2 Kings 1:1

2 Kings 1:1 says, Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.  After Ahab's death, the people of Moab rebelled against the people of Israel.  The people of the world will always be at war with Christians, more so at some times than others.  Verse two adds, And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.  Matthew Henry says that Ahaziah was an evil king who stood against God, and asked what did he think was going to happen to him.  He fell through the lattice work in the upper chamber and was sick.  He sent messengers to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether he was going to recover or not. People are still looking to false gods for answers to life's problems today.  Verse three adds, But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?  Elijah was told by God to go and meet these messengers and ask them if they were going to inquire of Baalzebub in Ekron because there was no God in Israel.  If we are looking to other god's for answers today, it has to be because we refuse to acknowledge the only true God.  Verse four states, Now therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.  Elijah told them to return to Ahaziah and tell him that God said he would die, and then Elijah departed.  I am sure this was not something that the messengers wanted to do.  Still, all we can do as Christians is speak the truth of God, whether it is what people want to hear or not.  Verse five adds, And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back?  When the messengers returned, Ahaziah asked them why they had.  They actually hadn't been sent to find God's truth but to go to Ekron and inquire of the god there.  Ahaziah knew they hadn't had time to do this.  People today may not want to hear from God because they do not believe in Him or because what He says is not what they want to hear.  Yet, one day they will acknowledge the truth of God, but it will be to late to help them.  Verse six continues, And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.  The messengers delivered the message that the man they met on the way to Ekron had delivered to them from God.  Ahaziah was going to die because he refused to acknowledge the God of Israel.  They evidently didn't know who Elijah was, but they still believed he spoke for God.  It really isn't the messenger but the truth of God that people need to recognize, even if it isn't what they want to hear.  Verse seven says, And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words?  Ahaziah asked them what manner of man it was that told them this.  Ahaziah wanted to know about the man who sent the message.  We should also want to know about those who say they speak for God.  Verse eight adds, And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.  When they described him, Ahaziah knew it was Elijah.  We may not be that well known as we speak God's truth today, but people need to recognize that as Christians, we always speak the truth of God.

1 Kings review concluded

 After Solomon's reign, the kingdom of Israel became divided.  At first, it was divided when Rehoboam, Solmon's son became king and decided to make things tougher for the people who anointed Jeroboam king instead, and only the people of Judah followed Rehoboam and the house of David.  Still, it was through David that God had promised a Messiah, and his people could not really be divided into two camps.  We as followers of Christ today cannot be divided if we are to successfully represent God.  We are told of the prophets who often stood in opposition to the kings and were often in danger or killed because of it.  We especially are told of Elijah and his contest with the four-hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, of his victory over them because He represented the true God, and of their destruction.  It may not always be in this lifetime, but those who follow God will always be victorious over the people who do not, no matter how badly they may outnumber us.  Of course, we are also told of Elijah's lack of faith at times when he was ready to die, but God always provided for him and at one time for others because of him as well.  If we have doubts, God is still never going to leave us, and we still need to do what He tells us to do by faith. There are other prophets who God worked through as well, but the important thing is that God was still always at work amongst His people, just as he is today.  There were also many kings, some good and some bad in both kingdoms, and it seems as a general rule that the bad kings didn't rule as long as the good kings.  What we can be certain of is that there is but one King for the followers of Christ, and that is Jesus Christ Himself.  He will always be the good King, and He will reign forever.  There are many more things that 1 Kings teaches us, but we will stop here.  Next, we will look at 2 Kings.  

