Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture- 2 Chr 27-28, Isa 28-29, 2 Kings 17
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: Hey, it's good to see you today. Thank you for joining us for our journey through Scripture. Today we continue going through our journey through Scripture. We are right in the middle, ⁓ actually getting close to the end of the Northern Kingdom, ⁓ the Kingdom of Israel. ⁓ You know, then you have the Southern Kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah. We've been going back and forth talking about what's going on kind of at the same time. ⁓ Israel had made, the Northern Kingdom had made some alliances with Syria. They had come in and done a lot of damage to the Southern Kingdom. But today we're going to get to the point where we see basically the end of the Northern Kingdom. So today we're going to read in 2 Chronicles chapters 27 and 28, in Isaiah chapters 28 and 29, and 2 Kings chapter 17. All right, so all of these, again, it's not easy to do this in chronological order. You do kind of jump around, but hopefully we're getting a big picture and not, you know, every time that you start a new book that you have to reset, you know, the stage. We're trying to go in a ⁓ relatively accurate chronological order. So second Chronicles 27 and 28. Chronicles is always, remember, focusing more on the Southern Kingdom than the Northern Kingdom. So this talks about Jotham. We talked about King Uzziah, who he was the king when Isaiah began to prophesy in Judah. Remember, he was a good king until the end, and he tried to overstep and tried to take on some of the priestly duties. So now his son, Jotham, ⁓ reigns a... ⁓ in Judah, and it says, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah had done, although he didn't enter the temple of the Lord. But still, the people acted corruptly. ⁓ So what has been happening is the leadership has become ⁓ less and less faithful to God. That's what Uzziah, you saw that in his reign. We've certainly seen it in the Northern Kingdom. But that leadership has now led to even whenever there's a good leader, Jotham, the people are now acting corruptly as well. So the whole society is beginning this move away from God. Jotham did a lot of good things. He had some military victories. He also built some cities. says in verse 6, so Jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God. So that's why he had success. And then of course, he passes away and then his son Ahaz comes on the scene. We've talked about Ahaz before. Ahaz is probably the worst king in the Southern Kingdom, especially to this point. It says in chapter 28 of 2 Chronicles, right there at the beginning, says he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his father David had done for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made molded image for the bales he burned incense in the valley of Hinnon he burned his children in the fire according to the abomination of the nations who the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel and he sacrificed and burned incense on high places on the hills and under every green tree so basically this is a guy King Ahaz who is just going to follow all the gods. He's just going to treat the one true God as just one of many. And this, of course, is going to lead to ⁓ major consequences. What we have is we have the Northern Kingdom has made an alliance with Syria to protect themselves against us Syria and others. They actually attack Judah as well. Starting in verse 5, it talks about that in chapter 28, that, the Lord his God delivered him into the hands of the king of Syria. And then, verse 8, and the children of Israel carried away captives of their brethren, two hundred thousand women, sons and daughters, and they took away much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. So, the northern kingdom, this is a civil war, invaded the southern kingdom with the help of Syria. And then the Northern Kingdom was taking back people from the Southern Kingdom to be their slaves. ⁓ But you have a prophet named Odad who had some pretty strong warnings for the Northern Kingdom. He said, look, because the Lord your God of your fathers was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand. but you have killed them with a rage that reaches up to heaven. And now you propose to force the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be your male and female slaves. But are you not also guilty before the Lord your God? Now hear me therefore and return the captives whom you have taken captive from your brethren, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you." So this prophet is like, hey, God allowed this to happen to Judah because of King Ahaz and what is happening there, but you're just as guilty. And you are making this way worse. And this went completely against some of the laws that we see in Leviticus of taking captives and things like that. so Oded reminds them of that. And so they actually do not take all the people. They leave them in Jericho, but the damage is definitely already done. During this time, you have the king of Judah Ahaz, who had been trying to develop a secret alliance with Assyria, but Assyria doesn't come and help. And so King Ahaz is basically worthless. It says, for the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz, king of Israel. This is ⁓ verse 19 of chapter 28. For he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and he had been continually unfaithful to the Lord. Isn't that interesting that he encouraged moral decline? There's, you know, especially as a, as a leader, ⁓ in God's eyes, you know, there, there are leaders who did immoral things. David did immoral things, right? ⁓ but he repented, ⁓ and he did not encourage the people to do immoral things. And that's, you know, we don't necessarily like this because