Autor: eabrazil

King Josiah led the people to renew the covenant with the Lord following his rediscovery of the Book of the Covenant in the temple. He then ordered the removal of all items allusive to Baal, Asherah and star, sun and moon worship, and burned them all outside Jerusalem. He also did away with all the pagan priests and tore down the quarters of the male shrine-prostitutes. He desecrated the place where child sacrifice was practiced so as to impede this and he removed the horses that had been dedicated to the sun. Josiah then commanded the celebration of the Passover which had long been forgotten. Josiah also got rid of all the spiritists and mediums, and the household gods and idols. Neither before or after was there king like Josiah who turned to the Lord with all his heart, soul and strength. Nevertheless God remained angry with Judah because of all that Manasseh and others had done. Josiah went out to battle with Egypt and Assyria united and he was killed. His son Jehoahaz replaced him as king. 

Jehoahaz came to the throne of Judah aged 23 and he only reigned for 3 months. The king of Egypt carried him off to Egypt where he died and Jehoiakim his brother took his place. Judah was now totally under the thumb of Egypt and Jehoiakim taxed the people in order to pay a large levy in silver and gold to Egypt. His reign started when he was 25 and he reigned for 11 years, but as mostly happened he did evil before God.  

Josiah was 8-years-old when he became king, he ruled for 31 years and he did what was right before God. In the 18th year of his reign he focused on repairing the temple and paying the workers. During this work Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law and this was reported to King Josiah. When he heard the words of the Book of the Law he tore his robes as the people had lived far from its standards. The word came from God through the priestess Huldah which was a message of judgement in the light of the sin of the people forecasting disaster for the place. However such judgement would not come in Josiah’s lifetime.

 Manasseh came to the throne of Judah at the age of 12 and he reigned for 55 years. It was a long reign but a bad reign standing in stark contrast to that of his father. Manasseh took Judah back to square one spiritually re-erecting altars to Baal, erecting Asherah poles, worshipping the stars, moon and sun, practicing infant sacrifice, consulting mediums and spiritists etc. He even put the Asherah pole in the temple and built altars to the stars, making him worse than some pagan kings! So God said that he would judge Judah and wipe out Jerusalem. When Manasseh died he was succeeded by his son Amon.

Amon was 22-years-old when he came to the throne and he reigned for 2 years. Amon was like his father and did not walk in obedience to God, and he ended up being assassinated in his palace. Josiah his son succeeded him as King.

 Hezekiah became seriously ill and Isaiah told him to put his house in order because he would not recover. Hezekiah wept in prayer to God reminding God of his faithfulness and wholehearted devotion to the Lord. So God sent Isaiah back to tell Hezekiah that he had heard his prayers and seen his tears and that he would heal him and add 15 years to his life. God gave a sign that all this would come to pass by moving the shadow backwards on the sundial!

At that time the son of the King of Babylon sent envoys with get-well wishes to Hezekiah and Hezekiah unwisely showed off all the vast wealth of his palace and kingdom to the envoys. Isaiah rebuked Hezekiah for this telling him that there would come a day when all this wealth would be carried off to Babylon as well as some of his descendants who would become eunuchs there. Finally then Hezekiah’s life came to an end and he was succeeded by his son Manasseh as king of Judah.

King Hezekiah was most distraught by King Sennacherib of Assyria’s ridiculing of the living God and he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. He then sent his palace administrator, his secretary and his leading priests to consult the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah for him not to be afraid of Sennacherib’s threatening words or the fact that he had surrounded Jerusalem. When Hezekiah received the message he prayed to God asking for his intervention on Judah’s behalf.

Then Isaiah sent another message to King Hezekiah communicating  God’s answer to his prayers. God rejected Sennacherib’s blasphemy and ridicule saying he will put his hook in his nose and his bit in his mouth making him return the way he came, not entering Jerusalem. God guarantees that he will defend the city. And that night the angel of the Lord put 185,000 Assyrians to death making Sennacherib withdraw and return to Nineveh. Then 2 of his sons killed Sennacherib and his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

When Hosea was in his 3rd year as king of Israel Hezekiah became king of Judah at the age of 25, and he reigned for 29 years. Hezekiah was an exception in that he lived correctly before God and he removed the pagan high places, smashed the pagan sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He also destroyed the bronze snake that Moses had made because it had become a focal point of idolatry. 

