This our fifth study on the royal family of Israel and I’m grateful to take this journey with you. This study has caused me to do a lot of research! Tonight, we are going to meet the unknown lady who saved Christmas, join with a king in asking soul-searching questions about our security and safety, and listen in on the private prayers of a king. It’s been a couple of weeks since we have met and I am grateful for you joining us this evening. In our concluding message to this series, we will focus on the good kings of Judah.
Only four kings in Judah’s history are godly men (Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah) while none of the kings in Israel (Northern Kingdom) are godly men. Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah are all men you want to take home to meet your parents. We have covered Asa some weeks ago, leaving the remaining three..
Quick Overview
Let me offer you a summary of what we’ll see with the Divided Monarchy of Northern and Southern Kingdoms. The Southern Kingdom has 20 kings over its history. These 20 kings will reign from around 930 BC to 587 BC, or The Northern Kingdom will have 19 kings (with a caveat) from around 930 BC to 722 BC. The Southern Kingdom is known a Judah and will last for around 345 years. The Northern Kingdom is known as Israel which is confusing. This would be similar to our Civil War and had the confederate states won, the northern states may have very well called themselves the United States. So Israel is the name of the nation when it is united and it’s the name of the northern kingdom when the nations are divided. The Northern Kingdom will last for around 210 years (less than the length of the US). Now, Judah’s kings are all sons of King David where in Israel (Northern Kingdom), none of the kings are the sons of David. Judah is the unbroken succession Davidic dynasty where in Israel (Northern Kingdom), you have a series of mini-dynasties.
1. Jehoshaphat of Judah
Jehoshaphat is fourth king of Judah and the son of Asa (873-848). He probably co-reigned three years with his father, Asa (873-870). If you remember it was in the 39 year of Asa’s reign that Asa became seriously ill by being diseased in his feet. It’s probably this event, coming at the end of Asa’s 41 year reign that caused him to make Jehoshaphat the king alongside him for thee 3 years. “This was the first instance of a co-rule of a father and son except for the brief coregency of David and Solomon before the division of the nation. The coregency system was used, all told, nine times in Israel and Judah.”
He is one of only four good kings that you want to take home to meet your mother: “The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals, 4 but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel. 5 Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor. 6 His heart was courageous in the ways of the LORD. And furthermore, he took the high places and the Asherim out of Judah” (2 Chronicles 17:3-6).
He was 35 years old when he became king and he lasted for 25 years: “He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the LORD. Yet the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. 44 Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel” (1 Kings 22:43-44).
He took control of many trading routes in the south, and the new friendship between the two states was eventually sealed by the marriage of Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah, to Jehoshaphat’s son, Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:1-6).
1.1 Religious Reform
Jehoshaphat even appointed traveling prophet group to go around all of Judah to instruct the people in the ways of God (2 Chronicles 17:7-9). Jehoshaphat’s traveling prophets were headed up by 5 officials (we might call these laymen) and 10 religious personnel (8 Levites and 2 priests). Years before, we need to remember how God had commanded the king to come into office. Long before Saul, David, and Solomon, God says through Moses how he wanted the first days of the King’s reign to be spent: “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel” (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).
These traveling group of prophets seem to go to city after city to instruct the people: “And they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the LORD with them” (2 Chronicles 17:9a).He sought to purify Judah’s worship by removing the Asherim in the land (2 Chronicles 17:6). Plus, he intentionally sought to reform the justice system of Judah during his day (2 Chronicles 19:5-11). This is what he said to the various judges he appointed: “Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the LORD. He is with you in giving judgment. 7 Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes” (2 Chronicles 19:6b-7). Evidently, the nation had quit following Moses’ law so he had the judges go back to these laws and rule cases accordingly. He gave this charge to the judges: “Thus you shall do in the fear of the LORD, in faithfulness, and with your whole heart: 10 whenever a case comes to you from your brothers who live in their cities, concerning bloodshed, law or commandment, statutes or rules, then you shall warn them, that they may not incur guilt before the LORD and wrath may not come upon you and your brothers. Thus you shall do, and you will not incur guilt. 11 And behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the LORD; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all the king’s matters, and the Levites will serve you as officers. Deal courageously, and may the LORD be with the upright” (2 Chronicles 19:9b-11)!
He also purges “from the land he exterminated the remnant of the male cult prostitutes who remained in the days of his father Asa” (1 Kings 22:46). He did so much good but he did one thing wrong: he made an alliance with King Ahab of Israel.
