In the Details

II Kings 14-16

The problem with a summary is that you miss the details. There is a saying, "The Devil is in the detail." This means that the clues to solve the mystery are hidden in the details. You have to look beyond the obvious. I would not want to use that saying here, because it is not the Devil we see in the details, but God. I would say the Devil is in the obvious facts of the books we have been covering. That being said, lets summarize and then look at some of the details.

In chapter 14, Amaziah ascends to the throne of Judah. He is a good king over all. He executes the servants who murdered his father. Next, we learn that he went to war with Israel. This did not go well for his army and they lost. So, he returned home but the army of Israel followed. They broke down the walls of Israel and took the gold and silver from the Temple. Then the army of Israel left.

Over time, his servants became discouraged by him as well and conspired against him. He fled the to another city but his servants followed him. He was assassinated and his son Azariah became king. Azariah was 16 years old at this time.

Chapter 15 tells us of the reign of Azariah also called Uzziah (v. 13). We learn that he was a good king but that the people still worshiped idols. Azariah contracted leprosy and so his son, Jotham became the public face of the kingdom. Because Azariah was a leper, he had to be quarantined (a word we are familiar with today!). Azariah died and of course Jotham moved from being the face of the throne to sitting on it as king.

We then switch over to Israel. Here, we switch kings rapidly. First, there is Zachariah who is a wicked king. Six months into his reign, Shallum conspires against him and assassinates him. Then Shallum takes the throne. Shallum was king all of one month before he was assassinated by Menahem and became king.

Menahem was evil as well. Not only did he assassinate Shallum, but because the city or village of Tiphsah did not help him, he attacked and destroyed it. As he was killing the inhabitants, he cut the babies out of the womb of the women who were pregnant. This was an unnecessary degree of cruelty and depravity used by Menahem to demonstrate what he would do to anyone who stood against him. It was an act or terrorism meant to deter anyone who might decide to be his enemy.

During his reign, Assyria brought his army against Israel. Assyria was a growing power and rather than fight them, Menahem paid them tribute to not destroy them. He took this money from the rich forcefully. He died in time and his son Pekahiah ruled in his place.

Pekahiah ruled for two years. He was evil, just like every king of Israel before him. One of his captains, Pekah conspired against him. Pekah, along with a band of men, assassinated Pekahiah and Pekah became the king. He was evil, but would manage to stay on the throne for 20 years. During his reign, Tiglath-pileser, King of Assyria attacked Israel and took much of the land captive. This led to Hoshea conspiring against Pekah and assassinating him.

We switch back to Judah for the remainder of the chapter. During the reign of Pekah, Azariah (Uzziah) died and Jotham officially took the throne. He, like his father was a good king, but also like his father, he did not remove idol worship from the kingdom. During his reign, Rezin the king of Syria aligned with Pekah and began attacking Judah. This would be a problem for Judah but they would not conquer the nation.

Chapter 16 brings and end to the 137 years of good kings ruling Judah. Ahaz becomes king and he is evil. He sets idol worship and human sacrifice in Judah. During his reign Judah is again attacked by Syria and Israel. To help with this attack, Ahaz hires Tiglath-pileser of Assyria to help him fight Syria and Israel. To pay Tiglath-pileser for his services, Ahaz took the silver and gold form the Temple and gave to him. This shows the level as disdain and disregard he had for God.

To show his gratitude, Ahaz went to meet with Tiglath-pileser. While there, he saw the Assyrian gods and altars. He sent word back to the priest to build him such an altar, along with the specifications to construct it. The priest worked quickly to have the altar build before the king returned to Judah.

When he got home, Ahaz offered sacrifices on the altar. He then had the priest move the brazen altar of God to the same location as the idol altar he had built. He used both to offer sacrifices to his idol gods, desecrating the brazen altar of God. He then had the priest break the laver at the temple, effectively ending sacrificial worship of God, at least until these elements were repaired/restored and sanctified. Ahaz reigned for 16 years and died.

By now, you head is probably spinning with the constant changing of kings. In this, we see the depravity in the leadership of Israel. Even though there were a lot of good kings in Judah, we also see that they are not immune to evil leaders. However, we want to break away from the big picture and see a few details.

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II Kings 14:25 

He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher.

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I love this verse! This is where we are first introduced to the prophet Jonah. Jonah as a bad reputation because of the book that bears his name. Granted, he earned that reputation, but that is only a small part of his story. Here, we see a little more of his story. Verse 25 reveals to us that Jonah was faithfully serving God in Israel. Jonah is known for running from God, but he also served God. Many times, we are the same way. We will faithfully serve God until he asks us to cross a line that we are not willing to cross. Just like Jonah, we dig our heels in and refuse to go. While we may not get swallowed by a whale, God has his ways of getting us to move beyond the line we draw into greater surrender to him.

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II Kings 14:5-6 

And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, that he slew his servants which had slain the king his father. 6 But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

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These verses hold important concepts as well. Just as we cannot ride our parents coattails into heave, we are also not accountable to God for the sins of our parents. Yes, there were times that children were executed because of their parents sins. Part of this was done by the will of men, not God. Other times, God did command for an entire people group to be killed. I'm not going to try to explain the mind of God. What I will say is that God is righteous, just, loving, merciful, and many other attributes. He does not act outside of these attributes or violate these attributes. Just because we are not accountable for the sins of our parents, this does not mean that the fallout from their sins will not land on us.

Setting the politics of WWII aside, and only looking at the history of it, think about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Not everyone who died during the bombing was guilty of attacking American and her allies. Not everyone who died was even in favor of the attacks. However, many died from the blast and fallout because of the sins of others. God did not create sin. God certainly does not condone sin. Sin has consequences. We may not like the consequences, and we may not agree with them, but mankind is the ones who chose to sin. Jesus did not like the cross. Jesus did not want the consequence of sin. Especially since the sins for which he had to face the consequences were not his own. Yet, he did! He faced the consequences of sin so that others might live. Not just physical life, but eternal life when we trust in his sacrifice as the payment for our sins.

You do not have to answer to God for the sins of others, but you do have to answer to him for your own. If you accept him as your Lord and Savior, the price has been paid. There may be temporal consequences, but not eternal ones. Jesus took the fallout of your sins, and everyone else's sins so we don't have to. I cannot be remiss to add that, just because he paid the price for your sins, if you reject him, you can still face them for yourself.