Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Kings 5-7.

Some of these stories contain lessons about our relationship with God which I feel led to write about today.  Each contains more lessons than what I am going to focus on, nevertheless I am going to limit myself to just a few points.  In the story of Naaman, Naaman was angry because not only did Elisha not personally come to talk to him about his illness, he told him to do something inconvenient, yet completely pedestrian.  Naaman’s servants pointed out that if Elisha had told him to complete some feat of valor in order to be healed, he would gladly have done so.  Which brings us to the lesson.  Sometimes God calls us to do things which are inconvenient and completely unnoteworthy.   We need to recognize that these things may be more important than any action we could do which might bring us glory.  There is a story about a boy who helped a neighbor boy he barely knew with his books one day in grade school, only to learn years later that the boy he helped was planning to commit suicide and chose not to because of his help.  If things had turned out slightly differently the boy who helped may have never learn the difference his actions made.  Sometimes, the inconvenient little things make a big difference.

In the story where the king of Aram sent soldiers to capture Elisha, Elisha’s servant was terrified when he got up in the morning and discovered their city surrounded by a small army.  Elisha told him not to fear because those with them were more than those against them.  Then Elisha prayed for his servant’s eyes to be opened and his servant saw a much larger host of fiery warriors defending Elisha.  In many ways this parallels God’s answer to Elijah when Elijah complained of being the only one left in Israel faithful to God.  On that occasion God told Elijah that He had reserved seven thousand who had remained faithful.  In the same way here, Elisha’s servant thought they were outnumbered by their enemies, but there were many on their own side who he did not see until Elisha had God open his eyes.  However, this contains another message as well.  In this case, the human army surrounding Elisha was not countered by a human army which had not revealed itself.  Instead, the forces of God surrounded Elisha and his servant, protecting them against those sent against them.  So, even if there are not many on our side of whom we are unaware (or if they are too far away to be of aid), still God has the ability to protect us against those who would do us harm.  Let us not fear to be faithful to God, even when we think we are outnumbered by those who wish us harm for doing so.

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.

When Joram became king of Israel, the writer tells us that while he did evil in the sight of God he was not as evil as his parents.  The writer praises Joram for getting rid of the sacred stone of Baal, but then condemns him for continuing the sins of Jeroboam.  This, combined with the other places where kings of Israel are condemned for following the sins of Jeroboam, suggests to me that the worship of the calves built by Jeroboam was closer to the worship of Yahweh than was the worship of Baal.  Along the same line of thinking, when Joram consulted Elisha during the invasion of Moab, Elisha told him to consult the prophets of his father and the prophets of his mother.  Elisha’s reference suggests that Joram had continued the worship of those gods, although he had reduced their prominence in the kingdom.

As I read the rest of the passage I was struck by how some of the miracles which Elisha performed were reminiscent of miracles recounted elsewhere in the Bible.  The account of providing for the widow with olive oil is reminiscent of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, and Elisha raising the son of the Shunammite woman is reminiscent of Elijah raising the widow’s son.  Finally, Elisha feeding one hundred with twenty loaves of barley foreshadows Jesus feeding the 4,000 and the 5,000.  The similarities between these accounts does not mean that they were copied from each other.  Rather, it suggests that there are certain themes which accompany the display of God’s power.  One of those themes is that God has the power of life and death.  And He will sometimes restore life to those who have lost it at our request.  Another theme is that God uses our existing resources to accomplish more than seems possible, and provides to the extent that we can handle.  The widow did not stop having more oil to pour out of her jar until she ran out of containers to put it into.  Despite the amount of food provided being inadequate, the one hundred had enough to eat with leftovers.  In the same way, we should trust God to provide, whether what we have on hand is sufficient to the need or not.

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 he knew God was about to take him, Elijah attempted to go off by himself away from Elisha, but Elisha would not let him go.   Elisha insisted on staying at Elijah’s side to the very end, despite Elijah’s attempts to spare him.  On two of those occasions, other members of the group of prophets approached Elisha and asked him if he knew that God was going to take Elijah that day.  Elisha’s response was, “Yes, I know, so be quiet.”  There is something very significant in those two exchanges, but I am not sure what it is.  Perhaps those two exchanges were included here to show us how determined Elisha was to remain at Elijah’s side to the very end, but I can’t help but think there is more to it than that.  I have the further thought that it seems to me that those two exchanges are related to Elisha’s attempt to convince the community of prophets that there was no reason to send a search party out to look for Elijah, or his body.  Elisha knew that Elijah was gone, that God had taken him away, and was not happy about it, but was determined to carry on Elijah’s ministry.

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.

I have always admired King Josiah’s faith.  When he heard what was written in the Book of the Law and realized how badly the people of Israel had failed to follow God’s commands his first response was to tear his clothes in grief and send messengers to inquire of God what he should do.  Then, after learning that nothing he could do would turn aside God’s judgement against Judah, he called the people to rededicate themselves to worshiping God.  He followed that up by systematically destroying the idols, and places of idol worship, throughout both the Kingdom of Judah and the lands which had been part of the Kingdom of Israel.  Finally, he called the people of Israel to celebrate the Passover in full accordance with God’s commands.  The writer tells us that this celebration was unlike any previous Passover celebration in the Land of Israel.  Throughout his life, King Josiah strove to bring the people back to God.  Unfortunately, it was not enough and as soon as he died the people returned to their idolatry.

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.

When Hezekiah received Sennacherib’s letter, he read it then took it to the Temple and laid it before God.  When he did so he made a statement of faith.  Sennacherib had stated that Hezekiah should not rely on God to save Jerusalem because the gods of other nations had failed to save them.  Hezekiah stated that of course the Assyrians were able to throw those gods into the fire because those gods were not actually gods at all.  He then went on to beg God to show the nations that He alone was God by saving Jerusalem.