1.2 Jehoshaphat and Ahab
Now, Jehoshaphat of Judah made peace with the Northern Kingdom and the border skirmishes ended. In fact, the era of fighting that had characterized the first fifty years of interaction between the Northern Kingdom and Judah eventually comes to an end in Jehoshaphat’s reign. It’s replaced by a period of another fifty years of relative peace between the two countries. Jehoshaphat of Judah even had his son and his successor, Jehoram married to King Ahab’s daughter Athaliah (2 Kings 8:18; 2 Chronicles 18:1, 2).
Jehoshaphat comes down to pay Ahab a state visit as we will see.
Jehoshaphat may have scored high in godliness but he was low in common-sense at times in his life: “Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab. 2 After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead. 3 Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.”
4 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 18:1-4).
Ramoth-gilead did belong to Israel and it was important because of the spice trade as caravans moved through the region.
So in keeping with this, Ahab asks Jehoshaphat if he would join us: Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.” 6 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?” 7 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so” (2 Chronicles 18:5-8).
All these prophets gather before the two kings and Jehoshaphat smells a problem: “Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.” 9 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes. And they were sitting at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 10 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’ ” 11 And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph. The Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”
12 And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” 13 But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, what my God says, that I will speak.” 14 And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” And he answered, “Go up and triumph; they will be given into your hand.” 15 But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” 16 And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’ ” 17 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil” (2 Chronicles 18:8-17)?
When Jehoshaphat asks if there is a prophet of God around, Ahab knew just where to find the prophet – his jail! Ahab hated the prophet Micaiah because he hated the straightforward way he spoke. Picture this: the two kings are sitting on temporary thrones in all their regalia at the gate of Samaria (verse 10). Everyone knows it’s a council of war. Micaiah is up against 400 prophets, talk about difficult odds. The messenger that calls Micaiah and brings him into the court, says something to the effect, “Try to be nice, ok?” At first, Micaiah says exactly what the other 400 false prophets have said. It’s here than King Ahab says at the end of verse 15, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 18:15)?
Was Micaiah being sarcastic with his tone when he told the kings to go ahead?
And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. 19 And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. 20 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ 21 And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ 22 Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster concerning you.”
23 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Which way did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?” 24 And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.” 25 And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son, 26 and say, ‘Thus says the king, Put this fellow in prison and feed him with meager rations of bread and water until I return in peace.’ ” 27 And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, all you peoples” (2 Chronicles 18:18-27)!
The prophet gives the kings a play by play version of what he saw take place in God’s presence. A lying spirit comes forth to God and says, “I can persuade the king.” Then the true prophet draws a direct connection from the lying spirit to the false prophets in verse 23. The end of all this looks like this: If you come back breathing and walking, Ahab, then you’ll know Yahweh has not spoken by me. But if you come back in a box, then God has spoken the true words to me. It’s a “mark my words” kind of moment. Ahab dresses down for the battle by taking off his kingly robes and he designates Jehoshaphat as “king for the day.” Nothing like someone hanging a bull’s-eye around your neck before you go into battle! A random arrow in battle mortally wounds King Ahab even when King Ahab is dressed up as a normal soldier. The battle would eventually be lost, and Ahab would lose his life in the attempt. He died before he got back home and dogs licked up his blood from the washed out war chariot as the prophet Micaiah had predicted. The prophet Micaiah was hauled off to jail again, but he repeated his warning. When our friend Jehoshaphat heads back home to Jerusalem , a prophet shows up with a stern warning: “Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem. 2 But Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the LORD. 3 Nevertheless, some good is found in you, for you destroyed the Asheroth out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God” (2 Chronicles 19:1-3).
1.3 You Did It Again, Jehoshaphat!
Jehoshaphat was not the quickest student in the class. He would be caught so up in alliances just like the one he had with King Ahab that he had no business being involved in. Walter Kaiser writes of Jehoshaphat, “On three specific occasions, he aided the kings of Israel almost to the point of his own death. He was nearly killed in the battle at Ramoth Gilead, as already noted (1 Kings 22:29–33; 2 Chron. 18:29–34). Later, he joined Ahab’s eldest son Ahaziah in a ship-building venture at Ezion-Geber in the Gulf of Aqabah, but every vessel was lost before the project ever took off (1 Kings 22:48–49; 2 Chron. 20:35–37). Finally, he allied himself with Ahab’s second son, Jehoram, in a military offensive against Moab to restore Moab’s tributary status, but nearly perished once again for lack of water (2 Kings 3:4–27). Each time, however, he was gently rebuked and guided by a prophet of Yahweh … Jehoshaphat was a slow learner, but Yahweh graciously spared him and warned him time after time.”
