2 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 26

All the kings can be confusing, but we have 4 books (1-2 Kings; 1-2 Chronicles) dealing specifically with them.  Therefore, God wants us to be aware of them and the choices they made....do any of the cycles seem familiar?  I posted a chart yesterday that deals with the kings and you can see that we will be up to the last king of Israel in our reading today.  I'm also going to post fellow blogger Patricia's comments because she has a link to Rulers and Prophets of Israel and Judah.... I printed out that sheet because it helps me keep the prophets straight, too.   We are moving into Isaiah tomorrow.  This is a major book and has more New Testament references to it than any other book in the Old Testament.

Posted July 8, 2010 by Patricia in 2 Chronicles, 2 Kings. 7 Comments

 Did you look at your chart?  These are the kings in Israel mostly.  Very short reigns…why?  because they were not following the Lord.  Click here for Chart.  You can also see from the chart we are pretty close to the line of Israel ending.  What will happen to them?  Where will they go?

Next year when you read the Bible again,  I want you to put a little time into looking at World History and its coorelation…it is awesome.  But God gave us a hint in the Scriptures  2 Kings 15:19

Then Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave him a thousand talents of silver to gain his support and strengthen his own hold on the kingdom.  Menahem exacted this money from Israel. Every wealthy man had to contribute fifty shekels  of silver to be given to the king of Assyria.

Assyria is becoming a HUGE world power.  The reason they want the Promise land is because it lines the coast of the sea and the real power and money is to control the trade route.  So keep an eye on the ASSyrians.  They are really wicked people rising to take over the world (Hmmmm….just like today)

What was the Capital of Assyria?   Nineveh (from Jonah)

Shall we talk about what happened in Judah while all these Israel Kings were “doing evil in the eyes of the Lord”.  In 2 Chronicles 26 Uzzah (also called Azaraiah) who was doing so good…even the scriptures said

He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success. 2 Chrons 26:4-5

But what happens to so many people?  What has been the MOST talked about sin in the Bible?  Murder? lust? Homosexuality? Stealing?  Coveting?  NO.  Pride and worshipping anything other than the Lord.  Top 2.  Want me to repeat that?  PRIDE AND WORSHIPPING ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE LORD.

Uzziah not only did not take down the high places but in verse 16 it says his pride was his downfall.  He entered the temple as a priest would.  You all know how wrong this is.  ONLY the descendants of Aaron, the Levi tribe can hold priest positions.   Pride ignores the way of the Lord.  In the bible Leprosy is an outward expression of what is inside a man.  God revealed Uzziah’s pride by giving him Leprosy.

The Good News is Jesus will take all that away.  Only he can make us white as snow.