19-1 Kings 12 – 2 Kings 5

1 Kings 12 – 2 Kings 5 May 2, 2009

We will begin our study this week in the Book of 1 Kings 12. Last week we looked at several events in the life of David and talked about his son Solomon’s reign. Now in Chapter 12 Solomon is dead and his son Rehoboam is on the throne of Israel. Rehoboam went to Shechem to be made king. Meanwhile Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had rebelled against Solomon in 1 Kings 11, returned from Egypt where he had fled. He had rebelled when Ahijah the prophet told him that he would be given ten of the tribes of Israel to rule over because of God’s prophesy against Solomon and his heirs. He went before Rehoboam with all the assembly of Israel and asked him to lessen the heavy load his father had placed on the people. Rehoboam told them to leave and return in three days for an answer. Rehoboam consulted with the advisors of Solomon and received bad advice. After three days when Jeroboam returned he told him he would not lessen the load but increase their burden greatly. The entire assembly of Israel rebelled against Rehoboam and fulfilled the prophesy spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite that the kingdom of Israel would be divided. The people of Israel responded to Rehoboam with these words in Chapter 12:16 “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” The people then returned to their homes. Rehoboam then sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor, to Israel. The people stoned him to death. Rehoboam then fled Jerusalem and Israel rebelled against Judah and the house of David. Jeroboam was then made king over Israel by the people. Rehoboam then gathered one hundred eighty thousand men of Judah to go against Israel and reclaim the kingdom for the house of David. Before they went to war Shemaiah, the man of God, came to them and spoke the words of the Lord in Chapter 12:24 “Thus says the Lord, “You must not go up and fight against your relatives the sons of Israel; return every man to his house, for this thing has come from Me.” The people listened and returned to their homes. Jeroboam, who had been made king over Israel, was worried that the men of Israel would return to following Rehoboam if they went to Jerusalem to sacrifice during the time of the feasts to the Lord. He made two golden calves and placed one up north in Dan and the other in Bethel. He told the people that his gods were closer to worship then to go up to Jerusalem. He also made priests of the people who were not from the tribe of Levi. He had created his own god and religion. In Chapter 13 when Jeroboam was burning incense in Bethel, a prophet came to him and spoke the words from the Lord recorded in verse 2 and 3 “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’” Then he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken, ‘Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.’” Jeroboam stretched out his hand over the altar to have the prophet seized and it stiffened and he could not bring it back to his body. The altar also split in two. Jeroboam then asked the man he had just wanted seized to pray to the Lord for him to restore his hand. The prophet prayed and the Lord restored Jeroboam’s hand. The king wanted to have the prophet eat with him and to give him a reward. The man refused because the Lord told him not to eat or drink in Bethel and to return to his home by a different route. He did not want to disobey the command of the Lord. There was an old prophet in Bethel who was told by his sons what had happened that day. He wanted to know in which direction the prophet had left. He saddled a donkey and set out to look for the prophet. When he found the prophet he asked him to return with him and eat. The prophet again refused the offer, but the old prophet lied and told him the Lord said he could return and eat. He listened to the old man and ate and drank in his home. The old prophet then received the word of the Lord and told his guest that he would not be buried with his fathers because he had disobeyed the Lord. The prophet then left on a donkey and was met by a lion on the road. The lion killed him but did not harm the donkey or eat the man. The animals were in the control of the Lord. The old prophet came to the man and placed him on his donkey and brought him back to Bethel and buried him in his own grave. He told his sons to bury him also with the prophet from Judah. This sign of God’s power did nothing to change Jeroboam or any of his evil ways. He continued with the high places and making his own priests. This sin would cause the Lord to blot Jeroboam, and his house from the earth. After this Jeroboam’s son became sick. He asked his wife to disguise herself and go to Ahijah with some food and find out what to do about their son. She went to him, and even though he was almost blind he knew who his visitor was. Ahijah told Jeroboam’s wife that her son would die when she reached home along with the entire family of Jeroboam because of his sin. The events predicted by Ahijah came to pass and Jeroboam died. He had reigned over Israel for twenty two years. His son Nadab became king in his place. Meanwhile Rehoboam was on the throne in Jerusalem over Judah. He also went against the Lord and built up the high places, and made sacred pillars and Asherim. The people of Judah did all the evil things the old inhabitants of the land did. During the fifth year of his reign his father Solomon’s treaty with Egypt was broken when Shishak the king of Egypt came to Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the temple and the king’s palace. Rehoboam was even forced to make shields of bronze to give to the guards of his house to replace the gold shields that were lost. Rehoboam’s reign was continuously plagued in warfare with Jeroboam and Israel. After reigning over Judah for seventeen years Rehoboam died and was buried in the city of David with his fathers. His son Abijam was made king in his place. In Chapter 15 Abijam became king during