The account of the kings ends with four revolving kings: Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jeconiah (also known as Jehoiachin), and Zedekiah. Three of these were brothers and the sons of Josiah. Jeconiah was Jehoiakim’s son, grandson of Josiah. All four kings were wicked kings, and the four of them lasted a combined 24 years. When Josiah fell at the battle with Egypt against Pharoah Neco, Judah became a vassal state to Egypt. Jehoahaz (ruled three months) and Jehoiakim (ruled 11 years) were selected by Neco to rule over Judah, and in that time frame Babylon had conquered Assyria and came in to finish the job of conquering the rest of the Middle East. Jeconiah lasted another three months when Babylon took him into captivity, and Zedekiah was the last one holding the bag when his decisions led to the final conquest and surrender of Jerusalem. His children were executed in front of him, before he was executed himself. Jeconiah, however, lived in Babylonian prison for a time before living the rest of his life eating at the table of the king of Babylon. All this is covered in one chapter.
All four kings had Josiah as their father or grandfather. All four kings had the prophet Jeremiah consistently warning them and telling them what God said. Jeremiah 1-39 covers his dealings with these kings, often going back and forth between Jehoiakim and Zedekiah following themes of rebuke rather than chronology. Of the kings, only Zedekiah actually wanted to hear what Jeremiah had to say, but he wanted to save his reputation of being a tough guy and still ultimately rejected God’s message. It cost him his life.
The political situation of Jerusalem here kept these kings running in circles, and time and time again, they wanted to hear hope and salvation rather than judgment. They did not want to think that God could judge them. The false prophets eventually realized that captivity was indeed happening but said it would only be a few years and they’d be back. Jeremiah got the real message as it would be seventy years, two full generations in captivity. This was the darkest moment in Israel’s history in the Old Testament, even warranting a full book to lament over the fall of Jerusalem (Lamentations).
I believe Josiah raised his boys in Godly ways. Jeremiah certainly did not let them off the hook. But they made a choice that they wanted to do things their own way, and they didn’t want God telling them what needed to be done. God had already proclaimed the captivity would take place. They knew that God chose to postpone it for Josiah’s sake, but they took no heed to Jeremiah’s words. Why not? While it was not stated by these kings directly, the notion was told directly to Jeremiah by those who survived Jerusalem’s fall and were plotting to go to Egypt. They believed that they had prosperity when they had their idols and worshiped the Queen of the Heavens, but when Josiah tore down the idols, they lost their prosperity. They NEVER even conceived the notion nor could even process that it was their own idolatry that was at fault, not God’s, not Jeremiah, not Josiah. It was sinful people turning to sinful sources instead of God. None of Josiah’s reforms made a difference in his boys. And that is not because Josiah failed; it is because they didn’t want to follow it.
All of these kings were young when they became king. Keep in mind Josiah was only 8 years old when he became king and ruled 31 years. He was 39 when he died. Jehoahaz was 23 when he became king, and Jehoiakim, his older brother was 25 when he became king a few months later. That means Jehoiakim was born when Josiah was 14, two years before he personally chose to walk with God. Jehoahaz was born two years later. Jeconiah, Jehoiakim’s son, was 18 when he became king. Jehoiakim was 25 with an 11-year reign before being sent off to Babylon, putting Jeconiah born when Jehoiakim was 18. Then Zedekiah was 21 when he became king, putting him at 9-10 years old when Josiah died. So the first two were old enough to know how to walk in the ways of the Lord, but they chose not to. The latter two could have known better, too, based on their upbringing and still chose not to. And unlike Manasseh, captivity did not change their minds.
Sin is so deadly that it truly will make someone insane and stupid. We have the advantage of hindsight and seeing God’s intentions and the spiritual side of things. If we lived in that time and we only thought in terms of the natural, we would likely think they were doing the best they could do and consider Jeremiah to be a crazy kook, much like how John the Baptist was viewed. But sin corrupts the mind, not just the spirit or the body. Because of our sin, we truly cannot think or see clearly, despite our finite limitations. And we see this demonstrated through the kings and their history.
This study has been quite fascinating to me to see how all these kings are interlinked and what we can learn not just from them but from their backstory as Scripture has revealed. There is a LOT I did not cover and a lot of history that other books cover in greater detail, but I hope this series has given us a bigger picture of these kings. With some of the kings, there simply is not enough to work with to see what was going on behind the scenes, and that’s okay. The Bible could not cover everything without being a mile thick. But each king did not rule in a vacuum. Their reign had to deal with the previous king’s decisions and practices, and they had to set up the next king’s rule as well.
One thing I want us to learn in this series is that we ourselves have a backstory, and we ourselves are also a backstory for someone else. Some call that concept their legacy. What legacy are we leaving? How are we preparing the next generation in how they are to live?
We all have a backstory. It does not matter if it is good or bad. We have seen through the kings that one’s upbringing can play a role in how they turned out. It was not a promise that a good upbringing produces a Godly life, nor does a bad upbringing automatically produce an ungodly life. Each king had to decide how he would live, and only a few made a good choice.
What is your backstory? What decisions are you making based on that backstory? Do not blame your backstory for your decisions. Your backstory may have put you in your circumstances, but it is your decision that matters: a decision whether you will follow what God says despite your backstory, even if it is a bad one, or whether you will go your own way, regardless of whether you were taught to follow God or not.
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Josiah became king when he was eight years old, just a year older than Joash when he became king, and reigned for 31 years. His father Amon was assassinated for his gross idolatry. Josiah was the last of the godly kings. His grandfather Manasseh was an abominable idolator until God utterly broke him by taking him into captivity in Assyria for a season. Amon was just as idolatrous, but he did not repent. He was killed two years into his reign. Josiah would have just barely known his grandfather in his repentant state, and he would have seen the turmoil of his father. For the first years of his reign, just as with Joash, there would have been adults who directed the formal decisions and guided him, but eight years into his reign, when Josiah was 16, he made the choice to follow the Lord.
Josiah personally sought to seek and follow the Lord, which is a statement only given to Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, and Hezekiah before him. When one seeks the Lord, he will see the abominations and they will grieve him. As a teenager, Josiah went after all those high places. It took about ten years to go through the whole land to destroy the idols and the high places. He destroyed every idol, every high place, and every altar, everything associated with idol worship. Josiah got rid of it and destroyed it so no one could bring it back easily.
Then 18 years into his reign, with all the idols removed, Josiah turned his attention to the Temple to repair it. That was when the Book of the Law was found, and Josiah realized just how far Judah had fallen from walking in the ways God set when they entered the land. The majority of the coverage of Josiah’s reign is on this event and Josiah’s move to get back to God’s ways. God was so pleased with Josiah that he would not allow Judah to fall into captivity during his lifetime. But the sins of Manasseh and the generations before him were still standing, and the judgment still had to come.
I don’t know what triggered Josiah’s turn to the Lord, but he did have the advantage of being too young for the idolatrous ways of his father to be deeply rooted in him. He also had the advantage of being just old enough to see that what his father was doing was outright evil. There were no Biblical prophets at this time, as Jeremiah would begin his ministry during Josiah’s reign. There were prophets, but not one of the “big ones” from the start. Whoever guided and trained Josiah had to be godly. The prophetess Hulda ministered in Josiah’s 18th year and she is the one who reported Josiah’s utter grief over Judah breaking the Law. There was no actual copy of the Law that Josiah had access to until his 18th year. Otherwise, he would have heard it by then. He knew the Biblical principles that God did not like idolatry and he very likely knew the Shema prayer and the Ten Commandments. By the time they were twelve years old, Jewish boys were supposed to have the entire Pentateuch memorized, and it’s possible this was still being practiced traditionally through the idolatrous ages. But Josiah heard at least some of the law and knew of the True God and that truth took a firm grip on his heart.
Josiah can also be compared to Joash because both were very young kings. Joash had a very godly man raise him. Josiah had no known Godly input. Joash departed the faith once his anchor passed away; Josiah turned towards the Lord regardless of his input. As I have mentioned, each person was responsible for his own choices. While the background of his early youth reflected Amon’s full-blown idolatry, Josiah still chose to seek the Lord. We don’t know how Josiah operated in those first eight years as a kid, but when he turned 16, he decided to seek the Lord personally.
