For the last two chapters (2 Kings 11-12) we looked the Southern Kingdom of JUDAH.
• We saw how Queen Athaliah seized power and how Joash was saved as an infant and raised secretly in the temple of God for six years until he was made King.
• Today – 2 Kings 13 - we are swinging back to the Northern Kingdom of ISRAEL.
• We are going to look at the descendants of King Jehu in chapter 13, the first part Jehoahaz (his son), and the 2nd part - Jehoash (Jehoahaz’s son, Jehu’s grandson).
2 Kings 10:30 “The LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation."
• Jehu would have a dynasty in ISRAEL for four generations, as the Lord promised.
• We are going to read of Jehoahaz, Jehoash (2 Kings 13), Jeroboam (14) and Zechariah (15).
Since God promised him 4 generations of successors, it means they would not be removed from the throne prematurely.
• We see the next 3 kings all “rested with their fathers” (13:9, 13, 14:29), that is, they ruled until their death.
• Until Zechariah, Jehu’s 4th generation. Zechariah is assassinated by his army captain Shallum (15:10). That ended Jehu’s dynasty, as the Lord has said.
Let’s read the reign of Jehu’s son JEHOAHAZ in 2 Kings 13:1-9 and then a few verses on his son JEHOASH who reigned after him, in 13:10-13.
We see this common phrase in the books of the Kings.
• The phrase in verse 2 “He did evil in the eyes of the LORD by following the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit, and he did not turn away from them.” That’s for King Jehoahaz.
• We read it again in verse 11 “He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit; he continued in them.” That’s for King Jehoash.
• We are going to read this again in chapter 14, 15, 17, 21, 23 and 24.
It’s like a broken record. This is no surprise. With each passing king, we read this again.
• More so for ISRAEL (Northern Kingdom) because all their kings, except for Jehu, did evil in the eyes of the Lord and led the people into sin.
• The kings did not turn from their evil ways but continued in them.
The Lord’s wrath was upon them, and for Jehoahaz, the author says “… for a long time God kept Israel under the power of Hazael king of Aram and Ben-Hadad his son.” (13:3)
• They turned their backs on God and suffered the consequences of their evil ways.
BUT then came the surprise: Jehoahaz pleaded with God. At one point, he actually sought the Lord’s favour! (13:4).
• Is this for real? This coming right after verse 2 that says he did evil in the eyes of the Lord and caused Israel to sin and did not turn from them”?
• It was a surprise. But what was more surprising, than this surprising turn, was the Lord’s response: “…the Lord listened to him.” (13:4b)
• The Lord listened to the cry of an ungodly man! It came as quickly as he prayed it. Not that Israel has been good.
Psalm 103:10 10He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
Psalm 103:8-9 8The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger forever; 10he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
Why did the Lord responded to their cry? “… for He saw how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel.” (13:4c)
• He saw their suffering and distress. God was moved with compassion by their pain.
• It was like Jesus when he saw the crowd, “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (cf. Matt 9:36) and He was moved with compassion.
God has compassion on them when He saw how badly they were oppressed.
• We see this same expression in EXODUS when God saw the plight of His people in Egypt.
• Exodus 3:7-10 7The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey - the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."
And so in 2 Kings 13:5 “The LORD provided a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram. So the Israelites lived in their own homes as they had before.”
• We do not know who this SAVIOUR is, but through him God saved the people and allowed them to return to their homes.
• Israel enjoyed peace because of the Lord’s deliverance and His favour. It was an undeserving rescue.
BUT THIS DID NOT CHANGE THEM.
• 13:6 “But they did not turn away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit; they continued in them. Also, the Asherah pole remained standing in Samaria.”
• Nothing has really changed, except that the people were now suffering less and enjoying some peace. But still they were not returning to God.
This is a warning to us. This sounds very familiar. Many today come to God in the same way – to get what they want.
People seek God to take away their sufferings. That’s all.
• A professor at SBC wrote that many treat God like a “divine ATM, butler and therapist to serve our pursuits and passions.”
• God exists only to serve their wants. The moment they are gratified, they drop God.
• The moment Israel was delivered from their oppression, they returned to their old ways – from verse 5 to verse 6.
The contrast here is stark. We have a compassionate God responding to His ungrateful people. We have a faithful God, coming to rescue His faithless people.
• Paul said it correctly in 2 Tim 2:13 “If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown himself.”
• The God we see here in 2 KINGS is the same God we read in EXODUS – a compassionate God seeing the plight of His people and coming to rescue them.
Do we see that? And are we aware of that? Are we grateful? Do we appreciate Him for WHO He is and WHAT He has done?
There was once a poor Negro family on the Island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Both mother and child were slaves. The mother had worked hard and saved long and had finally amassed enough money to purchase the freedom of her daughter, from the man who owned them both. She was happy to remain a slave herself simply for the joy of seeing her daughter walking around free – with shoes on her feet, the badge of freedom. No slave was allowed to wear shoes.
Not long after the transaction had occurred the mother came into a room where her daughter was sitting. In her usual affectionate way she sat down beside her daughter as she had always done.
In a moment or two, the daughter turned on her in a rage and exclaimed, “How dare you sit down in my presence? Do you not know that I am a free woman and you are a slave? Rise instantly, and leave the room!”
… John Whitecross, The Shorter Catechism Illustrated from Christian Biography and History (1828; reprint. London: Banner of Truth, 1968), 102.
That’s the way Israel treated her God. The author emphasised it again in 13:22-23
22Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. 23But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day He has been unwilling to destroy them or banish them from His presence.
God had promised Abraham to give his descendants a home.
• He had wrapped up that promise in a covenant, to Abraham (Gen 15:18), and then re-affirmed it to Isaac (Gen 26:3-4) and Jacob (Gen 28:13).
By this time, with their great apostasy, Israel should have been banished from her land, but they were not.
• God has been gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love.
• God did not unleashed the full extent of His wrath, yet. He has been exceptionally patient with them.
• Did they understand? Sadly, no. Do we understand? I hope so.
---------------------------------------
Let me close with this thought.
13:4b-5 “… for He saw how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel. 5The LORD provided a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram. So the Israelites lived in their own homes as they had before.
This was one incident but God cares enough to send a deliverer, rescue them, free them from the power of their enemy, let them return home and enjoy peace.
• Yet Israel do not understand! They are oblivious to what He has done! They want relief from trouble, not relationship with God.
Today, we experience a greater rescue. God saw our oppression under the bondage of sin and the evil one, and planned our rescue.
• He has to provide a Deliverer in His own Son Jesus, to free us from the power of the evil One and give us lasting peace.
• Are we oblivious to what He has done? Do we understand His love for us? Are we responding to Him correctly? Are we giving Him due honour and worship?
There is a song called HOW DEEP THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US (Stuart Townend):
• It expresses what God has done for us. We’ll sing this song in closing.
• Stanza 3 has this line that touches me: Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer; but this I know with all my heart - His wounds have paid my ransom.
• “Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer.” I have no answer. There is nothing good in us, to warrant His rescue; nothing in Israel, nothing in us.
• God did it because He loves. He keeps His covenant. He loves Israel and He loves you and me.
• Do we understand? We don’t want just relief from troubles, we want a relationship with Him. Let’s honour Him with all our hearts and lives.