1 Kings review continued

We are told a lot about the reign of Solomon, starting with David asking him to avenge what Joab did to two of the captains of Israel, Abner and Amasa.  David had asked Solomon to follow the ways of God but told him in God's wisdom to not let Joab live.  We need to make sure that we act in the wisdom of God and not just to seek revenge for something someone may have done to us.  We cannot have true wisdom if it doesn't come from God.  We are told of Adonijah still attempting to gain some status by asking through Bathsheba to take Abishag as his wife.  This resulted in his being killed.  We cannot fool God by our attempts to go around His word.  We also know that in spite of his wisdom that Solomon made a pact with the Egyptian Pharoah and took one of his daughters as his wife. We cannot make pacts with the lost people of the world that are against God's will.  This pact and marriage led Solomon to worship false gods.  There was basically peace during Solomon's reign, and he did many good things for God, but he still allowed the worship of idols.  We know of Solomon asking God for wisdom when God asked him what He could give him.  After we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we need to ask God for His wisdom to guide us through life.  Many of his first decisions came before this, and we may have made many bad decisions before we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, but we need to look to Him for wisdom in all that we do afterwards.  We are told a lot about Solomon having the Temple built and how ornate it was, but he still wasn't worshipping God alone.  We can build all the beautiful buildings that we want to and dedicate them to God, but if we allow false gods to guide us as we worship in them, they are going to do us no good.  He also had many other buildings built for his own use or pleasure.  The only thing that is really going to matter are the things that we build for God, and they should always come before anything else.  Solomon dedicated the Temple to God, but also asked if the God of the heavens and the earth would dwell in a building on earth.  No matter how beautiful a church building may be God does not live there.  After this, God appeared to Solomon a second time and asked him to follow after David in being obedient to Him.  Solomon was noted for his wisdom and many people came to him seeking advice, but he still had an affinity for strange women, those who were not Israelites, and when he was old they led him to worship idols, or false gods.  Because of this, God told Solomon that the kingdom was not going to pass to his sons.  If we are worshipping false gods, we can never really be a part of God's kingdom.   

1 Kings Review

The Book of 1 Kings tells us about many kings of Israel and Judah, as Israel became a divided kingdom due to the aspirations of the sons of the kings not always being in line with what God wanted for the people of Israel.  This starts when David was old and having a hard time staying warm.  David had been a good king and was called a man after God's own heart, but he was far from perfect.  We may be Christians and follow God's way in life, but we will never be perfect.  There was a proposal to get a young virgin to keep him warm, and Abishag was chosen.  This was not David's solution nor even God's but was the decision of those around David.  As we get older and less capable of taking care of ourselves, we need to pray that those who may feel the need to take over the task will follow God's will in doing so.  Abishag became fond of David and really did care about him.  Of course, with as many wives and concubines as David had, we might wonder why this was necessary.  Of course, we should only have one spouse, but hopefully as we get older and less capable of doing things for ourselves, he or she will be able to care for us.  At this time, Adonijah, one of David's sons, declared himself king.  Joab the head of David's army and Abiathar the priest supported him in this.  Just because we have the support of those in power does not mean that we are doing what God wants.  Abiathar especially should have been looking to God for guidance, and we aren't told that he did.  Adonijah invited all his brothers, the men of Judah who were David’s servants to a feast, but not Nathan the prophet, Benaiah and the mighty men of Solomon.  He may have believed that they wouldn't support him and figured that it would be better to already have claimed power before he faced them.  If people are worried that we will not support them in their plots today they may not invite us to participate, and that is really a good thing.  Nathan and Benaniah, another of David's sons, proposed to Bathsheba that she go to David and get him to anoint Solomon king and Nathen said he would help her.  Again, we need to hope that as a prophet Nathan was acting under God's guidance.  Bathsheba went to David and told him that Adonijah had taken over as king and David didn't even know it and asked that he anoint Solomon king and Nathan came in to support her request.  David called Bathsheba after Nathan told him what was happening and said that as he had sworn to God that Solomon would be king.  At least he was following God's guidance.  We really aren't told that Solomon himself made any demands during this time even if he had been chosen to be David's replacement.  If we are going to serve where God wants us to be, we need to rely on God to get us there without making demands.  David had Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah come to him and install Solomon as king and give him David's mule to ride and bring him to Gibon.  This would be a sign that David had chosen Solomon as his successor, and this was also consistent with God's will.  Having those in power endorse their replacement is important, but not as important as having God's endorsement.  When Adonijah heard the Solomon had been made king by David and sat on the throne, he was very afraid.  He went and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar.  If we are having problems today, there is nothing better to do than to go to the altar of God, as long as we go for the right reasons.

