2 Kings - Chapter 1

This is a summary of the transcription: The host welcomes the listeners to the book club and introduces the topic of 2nd Kings chapter 1, which continues the story of Elijah and introduces his replacement, Elisha. The summary then provides a brief history of the kings of Israel, including Saul, David, and Solomon. It mentions Solomon's downfall due to his love for foreign women and idolatry. The division of the kingdom into Israel and Judah is discussed, along with the idolatry and sin that characterized the northern kingdom of Israel. King Ahab is highlighted as the most evil king who worshipped Baal. The transcription then focuses on Ahaziah, who seeks advice from the god Beelzebub after injuring himself. Elijah is sent by the Lord to confront Ahaziah, and despite the king's attempts to capture him, Elijah is protected by the Lord. Ahaziah dies as prophesied, and his brother Joram becomes king of Israel. Hello ladies and welcome to the amazingbible.book club, I'm Julie Calio your host and thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to tune in with me today. If by chance you want to contact me you can do that at theab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we are looking at 2nd Kings chapter 1 which continues from 1st Kings. In the Hebrew scriptures they are one book called Kings located in the section called Prophets. In the Christian Bible it is in the section called Books of History. One of the main prophets we found in 1st Kings was Elijah. The beginning of 2nd Kings ends the story of Elijah on this earth and his replacement Elisha's life and ministry is told. If you remember the first king of all Israel was Saul around 1050 BC and he reigned for 40 years. The next king was King David who is described as a man after God's own heart. I think it is safe to say that his kingdom was the godliest but not perfect because he took Bathsheba and killed Uriah but he quickly repented and God brought something beautiful from those sins and that was his son Solomon. David reigned over all Israel for 40 years around 1010 to 970 BC and Solomon reigned about 40 years around 970 to 930 BC. It was during Solomon's reign that the temple was built as well as grand palaces. His kingdom became the largest and wealthiest it had ever been yet it was never a world power. The problem was he loved women of various nations and he allowed them to bring in their gods and even built places for them to worship which turned his heart away from the Lord God of Israel. This was when we began to see the prophets used to call the kings back to the Lord. Even with David's reign it was the prophet Nathan that came and rebuked David for what he did to Bathsheba and Uriah. So one of the downsides of having a big and beautiful kingdom the people had to pay for it in money and work. So when Solomon died and his son Rehoboam became king the people asked if he would lighten their load a little but he said if you think my dad was bad you haven't seen anything yet. This caused the people to rebel and they hailed Jeroboam king of Israel meaning the ten northern tribes broke off from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin where the capital of Jerusalem was located. The divided kingdom happened around 931 to 930 BC Jeroboam did not want his people to go to Jerusalem in Judah to worship three times a year so he created places of worship in the northern kingdom. He made two golden calves and placed one in the northern tip of Dan and then he placed the other one in Bethel the southern tip of Israel close to the border of Judah. The northern kingdom of Israel began and stayed in idolatry and each king was compared to Jeroboam's idolatry as evil which led the children of Israel to sin. There was one king who surpassed Jeroboam's sin and that was King Ahab. First Kings chapter 16 verses 30 and 31 say Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ishmael king of the Sidonians and began to serve Baal and worship him. It was this sin of idolatry with the kings of Israel which Elijah addressed all of his ministry. Paul R. House said in his commentary about chapter 1 of second Kings Elijah delivers his life message one last time. Second Kings chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 after Ahab's death Moab rebelled against Israel. Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself so he sent messengers saying to them go and consult Beelzebub the god of Ekron to see if I will recover from this injury. Ahaziah was mentioned in first Kings chapter 22 verses 51-53 and we learned that he reigned for only two years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord because he walked in the ways of his father and mother and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin. He served and worshipped Baal and provoked the Lord the God of Israel to anger just as his father had done. This was around 853-852 BC. Now Moab was a vassal nation to Israel ever since King David according to my Bible atlas. In other words they could stay their own nation but they paid tribute money to Israel. Now that King Ahab died they stopped paying their money. This may be the reason that Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper room and it also gives us a clue about the events that will happen in chapter 3. The city of Ekron was a Philistine city in the Gaza Strip. We also see a little comparison to the king of Judah in the last chapter of first Kings chapter 22 verse 47. It says about his reign there was then no king in Edom a deputy ruled. The writer is saying that Jehoshaphat of Judah was strong enough to keep Edom as a vassal nation which was also an area that David had gained. But the weak king of Israel was not able to