King Hezekiah trusted the Lord and was a supreme example of kingship in Judah. He remained faithful to God at all times and never gave up. So God was with Hezekiah at all times and his administration was completely successful. He resisted Assyria and defeated the Philistines in many places. In Hezekiah’s 4th year was when the Israelites were deported to Assyria. However 10 years later Sennacherib king of Assyria captured all the fortified cities of Judah, so Hezekiah paid him in silver and gold to withdraw. 

The paid deal between Hezekiah and Sennacherib didn’t last long because soon Assyria’s commanders were in Jerusalem pressurizing Judah into submission and ridiculing the power of God to be able to withstand the Assyrian army and ridiculing their pact with Egypt. The Assyrian commanders used a wide range of arguments to scare Hezekiah into surrender.

Hoshea became the last king of Israel and reigned for 9 years doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. He had been the vassal of Assyria but he rebelled and entered into an alliance with Egypt. Faced by this situation the King of Assyria besieged Israel’s capital city of Samaria for 3 years! Therefore King Shalmaneser of Assyria imprisoned Hoshea and in the 9th year of Hoshea’s reign, in approximately 722 BC, Samaria was captured and the Israelites were deported to exile in Assyria.

The text goes on to say that all this happened as punishment for Israel’s idolatry, paganism, child sacrifice and stiff-neckedness leaving God’s warning messages through the prophets unheeded.

Then the King of Assyria replaced the Israelites bringing people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria. These immigrants took over Samaria and lived in its towns. The immigrants did not worship the Lord so God sent lions to kill them. Thus the King of Assyria sent for an Israelite priest to teach the settlers the ways of the Lord. Nevertheless this was only partially successful and a syncretistic mixture ensued including polytheistic paganism and child sacrifice which implanted a Samaritan sub-culture which long remained at loggerheads with orthodox Judaism.  

Ahaz, son of Jotham, assumed the throne of Judah aged 20 where he reigned for 16 years in a perverse sinful regime. He introduced child sacrifices and even sacrificed one of his own sons! Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel besieged Jerusalem but Ahaz managed to resist. So Ahaz sought out an alliance with King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria to resist the pressure from Syria and Israel, paid him with all the silver and gold of the royal palace and temple, and the alliance was formed. This alliance became totally syncretistic when Ahaz went to Damascus now captured by Syria. He was impressed by a pagan altar there and had it copied to replace the Lord’s altar in Judah! Ahaz then offered every sort of sacrifice on this pagan altar in the temple! In deference to the King of Assyria Ahaz told Uriah the priest to make multiple alterations to the temple. Ahaz died leaving Judah in total apostasy and his son Hezekiah succeeded him to throne.

 Azariah became king of Judah when he was 16-years-old and he reigned for 52 years. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord yet he allowed pagan rituals in the high places to continue. He lived in a separate house owing to his skin disease so his son Jotham took charge of the palace and government and then officially succeeded him when he died.

Zechariah assumed the throne of Israel during the 38th year of Azariah’s reign in Judah but he only reigned for 6 months when he was assassinated and replaced by Shallum. Further violence saw Shallum replaced even quicker after a month! He was assassinated and replaced by Menahem, and when Menahem was refused entry to Tiphsah he sacked the city and ripped open all its pregnant women! Menahem reigned in Israel for 10 years and did evil before God. When the king of Assyria invaded Israel Menahem bribed him with silver to withdraw, and when he died his son Pekahiah replaced him and reigned in Israel for 2 years. Pekahiah again sinned against God like his predecessors until he too was assassinated and replaced by Pekah. Pekah was king of Israel for 20 years and also practiced evil. At this time the king of Assyria came and conquered various parts of the land and deported people to Assyria. Then Hoshea assassinated Pekah and replaced him. 

Meanwhile Jotham came to power in Judah whilst Pekah was in his second year in Israel.  Jotham came to the throne aged 25 and he reigned for 16 years doing better before God without however eliminating the pagan high places. He did rebuild the upper gate of the temple, and when he died his son Ahaz replaced him as king.

