Zechariah/Shallum - What comes around goes around...

So once again we spent a while recapping..

Zechariah is the son of Jeroboam II, and once again 'did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat'. He only reigns 6 months, and we don't really read anything of him apart from that little synopsis. Then a guy called Shallum (son of Jabesh) comes along, and kills him in front of everyone, and becomes king instead. This actually fulfils what God had said to Jehu, that 'your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation'[2 Kings 10:30] - Zechariah is the fourth generation after Jehu. God keeps his promises!

So Shallum is king... and reigns 'a full month'...because a guy called Mehanem (son of Gadi) comes along and kills him and becomes king instead. Sound familiar?

So what comes around goes around... We need to be brave and break out that vicious circle!

Jeroboam II - Have we learned anything yet?

Let's get this ball rolling then...

This is Jeroboam son of Joash, not Jeroboam son of Nebat.

So Jeroboam II was a bad guy, 'he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin' [2Kings 14v24].

He did restore the borders of Israel, fulfilling what Jonah the son of Amittai (yes, THE Jonah) had prophesied. Israel was a bit troubled at the time, and God 'saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter; and whether bond or free, there was no helper for Israel'. He decided that he wouldn't 'blot out the name of Israel from under the heaven', so he 'saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.' This doesn't mean that he was knowingly doing God's will though: even Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is described as God's 'servant' in Jer 27:6. It just means that God used his actions to help His people.

So anyway, Jeroboam II wasn't a good guy, just like all the other Israelite kings before him... So why hadn't he learned?! He even had the same name as the king who so many bad kings are described as 'following in the sins of' or 'not departing from the sins of' (Nadab, Ahaziah and Jehoram are three examples). Jeroboam II could've looked at all that and decided he'd change the dynasty for good, but he didn't, he followed in their tracks rather than God's. Although like we looked at, Jonah and Amos were contemporary with him, so it wasn't like good influences were lacking in the land.

So in the world a really really common phrase is 'I have no regrets - I can learn from my mistakes' or 'He has to learn the hard way.' The mindset is that you're never really gonna learn til you've made your own mistakes - you're not gonna find out the fruit is poisoned until you taste it. But that's the wrong way of thinking, it's the too late mindset (so yeah, you know the fruit is poisoned but you're dead, there's not much you can do about it, is there?). God told us He wants us to learn from the mistakes of the people He's told us about in His word, to save us making our own (knowing that someone already tried the fruit and was poisoned by it would save you dying trying, yeah?).

1 Corinthians 10v6-11 is a place where God tells us about this:
"6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play."
8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;
9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents;
10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come."

Also take a peek at 2Peter 2 for the same concept.

We're supposed to learn by example, not by mistakes.


...Now, those 2 other comments...

Uzziah

ISAIAH 6

v1+2 - talking of God's glory
seraphim praising God
wings described a bit like cherubims

protection
covering --> King + Priest - Melchizedek
movement --> Points to Jesus due to prophecy throughout chapter
care

Lord = King

UZZIAH (king of Judah)

Isaiah 6 - during Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah (Isaiah 1)
- to do with prophet Isaiah
- reference to Uzziah - how/why?

v5 - acknowledging his + people's sinfulness

BUT has seen the king - the LORD of Hosts v1+v2

No man can see God + live - Isaiah thinks he will die

UZZIAH significance at start of chapter - UZZIAH = AZARIAH

Uzziah thought he was King + Priest
2Chron 26
Uzziah - 16 restored Judah
reigned 52 yrs (v3)
v4- overall description = good

v6 live coal symbol of sins forgiven (??)
Isaiah - see vision - acknowledges sin - forgiven

Jesus v9,v10
(5 references in NT to this prophecy fulfilled - Luke 8v10 one of them)

Zechariah = influence for good
when Uzziah = faithful
God with him
when strong heart lifted up like Nebechudnezzer v16
Uzziah did it for own glory unlike David, Solomon etc
Korah, Dathan, Abiram's censors beaten into plates on the inscense altar

Uzziah died a leper due to pride

leper = sin

v1 - in the year sin (Uzziah the leper) died, God ruled

KINGDOM

sorry for the randomness of the notes =)

Amaziah - Employer of the Year

So actually the vast majority of this lesson was spent in a little summary of the last term for our benefit and our new member's... (welcome to the world of blogs Paul...)

Theeen after that we got to Amaziah. I'm gonna be honest and say that after reading 2 Kings 14 my memory still hasn't been jogged, soooo from reading 2 Kings 14 then.

