Kings
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Following the death of Josiah, the downfall of the Kingdom of Judah became inevitable and rapidly approached. The history of Judah’s kings during the tumultuous period leading to the Babylonian exile is a poignant narrative of divine judgment, human defiance, and eventual restoration. The final four kings of Judah either served as vassals to foreign rulers or were captured and supplanted by other members of the royal lineage. Spanning multiple reigns, from Jehoahaz to Zedekiah, each king’s actions and decisions led the nation to its ultimate capture and exile in Babylonia by the mighty Chaldeans. The state of Judah during…
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Josiah, ascending the throne of Judah at the tender age of eight, was a ruler who stood out for his unparalleled devotion to God. His reign, which lasted thirty-one years in Jerusalem, is marked by mass reformations, unwavering adherence to the ways of his forefather David, and a heartfelt commitment to the covenant with the LORD. However, the reforms may have come too late, as Josiah’s early death marked the beginning of the end for the kingdom of Judah.
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After the death of Hezekiah, his son Manasseh ascended to the throne of Judah at the tender age of twelve. His tumultuous reign spanned fifty-five years, the longest of any king who preceded him. Manasseh was born during the additional fifteen years God granted to Hezekiah’s life, a period marked by Hezekiah’s growing pride and diminishing adherence to God’s guidance. During his early reign, Manasseh was likely influenced by his mother, Hephzibah, as he was still a boy when he assumed the throne. Nonetheless, his decisions as king shaped a legacy marked by profound spiritual turmoil and eventual redemption.
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Hezekiah’s life offers a complex example of leadership marked by both great faith and significant failures. His reign underscores the importance of humility and reliance on God rather than human strength and alliances, as seen in his interactions with Babylonian envoys. Hezekiah’s additional fifteen years of life, granted around 701 BC, coincided with critical historical events, including the Assyrian threat under King Sennacherib. Moreover, Hezekiah’s story reaffirms God’s promises to David’s lineage, highlighting the Lord’s commitment to defend Jerusalem for the sake of David. However, Hezekiah’s pride after his recovery led to the Lord’s displeasure and serves as a lesson…
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At just twenty-five years old, Hezekiah (the son of Ahaz) began his twenty-nine-year reign in Jerusalem. Following in the footsteps of his ancestor David, Hezekiah committed himself to doing what was right in the eyes of the LORD. Hezekiah’s dedication to his faith was evident in his sweeping reforms as he eradicated the high places, shattered the sacred stones, and cut down the Asherah poles. He purified the temple and got rid of the idols his predecessors had adopted as their deities. Notably, he destroyed the bronze serpent Moses had made, which had become an object of idolatrous worship, now…
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In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah ascended the throne of Israel in Samaria and reigned for nine turbulent years. His rise to power was marked by a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah, whom he struck down and replaced. Although Hoshea did evil in the eyes of the LORD, his sins were not as egregious as those of his predecessors. Nonetheless, his reign marked the final chapter in the history of the northern kingdom of Israel, leading to its ultimate demise and exile.
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Ahaz, son of Jotham, ascended to the throne of Judah at the age of twenty and reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years. His reign marked a significant departure from the practices of his forefathers, particularly David. Instead, Ahaz embraced the pagan customs of neighbouring nations and the kings of Israel. He engaged in idol worship, creating images of baals, and shockingly, he even sacrificed his own child in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. The author notes that Ahaz was fervent in offering sacrifices and burning incense in high places, on hilltops, and under every spreading tree. These…
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During the early years, Azariah sought God earnestly, especially under the guidance of Zechariah, who taught him the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God granted him success. He went to war against the Philistines, breaking down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, and rebuilt towns in the Philistine territories. God also helped him in battles against the Arabs of Gur Baal and the Meunites, and the Ammonites paid tribute to him. His fame spread as far as the border of Egypt due to his growing power (2 Chronicles 26:7-8).
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In the annals of ancient Israelite history, the reigns of Amaziah and Jeroboam II stand as contrasting narratives of God’s favor and human frailty. Amaziah, king of Judah, despite his facade of righteousness, faced humiliating defeats amidst conflict and turmoil, while Jeroboam II of Israel enjoyed unprecedented success and longevity despite embracing evil and straying from the path of the Lord. This dichotomy of outcomes defies conventional expectations and underscores the complexities of God’s intervention in the affairs of rulers and nations.
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f the bones had the power to heal, people would have emptied the tomb and used the prophet’s bones to resurrect others from the dead. Just as Elisha’s remains could give life after the prophet’s death, his words continue to wield the power of life and death for Israel, depending on whether they choose to heed or ignore the prophet’s message. This was a sign for them that God was alive even though the prophet Elisha had passed away. God used even Elisha’s dry bones, to show His power in the lives of the Israelites. Elisha was considered the most…
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At the age of seven, Joash rose to the throne, becoming the youngest monarch in the historical record of Israel. However, his reign was far from flawless. His disregard for the LORD’s commandments and his imprudent actions led to his untimely demise, thereby bringing an abrupt end to his reign that spanned four decades.