Questions to Consider
1. Why do you think Jehoshaphat continued to repeat the multiple alliances with the Northern Kingdom when he encountered so many problems? Why didn’t he learn his lesson the first time? Is there a sinful pattern in your life that you can see repeating itself?
2. Evaluate Jehoshaphat’s prayer in 2 Chronicles 20:5-12. What are the noticeable features of his prayer? Would you react similarly when facing a desperate situation?
1. Jehoshaphat of Judah
2. The Lady Who Saved Christmas
2.1 Christmas Rests On A Promise
Christmas depends on a promise made to King David: “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16).
And that promise was teetering on the brink of destruction when Judah was ruled by a queen around 840 BC. Judah has only one queen in her history, Athaliah, and she will rule Judah for a period of time. She is the wife of King Jehoram and the mother of King Ahaziah, both rule before her. After the death of her son, King Ahaziah, around 841 BC, she takes over and reigns for about six years. Her son, King Joash, will eventually take over. Now, she is also the granddaughter of the Northern Kingdom’s King Omri and the Bible describes her as wicked (2 Chronicles 22:3). This is important: Athaliah is the result of the marriage alliance between Jehoshaphat with Ahab of Israel where Jehoshaphat gave his son to Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah. Have you ever overlooked something or someone? You looked it over and didn’t give it a second thought?
2.2 A Drug-Runners Tunnel
It was nearly twenty years ago, but if you looked down a dust-blown driveway onto John’s pig farm in San Diego County, all that you would see was a 2 story bungalow. But when U.S. drug agents broke into the closet, they found a large safe and eventually a false door. The false door led to a 1,200-foot tunnel with electric lights, ventilation ducts, and wooden walls that ended inside a fireplace of a house just beyond a metal wall when you enter into Mexico. A U. S. DEA agent said, “They used this tunnel to smuggle billions of dollars’ worth of cocaine, marijuana, and other drugs into the United States for several years.” What looks like a normal marriage was anything but normal. Athaliah attempted to eliminate the house of David: “Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family” (2 Kings 11:1). Our queen is the only time someone other than a descendant of David is on Judah’s throne. Now, she thinks she has eliminated all the potential competitors to the throne before she sometimes goes by before she realizes that her grandson, Joash, is alive.
2.3 God’s Unbroken Promise
Joash is hidden when he is but a baby by a nurse. The baby’s name is Joash and is raised by the queen’s half-sister, a wife of a priest.
Her name was Jehosheba (Ja hosh a be) and Jehosheba saved Christmas: “But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death. 3 And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the LORD, while Athaliah reigned over the land” (2 Kings 11:2-3).
Jehosheba is the lady who saved Christmas. Remember, God had promised to always have one of David’s descendants on the throne: “His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me” (Psalm 89:36). So the baby is hidden away in what Josephus says was a room where spare furniture and mattresses were stored. Think of it, David’s family was almost destroyed. Now, the real king is alive and well, growing and learning to walk all the while the illegitimate rule of Judah is on the throne. When the child and soon to be king was 7, a priest named Jehoiada gathers the temple guards. He shows the child to the guards and makes them swear to protect the boy’s life with their lives (2 Kings 11:4-8). The priest presents the boy with a copy of the covenant (2 Kings 11:2-3) and places a crown on the boy’s head. Soon the queen is killed as the priest orders her and the war of northern aggression is over.
David’s son is back on the throne!
“And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people, that they should be the Lord’s people, and also between the king and the people. 18 Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the Lord. 19 And he took the captains, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the gate of the guards to the king’s house. And he took his seat on the throne of the kings. 20 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword at the king’s house: (2 Kings 11:17-20).
Questions to Consider
1. Had you heard of the name Jehosheba before today? How significant is this unknown lady to history and God’s agenda?
2. Picture Heaven for a moment. How do you think forgotten servants like Jehosheba will fare before the Lord in eternity?
3. Do you think the people of God felt abandoned by God during the six evil years of reign by Athaliah?
4. Why do you think God didn’t protect the young king through a miracle such as killing off the evil queen?
1. Jehoshaphat of Judah
2. The Lady Who Saved Christmas
3. The Fall of The Northern Kingdom
The North Kingdom falls around 722 BC and many people were taken from here and resettled in Assyria. It would be almost impossible for me to exaggerate the importance of the fall of Israel. The shock of this was so great that your Bible pauses and lists the reasons why the Northern Kingdom falls beginning in 2 Kings 17:7: “And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. 9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger, 12 and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this.” 13 Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. 15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. 16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17 And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only” (2 Kings 17:7-18).