So Amaziah was a king of Judah, the son of Joash. His contemporary in Israel was Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz. They didn't like each other much, and decided to battle at Beth Shemesh (even though Jehoahaz originally didn't really want to do it - "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife'; and a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Glory in that, and stay at home; for why should you meddle with trouble so that you fall-you and Judah with you?" [2 Kings 14:9+10]. - basically Jehoash is saying that he could easily beat Amaziah, so what's the point?! Which I suppose is one way to make someone angry enough to fight you...). And yeah, Israel did win, just like Jehoahaz had said... he took all the gold and silver from the house of the LORD and the king's house, broke down a lot of the wall of Jerusalem. But he didn't kill Amaziah, actually Jehoash died before Amaziah. He just ruined Judah.

I'd forgotten to say that before this battle, Amaziah had taken revenge on the people who killed his father (but not their children, like it says in the Law: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; but a person shall be put to death for his own sin."). God describes him as doing the right thing in the sight of the LORD, but not like David did, just like his father did...there were still high places, and the people were still bad. And he killed lots of Edomites- which is why Jehoash includes that in his taunt.

Amaziah is assassinated by people in Jerusalem.

So I'm gonna read Chronicles now, and see what that says.

Chronicles says he did what was right, 'but not with a loyal heart' - so his heart wasn't REALLY in what he believed and did. He numbered the people... and then decided to hire 100,000 mighty men from Israel. We said that meant he didn't trust God to help him the battle. A man of God actually comes and tellls him not to do it because God isn't with the Israelites...and so Amaziah dismisses the Israelite troops, and then goes on to kill all of those Edomites. The dismissed troops are angry and raided Judah's cities and killed lots of people.

And Amaziah brought back gods from Seir and bowed down to them... and a prophet comes to tell him that God's angry. But Amaziah doesn't really seem to listen... and goes to war with Israel.

And that's it =)

Jehoahaz and Jehoash – The Evil Continues.

This is Eilidh on Kirsty's account.

Jehoahaz and Jehoash – The Evil Continues.

Sorry for the delay guys…

So Jehoahaz was the son of Jehu, and Jehoash was the son of Jehoahaz.

So back in December when we actually had the lesson, we compared Jehoahaz and Jehoash. So the basics, they were both Kings of Israel. Jehoahaz: ‘he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which made Israel to sin.’ – 2 Kings 13v2 … and Jehoash: ‘he also did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.’ – 2 Kings 13v1. Jehoash didn’t learn from his father’s example and made Israel to sin. In Verse 4 Jehoahaz asks God for help, and God helps him, but he still did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam. Israel’s worship was still sin as their worship was Asherah – wooden image. ‘and the Asherah also remained in Samaria’ – 2 Kings 13v6.

Both Jehoahaz and Jehoash were given the opportunity to see the hand of God, but they didn’t respond. v23 ‘but the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion on them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, no has he cast them from his presence until now’

The lesson that we get from Jehoahaz and Jehoash is that we can appear to do right things in our life but still leading an evil life. In the world people only really remember God when they need help, like Jehoahaz did. We should remember God at all times, not just when we need help.

What is acceptable to have as our entertainment in our lives?

Do we want to follow the ways of Jehoash and Jehoahaz? Or in the ways of God?


It’s a bit short, but I can’t remember some things, which is completely my fault. If anyone else (Debbie who was there) can remember anything else that we talked about. Leave a comment (:
Eilidh.

Joash and Jehoiada - The Dynamic Duo

So who is the biggest influence in your life?
We reckoned it was our parents, maybe siblings, and Uncle Norman's said his was his wife =).

So what was the point in asking that?
Well it says that
'Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.' [2Kings 12:2]
So obviously Jehoiada's influence in Joash's life was pretty huge.
Just a little recap - Joash was the grandson of Athaliah, the horrible granny who killed her 70 grandchildren, APART from Joash, who was hidden by Jehoiada in the house of the LORD. She clearly wasnt a very good granny, because a)she killed them all and b)she didn't even notice she'd missed Joash out!

