Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 18:1-16.  Let’s go!

On verses 1-16:  After Judah had been led by a handful of spiritually rotten, idol-worshiping kings, Hezekiah bursts onto the scene.  Hezekiah courageously breaks with his predecessors’ idol worshiping traditions.  He begins to use his authority as king of Judah to remove idolatry from his land.  Hezekiah also courageously stands up to the king of Assyria, even while Hezekiah’s counterpart Hoshea king of Israel was being defeated by Assyria.  When Assyria turns its attention to attacking and capturing all of Judah, Hezekiah stands in the gap and offers whatever we can to stop Judah from being completely taken over.

What can we learn from this?   Our world is in need of courageous leaders like Hezekiah — people who trust in the Lord no matter what, who aren’t afraid to break with the idol-worshiping traditions of those who came before them and those around them, and who will stand up to the enemy and fight to protect the people in their care.  Because of Hezekiah’s courage and how he hung onto God no matter what, verses 5-7 honour him with these words: 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 17:34-41.  Let’s go!

On verses 34-41:  We see some of the main lessons of 2 Kings reiterated here in these verses:

1.  We were made to worship the Lord alone (v36).  Three times in this short passage it says “Do not worship other gods” (v35, 37, 38). How do you know if you’re worshiping something other than the Lord?  Whatever we put first in our lives is what we worship.  What you worship is reflected in three things: your wallet, your time and your thoughts.  What we spend the most money, time and thought on is an indicator of what we truly worship.  

2.  Only in the Lord do we find real hope and deliverance (v39).

3.  Despite being admonished repeatedly to worship the Lord alone, the Israelites stubbornly persisted in their idol-worshiping ways, putting other things before God (v34, 40, 41a).  We too can be stubborn in our idol-worshiping ways.  We must be careful to guard against idol-worshiping tendencies.  

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 17:14-23.  Let’s go!

2 Kings 17:22-23 (NIV) 
22  The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them
23  until the LORD removed them from his presence, as he had warned through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there. 

On verses 14-23:  These verses summarize the overall story of 2 Kings: Despite the Lord warning His people about sinning against Him and about the consequences that would result from their persistent sin, the Israelites both in Israel and in Judah persisted in all forms of sinning against the Lord (v14 to 19).  So the Lord does as He had warned: just as Abijah had prophesied approximately 200 years before in 1 Kings 14:15-16, God thrusts the Israelites from His presence and out of the land that He had given to them (v20-23).

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 17:1-13.  Let’s go!

On verses 1-13:  One thing that strikes me as I read this passage is how much more merciful and gracious the Lord is compared to Shalmaneser king of Assyria.  King Hoshea of Israel had been Shalmaneser’s vassal; in other words, King Hoshea had a relationship with Shalmaneser such that King Hoshea would pay tribute to Shalmaneser each year in exchange for Shalmaneser’s agreement to protect and not hurt Hoshea’s kingdom of Israel.  But secretly King Hoshea began to side with Egypt and stopped paying tribute to Shalmaneser.  In response to Hoshea’s rebellion and disloyalty, Shalmaneser seizes Hoshea, puts him in prison, lays siege to Israel for 3 years and deports the Israelites to Assyria.  

Just as King Hoshea was unfaithful to King Shalmaneser of Assyria, the Israelites were unfaithful to the Lord.  Verses 7-12 describe how the Israelites worshiped other gods, imitated the religious practices of foreign nations, and secretly did things against the Lord that were not right.  Rather than putting them in prison or taking away their land immediately the way Shalmaneser did, the Lord was patient with the Israelites from generation to generation, warning them not to worship idols.  It was only after persistent rebellion that the Lord finally disciplines the Israelites by allowing Assyria to invade Israel and deport the Israelites to Assyria.