 In the second year of Jehoash’s reign as king of Israel Amaziah became king of Judah at the age of 25, and he reigned for 29 years. He was a partial improvement in terms of religion although pagan worship in the high places continued. Once his reign was firmly established he proceeded to execute the officials who had murdered his father. Then Amaziah defeated 10,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. This victory inflated Amaziah’s self confidence so he challenged king Jehoash to battle. Jehoash told him to calm down, but when he insisted Israel attacked Judah and won and Amaziah was taken captive. Jehoash then plundered all the gold and silver from Jerusalem. Then Jehoash died and was succeeded by his son Jeroboam, but Amaziah lived on another 15 years before he was killed at Lachish, being replaced by his 16-yer-old son Azariah.

In the 15th year of Amaziah’s reign Jeroboam II came to power in Israel where he reigned for 41 years. He did evil in the sight of the Lord but he did restore some of Israel’s boundaries including the capture of Damascus and Hamath. When he died his son Zechariah succeeded him as king.

In the 23rd year of Joash, Jehoahaz became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned for 17 years. He was an evil king which angered God and meant Israel was for a long time under the power of King Hazael of Syria. But then Jehoahaz turned to the Lord who delivered Israel from the Syrians, but paganism still persisted in Israel. After the death of Jehoahaz his son Jehoash succeeded him as king.

Jehoash came to power and reigned for 16 years doing evil before God maintaining similar patterns of paganism as was with his father. Jehoash went to visit Elisha who was ill. Elisha told the king to fire some arrows out of the window which symbolized the arrow of victory over the Arameans. He then told King Jehoash to strike the ground and the 3 times he struck represented the number of victories he would have over Aram. Then Elisha died and was buried, and one day a dead body was thrown into the tomb, touched Elisha’s bones and came back to life and stood up!

Then the Syrian king Hazael died and was succeeded by his son Ben-Hadad. Jehoash recaptured the towns that had been taken by the Syrians.

This chapter summarizes Joash’s 40 year reign under the mentorship of the priest Jehoiada. In general Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but he did not remove the pagan high places where the people still offered pagan sacrifices. 

Joash’s principal concern seems to have been the repair of the temple. He organized a collection box or chest to collect money for this at the entrance to the temple, and the money collected was used to buy timber and blocks of dressed stone, and to pay the carpenters, builders, masons and stonecutters. They did not use the money to purchase expensive items of gold and silver. 

Then Hazael king of Aram turned to attack Jerusalem after having captured Gath, but Joash appeased Hazael by giving him the gold and silver from the temple and the palace so that Hazael went away. Later Joash’s officials betrayed him and murdered him and his son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son had been killed by Jehu she proceeded to kill all the remaining members of the royal family in order to make herself queen. However what she didn’t realize was that one baby son of Ahaziah by the name of Joash was hidden away with his nurse during the 6-year reign of Queen Athaliah. In the 7th year of her reign Priest Jehoiada organized the revealing of Joash’s existence, with strong security measures, so as to dethrone Athaliah. So it was that at 7-years-of-age Joash was crowned king and Athaliah was executed. Then they tore down the temple of Baal, smashed the pagan altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal.

These chapters of 2 Kings are particularly gory with large numbers of people reaching gruesome deaths. I understand this to be God revealing himself within primitive aggressive cultures of millenniums ago. 

Jehu challenged Ahab’s children’s guardians to place the best that they had on the throne and fight for it. However in fear and trembling of Jehu they refused to do this. So Jehu took the opportunity to request the heads of all 70 of Ahab’s sons and they were all slaughtered accordingly and 2 piles of heads were placed at the entrance to the city gate. Jehu then proceeded to slaughter too 42 relatives of Ahaziah and he also killed all remaining members of Ahab’s family.

Next Jehu contrived a plan to annihilate the servants of Baal from the land. For Jehu pretended that he was to be a Baal worshipper and he summoned all Baal’s servants and priests to come to a great sacrifice making absence punishable by death. They all crowded into the temple from far and wide and Jehu posted 80 men outside to allow nobody to escape. The guards then attacked all the Baal priests and servants and killed them all, and they turned Baal’s temple into a public toilet. 

God rewarded Jehu’s ruthless action with the promise of a 4 generation dynasty, but he was not totally faithful because he adhered to the worship of golden calves. Because of this God began to reduce the size of Israel, and Jehu died after a reign of 28 years, with his son Jehoahaz succeeding him as king.

