Old Testament - 2 Kings 17&18 - July 11, 2022

7/11/2022 – 2 Kings 17-18

Chapter 17

Once again, as the Israelites enjoyed mostly peaceful times, they ignored repeated warnings from the prophets. They turned, once again, to Baal and idol worship. They ignored the words of the prophets, and were no longer keeping His commandments. The Lord’s withholding of blessings failed to get their attention.  And then the ten tribes faced attacks from the Assyrians which ended after three years with the ten tribes being taken away as captives, and are now often referred to as the lost ten tribes. “…they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God….they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and his testimonies…(v’s 14-15). 

But the tribe of Judah remained where they were.

Chapter 18

Hezekiah reigns in Judah and “he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David. his father. did.” (v 3)  Hezekiah works hard to destroy their worship of idols. He broke down the idols and he cut down the groves where they had gone to worship the idols. He even destroyed the “brazen serpent” that Moses had made for them when the Lord had sent the destructive snakes to them. He destroyed that image because it no longer led them to remember the lessons of the terrible snakes that came into their camp because they had not used it as an idol to worship.

V's 5-6 describes Hezekiah: “He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the Lord and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.”

But Hezekiah could not change the ways of his people and “Because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.” (v 12) Much tragedy came to the people because of their poor choices, which only served distanced them from the Lord’s commandments.

Hezekiah destroyed the temple as he took the precious things within it there for himself. Things did not look good for Judah. Hezekiah pleaded with the people to say: “We trust in the Lord our God”—but they did not. The enemies came to Judah and spoke to the Israelites to turn them away from Hezekiah, their king. “Let not Hezekiah deceive you…Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord , saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the King of Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah…Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cisterns…” (v’s 28,& 31).  These are perilous times for Judah.

One of the major lessons in these chapters show us the importance of staying close to the Lord and His commandments during hard and challenging times—a good lesson for us as we come closer and closer to ‘the last days’. 

 

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