Questions to Consider
1. Do you think God was helpless to prevent the Northern Kingdom from falling?
1. Jehoshaphat of Judah
2. The Lady Who Saved Christmas
3. The Fall of The Northern Kingdom
4. Hezekiah
Hezekiah began his rule when he was twenty-five years of age and he reigned for twenty-nine years. He is the fourteenth king of the Southern Kingdom, Judah. The Northern Kingdom falls during his reign in Judah. We have moved from the mid 800s with the queen to around 729 BC now. You have three accounts of Hezekiah’s reign: 1) 2 Kings 18-20; 2) 2 Chronicles 29-32; and 3) Isaiah 36-39.
The Bible says this of Hezekiah: “And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). 5 He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses” (2 Kings 18:3-6).
He ruled alongside his father Ahaz for 13 years and when his father’s co-rule ended, Hezekiah brought about significant change to Judah’s religious life. Hezekiah reopened and repaired the temple his father had closed. Plus, he destroyed all the foreign religious cults that his father let exist in Judah.
4.1 Who Will You Trust?
When I was a young boy, our schools would speak of a possible nuclear holocaust. We did “duck and cover” drills in case the world’s other superpower send a nuclear bomb our way. In those days, the world had two great superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union.
During Hezekiah’s day, the world’s emerging superpower was Assyria. Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) moves Assyria toward the status of an empire. If you failed to submit, the Assyrian war machine would soon be at your doors. I bring up Assyria because Hezekiah comes to rule during Assyria’s attempt at world domination. Every ruler had an Assyrian problem on their hands. Hezekiah seeks to join the anti-Assyrian revolt alongside the nations of Egypt, Babylon, as well as several other smaller nations. Interestingly, the prophet Isaiah says this is a bad idea. Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz, sought an alliance with Assyria and the prophet Isaiah told Ahaz that this was a bad idea: Now, a generation later and Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah, seeks to fight Assyria and Isaiah warns him:
“‘Ah, stubborn children,’ declares the LORD,
'who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin…’” (Isaiah 30:1).
There’s the old saying, “Damned if I do and damned if don’t,” and no doubt Hezekiah might have felt this way for a moment. King Sennacherib threatened Judah in Hezekiah’s day by invading Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. Sennacherib likely wanted to replace Hezekiah as king of Judah with a vassal king. In essence, Isaiah was telling Hezekiah that it was important where he placed his trust. Listen to how that word trust is key in telling Hezekiah’s story for a moment.
“He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him” (2 Kings 18:5).
King Sennacherib’s officials bring his army to the Jerusalem’s water supply when he summons Hezekiah: “And the Rabshakeh said to them, ‘Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?’’… In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me” (2 Kings 18:19, 20b)? In fact, ten times in the course of chapters 18 and 19, the word “trust” emerges. Trust is big word for Hezekiah and it’s a big word for you and me. Trust is about security, isn’t it?
Where do you place your security? David Powlison writes: the “most basic question which God poses to each human heart: ‘Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart’s functional trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight?’”
Then he offers some questions to bring some of your idols to the surface: “To who or what do you look for life-sustaining stability, security and acceptance? . . . What do you really want and expect [out of life]? What would [really] make you happy? What would make you an acceptable person? Where do you look for power and success?” Powlison concludes, “These questions or similar ones tease out whether we serve God or idols, whether we look for salvation from Christ or from false saviors.”
Let’s circle back to the conversation at the city’s water supply. At first, King Sennacherib’s officials insult Hezekiah and then they turn to the people listening into the conversation. Hezekiah’s officials know Hebrew people are listening is so they ask King Sennacherib’s officials in verse 26: “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall” (2 Kings 18:26b). If they speak in Aramaic, the people will not understand.
The arrogance of King Sennacherib’s officials turn up a notch in verse 28: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. 30 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ 31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, … And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” 33 Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand’” (2 Kings 18:28-35)?
This is a “stick your finger in the eye of God” kind of a speech. As you turn the chapter into chapter 19, the prophet Isaiah responds, “…Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land’” (2 Kings 19:6b-7). I love Hezekiah’s response here: “And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said: ‘O LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 16 Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 17 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19 So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone’” (2 Kings 19:15-19).
Isaiah, the prophet, informs Hezekiah that God has heard his prayer (2 Kings 19:20). I’ll not take time to read but God corrects Assyria’s pride and tells them essentially, you are taking credit for my blessing of you.
The final report on this whole situation emerges at the end of chapter 19. I’ll pick up reading in verse 32: “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
35 And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place” (2 Kings 19:32-37).
4.2 Passover
Among the religious reforms Hezekiah restarts is the celebration of the Passover, when the nation was freed from Egyptian slavery. Pick up reading with me in 2 Chronicles 30:1: “Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel. 2 For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month— 3 for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— 4 and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. 5 So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. 6 So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the LORD God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. 8 Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. 9 For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him” (2 Chronicles 30:1-9).