Josiah is the last king who would seek the Lord. God decided the judgment upon Judah during Manasseh’s reign, but God had a promise to uphold before he could let that happen. I mentioned above how Josiah got rid of the high places and idols. One of those idols was a golden calf, the one that Jeroboam made 300 years ago when he led the rebellion against Rehoboam. An unnamed prophet confronted Jeroboam and told him a future king named Josiah would destroy that idol and desecrate the priests serving that idol by burning their bones on their altars. When Assyria conquered Israel, they did not destroy nor take the idol they feared the gods of that land and didn’t want to bring a curse upon them. A curse was indeed put on them, so they sent some of Israel’s priests who served those idols to teach the new occupants how to worship those gods. So the golden calf was intact in Bethel when Josiah came upon it. He did precisely what was prophesied about him – he destroyed the idol and burned the bones of the first priests on the altar before destroying the altar itself. God was not going to let Judah fall until this took place.
In Josiah’s reign, we see the sovereignty of God and the foresight of God. We see God directing events to fulfill the prophecies He made, and we see this through all the kings. While each king is held responsible for his own decisions, all have done the way God has said they would go. God wanted Josiah to showcase one last shot for redemption, knowing that it would not last, but also to give a final cleansing before the bottom fell out. It was a final push for Godliness so that in the captivity there would be a few who would be a remnant for the captivity. Daniel and his three friends were children of nobles and would have sat under the ministry of Jeremiah before being taken to Babylon as teenagers. Josiah’s reforms set the stage for Daniel to be a Godly presence in Babylon.
Next week, we’ll wrap up this series and look at Josiah’s sons. Josiah went to battle against Egypt, when he did not need to, and was killed in the battle. Egypt made Judah a vassal of Egypt, and Josiah’s sons brought the final judgment upon Judah.
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Hezekiah was a godly king who tore down high places and destroyed idols including good things such as the Bronze Serpent. He got sick halfway into his reign, and God granted him 15 more years of his life. There is an indication that he was childless at this point with no heir. God said he would heal him and give him an heir. That child was born a couple of years later, Manasseh. When Hezekiah died, Manasseh was just 12 years old, and he reigned for 55 years. He had the longest reign of any king of Israel or Judah, and he was the worst of them.
Manasseh followed all the idols that the pagans had around them – Baal, Asherah, Molech/Chemosh, not to mention practicing sorcery and divination and seeking mediums, a list that not even Ahab did. And as bad as all that was, he did something even more evil than all that: he put these idols and altars directly in the Temple itself. And catch this statement in 2 Chronicles 33:9: Manasseh led Judah to do even more evil than the pagan nations whom the Lord had already destroyed through the Assyrian empire. Ezekiel gave some fierce words for this in Ezekiel 23 and compared Israel and Judah to two harlots. For as bad of a rap as Israel has, Judah out-sinned Israel. If the trio of Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Athaliah were bad, Ahaz seemed to seek to top them and Manasseh went even further.
Isaiah was nearing the end of his ministry, and he rebuked Manasseh for his idolatry. Tradition holds that Manasseh had Isaiah sawn in half. Manasseh wanted nothing to do with the prophets of God. Ezekiel 22 gives a devastating lashing against the prophets and priests of that time: conspiring against God and using their position and the people’s innate trust in that position to rip them off for selfish gain. No one stood in the gap; no one stepped up to put a stop to it. Hezekiah tried. Isaiah tried. But the people didn’t listen to Hezekiah or Isaiah, and Manasseh had Isaiah removed.
God had enough and had Assyria take Manasseh captive along with formally proclaiming the upcoming captivity to Babylon. Keep in mind that when Assyria took captives, they marched them in their chains, naked, and pulled along with a hook in their nose. This was only one of the many ways Assyria showed their brutal cruelty. In captivity, Manasseh was humbled. The teachings and preaching of his father Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah would have come to mind, and he remembered and sought the Lord. He returned to Jerusalem and began tearing down all the idols. He did not tear down the high places, but the people used them to worship the true God. Manasseh committed the most atrocious sins of all the kings, but he was humbled, and in that humility, he returned to serve the Lord until he died.
We don’t know when during Manasseh’s 55-year reign his arrest and repentance took place, but this sets up the backstory to his son Amon who was born 33 years into his reign. Amon lasted only two years because he followed the footsteps of his father into idolatry, only he did not repent of his sins. He was assassinated as a result. His officials had no interest in seeing another Manasseh who would turn Assyria against Judah again, so they killed him and installed Josiah in his stead, a boy of only 8 years old.
Let’s do the math. Amon was 24 when he was assassinated and Josiah was 8 at that time. So Amon was 16 when he fathered Josiah and 15 when he slept with Josiah’s mother. It’s not as crazy a situation as with Ahaz who fathered Hezekiah when he was 11, but still very young.
Manasseh and Amon show the reverse cases of Joash and Hezekiah. Joash started well and ended bad. Hezekiah started well and ended well. Manasseh started bad and ended well. Amon started bad and ended bad. Manasseh had all the markings, precedents, and foundations laid for a good backing. Because Manasseh was just 12 years old when he became king, it is possible that Hezekiah’s death triggered anger and resentment in him. He was old enough to have an attachment to Hezekiah, so it’s not implausible for him to blame God for it and go to all the idols to spit in God’s face. But that is speculation.
Amon likely lived through Manasseh’s repentance, but it may depend upon when that took place. I suspect the repentance was towards the end of his life, but I cannot prove that. I suspect Amon spent a good part of his youth engaged in idolatrous actions alongside his father. He clearly didn’t learn from his father about repentance and departing from the idols. He liked the idols and wanted to keep them. Instead of repenting from his sin, he multiplied it. In a way, God was merciful in allowing Amon to be assassinated, and the people in turn executed his killers. It wasn’t right to kill him, but God may have allowed it to give Amon’s little boy a chance to follow God and give him the opportunity to lead the nation in a last-minute revival while also fulfilling prophecy. That will be for next week.
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Hezekiah is the king who got me started on this series that we have been working through for five months now. (We are nearly done!) It was in my personal studies of Isaiah that got me thinking about how Hezekiah followed the ways of the Lord when his father, Ahaz, was so wicked. I believe one answer is that Hezekiah was old enough to be in the court of Ahaz when Isaiah would prophesy over the siege of King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel, who God raised to punish Ahaz for his open idolatry. Every prophecy came true, and as a youth, Hezekiah saw that what Isaiah said came true.
Hezekiah is rivaled only by Ahab for getting the most “screen time” in Scripture. Hezekiah gets coverage in three books: 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Isaiah. Isaiah gives Hezekiah four chapters (36-39) of just history, not including numerous chapters of prophecy surrounding those events. There are four major events in Hezekiah’s reign that are covered. 1) Hezekiah brought reform to Judah in not only reopening and repairing the temple but also removing high places and idols, including the Bronze Serpent that Moses made because the people were worshiping it. 2) Withstanding the siege of Assyria was the biggest event with much attention given to it. 3) Hezekiah had a sickness where he asked to be healed and was given 15 more years. 4) Hezekiah showed off his full wealth and resources before Babylonian envoys.
I am not going to go into detail about each of these events. You can read that in Katie Erickson’s post about Hezekiah and his reign. Instead, I want to focus on the backstory and what set up Hezekiah to make these decisions. Let me remind you from two weeks ago that Ahaz was 11 years old when Hezekiah was born. Ahaz wasn’t even old enough for his primary puberty growth spurt when he was engaged in sexual activity. As I said then, we don’t know the setting of that. I don’t believe Jotham gave him a wife at that age, but I do know Ahaz was heavily involved in idolatry and Jotham had no record of stopping any of the idolatrous practices. When Ahaz became king at 20 years old, Hezekiah was nine and I don’t think it would have taken him long to figure out that what his father was doing was dead wrong. I can picture Isaiah often taking Hezekiah aside and teaching him truth, as Isaiah was part of the king’s court. It is clear that Hezekiah followed the Lord. Departing so clearly and cleanly from what his father Ahaz was doing indicates both a Godly nurturing (which didn’t come from his father) and exposure to his father’s sins and seeing the path of destruction from them.
Hezekiah was not merely a moral man like Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, and Jotham. He didn’t merely walk in God’s ways; Hezekiah sought the Lord. Shortly before writing this post, I was in Isaiah and going through Hezekiah’s dealings and events, and I saw a theme in Hezekiah’s mind: he wanted to glorify God. He wanted God’s name to be glorified above and beyond his own safety and protection. He did not beg God to deliver him from Assyria for his own protection but because Rabshakeh had blasphemed the name of God. Hezekiah was not concerned about his own life for his own life’s sake, but he thought that death would cut off his worship of God and feared that God could not be worshiped from the grave. That is what drove his prayer for deliverance from Assyria and also what drove his prayer for healing. It was not about self but about God’s name and God’s glory. Only David had a heart for God like Hezekiah did.
