Filed under: 2 kings, ahab, ahaziah, athaliah, baal, ben-hadad, david, elijah, elisha, god, hazael, jehoahaz, jehoiada, jehonadab, jehoram, jehosheba, jeroboam, jezebel, joash, joram, naboth
[We're skipping a lot...
* When all the prophets are trying to cut wood to build a place, one drops his borrowed axe into the Jordan River. Elisha tosses a stick into the water that makes the iron axe float!
* Every time Joram, the king of Israel went out to ambush the Israelites, Elisha would tell Joram the game plan (even though he was miles away from the king of Syria). The king of Syria sent out guys to take him out. When the Syrians surrounded the city, Elisha's servant wigged out. Then Elisha allowed his servant to see what he saw: an army of fiery horses and chariots of God. Then Elisha struck the army blind and led them into Samaria to the king of Israel. Elisha instructed the king to feed them and send them home. He did, and the Syrians didn't raid Israel anymore.
* But...Ben-hadad, king of Syria, decided to beseige Samaria. The Israelites were so bad-off that they were eating their babies to stay alive. Because of this calamity, Joram wanted Elisha to pay with his head. The Joram's guard goes to seize him, but Elisha promises that there will be plenty of food tomorrow. The next day, a couple of lepers decide that they would rather take their chances with going to the Syrian army for mercy than die outside the city of Samaria. So, they go and realize that the former Syrian camp is a ghost town. God had caused them to hear a huge army around them, and they fled, petrified. The lepers raided booty for awhile, but they eventually told Joram. Everyone ended up getting plenty of food. Also, the guy who came to "arrest" Elisha was killed according to a prohesy that Elisha had made.
* The Shunammite woman (who had her kid brought back to life by Elisha) left Israel during the famine because Elisha had warned her. When she came back, she got all her land back because Joram was fascinated with Elisha's "power" over life and death.
* Ben-hadad was sick, so he sent his servant Hazael to find out what his future held. Elisha told Hazael that Ben-hadad would recover from the sickness, but then he would die. He stared down Hazael and began to weep. Hazael asked why, and Elisha said that it was because of the future pain that Hazael would wreak on Israel as the new king of Syria. When Hazael returned, he told Ben-hadad that everything was going to be ok. The next day he choked him to death.
* Then we learn about the new king of Judah: Jehoram. He was king for 8 years. He married Ahab's daughter, so he was a low-down rotten king too. God spared him, though, to honor the promise he had made to David. His claim to fame was that he couldn't defeat the Edomites, so they were no longer under the rule of Judah. He died, and his son, Ahaziah became king of Judah.
* Ahaziah only reigned one year. He was also inter-married with the house of Ahab, so he was a bad dude. He and his buddy, Joram (king of Israel) went out to fight Hazael, king of Syria. Joram got hurt, so Ahaziah went to visit him.
* Elisha ends up telling one of his assistant prophets to annoint Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat (if I'm keeping track, that would be Ahaziah's uncle?) to be king of Israel. The prophet went and told Jehu that he was to kill off all of Ahab's descendents from Israel to serve as punishment for the way that Ahab and Jezebel treated God's prophets. After this meeting, Jehu was proclaimed king.
* So Jehu was on a collision-course to find Joram (non-anointed king of Israel) and Ahaziah (the bad king of Judah). Joram saw Jehu coming, and he sent out messengers to see if he came in peace; but it appears that the messengers joined Jehu's forces. The two kings came out to meet Jehu, and Jehu basically let Joram have it about the "whorings" of Baal-worship. Joram tried to leave, but Jehu shot him in the heart with an arrow. He just so happened to kill him on the land of Naboth (the guy that Jezebel had killed so Ahab could have his vineyard). This fulfilled a prophecy of Elijah. Jehu also ended up killing Ahaziah with an arrow. So...if you're tracking, all the descendents of Ahab are dead and there is a leadership void in Judah now. Whew...
* Then Jehu had his sights set on Jezebel (yeah, she was still alive as the "queen mother" of Israel). Jehu shouted up to a tower, "Who's on my side?" And three of Jezebel's servants shucked her out the window, her blood splattering everywhere. Jehu went inside and told the servants to bury her, but the dogs had already eaten her up (according to the word of Elijah).
* Jehu had all of Ahab's seventy sons killed and had their heads delivered in baskets to him in Jezreel. Jehu then killed all of Ahab's loyal followers. Jehu was traveling back home when he came upon a random group of people. Turns out they were relatives of Ahaziah (aka...relatives of Ahab), so Jehu had them all killed. Jehu takes a guy named Jehonadab into his chariot. And he shows him his zeal for God by killing all the descendents of Ahab in Samaria.
* I love this. Then Jehu and Jehonadab call a huge assembly to let (wink, wink) all of Israel know that Jehu is going to serve Baal like no other. So...when all the Baal prophets show up, he sets up his army outside the temple and has them ALL killed. Awesome. Then he burns the pillar of Baal.
* It says that Jehu did well, but there were places he didn't deal with. He left the golden calves of Jeroboam out, for one. It says that, during that time, Syria really was doing a number on Israel, by splitting the territory. Anyway, then Jehu dies; and his son Jehoahaz reigned in his place.]
Whew…
1. Did you know that Judah had a queen? Hmm…well, when Athaliah killed all the boys off, that’s what happened.
2. Cool that Jehosheba hides the last heir, Joash. This also means that God is being faithful to the promise of having an heir of David all the time.
3. A priest named Jehoiada charges the guards to protect little king Joash. This kid had to be pretty young. But then they anoint him as king.
4. Imagine how Athaliah felt when she heard that! She yells out treason? Um…isn’t she the one who killed off all the candidates to be king of Judah?
5. Then Jehoiada makes a covenant for the people of Judah to be God’s people. Wow…it’s been awhile since we’ve heard that. I like that they are cleaning house.
6. Little Joash is going to grow up in an environment free from Baal-worship and with a priest as a mentor. Let’s see how he does.