keep Moab. Now one thing that's interesting is verse 3 says but the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite. What is interesting is the word for angel is the same word for messenger but many translations say angel but what is missed in that translation is that the king of Israel sent messengers and the king of heaven sent a messenger. The Lord's messenger sent Elijah to go and meet the messengers of the king of Israel and Elijah said is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Beelzebub the God of Ekron? Therefore this is what the Lord says. You will not leave the bed you are lying on you will certainly die. So the Lord's messenger or angel told Elijah the Lord's messenger and they both obeyed their Lord but once the king's messengers got the word from the Lord they did not obey and instead of going all the way to Ekron to that God they came back to their king and told him what this man said to them. The king asked what kind of man spoke to you? Verse 8 says they replied he was a man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist. The king knew it was Elijah the Tishbite. Just a side note in order to see how the Old Testament and the New Testament tell one story in the last verse in the Christian Old Testament Malachi chapter 4 verses 5 and 6 they say see I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers or else I will come and strike the land with a curse. And in the gospel of Luke in the New Testament before Jesus was born John the Baptist was born and when the angel of the Lord spoke to Zechariah before his son John was born he said in chapter 1 verse 17 and he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Now in the first book of the Christian New Testament Matthew chapter 3 John the Baptist is preaching in the desert of Judea saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is near then verse 4 we see John's clothes were made of camel's hair and he had a leather belt around his waist his food was locusts and wild honey for anyone who is familiar with the Old Testament they see the reference to Elijah when John the Baptist was put in prison Jesus spoke about him in Matthew chapter 11 verses 4-19 and especially in verse 14 Jesus said and if you are willing to accept it he is the Elijah who was to come. Now back in second Kings the king knew it was Elijah the Tishbite that said he would die so he sent a captain with 50 men who told Elijah that the king said come down Elijah said if I am a man of God may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men fire fell from heaven and consumed them verses 9-10 the king sent a second group this time the commander commanded come down at once Elijah said the same thing and fire consumed them verses 11-12 the king lost 102 men yet he sent a third group to Elijah and it does not say but it seems to be a good guess that the king sent about the same message to Elijah with this third group but thankfully he sent a commander who had wisdom verses 13-15 tell the story of the third commander that approached Elijah and he fell on his knees before Elijah and he said men of God please have respect for my life and the lives of these 50 men your servants see fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men but now have respect for my life to this the angel or messenger of the Lord said to Elijah go down with him do not be afraid of him so Elijah went the end of chapter one tells us that when Elijah met the king he told him what he had told his servants because the king chose to seek the God of Ekron he will not leave his bed and he will die verse 17 says so he died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken we learn that Ahaziah did not have a son so his brother Joram which could also be Jehoram became king of Israel then we find out that the king of Judah is named Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat it's hard enough to keep the kings of Judah and Israel straight even if their names don't match but now it can be even more confusing I do recommend finding a chart that has the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah with their timeline and some of them have the prophets alongside them as well I go through mine all the time to try to keep these guys straight part of the similar names here has to do with when Jehoshaphat was king of Judah he aligned himself to Israel by marrying into king Ahab's family that's found in second chronicles chapter 18 verse 1 Roy L. Honeycutt Jr. said in his commentary Elijah became the paragon of prophets as Moses was for law David for psalms and Solomon for wisdom he faced the king on his own ground declared the word of God and rested with confidence in a protection that arose from outside himself I love that last line he rested with confidence in a protection that arose from outside himself ladies where does your confidence lie where do you go to search for answers that third commander knew what to do he humbled himself before the Lord's messenger by falling to his knees he acknowledged that Elijah was a man of God he told Elijah they were his servants and he begged for mercy for their lives ladies let's do the same let's humble ourselves before the Lord let's fall to our knees if we are able let's acknowledge that the Lord is God and let us beg for mercy when we have sinned when we do that God is fighting for us and we too can have confidence in the Lord that our protection comes not from within ourselves but in God above who is over all things and all people if you have heard his voice today please don't harden your heart like king Ahaziah instead let's be like Elijah and the third commander and hear from the Lord and obey until next time and thanks so very very much for listening