The prophet Elisha sent one of the company of the prophets to find Jehu son of Jehoshaphat and anoint him privately with oil declaring him as King of Israel with the mission of destroying the house of Ahab. Upon discovering what had occurred Jehu’s companions readily accepted the move spreading their cloaks before him, sounding the trumpets and loudly announcing that Jehu was king!

Then King Jehu of Israel conspired against Joram because before he could take up his office of king he needed to dispose of the reigning king Joram. Jehu chased Joram, drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders piercing his heart and having his dead body thrown on to Naboth’s field. Jehu then chased Ahaziah king of Judah and his men killed him and he was buried in Jerusalem. 

Then Jehu had Jezebel killed having her thrown out of the window where horses trampled her, and dogs ate her body as had been prophesied by Elijah in 1 Kings 21:23. All the dogs left were her head, her hands and her feet!

The first part of this chapter tells of the Shunammite woman, seen earlier in chapter 4, whose son had been resurrected by Elisha. At the time Elisha advised her that she should move away so as to avoid an impending famine that would last 7 years. The woman thus went away to the land of the Philistines, but when she returned her house and land had been taken so she went to the king seeking help. Just at that time the king was talking to Elisha’s servant and he was relating how Elisha had raised the boy from the dead. Lo and behold the Shunammite woman appeared just as her story was being told and clearly the king was moved decreeing that everything be restored to her. 

Then Elisha went to Damascus where King Hadad of Aram was ill. Hadad sent Hazael to consult the prophet regarding his prognosis. Elisha said that Hadad would recover from his illness, but that however he would die from another cause and Hazael would become king of Aram. Then Hazael went and assassinated Hadad and replaced him as king. 

The chapter then moves to Judah when Jehoram began his reign as king at the age of 32 and reigned for 8 years. He was a wicked king but God did not destroy Judah because of his covenant with David. During his reign Edom and Libnah conducted revolts.

Following Jehoram’s death Ahaziah began to reign in Judah at the age of 22 and he reigned for 1 year. Ahaziah too was evil in the sight of the Lord. He joined King Joram of Israel in a failed war against Syria during which Joram was wounded.

Elisha declared that in a day’s time food would be cheap again but an officer of the king ridiculed this. So Elisha replied that the officer would see it with his own eyes but would not eat any of it.

At dusk 4 men with leprosy walked to the camp of the Arameans to surrender to them rather than die of hunger, but when they got there the place was deserted. This had happened because God had caused them to hear the rumblings of a mighty army and they thought it was the Egyptians and the Hittites. When the lepers returned to the Israelites and told them what they had found skepticism faced them at first, but a search party soon confirmed their story so that the people could plunder the Aramean camp and food prices collapsed as Elisha had foretold. However the sceptic officer died in the stampede to invade the Aramean camp.

The prophets needed to expand their living quarters so they went near the Jordan to cut down trees, but one of the men was alarmed because his iron axe head he had borrowed fell into the water. Not to worry, Elisha made the iron axe-head float so that it could be recovered!

The King of Aram was at war with Israel and he was furious with Elisha because he kept tipping-off the King of Israel as to the Arameans’ whereabouts and the likes. So the King of Aram sent a strong force of soldiers to arrest Elisha. When the soldiers surrounded the city Elisha’s servant was terrified, but Elisha told him not to be scared because those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Elisha prayed for his servant’s eyes to be opened and he saw the spiritual forces at Elisha’s disposal. When the soldiers came to get Elisha God blinded them and they were tricked into Samaria where they were fed and watered before being sent home. 

Some time later the Arameans sieged Samaria causing a massive famine where a donkey’s head was sold for a kilo of silver! One woman told the king of Israel that her and her friend had just eaten her son but now her friend wasn’t willing to kill and eat her son as had been agreed! And the king apparently blamed Elisha for the terrible situation and wanted to kill him.

Naaman was a highly respected commander of the Syrian army but he had leprosy. (a form of skin disease not necessarily leprosy as we know it today) A servant girl from Israel who worked for Naaman’s wife suggested Naaman should seek healing from Elisha so the King of Syria backed the initiative sending him with supporting gifts and clothes. It would seem therefore that Naaman expected a cure with fanfares, but when Elisha told him to go and wash 7 times in the River Jordan he seems to have felt the method of healing was puny and below his dignity. But even though he protested that in Syria there were rivers just as good he eventually obeyed and was healed. Naaman then tried to give Elisha a gift but he refused to accept it. However Naaman’s servant Gehazi went after the gifts behind Elisha’s back and received them, so God castigated Gehazi with Naaman’s leprosy.   