So Jehoiada was good for Joash, he influenced him in the right way. BUT he was an old guy, and he died...
'Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them' [2Chronicles 24:17]
Now these guys weren't so good, and Joash definitely didn't benefit from listening to their advice...
'Therefore they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass' [2 Chronicles 24:18]
So that wasn't so good...
We were reminded of Rehoboam, that guy with the fat pinky, who listened to the advice of his peers rather than those that served with King Solomon, who had been good at least SOME of his life. And the advice of the young men, who'd always been used to prosperity on their part, and not really bothered thinking about how life was for everyone else, was that King Rehoboam should be really harsh on the people. Which ended in the people rebelling against Rehoboam. That was when the Northern Kingdom was formed, wasn't it? ... *checks* yeah, it was, they all rebelled against the house of David, and then when Jeroboam came out of hiding they crowned him their king instead of Rehoboam. So there you go, listening to his buddies rather than the older men didn't help him any.
NOT that all young people are just layabouts, we know that Timothy, for example, was a good guy. And actually thinking about it, I'm sure that was because of his mum's and grandma's influence, yeah?
'when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.' [2Tim 1:5]
Timothy had listened to the right influences, and because of this he could be a good influence for the people in the ecclesia.

So, lesson for us?

• We should listen to the right influences
• We should then use that influence to change our lives
• ...and the lives of those around us, our peers...
• ...so that if our original Jehoiada dies or goes out of our lives somehow, we still have good influences to rely on in our peers, who learned from the same Jehoiada.
• And we can ALL help each other in this =)

So what about Joash, he was good until Jehoiada died, was he a good king overall? Well we reckoned he was sort of middling possibly - he's influenced greatly by the people around him, so perhaps we didn't really take time to form proper opinions of his own? Maybe he did though, we can't read people's characters.

But it was what he did last that mattered, just like in our lives. In the New Testament somewhere that I can't find right now, it talks about how even if we've been good all our lives and then turn our backs on God and do evil, our goodness is no longer of any importance. If we die with our backs on God, we can't rely on His mercy.

And that works two ways - if we've been evil all our lives and then repent and get baptised and try to do good, our evilness is forgotten. Jesus' sacrifice has washed those sins away, and we concentrate on being the best we can for God. And because of this, we CAN rely on God's mercy.

This doesn't mean that it just doesn't matter if we sin or not, of course it does! It's our attitude that's the important thing - if we THINK we can sin without it mattering then that's like turning our backs on God. It's getting that balance between recognising God's mercy and realising that no sin of ours can EVER bigger than His mercy in forgiving us. BUT we are horrible people, we need to recognise that too, and try even harder to be better for Him because of this. It's also incredibly hard to explain, and I'm not managing too well...

ANYWAY we've found out that its what we're doing NOW and what we WILL do in the FUTURE that are the important things.

So. We're in the last days. What are you doing NOW?

PS that last days bit? WELL.. the EU is now a legal entity, as of the 1st December, so it is now classed as a nation. By some definition somewhere.

[Rev 17:16,17]

'16 And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled'

The beast, that was Rome, right? So the 10 horns were those 10 nations that originally came out of Rome and formed Europe (the Vandals, the Goths, and those other ones). Well now they're being 'of one mind', yeah? The harlot, I can't remember what we said about her, Uncle Norman knows.. but that's being fulfilled just now too. Bits of Revelation and other prophecies are coming true all the time, we really are in the last days.... so what are we doing about it?

Jehu

Quick summary of what we did today with Kenneth

1 Kings 19:15-18-

Elijah who is on Mount Horeb is told to...

• go back to Damascus
• anoint Hazael king over Syria
• anoint Jehu king over Israel
• appoint Elisha to be prophet

but he only does two of the tasks, he returns to Damascus and he appoints Elisha, and then it's Elisha who does the anointing. Were Elijah's tasks passed on to Elisha when he was anointed??

Now this is all happening in the days of Ahab, that evil guy with an evil wife and an evil daughter who then went over to Judah's line and messed around there as well... but she got killed.

Jehu was the commander of the army. We read 2 Kings 9 ourselves and wrote down bits about it, so I'll share mine.

• Elisha sends sons of the prophets with oil to Ramoth-Gilead
• they find Jehu and go to an inner chamber
• THEY (not Elisha) anoint him King with the oil
• Jehu told to strike down the house of Ahab, so that avenge on Jezebel the blood of servants
• Dogs will eat Jezebel
• Jehu conspired against Joram
• as Jehu approaches, Joram sends out a messenger but he doesn't return and sticks with Jehu. Joram sends another, and the same happens again
• Jehu shot Joram with an arrow and pierced his heart
• they threw him on the plot belonging to Naboth - (to give context, Naboth and all his sons are already dead)
• Jezebel gets pretty. her people with her throw her out the window and she gets eaten by dogs.

