Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / February 26 - 2 Kings 15

Transcript

February 26 - 2 Kings 15 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Wednesday, it's the 26th of
• 0:18
  February. Took me a while to work out what
• 0:20
  month we're in, and you have tapped on play, and I am
• 0:23
  delighted that you and I can take a moment today, open up
• 0:27
  God's Word and hear what He has to say to us.
• 0:31
  Learn from these stories of old, from that part of the world in
• 0:35
  the ancient Near East. Now that part of the world was
• 0:38
  really fascinating. Here you've got Israel, this
• 0:41
  tiny little country in this fertile past where all these big
• 0:46
  nations, North and South, wanted to traverse.
• 0:50
  So what options do you have when you're a tiny country in the
• 0:53
  crosshairs of these enormous nations?
• 0:56
  Well, there are a couple of options.
• 0:58
  Option one is you trust in your God, who says I will protect
• 1:02
  you. But that doesn't seem very wise
• 1:04
  from the the standpoint of the world.
• 1:07
  So what do the kings do of the northern Kingdom of Israel?
• 1:11
  They look to other nations to find allies so that they can
• 1:14
  join together and hopefully in alliance with other smaller
• 1:18
  nations, try to put up some kind of a fight against the enormous
• 1:23
  empire. And that's what you'll hear in
• 1:25
  the reading today. You have this massive empire of
• 1:28
  Assyria in the north bearing down upon them on the move,
• 1:32
  looking to conquer. And these weak kings of Israel
• 1:37
  look around for help, not to God, but to their neighbours and
• 1:40
  their ally with Syria. And well, history will show that
• 1:45
  that did not turn out so well for them, but that is the part
• 1:48
  they chose to take. And this is the reading that
• 1:51
  we're reading today. So let's hear about this journey
• 1:55
  as God's people look not to God, but to the world to find
• 1:59
  strength during difficult times. As we read together Second Kings
• 2:04
  chapter 15, Uzziah son of Amaziah began to rule over Judah
• 2:19
  in the 27th year of the reign of King Jeroboam the Second of
• 2:22
  Israel. He was 16 years old when he
• 2:25
  became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 52 years.
• 2:31
  His mother was Jacolia from Jerusalem.
• 2:34
  He did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight, just as his father
• 2:38
  Amaziah had done, but he did not destroy the Pagan shrines, and
• 2:44
  the people still offered sacrifices and burnt incense.
• 2:47
  There the Lord struck the king with leprosy, which lasted until
• 2:52
  the day he died. He lived in isolation in a
• 2:55
  separate house. The King's son Jotham was put in
• 2:59
  charge of the royal palace, and he governed the people of the
• 3:03
  land. The rest of the events of
• 3:05
  Isaiah's reign and everything he did are recorded in the Book of
• 3:10
  the History of the Kings of Judah.
• 3:13
  When Uzziah died, he was buried with his ancestors and the city
• 3:17
  of David, and his son Jotham became the next king.
• 3:22
  Zechariah son of Jeroboam the Second, began to rule over
• 3:26
  Israel in the 38th year of King Uzziah's reign in Judah.
• 3:31
  He reigned in Samaria six months.
• 3:34
  Zechariah did what was evil in the Lord's sight, as his
• 3:37
  ancestors had done. He refused to turn from the sins
• 3:41
  that Jeroboam, son of Nebat had LED Israel to commit.
• 3:46
  Then Shalom son of Jabesh, conspired against Zechariah,
• 3:50
  assassinated him in public, and became the next king.
• 3:55
  The rest of the events in Zechariah's reign are recorded
• 3:58
  in the Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.
• 4:02
  So the Lord's message to Jehu came true.
• 4:06
  Your descendants will be kings of Israel down to the 4th
• 4:10
  generation. Shalom son of Jabesh began to
• 4:15
  rule over Israel in the 39th year of King Isaiah's reign in
• 4:20
  Judah. Shalom reigned in Sumeria only
• 4:23
  one month. Then Menahem, son of Ghadi went
• 4:28
  to Sumeria from Terza and assassinated him, and he became
• 4:33
  the next king. The rest of the events in
• 4:36
  Shalom's reign, including his conspiracy, are recorded in the
• 4:40
  Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.
• 4:44
  At that time. Mannahem destroyed the town of
• 4:46
  Tapua and all the surrounding countryside as far as Terza
• 4:52
  because its citizens refused to surrender the town.
• 4:55
  He killed the entire population and ripped open the pregnant
• 5:00
  women. Mannahem, son of Ghadi began to
• 5:03
  rule over Israel in the 39th year of King Uzziah's reign in
• 5:08
  Judah. He reigned in Samaria 10 years.
• 5:12
  But Mannahem did what was evil in the Lord's sight during his
• 5:16
  entire reign. He refused to turn from the sins
• 5:20
  that Jeroboam son of Nebat had LED Israel to commit.
