There is just too much! There is too many amazing events packed into today's reading...it is amazing how frustrating this feels. I remember back in the mid 90's when I was praying about becoming a Young Married teacher at Bellevue one of my great fears was will I have enough to say week after week! Now the great frustration is that there is just soooo much in God's precious Word...there is not enough time or space to share my heart day after day. Amazing! How great is our God?
I want to point out two thoughts from our reading in Acts 17 and below I have included a summary of our reading in 2 Kings 9-10 and I have included a chart that might be helpful in keeping everything straight as we plow through the remaining chapters in 2 Kings.
What do we learn about the Beroeans in Acts 17? We learn that they were more noble-minded, why were they called more noble-minded? Take a look. In Acts 17:11-12, we learn that the Beroeans "were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men." Why were they more noble-minded? They received the Word eagerness and they examined the scriptures daily! For those of you that are still with me on this one year journey through God's Word, you can say that you are examining the scriptures daily, but are you excited about it? Do you come to God's Word each morning expecting to experience God, expecting to have an encounter with the most High God, your Abba, our heavenly Father...do you? Or are you going through the motions some mornings? This past Sunday morning I was almost through the reading in the OT when I realized that I was just sitting and reading words, words that meant nothing to me. Are you shocked? What did I do? I repented, asked for forgiveness and started the reading over expecting to hear from my heavenly Father...HE was faithful to speak! I am praying that HE will continually enable me to LISTEN!
The second thought is concerning Paul's response to the idols as he walked though Athens. We see in Acts 17:16-17 that while Paul was in Athens something happened when he saw the city filled with idols. Check it out, "Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. 17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present."
Why was Paul so angry at the idolatry? Let me cut to the chase, God's glory was being given to another. Paul had an encounter on the Damascus road with the risen resurrected LORD Jesus, he had witnessed glory, he had come face to face with the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, with the King of kings and LORD of Lords, the Alpha and Omega...Paul understood the only sane thing to do in this life is to do everything for the glory of this ONE...Jesus!
So when he witnessed people worshipping and giving glory to little idols, that have eyes, but cannot see, they have mouths, but they cannot speak it provoked him, it threw him into convulsions if you will, he burned with anger.
My question is this...Are you and I aware of one tenth of the idolatry around us? The idolatry that we do see...does it bother us at all? Or have we come to accept it? What was Paul's response? We see it in verse 17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present."
May we be more like Paul, may we be provoked in our spirit, and not because of what it does to us and our culture, but because glory is being stolen from the only ONE that is worthy! God have mercy on us!
love,
m
2 Kings 9-10 summary
Elisha sends a prophet to anoint Jehu as Israel’s next king, and commission him to destroy the house (family) of Ahab (9:1–10). Jehu is acclaimed by his fellow army officers (vv. 11–13), and hurries to Jezreel where Joram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah are recovering from wounds (vv. 14–20). When the two kings go out to meet Jehu, he kills Joram and mortally wounds Ahaziah (vv. 21–29). Jehu then enters the city, where the aged Jezebel shouts out her defiance from an upstairs window (vv. 30–31). Jehu orders her thrown down to the street below. As Jehu celebrates his successful coup inside, the body of Jezebel is devoured by a pack of dogs (vv. 32–37). Elijah’s prediction is thus literally fulfilled (cf. 1 Kings 21:23). Jehu then proceeds to wipe out the rest of the family (2 Kings 10:1–11). He also assembles all officials of the Baal cult, supposedly to worship, but in fact to destroy them (vv. 12–35). The massacre is a political expedient intended to wipe out a religion closely linked with the royal house. Because Jehu fails to turn to the Lord, his rule is marked by a series of military defeats and by the gradual reduction in size of the Northern Kingdom.
Key verse. 9:7: God’s instruments are not necessarily godly.
Personal application. Judgment, like blessing, may be delayed. But each will surely come.
Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (249). Wheaton: Victor Books.
One pour soul mentioned having difficulty keeping up with "Who's who" in the world of the kings of Israel, Judah and what is an Aram anyway...below is a chart that you might find helpful as we finish 2 Kings.
Second Kings traces the history of the Divided Hebrew Kingdoms, Israel in the north, and Judah in the south, from about 850 b.c. to the destruction of Israel in 722 b.c. and of Judah in 586 b.c. The chart shows the rulers, prophets, and enemies of the kingdoms.
| 2 Kings chapter | Date | King of Israel | King of Judah | Prophet | Major foreign enemy |
| 1 | | Ahaziah | Jehoshaphat |
| Assyria: Shalmaneser III |
| 2–8 | 852 | Joram |
|
|
|
| 8 | |
| | Elisha | |
| 9–10 | 841 | Jehu |
|
|
|
| 11 | 841 | Athaliah |
|
| Syria: Ben–Hadad III |
| 12 | 835 |
| Joash | Joel? |
|
| 13 | | |
|
|
|
| 14 | 796 |
| Amaziah |
|
|
| 14–15 | 792 | Jeroboam II | Uzziah | |
|
| 15 | | Zechariah Shallum Menahem
Pekahiah Pekah | | |
Assyria: Tiglath–Pileser III |
| 16 | 735 |
| Ahaz |
|
|
| 17 | | Hoshea
FALL OF NORTHERN KINGDOM |
|
|
Shalmaneser V Sargon II Sennacherib |
| 18–20 | 716 |
| Hezekiah | Isaiah |
|
| 21 | |
| |
|
|
| 22–23 | |
| Josiah
FIRST DEPORTATION Jehoahaz | Habakkuk Nahum Zephaniah Daniel Jeremiah | |
| 24 | 608 |
| Jehoiakim | Ezekiel |
|
| 24–25 | |
| Jehoiachin Zedekiah JERUSALEM’S FALL |
|
|
Assyrian Empire, 800 b.c.; Babylonian Empire, 538 b.c.
WHERE THE ACTION TAKES PLACE
Events in Israel and Judah were dramatically affected by emerging northern powers. The Assyrian Empire, pressing westward, was held back in the time of Ahab (map left, above). But within 50 years Syria was reduced to vassal status, and by 722 b.c. Israel no longer existed as a nation. But Assyria suffered a stunning fall to the Babylonians, who took Nineveh in 612 b.c., and by 605 b.c. dominated Judah and began to resettle its population.
2 KINGS AT A GLANCE
KEY PEOPLE
Elisha This prophet succeeded Elijah. His ministry focused on rebuilding faith in the Northern Kingdom.
Jehu An army commander, he wiped out the family of Ahab, and became king.
Joash The only member of the Davidic line to survive assassination by his own grandmother, he became a godly king of Judah.
Hezekiah The godly king of Judah for whom God intervened to throw back the invading forces of the Assyrian, Sennacherib.
Josiah The last godly king of Judah, whose revival could not delay the fall of Judah beyond his own death.
KEY EVENTS
The fall of Israel, 722 b.c.(2 Kings 17). The legacy of an unbroken string of evil rulers in the North is exiled from the Promised Land.
The fall of Jerusalem, 586 b.c.(2 Kings 25). Judah, whose people followed the idolatrous lead of Israel, shares the northern nation’s fate.
Richards, L. O. (1991; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). The Bible readers companion (electronic ed.) (240). Wheaton: Victor Books.