[Linux4christians] Wednesday - 2 Kings 13:14 - 14

Tue Feb 22 22:13:40 EST 2011

    Wednesday

      2 Kings 13:14 - 14

Elisha Makes One Final Prophecy

13:14 Now Elisha had a terminal illness. King Joash of Israel went down 
to visit him. He wept before him and said, "My father, my father! The 
chariot and horsemen of Israel!" 13:15 Elisha told him, "Take a bow and 
some arrows," and he did so. 13:16 Then Elisha told the king of Israel, 
"Aim the bow." He did so, and Elisha placed his hands on the king's 
hands. 13:17 Elisha said, "Open the east window," and he did so. Elisha 
said, "Shoot!" and

he did so. Elisha said, "This arrow symbolizes the victory the Lord will 
give you over Syria. You will annihilate Syria in Aphek!" 13:18 Then 
Elisha said, "Take the arrows," and he did so. He told the king of 
Israel, "Strike the ground!" He struck the ground three times and 
stopped. 13:19 The prophet got angry at him and said, "If you had struck 
the ground five or six times, you would have annihilated Syria! But now, 
you will defeat Syria only three times."

13:20 Elisha died and was buried. Moabite raiding parties invaded the 
land at the beginning of the year. 13:21 One day some men were burying a 
man when they spotted a raiding party. So they threw the dead man into 
Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the dead man came 
to life and stood on his feet.

13:22 Now King Hazael of Syria oppressed Israel throughout Jehoahaz's 
reign. 13:23 But the Lord had mercy on them and felt pity for them. He 
extended his favor to them because of the promise he had made to 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has been unwilling to destroy them or 
remove them from his presence to this very day. 13:24 When King Hazael 
of Syria died, his son Ben Hadad replaced him as king. 13:25 Jehoahaz's 
son Jehoash took back from Ben Hadad son of Hazael the cities that he 
had taken from his father Jehoahaz in war. Joash defeated him three 
times and recovered the Israelite cities.

Amaziah's Reign over Judah

14:1 In the second year of the reign of Israel's King Joash son of 
Joahaz, Joash's son Amaziah became king over Judah. 14:2 He was 
twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for 
twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Jehoaddan, who was from 
Jerusalem. 14:3 He did what the Lord approved, but not like David his 
father. He followed the example of his father Joash. 14:4 But the high 
places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and 
burn incense on the high places.

14:5 When he had secured control of the kingdom, he executed the 
servants who had assassinated his father. 14:6 But he did not execute 
the sons of the assassins. He obeyed the Lord's commandment as recorded 
in the law scroll of Moses, "Fathers must not be put to death for what 
their sons do, and sons must not be put to death for what their fathers 
do. A man must be put to death only for his own sin."

14:7 He defeated 10,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley; he captured Sela in 
battle and renamed it Joktheel, a name it has retained to this very day. 
14:8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz son of 
Jehu, king of Israel. He said, "Come, let's meet face to face." 14:9 
King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah, 
"A thornbush in Lebanon sent this message to a cedar in Lebanon, 'Give 
your daughter to my son as a wife.' Then a wild animal of Lebanon came 
by and trampled down the thorn. 14:10 You thoroughly defeated Edom and 
it has gone to your head! Gloat over your success, but stay in your 
palace. Why bring calamity on yourself? Why bring down yourself and 
Judah along with you?" 14:11 But Amaziah would not heed the warning, so 
King Jehoash of Israel attacked. He and King Amaziah of Judah met face 
to face in Beth Shemesh of Judah. 14:12 Judah was defeated by Israel, 
and each man ran back home. 14:13 King Jehoash of Israel captured King 
Amaziah of Judah, son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah, in Beth Shemesh. He 
attacked Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of 
Ephraim to the Corner Gate -- a distance of about six hundred feet. 
14:14 He took away all the gold and silver, all the items found in the 
Lord's temple and in the treasuries of the royal palace, and some 
hostages. Then he went back to Samaria.

( 14:15 The rest of the events of Jehoash's reign, including all his 
accomplishments and his successful war with King Amaziah of Judah, are 
recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel. 14:16 
Jehoash passed away and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. 
His son Jeroboam replaced him as king.)

