2 Kings 17:32

 2 Kings 17:32 says, So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.  The people feared the Lord, not out of acknowledgment of Who He was, but because of the lions, and they made some of the lowest of people priests and not men called by God.  People still go through the motions of serving God today because they fear what He may do to them, but they really don't follow Him because of a love for Him because of His providing the only way to salvation.  Verse thirty-three adds, They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.  They feared God's punishment, but they still served other gods out of love for and devotion to them.  Matthew Henry says they made a mongrel religion, which tried to appease God and worship other gods out of love for them.  We cannot add any other god to our life and be devoted to God out of love at the same time.  Verse thirty-four continues, Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;  Finally, they began to totally ignore the commandments of God, which they as descendants of Jacob, who was named Israel by God and was the one the nation was named for, were commanded to follow.  We cannot really be a Christian and ignore the commandments of God, since as Christians, we are called by the name of Christ.  Verse thirty-five states, With whom the Lord had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:  They were reminded of their covenant relationship with God, when they promised to worship God alone.  As followers of Christ, we have a covenant relationship with Him, and we must worship Him alone and have no fear, or respect, for other gods.  Verse thirty-six adds, But the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.  The people of Israel were reminded that God hand brought them out of captivity in Egypt, and they had been commanded to worship Him alone.  As Christians, God has brought us out of captivity to sin, and we should worship Him for His great power in doing so.  It is not something that we can do for ourselves.  Verse thirty-seven continues, And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods.  The people were reminded that their covenant with God was to be an everlasting covenant, just as ours is with Jesus Christ, once we accept Him as our personal Savior and Lord.  This meant they were to never allow themselves to worship any other god, just as it does us today.  Verse thirty-eight says, And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods.  The people of Israel were reminded that they were never to forget their covenant with God if they were to be His people, but they did.  This is still true for Christians today.  We must forsake all other gods and follow God's commandments.  Verse thirty-nine adds, But the Lord your God ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.  Like the people of Israel, we need to be committed to God and follow Him alone, because He has already delivered us from the power of sin and death.  Of course, unlike Israel, if we have truly accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we are forever God's people, whereas the people of Israel sometimes lost their status as His true people.  Verse forty continues, Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.  We need to beware of the how-be-its in the Bible.  They usually imply that the people were not following God's word, and we don't need any in our lives today.   Verse forty-one concludes, So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.  Though we are told the people feared the Lord, they had no respect for Him.  They served other gods instead.  We can either put our faith in God alone, or we should fear His coming judgment.  

2 Kings 17:24

2 Kings 17:24 says, And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.  The king of Assyria, having taken the people of Israel captive, then brought in other people to replace them.  Sometimes today, those in power will do the same thing, moving people from where they have lived when the are defeated and replacing them with others who are loyal to them.  Verse twenty-five adds, And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.  Those who replaced the people of Israel did not fear God, even though they were in His promised land, so He sent lions among them.  We should never be surprised if God sends punishment on those who do not believe in Him, especially if they are trying to possess His promised land.  Verse twenty-six continues, Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.  People spoke to the king of Assyria, telling him that the people who had replaced the people of Israel with were being destroyed by lions sent by God.  Even if they didn't know God, they recognized His power.  There are still people who profess not to believe in God today who still give Him credit, or blame Him we could say more accurately, when things go bad.  We as Christians should never do the same thing.  Verse twenty-seven states, Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.  The king of Assyria said to send one of God's priests to teach the people there the ways of God.  We as Christians are a part of the priesthood of believers, and He has sent us to the rest of the world to proclaim salvation through Jesus Christ alone, and we need to be doing this wherever we are.  We then need to teach them to follow God's law after they are saved.  Verse twenty-eight adds, Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.  One of the priests of God, who is not named here, returned lived in Bethel and taught them about how they should fear the Lord.  Still, fearing God and having a personal relationship with Him are not the same thing.  We need to teach people to come to God because of His love and redemption plan and not to just be afraid of Him.  God wants us in a loving relationship with Him and not one based on fear.  Verse twenty-nine continues, Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.  Even though a priest had been sent to teach them about God, the people occupying Israel, God's promised land, brought their own gods with them and placed them throughout Samaria.  We cannot serve God and bring our own gods along with us.  Once we learn about God, we must accept Him as the only God by putting our faith in Jesus Christ His Son.  Verse thirty says, And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,  Verse thirty-one adds, And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.  The gods that the various groups of people worshipped were listed here, and we are even told that some of them burned their children in sacrifice to their gods.  There are still many, many false gods that people worship in the world today, and all we can really do is point them to Jesus Christ. 

