Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture - 2 Kings 1-8
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: It's great to see you today. Welcome to our Journey Through Scripture podcast. My name is Philip Thomas, pastor of Journey here in Elgin, Texas. So as we continue our journey through Scripture, we do get the picture of the fullness of God and His love and His mercy and His grace, but also His judgment. ⁓ We get the picture of the faithfulness of people and also the rebellion of people, and we see a lot of that. We are in the middle of ⁓ Kings and we are in First Kings. No, excuse me. We're just starting Second Kings now. So today we're going to be going Second Kings chapters one through eight. So this is quite a bit, but it's kind of very entertaining. Lots of ⁓ miracles that Elisha performs. But this is going to be talking again, a lot about... what's going on now that the kingdom has split. You have the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom. And we're going to see a little bit of Elijah, then we're going to see the transition from Elijah to Elisha. So, chapter one of Second Kings. We're moving now from King Ahab. Remember how horrible King Ahab was? His wife is Jezebel, and now his son is going to take over. ⁓ It's ⁓ Aziah. ⁓ Yeah, there's different ways to say that. But he is not a good king. He also does evil in the sight of the Lord. Remember, he's the king of the northern kingdom, the king over Israel. ⁓ He does evil in the sight of the Lord, walks in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam who has made Israel sin. For he served Baal, worshiped him, provoked the Lord of God of Israel to anger. And so, this is now, you you see so often the sons are following in their father's footsteps, but here it specifically also mentions that he also followed in his mother's footsteps as well. So, chapter 1, we have Moab, the region of Moab is rebelling against Israel, just you have Isaiah fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria, and he was injured. So it's kind of a fluke accident, right? And he falls and so he's asking ⁓ the prophets to go and inquire of Baal, Zabub, the god of Ekron, whether he shall recover from this injury. So look how far the kingdom of Israel has come where their king, his first response whenever he experiences an injury is go inquire of the god Baal, right? how ridiculous that is, how far they have strayed from the belief in God the Creator. ⁓ the word comes to Elijah, an angel said to Elijah, says, arise, go meet the messengers of the king of Samaria ⁓ and say to them, it is because there is no God in Israel, or is it because there is no God in Israel that you're going to inquire of Baal-zebub? Now therefore, thus says the Lord, you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die." So Elijah departed. So then the messengers that the king had sent, they take that back to King Isaiah, and he does not like that. So he sends ⁓ a general with 50 men to go and confront Elijah. But this is funny, when the messengers come back, they give ⁓ Elijah's message that is telling the king that, you're not gonna get better, you're gonna die. And he says, what kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you these words? So they answered him, it was a hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist. And the king says, ⁓ Elijah. It's just really interesting that Elijah's... Remember, Elijah has already put King Ahab in his place many times. Now the son knows who this guy is and Elijah does the same. now the ⁓ king sends 50 men and the captain of 50 men to go and to get Elijah. You can tell there's probably some nefarious things going on here. More than likely, they were going to kill Elijah. And so they come and they say, man of God, the king has said, come down. So Elijah answered and said to the captain, I am a man of God. If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your 50 men. And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his 50 men. And then another group of 50 men come. They say the same thing. Hey, the king said, come on down. Basically telling Elijah that... you are under the king's rule and he is telling you to come down, so you better come down. ⁓ And Elijah says the same thing, if I'm a man of God, if I am someone who follows God, not the king, then let fire come down and consume and fire comes down and consumes. Then the third battalion or group of 50 come down and they fall on their knees before Elijah and plead with him and say to him, man of God, Please let my life and the life of these 50 servants of yours be precious in your sight. ⁓ Fire has come down from the others, but let my life now be precious in your sight." Isn't it interesting that they acknowledge that he is a man of God, where the others did not. They are asking, ⁓ basically pleading their case. There's a recognition that... you know what, there is something about this Elijah guy. Maybe he does represent the one true God. And so an angel of the Lord said to Elijah, go down with him, do not be afraid of him. And so he arose, he came and he sees Isaiah and tells him the same thing and Isaiah dies. And that's one of the last... interactions that Elijah has with any of the kings. So then we get into chapter two of second Kings. This is the story of Elijah ascending to heaven. So he's with Elisha and he keeps saying, hey, it's time for me to go, time for me to be, the Lord is going to take me. And Elisha keeps saying, no, I will go with you. And he goes to Jericho and then continues on to Jordan. And ⁓ they're crossing the Jordan River, kind of an interesting verse 8. Now Elijah took his mantle, that would have been something you wore over your robe, rolled it up, struck the water, and it was divided this way and that so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. So kind of like how Moses and the rod was used, you know, as an instrument of God, right, to part the Red Sea. Here Elijah's mantle is used for that. ⁓ And they crossed the Jordan River on dry ground. And so when they crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, ask what may I do for you before I'm taken away from you? So Elisha said, please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me. So he recognized the spirit of Elijah, the spirit of God within him, and he desired to have that. ⁓ Elijah... response says, have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you. But