the eighteenth year of Jeroboam’s reign over Israel. Abijam was on the throne for three years in Jerusalem and followed all the sins of his father. He did not do as David did and it was only for David’s sake he was allowed to live and produce a son to rule over Judah. The Bible reads in Chapter 15:4 “But for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem” The word “lamp “here means life. The only thing mentioned about Abijam was that he also was in continuous conflict with Jeroboam during his reign. Abijam then died and his son Asa succeeded him on the throne in Jerusalem. Asa became king during the twentieth year of the reign of Jeroboam over Israel. Asa reigned for forty one years in Jerusalem and followed the Lord for all his days. He removed all the idols and male prostitutes from the land. The text says he did not tear down the high places, but still did what was right in the sight of the Lord. Asa replaced the treasury of the Lord in the temple and rebuilt what was lost by his father. He had conflict with Baasha who had taken over as king over Israel after Nadab. He took the treasury of the Lord and gave it to Ben- Hadad of Aram to restore the old treaty between their fathers and break Aram’s treaty with Baasha. He then died in old age and was buried with his fathers. His son Jehoshaphat became king in his place. The text then shifts back to Israel and king Nadab, then Baasha. Nadab was the son of Jeroboam and also did evil like his father. His reign only lasted two years. Baasha conspired against Nadab and killed him and took over the throne. Baasha’s first act as king was to strike down the remaining family of Jeroboam. This act fulfilled the prophesy of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam about the future of him and his house. Baasha became king during the third year of Asa’s reign over Judah. He was at war with Asa during his entire reign of twenty four years. He also did evil towards the Lord. In Chapter 16 the Lord sent Jehu to Baasha to prophesy against him and his house. God said he would do to Baasha the same he did to Jeroboam and his house because of his disobedience. Baasha then died and his son Elah became king. Elah had reigned for two years when Zimri, the commander of half of Elah’s chariots killed him and became king. Zimri’s first act was similar to Baasha’s in that he went and struck down the family of Baasha as Baasha did to Jeroboam’s. Zimri only reigned for seven days and the people turned on him and killed him. They made Omri king in his place. After the death of Zimri, the kingdom of Israel divided again and rule was split between Omri and Tibni. The people who followed Omri were victorious over the followers of Tibni and after five years Tibni died. The people of Israel then reunited under Omri. He reigned over Israel for approximately another twelve years until his death. So far none of the kings of Israel followed the Lord and walked in His ways. Omri’s son Ahab then became king over Israel. Ahab was even more evil than those who preceded him. He reigned over Israel for twenty two years. He disobeyed the Lord and married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon, and worshipped Baal. He set up an altar to Baal in Samaria and also made the Asherah. The Asherah were wooden symbols of a female god. Also during this time prophesy spoken in the Book of Joshua 6:26 about Jericho came to pass when Heil the Bethite rebuilt the city and lost his firstborn. In Chapter 17 we meet the prophet Elijah. Elijah went to Ahab and spoke to him the word of the Lord and predicted a drought. God then told Elijah to go away and hide himself by a brook on the eastern side of the Jordan. The brook provided water to drink and God sustained Elijah by sending ravens with food to him. The drought caused the brook to dry up and God sent Elijah to a widow in Zarephath. Elijah found the woman gathering sticks by the city gate and asked her for bread and a drink of water. She had only a small amount of flour that she was gathering the sticks for to bake her son some bread. Elijah told her not to fear that the Lord would provide. She listened and invited him to her home. She made the bread and her bowl of flour and jar of oil did not exhaust themselves for many days. After this the widow’s son became sick. The sickness was so bad the boy died. The woman was angry with Elijah and accused him of bringing the sickness to her home. Elijah had compassion for the woman and asked for her son. He brought him to the upper room where he had been living and laid him on his bed. He prayed to the Lord and stretched out over the boy three times. The boy recovered and the widow then knew that Elijah truly was a man of God. In Chapter 18 after a time Elijah left the widow and went to Ahab. God told him to go and say that He would bring rain. The famine was very bad because of the drought in Samaria. The man Obadiah was over the household of Ahab. Even though Obadiah held a high position with Ahab, he feared the Lord. When Jezebel, Ahab’s wife removed the prophets of God from the land, Obadiah took one hundred of them and hid and fed the rescued men in secret. Ahab told Obadiah to go out and find some grass for his livestock so he would not have to kill some of his cattle. During Obadiah’s search he came to Elijah. He was afraid because Elijah wanted him to go and tell Ahab that he was coming. Obadiah feared what would become of him if he did this. He relented and went to Ahab. Ahab then went to Elijah and called him the troubler of Israel. Elijah replied to Ahab with these words from Chapter 18:18-19 “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals.