Filed under: 2 kings, adrammelech, ahaz, amaziah, amon, anammelech, asherah, azariah, baal, ben-hadad II, david, elisha, god, hazael, hezekiah, hoshea, huldah, isaiah, jehoahaz, jehoiada, jeroboam II, joash, josiah, jotham, manasseh, menahem, nergal, pekah, pekahiah, pul, rezin, sennacherib, shallum, shalmaneser, succoth-benoth, tartak, tiglath-pileser, uriah, zechariah
[We're skipping a whole lot more again...
* Joash reigned 40 years as king of Judah. It says that he did right because he was heavily influenced by the priest, Jehoiada. One of his big things is that he funded repairs for the Temple. Then again, he also bribed Hazael to keep him from invading with all the stuff that was dedicated to the Temple. A couple of Joash's servants ended up assassinating him. Joash's son, Amaziah took his place as king of Judah.
* Jehoahaz was the king of Israel for 17 years. He was wicked and, consequently, invaded by the Syrians relentlessly. Jehoahaz prayed to God, and this spared the people. But his army was decimated. Jehoahaz died, and his son Joash (yeah, I know that's the same name as the guy from Judah) became king of Israel.
* Israel's Joash reigned for 16 years. His live was wicked, and he went to war against the Judahites. He died, and his son Jeroboam II became king of Israel.
* Elisha became sick during the reign of Joash of Israel. On his death bed, he prophesied that Israel would defeat Syria three times in battle, and then he died. There was some random fighting going on near the funeral procession, and a dead body fell in Elisha's grave. The guy sprang back to life!
* War went on constantly between Israel and the Syrians, led by Hazael and eventually Ben-hadad II, his son. The Israelites took back their cities three times, though, according to the prophecy of Elisha.
* Amaziah was the king of Judah for 29 years. He was a good guy, but he didn't remove the high places. He also killed all the people who conspired to kill his father. He had a major victory over the Edomites. Amaziah asked to meet in battle with the king of Israel, Joash. Joash thought that Amaziah was getting a little too big for his britches, but Amaziah took him on in battle. Judah got their butts kicked. Amaziah was captured and the walls of Jerusalem were torn down. Somehow Amaziah must have gotten away because he was eventually killed by his own people. Then they instally his son, Azariah as king of Judah.
* Jeroboam II was king of Israel for 41 years. He was wicked, but God also used him to restore the borders of Israel. He died, and his son, Zechariah took his place.
* Azariah was the king of Judah for 52 years. He was good, but he still left the high places. God made him a leper. His son, Jotham, was in charge really becase Azariah had to live in a separate house. Azariah died, and Jotham took his place.
* Zechariah was king of Israel for 6 months. He was sinful, and some guy named Shallum killed him.
* Shallum was king of Israel for 1 month. Some guy named Menahem killed him and reigned in his place. This guy was a real winner. He tore into a town called Tirzah and ripped open the stomachs of all the pregnant women.
* Menahem was the king of Israel for 10 years. He was evil. He tried to bribe, Pul, the king of Assyria to keep him from invading. Menahem ended up dying, and his son, Pekahiah reigned in his place.
* Pekahiah reigned for 2 years as king of Israel. He was evil, and his captain, Pekah ended up killing him.
* Pekah reigned over Israel for 20 years (finally, a little consistency!). He was evil; and, during his reign, the king of Assyria, Tiglath-pileser captured all the land of Naphtali and took the people captive back to Assyria. Then Hoshea killed Pekah and became king in his place.
* Jotham was the king of Judah for 16 years. He was a good guy, but he left the high places up. He rebuilt a gate of the Temple, but he was also raided by Israel and Syria during his reign. Jotham died, and his son Ahaz took his place as king.
* Ahaz was the king of Judah for 16 years. This guy wasn't cool. He even sacrificed his son to a foreign god. Then Syria and Israel beseiged Jerusalem. Ahaz actually asked Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria to help him against Israel and Syria. Assyria ended up killing the king of Syria, Rezin and sacking Damascus. King Ahaz ended up going to see Tiglath-Pileser in Damascus, and he saw an altar he liked. So he had one of his priests, Uriah, make him one just like it. They took out the right altar and made offerings on this one instead. He also did a lot more defacing of the Temple to bring it up to Assyrian standards. Ahaz died, and his son Hezekiah took his place.
