Hey y’all! I am so excited to be ending this walk with the kings of Israel with you! I do hope you enjoyed our time in the word together. Please do read 1 Kings 17. I would love to talk about that passage and how it relates to us today but unfortunately at this time we are unable to do that. So read it for yourself and email me your thoughts. It is a rich passage of Scripture.
Shallum
Now Shallum, who assassinated Zechariah, only had the throne for one month. He was assassinated by a very violent man named Menahem. Menahem took the throne after this.
Menahem
Menahem reigned for ten years. He also did evil during his entire reign.
Read 2 Kings 15:19
“Then Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave him a thousand talents of silver to gain his support and strengthen his own hold on the kingdom. Menahem exacted this money from Israel. Every wealthy man had to contribute fifty shekels of silver to be given to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew and stayed in the land no longer.”
Menahem wasn’t only a very violent guy but he also put an inconvenient tax on the people. Now you know how people feel about taxes. Considering our experiences in our time with taxes and the great debates that go on, how do you think these decisions made the people feel? I can imagine he was probably not a popular king with the people.
Pekahiah
Menahem’s son took over the throne after him. He reigned two years. He also did evil like those before him. We have now seen several assassinations for transfers of power. Pekahiah’s reign too ends in assassination. A chief officer killed him taking 50 men with him on this task. He was killed in his own palace.
Pekah
From his assassination of Pekahiah, Pekah now took over the throne. He reigned in Israel for 20 years. He was also a king who did evil.
Read 1 Kings 15:29-30.
“In the time of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor. He took Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and deported the people to Assyria. Then Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah. He attacked and assassinated him, and then succeeded him as king in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah.”
Also, he teamed with the king of Aram to go and fight against his brother Israelites in Jerusalem. The war was not a success (Isaiah 7:1).
His reign was not very successful at all. He would be the one remembered in the history books as the one who lost much land and power. He also lost many people into captivity.
Hoshea conspires to kill Pekah and succeeds.
Hoshea
2 ki 15:30, 2 kings 17:1-6
Hoshea reigned for nine years. He also did evil but the text noted his sin was not like the kings who preceded him.
Since Assyria had a hold on a lot of their land, Hoshea started paying a tribute to Assyria to keep them from attacking. He ended up being a puppet king with Assyria calling the shots for six of those years. Finally Hoshea decided that he was no longer going to pay off Assyria. Instead he sent some help to Egypt. The king of Assyria did not like this so put Hoshea in prison and he attacked Samaria. The Israelites were under siege with Assyria for three long years. Finally the siege ended with Assyria overpowering Israel. All the people at this point were taken captive and deported to Assyria.
The rest of Chapter 17 explains the deportation. It is such a sad story. God recorded these things from the past to teach us (Romans 15:4). I think we can learn that we worship such a merciful and loving God. Yet He is no wimp or push over, He is the God of perfect justice. He encompasses the perfect balance of both. My heart just beats in awe of Him. As we know Israel sinned horribly against Him yet He still holds out the covenant to them and now to us. All we have to do is to accept what He did for us and follow Him. An easy and precious gift that I am so thankful for!
Precious Father, I love You with my entire being. Thank You for Your great mercy and justice. Thank You that You are our Father and that nothing can separate us from You love. Father, help us to learn from these people You recorded for us to learn from. Help us to live our lives fully devoted to You. Please cleanse my heart and reveal any idols that it may be worshiping. I cast those down before You in repentance. Father, keep us ever close to You. Help us to follow in Your ways alone. We love You. In the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
Copyright 2008----------------Refresh My Soul Ministries---------------Angela Parsley
2 comments:
Generational sin is so wretched; the following generations make bad matters worse. That is true today, not just as recorded in the Old Testament.
But...oh this glorious but: the Blood of Jesus overtakes all generational sins. I am finding in my own self and family I must acknowledge those generational sins and speak them into my prayers and call out to God for His Blood to cleanse and regenerate in me and mine God's best in exchange for these generational sins.
One in particular that I have thought on lately is the sin of having an attitude of shame. When God showed me this and cleansed me; that same weekend my mom became aware of her shame attitude hours after my breakthrough. It was amazing I called her and she was so blessed she wouldn't let me tell her of my miracle because she wanted me to hear what had happened to her.
That weekend showed me the power of Jesus' blood generational up the geneology line as well as down.
Thank you for this study. It has blessed me that I don't have to live out the sins of my fathers...no I am a child of the King of Kings!!!
You've been tagged by Kay at Thrive Christians.
Post a Comment