“Now then send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” Ahab gathered up the prophets of Baal and Asherah and brought them to Mount Carmel. Elijah came and proposed to them a test. He had them build an altar and place a sacrifice to their gods on it. The test was to have their gods consume the sacrifice. Elijah said he would do the same. The prophets made their altar and prayed to their gods. Nothing happened so Elijah mocked them and asked if their gods had fallen asleep? The prophets were angry and continued to leap and cut themselves until the evening sacrifice had come. Elijah told the people to come near and he rebuilt the altar to the Lord on Mount Carmel with twelve large stones that represented the twelve tribes. He also dug a trench around the base of the altar. Elijah then cut up the sacrifice and placed it on the altar. To make the test even more difficult he had the people pour water over the sacrifice until it filled the trench. Elijah then prayed to the Lord and a fire came down and consumed the sacrifice. Not only was the animal consumed, but also the wood the water and the stones were also burnt up. The people saw what the Lord had done and said “The Lord He is God: The Lord He is God” Elijah told the people to seize the prophets of Baal. He took them to the brook Kidron and killed them all. Elijah then told Ahab to eat and drink because a shower was coming. The storm came and Elijah ran before Ahab’s chariot all the way to Jezreel and Jezebel. In Chapter 19 we find that Elijah had become sure of himself in front of Ahab because of what the Lord did to the prophets of Baal. He thought he would come to Jezebel and she would repent. Instead Jezebel did not repent, but threatened to kill Elijah. Elijah’s pride was crushed and he fled to the wilderness and sat under a juniper tree and prayed that the Lord would kill him. He believed he had failed as a prophet and that his life should be over. God sent an angel to Elijah to give him food. He ate and the angel returned and told him to go to the Mountain of God, Mt Sinai. Elijah took an entire forty days and nights to reach the mountain. The journey should have taken only half as long. The Lord then came to him in a cave and asked him why he was there? Elijah told the Lord of his failure and God replied and told him to go up on the mountain. The text describes the effects of the passing by of the Lord near Elijah. He felt an earthquake, wind and fire during the time and wrapped his mantle around himself. He listened as the Lord told him to go to the wilderness of Damascus and anoint Hazel king over Aram, Jehu over Israel, and Elisha as a prophet in his place. These three were to rid the land of the worshippers of Baal. After they were finished only seven thousand remained in Israel that did not worship Baal. Elijah then left and found Elisha and threw his mantle over him. Elisha then followed Elijah. There was then a war with Aram and Ahab was victorious. There was another war with Aram and Ahab was again victorious but the Lord was angry because he made a covenant with Ben-Hadad of Aram who the Lord wanted destroyed. Ahab left the victory depressed and sullen. In Chapter 21 Ahab coveted the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was located in Samaria near the king’s palace. Naboth refused to sell the inheritance of his father to the king. Ahab returned to the palace and was depressed and would not eat. His wife Jezebel went to find out what was wrong with Ahab and told him she would get the land for him. She had Naboth brought to trial falsely and he was found guilty and stoned to death. When Ahab heard Naboth was dead Jezebel reminded him he was king and to go and possess the vineyard. Ahab then went and claimed the vineyard for himself. God then told Elijah to go to Ahab and speak the words recorded in Chapter 21:18-19 “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession of it.“You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Have you murdered and also taken possession?”’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth the dogs will lick up your blood, even yours.”’” The dialog between Ahab and Elijah is also recorded in Chapter 21:20-24 “Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” And he answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord.“Behold, I will bring evil upon you, and will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel;and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and because you have made Israel sin.“Of Jezebel also has the Lord spoken, saying, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.’“The one belonging to Ahab, who dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and the one who dies in the field the birds of heaven will eat.” When Ahab heard these words he became humbled and put on sackcloth and fasted. Because of this God withheld his punishment on the house of Ahab until after his death. In the last chapter of the Book of 1 Kings Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah came to Israel and Ahab wished to enlist their help against Aram in Ramoth-gilead. Jehoshaphat agreed to help them because they were once all one people. He also asked Israel to consult the Lord on the proposed battle. Israel gathered up four hundred prophets and they all said the Lord wanted them to go to battle. Jehoshaphat knew that these four hundred men were not men of God and asked Ahab for a real prophet. Ahab only knew of one man and he did not want to call him because his prophesies were always against him. Ahab knew he had to call for the prophet and had his men go and get Micaiah and bring him to the city gate. A man named Zedekiah came before the kings with iron horns on his head and made the false prophecy recorded in Chapter 22:11 “Thus says the Lord, ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until they are consumed.’” The effect this act had on Israel and Judah was spoken of in the Book of Zechariah 1:18-21 “Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns.So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.I said, “What are these coming to do?” And he said, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.” Micaiah came and spoke the true word of the Lord to the kings. He said not to go against Aram and return to your homes. He also said that He would place a deceiving spirit into the