But Hezekiah’s heart did not carry over to the people. Hezekiah was even accused of apostasy for destroying the high places because the people wanted their idols. As with Ahab when in periods of utter darkness God preserved 7000 who had not bowed their knee to Baal, the reverse is found here. Hezekiah led the people to reform and to true worship, but the people did not want to follow God. The moment Hezekiah died, the plummet began. Hezekiah’s son Manasseh was the most wicked king of Judah, even worse than Ahaz; it was under Manasseh that God declared the judgment for Judah. Isaiah had been prophesying about the Babylonian captivity and restoration during Hezekiah’s reign, but my point is Hezekiah’s good life in leadership does not mean that the people followed the lead of their king in godliness.
We can compare and contrast Hezekiah’s upbringing to Joash’s upbringing. Both had idolatrous fathers, though Joash never met his. Both had Godly input: Joash had Jehoiada and Hezekiah had Isaiah. But Joash lost his Godly surrogate father and Hezekiah did not lose his mentor. Joash departed the faith and Hezekiah stayed faithful. Joash lived a moral life but showed that his faith was tied to his surrogate father. Hezekiah sought the Lord and His glory, and his morality followed that seeking. Joash just wanted to look good; Hezekiah wanted to honor God. There is a big difference between them.
Each king is still responsible for his own life. Some had good upbringings and turned evil. Some had bad upbringings and were evil. Some had a bad upbringing and turned good. Others had a good upbringing, as we’ll see next week with Manasseh, and turned bad. A common theme throughout all the kings is how they handled idolatry. With Israel, they were judged by letting Jeroboam’s idols remain or not. With Judah, they were judged by how they let the high places remain or not. Hezekiah sought the Lord even from his youth, and he received God’s heart about worship – its quality and location. He would not allow God to have competition with fake idols.
When I realized that Hezekiah was old enough to hear the prophecies given to Ahaz regarding the sieges by Rezin and Pekah, I believed that played a significant role in his faith and his belief in God. We have a few more kings to look at; I’ll address Manasseh and Amon together and then examine Josiah and then finally finish with the four kings, three of whom were Josiah’s children and one was his grandson to end the series.
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Hoshea is the final king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel before it was taken by Assyria and completely scattered among the nations. Hoshea is not the cause of the complete conquering; he just happened to have the bag when the time came. Hoshea assassinated Pekah shortly after God humiliated him in his near taking of Judah during Ahaz’s reign, and Hoshea ruled for nine years. During those nine years, Hoshea rebelled against Assyria who made Israel a vassal during Menahem’s reign. That was the last straw, and Assyria came to flatten Israel and finish the job.
Hoshea was not a godly king, but he had a unique moniker to describe him. He did not do evil as those who went before him did. He is the only king that lasted more than a month who was not identified as following the idols of Jeroboam. Shallum is the other one who did not have that charge against him, and he didn’t reign long enough to do so even if he wanted to. Hoshea never followed God, but he was not as evil as those who went before him. The non-mention of the idols of Jeroboam indicates that he did not bow before those golden calves, he just didn’t follow God.
Israel fell under Hoshea. The bulk of 2 Kings 17 describes Israel falling to idolatry after idolatry after idolatry, and God had enough. His patience ran out, and He cast Israel out of their homeland until they learned not only to cease the idolatry but also to receive their Messiah. That day has not yet come, but Paul makes it clear in Romans 11 that God is not done with Israel yet.
Hoshea’s background is very simple: 32 years of political turmoil from Zechariah until the end of Pekah’s reign and Assyria had taken control over Israel, allowing them to exist as a mere servant or vassal state. They were allowed to exist and rule their own people, but they were subservient to Assyria. Hoshea made a final attempt to break free from Assyria and because he did not seek the Lord, he was doomed to failure. God had chosen to judge Israel – cast them out and scatter them because for too long they had blasphemed His name and His land by professing to be His people but serving every idol and not God Himself. Not one of the kings of Israel ever walked in the ways of the Lord; only Jehu and Hoshea came remotely close.
As I noticed in this study, the reigns of Jeroboam II through Hoshea spam a total of 83 years, ¾ of which were Jeroboam II’s and Pekah’s reigns alone. But the Scriptures spend very little time describing these kings and their reigns. It was like the Chronicler gave up saying the same thing over and over and over again. Each king was evil, they did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, they followed such and such idols, and there are a few political and military maneuvers, but that is about it. They did not follow or seek after God, even in name only, and you can only write the same sins enough times before you get tired of it. God is mostly concerned about the spiritual status of the king and then of the nation. While God has indeed saved and preserved people despite wicked times, when the ruler and nation as a whole are turned towards idols, God’s mercy is the only thing keeping that nation intact.
When the Holy Spirit-inspired author of Scripture gives up describing the sins of the kings, either showing the progressing away from them or further decline into sin, for multiple generations and multiple kings, there isn’t much to say other than there were no kings in Israel who wanted God as their ruler.
This goes all the way back to 1 Samuel 8 when Israel asked for a king. They got Saul, the man who looked the part but never did the part. And they got king after king after king who wanted to do things his own way instead of God’s. All the kings of the Northern Kingdom were ungodly men, and Israel got precisely what they asked for; it was a curse upon them. They did not want God ruling over them. God had chosen them; He saved them from Egypt, He did all sorts of miracles for them, and He protected them and guided them, and they spat in His face for it. The amazing thing is how God was so merciful that He let them live that long.
Hoshea was simply the last king carrying the bag when Israel fell. He is not to blame for it. The judgment was decided long ago. Had he chosen to walk with the Lord, God may have spared them as He did with Josiah in Judah, whom we will look at in a few weeks. But we can never know what would have happened. As bad as Israel’s sins were with non-stop idolatry, what Judah did was far worse. There are 8 kings left to discuss in Judah’s history, and only two of them were good. Next week, we’ll look at Hezekiah, the king who got the most attention in Scripture among the split kingdoms with only Ahab rivaling him for space.
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The Bible races through Uzziah’s 52-year reign in Judah then comes to Jotham and basically skips over that one, too. There is very little coverage of Jotham’s 16-year reign other than he walked with the Lord but did not tear down the high places. His reign overlapped with Uzziah due to Uzziah’s leprosy, but nothing else is said worthy of attention. Jotham’s son Ahaz got a lot more attention, not just in Kings or Chronicles but also in Isaiah. A large portion of the early chapters of Isaiah consists of Isaiah preaching to Ahaz. The rules of Jotham and Ahaz are covered in 2 Chronicles 27-28.
Jotham was 25 years old when he became king and ruled for 16 years. Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king and ruled for 16 years. Jotham was born 27 years into Uzziah’s reign. Ahaz was born when Jotham was 21, four years before Uzziah died. But here is where it gets interesting. Hezekiah was 25 when he became king, and Ahaz was 36 when he died. What does that say? It means Ahaz fathered Hezekiah when he was 11 years old. That’s not biologically impossible, however, it does give a hint at what was going on spiritually during Ahaz’s youth.
During Uzziah’s and Jotham’s reigns, it is noted that while they walked with the Lord, the people did not. Hezekiah showcased this in greater detail. He walked with the Lord, and he tore down the high places, but the people sought out their idols one way or the other. One such idol that Hezekiah would destroy was the bronze serpent that Moses had made. It was being worshiped during Jotham’s and Ahaz’s reigns and very likely long before that too.
Jotham was moral, was religiously right before God, and did not bow before the idols, but he did nothing to stop his people from doing so. Ahaz went full-blown into idolatry. He didn’t merely worship the Baals and Asherah; he even sacrificed his children on the altar to Molech. Hezekiah was spared this fate because he was already 9 years old when Ahaz became king and was too old for such a sacrifice. The Molech worship required an infant, a newborn. Jotham was the fourth king in a row that did nothing about the idol worship going on in Judah, even though they did not worship them personally. When Ahaz became king, he went full out. Again, he fathered Hezekiah when he was 11 years old, which means he did the deed when he was 10. I get it was a different culture then, but it was the girls who tended to get married younger while the men often weren’t married until their 30s when they were old enough and mature enough to lead a home. We don’t know what was going on there other than idol worshiped was tolerated. Nearly all the idol worship going on involved sexual activity, and kids were not exempt. It was much more than just burning incense or a candle and offering food before a man-made statue. Whether Ahaz engaged in sexual activity as a ten-year-old in the practice of idol worship, or whether he witnessed something and was acting it out, or even if Jotham was involved or knew about it or what, it would not surprise me if this activity led to his choices as an adult to go full out in sin against God.
