Read 2 Kings 15
Questions from the Scripture text: In what year, of whose reign, where, did who become king where (2 Kings 15:1)? How old was he (2 Kings 15:2)? How long did he reign? Who was his mother, from where? What did he do (2 Kings 15:3)? In Whose eyes? According to what? With what shortcoming (2 Kings 15:4)? What did Yahweh do in 2 Kings 15:5? With what result for the king? Who ruled during this time? How much more of his fifty-two (!) years of reigning is recorded here (2 Kings 15:6)? What happened when he died (2 Kings 15:7)? In what year, of whose reign, where, did who become king, where (2 Kings 15:8)? How long did he reign? What did he do (2 Kings 15:9)? In Whose sight? Like whom? Especially by not departing from what? How did the transition of power occur (2 Kings 15:10)? Before whom? What else of his reign is recorded here (2 Kings 15:11)? Why wasn’t Zechariah’s son able to take the throne like his predecessors who were assassinated (2 Kings 15:12)? In what year of whose reign did who become king (2 Kings 15:13)? How long did he reign, where? How did this transition of power take place (2 Kings 15:14)? What else is recorded here of Shallum (2 Kings 15:15)? What was the new king like; what did he do (2 Kings 15:16)? In what year, of whose reign, where, did who become king, where (2 Kings 15:17)? For how long, and in what city? What did he do (2 Kings 15:18)? In whose sight? By not departing from what? Who did what in 2 Kings 15:19? How did Menahem manage to keep the kingdom? Where did he get so much silver (2 Kings 15:20)? With what result? What else of his ten year reign is recorded here (2 Kings 15:21)? With whom did he lay down (2 Kings 15:22)? Who reigned in his place? In what year, of whose reign, where, did who becoming king over where (2 Kings 15:23)? In what city? For how long? What did he do (2 Kings 15:24)? In Whose sight? By not departing from what? Who conspires against Pekahiah in 2 Kings 15:25? Where does he kill him, with whom? What else is recorded here of Pekahiah (2 Kings 15:26)? In what year, of whose reign, where, did who become king over where (2 Kings 15:27)? In what city? How long did he reign? What did he do (2 Kings 15:28)? In Whose sight? By not departing from what? What happened in his days (2 Kings 15:29)? Then how did his reign end (2 Kings 15:30)? Who reigned in his place? In what year of whose reign? What else is recorded here of his reign (2 Kings 15:31)? In what year, of whose reign, over whom, did who become king of whom (2 Kings 15:32)? How old was he (2 Kings 15:33)? How long did he reign? Who was his mother? What did he do (2 Kings 15:34)? According to what pattern? With what shortcoming (2 Kings 15:35)? But what did he accomplish? What else is recorded here of his sixteen years of reigning (2 Kings 15:36)? What happened during his reign (2 Kings 15:37)? What happened when he died (2 Kings 15:38)? Who reigned in his place?
When there’s chaos in the church and in the world, what is the Lord doing? 2 Kings 15 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty-eight verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that despite all the chaos that we see from sinners and their sin, the history of the world and the church marches steadily on, in fulfillment of the Word of God.
The Lord is faithful to His Word of promise. Things have been bad in the northern kingdom the whole time, but things go to pot (or go to Pul, a.k.a. Tiglath Pileser the Assyrian) in this chapter. Azariah (a.k.a. Uzziah) is in his 38th year of reigning in Judah in 2 Kings 15:8, but has time to span five more kings in the north. They’re the last five kings, and at the end, the northern kingdom literally falls apart (2 Kings 15:29). It turns out that the one thing that had kept this from happening earlier was the Word of Yahweh to Jehu (2 Kings 15:12, cf. 2 Kings 10:30). Things often go badly in the world and in the church, but we would do well to remember that for the sake of fulfilling His Word—and in particular, His Word about Christ and His kingdom—the Lord is actually restraining the evil and the chaos.
The Lord is faithful to His Word of curse. Jeroboam the son of Nebat had capitalized on Aaronic precedent and established a feast to Yahweh (1 Kings 12:32, cf. Exodus 32:5) at altars before bull images (1 Kings 12:28, cf. Exodus 32:4), devising the holy days from his own heart (1 Kings 12:33). And Israel never did do away with their manmade way of commemorating God’s great works of redemption (2 Kings 15:9, 2 Kings 15:18, 2 Kings 15:24, 2 Kings 15:28).
So now God is doing away with Israel. Hoshea is on the throne in 2 Kings 15:30, but he’s now a surrogate of Assyria, and that will come to a final end in chapter 17. But the Lord had threatened this in Deuteronomy 4:23–28. Moses warned them precisely against this manmade religion, and that Yahweh would scatter them to lands where there wasn’t even the pretense of worshiping Yahweh by the images, but just the worship of the wood and stone itself. And now, dreadfully, after marvelous patience and longsuffering on the Lord’s part, His Word of curse has proven true.
The Word of God has promised the coming day of wrath for the world, and though He has been marvelously patient, it will eventually prove perfectly true (cf. 2 Peter 3). And the words of Jesus to many churches (whose lampstands have now been removed) warned that they were testing His patience (cf. Revelation 2–3). We mustn’t mistake patience for indifference. We must hate what he hates and repent of it, embracing instead the love of Him Who currently bears with us so patiently (cf. Romans 2:4–5).
The Lord is bringing salvation. Uzziah doesn’t get nearly the press here that he does in 2 Chronicles 26. His greatest flaw is referred to backhandedly by the punishment for it (2 Kings 15:5, cf. 2 Chronicles 26:19–23). Things under him and Jotham aren’t perfect (2 Kings 15:4, 2 Kings 15:35a). But, they are Davidic (2 Kings 15:3, 2 Kings 15:7, 2 Kings 15:34, 2 Kings 15:38). There is a promise like that which had been made to Jehu (2 Kings 15:12), but the one to David is for a forever-King. The coming of Jesus is still in the background of this passage.
What manmade ways of marking God’s redemptive acts is the church having difficulty getting rid of? What might we expect the Lord to give the church over to, since He is the same today as in 2 Kings 15? Why is He still being patient? How should we be responding to that patience?
Sample prayer: Lord, we praise You for Your marvelous patience. You have saved Your people with great acts of redemption. And You have given us the way of commemorating these acts in Your worship. But like Aaron and Jeroboam the son of Nebat, we are prone to coming up with our own ways of commemorating Your redemptive acts. And like these five kings, and the many generations from Aaron down to them, Your churches keep persisting in their sin, as if You will never come and remove their lampstands. But here we stand before You today, beholding the riches of Your forbearance, and longsuffering, once again. Grant that by Your Spirit, these would lead us to repentance and faith in Your Son, our Lord Jesus, in Whose Name we ask it, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP72A “God, Give Your Judgments to the King” or TPH72A “O God, Your Judgments Give the King”
No comments:
Post a Comment