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

We tend to think of the kings of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, listed in this passage as evil kings because the passage tells us that each of them “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  However, I think that misses much of what the writer intends for us to understand about them.  The writer tells us that Jehoahaz son of Jehu sought the Lord’s favor after Israel had been oppressed by Aram for some extended number of years, and that God provided a deliverer in response to his prayer.  Then it tells us how Jehoahaz’s son, Jehoash, visited Elisha when Elisha was on his deathbed, and mourned the death of Elisha.  Finally, the writer tells us that God used Jeroboam son of Jehoash to save the people of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, from the bitter suffering which they had been experiencing.  We need to keep the way God used these deeply flawed leaders to care for His people.

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 10-12.

Once Jehu had killed King Joram and his mother Jezebel, he sent word to the officials acting as guardians for the remaining sons of the house of Ahab (I understand this to be sons and grandsons of Ahab).  It seems likely that at least some, and perhaps all, of them would have been adults.  Jehu had those officials kill them.  I find it interesting that the number of sons of the house of Ahab was seventy, the same number as the sons of Gideon killed by Gideon’s son, Abimelech.  In addition, Jehu killed some relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah, who had come to Israel on what was most likely “idolatry tourism”, and probably also with the intention of doing things which would have ruined their reputations if done in Jerusalem.  I think of those forty-two individuals as being similar to the various prestigious people who regularly visited Jeffrey Epstein’s island.

Having killed off the entire government structure associated with Ahab and his family, Jehu then entered into an alliance with Jehonadab to serve God.  This alliance suggests that Jehu sought to serve God, despite refusing to turn away from the worship of Jeroboam’s golden calves.  Jehonadab’s descendants were praised by Jeremiah during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem for their dedication to the teachings of Jehonadab and thus to God.  With Jehonadab, Jehu wiped out Baal worship in Israel.  The way that the writer of this passage writes it, I believe that Jehu wished to serve God, but felt that he needed to keep the worship of the golden calves for expediency.

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 8-9.

I don’t think that I ever noticed before that King Jehoshaphat’s grandson was named after King Ahab’s eldest son.  I doubt there is much significance to that fact, but it does tell you a bit about the influence of Ahab’s daughter over Judah.  When Ben-Hadad sent a messenger to ask Elisha if he would get better, Elisha tells the messenger to lie to Ben-Hadad.  The messenger’s name was Hazael, and it seems that Elisha’s purpose in travelling to Damascus was to encourage Hazael to launch a coup.  In a similar way, Elisha sends a messenger to Jehu to encourage him to launch a coup against Ahab’s son.  I will note that Hazael becoming king in Damascus set the stage for Jehu to overthrow King Joram.  It took me many readings of this passage to realize that Elisha encouraged Jehu to overthrow Joram because of Jehu’s opposition to the idolatry of the House of Omri (Ahab’s father).  And it was only today that I realized that the support for Jehu among the army was for the same reason.  Which leads me to realize that despite the support of the crown, Baal worship was unpopular among the people of Israel, the Northern Kingdom.

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 5-7.

There is a lot to be learned from the story of Naaman, but today I am only going to touch on what we can learn from Elisha’s refusal to accept payment and from his servant, Gehazi.  Elisha does not give Naaman a reason for his refusal to accept Naaman’s donations, but we get a hint later when Elisha tells Gehazi, “Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes…”  To me, this suggests that Elisha did not want Naaman, or others, to think that Naaman had bought healing, that Naaman was cured because he was rich and powerful.  God cured Naaman in order to show that He, YHWH, the God of Israel, was God, Creator of the Universe, and ruler over all.  However, Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, thought that Naaman, this foreigner, should be made to pay something for receiving God’s healing.  Or, to be more precise, Gehazi thought it was unfair that Naaman, who had so much, should be healed without Gehazi, who was so “poor” (poor being a relative term and we have no idea how well off Gehazi was, but certainly less well off than Naaman), getting some reward.  Let’s be clear, what Gehazi did here was embezzlement or fraud.  He had every intention of keeping what he got from Naaman for his own ends.  He had no intention of turning any of it over to Elisha.  Things would have come out differently if Gehazi had openly asked Naaman for the things for himself.