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Jehu ruled over Israel for a substantial twenty-eight years, under the impression that he was serving God. However, it’s likely that he spent those twenty-eight years distancing himself from God by adopting worldly customs. We must avoid this pitfall and not squander our lives pretending to do God’s work while our hearts scarcely comprehend God’s will.
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In ancient times, famines occurred frequently due to the persistent pursuit of evil by the people. While these periodic famines briefly softened their hearts, they resumed their previous ways after surviving due to God’s grace. In one such famine, Elisha was aware of God’s plan to send famine and warned the Shunammite woman (the one who had been blessed with a son), to leave her possessions and take her family to the land of the Philistines until the famine abated. Upon her return seven years later, she discovered that a neighbour had seized her land. During a famine, sustenance becomes…
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The fragile peace between Israel and Aram proved to be fleeting, as the king of Aram initiated a military campaign to seize control of Samaria by laying siege to the city. The siege was strategically planned to block the supply of food and water from the surrounding land, as farms and water sources were typically located outside the city gates. By surrounding the city with his military forces, the king of Aram made it impossible for the Israelites to access harvest or water sources. The people of Samaria were left with only the food supplies within the city and the…
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Never before in Israel had there been a case where the opposing army, who had arrived seeking blood, were not only set free but were also sent away with full bellies from a banquet. By feeding and releasing the Arameans, Elisha demonstrated one of the earliest instances of practicing the principle preached by Jesus about turning the other cheek. Can we practice the same in our lives and let the glory be redirected to God in all our victories?
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The Israelites found themselves in a constant state of conflict with the Arameans, and in their latest encounter, the LORD granted the Arameans victory over their long-standing adversaries. Naaman, as the commander of the Arameans, was recognized for his role in orchestrating the battles that secured the Syrian empire’s triumph over their ancient foe. This elevated Naaman’s standing among his fellow countrymen and his king. Yet, unbeknownst to many, it was God who held ultimate control and was about to use Naaman as His witness in both nations.
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During one of the most challenging periods in Israel’s history, neither kings of the northern nor southern kingdoms wanted to pursue the will of God, Elisha was chosen to carry the message of God to the masses. Yet, because his predecessor (Elijah) did not formally anoint him in the presence of his countrymen, there would have been apprehensions with regard to Elisha’s credentials as the man of God. However, the following events that revealed the power that God had bestowed upon Elisha, laid to rest all doubts about the calling of the prophet hailing from the small town of Abel…
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The Israelites and the Moabites shared a complex history, and yet a period of peace prevailed during Ahab’s reign. Mesha, the king of Moab, was granted permission to raise sheep for the kingdom in exchange for a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs and a hundred thousand rams’ wool. However, following Ahab’s death, Mesha, tired of the burden of the tribute, rebelled against Ahab’s son, Joram, the new king of Israel, exacerbating the animosity between the two nations.
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Elijah believed he was the sole prophet of God, yet as we see during his farewell tour, he had contemporaries. God’s work continued despite his weariness. Elisha was handpicked by God to replace Elijah with the latter tasked with anointing the former as his successor. However, there appears to have been reluctance on Elijah’s part to pass the baton to his protégé. How will we respond when God asks us to step aside to promote one of our protégés? Will we willingly submit to God’s will, or will our hesitance trigger a forceful transmission?
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Jehoshaphat had aligned himself with the king of Israel and was even willing to pledge his loyalty when they went to war with the king of Aram. Like his father Asa, Jehoshaphat did everything right in the eyes of the LORD. He even sent his officials and Levites to the towns of Judah to educate them about the Torah. During his reign, the fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms surrounding Judah and none of them dared mount an attack against them. Even the Philistines who were Israel’s oldest foe, brought gifts such as gold and silver as…
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The king desired the vineyard of his neighbour, Naboth, for use as his vegetable garden. In return, he proposed offering Naboth a vineyard of superior worth in a different location or providing payment for the vineyard. The king was expanding his palace compound, and typically such requests would have been granted by the commoners in exchange for a price exceeding the fair market value of the land.
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One day, the king of Aram, Ben-Hadad, supported by a coalition of thirty-two rulers, marshalled his entire military force and laid siege to Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom. Ahab found himself in a position of relative powerlessness in the face of the formidable army assembled by the Aramean ruler. Ben-Hadad dispatched emissaries to Ahab, demanding that all of Ahab’s possessions, including his wealth, the best of his wives and his children, be surrendered and recognized as the rightful property of Ben-Hadad. Ahab was left with no recourse but to comply, and he communicated to the Aramean king accordingly.
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After the showdown at Mount Carmel, Elijah was riding the high of having disposed of the prophets of baal from the country. So it came as a shock to him that even after witnessing the miraculous downpour that ended the famine, the hearts of the Israelites still did not turn towards God. To make matters worse, Ahab had informed Jezebel about how Elijah had slaughtered the priests of her father’s nation. The jilted queen vowed to remove the constant thorn, that was Elijah, by having him killed in the same manner as he killed the prophets of baal.
