May
6th 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.
- How does the Lord record the lives of the Kings of Israel and Judah?
- What do we learn about OT theology in this passage?
- How did Elisha bless a man after his death?
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