Both Jotham and Ahaz sat under the ministry of Isaiah. Jotham had peace in his day, but Ahaz had trouble. God rallied both Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel to reduce Judah to just Jerusalem. Isaiah spent multiple chapters telling Ahaz how the battles and the sieges with Rezin and Pekah would go. God treated both these pagan kings as smoldering wicks, candles on their final flame, before their final snuff out. But Ahaz refused to listen and instead turned to the idols even more than before. Syria beat him in battle and so Ahaz, instead of turning to the Lord as Isaiah strongly admonished him to do, turned to the gods of Syria and shut down the Temple. Because of his idolatry and his wickedness, he wasn’t even given a king’s burial when he died at a mere 36 years old.
Jotham is an example of someone who walks the Christian walk but does nothing about the sin going on around him. Scripture says very little about him, simply indicating him building some walls and cities and defeating the Ammonites again. That’s all we have, but by examining the spiritual status on Uzziah’s side and on Ahaz’s side, we can see that Jotham’s walk with the Lord was personal and involved nothing else. He didn’t even train his son, Ahaz, to walk in the ways of the Lord. And when people are only concerned about their own salvation, even if God does let them in, they will be marked as one who would have “unfulfilled potential” written on their tombstone. They will have “Yes, they professed the faith, but there was nothing real about it.” Jotham’s own son was a prepubescent father who then walked in idolatry, and I don’t believe Ahaz just started it when he became king. He may have kept his idolatry quieter as a youth, but there is no indication he ever walked with God.
Ahaz is partly a product of the apathy and complacency of a generation of four kings who supposedly walked with God but let the idolatry continue. Any one of these kings could have cut off the head of the snake, but they wanted to be politically correct and not offend the idol worshippers. They themselves may have thought it would be just fine to worship God at these high places. Joash and Amaziah turn to the idols. Uzziah usurped the role of a priest and sought to do a duty he was not permitted to do. Jotham did nothing but further build the kingdom’s physical might but did not touch the spiritual defenses. And Ahaz is a product of that, driven by his lust for power, for comfort, for ease, for everything that these other gods had to offer. He had no regard for God or Scripture or the things of God. He shut down the temple, which Hezekiah would reopen, and despised the wisdom of Isaiah, who proved God’s faithfulness time and time again. I believe it was Isaiah’s prophecies regarding Rezin and Pekah’s assault on Jerusalem going down precisely as he described that played a significant role in Hezekiah’s faithful rule and it was in that study that spawned this series. Next week, we’ll look at Hosea, the final king of Israel.
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I am going to hit five kings in one go here. Early in the history of the Northern Kingdom when Baasha died, the kings Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Tibni ruled in a span of 12 years, about half of which was Omri alone. Now we get to another moment of violent turbulence for the throne. Zechariah, son of Jeroboam II, lasted six months before being assassinated. His killer, Shallum, lasted one month before being assassinated. His killer, Menahem, lasted ten years before dying. Menahem’s son Pekahiah lasted two years before being assassinated by Pekah. Pekah began his reign when Uzziah died. So in Uzziah’s 52-year reign, he out-lived five kings from Jeroboam II to Pekahiah. Pekah was the second to last king of Israel, and I’ll focus on him more than the others.
Of the five kings we will examine (Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah) only one, Shallum, is not marked for not departing from the sins of Jeroboam. Zimri who only had a seven-day reign was marked as such. Shallum was not identified as such, but he was no godly man. Shallum’s one-month reign is summarized in just four total verses, including his assassination of Zechariah.
During the political turmoil of Israel, another power came into play: Assyria. Menahem paid off Assyria to not completely capture them and thus became a vassal, a servant state of Assyria. Israel was allowed its independence, but it was ultimately under the thumb of Assyria. Pekah eventually came into the picture and Assyria began to take the towns and cities of Israel. At the end of Pekah’s reign, he joined up with Syria, which had not been completely conquered yet, and advanced upon Judah. Ahaz, the grandson of Uzziah, was ruling at this time, a new king with only a few years under his belt, and he paid off Assyria to help him. The prophet Isaiah spent quite a bit of his early ministry warning Ahaz to follow the Lord and not to turn to idols or other nations.
As I have mentioned in the past two weeks, the background for these kings is hardly given. There is not much to say. God had sent his prophets to warn Israel against turning from idolatry, yet those golden calves remained standing. That false representation of Jehovah remained, and God was tired of it. He let the kingdom of Israel stand for two reasons: 1) He did not want to break His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and 2) He fulfilled His promise to Jehu for his wiping out of Ahab’s line and the Baal worship. But once Jehu’s line met that promise, the bottom fell out, just as it did for Judah several generations later.
None of these kings took any regard for God, and the only king that God ever seemed to take notice of was Pekah – and that, only in the context of telling Ahaz that he was nothing, a dying tree, and a fading vapor. Just a few years after Ahaz’s death, the entire nation of Israel would be consumed by Assyria. And none of these kings seemed to learn from the kings who went before them or even from their brothers in Judah. In all the political turmoil of three assassinations (there would be a fourth when Hosea murders Pekah), Pekah seems to be the one to bring stability. It was not a healthy stability, but for 20 years, there was political stability. Assyria still controlled Israel at this point as tributes were demanded, and Hosea would try to rebel against them. Menahem had little stability because of Assyria swooping in; he had no power to do anything about it other than to bribe his way out and tax his people to the point of shattering their economy.
Everything in these kings’ reigns has nothing to do with God. They did not seek God. Jeroboam II set no principles or guidelines for what would follow. He just built up his political power, strengthened his army, and retook cities, but it was all political and not at all in any regard towards God. Jehu gave Israel a chance to turn to God. Elijah and Elisha were in active ministry, and Baal worship was out. But Jehu and those who followed gave little more than lip service to the true God. Those idols still stood and kept drawing people away from the true faith. Hosea was ministering during this time, and his message was a picture of a prostitute who kept going back and forth between her husband and other lovers. When we look at the history of the kings of Israel, we see them going back and forth between God and the idols. But the last one to turn towards God was Jehoash when he sought the advice of Elisha. There is no indication of anyone from Jeroboam II all the way through Hosea ever seeking the Lord even for a moment.
What can we learn from these kings? Jeroboam II was perhaps the strongest king of Israel politically. As soon as he died, the bottom fell out. It does not matter how strong of an economy or how strong politically a nation is; if God chooses to judge a nation, nothing man does to support it is going to stand. In the 41 years between Jeroboam II’s death and the formal fall of Israel to Assyria, it went from the strongest economy and military they had to total non-existence. There was some brief stability with Pekah, who kept things going the longest, but it was like the Great Depression between the two huge drops where there was momentary stability before everything crashed. God would judge Israel for its idolatry, and in two weeks when we examine Hosea to see how and why it all happened.
Next week, we’ll look at Jotham and Ahaz who sat under Isaiah’s ministry and witnessed what was going on with Israel.
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I wanted to address both of these kings in one go because ultimately, Scripture does not say much about them. Jeroboam II has the longest reign of Israel at 41 years yet is barely given half a chapter of coverage. All he is known for doing is continuing in the sins of Jeroboam and for restoring Israel’s territory that Syria had taken during the reigns of Ahab through Jehoash. Uzziah had the 2nd longest reign of Judah at 52 years, and he gets a bit more attention – a full chapter. I have noted that Scripture is more concerned about each king’s spiritual state and the nation’s spiritual state than any political or social setting. So though it touches on the latter, Scripture emphasizes the former.
Jeroboam II was one of the strongest kings of Israel whom God used to restore its lands because he was not ready to evict them from the land for their idolatry. However, he never followed the Lord. There is no indication of him being an immoral king, just an idolatrous king. He let the idols stick around, and that is all that is said about him.