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The entire land was gripped by a severe famine that persisted for nearly three years. It was not until the third year that the word of the LORD came to Elijah, instructing him to emerge from hiding and present himself to King Ahab. The famine had reached such devastating levels that Ahab had assigned a palace administrator to aid in rationing the food stock. Unbeknownst to the king, his palace administrator, Obadiah, was a steadfast worshipper of the LORD, providing sanctuary to the prophets whom his mistress Jezebel sought to eliminate. One day, Ahab called upon Obadiah to assess the…
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Israel was devoid of a moral compass during the corrupt reign of king Ahab. So one day, God sent the prophet Elijah from Tishbe to Ahab’s court with His word warning, that there would be no rainfall until they changed their ways. This formidable drought led to a widespread famine in the region. Yet the occurrence of the drought exclusively in the northern kingdom (which had turned away from God and embraced Baal as their deity) served a purpose.
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The kingdoms of Judah and Israel witnessed the rise and fall of monarchs, most of whom did not honour Yahweh. These kings were meant to reverse the actions of the previous rulers, but instead, they perpetuated their mistakes. Both kingdoms descended into a spiral of decline, with no single family maintaining the throne of Israel or Judah. Assassinations, coups, and betrayals became common occurrences. Amidst this chaos, the only constant was God’s unwavering love for His people and His steadfast advancement of His plan for their redemption.
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The reigns of both the kings of Israel and Judah were marked by God’s disapproval of their governance. After the demise of Solomon, both the monarchs of Israel and Judah engaged in malfeasance that brought upon them the wrath of God. Jeroboam, the ruler of the northern kingdom, ignored countless warnings from the LORD and carried on in his evil ways. Jeroboam lost his son because of his stubbornness to change from his evil ways. While Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, brought idol worship and other detestable practices of the pagan world to Judah. In doing so, he brought an end to…
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To secure his throne, Jeroboam strategically built two key temples in his kingdom, one in the northernmost region of Dan and the other at Bethel which was bordered by the southern kingdom of Judah. He created rival holy places all over his kingdom, crafted golden calves as idols, established new festivals and even appointed non-Levitical priests. When he tried to replicate the consecration of the temple, God did not send His presence but sent a man from Judah to warn him to forego his evil ways.
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After the passing of King Solomon, his son Rehoboam ascended to the throne of Israel, inheriting the immense responsibility and authority bestowed upon him. To coronate their new monarch, all of Israel assembled at Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, the place where they had renewed their covenant with God after entering the promised land. Unbeknownst to the king-elect, the people of Israel wanted to renegotiate the terms of another covenant, the one they had formed with his grandfather David.
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The downfall of Solomon as attributed by the authors of the Book of Kings seemed to be his love for foreign women. In order to maintain strategic ties with the neighbouring countries and to have control of the crucial trade routes, Solomon intermarried with the daughters of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites all the tribes they were told to stay away from by God. This after he had already entered into relations with the king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. A country that enslaved his people and from whom the LORD freed his people in the most…
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Solomon displayed his wealth for the world to see and used his wisdom to garner the affection of even the most sceptic visiting dignitaries. However, when another king (Hezekiah) would do the same he was punished by God. Nevertheless, Solomon was allowed to gain fame for something God had given to him. Solomon was at peace with the entire world around him, probably because he had so willingly adopted their practices and married half the princesses of the pagan world. Solomon indeed attracted people because of his wisdom but they merely wanted to see the grandeur of his kingdom.
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As the construction of the temple concluded, Solomon summoned the elders of Israel and the tribes’ leaders to bring up the ark of the LORD from Zion to Mount Moriah. The city was already in a celebratory mood as the festival of the Tabernacle was upon them. Solomon saw this as an opportunity to transport the ark to the temple he had built for the name of the LORD.
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Solomon’s reign as king over Israel, though started with bloodshed, experienced the longest peacetime in Israel. Nearly half of his reign of forty years was spent in constructing two separate buildings, one was the temple of the LORD and the other the king’s palace. Solomon wanted to accomplish all of his father’s desires. He had […]
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Solomon had mixed pagan cultures into his worship, perhaps, in an attempt to follow the traditions of his many wives. In the book of Deuteronomy (chapter 17), Moses spoke about a day when Israel would have its own king. He had warned that the king of Israel should exhibit a stark difference in governance from the rulers of the surrounding kingdom. The king should not seek to make himself wealthy or accumulate wives as trophies. The king should also never return to Egypt, the land that held the Israelites captive for many years. These among others were key for Israel…
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David was on his deathbed when Solomon became the king of Israel. However, before handing the reins over to Solomon, David had a few words of advice and caution that he wanted to pass on to his son. He asked Solomon to “observe what the LORD requires” and to walk in His ways keeping His […]
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Written probably during the days of Israel’s Babylonian exile, the Book of Kings would have served as a reminiscent account of their homeland for the people in captivity. While the author of the book is unknown, some believe that it might be the contemporary prophets of each king who recorded the events described in this book. There seems to be a disconnect from the previous book of Samuel, as there are huge chunks of unaccounted periods from David’s forty-year reign. While in the Book of Samuel, David was in his prime and adding valiant men to his collection of mighty…
The Jordan Valley 