mouth of the prophets to entice Ahab to war. Zedekiah turned prophesy around and Micaiah was placed into prison and they went to war. Ahab disguised himself and went to war with his men. The disguise did not fool the enemy and King Ahab was struck by an arrow through a gap in his armor. Israel lost the battle and Ahab bled to death during the fight. When the king was brought back to Samaria his blood was washed out of his chariot and the dogs licked it up. This fulfilled what the Lord told Ahab after he stole the vineyard of Naboth. Now that Ahab was dead, his son Ahaziah was made king over Israel. During about the same time in Judah Jehoshaphat died and the text records the good deeds he had done during his reign. His son Jehoram then reigned in his place. Back in Israel Ahaziah did evil like his father and reigned for only two years over Israel. This ends the Book of 1 Kings. We will now begin the Book of 2 Kings. This book begins with the account of King Ahaziah’s fall through the upper room of his home. The fall had made him sick, and instead of asking the Lord if he would recover he asked Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron instead. The messengers he sent to ask the god were met by Elijah and struck by fire from the Lord. Two groups of fifty men were killed before the third begged for mercy. Elijah told the man to let Ahaziah know that he would die. Ahaziah died and was succeeded by Jehoram his brother, because he no son of his own. At this time the king of both Israel and Judah were named Jehoram. In Chapter 2 God had decided to take Elijah the prophet to heaven in a whirlwind instead of letting him die like other men. Elijah went with Elisha to Gilgal and asked him to stay there. Elisha did not want to leave his master and followed him anyway. When they reached the Jordan River Elijah folded his mantle and struck the water. The river parted and the two prophets walked across on dry land. When they reached the other side Elijah asked Elisha if there was anything he could do for him before he left. Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit to be given to him. Elijah said that he had asked for a hard thing, and a chariot of fire and horses appeared and separated the two men. A whirlwind then took Elijah to heaven. Elisha then cried out and tore his clothes. He took the mantle of Elijah and went back to the Jordan and said “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” and struck the water. The water parted and Elisha walked to the other side. The other prophets did not believe Elijah had been taken to heaven and searched for him for three days. The men of the city had a problem with their water supply and Elisha corrected the problem with a jar of the water and some salt. After he threw the salted water into the spring he spoke the words of the Lord recorded in Chapter 2:21 “I have purified these waters; there shall not be from there death or unfruitfulness any longer.” The last verses of Chapter 2 record the story of what Elisha faced from the people. Some young men mocked him and called out to him “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!” The men were actually young adults who did not believe his story of Elijah’s translation to heaven. The Lord was strong in Elisha, and when he cursed them in the name of the Lord, two bears came from the woods and killed forty two of them. He then went to Mount Carmel and then to Samaria. Chapter 3 is an account of a rebellion of Moab that was met by King Jehoram of Israel. Then in Chapter 4 a widow of one of the sons of the prophets came to Elisha and told him her husband was dead and people were coming to take her house because she could no longer pay them. All she had was a small jar of oil. Elisha had compassion for the woman and had her gather and borrow any vessel she could that would hold oil. He told her to go into her house and pour out her oil into all the vessels she had found. The flow of oil from that one small jar did not stop until all the other containers were filled. Elisha told the woman to sell the oil to pay her debt. Next there is the account of the son of a Shunammite woman’s son who had died. She was upset. Elisha had predicted his birth years before. She was afraid to tell the prophet of his death. Elisha knew what to do and took the boy into a room the same as Elijah had done. He stretched out over the boy and the child recovered and was given back .to the woman. Also the last part of the chapter tells the story of a pot of poisonous stew that was made safe to eat by Elisha. We will end our study in Chapter 5. Naaman, the commander of the army of Aram was highly respected because of the victory God gave him for Aram. The text says the man was also a leper. A little girl from Israel was captured and was a servant of Naaman’s wife. She told her about Elisha and how he could heal her husband. The king sent a letter to the king of Israel with much money to send Elisha to heal Naaman. The king of Israel was angry at the request and tore his clothes. Elisha heard the king was upset and went to find out why. Elisha heard the reason and sent a messenger to Naaman to tell him to wash in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed. Naaman was angry with the answer and said in Chapter 5:11-12 “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’“Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” His servants told him how ridiculous he sounded and he went and did what Elisha had said. It worked and Naaman’s flesh became like that of a little child. Elisha’s servant Gehazi was greedy and wanted the reward from Naaman that his master Elisha refused to accept. He lied to Naaman and accepted a reward from him and also lied to Elisha that he took it. In punishment Gehazi and his descendants would suffer from Naaman’s leprosy forever. The text says Gehazi left Elisha as a leper white as snow. This ends our study for this week. Next week we will continue in the Book of 2 Kings and the history of the divided kingdom.