Live and let live. Kill and be killed. Is it really that hard to make a choice? For some, apparently so. It isn’t always the case, but it’s certainly true here that the meaning of a man’s name is the title page of his biography. Shallum means “retribution,” and we’d be well served to remember […]
Those judged by leprosy—Miriam, Gehazi, Uzziah—all acted against God in selfish unrestraint. The names of many of these kings flash by in a blur. We hope there won’t be an exam at the end! Now we read about “Azariah…king of Judah” (2 Ki 15:1) and “Zechariah the son of Jeroboam” who “reigned over Israel in […]
Israel’s 13th ruler, Jeroboam II, reigned longer (41 years) and over more land than any other king of Israel. Evidently Amaziah’s popularity waned after ill-fatedly challenging Israel to a fight. After some years, “they formed a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed […]
Never pick a fight with the devil. Never battle in your own strength. And never yield to his wiles. I hope you’re refreshed by a touch of humor now and again. We’ll have some in this story. Having routed the Edomites, Amaziah was stricken with a bout of overconfidence. He “sent messengers to J–oash…king of […]
History is piled on top of history in this fabled land, and also “grace upon grace” ( Jn 1:16 NASB). I’m not sure we could call it a selective memory, but how glad we should be to know the things God does “remember” and the things He doesn’t. “Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and […]
Have you prayed without an answer? Pray again! Have you sown without fruit? Sow again! There were ten kings between Jeroboam and Joash of Israel. Under normal circumstances, the deeds of Jeroboam would be long forgotten. If we go back that number of rulers before Queen Elizabeth, we’d come to William of Orange! But in […]
It’s one thing to defeat the big, bad foe on the battlefield, quite another to vanquish the idol inside. We’re introduced at the beginning of 2 Kings 13 to another time link in history’s chain. Earlier we read that “by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash,…the priests had not repaired the damages of the temple” […]
Jehoash warns us that we can carefully invest our whole lives, but lose it all at the last. Watch out! Years went by. Jehoash supposed that the work he had commanded to be done was making progress, repairing “the damages of the temple” (2 Ki 12:5). This was to be funded by revenue coming into […]