2 Kings 23b-24a - The Reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim

The transcription discusses the reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim of Judah. It mentions how Assyria overtook the northern ten tribes of Israel and placed people from other nations in the land. After King Hezekiah, the evil king Manasseh took over and did more evil than any other king before him. Josiah, a good king, brought about a reformation and tried to implement God's laws. However, despite his efforts, the Lord did not turn away from his anger towards Judah. Josiah died in battle against the Egyptian king, and Jehoahaz became the new king but was quickly replaced by Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar, but later rebelled against him. Babylon invaded Judah and deported some Jews to Babylon. The passage emphasizes the rise and fall of kingdoms and the importance of seeking and obeying the Lord. I'm Julie Callio, your host, and thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to tune in with me today. By chance you want to contact me, you can do that at bab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we're looking at the reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim of Judah in 2nd Kings chapter 23 starting with verse 26 and then going through chapter 24 verse 7. As a reminder in 2nd Kings chapters 18-20 King Hezekiah reigned and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Right before he took his reign Assyria, the world power at the time, overtook the northern ten tribes of Israel and they ceased to exist in 722 B.C. The king of Assyria placed people from other nations into the land of Israel found in 2nd Kings chapter 17 verse 24 Assyria tried to attack Judah as well but because the Assyrians defied the name of the Lord and because King Hezekiah humbled himself before the Lord and because he sought the will of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord spared Judah. After Hezekiah died, the most evil king of Judah took the reign, Hezekiah's son Manasseh. 2nd Kings chapter 21 verse 9b reads Manasseh led them astray so they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites. And verse 16 says moreover Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit so that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Some scholars believe that some of that innocent blood was the blood of the prophet Isaiah. After Manasseh was King Ammon and he too did evil in the eyes of the Lord. His reign was only for two years and then came Josiah and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Through his reign the temple was being restored and that was when they found a copy of the law of the Lord. Reading God's word brought reformation to the king's heart and he tried to implement it to the people as well. He had them commit to the covenant of the Lord and he reinstated the Passover. Verse 25 of chapter 23 says neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength in accordance with all the law of Moses. Now also during the time of Josiah's reign around 641 to 609 BC there were some world events that would affect Judah in the coming years. In 633 BC the Assyrian king died and this brought internal struggles within the kingdom which led to the fall of Nineveh their capital by the Babylonians with the Scythians and the Medes help in 612 BC. Assyria was weakening and Babylon was increasing. Also during his reign the prophet Jeremiah was called by the Lord to declare that Judah would also be destroyed by a nation from the north. We know that was Babylon. Even though King Josiah brought about a reformation in Jerusalem verses 26 and 27 of 2 Kings chapter 23 says nevertheless the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger. So the Lord said I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel and I will reject Jerusalem the city I chose and this temple about which I said there shall my name be. Verses 29 and 30 tell us while Josiah was king Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo. Josiah's servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb and the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father. Since Assyria was becoming weaker the Egyptian king who was located on the southern border of Judah moved north to help the Assyrians in their fight against Babylon. We do not know why King Josiah decided to meet him up north at Megiddo which was a northern city of Israel but he went to fight the Egyptian king however he lost and died and King Necho continued up north to help the Assyrians. Josiah was the last good king of Judah. Dr. Betts my old testament professor said it was clear that the reformation was mainly in the heart of the king because once he died they immediately went back to their old ways. He also said quote I've often thought of Josiah's death as God's kindness to him really to take him home so that God's wrath could come upon Judah end of quote. Also if you remember when Josiah first found the book of the law he inquired of the Lord through the prophetess Huldah and the Lord said through her that because his heart was responsive to the Lord and because he humbled himself before the Lord and because he tore his robes in mourning and wept in the Lord's presence quote therefore I will gather you to your fathers and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place. St. Kings chapter 22 verse 20 his death before Babylon came fulfilled the word of the Lord through Huldah the prophetess. So Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king in 609 BC and he reigned for a full three months. Woo hoo. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord even in just three months. Verse 33 and 34 say Pharaoh Nico put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. Pharaoh Nico made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim but he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt and there he died. The two kings of Judah were half brothers. Their dad was king Josiah but they had different mothers. It seems likely that the reason Nico took Jehoahaz was because he did not support Egypt so Nico put a king in place that would support him. This was the attempt to make Judah his vassal nation where they would have to pay taxes to Egypt. We learn in verse 35 that Jehoiakim took the money from his people in order to pay Pharaoh Nico the amount demanded. Judah had Egypt to the south and Babylon to the north and they were both vying for the land. The last battle between Assyria and Babylon the battle of Carchemish happened around 605 BC and now Assyria was destroyed and Babylon was coming. After the win at Carchemish Babylon headed south through Philistia. In chapter 23 verse 36 we learn that Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years and he also did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. Chapter 24 verse 1 says During Jehoiakim's reign Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land and Jehoiakim became his vassal for 3 years but then he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. When Nebuchadnezzar invaded the land of Judah around 605 BC he deported some Jews back to Babylon. This is described as the first deportation. It was in this group that Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego went to Babylon. We learn from Daniel chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it, and the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hands, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his God in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his God. Now that Babylon is clearly the dominant power, King Jehoiakim was smart enough to switch allegiance to Babylon instead of Egypt. Then the writer of 2nd Kings gives us a commentary in chapter 24 verses 2-4. The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against him. He sent them to destroy Judah in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by his servants, the prophets. Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord's command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive. The writer then ends this section with the death of Jehoiakim, and his son Jehoiakim succeeded him. Then verse 7 tells us, the king of Egypt did not march out from his own country again because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates river. Ladies, there are a couple of things that stand out to me in this passage, and the first is that all kingdoms rise and fall. We are always in a flux, never the same. I remember way back in 2008 when John McCain chose Sarah Palin for the vice president nominee, and in one of the debates she said something which was an aha moment for me, that America may not always be America, the land of the free. It can and does change, and many people think that America is declining, and both sides say that this election may be a changing point no matter who gets elected. Sometimes I hope I am like King Josiah and would die before things get really bad, but another thing we will find as we read the prophets like Daniel and Ezekiel is that the Lord is with those who seek him even if they are in exile. The other thing that stands out in this passage is that in this case it does not matter how much of a reformation happened in King Josiah's time, it was not enough to stop the judgment from coming. Chapter 24 verse 4b says, and the Lord was not willing to forgive. Let me also add that the people weren't seeking forgiveness anyway. That is why it is so so important that if you hear the Lord's voice today, please don't harden your heart against him, because there may be a day that you can't hear it. Ladies, if you hear it, then let's obey it. Until next time, and thank you so very much for listening.