2 Kings 17:15

2 Kings 17:15 says, And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.  The people of Israel continued to rebel against God and His commandments as they rejected the covenant they made with God.  As followers of Christ, we enter into an everlasting covenant with God, but that doesn't me we that we do not at times still rebel against Him.  We cannot make this our dominant way of life though, as Israel, God's chosen people had done.  Verse sixteen adds, And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.  They once again turned away from God's commandments, the first of which said they were to have no other gods before Him and made two golden calves to use in the worship of Baal.  They also worshipped the trees and the heavens, and people still do this today.  Verse seventeen continues, And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.  This means that they had their children attempt to pass through the fire to see if Baal would protect them, but they simply perished in the fire.  Though God could have allowed them to do this successfully if it had been necessary to in order to prove their faithfulness to Him even if threatened with being thrown in the fire, He would never ask them to do so just to glorify Himself, but they were not following God and as just stated He never wants us to test His power by putting ourselves in dangerous situations.  Verse eighteen declares, Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.  God became angry with the people of Israel, and He removed them from His sight, with only the people of Judah remaining as His people.  Professing to be a Christian while following other gods will never work.  If we do this, we cannot enter into a covenant relationship through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Verse nineteen adds, Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.  Then, Judah began to follow the ways of Israel as well, instead of remaining faithful to God.  We cannot follow the ways of anyone who is not following God and be saved.  Verse twenty continues, And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.  After Judah rejected their covenant relationship with God, he rejected all of the people of Israel and gave them up to spoilers.  If we turn away from God, He is going to remove His protective hand from us.  Verse twenty-one states, For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. God then removed the kingship in Israel from the house of David, and Jeroboam was made king and led them into great sin against God.  The kingship promised to David was restored once and for all time through his descendant Jesus Christ.  This did not happen to make David a part of the salvation plan, but to fulfill God's promise to him that his descendant would reign forever in Israel.  Verse twenty-two adds, For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;  As already stated, the people of Israel had begun to follow the sins of Jeroboam instead of the righteousness of God.  We today can either follow the sins of the world or the righteousness of God by putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Verse twenty-three continues, Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.  God put Israel out of His sight, and this is somewhere we never want to be.  The prophets of God had warned them what would happen if they turned away from God, and they didn't believe them, but they were carried away captive into Assyria because of their unbelief.  God's word tells us clearly that if we reject Jesus Christ that we will be sent away into everlasting punishment, but too many people still refuse to believe this. 

2 Kings 17:7

 2 Kings 17:7 says, For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,  Though God had delivered the people of Israel from Egypt and their enslavement under Pharaoh, they had turned away from Him and followed other god's.  God has provided deliverance from the power of sin and death for all who put their faith in Jesus Christ, and we who do should never turn to other gods, which do not have to be idols, but can be anything that we make more important than God.  Verse eight adds, And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.  The people of Israel followed the laws of the heathen, who God had cast out from Israel.  There are many laws today that go against God's word, and as Christians, we cannot follow them, no matter the cost to us in this lifetime.  Verse three continues, And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.  We are told that the people of Israel did sinful things in secret, including building high places for worship in their cities, but it was not secret from God.  We must acknowledge that there are no secret sins.  God always knows all our sins, so there is no need to think we can hide them.  Verse ten states, And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:  They also set up idols on every high hill and in every grove.  To say that they did this in secret was not consistent with their actions.  It is one thing to secretly defy God, and another to openly sin against Him, though both are wrong.  Verse eleven adds, And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger:  They burned incense in all these high places as the heathen did.  There are people today who not only worship in groves, but they worship the groves themselves and often burn incense as a part of their purifying ritual.  There is nothing that we can do that is going to purify us, except accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, and once we do, we must put away all other worship of other gods.  Verse twelve continues, For they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.  They were serving idols, even though God had forbidden them to do so.  There are certain things that God has forbidden us to do as Christians, and we must follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit in not doing them.  Verse thirteen says, Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. God testified against both Israel and Judah, all of His chosen people, and called on them to turn away from their evil ways and follow His commandments, just as He calls on us to turn away from our sins today by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and following His commandments under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.   Verse fourteen adds, Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God.  The people of Israel and Judah would not listen to Him but hardened their necks or refused to turn away from their sins and look to Him. God is going to call everyone to salvation, but many have and will continue to harden their necks and refuse to look to Him for salvation.  