Uzziah came to the throne at a mere 16 years old because his father was assassinated for bowing before Edom’s idols and his foolish battle against Israel. He reigned for 52 years and walked in the ways of the Lord except not actively tearing down the high places of idol worship. But he went to the Temple to worship and did things God’s way for the most part. He sought the Lord, which cannot be said about Joash or Amaziah. Uzziah made Judah likely the strongest they had been since the days of Solomon. He subdued the Philistines and the Ammonites and held off attacks from Arabia. He built up Jerusalem’s defenses and became quite powerful. He didn’t have to fight against Joash or Jeroboam II of Israel. But his strength became his weakness, and he became proud. He went to offer incense in the temple, a job only the priests could do, and God struck him with leprosy of which he would die.
So, what are the backgrounds of these kings? Jeroboam II was the third king following Jehu, and his son Zechariah would finish the promise of God for four generations. Jeroboam’s rule indicates he would have been rather young when he became king to have a 41-year reign. He would have been a child or teenager when Jehoash fought against Amaziah and visited Elisha on his deathbed. Biblical prophets Amos and Hosea were prophesying in Israel, and so Jeroboam would have heard the messages. Again, there is no indication of him heeding them, repenting, or outright rejecting them; no comment is made. We just know that Jeroboam went about his business as a normal ruler who sought the best of for his kingdom, was not blatantly immoral, but never sought after the Lord.
Uzziah was a teenager when he saw his father win over Edom, take the idols, and then stupidly go to war with Jehoash. He knew his grandfather was assassinated, and now his own father was assassinated. He really didn’t want to walk the same path. We don’t know what Biblical prophets were speaking to him, but Uzziah was the first king since Jehoshaphat where Scripture explicitly states that he sought the Lord. His morality was overall about the same as his father Amaziah’s, and he knew that God was indeed real. No indication in Uzziah’s background would show a seed of his going to burn incense. That resulted from his pride that developed while he ruled and gained strength. And it was in that time of Uzziah’s leprosy that Isaiah began his ministry and had his vision of the throne room. Isaiah was in training as a prophet and would soon become the prophet for the king’s court.
One thing I pick up from these two kings, who in a political and social context should receive a large percentage of attention, is that God doesn’t bother with people who seem to cruise in their lives. There is no indication of growth or decline in Jeroboam II. There is only a decline in Uzziah and only at the end of his life. Uzziah sought the Lord and was obedient, but besides a few battles and a giant overview, only his sin is discussed in detail. When we see the Bible dealing with political situations, it refers to how they tie their trust to God or not.
We will soon look at Ahaz and Hezekiah, Uzziah’s grandson and great-grandson, where we get a strong emphasis on the political situation because it is a comparison between two kings who trusted the Lord versus trusting in the foreign nations for help. During Uzziah’s reign, another nation began to grow in power: Assyria. Assyria would be a nation that would wipe out the whole northeast part of the Middle East. Syria was beaten three times by Jehoash, and so both Judah and Israel did not have significant political or military powers threatening them. But they would be regaining their power, and we’ll see Syria, and particularly Assyria, showing their might before long.
Next week, we’ll look at a series of kings of Israel in another political tumult that sets things up for the conquest by Assyria. Then we’ll come back to Judah to look at Jotham and Ahaz.
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Amaziah was the second of four consecutive semi-good kings of Judah. They were moral for the most part though they never bothered to tear down the high places. But they had problems. Of these four kings, only Jotham does not have a sin recorded against him and that is only because his reign, and the coverage of it, was short. Amaziah ruled for 29 years and began his reign when he was 25 years old. This put Amaziah being born 15 years into Joash’s reign, making Joash 22 years old when Amaziah was born. Amaziah would be succeeded by Uzziah who was 16 when he became king, thus putting Uzziah’s birth 13 years into Amaziah’s reign, with Amaziah being 38 when Uzziah was born.
Amaziah had two notable events in his reign, and both were battles: one against Edom in which he won and then brought back their idols, and the other against Jehoash of Israel in which he got spanked. Amaziah, like his father Joash, was assassinated to end his reign. In the first battle, Amaziah initially hired 100k troops from Israel, and God told him through a prophet to send them back and to trust Him for victory. But after the victory, Amaziah brought back the idols of Edom and worshiped them. Why would one worship the gods of the very people you just beat? Amaziah was rebuked and didn’t want to hear it.
Amaziah got on a power trip and decided to do a skirmish battle against Jehoash. This wasn’t a political battle, or a need for resources, or a conquering battle. It was merely an arrogant, “I want to show off my strength” battle. Jehoash warned him against doing it and Amaziah did not listen. He lost badly, and Jehoash entered Jerusalem and took his choice of spoils. This was all directed by God to punish Amaziah for his idolatry and the people knew it too. Amaziah fled Jerusalem for his life, was hunted down, and was assassinated. The officials then put Uzziah on the throne at the mere age of 16.
What set this up? What drove Amaziah’s thinking? Amaziah was still a youth when Joash had the temple repaired, but he watched his father turn to idolatry after Jehoiada passed. He saw how evil his father had turned and that led him to be assassinated. Amaziah clearly did not fall far from the tree. He did the same thing. He turned to idolatry and was assassinated for it as well.
During Amaziah’s reign, it is believed that Jonah, Amos, and Hosea had their ministries, however, none of them directly witnessed in Judah. They primarily focused on Israel where Jehoash and Jeroboam II were ruling. There were plenty of unnamed prophets, including the two who rebuked Amaziah for seeking Israel’s aid for the battle with Edom and then for taking Edom’s idols and bowing before them. So it was not like Amaziah did not get a message from God. He did; he listened to the first but not the second. And in the rejection of the second, his doom was decided. He would lose a battle he instigated, and following the battle, he would be assassinated.
One would wonder if Amaziah learned his lesson from his father, but hindsight is 20/20. Amaziah walked in the same path as Joash did from fearing God to idolatry to being assassinated. It is not much different than children of sinning fathers, whether it be drunkenness, adultery, pornography, abuse, drugs, or whatever. The kid will have a choice: seeing his dad and walking the same way he did or seeing his dad and walking away from that. The same can be true about the believing father. A believer’s child will see his father and either walk in the same path or walk away. In every case, the kid is still responsible for his own choices. Amaziah could not blame Joash for making him like he was. He can only blame himself for following the sins of his father.
Joash departed the faith he was raised in. Amaziah walked in the same faith his father did: a nominal one that turned when the opportunity presented itself. Just raising your kid in Biblical ways is no guarantee he will walk in them. It helps greatly, but he still has to make his own decisions. Letting the world raise your kids is worse. That is what I pointed out last week with Jehoahaz and Jehoash walking in Jehu’s footsteps, only half-hearted before God at best. One thing I have noticed is that only those who intentionally continue in a godly man’s footsteps remain walking that way. Any other direction will go to another destination.
Amaziah was killed for his idolatry; in a way, it was God’s mercy to not let it continue. Following them would be Uzziah, the king with the second longest reign of all the kings in part due to his youth upon ascension, but he too had his own problems. We’ll examine those and look at Jeroboam II, the longest-reigning monarch of Israel and the last one who would have a chance at turning things around but didn’t. After Jeroboam II, the bottom would fall out for Israel before God would send Assyria to wipe them off the map. Uzziah would contrast with Jeroboam II, but not by a lot. We’ll examine both kings together next week.
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When Jehu died, his son Jehoahaz and grandson Jehoash followed. Both were alive when Jehu reigned, deduced by their relative short reigns of 17 and 16 years respectively. Their reigns combined are given just one chapter indicating there really was not much to talk about from a Biblical perspective. Both kings did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, and both worshiped at those golden calf idols. Both kings were at war with Syria (Aram), namely Hazael the very king that Elisha anointed with tears, knowing what he’d do to Israel. During their conflicts, both kings did seek the Lord rather than the Baals. Both kings knew of the ministry of Elisha and Jehoash in particular sought him out directly. So, what is the backstory of these two kings? Let’s explore.
Jehu had been ruling for 28 years and he was noted primarily for his purging of Ahab’s household and all those who were loyal to him and to the idol worship of Baal. Little is said otherwise besides that he only gave lip service to the Lord and still followed the idolatrous practices of the worship of Jeroboam at the golden calves. It could be that growing up, that is what he was taught that the worship of God was to be like. Don’t forget that Jeroboam called those golden calves “Jehovah,” the gods who brought Israel out of Egypt. But none of Jehu’s line departed from the idol worship there but rather engaged in it.