1 Kings 22:41

1 Kings 22:41 says, And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.  Verse forty-two adds, Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.  Jehoshaphat's reign over Judah started when he was thirty-five years old during the fourth year of Ahab's ruling over Israel, and he reigned for twenty-five years.  He had a fairly long reign.  Verse forty-three continues, And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places.  Like Asa his father, he did what was right in God's sight, but he still allowed people to offer sacrifices in the high places.  As Christians today, we need to make sure that we do not allow anything outside of God's will to become a part of our worshipping Him.  Verse forty-four states. And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.  Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel during his reign.  We need to make peace with our fellow Christians when we can, but we must never accept practices that are outside of God's will in order to do so and the people of Israel as a whole were not living under the leadership of God.  Verse forty-five adds, Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he shewed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?  We are not at this time told of a lot that Jehoshaphat did but are told that the rest of what he did is written in the chronicles of the kings.  People may never know a lot of what we do as Christians, but it will be written down in God's book.  Verse forty-six continues, And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.  One thing that we are told Jehosaphat did was take the rest of the Sodomites out of the kingdom of Judah.  Verse forty-seven concludes, There was then no king in Edom: a deputy was king.  Jehoshaphat put a viceroy in charge of Edom, who had no king, which Matthew Henry says this further fulfilled the prophesy concerning Esau and Jacob, that the elder should serve the younger.  God's prophesy's will always be true.  Verse forty-eight declares, Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Eziongeber.  We are then told more about the reign of Jehoshaphat, even though we were told that the rest of his acts were written in the chronicles of the kings.  At times, we may find a record of the work of God's people in more than one place.  Jehosaphat built ships and attempted to sail to Ophir to get gold, but the ships were broken up at Eziongeber.  Verse forty-nine adds, Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not.  Ahaziah, Ahab's son purposed that Jehosaphat servants, and his servants go together on the ships, but Jehoshaphat wouldn't do it.  If we are having trouble in the world today, we need to be careful that we don't enter into a relationship with those who are not following God in order to find earthly success.  Verse fifty continues, And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.  Jehoshaphat died, and his son Jehoram replaced him as king.  Good or bad, all rulers will one day die and be replaced in the church, God's kingdom.  Verse fifty-one says, Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel.  Ahab's son Ahaziah began to reign in the seventeenth year of the reign of Jehoshaphat, but he only reigned two years.  Verse fifty-two adds, And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin:  We are told that Ahaziah did evil in the sight of the Lord, following the ways of his father and mother.  As Christians, we need to pray that we will be a positive example for our children and lead them to follow God, because the world will definitely lead them away from God.  Verse fifty-three continues, For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.  Ahaziah continued in worshipping Baal and provoked the anger of God against Israel.  God has made salvation available to us, and if we refuse to accept it and continue to worship other gods, on day we will face God's judgment.   

1 Kings 22:29

1 Kings 22:29 says, So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead.  Verse thirty adds, And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.  Ahab and Jehoshaphat went to Ramoth Gilead where the battle was being fought.  At least they were willing to engage in the battle and didn't just hide while others fought.  We as followers of Christ, even if we are in positions of power in the world, must be willing to engage in the battle against evil and not just allow others to do the fighting.  Ahab proposed to Jehoshaphat that he wear the king's robes while Ahab disguised himself and engaged in the battle.  Verse thirty-one continues, But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.  The king of Syria told his troops to not fight with anyone except the king of Israel himself.  This would not have been a good time to be wearing the king's robes.  Matthew Henry says Ahab did this to make a liar of God's prophet and to fool the good king.  Sometimes, what may seem like a sign of honor in the world may actually lead us to more problems if we are not acting under the leadership if God.  Verse thirty-two states, And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out.  When the people of Syria saw Jehoshaphat, they declared that he must certainly be the king of Israel, so they turned aside to fight against him, and he cried out.  Verse thirty-three adds, And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him.  Somehow, even though Jehoshaphat was wearing the king's robes, the people of Syria realized that he wasn't the king of Israel and turned away from pursuing him.  Ahab's plan did not work, and neither will any plan that we devise to make God out to be a liar.  Verse thirty-four continues, And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.  Though he had disguised himself, Ahab was still injured when a soldier of Syria shot him between the shoulders with an arrow.  Ahab asked the chariot driver to take him out of the battle because he was injured.  I have to wonder if he was beginning to see the truth of the words of God's prophet now that it was basically too late.  People are one day going to see the truth of God's word, but for too many it will be too late.  Verse thirty-five says, And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot.  The battle continued that day, and that evening Ahab died, and his blood ran out into the chariot.  All his plans at deceit had failed, as will the plans of anyone who attempts to fool God or prove His word wrong.  Verse thirty-six adds, And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country.  When the people realized that Ahab was dead, a proclamation was made, though we aren't told who by, that the people were to return to their homes.  They had been following Ahab and not God, and now Ahab was dead so there was no reason to continue the battle.  If we are following anyone other than God into battle spiritually today, they are going to lose and so are we ultimately.  Verse thirty-seven continues, So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.  The fact that Ahab had died is repeated along with the fact that his body was returned to Samaria and buried.  The four-hundred false prophets had proven to be wrong, and God's one prophet had proven to be right.  No matter how many people stand against us today and say that God's word is wrong, it will always be proven to be right.  Verse thirty-eight states, And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the word of the Lord which he spake.  All of the prophecy had not yet been fulfilled, but when the Ahab's blood was washed from the chariot in which he was killed and the dog's licked it up, the rest of the prophesy was also fulfilled.  God's word is never going to fulfilled in part but will always be fulfilled in full.  Verse thirty-nine adds, Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?  Verse forty continues, So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.  We are told that the rest of the acts of Ahab are told in the chronicles of the kings and that his son Ahaziah reigned in his place.  Whether good or bad, no one is going to reign forever in God's kingdom spiritually.  Still as one leader dies, God will always have another one in place to take over the work.  

