Second Kings 16-17

God’s message to me: God will give many chances to return to Him but, eventually, he will punish. It had been around 300 years since Solomon brought false worship into Israel but, most of the nation, ruled from Samaria, never turned back despite the warnings of the prophets and the minor judgments brought against them until the entire nation, except Judah, was taken captive by Assyria.

Promises: Our God is patient. I can count 12 generation between the time the Israelites began serving false God’s and the time when God sent them into captivity. Judah went back and forth with false worship but mostly chose to serve God while Israel never turned back from idolatry. The nation of Israel except Judah was taken as captives for the first time since the captivity in Egypt.

Commands: “thou shalt not have any other gods before Me”

Timeless principles: Patience waits for the appropriate time. Unending chances would be laziness and God is not lazy.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: Stand up against false worship and lead people only to worship as God has prescribed. Defy false teachings that contradict the bible and boldly teach the truth as God has given it to us.

more to learn for in-depth study: Ahaz turned to the ways of Israel. He sacrificed his child, he worshiped false gods on the high places and under the trees(nature gods). When besieged by both Israel and Syria he sent gifts to the king of Assyria and asked his help to save Jerusalem. After the Assyrians took Damascus and turned aside the armies of Israel and Syria Ahaz went to visit the Assyrian king and saw an Alter that king had for worship. He made the chief priest build one to the same specifications and it was ready when he returned home. He immediately worshiped before it and put his sacrifices on it then he had it moved into the temple of God to replace the proper alter and removed many of the items that had been there for other use. In other words, he spit in God’s face repeatedly.

Hoshea ruled at a time when the king of Egypt was named So and the king of Assyria was Shalmaneser. These give room for independent coverage from the history of other nations. Also, the Author makes it clear in 2 kings 17:23 that these books are being written during the first period of captivity in Assyria, while Judah was still free.

The Assyrians took people from their homes and put them in the cities of other nations they had captured. The did this with the cities of Israel and as the captives proceeded to worship their false gods, God sent lions among them to kill them. The king of Assyria sent a Jewish priest to teach them how to serve Jehovah but, while they feared God they continued to worship false gods.

tomorrow: Second Kings 18-19