2 Kings 17:1

2 Kings 17:1 says, In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.  Hoshea began to reign over Israel in the twelfth year of Ahaz's rule in Judah.  The reign of these two kings overlapped, but the reign of Jesus Christ has always been the only one to really matter, and it is eternal.  There was never an overlap with any other king or person in power and there never will be.  Verse two adds, And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.  Hoshea continued to do evil in God's sight, even though he wasn't as bad as the kings of Israel who went before him.  Unfortunately, this did not make him okay in God's eyes.  Likewise, we are not going to be judged based on whether we are better than other sinners but are only to be judged on our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Verse three continues, Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.  Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came against Hoshea, and even though he was the king of the most powerful God there is, Hoshea became the servant of Shalmaneser.  If we don't put our faith in Jesus Christ totally and live by the guidance and under the power of the Holy Spirit, we will find ourselves subjected to the power of sin once more.  Verse four states, And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.  At some point, Hoshea attempted to form an alliance with So the king of Egypt and didn't send his normal gifts to Shalmaneser, who found out about this proposed alliance and put Hoshea in prison.  It is strange how many times God's people looked to other rulers, even the king of Egypt, for help instead of repenting and looking to God for help.  As Christians, we should never be guilty of this.  Verse five adds, Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.  Then, Shalmaneser besieged Samaria for three years.  If we as followers of Christ turn away from Him, we will be besieged by sin once more, and if we have never put our faith in Him, we will always be besieged by sin.  Verse six continues, In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.  In the ninth year of Hoshea's reign, though he had been imprisoned in Assyria for at least three of those years, the people of Israel were taken away captive.  When God's chosen people continued to turn away from Him in sin, they lost His protection and were carried away captive.  If we reject God, and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, we will be taken away captive to sin, even if we call ourselves Christians.

2 Kings 16:10

2 Kings 16:10 says, And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. Ahaz went to Damascus to congratulate the king on his victory, which Matthew Henry says he shouldn't have been doing to start with but should have been putting his faith in and giving glory to God.  While there, he saw an altar that he really liked.  It was evidently fancier than the one Solomon had built, and Ahaz was impressed with its looks instead of its function, because it was an altar to false gods.  He sent for Urijah the priest to fashion him an altar like this one.  We can sometimes be caught up in the beauty of things, even within a church building itself, more than the function of them.  Verse eleven adds, And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.  Urijah, the priest, followed Ahaz's instructions instead of looking to God for guidance.  As a part of the priesthood of believers, we should never follow the dictates and desires of the world instead of following God's will in our life.  It is too easy to get caught up in desiring the ornate things in life instead of the simple things.  Verse twelve continues, And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and the king approached to the altar, and offered thereon.  When Ahaz returned from Damascus, he saw the altar and offered a sacrifice on it.  It doesn't matter how much we go through the motions of worship if we are not following God's will when we do so, and Ahaz was not at this time.  Verse thirteen states, And he burnt his burnt offering and his meat offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, upon the altar.  Again, Ahaz was going through all the motions of worship, but he wasn't doing it on the altar of God, but on the altar of Ahaz.  We cannot worship God when we are following our own desires instead of His.  Verse fourteen adds, And he brought also the brasen altar, which was before the Lord, from the forefront of the house, from between the altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of the altar.  Ahaz moved the altar of God out of its place of importance and put it off to the side.  We should never allow the things of God to be pushed off to the side in our lives as we worship things built from our own desires.  Verse fifteen continues, And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meat offering, and the king's burnt sacrifice, and his meat offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brasen altar shall be for me to enquire by.  Ahaz told Urijah to make all the sacrifices on this new altar and he would keep the simpler one just for him to make inquiries of God from.  Matthew Henry points out that he pretended to elevate the original altar to a purpose it was never meant to fill.  It was not there to reveal God's will but to sacrifice on in gratitude for God's blessings.  We need to be careful that we don't begin to replace God's will with expensive things and at the same time misuse the things He has blessed us with.  Verse sixteen says, Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded.  Instead of seeking God's guidance, Urijah simply did what Ahaz told him to do, though he had to know this was wrong.  We cannot put any ruler in the world above our obedience to God.  Verse seventeen adds, And king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the laver from off them; and took down the sea from off the brasen oxen that were under it, and put it upon the pavement of stones.  Ahaz then began to destroy or at least modify those things in the temple that God had directed the building of.  Mtthew Henry says he seemed to have a particular dislike for the things used in purification of the priests.  As Christians, our first concern should be the purification of ourselves through faith in Jesus Christ.  If we begin to allow other things to take priority in our life, we cannot effectively serve God.  Verse eighteen continues, And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry without, turned he from the house of the Lord for the king of Assyria.  Matthew Henry says this was likely a door that the priests entered through on the sabbath, and that whatever it might have been, Ahaz was showing contempt for the sabbath and elevating his family and himself to a position of honor.   We should be wary of those who put themselves in a position of honor, especially if they using a supposed dedication to God to do so.  Verse nineteen states, Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?  We may not have a record here of all the things that Ahaz did in opposition to God, but we have enough to know that he was an evil king in his relationship to God, and that is really all that matters.  What we do good or bad as followers of Christ is not what is really important.  Only what we do under the leadership of and in obedience to the Holy Spirit is.  Verse twenty says, And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.  Ahaz died and was buried with his ancestors and his son Hezekiah became king.  As I have stated many times, earthly rulers come and go, but as Christians we have but one Lord, and that is Jesus Christ.