Hezekiah had restored the Temple and now he sought to reunite all of Israel, both north and south to celebrate the Passover. In the end, the people of the north would not come join Hezekiah for this celebration. Still the celebration continued: “And many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great assembly” (2 Chronicles 30:13).
A few verses later we read: “And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 30:15). Now, a lot of what was done here deviated from the normal practice of the Passover including,
4.3 The Extra Years
We read earlier where King Sennacherib died at the hands of his sons. How will it end for Hezekiah? Keep in mind that 2 Kings 20 happens before 2 Kings 18 and 19. This episode of Hezekiah’s extra years takes place before the Assyrian episode is solved.
“In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’ ” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, 3 “Now, O LORD, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: 5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, 6 and I will add fifteen years to your life…” (2 Kings 20:1-6a).
The prophet Isiah shows up in the king’s court and tells him to get his house in order. “Prepare to die.” Hezekiah prays immediately that the Lord will change his future. Before Isaiah can get out of the royal courts, God informs the prophet to tell the king, “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, 6 and I will add fifteen years to your life…” (2 Kings 20:5b-6a).
Hezekiah struggles to believe the prophet and is given a miraculous sign of the shadow to move backward against the natural order confirms Isaiah’s words. But what happens next is also intriguing to King Hezekiah. A Babylonian king sends letters and a gift by an envoy in hope of building an alliance against Assyria at the time. Hezekiah gladly shows his visitors everything of substance in his kingdom.
After learning that Hezekiah has shown the men everything, the prophet declares that some day Babylon will carry away everything of value in the palace: Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD: 17 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 18 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days” ( Kings 20:16-19)?
Questions to Consider
1. Do you think God changed His mind when Hezekiah prayed in 2 Kings 20:1-6?
2. Why do you think Passover had stopped being celebrated before Hezekiah’s day?
1. Jehoshaphat of Judah
2. The Lady Who Saved Christmas
3. The Fall of The Northern Kingdom
4. Hezekiah
5. Good King Josiah
He is the sixteenth king of the Southern Kingdom and remembers Judah only has 20 kings in total for the length of their nation. His father was so bad of a man that his servants murdered him (2 Kings 21:19-23). He rules from 640-609 BC and he begins ruling around eight years old. He is a godly man: “Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him” (2 Kings 23:25).
He is listed in the genealogy of Jesus along with Hezekiah.
5.1 High Places
Hezekiah had the high places torn down where idol worship took place. Then his son, Manasseh, rebuilds the high places of Baal (2 Kings 21:3). The high places were essentially Canaanite worship centers that had been taken over by Israel.
Josiah says in effect, “I’ll see to this.”
Look at Josiah’s ingenious plan: “Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. 16 And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. 17 Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” 18 And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. 19 And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. 20 And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them” (2 Kings 23:15-20a).
If you visit the Holy Land today, you can visit the remains of Jeroboam’s site on Dan. It’s called Tel Dan and you it’s found in a nature reserve area when you go. The platform at that time was 60 feet long and 20 feet wide and had an altar in front of the steps. You can see an iron frame that outlines the altar located in the same place where Jeroboam placed his altar. You can still see the original steps for the altar.
It's years later and Josiah is at the very altar that the first evil king of the Northern Kingdom erected. Josiah removes the bones from the graves of the false priests and burns the bones on the altar. This desecrates the grave first of all and renders it useless. No more will you have one king build the altar and his son tear it down. Josiah ruins the false worship place of worship. Next, Josiah fulfills the predictions from the unnamed prophet (1 Kings 13:1-10). If you remember, King Jeroboam sought to stop the prophet but God paralyzed his arm and made the king change his tune quickly. It’s been 300 years since the prophet made his prediction and to honor this prophet, Josiah orders his bones to remain where they were
5.2 Discovery
God’s Word emerges from God’s house and confronts the king. How will the king respond?
“And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9 And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD.” 10 Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. 11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes” (2 Kings 22:8-11).
Hilkiah, the high priest, found the book and gave it to Shaphan, the scribe, who in turn read it to King Josiah. Upon hearing the message of the book, Josiah tore his clothes, a sign of repentance, and humbled himself before God. Centuries had gone by and no one had paid any attention to Moses’ words. Now, Josiah makes a personal commitment to restoring the law to a place of prominence.
Questions to Consider
1. What do you imagine the scene was like when Hilkiah discovered the biblical law?
2. How do you picture Josiah’s grief when he hears the law?