A prophet’s widow asked for Elisha’s help as her late husband’s creditors were about to take her 2 sons as slaves to cover the debt he left. Elisha asked her what she had and she said she just had a little oil. So Elisha told the widow to collect as many jars as possible from her neighbours and then pour her oil to fill up all the jars. The oil miraculously just kept flowing and filled all the jars so that she was able to sell the oil, clear the debt, and still have enough left to live off.

A Shunammite woman and her elderly husband were kind to Elisha showing him hospitality so he blessed them and prophesied they would have a son the following spring. He was born and grew, but one day he became ill and died. The woman sought Elisha’s help and he prayed and then laid on the dead boy mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hand to hand. Eventually the boy came back to life and he showed it by sneezing 7 times and opening his eyes. 

Elisha returned to Gilgal where there was a famine. There his servant cooked a stew for the prophets and inadvertently included a poisonous herb. The men detected it soon and cried out to Elisha that there was death in the pot! Elisha solved the problem with the help of some flour and everyone ate safely.

Finally Elisha miraculously multiplied 20 barley loaves to feed a 100 men leaving leftovers like Jesus fed the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fishes.

 When Joram was king of Israel the Moabites baulked at their high taxes (100,000 lambs + the wool of 100,000 rams) so Joram formed an alliance with Judah and Edom to bring Moab into line. However on their 7-day march to confront Moab they ran out of water, so they went to Elisha for help. Elisha asked for a harpist to play and when he played the hand of the Lord came upon him and he prophesied that God would fill the land with water, not by rain but by a miracle. When the Moabites saw the water they thought it was blood from an internal fight of the enemy so they nonchalantly came to the camp of Israel where they were routed. When the king of Moab saw that the battle was lost he rallied 700 swordsmen to try and break through to Edom, but it was not enough. Such was the fury of the Moabites that their king sacrificed his son, who was heir to the throne, on the city wall and at that sight Israel withdrew.

The ascension to heaven of Elijah was now imminent and this was common knowledge amongst the prophets. Elisha was close by his side and would not leave him, going to Bethel, Jericho and the Jordan with him. At the Jordan Elijah divided the waters and they crossed on dry ground. Then Elisha requested a double portion of Elijah’s spirit when he departed and Elijah said he would have it as long as he saw him leave. Then as they were walking along together a chariot of fire appeared and whisked off Elijah to heaven, and Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak. Elisha then struck the Jordan with the cloak and it opened for him to cross back over. Some prophets insisted on searching for Elijah but Elisha told them that they were wasting their time.

Elisha’s double portion of the spirit was soon evident in the healing of water at a certain city. Then there was a group of youths who ridiculed Elisha’s bald head. Elisha cursed them and 2 bears emerged from the woods and mauled 42 youths. Then Elisha went on to Mount Carmel before returning to Samaria. 

King Ahaziah of Israel had a bad fall and seriously injured himself, and he sent messengers to the Philistine god Baal-Zebub to get a prognosis. The angel of the Lord however told Elijah to intercept the messengers, objecting to the pagan consultation and saying that as a result of this Ahaziah would die. When the king realized the messengers had been intercepted by Elijah he sent a captain with 50 men to capture him, but God wiped them out by fire! Then Ahaziah sent more soldiers but they were incinerated too. When the third contingent of soldiers came God told Elijah to go with them and not to be afraid and Ahaziah died and he was succeeded by Joram.  

King Ahaz (Israel) made an alliance with King Jehoshaphat (Judah) so as to unite in retaking from the Arameans Ramoth Gilead, so they decided to consult the Lord about the matter. 400 prophets were consulted and they were unanimous in giving the green light for the venture, but it was a case of “prophesying” what the kings wanted to hear rather than hearing what God had to say. However they yet decided to consult the prophet Micaiah who had a more independent stance. Initially he sarcastically he repeated the position of the 400 prophets, but when pressed he countered their stance and even forecasts Ahab’s death ending a 22-year reign. So Jehoshaphat and Ahab went to battle but Ahab disguised himself, as he surely feared the fulfillment of the prophecy, but he was shot and killed by a random arrow showing that God is not fooled by our disguises and that God’s justice will catch up with us sooner or later, as Ahab had been the worst possible king. 

