Ben-hadad all his life. However he came around and sought the Lord and the Lord turned again to him. This describes the theology of OT times. The Lord held the kings and the people accountable to him and disciplined them by drought, famine and foreign armies. We are not told who there Saviour was but the Lord raised up a deliverer to bring military victory. He only had 50 cavalry, 10 chariots and 10,000 infantry. We would like to know more about these days but the Lord has given us no more information. Then we come to Jehoash King of Israel. He reigned for 16 years in Samaria but he did evil I Gods sight. He followed the evil example of his father. We see how important the example of fathers is to children here. Then we have the interesting case of the death of Elisha. Elisha performed twice as many miraculous signs that Elijah did. Elijah did four miracles but Elisha did eight. Elisha became sick and died and they buried him. Joash came and wept for him when he was sick saying he was the chariot of Israel and the horsemen of it. He saw saying that Elisha was the driving force of Israel while he lived. Elisha asked that the window might be opened and he took the bow and arrow of Joash and putting his hands over the hands of Joash he shot the arrow through the window. He said with these arrows you will smite the Syrian army. He told him to take the arrows and smite the ground with them so he did he hit the ground three times but Elisha was cross he said why didn’t you hit the ground five or six times? But you will strike them only three times. Then Elisha died and they buried him. In the next spring the Moabites invaded and it happened that they were burying a man and they threw the dead body into the cave of Elijah and when the dead cadaver touched the bones of Elisha he was resuscitated and stood up on his feet. And so even the dead Prophet brought life to a dead man. This is the only case in which a prophet raised a man from the dead after his own death. I have many books on my shelves which bring life to me though the authors are long dead. Hazael oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz but the LORD was gracious to Israel because of the covenant that he made with Abraham and out of respect for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Then we read of Amaziah King of Judah. He was 25 when he began to reign and he reigned for 29 yrs. He was a righteous king though not as good as his father David. He brought justice to those who murdered his father, but he did not kill all their families. He kept the commandment which said that children should not be executed for the father’s sins. He won a significant victory against Edom. Then we read of the death of Jehoash and Amaziah. Lastly we read of Jeroboam II King of Israel who reigned in the north for 41 yrs. But he was an evil king leading Israel into sin. It’s so significant in these records that the king was raised up by the Lord and their spiritual condition had a great influence on the kingdom that they ruled. That is why we are to pray for kings and rulers and those that are in authority that they might work in justice and righteousness. Christians are to take up this important task of prayer for those that the Lord has raised up.