I am going to touch on the story of Elisha and the Aramite army only long enough to quote what Elisha told his servant:

“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

Well, perhaps a bit more than that, but only because it fits so well into my thoughts about the siege of Samaria.  During the siege things got really bad, food became outrageously expensive.  The king blamed Elisha, and through him, God, for these troubles, taking no responsibility for them himself.  This despite the fact that Samaria was besieged by the army of Aram, whose king the current king’s father had allowed to escape the consequences of attacking Israel previously.  So, the king was determined to kill Elisha and thus redirect the people’s anger.  However, Elisha was prepared and had barricaded himself with the elders of the city.  Elisha responded to the king’s accusations by telling him that by the following day, food would be unbelievably inexpensive.  There was no humanly conceivable way for things to turn around that fast.  Yet, they did.

So, when we look at where things are today. they are not nearly as bad as they were in Samaria under siege.  Nevertheless, they are bad.  In some ways they do appear as bad as things did for Elisha when the army of Aram surrounded the town in which he lived, looking to capture or kill him.  Those of us who serve God appear to be surrounded and outnumbered by those hostile to our faith.  Yet, I believe even today, what Elisha said to his servant is true…Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.  Just as Elisha was not counting a human army when he said that, I am not counting the living human followers of Christ, or, at least, not just the living human followers of Christ.  Also, just as in the Samaria under siege, it may appear that things can only get worse, but I have faith that God can bring about change such that if you predicted it, everyone would think you crazy.  In fact, despite the fact that I have felt like perhaps Christ’s Return, and God’s Judgement, were almost upon us, reading this today I feel as if God’s Spirit is telling me that God is preparing to show His power in a way which no one would believe if they did not witness it.

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 3-4.

Each of the accounts in today’s passage illustrate ways in which God provides for needs.  In the first account, King Joram got himself and others into a bad situation, and even then he only sought God’s aid at the nstigation of Jehoshaphat.  Nevertheless, God delivered him, and those with him, from the mess of his own making.  In the second account, a widow seeks God’s aid to escape debt and provide for her sons and herself.  Through Elisha, God provides her the means to  earn the funds needs to do so.  In the third account, the woman provided Elisha with food and a place to stay and asked nothing in return.  Elisha asked God, and He gave her a son.  The woman had not asked for a son, had even asked Elisha to not raise her hopes.  When the child died, the woman was distraught and blamed Elisha for giving her the son in the first place, but did not ask for anything.  Elisha raised the boy back to life for her.  The final two accounts describe different ways in which God can provide food for the hungry..

In the first account, Joram did not have faith in God, but God rescued him because of his friend, Jehoshaphat.  Let us seek to be Jehoshaphat to our non-believing friends (although, perhaps we could work a little harder to convince them to turn to God than Jehoshaphat appears to have done).  In the second account, God provides the woman with a way to work her way out of her precarious position.  When we seek God’s aid, we need to recognize that He may provide us with a means to work towards solving our problems.  In the third account we learn that serving God may bring us joy we did not seek, and that God can overcome the inevitable sorrow.  The last two accounts show us that we need to be open to God using different solutions at different times for the same problem.

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 1-2.

When King Ahaziah was injured, he sent messengers to Ekron to inquire of their god, their Baal as to whether he would recover.  Over the last few years I have mulled over a thought every time I read this passage, but not written down any aspect of it.  So, Ahaziah’s father, King Ahab, had instituted Baal worship as the official religion of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and everything written suggests that his sons continued this practice.  Yet, not only did Ahaziah not think to consult YHWH* when he was injured, he also did not consult with the prophets of Baal which were in his service.  It reveals that despite Ahab, and his sons, pretending to believe that Baal worship was just another way to worship YHWH* by a different name, none of them actually believed that to be true.  And we know from this passage that if Ahaziah had wished to consult YHWH*, he could have done so by sending his messengers to Elijah.  After all, he knew where to send his army captains to summon Elijah to him.  Ahaziah knew the prophets of Baal that he sponsored were fakes and frauds.  So, when he was desperate, he turned to foreign prophets, but refused to turn to God.  Let us pray for those we know who we suspect may behave likewise.

• I used the transliteration of the Hebrew name for God, YHWH, in today’s blog because I believe that King Ahab, and other advocates for Baal worship in Israel, claimed that Baal was just another term for God, and that Baal worship was an alternative to worshiping YHWH.

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 22-25.