Both kings had war with Syria, just as Ahab and his line did. During Jehoahaz’s reign, Hazael reduced Israel’s territory and Syria kept control over Israel with brutal pressure. Jehoahaz finally sought the Lord and God relented and pulled Syria away from them, but not without leaving Israel with only an army of 50 horsemen, 10 chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. This army would not be able to do anything.
Then Jehoash inherited this army and had to deal with Hazael and his son Ben-Hadad (not the same Ben-Hadad whom Ahab called his ‘brother’). Jehoash turned to Elisha upon hearing he was old, sick, and dying. Elisha had him shoot an arrow out of the window and then to strike the ground with the remaining arrows. Jehoash only struck the ground three times, instead of five or six or even seven, a number of completion. Elisha then promised three victories, one for each strike. Jehoash got the victories over Syria but did not completely take them out. Jehoash had another battle to deal with and that was with Amaziah, son of Joash of Judah, and won soundly.
Beyond that, little is said other than a focus on their idolatry and not walking in the ways of the Lord. They knew God existed and they knew He was the True God, but they only came to Him in their most desperate hour and departed from Him otherwise. If you follow the remaining kings of Israel, the attention on them gets shorter and shorter, and I believe one reason why is because it just repeats more of the same. Jeroboam II’s reign is the longest reign and yet Zimri, who ruled only for seven days, is given more attention.
The only two factors I can think of that influenced Jehoahaz and Jehoash to seek the Lord was the influence of Elisha. Unlike Ahab who would listen to Elijah or Micaiah and outright rejected them, these two at least respected Elisha enough to know to seek the Lord. We have a 40-year period of silence of Elisha’s ministry; he was active, we just don’t have a record of it. These kings knew that Elisha’s word was true but still wanted to go the way they wanted to go. It was only when all their other ways failed that they turned to God.
But they also knew what their father and grandfather did in purging Baal worship, but because Jehu only purged Baal and not ALL idolatry, they would have seen Jehu justify idol worship, just not Baal worship. Both were held responsible for not departing from Jeroboam’s sin but for walking in those sins. They didn’t just allow that sin to continue; they engaged in it.
What can we learn from these two kings? They weren’t your typical “immoral” or “corrupt” kings like Ahab was. They were your standard, everyday king, seeking the best for their country. They knew of God but did not honor or respect Him enough as THE God. They knew of Elisha as a true prophet of the True God and in their most desperate hour sought the Lord. But they did not continue following the Lord. There is no evidence these men were true believers. Jehu was a half-believer because he was obedient to his initial calling, but he was not loyal to the Lord.
We can learn that God is merciful, and He will keep His promises. God did not want to destroy Israel due to their sin because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God was even merciful to Ahab for genuine remorse over his sin of murdering Naboth and saved the judgment for Ahab’s sons. But God also speaks in terms of generations, not just individuals; nations, not just individuals. God blessed Jehu for his obedience and granted four generations to follow him, but because Jehu did not walk in the ways of the Lord, that was all he would get. If he had followed in the ways of the Lord, Jehu may have been offered the promises given to David and Jeroboam for a lasting dynasty. Jehoahaz and Jehoash merely followed Jehu’s footsteps and did little differently.
Just seeking the Lord once is not enough. While God may bless you for that one moment of obedience, God is much more interested in the lifestyle, not just one time obedience. These kings obeyed the Lord once, but their lives were marked as idolatrous and doing evil in the sight of God. We must obey the Lord as our way of life, not merely one time. We as evangelicals as a whole need to learn this. When we evangelize, we need to teach people that Christianity is a lifestyle of denying self and walking with Christ, not a one-time decision to plead for help and repent then live how we want to live otherwise. These two kings showcase that seeking the Lord once will not give you a good report with the Lord, unless it is a mark of a lifestyle. Choose wisely.
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Joash was a king of Judah whom I have written about in one of my most important blog posts, Do Not Ride Your Parents’ Faith. Joash was the youngest person to become king at a mere seven years old. He ruled for 40 years. He started out as a righteous king who was the first to make repairs to the temple after about 100 years since Solomon built it. But he is also noted for starting well but falling into complete and total apostasy. His fall was so great that he was assassinated and not given a king’s burial. So what set up this situation? Wy did Joash fall?
Joash was an infant when the purge of Athaliah began. Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, took the throne when her husband and son, Jehoash and Ahaziah respectively, died in God’s judgments, and she sought to make Judah into a place of Baal worship too. She did not reign long enough to succeed, and Jehoiada the priest (not identified as a high priest but could have had that position) was there to confront her every step of the way. He was a godly man who died partway through Joash’s reign at age 130. This means that he would have been alive as a young man during the time of Solomon. He would not have seen the Temple built, but he would have seen it in its full glory. Jehoiada raised Joash in the temple, keeping him hidden and away from Athaliah’s reach.
When Joash had been in the temple for six years, Jehoiada could not wait any longer. The boy was seven at this point and somehow there was a need to throw a coup against this wicked queen and put the rightful king, Joash, on the throne. We don’t know if Athaliah was going to discover him, if she was about ready to pass legislature that would be very difficult to undo, or if he simply believed Joash was old enough to be able to be guided and directed while also making good decisions. Regardless, action needed to be taken. Jehoiada set up Joash’s coronation and had Athaliah executed outside the temple.
Joash walked in the ways of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest, the man who raised him. His most notable action was to repair the temple, and he made it his personal project once he was old enough to exercise authority directly. Keep in mind that Joash lived in the temple, likely raised as a potential priest and not as an heir to the throne to keep his identity hidden. As a little boy, he would have known many of the nooks and crannies of the temple, and so to repair the temple was in part fixing up his childhood home. When the repair process was delayed, Joash, during his 23rd year, called upon Jehoiada to finish the job.
But when Jehoiada died, Joash lost his anchor, and he followed his peers’ advice and turned to idolatry. One thing Joash never did was tear down the high places. Unlike Asa and Jehoshaphat who tore them down and yet the people kept rebuilding them, Joash made no effort to tear them down. This would have played a role in why he went apostate. But the idolatry was not the biggest issue Joash had.
Joash never had real respect for his surrogate father, Jehoiada. When he went apostate, Jehoiada’s son Zechariah confronted him about it, and Joash put him to death for daring to speak against the king. All these factors made me realize several years ago that Joash’s faithfulness was never his. It was Jehoiada’s faith that Joash only walked in as a child. We don’t know when in Joash’s reign that Jehoiada died, but it was between the 23rd year when he pressed the temple repair and his 40th year when he was assassinated due to his apostasy. So that leaves us a 17-year window for Joash to go from a façade of godly living to total apostasy.
I do not know what caused Joash to go apostate other than the faith not being his own. He never owned it himself. There is no evidence that he walked personally with God as David did, as Asa did, and as Jehoshaphat did. He was trained to believe and trust in God. He knew the language, he knew the morality, and he knew the system, but he never owned it himself. This is something I see quite frequently by those who profess to be “ex-Christians.” They were in the church, but they never were of it. And you can tell very quickly by how little they know of what they grew up being taught. They never learned anything other than some basic Bible stories and can’t remember a thing about what the Bible actually says. Joash showed this behavior in how he went apostate in total rejection of what Jehoiada did for him, literally saving his life from his grandmother.
When I teach on this passage and the theme of not riding your parents’ faith, these are all points I bring up. And before anyone thinks I’m just blasting people, I’m not. I personally understand what Joash went through growing up. I was raised in the church, on the mission field no less. I have had to examine myself as an adult to see if the faith I have professed is truly mine. This teaching and this warning is aimed at me and I still have to be watchful and careful about whether the doctrines I believe are simply a sucking in of what I am hearing and what church culture I am being around or not. Is what I believe because I, Charlie Wolcott, believes it or because those I read and listen to and hang around believe it? If the latter, the moment that support goes away, such a person will depart with it and join the faith of the new group they found. That’s precisely what happens to the current atheists who are ex-Christians. They simply exchanged which groups would feed them and support them and in what I hear from them, they are just as clueless about their current faith as they are about their former faith. They believe simply that which makes them feel good and do not care what it is. It is a deadly way of living.
Joash had a solid backstory but a horrible ending. He is a hero who turned anti-hero and became the villain of his own story. While there is the concept of the preservation of the saints, Joash is evidence of being someone raised in the faith but never was of the faith. Joash was held responsible for going apostate and he killed his surrogate brother, a priest many years older than him, for daring to confront him. I warn parents that just raising their kids in the faith is no guarantee they will stay in the faith. Proverbs 22:6 is not talking about this but rather about training a child according to how God designed them. There still must be responsibility and choices, and we still should teach our children the ways of the Lord, but they are responsible for walking in it. And I tell parents if their kid leaves the faith and they tried to teach them correctly, that’s on the kid, not them. It’s given them a great relief. But I also say that God can still bring back a wayward child. Take the warning of Joash seriously, but rest in Christ because He will secure those who are truly His.