* Hoshea was king of Israel for 9 years. Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, invaded Israel; so Hoshea started paying tribute to Assyria. Apparently, Hoshea wasn't giving him enough money because Shalmaneser imprisoned Hoshea and took over Israel for 3 years. After that time, the Israelites were taken away to Assyria and placed in a town of the Medes.
* An explanation is given as to why the Israelites were taken away: the people had sinned. God tried to warn them through prophets, but they would not listen and followed false idols. Only Judah remained (even though they weren't perfect either). But, God removed Israel from His sight, letting them be taken away to Assyria.
* The king of Assyria sent people from other places in his kingdom to live in the land of the Israelites. But God caused lions to kill the settlers. The king realized that this was a "God thing," so he sent one Israelite priest to live in Bethel and teach the settlers how to fear God. That didn't really help. Yeah, they acknowledged God and set up priests for him; but they also worshipped their many gods: Succoth-benoth, Nergal, Tartak, Adrammelech, and Anammelech. This went on for many generations.
* Hezekiah was the king of Judah for 29 years. It says that he did all that David had done in worshipping God. He tore down everything that seemed idol-like. The Assyrians could not overtake him, and he even defeated the Philistines. In the sixth year of his reign, Israel was taken away. But Judah was NOT.
* This didn't last for long, though. Soon Judah was invaded by King Sennacherib of Assyria. Hezekiah tried to bribe him from destroying Jerusalem. Assyria's general told Hezekiah that they were going to take out puny Judah. Hezekiah sought after God by going to the Temple and seeking out a prophet named Isaiah. Isaiah told Hezekiah not to worry, that God would cause a false rumor to send the Assyrians home.
* More junk was talked from Assyria through the form of a letter to Hezekiah. Hezekiah pleas to God on behalf of his people and the fact that this Assyrian king, no matter how big he is, is defiling the name of I AM. Isaiah gives God's answer: Assyria's going down if they want to step to Jerusalem. God then struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, and Sennacherib went home to be killed by his own sons.
* Hezekiah got sick, and Isaiah told him that he would die. Hezekiah prays to God, and He adds 15 years to his life and keeps Assyria away. Unfortunately, Hezekiah went on to show the prince of Babylon all the riches of Jerusalem. Isaiah scolded him, and told him that everything he has, including his sons, will be taken to Babylon. Hezekiah died, and his son Manasseh became the king of Judah.
* Manasseh reigned as king for 55 years. He was evil, rebuilding the high places that his father had destroyed. He also worshipped Baal and Asherah. It says that he was worse than the people of the nations that the Jews had driven out. And God threatens to "wipe out" Jerusalem like someone would wipe a dish and put them at the mercy of their enemies. Manasseh died, and his son Amon took his place.
* Amon only reigned 2 years in Jerusalem. He abandoned God and worshipped idols. He was killed, but then the people killed the killers and places Josiah as the new king.]
OK…all caught up.
1. Another super-young king. Hey, the last one was pretty good.
2. Alright, another good guy on the straight path.
3. So…Josiah wants to pay for the repairs of the Temple. They took the collection before, but they never used if for repairs.
4. Isn’t it crazy that the Law had been neglected so much that it was hidden in some random storage room in the Temple? This was what the Jews were supposed to live their lives by. Totally neglected.
5. Josiah mourned when he read the Law of God. No wonder. Judah had been “winging it” for centuries. I’m sure things weren’t exactly the way they should have been in Judah.
6. Josiah knew they couldn’t stand before God, but how bad was it? He decided to get word from the prophetess, Huldah…
7. Huldah says that God is angry but not angry at Josiah. God is going to spare Josiah from seeing all the disaster that is going to come upon Judah. I guess that’s a good thing.
8. Josiah’s reaction? Read the entire Book of the Law to everyone who could hear it and make a covenant with God. He committed himself to follow God, and so did the people (or did they really…). Only time will tell…