As to Jehoshaphat’s reign in Judah he did what was right before God, he got rid of the male shrine prostitutes, but he didn’t remove the high places so came short there. He built a fleet of trading ships but these ended up as wrecks. After his death his son Jehoram succeeded him and Ahaziah succeeded Ahaz. 

Naboth had a vineyard close to King Ahab’s palace and Ahab offered to buy it or to swap it for a better vineyard. Naboth rejected this as it was part of his family inheritance. The rejection put Ahab into a bad mood, but Jezebel said she would fix the problem for him. So Jezebel had Naboth falsely accused of blasphemy and executed as a consequence, leaving the road clear for her husband to take possession of the land. God was angry at this and sent the prophet Elisha to reprimand him saying that in the place where the dogs licked up Naboth’s blood they would do the same with his blood. Dogs, he said, would also devour Jezebel. However in the light of Ahab’s repentance the punishment was postponed to be meted on their descendants. 

Ben-Hadad of Syria, together with a confederation of 32 kings, besieged Samaria capital of Israel and demanded their silver, gold, best women and children. Ahab initially agrees but then changes his mind and a battle ensues which Israel wins miraculously despite being completely outmanned. However Ben-Hadad escaped together with some horsemen and a prophet warned Ahab to get prepared because in the spring the Arameans would be back. When this happened God again gave Israel the victory killing 100,000 Syrians followed by the death of a further 27,000 when the city of Aphek wall fell on them! Then Ahab made a treaty with Ben-Hadad and let him go. Following this a prophet tried to get a man to hit him, but when he refused a lion killed him as a result. Then another man did strike him and so he could approach Ahab disguised by bandages. The prophet proceeded to condemn Ahab for having set free Ben-Hadad against God’s command.

When Ahab’s wife Jezebel was told about Elijah’s great victory at Mount Carmel and his subsequent slaughter of the Baal prophets she threatened to kill him so Elijah was afraid and ran to Horeb. On the long journey God miraculously sustained him and encouraged and strengthened him as he was very down and depressed. On Mount Horeb there was a theophany accompanied by extraordinarily strong wind, then followed an earthquake which was followed by fire, but God spoke to Elijah after the wind, earthquake and fire with a gentle whisper. God told Elijah to anoint Hazael king of Aram, anoint Jehu king of Israel and anoint Elisha to succeed him as prophet. So Elijah saw Elisha ploughing the fields and he threw his clock upon him, and Elisha started to follow him.

 After a 3-and-a-half-year drought God told the prophet Elijah to go and have a show-down with King Ahab over his pagan Baal worship. Elijah met up with the chief of Ahab’s palace Obadiah, but he was reluctant to announce Elijah’s presence. However Obadiah plucked up courage, told Ahab that Elijah wanted to see him, and so they met with Ahab insulting Elijah as a trouble maker. The prophet replied that the trouble maker was him abandoning God’s commands and following the Baals. So Elijah threw down the gauntlet to Ahab to bring Baal’s 450 prophets and Asherah’s 400 prophets to decide once and for all if the Lord is God or if Baal is God – and they gathered for the challenge of fire on Mount Carmel. Each was to sacrifice a bull and call down fire to consume it, and the god who answers by fire is God. So the prophets of Baal cried out all day long for fire to fall, but to no avail and Elijah ridiculed them. Then it was Elijah’s turn to call upon the name of the Lord and first of all he had water poured over everything. When Elijah prayed the fire fell consuming the sacrifice, wood, stones, soil and water – so the people cried out the Lord, he is God – and they slaughtered the prophets of Baal! Elijah then prophesied that the rains would return and it was only for the 7th time of looking at the sky that his servant saw the first sign of rain coming. Then down came heavy rain and Ahab took off in his chariot in the rain to Jezreel, but ecstatic Elijah beat him running anointed by the power of God!