Which brings me to Isaiah’s prophecy in response to Sennacherib’s letter.  Isaiah reminds us that it was not Hezekiah whom Sennacherib was ridiculing in his message.  Rather it was God.  In the same way, when people today make fun of us, or criticize us, for following God’s commands, let us remember who they are actually deriding.  Sennacherib thought that his successes proved that he was greater than any god.  God responded by telling him that all of his success was just part of the plans which God had laid out long ago.  Sennacherib claimed that he would besiege Jerusalem and make it fall before his armies.  God told him that He would send him back the way that he came and that his armies would never stand before Jerusalem.  Sennacherib’s claim proved false, but God’s proclamation came true.  Let us not fear those with power because whatever power they have comes from God.  Let us fear God, and serve Him.  Then He will protect us from those who seek to direct their power against us.

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.

We are told that Hoshea, the last king of Israel, did evil in the sight of the Lord, but was not as bad as his predecessors.  Nevertheless, the sins of the people of Israel had reached the point where God had had enough and He sent them into exile.  The writer suggests that the sins of the people of Israel were worse than any were aware of until after the fact.  He writes that they secretly against the Lord that were not right.  This suggests to me that the people of Israel were not aware of how prevalent the sins they themselves were committing were among their countrymen.

The writer lists out the reasons that God sent the nation of Israel into exile.  He tells us that they worshiped idols and rejected God’s decrees.  They made idols for themselves and set up an Asherah pole.  They bowed down to the starry host and worshipped Baal.  They sacrificed their sons and daughters.  They imitated the nations around them.  All of this strikes me as a warning we should take to heart today.  I think the line which should be our greatest warning is the one I used to title today’s blog: “They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”  All human beings have value, but that value derives from our being made in the image of God.  If we stop trying to reflect his image and instead reflect the image of an idol, we will become worthless.

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 don’t know about you, but my perception of the kings of Israel was that they were universally Baal, some of whom gave lip service to worshiping God.  And my perception of the kings of Judah was that they were mostly idolators, with the occasional good king who tried to bring the people back to God.  However, over the last few years as I read through the books of Kings and Chronicles I have come to realize that these books tell us that most of the kings of Judah did what was right in the eyes of God.  And, while most of the kings of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of God, most of them chose to follow in the steps of Jeroboam, who attempted to worship God in the form of the golden calves which he had made.  In fact, it occurred to me today that most of the kings of Judah recognized that they were answerable to God and needed to follow the dictates of the religious practices which He had laid down, while most, if not all, of the kings of Israel felt that the religious leaders should be answerable to them.

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.

So, in today’s passage we have a series of kings of Israel and kings of Judah.  The passage tells us that the kings of Israel, descendants of Jehu, did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, while the kings of Judah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  Further it tells us that the kings of Judah were not as righteous as David had been.  The passage tells us that the evil done by the kings of Israel was because they followed in the sins which Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.  On the other hand, while the kings of Judah did what was right in God’s eyes, they did not get rid of the high places where people worshiped.  This leads me to conclude that the key difference between the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah in this time period was that the kings of Israel encourage the idolatry intorduced by Jerogoam, while the kings of Judah allowed, but did not encourage, idolatry.

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.

I want to start by looking at two things in this passage which connect to ideas about the worship of God which I have touched upon from time to time.  The passage mentions that when Jehu came upon Jehonadab he asked if he was in accord with him.  The context suggests that Jehu was referring to worshiping God and eliminating Baal worship (and possibly worship of all other gods).  What is interesting about this is that Jehonadab was not an Israelite.  He was a Kenite, a nomadic group of people who lived among the Israelites (and possibly elsewhere in the Middle East).  This tells us that while we don’t have much of a record of the religious practices of others who worshiped God during this time, the Israelites were not the only ones who did so.  The existence of other peoples who worshiped God is consistent with what one would expect to see if the Genesis account is true.

I also want to look at what Jehu did when he called the assembly to honor Baal.  Once he had the Baal worshipers gathered, he asked the leaders of Baal worship to make sure there were no worshipers of God present.  This confirms two things which we see throughout the Old Testament: many worshipers of God were seduced into Baal worship by being convinced that Baal was just another name for God, and those who were fully into Baal worship knew this was not true.  On the first point, we also see throughout the Old Testament that while many worshipers of God were convinced that Baal was just another name for God, many saw through this deception.  This incident is probably the clearest example of the second point.  However, there is also the incident where King Ahab knows what Jehoshaphat is looking for when he asks for a prophet of the Lord after Ahab tried to pass off prophets  of Baal as such.

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.

King Jehoshaphat of Judah was a good king, but he allied himself with King Ahab of Israel to the point that he allowed his son, and heir, to marry Ahab’s daughter.  When Jehoshaphat’s son took the throne he followed the example of his father-in-law rather than that of his father.  As a result, when the Jehu overthrew Ahab’s son, Jehoshaphat’s grandson was there and was killed as part of Jehu’s revolt.  Reading between the lines of these events suggests that while Ahab’s son, King Joram, was injured in battle, the wounds were relatively minor and he used them as an excuse to withdraw from battle and indulge himself.  King Ahaziah of Judah, Jehoshaphat’s grandson, joined him in doing so.  We do not exactly know the sins which Joram and Ahaziah committed during their reigns, but we do know that King Ahab and his wife Jezebel had worshiped Ashtoreth and that Ashtoreth worship involved promiscuous sexual practices.  I suspect that Joram and Ahaziah also partook in human sacrifice.  All of this led to the breakdown of social order in both kingdoms.

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