14:17 King Amaziah son of Joash of Judah lived for fifteen years after 
the death of King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz of Israel. 14:18 The rest of 
the events of Amaziah's reign are recorded in the scroll called the 
Annals of the Kings of Judah. 14:19 Conspirators plotted against him in 
Jerusalem, so he fled to Lachish. But they sent assassins after him and 
they killed him there. 14:20 His body was carried back by horses and he 
was buried in Jerusalem with his ancestors in the city of David. 14:21 
All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and 
made him king in his father Amaziah's place. 14:22 Azariah built up Elat 
and restored it to Judah after the king had passed away.

Jeroboam II's Reign over Israel

14:23 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Judah's King Amaziah, son of 
Joash, Jeroboam son of Joash became king over Israel. He reigned for 
forty-one years in Samaria. 14:24 He did evil in the sight of the Lord; 
he did not repudiate the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who 
encouraged Israel to sin. 14:25 He restored the border of Israel from 
Lebo Hamath in the north to the sea of the Arabah in the south, in 
accordance with the word of the Lord God of Israel announced through his 
servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher. 14:26 The 
Lord saw Israel's intense suffering; everyone was weak and incapacitated 
and Israel had no deliverer. 14:27 The Lord had not decreed that he 
would blot out Israel's memory from under heaven, so he delivered them 
through Jeroboam son of Joash.

14:28 The rest of the events of Jeroboam's reign, including all his 
accomplishments, his military success in restoring Israelite control 
over Damascus and Hamath, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals 
of the Kings of Israel. 14:29 Jeroboam passed away and was buried in 
Samaria with the kings of Israel. His son Zechariah replaced him as king.

      Prayer

Lord, when we don't listen we miss Your promises. May I be a good 
listener, to You and to others.

      Commentary

Elisha's last miracle/promise/prophesy was to King Joash of Israel. 
Joash did not respond to his instructions correctly, so the promise was 
less powerful than Elisha had intended.

After Elisha died, and King Hazael of Syria died, Joash fulfilled the 
limited promise by driving Ben Hadad of Syria out of three regions in 
Israel which Hazael had conquered.

Amaziah became king of Judah and led a very successful battle against 
the Edomites and then he challenged King Joash of Israel. Joash warned 
him to not be too bold after only one victory but Amaziah continued to 
threaten them so Israel attacked and defeated Judah.

Joash tore down part of the wall around Jerusalem and sacked the temple 
and royal palace for gold and silver, then took Amaziah and several 
others captive.

Joash died and his son Jeroboam replaced him as king of Israel. Amaziah 
also died and his son Azariah became king of Judah. Although he failed 
to discourage false gods Jeroboam was successful in restoring Israelite 
control of border regions.

      Interaction

        Consider

Jeroboam possessed military skills and God desired to restore much of 
the coastline which Israel had lost, so despite his failure to purge 
evil from Israel the Lord God used him.

        Discuss

Why would Amaziah of Judah threaten Joash of Israel?

        Reflect

Had Joash listened closely to Elisha and obeyed fully he would have been 
empowered to obliterate Syria as an enemy.

        Share

When have you experienced or observed the Lord God blessing someone 
either in spite of their limited obedience and not as completely as He 
might have because of their limited obedience?

      Faith in Action

Prayer:

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you a place where you are not listening 
closely and not obeying fully.

        Action:

Today I will pause and pray and listen closely to the Lord God for what 
He has been trying to tell me. I will do so several times during the day 
and make time to reflect upon what I believe He is saying and to consult 
my Bible. As appropriate I will ask a fellow believer to listen to my 
reflections, to pray in-agreement for wisdom, and to share anything the 
Lord may reveal to them.

        Be Specific ______________________________________________________

    Thursday's text will be:

      2 Kings 15

-- 

Draw nearer to the Lord and He will bless you,
Have an http://Ultrafidian.com Day!
David M. Colburn, DMin. MaCo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Personal Site: http://bibleseven.com
Bible Resources: http://bible.org
Teacher's Verse: John 7:16
Defend free speech or lose your freedom.
I don't google I SEARCH! http://ixquick.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.thelinuxlink.net/pipermail/linux4christians/attachments/20110222/1540942c/attachment-0001.html>