I often find it difficult to remember things until I can visualise it properly, wh

ich is why it was great when Jon sort of acted out the bit when Joash aged 7 is anointed and Athaliah bursts in yelling TREASON!! because now i can always remember that. And today, Kenneth sort of acted -told the story well. In some of his words...

Elijah is all depressed and has been sent up to Mount Horeb. He gets these tasks he has to do.. 1, head back to Damascus. 2, anoint Hazael king over Syria. 3, anoint Jehu king over Israel. 4, appoint Elisha.

Dum de dum, he appoints Elisha. Elisha gets the sons of the prophets - I wonder, could these be any of the prophets that were hidden in the caves?. Elisha says, 'right, ru

n! you gotta go to these people and pick out Jehu from among them. Take him to another room and tell him this, that the Lord is appointing him King over Israel! and use the oil you've got, pour it over his head. and then flee!'

This all happens, and Jehu goes back to his people, who are asking "what was all that about" and Jehu is like "you've set me up. come on, what was that really about?" - and his guys are saying "no, no, really, we didn't do anything! what is it??"

and Jehu shrugging his shoulders,, he's just casually saying "they said they had been sent by a prophet. and - well.... you know, i'm King in Israel."

and then all the guys in the room shout for joy!! Lay down their cloaks, this guy is the new KING!! They gather up a load of people and head over to Joram's place - he's the current King of Israel, but has just been injured in battle against Hazael king

of Syria and so they've carried him back to Jezreel to try and get better. Joram doesn't come out to meet Jehu as he approaches, he sends a messenger on horse

back to say "Thus says the king, 'Is it peace?'", but he doesn't return to Joram, he sticks with and joins Jehu's people.

"What! What's he doing??"

So Joram sends another guy. and the same happens again. Why are they all sticking with Jehu?

Ahaziah of Judah (Joram's... what is it... ah, Joram of ISRAEL is Uncle to this Ahaziah of JUDAH. It's confusing, because there's a J(eh)oram and an Ahaziah in both Judah and Israel.)

I'll explain that actually. Maybe easier drawing a picture.

So, I've circled the people I'm talking about.

Anyway, Joram and Ahaziah get ready and come out to meet Jehu at Naboth's property.

2 Kings 9 ²²And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" He answered, "What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?"

This I imagine to be like today's "So's your face." "So's your mum", Jehu is just insulting Joram's mum Jezebel.

²³Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, "Treachery, O Ahaziah!" ²⁴And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot.

Ahaziah ran away, but Jehu chased him and some of Jehu's people shot him at the ascent of Gur. Ahaziah kept going on to Megiddo and died there.

After this, Jehu goes back to Jezreel on his horse and sees Jezebel at a window, she's made her eyes all pretty. He goes near and shouts up "Who is on my side? Who?" and a couple of eunuchs with her look out the window - Debbie said its like they're saying "Me!"

"Who is on my side?".. pop their heads out... *Pop* *Pop* .. "Me?"

and Jehu tells them to push her out. and SPLAT goes Jezebel. What God said became true

¹⁰And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her."

³⁵But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. ³⁶When they came back and told him, he said, "This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, 'In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, ³⁷and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.'

Jehu was incredibly influential and powerful, it seemed like a lot of people were listening to him. Either he was doing what the people wanted and therefore they were supporting him, or they were scared of him because he was a commander and now King. They listened to him and followed him.

Nearer the start of the lesson I'd asked if Joram had any sons- they'd be pretty mad if they didn't get to be King and some commander got to instead... so we looked at the start of 2 Kings 10. Here it says that Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria, but sometimes this can mean sons & grandsons etc. In some places Jehu is called 'Jehu son of Nimshi, son of Jehoshaphat'; and in other places just 'Jehu son of Jehoshaphat' when reeeally it's saying 'grandson of Jehoshaphat'. So can we apply this to Ahab's 70 sons - some of them being Joram's sons?

Ahab's 70 sons were killed, and Ahaziah of Judah's 42 were killed. These two guys were such bad influences that all the sons had to be killed as well.

All in all... Jehu did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, he wiped out Baal from Israel (also by getting a load of the Baal worshippers in the house of Baal together and then killing them all), but he didn't take away the golden calves that Jeroboam had set up in Bethel and Dan... and ³¹But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.

So on our David - Ahab scale, we've put Jehu around the middle between those two.