Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Kings 22-25.

I taught a Sunday School class on Sunday and the teacher’s material stated that King David was uniquely righteous among the kings of Israel and Judah.  Today’s passage contradicts that statement.  The passage tells us that Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of David.  When Josiah was brought the Book of the Law, he heard what was in it and immediately sent an emissary to inquire of God.  In response to God’s message that His anger would not be turned aside, but that it would be delayed for Josiah’s lifetime, Josiah increased his efforts to be faithful to God.  When we read the list of things which Josiah did to cleanse the land we realize how far the Israelites fell short of keeping God’s covenant.  Even Josiah had fallen short of doing what was right up until this point.  It was the eighteenth year of Josiah’s rein when the Book of the Law was brought to him, and it was after that that he began to cleanse the land.  The passage tells us that when Josiah began cleansing the land he destroyed the quarters of male shrine prostitutes which were in the temple.  That tells us that for eighteen years of Josiah’s rein there were male shrine prostitutes in the temple.  I am not condemning Josiah for that, since, as I read this passage, he did not know that it was wrong until the Book of the Law was read to him.  Josiah was not the first king of Judah to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but none of those before him had desecrated the idolatrous shrines which King Solomon had built.  I think that is worth noting.  We think of King Solomon as the man who built the temple of the Lord, but that was not the only temple he built.  However, I want to focus on King Josiah.  Even after God had told him that nothing he would do would cause God to withhold His judgement against Judah, Josiah dedicated himself, and called on the people of Judah to dedicate themselves, to serving God faithfully.  Josiah did not serve God for reward, he served God because it was the right thing to do.  We should do likewise.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 19-21.

The message which God gave to Isaiah concerning Sennacherib’s threats against Jerusalem can be a lesson for us today when people speak against God and His people.  God had given power to Sennacherib in order to accomplish His purposes, but Sennacherib came to believe that his successes were due to his wonderfulness.  Like many he ridiculed God and those who put their faith in Him.  He thought that his success meant that nothing could keep him from accomplishing whatever goal he set himself.  God replied that all that Sennacherib had accomplished was according to His plans from long before Sennacherib had been born.  God has made His plans for us and will use us to accomplish His goals.  If we accept His plans for us and willingly serve Him, He will bless us.  If, on the other hand, we ridicule God and His people, He will show us the folly of our ways.

The prophecy God gave through Isaiah to Sennacherib bears a close resemblance to a psalm of David.  Isaiah said to Sennacherib:
“But I know where you are
    and when you come and go
    and how you rage against me.”
And this was a warning.  David said of God in Psalm 139,
“You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.”
After telling him that He knew his comings and goings, God told Sennacherib,
“I will put my hook in your nose
    and my bit in your mouth,”
Those are not pleasant ways to be guided.  David on the other hand after saying that God knows his comings and goings said,
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.”
Both David and Sennacherib were directed by God, but responded differently.  

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 17-18.

So, I had a different perspective on today’s passage than has previously occurred to me.  The passage begins by recounting how Israel, the Northern Kingdom, was completely conquered by Assyria and the people deported to other lands.  It tells us that they were deported for their sins and gives a list of some of those sins.  Then it tells us that the Assyrians brought people from foreign lands to settle in the Israelite lands.  When those foreigners first settled there they had problems with lions, which the Assyrians attributed to these new settlers not worshiping the god of the land (which was God).  So, the Assyrians brought back one of the priests they had deported from the land to teach these new settlers how to worship the Lord.  The writer then tells us that although these new settlers began worshiping God, they also continued to worship the gods of their homelands.  As the writer describes the practices of the people whom the Assyrians settled in the land his description sounds very much like his description as to why God allowed the Israelites to be deported.  Often  I have seen people interpret the description of the practices of the people the Assyrians settled in the land as justification for the claims by the post-Exilic Jews that their descendants had no rights to the land.  What struck me today that while this passage was indeed used that way, it actually tells us that the Israelites were exiled from the land because they were no more faithful in worshiping God than these foreigners with no connection to Abraham.  And how does this apply to us today?   The Israelites claimed to worship God, but they also worshiped other gods.  The settlers whom the Assyrians settled in the land, took up to forms of worshiping God, but did not give up their worship of other gods.  Do we today who claim to worship God allow ourselves to be drawn into the practices of those around us who worship other gods?  God has repeatedly told us that if we worship other gods we are not worshiping Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 15-16.

Today’s passage made me think abut something we overlook a lot.  We normally think of Ancient Israel (the combined lands of the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel) as being essentially the territory controlled by the modern state of Israel plus the West Bank and Gaza.  This year I have been noticing the repeated mentions of Gilead as part of Israel.  Gilead was the land east of the Jordan River settled by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and one half of Manasseh.   Today’s passage tells us that Pekah led a band of fifty men from Gilead to assassinate Pekihiah.  Then later the passage tells us that during the reign of Pekah, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria took Gilead and Galilee and deported the people living there to Assyria.  All of which tells us that Gilead was an integral part of Ancient Israel.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 13-14.

The thing we usually note about Jehu’s son, Jehoahaz, and his grandson, Jehoash, is that they each did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam.  We pay little attention to where it tells us that at some point Jehoahaz sought the Lord’s favor, and God listened to him and delivered Israel from the power of Aram.  And, while we sometimes hear someone teach about Jehoash weeping over Elisha when Elisha was on his death bed I have never heard them mention that just a few verses earlier the passage said that Jehoash did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  So, even though Jehoahaz did evil in God’s eyes, when he sought God, God listened to him.  And even though his son Jehoash also did evil in God’s eyes, he wept over Elisha and God gave him a prophecy of victory.  God will listen to those who have done evil if they turn to Him.  God will use those who do evil to further His purposes.  The lesson here is that as bad as each of them were, God saw potential in them and offered them an opportunity to serve Him.  Perhaps if Amaziah, king of Judah, had invited Jehoash to join him to worship God instead of making war against him, Jehoash would have abandoned the worship of Jeroboam’s golden calves.  Whether or not that is the case, we should invite others, even those who do evil, to join us in worshiping God, rather than making war on them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.