if not, it shall not be so. Then it happened as they continued on and talked that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire and separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven and Elisha saw it and he cried out, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and his horsemen. So he saw him no more and he took hold of his own clothes toward them. He began to mourn, right? But he saw what happened to Elijah. And so then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from Elijah and he struck the water and he said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he had struck the water, it was divided this way and that and Elisha crossed over. So it's kind of this obvious transition from Elijah to Elisha ⁓ and that the presence of God is with both of them, that they are true prophets of God. One thing that we see more with Elisha than Elijah, Elisha does much more miracles, records a lot of just miracles that he does, where Elijah spends a lot of time interacting and talking with different kings ⁓ and kind of ⁓ speaks to them and condemns them, prophesies, things like that. Elisha doesn't do as much of that. ⁓ He does some, but we see lots of different miracles that Elisha does ⁓ that God has given him the ability to do. the first miracle that is recorded, he goes to Jericho and the city is—their water is bad and the ground has gone barren because the water is not any good. And they ask him to heal the water and he does. This is kind of interesting. Jericho is one of the lowest cities on the planet Earth. It is way below sea level and it's far enough from the Mediterranean that the moisture that comes is all gone by the time it gets to Jericho. So it's a very dry place. However, there is a spring that provides its water. It's something like a thousand gallons a minute that that spring is producing and has been producing for thousands of years. Jericho is one of the oldest known cities and it's because of this water source. And so the people are terrified that the water has gone bad. And so this is the spring that Elisha ⁓ restores, that God restores through Elisha. But then probably my favorite story in all of scripture. It says, then he went up from there to Bethel and as he was going up the road, some youth came from the city and mocked him and said to him, go up, you bald head, go up, you bald head. So it's important. What are we talking about? What's going on here? It says youths. It's probably not talking about kids, right? This is happening on the road between Jericho and Bethel. More likely they are young men of fighting age. probably going to rob Elisha, more than likely. But they are young and they're mocking him, calling him a baldy. And Elisha turned around, looked at them, pronounced a curse on them and in the name of the Lord, and two female bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youth. need I comment anymore that this is the greatest story in the Old Testament. just be careful of calling anyone baldy, baldy, especially if they turn around and bears are in the vicinity, I would run. ⁓ So that is Elisha kind of coming on the scene. And now we get right back into the political kind of ⁓ intrigue, chapter three. You have Joram, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and mother, for he put away the sacred pillar of Baal. Nevertheless, he did persist in sins and did not depart from them. So he did some better, but still did not... fully restore the people to their trust in God. So he is ⁓ going to go and attack Moab. He brings King Jehoshaphat, who's a good king in Judah, the southern kingdom, and they're going together and King Jehoshaphat says, we need to make sure we ask prophets if this is ⁓ okay to do. And ⁓ they send for Elisha. ⁓ And one of the servants of the kings of Israel answered and said, "'Elisha, the son of Shaphat is here who poured water on the hands of Elijah,' said the word of the Lord is with him.' So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom all went down to him. Then Elijah said to the king of Israel, "'What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.'" But the king of Israel said to him, No, for the Lord has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you, but now bring me a musician." So Elisha, he's clearly upset with the northern kingdom, but because Jehoshaphat is there, He is there and he basically, it's kind of cool. I encourage you to read that. are to go and ⁓ God is going to confuse the Moabites that he also, the valley would be filled with water, you know, so that they, they're animals and they would have plenty of water, but that water would also ⁓ cause problems with the Moabites. And what was interesting is the Moabites looked out over the horizon. They knew this group of kings were coming for them. Because of all the water, the sun reflecting off of it made it look as if it was blood. So they thought all the three kingdoms had started fighting each other. So then they go and then a fight ensues. And it clearly is very, very bad. And they're taking over stronghold, the king of Israel, king of... Judah and King of Edom, they're winning, they're taking over numerous ⁓ fortified cities. And then the king of Moab does something that, I mean, we know this happened in history. says, then he took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place and offered him as a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great indignation against Israel. So they departed from him and returned to their own land. So that actually ended the battle, seeing this. ⁓ horrific child sacrifice, the kingdom of Israel, and they backed off and they left. Chapter 4, we start seeing Elisha and the miracle of the widow's oil. There was a widow, she couldn't pay enough and her sons were going to be taken as slaves. So Elisha told her, bring every pot that you can and pour what little oil you have into those pots and it will fill them. And then you can sell the oil, kind of a neat miracle. Then there was a Shunammite woman ⁓ who made a place for Elijah to come and stay, kind of a place where he could ⁓ get rest. And he asked her, what can I do for you? She said, my husband is old and I do not have any children. So he said, within a year you will have a child. ⁓ And ⁓ she was like, no, my Lord, do not lie to your maidservant. So she's concerned, ⁓ but Elisha says, no, this is what will happen. And sure enough, it