2 Kings 16:1

2 Kings 16:1 says, In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign.  Ahaz, Jotham's son, began to reign in Judah in the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah in Israel.  Kings in both countries continued to come and go, just as rulers in the world and the church do today.  Some are good and some are bad.  This doesn't determine how long they will rule, though.  Verse two adds, Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord his God, like David his father.  Ahaz was twenty when he began to reign and was only thirty-six when his reign ended.  The sixteen years he did rule, he didn't do what was right in God's sight as David had done.  Though David is referred to as his father, Ahaz was just a descendant of David.  Through faith in Jesus Christ, God is our Heavenly Father, and not just some ancestor from long ago.  As Christians, no matter where in history we lived when we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we are all brothers and sisters spiritually.  Verse three continues, But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel.  Ahaz followed the practices if the people of Israel, worshipping idols and following the ways of people that God had cast out Israel.  He even made his son pass through fire to show his dedication to these idols.  We cannot allow things that are forbidden by God to come back into our lives as Christians, and we certainly should never lead our children into idolatry.  Verse four states, And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.  Ahaz made sacrifices and burnt incense not only in the high places, but on the hills and under every green tree.  There was a ritualistic devotion to worship, but there was no real worship of God.  People may devotedly worship everywhere they are today, but if they are not worshipping God, it is of no value.  Verse five adds, Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him.  Rezin, the king of Syria and Pekah the king of Israel went to war against Ahaz, but they could not defeat him.  None of these kings was acting under God's guidance, even though two of them professed to be king of His people.  As Christians, we are God's people, and we must always act under His guidance through the leadership of the Holy Spirit if we are to be successful spiritually.  Verse six adds,  At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.  Rezin did retake Elath, which Amaziah had taken from the Syrians.  If we follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit, no one will ever take anything from us spiritually that God has given us by faith.  Verse seven says, So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me.  Ahaz then appealed to the king of Assyria to come and save him from the kings of Syria and Israel.  He should have repented and looked to God for help, just as we as Christians must do today if we are going to be able to overcome the sins of this world.  Verse eight adds, And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.  Ahaz attempted to buy the help of the king of Assyria with the silver and gold from the temple, or things belonging to God, as well as from his own treasure.  We should never attempt to buy protection from the world as Christians, but we should always just look to God by faith.  We certainly should never use things belonging to God in an attempt to buy protection from the evil in the world.  Verse nine continues, And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.  The king of Assyria listened to Ahaz, and went to war with Israel and Syria, and he took Damascus, carried the people away captive, and killed Rezin.  Whenever we look to anything or anyone besides God to save us, we are going to be taken away captive by sin.  It is really bad if we as Christians align ourselves with the world and go to battle against other Christians.