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Jehu was the only semi-bright spot of the rules of the kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. His story is found in 2 Kings 9-10. He is the only one who is known to actually listen and obey the Lord to some degree. This would give him the longest-lasting dynasty of the northern kingdom of a mere five total generations (the last of whom lasted a mere six months). He and Jeroboam were the only kings of Israel who were specifically anointed by God’s prophets to be king; the rest were chosen either by succession or by usurping the throne via regicide (the murder of royalty). So what set up Jehu’s reign and his decisions as king?
We are not given a lot of Jehu’s background but we do know he was a captain or commander of the army of Israel. He was known for his chariot driving because it was wild and furious. When he came to Jezreel to assassinate Ahab’s line, he was marked by his chariot driving. Jehu was anointed king during the battles with Hazael, whom Elisha had anointed king over Syria, and Jehu would kill Ahaziah of Judah, Joram of Israel, and Jezebel and put an end to all the Baal worship in Israel. However, Jehu did not destroy the golden calves of Jeroboam and let that worship remain. Jehu reigned during the rules of Athaliah and Joash of Judah and never had a conflict with them. His reign, along with his son and grandson, spanned the ministry of Elisha for a total of nearly 60 years. This shows that Elisha was a very young man when Elijah took him under his wing.
Jehu’s son Jehoahaz and his grandson Jehoash together ruled for 17 and 16 years respectively, while his great-grandson Jeroboam II ruled for 41 years. We do not know the ages of these kings when they ruled, but Jehu’s 28-year reign, the relatively short rules of Jehoahaz and Jehoash, and Jehu’s position as one of the top captains of Israel give at least an indication that Jehoahaz was likely already born when Jehu was anointed and may have been a young man at that point.
The primary setting of Jehu’s backstory is still Ahab and the 14 years following with his sons ruling. They were years marked by the true ruler: Jezebel. But this time period was also marked by someone else: Elijah. For Jehu to be a captain or commander during his anointing, there is a good chance he was in the army as mere infantry during Ahab’s reign and could very well have been there on Mt Carmel when Elijah called for fire from heaven. He certainly was in the army and would have heard of the 100 soldiers and two captains on whom Elijah had called fire from heaven and consumed them when Ahaziah tried to arrest him. And on top of that, he rode in the chariot with Joram’s chariot driver following Ahab onto Naboth’s property and heard Elijah’s curse. If that is not enough, there is the ministry of Elisha as well. Elisha advised King Joram how to maneuver around Syria to the point where the king of Syria sent his army to hunt down Elisha and that is where Elisha showed his servant the armies of heaven. Jehu was certainly among the ranks of the army by then. He knew of the true God.
Then the anointing came. Elisha sent a servant to go anoint Jehu in private because this was a coup. God was about to overthrow the dynasty of Omri and if word got out, Joram would make moves to protect himself. The prophet gave him the prophecy of Elijah of the doom given to Ahab, and it was time to fulfill it. Jehu didn’t need long to process this and immediately set things in motion to carry it out. The king was in Jezreel, away from the battle because he was wounded, and his brother-in-law Jehoram of Judah came to visit him and Jezebel was there too, likely tending to her son. The timing was perfect, and God orchestrated it all.
Jehu drove as he was most infamous for doing and both kings wondered what he was doing. When two messengers chose to get behind Jehu’s chariot rather than stay in his path, the kings met him, and Jehu killed them with his bow. Then Jehu raced on to Jezreel to confront the evil queen Jezebel herself. He ordered two eunuchs to throw her out the window, and she died upon impact. Before her body could be picked up to be buried, the dogs tore her body apart where they only found her skull, feet, and hands. Arms, legs, and body were scattered by the dogs. Note that Ahab had seventy sons, two of whom had just been slain. Jehu then went out and got these sons’ own servants to kill them and sent their heads to him. Jehu continued the slaughter of Ahab’s family’s close friends and their priests and completely cleaned out Samaria of all those with any loyalty to Ahab or his family. All this happened to fulfill God’s judgment upon Ahab – perhaps the most graphic description of God’s judgment upon a wicked family. A funny exclamation point to this is how Jehu tore down the house of Baal and turned it into a latrine, a public toilet.
But Jehu only saw Baal worship as being idolatrous. He did not see the golden calves that Jeroboam had as idols because he did not tear them down as he had all Baal and Asherah altars. He obeyed the command of the Lord to wipe out all things related to Ahab and his family including all Baal worship because they were all intertwined. As a result of his obedience to God in the purging, God promised that four generations of his line would be on the throne, but Jehu did not walk with God as he should have after having obeyed him in the purging of Baal. Jehu died and left his son Jehoahaz on the throne.
What can we learn from Jehu? God will use someone’s zeal to get his business done, even if that person is not a righteous man. Jehu was not a prophet nor someone who sought God’s presence, yet God used him to execute judgment. Just because someone is finally dealing with wicked people it does not mean that person is a good person. But also, someone who does such a thing may actually be sent from God. Don’t forget that a lying spirit was sent by God to send Ahab to war where he would be killed. God is going to get done what He wants done, and He will use both godly and wicked men to get it done. Just because someone is doing God’s will that does not mean they are a good person. And just being against evil and wickedness does not mean they are good people either. We have a number of good political commentators these days who are not Christian. That doesn’t mean we reject them outright, but it also should mean we should not embrace them outright either. It takes discernment. Jehu started well, but he did not stay on that path. This problem will be shown in full detail next week when I examine the backstory of Joash of Judah.
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While Ahaziah and Joram of Israel were active, on Judah’s side we have Jehoram and Ahaziah followed by Athaliah, who will complete the dynasty of Omri and Ahab before Jehu’s purge and the coronation of Joash. As I mentioned in my post on Jehoshaphat, Jehoram was 32 years old when he became king and reigned for 8 years, some overlapping with Jehoshaphat according to some scholars. Jehoram’s son Ahaziah was 22 when he became king and he barely lasted one year. Jehoram’s wife was Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. This means that both Ahaziah and Joram of Israel were brothers of Athaliah, raised by the controlling hand and mind of Jezebel. Jehoram also married young. If there was no overlap between Jehoram’s and Jehoshaphat’s reigns, then Jehoram was married when he was 17 or younger, and Ahaziah was born when he was 18.
Jehoram is not given a lot of attention but he is noted for several things 1) He murdered all his brothers to remove any rivals to the throne. 2) He walked in the ways of Ahab, which means he engaged in the idolatry of Ahab, and his wife Athaliah played a pivotal role in that. 3) He died of a disease that would make his bowels come out. 2 Chronicles even states that no one missed him, and they did not even give Jehoram a king’s burial.
Ahaziah was 22 when he became king and lasted one year. He listened to his mother and her counselors to his destruction and joined forces with Joram of Israel. 2 Kings covers this account in greater detail, but Joram was wounded in battle and Ahaziah came to see him, his uncle. Jehu came with fury and assassinated both Joram and Ahaziah.
Then came Athaliah. She was Ahab and Jezebel’s daughter. She likely advised Jehoram to kill his brothers to protect his throne and directed Ahaziah in idolatrous practices as well. But when Ahaziah was killed and Jezebel with him, Athaliah moved to kill the entire royal family, leaving only her to rule for six years. But one child of Ahaziah survived – Joash because he was hidden in the temple. When the high priest Jehoiada could take it no longer, and when he believed Joash was old enough to make at least some decisions, he led a coup to make Joash king at a mere seven years old, and he executed Athaliah.
All three of these rulers had something in common: Jehoshaphat and Ahab. Jehoshaphat walked in the ways of the Lord, but Athaliah did not. Jehoshaphat’s biggest mistake was having his son marry her because she destroyed both of their lives. Athaliah was a carbon copy of her mother Jezebel. She was just as controlling, just as wicked, just as idolatrous, and did whatever it took to get her way. The comments about Jehoram’s and Ahaziah’s reign point to Athaliah, Ahab’s daughter, as being the catalyst to why they did what they did. The idolatry of Ahab and Jezebel corrupted all three of them. Because they did not listen to the warnings and rebukes of the prophets, they became part of the curse against Ahab in which the whole line would be wiped out. The only exception was Joash, grandson of Athaliah.