does happen. ⁓ And then ⁓ the son begins to grow older, but then he dies. ⁓ And the woman goes to Elisha begging him. And it's kind of interesting, Elisha sends his servant. That doesn't work and then so Elisha actually goes himself and ⁓ God raises this child back to life. ⁓ Then we have Elisha purifying a pot of stew, Elisha feeding a hundred men, all of these things just reminding of how God is with Elisha. Then we have the story of Naaman. Naaman is actually from Syria. He's a commander of Syria. Syria is always causing problems and the ⁓ Northern Kingdom and goes on raids and stuff. ⁓ And basically, the Northern Kingdom knows that it just has to do whatever Syria says. So Naaman has leprosy. He sends ⁓ a letter to the king of Israel, says, now be advised when this letter comes to you that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of leprosy. And the king of Israel freaks out because he's like, I can't do this. They're just going to kill me. And so they send him to Elisha. Naaman goes to meet Elisha. Elisha doesn't even acknowledge him, just sends his messenger and says, you're just going to need to go dunk yourself in the Jordan seven times. And Naaman is extremely upset because he's like, how dare this guy not show me some more respect? And what is he talking about going into the nasty Jordan River? And his servants tell him, say, If he would have asked you to do something very difficult and things like that, wouldn't you have done it? This is just simple. Just go to the Jordan River and sure enough, he goes seven times. He is cleansed. He comes back and tells Elisha, hey, I want to pay for all of this. Elisha says no. ⁓ Then Elisha's servant, and ⁓ there's always some humaneness there. Elisha's servant actually goes after Naaman and Ghaazi. And he stops naming and basically says, Hey, you know, we could use some, little bit of money and he gets it. gets back. Elisha says, what have you done? And he says, ⁓ of course I haven't done anything. You know, that's how you respond when someone accuses you, right? Especially whenever their ⁓ accusation is accurate, you say, well, what are you talking about? I don't know. And of course, Ghaazi is then struck and stricken. with Leprosy himself. Chapter six, you have a floating axe head, kind of interesting. They're making ⁓ beams and the axe goes into the sinks to the bottom of the ⁓ river and they throw a stick in and it floats the axe head. Just really interesting. ⁓ There's a group of Syrians who are ⁓ coming to make war. This one is pretty pretty interesting. Says the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled and he called his servants and says to them, will you not show me ⁓ which of us is for the king of Israel? So he's had a vision and he is worried that there's a spy ⁓ on the inside, but it's not. It's actually Elisha has warned the kingdom of Israel that Syria is going to be attacking. ⁓ And he says, ⁓ He wants to go and see and get Elisha. They find Elisha and Elisha's servant is very fearful. so Elisha answers, do not fear for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray open his eyes that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So this, when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, strike this people with blindness, and he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. isn't it interesting? So, Elisha's ⁓ servant was blind to the power of the Lord and all of the Lord's soldiers that were there to protect Elisha. And then the enemy, the Syrians, were then struck with literal blindness. And then they take them to Israel. And Israel takes them captive and that kind of stops some of the raiding ⁓ at that time. ⁓ Then there's, you know, some other things that Elisha does. There's a horrible siege ⁓ in Samaria where actually cannibalism is going on. ⁓ finally, the Lord decides that He will relieve them of that. ⁓ And He does kind of in a... a neat way I encourage you to read chapter seven. The Syrians left because they heard the noise of numerous chariots and things like that coming, but that was just from God. And so they left and the city was able to get food and be restored. Chapter eight, we have... the death of one of the king in Israel, not Israel, excuse me, the king of Syria. And it's kind of interesting that he actually comes to Elisha. So Elisha has developed relationships with Syria and ⁓ the northern kingdom in Israel. Of course, he's known by the southern kingdom as well. ⁓ so the Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, said, shall I recover from this disease? Elisha tells the messenger, who the messenger is Hazel, and Elisha says to him, go and say to him, you shall certainly recover. However, the Lord has shown me that he will really die. And then Elisha begins weeping, and Hazel asks him, why are you weeping? And Elisha answered, because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel. Their strongholds you will set on fire. Their young men you will kill with the sword. You will dash their children and rip open their women. with child. And Hazel said, but what is your servant, a dog that he should do this gross thing? Elisha answered, the Lord has shown me that you will become king over Syria. And so then Hazel goes back and gives the message to Ben-Hadad ⁓ and then he actually kills Ben-Hadad and then becomes king of Syria. ⁓ That gets to the end of chapter 8, where there's a little bit more. ⁓ Joram ⁓ reigning in Judah, he is the son of Jehoshaphat. He walked in the way of the king of Israel just as the house of Ahab had done. ⁓ was not a good king. This is one of Judah's bad kings. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for the sake of his servant David as he promised to give him a lamp to him and his sons forever. So we have Joram and then we have Aziah reigning in Judah ⁓ who we talked about just a little bit ago. ⁓ He also did evil in the sight of the Lord. So things are going really well and we'll continue on this downward trend. for next Tuesday, read 2 Kings 9-14, 9-14, and also 2 Chronicles 21 and 22. So 2 Kings 9-14 and 2 Chronicles 21 and 22. I remember the God of the Old Testament, the God who loved the people even though they were not faithful to Him is the God who loves us, who has offered us forgiveness, offered us redemption through His Son, Jesus Christ. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. ⁓ And I hope that you have a relationship with Him.