Josiah may be my favorite king of Judah.  He used the power of his office to turn the people of Israel away from idol worship and evil practices and towards God.  He did this not for political power or for wealth, but because it was the right thing to do.  Josiah shows us that just because someone has evil parents, does not mean they will be evil (to be fair, perhaps Josiah’s mother was a good woman and contributed to his dedication to God).  Josiah’s father had been an evil king, perhaps the worst of the kings over any of Israel and Judah.  However, this passage also shows us that having a righteous ruler is not enough to save a people.  While evil rulers led the people to sin, and good rulers led them to serve God, the people still need to choose for themselves who they will serve.  As soon as Josiah had died he was succeeded by his sons and grandsons, none of whom followed in his footsteps.  Josiah knew that his actions would not be enough, but he still did the best that he could and strove to lead people to God.  Let us strive to do likewise.  It is never too late for people to turn to God, even if it is too late for the nation to do so.  I am not saying that it is too late for any nation today to turn to God, but even if it is, we should still make the effort to get people to turn to 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 17-18.

Hoshea became the last king of Israel, the Northern Kingdom.   The writer tells us that he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not as bad as his predecessors.  Nevertheless, God had the Assyrians take the people of Israel into exile because of their sins.  God had told the Israelites to live holy lives and forbade them from imitating the nations around them.  Yet they did not listen and desired to be like those around them.   There are two different points I want to make here, maybe they will come together into one.  Initially the people of the Northern Kingdom made their own gods to worship, but kept most of the practices which God had commanded them.  But, over time they began to worship the gods of their neighbors.  First, those whose worship was somewhat similar to that which God commanded, but with sexual licentiousness.  Soon, they went on to gods whose worship called for them to kill their own children.   They had been called to live as an example to others, but they didn’t want to be different.  Rather than trust God to care for them, they tried to obtain success by being like the people around them.  This is a mistake that we make again and again, both as individuals and as nations.

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.

I have thought about this from time to time, but I do not think I have ever written about it.  Up through King David, and even early in the reign of King Solomon, the Bible references various people, including David and Solomon, offering sacrifices at various places throughout the land of Israel, and does so in a positive manner.  However, after King Solomon there are numerous kings of Judah about whom the Bible says  some variation of this, “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.”  The context seems to suggest that the writer considered that second sentence to reflect poorly on the king in question.  What changed?  Actually, the real question is, why weren’t the biblical writers as bothered by it in the times before King Solomon as they were after?

In Deuteronomy 12 Moses told the Israelites that they were to destroy all of the high places where the people they were dispossessing worshiped their gods and make their offerings at the place God will choose to put His name, and only there.   So, clearly, failing to get the people to stop worshiping at the high places violated that command.  But why was it not a problem for those leaders who preceded King Solomon?  The answer I think is twofold.  First the passage in Deuteronomy suggests that God would not choose that place until after He had given the Israelites peace.  Following up on that the writer of 2 Samuel clearly suggests when recounting David’s desire to build a Temple that this did not happen until Solomon was king (or, more precisely would not happen until David’s son was king, since that writer does not specify Solomon).  The second piece, which really is related to that first piece, is that while the Israelites worked together under Moses and Joshua, they were very much separate tribes until they started to truly become one nation under David.  The process actually started under King Saul and did not complete until Solomon was king (and then only lasted his lifetime).  The Temple represented the culmination of that unification and, of course, that was why Jeroboam felt it necessary to replace it with golden calves at both ends of the Northern Kingdom when he rebelled against Rehoboam.

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 writer tells us that Jehu’s son, grandson, and great grandson did evil in God’s sight by following the sins of Jeroboam.  However, we are told that Jehu’s grandson, Jehoash was stricken by grief over Elisha’s death.  In addition, Elisha blessed him by prophesying victory by him over Aram.  Further, God used Jehoash’s son, Jeroboam, to restore the borders of Israel and rescue the people of Israel from their suffering.  On the other hand, while Amaziah, king of Judah, did right in the eyes of God, he became cocky after his defeat of Edom and lost a war he instigated with Israel.  Which should serve to remind us that those who serve God do not have a carte blanche to go up against those who do not serve God.  Or, as Abraham Lincoln is supposed to have said, we should not be seeking to have God on our side, rather we should seek to do that which puts us on God’s side.  King Amaziah chose to go to war with Israel, thinking that God would be on his side, never considering that by doing so he might not be on God’s side.

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