1 Kings 22:19

1 Kings 22:19 says, And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.  Micaiah told Ahab that he needed to hear the word of God.  This is what everyone must do at some point in life, whether they accept it or not.  Micaiah said he saw God sitting on His throne and the host of heaven sitting on His right and left side.  God will always be the center of heaven.  Of course, when we die, we need to be some of those at His sides or in front of Him, even if we are far back in the crowd.  Verse twenty adds, And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.  God asked who was going to go to Ahab and persuade him to go and fall at, or be killed, at Ramoth-Gilead.  This does not imply that God does not know certain things, but that He allows evil spirits to come into His presence now, though there is coming a day when they won't.  God had told Ahab to not go to war, and in order for him to be encouraged to do so it would take a deceiving spirit to convince him.  I don't believe that God will ever send deceiving spirits to us, but until Christ returns, they are still free to work in the world.  Verse twenty-one continues, And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him.  We are told a spirit came forth who said he would go and persuade Ahab.  Again, I believe this was an evil spirit who had just been allowed to come into God's presence temporarily.  Verse twenty-two states, And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.  God asked the spirit how he would do this, and he said he would go and be a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahab's prophets, which means he wasn't a spirit of God.  It also means that he wasn't going to God's prophets but to the false prophets.  Those who follow God spiritually will never be called on to lie to people in order to get them to do what God has told them not to do, and God's prophets will never lie to people.  Verse twenty-three adds, Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.  Micaiah told Ahab the reason all these prophets were saying that he should go ahead with his plan was because God had put a lying spirit in their mouth, but once more, I don't believe God actually did this, but He allowed it to happen.  God is not going to do something that is against His expressed purpose, but He will allow it to happen.  Verse twenty-four continues, But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?  Zedekiah hit Micaiah in the face and asked him when God's spirit had left him and gone to Micaiah.  Matthew Henry says this also implies that Zedekiah had an exclusive hold on the Spirit of God and control of what He could do.  We need to beware of anyone who says that they alone know what God wants.  Verse twenty-five declares, And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.  Micaiah didn't hit Zedekiah nor really even argue with him, but simply said that when Zedekiah was hiding in the chamber after the battle that he would know the truth.  We don't need to lash out at people today nor ague with them when they will not accept the truth of the gospel, but we simply need to allow them to one day find out the truth for themselves.  We cannot compel people to believe God's truth but can only present it to them.  Verse twenty-six adds, And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;  Ahab told them to take Micaiah and return him to the governor of Amon and to Joash the king's son.  Verse twenty-seven continues, And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.  Ahab instructed them to tell Joash to put Micaiah in prison and feed him bread and water until Ahab returned in peace.  Ahab chose to believe the four hundred false prophets instead of believing the true prophet of God, and then he imprisoned the true prophet.  If we proclaim the truth of God today, many people are not going to believe us, and we might even be imprisoned for doing so.  Verse twenty-eight concludes, And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the  Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.  Micaiah didn't fight against Ahab, but simply said if he returned in peace that he would know that God had not spoken to him and asked the people to be a witness to this fact.  It may be that the only way some people will ever accept the truth of God is when His judgment comes, but in the meantime, we as followers of Christ must continue to speak His truth, even if it costs us in this lifetime.