again, this has some nuance to it. There, there is a difference. Like if David. I would have been out encouraging people to, hey, go commit adultery. It's no big deal. That is way worse than David making a huge mistake and committing that sin, but then conveying the truth, conveying that, no, this is not something that you should do. Right. I always kind of at a practical level, bringing it to modern day. There are some people who will say, well, I can't expect my kids. not to get drunk when they're 16 years old because I did the same thing. ⁓ That's stupid rationale. You shouldn't encourage immoral behavior, right? Even if you have participated in it. So what King Ahaz is doing, not only is he immoral, but he's encouraging immoral behavior. ⁓ And we see that and... Of course, he was continually unfaithful to the Lord and following other gods. This is an interesting verse in chapter, or verse 22 of chapter 28. It says, now in the time of his distress, right? So that's when you know truly where someone's integrity really lies, right? In his time of distress, King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful. to the Lord. a lot of times people have two directions that they can go when difficulty and challenges start bringing stress in our life. You're either going to run to the Lord or you're going to harden your heart towards the Lord. That is usually what happens. And it's important for us, for all of us to think about that because the difficult days are coming ⁓ and they may already be here for you. And so the choice that you have to make is, you going to go towards the Lord or are you going to harden your heart towards Him? And your emotions may tell you to harden your heart, right? You may feel like, you know, I want to be angry with the Lord. I want to blame the Lord for all of this, because maybe it's things that you can't explain and things that are out of your control. And so it becomes easier just to blame the Lord. But that will only lead to more distress in your life. It is in those times where we don't understand, where ⁓ we struggle the most, that we need to be turning towards the Lord. Ahaz, as the distress increased, his distance from God also increased. It says, for he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, so he continued to worship other gods. because the gods of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me." So he sees, ⁓ maybe the gods of, because Syria had this victory over him, he was like, well, maybe I'll just go use their gods. We need to be careful with that. Just because we see something in society that seems to work, if it is immoral and if it goes against the ideas and the precepts of God, We can't go along with that. We have to choose to follow God and to follow His commandments. As you continue, gets, this is kind of interesting at the very end, ⁓ verse 27, King Ahaz dies, they buried him in the city in Jerusalem, but this is interesting, but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. So they recognize how bad... this king was, and he was not honored in the same manner as the other kings. Then we get to Isaiah 28 and 29. I encourage you to read through there. What this is, is it's talking about the fall of the Northern Kingdom, and then Isaiah is referencing that, and then he is ⁓ turning that as a warning to Judah. So all of this is kind of happening at the same time. Israel has had this victory over Ahaz, but now Israel is about to be completely overrun and taken. And we'll read about that here in 2 Kings 17. ⁓ Isaiah 28 and 29, 28 starts off, Woe to the crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim. That's the Northern Kingdom, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower. ⁓ It says, the crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim will be trampled underfoot. Verse 7 says, but they also have erred through wine and through intoxicating drink or out of the way. The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They're out of the way through intoxicating drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filth. No place is clean. saying that they were just all alcoholics. It's using that as an example of just how disoriented they are, that they are clearly not following God, that their vision is blurry, and they are not making good decisions. verse 14 says, Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement. So that's the switch. Isaiah is acknowledging what happened in the Northern Kingdom, that they have just become drunk on their own power and they are being trampled underfoot. And he's saying, now pay attention, you leaders in Jerusalem. You don't want that to happen to you. And then in verse 16, it says, ⁓ for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Whoever believes will not act hastily. Also, I will make justice the measuring line and righteous the plumb line. And the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled and your agreement with Sheo will not stand." So Isaiah is speaking directly to the that the leaders in Judah, the southern kingdom are making and saying, God is preparing a foundation, but you are going to pay for making a deal with those who are not godly. And it continues to go on. There's kind of this warning, the importance of listening to the teaching of God there at the end of chapter 28, then chapter 29 of Isaiah. It is kind of a woe to Jerusalem, ⁓ encouraging them to wake up. But I thought this was interesting. Verse 9 says, pause and wonder, blind yourselves and be blind. They are drunk, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. For the Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep and has closed your eyes, namely the prophets. And He has covered your heads, namely the seers. So the people have become blinded. They've allowed themselves to be blinded to the truth of God. the ones that are responsible for teaching the Word of the Lord have become blinded as well. It says, Therefore the Lord said, Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the commandment of men. Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder, the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, and their works are in the dark. They say, who sees us and who knows us?" All right, so again, this warning to the people that they better start turning back, that they... Isaiah is already indicating... they have chosen blindness rather than to see and to pay attention to what the Lord has called them to. And the end of chapter 29 is that there's always the reminder that things will be made right. Verse 17, it is not yet a very little while till Lebanon shall be turned to a fruitful field and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest. In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book. The eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord and the poor among men shall rejoice." Right? So there's always this look forward that, hey, we are going to make it through this. God is going to remain faithful, but you know what? You're going to have to pay for your blindness. You're going to have to pay for not paying attention to what the Lord has said. Now, 2 Kings 17, really talks about the end of the kingdom of Israel. ⁓ You have the very first part of ⁓ 2 Kings 17. You have ⁓ Hosea, who becomes king of Israel. ⁓ Again, he tries to kind of play both sides, tries to make some political deals, and then the king of Assyria realizes what he's doing and Assyria... comes in and wipes out the Northern Kingdom. This is in about 722. It takes some time, but by 722 BC, the Northern Kingdom is basically annihilated. It says, ⁓ in the ninth year of Hosea, the ⁓ king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria. And then if you continue reading there in 17, it talks about why. Why? You know, reiterate, because they had feared other gods. They had walked in the statutes of the nation with whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel. It's verse 11, there they burned incense on all the high places like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before him. And they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger. For they served idols of which the Lord had said to them, you shall not do this thing. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah. through all his prophets and seers saying, turn from your evil way. Keep my commandments and my statutes according to the law which I commanded your fathers and I sent you by my servants and the prophets. Nevertheless, they would not hear it, but they stiffened their necks like the necks of their fathers who did not believe in the Lord their God. Therefore the Lord, this is verse 18, therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel. removed them from his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah alone." And so again, the stiffening of the neck, refusing to follow and to believe in what God has called us to believe and following his commands, choosing to go your own way. Then it talks about Assyria resettling Samaria. It's kind of interesting. There's a place, ⁓ Lots of different people go back into Samaria, into the Northern Kingdom. They bring all of their gods. Some are attacked by lions. So they actually go, ⁓ okay, wait, maybe we need to have some fear of the Lord. So they bring in a priest to teach them about the God of the Bible, right? Because they didn't have a problem believing in multiple gods. So they're like, hey, we need to make sure we at least keep some fear of this God. And I thought it was interesting in verse 33, it says, they feared the Lord, yet served their own gods according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away. So they all served their own gods, but then they kind of had this fear of the one true God, because they like, ⁓ there's something with this. But then as time goes on, verse 34, to this day, they continue practicing former rituals. They do not fear the Lord. nor do they follow their statutes or ordinances or law or command which the Lord has commanded the children of Jacob. And I think this is an important point that the more you split your allegiance, right, the more that you worship more than just the one true God, eventually you are going to move away from seeing Him. as the one true God. You're going to kind of... Look at Him just as you look at other things in society, that He's just ⁓ one important thing of a lot of important things in your life. Is God the most important? Is He who you fear? Is He who you live by? Or have you just put Him as one of the important things in your life? ⁓ It's very important that we fear the Lord, that we worship Him and Him alone, and that we do not allow political ideologies, we do not allow worldly ideologies, we do not allow our jobs or our families or anything like that to reach the level of the one true God. ⁓ And that is so important. And you see what happened to the nation of Israel as they continued year after year after year to move further and further from God, that they did not fear Him, that they began worshiping other gods, and eventually they... experienced disaster. And really, you never, you don't, this is the end of the Northern Kingdom. The Southern Kingdom Judah, we will be talking about now as we move forward. They hang in there for a little bit longer, but unfortunately, they are on the same path. All right. So on Thursday, I encourage you to read 2 Kings 18, also Isaiah 10 through 12. And then we're going to throw in some Proverbs. We got through most of Proverbs, but Proverbs 25 through 29, right? Proverbs 25 through 29, because the people clearly are not being wise and following God. All right, so we'll see you. Thanks for joining us.