• 5:24
  Then King Tiglath Palissa of Assyria invaded the land, but
• 5:30
  Menahem paid him 37 tonnes of silver to gain his support in
• 5:35
  tightening his grip on royal power.
• 5:38
  Menahem extorted the money from the rich of Israel, demanding
• 5:42
  that each of them pay 50 pieces of silver to the king of
• 5:45
  Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned
• 5:49
  from attacking Israel and did not stay in the land.
• 5:53
  The rest of the events in Menahem's reign and everything
• 5:56
  he did are recorded in the Book of the History of the Kings of
• 6:00
  Israel. When Menahem died, his son
• 6:04
  Pekahaya became the next king. Pekahaya, son of Menahem, began
• 6:10
  to rule over Israel in the 50th year of King Uzziah's reign and
• 6:14
  Judah. He reigned in Samaria two years.
• 6:18
  But Pekahaya did what was evil in the Lord's sight.
• 6:21
  He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had
• 6:25
  LED Israel to commit. Then Pekka son of Remalia, the
• 6:31
  commander of Pekkahaya's army, conspired against him with 50
• 6:36
  men from Gilead. Pika assassinated the king along
• 6:40
  with Agab and Aria in the citadel of the palace of
• 6:43
  Samaria, and Pika reigned in his place.
• 6:49
  The rest of the events in Pekahaya's reign and everything
• 6:52
  he did are recorded in the Book of the History of the Kings of
• 6:56
  Israel. Pika son of Remeliah began to
• 7:00
  rule over Israel in the 52nd year of King Uzziah's reign in
• 7:05
  Judah. He reigned in Samaria 20 years.
• 7:09
  But Pika did what was evil in the Lord's sight.
• 7:12
  He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had
• 7:16
  LED Israel to commit. During Pika's reign, King
• 7:20
  Tiglath Palisa of Assyria attacked Israel again, and he
• 7:25
  captured the towns of Ijen, Abel, Bethmarka, Genoa, Kadesh,
• 7:31
  and Hazor. He also conquered the regions of
• 7:34
  Gilead, Galilee, and all of Naftali, and he took the people
• 7:39
  to Assyria as captives. Then Hoshiya son of Ilah
• 7:44
  conspired against Pika and assassinated him.
• 7:47
  He began to rule over Israel in the 20th year of Jotham son of
• 7:52
  Uzziah. The rest of the events of Pika's
• 7:55
  reign and everything he did are recorded in the Book of the
• 7:59
  History of the Kings of Israel. Jotham son of Uzziah began to
• 8:05
  rule over Judah in the second year of King Pika's reign in
• 8:09
  Israel. He was 25 years old when he
• 8:12
  became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 16 years.
• 8:16
  His mother was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.
• 8:20
  Jotham did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight.
• 8:23
  He did everything his father Uzziah had done, but he did not
• 8:28
  destroy the Pagan shrines, and the people still offered
• 8:32
  sacrifices and burned incense There.
• 8:35
  He rebuilt the upper gates of the Temple of the Lord.
• 8:39
  The rest of the events in Jotham's reign and everything he
• 8:42
  did are recorded in the Book of the History of the Kings of
• 8:45
  Judah. In those days the Lord began to
• 8:49
  send King Rezan of Aram and King Pika of Israel to attack Judah.
• 8:55
  When Jotham died, he was buried with his ancestors in the city
• 8:59
  of David, and his son Ahaz became the next king.
• 9:14
  Our Lord. We hear these kings of nations
• 9:18
  under attack again and again and again, and we hear what they try
• 9:23
  to do. They negotiate, they bargain
• 9:25
  with their attacking force, or they look to the nations around
• 9:29
  them. Ah, Lord, help us as we face
• 9:34
  what can sometimes seem like an overwhelming obstacle.
• 9:39
  Lord, you are our ever present help in times of need.
• 9:43
  Help us. Always remember you.
• 9:46
  Help our hearts always naturally just turn to you and seek your
• 9:51
  will and your wisdom and rely on you and your strength, rather
• 9:57
  than trying to dig deeper and deeper and deeper within
• 9:59
  ourselves to overcome whatever it is that life throws at us.
• 10:04
  Help us remember that we never face anything alone, but that
• 10:08
  you walk beside us, that you hold us through the hard times,
• 10:13
  and that you are our father. And just like a little kid
• 10:17
  wouldn't dream of taking on a challenge with that, his dad's
• 10:20
  help right beside him. Lord, help us just continually
• 10:24
  turn back to you for our strength, for our joy, and to
• 10:29
  always know who we are in the light of you.
• 10:33
  Thank you that we are your beloved children, and may that
• 10:36
  always remain the tent pole in the centre of our identity.
• 10:41
  So we just lift you up and praise you, our loving, loving
• 10:45
  Father. That's in the name of your Son
• 10:47
  Jesus, that we pray all of these things.
• 10:50
  Amen.