Someone else was working behind the scenes during all this time too: Jehoiada the priest. It is not clear if he was the high priest or not, but he most certainly had a very prominent position. He noticed the decadence over the 15 years of Jehoram’s, Ahaziah’s, and Athaliah’s reigns, and he began to hatch a plan. When Athaliah began her purge, Joash came into Jehoiada’s care and was hidden in the temple. Jehoiada would have seen and lived through the purging of idolatry of Asa and Jehoshaphat, and in 15 years these three rulers’ idolatry was so bad that the temple fell into disrepair. Joash would be the first king to seek its restoration.
Jehoshaphat was loyal enough to God that he would have taught Jehoram and Ahaziah the ways of the Lord, but once Athaliah entered the picture, nothing stuck. So what can we learn from this? You must be careful about what you allow to influence you. Bad company corrupts, and in those days marriages were arranged. So Jehoram would have trusted his father that Athaliah would be fine for him, and it brought him his death. Jehoram was responsible for his own choices and like Ahab with Jezebel, he let Athaliah control him. But because he was the man, he was held responsible. Ahaziah was the same way; he let his mother control him. And when both were gone, Athaliah went to wipe out the royal family, which Satan used as an attempt to end the promises of the Messiah who would crush his head. But God let one boy escape, Joash, who we’ll look at in two weeks.
Jehoshaphat brought doom upon his own nation because of his foolishness in allying himself with Ahab. Being attached to false doctrines and idolatry always brings destruction. Jehoshaphat was nearly judged himself multiple times for this, but the only thing that saved him was his refusal to worship the idols himself and destroying them. I don’t know what he saw in allying himself with Ahab, but he didn’t listen to the rebuke because he aligned with Ahaziah and Joram, brothers to his daughter-in-law. And behind all that was Ahab who married Jezebel, the lynchpin in all this and whose name became synonymous with adulterous false teachings. We MUST be careful about whom we marry and whom we associate with. Even if we have good intentions and even if we are faithfully walking with the Lord, a bad alliance can tear us down; if not us, it can tear down the next generation that follows us. Jehoram and Ahaziah are good examples of that. Be careful and choose your associations wisely.
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The kings who followed Ahab and Jehoshaphat are quite confusing because there is Ahaziah and Joram, also known as Jehoram, both sons of Ahab; and there is Jehoram and Ahaziah, son and grandson of Jehoshaphat, who all ruled and died in the same window. For this post, I’ll focus on Ahaziah and Joram. These are brothers who ruled for about 14 years in between Ahab’s death and Jehu’s cleansing of the line of Ahab, recorded in 2 Kings 1-9, which involves much of Elisha’s ministry.
Ahaziah was first in line to the throne, and he is noted for a very short reign of under two years. He fell through the lattice in his upper chambers and the injuries would turn out to be fatal. Ahaziah turned to inquire of Baal, likely at the advice of his mother, Jezebel, who was still alive. But Elijah interrupted the messengers and told them that because he did not seek the Lord, he would die. Then Ahaziah sent three companies of soldiers to arrest Elijah, who then called fire down from heaven and consumed the first two companies. Elijah then told the captain of the third company the same message, and Ahaziah died of the injuries from his fall.
Joram was another of Ahab’s sons; I’ll use Joram here to help the distinction between Joram of Israel and Jehoram of Judah who reigned during the same time. Ahaziah had no children and thus could not carry the line, so Joram became king instead. In both cases, the queen mother, Jezebel, very likely ruled them just as she had Ahab. You don’t have a domineering wife who is not also domineering over her children.
Joram, who reigned for 12 years, actually gets quite a bit of coverage in Scripture via the ministry of Elisha. During Elisha’s ministry, he would have let Joram die in the desert in his war against Moab if not for Jehoshaphat calling for a man of God. Syria continued its war against Israel, and Elisha kept warning Joram about Syria’s movements calling for the king of Syria to go after him. That is when Elisha asked God to open the eyes of his servant to see the armies of God surrounding the Syrians. Elisha’s miracles with the widow and the oil, the floating axe head, the raising of a woman’s son from the dead, and the healing of Naaman (the only leper to be healed in that time) were done. Syria eventually besieged Samaria to the point where the people were cannibalizing their own children, and Joram wanted Elisha’s head for this famine due to the siege. Elisha then prophesied the end of the siege and a huge feast from the Syrians came ready for them. That night, the Lord’s army sounded like a calvary charge, and the Syrians fled for their lives. When four lepers found the Syrian camp empty, they reported it to the king.
But Joram and his nephew, Ahaziah of Judah, would meet their end together along with his mother, Jezebel. Joram went to war with Hazael of Syria and was wounded in battle. Ahaziah of Judah came to visit his uncle, and both were slain by Jehu. The same day, Jehu also went after Jezebel herself and got one of her eunuchs to throw her down from her tower window where she would die. Before the people could gather her body, the dogs had ripped her to shreds.
So what is the backstory of these two kings? We don’t know their ages when they became kings, but they were rather young as Ahaziah had no children and he would have been older than Joram. The backstory is quite simple: Ahab and Jezebel. Ahaziah was injured from a fall, and he went to seek the Baals for advice. Joram seemed to be given even more opportunities to see the Lord in action than his father Ahab and yet he still refused to believe, though I could argue he respected Elisha more that Ahab respected Elijah. Joram was considered an evil idolator, but he was not given a moniker that he was worse than Ahab. Ahaziah was judged for being just like Ahab. While these two are mentioned by name due to their reigns, they had 68 brothers. Yes, Ahab had seventy sons, not including daughters like Athaliah. Needless to say, Jezebel was incapable of bearing them all herself as Ahab’s reign was only 22 years. Ahaziah and Joram were among Jezebel’s children, which is why they had the primary rights to the throne; like father like son, Jezebel would have controlled them and taught them in the ways of the worship of Baal. Ahaziah in particular was an obedient child in this regard. Joram chose not to follow Baal, but he did not depart from the golden calf idols that Jeroboam set up. He may have learned that following Baal did no one any good.
Both young men would have lived through Elijah’s ministry. Ahaziah despised Elijah, but Joram seemed to at least respect Elijah and Elisha. That said, Elisha had no respect for Joram for even though he put away the Baal idols, he still followed the idols of Israel and did not seek the Lord. If Jehoshaphat was not there in the desert with Joram, Elisha would not even look at him. But Joram respected Elisha enough to bring him to the court and that was why Elisha was able to continually tell Joram of Syria’s moves. But Joram’s moves never garnered respect from the Lord. Yet Elisha kept giving Joram the evidence of the true God just as Elisha did with Ahab, and in both cases it never took. One reason for this would be Jezebel’s presence. She isn’t mentioned except for when she was killed, but we can safely assume that she controlled her sons just like she controlled Ahab, though Joram didn’t follow as tightly or as closely as Ahaziah did.
What can we learn from these two kings? Ahaziah seems to be a carbon copy of his mother Jezebel, a “momma’s boy.” Little is said about his relationship with his mother, but considering how quickly he turned to Baal and how he sought to arrest Elijah, and considering how Jezebel handled Ahab, Ahaziah would have been a total slave to her. She would have controlled his mind.
Joram didn’t get all the brainwashing Ahaziah did because he was only second-in-line and wasn’t supposed to rule as long as his brother was alive. He knew that the Baals were false gods. He saw the fire fall from heaven. He saw the battles Ahab won. He likely had to help solve problems with the drought. He saw his brother turn to the Baals and die as a result while Elijah summoned fire to consume the soldiers who sought to arrest him. He knew that Baal was a false god and so he put him away. But he left the golden calves up and did not depart from those idols. And to our knowledge, Joram never sought the Lord, but he did listen to Elisha more and better than the kings before him. With Joram, we can learn that it’s not enough to depart from the pagan gods if you don’t give up your idols. We can also learn how a reputation from a father can hover over you; if it is a bad reputation, extra work has to be done to undo it. And because Joram never turned to seek the Lord, he would complete the curse his father left on him and his blood would avenge Naboth, whom Ahab murdered just for a piece of land.
And all this does not consider the effect of Athaliah, their sister who married Jehoram of Judah and brought more idolatry to the land. We’ll look at what Judah was going through next week with Jehoram, Ahaziah, and Athaliah.
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