The Last Kings of Israel

INTRO

Today, we are going to look at the last kings of Israel. God had a strong covenant with these people, but these were hard days with Israel. In the previous chapters, God brought great revival through Josiah. Josiah was just a child when he was made king. Yet there were things about him that we will see in king after king. How many righteous kings did Israel have? Zero. How many righteous kings did Judah have? Eight.

Israel and Judah came from the same seed and the same covenant, and yet Israel didn’t have even one of those commendations. Judah had Josiah, who had done what was right with the Lord. God commended him over and over because he had thrown out the things that caused sin. There was a revival with king Josiah. He was king for 31 years, and he reigned in righteousness. After 31 years, Josiah was killed in battle. His son Jehoahaz was brought into kingship. But then Eliakim, whose name was changed to Jehoiakim, replaced him shortly into his reign. Both kings did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. As we come into these chapters, I want us to understand how God views sin.

TEACHING

2 Kings 24:1: As we start this chapter, I want you to understand who the contemporaries were during this time (Jeremiah 25:1–7). We are going to see how God was working. Despite warnings from the prophets, the Israelites failed to listen and were overtaken by Babylon. I think this shows that we don’t serve well and that we forget God in times of great prosperity. I want us to see the pattern of humanity. I also want us to see the mercy of God to send prophets (Daniel 1:1–7). Who are the people that can give us understanding?

2 Kings 24:2–4: Look at 2 Kings 21:1–7. These verses give the history of the sins of Manasseh. What I want us to understand is, you can have a Manasseh and then you can have a Josiah. With his 31 years of being a faithful king, you would think Josiah would deliver a reprieve for the sins of Manasseh. But God is God. Sin is sin. The question is, how does God regard sin in us? There are consequences for sin. We must be careful. God will forgive our sin, but there are still consequences. Manasseh did horrible things and Judah was judged for those sins, even though there was a Josiah who ruled in righteousness.

2 Kings 24:5–20: The king of Babylon had taken so much territory that the king of Egypt could no longer come to wreak havoc. Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin became king at the age of 18 (v. 8). He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, and Jerusalem was overrun by Babylon. Jehoiachin reigned for eight years before he was taken as a prisoner to Babylon (v. 15). The Babylonians carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord from the Temple and the king’s house. They cut many of the treasures into pieces and carried away the powerful and influential people of the land and put them in captivity.

We still battle in warfare and if we don’t regard spiritual counsel, if we have hard places in our hearts and are not willing to change, it will lead to destruction. We have to be ready and willing to hear, slow to speak, and swift to respond. God continues to warn His people, even to this day.

When I hear of the Israelites’ things being carried away and broken down, it tells me that this was not only a black day for the kings and Judah but also a black day in the sight of God. His plan was always for the Israelites to prosper. The very last king was named Zedekiah. Once again, the nation did its own thing and worshiped idols instead of the Lord.

What is the house of the Lord today? Where is the temple of the Lord? The truth is we are the temple of God. It is convenient to associate the church building as the house of the God, but it is not His true house. Anything that would defile the house of God, the presence of God, or the law of God is something that needs to be brought out of the temple. It is easy for us to dress up the building but dress down the temple. I look at this captivity and I mourn, realizing how much God wanted His people to flourish. God wants us to flourish, but are we living in ways that will allow that to come to pass?

2 Kings 25: While Zedekiah was king, Babylon brought full siege against Jerusalem. The Babylonian army cut off all trade and all roads in and out of the city. On the ninth day, the city ran out of food. The city fell apart and focused on survival and preservation (Jeremiah 27:12). Jeremiah understood there would be a Manasseh, and even though there would be a Josiah, Israel would be punished. Jeremiah said, “Don’t fight it, live and God will restore us.” Yet the people would not listen to Jeremiah. They only listened to the prophets who told them good things.

CLOSING

Oh, that we would have ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church today. Oh, that we would hear those who speak for God. Oh, that we would understand the day we are in—days of mercy or days of prosperity. We can learn from the pattern of the kings of Israel and say, “God help us to walk righteously in this day and not repeat their mistakes.”