The prophet Elijah told king Ahab that Israel was to be punished for its idolatry by a severe prolonged drought. However God told Elijah to go to the Kerith Brook where he could drink from the brook and be fed with bread and meat morning and evening by ravens. When the brook eventually dried up God told Elijah to go to Zaraphath where he had commanded a widow to feed him. When Elijah met the widow it was clear that the widow was not aware of God’s command, but she trusted Elijah’s instructions and believed in his promise that if she made him food her flour and oil would not run out until the rains returned and that therefore the widow, her family and Elijah would be sustained. However after some time the widow’s son died which naturally left the widow terribly distraught and she pointed the finger at Elijah. So Elijah took the boy and stretched himself out on him 3 times and cried to the Lord beseeching his resurrection. He then returned him to his mother live and well which obviously confirmed to her that Elijah was a man of God.

This chapter lists a series of wicked Israelite kings culminating with Ahab, the worst of all. It was clearly a period of severe moral decadence. First of all comes the continuation of Baasha with him receiving a message of judgement from God through the prophet Jehu. Again God will judge with dogs and vultures as he did with Jeroboam. Baasha died and was succeeded by his son Elah. 

Elah reigned in Israel for 2 years. However he was assassinated by his official Zimri who then replaced him as king. He then proceeded to eliminate the entire family of Baasha in his extremely short reign of 7 days. However when the people realized what at happened they made army commander Omri king with Zimri dying under siege in an arson attack at the royal palace. There was initially a power struggle between Omri and Tibni, but Omri prevailed and reigned for 12 years. However Omri sinned more than all those before him. Upon Omri’s death his son Ahab succeeded him.

Ahab reigned over Israel for 22 years and he did more evil than ever! He married Jezebel, who was the daughter of the king of the Sidonians, and introduced and practiced pagan Baal worship in Israel. Ahab built a temple for Baal in Samaria where he erected an altar to the pagan god. He further erected a pagan Asherah pole. Ahab was a very perverse king of Israel. 

In the 18th year of Jeroboam Abijah became king of Judah where he reigned for 3 years, but he sadly repeated the sins of his father and made war with Jeroboam.

In the 20th year of Jeroboam Asa became king of Judah where he reigned for 41 years doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He expelled the male shrine prostitutes and abolished all the idols, and he even deposed his grandmother from the pagan post of queen mother cutting down and burning her Asherah pole. Asa made an alliance with the king of Aram ruling in Damascus and thus strengthened his position against Israel. In his old age Asa had diseased feet prior to dying and being succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat.

Nadab, son of Jeroboam, became king of Israel in the 2nd year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned for 2 years. He did evil before God being a case of like father like son. Baasha killed Nadab and replaced him as king, when he reigned for 24 years but doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. He then proceeded to kill Jeroboam’s entire family.

 Jeroboam’s son was ill so he sent his wife to consult the prophet Ahijah disguised, taking him bread, cakes and honey. With God’s help the prophet saw beyond her disguise and he prophesied her son’s imminent death. He also spoke out categorically against Jeroboam’s idolatry prophesying disaster for his house with dogs eating men’s bodies in the cities and vultures eating men’s bodies in the country. Ahijah yet prophesied eventual exile for Israel as a result of Jeroboam’s sin. So Jeroboam died after a reign of 22 years and Nadab his son succeeded him as king of Israel.

Rehoboam came to the throne at 41 years of age and he reigned for 17 years, and after his death he was succeeded as king of Judah by his son Abijah. Rehoboam’s reign had been as negative as Jeroboam’s in Israel with widespread paganism and even the use of male shrine-prostitutes and other detestable pagan practices. As a result of such perversity in the 5th year of his reign Shishak king of Egypt ransacked Jerusalem robbing all its gold articles including all the gold shields, so that Rehoboam had to replace them with bronze ones. There was also continual civil war between Israel and Judah.

A prophet came from Judah to rebuke Jeroboam for his rampant paganism and he confirmed his message by the altar being split apart. Jeroboam reacted against the prophet and suffered a withered arm for which he depended on God’s healing. He then invited the prophet to have a meal at his house, but the prophet declined as God had prohibited this. Then an old prophet met with the prophet from Judah and tricked him by lying to eat with him saying that an angel had suggested this. Hence the prophet from Judah ended up disobeying God’s command by default and ended up being killed by a lion as a result and the old prophet buried him. After all this Jeroboam did not change his evil ways but continued unabated in his sinful paganism. 

 Rehoboam went to Shechem to be crowned king, but the people asked for lower taxes and a lighter work load. Rehoboam asked for 3 days to think this over and consult about it. The elders told him to accept what the people requested, but younger men said the opposite saying that in his reign things would be even tougher! When the people received this tough reply they rejected Rehoboam dividing the nation with the 10 northern tribes breaking from Judah and Benjamin in the south with Rehoboam becoming king just of the south.

Meanwhile Jeroboam returned from exile in Egypt and became king of the northern tribes of Israel. However fearing that he would be prejudiced by the people going to worship in Jerusalem he set up alternative worshipping places at Bethel and Dan of 2 golden calves! Jeroboam also built pagan shrines on high places and appointed non-Levite priests. Israel and Judah were in a big mess.

 Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines! He married Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites – all nations for which God had forbidden intermarriage because of the implicit dangers of pagan involvement. And this is exactly what happened. For as Solomon got older he started getting involved with his wives’ pagan religions as he followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Molech the god of the Ammonites. He built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites and for all his foreign wives. This greatly angered the Lord as he saw Solomon consistently turning away from him and following other gods. 

So it was that God raised up adversaries against Solomon – Haddad the Edomite and Rezon. Then Jeroboam, rebelled against Solomon. though he had been in charge of his whole work force. One day Jeroboam met Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh who tore his robe into 12 pieces, gave Jeroboam 10 saying these represented the 10 tribes he would now lead in the place of Solomon, leaving Solomon only with the rest. This God did in the light of his apostacy. Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam but he fled to Egypt where he stayed until Solomon’s death. Then after 40 years reign Solomon died and his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

The Queen Of Sheba came to visit King Solomon because she had heard so much about him. She came as a doubter, but she left a believer! She came with a barrage of trick questions to test Solomon’s wisdom, but he answered them all. When the Queen of Sheba saw Solomon’s extensive wisdom, luxurious palace, exemplary staff and amazing food she was overwhelmed. She came expecting to find that all the stories she had been told were exaggerated, but the truth was the opposite and “the half had never been told”! The Queen gave Solomon gifts of 4 tons of gold, large quantities of spices and precious stones and he gave her whatever she wanted in exchange. Then she left and returned to her own country.

The chapter goes on to tell us more of Solomon’s colossal wealth with an annual income in gold of 23 tons! He made 200 large shields of hammered gold plus 300 small shields. He made an ivory and gold throne ornamented with lions. All his household goblets and articles were gold and his fleet of trading ships worked on a 3-year cycle bringing in gold, silver, ivory, apes and baboons. Solomon also accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. 

After Solomon had finished building the temple and palace God appeared to him a second time. The first time had been in 1 Kings 3 when he made him wise. God expressed his pleasure with the temple but made it clear that his priority was man’s heart being of integrity and uprightness. God warned Solomon of the dire consequences of the going after pagan gods which would result in the destruction of the temple and exile from the promised land.

Then the second part of the chapter gives details of Solomon’s use as slave labour of the Canaanite survivors of Israelite extermination. It also tells of Solomon’s giving of 20 towns to King Hiram of Tyre in thanks for his plentiful supplies of cedar, pine and gold during the construction period, but Hiram was not pleased with the gift. The text also gives details of Solomon’s administrative organization. Solomon also built ships on the shore of the Red Sea and their travels brought 14.5 tons of gold to Solomon!

With the temple’s construction completed King Solomon summoned the nation’s leaders to bring up the ark of the covenant to the temple. The commemoration was massive involving an uncountable number of sheep and cattle being sacrificed. The priests then placed the ark beneath the wings of the cherubim in the most holy place and the glory of the Lord filled the place. Solomon praised God for having fulfilled his promise that the son of David would build a temple for the name of the Lord. 

Then Solomon prayed the prayer of dedication of the temple praising God for his covenant of love, whilst recognizing that the great and eternal God cannot be contained in the temple. He asked God to hear his people from the temple and judge them in right or in wrong forgiving their sin. 

When Solomon finished his prayers of dedication and supplication he rose from before the altar and blessed all the assembly in a loud voice praying that God should be with them, may he turn their hearts to him and be fully committed to him.

Then the King and all Israel offered 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats in sacrifice to the Lord as they observed a 14 day festival of dedication to God!