Message Theme & Verses: 2 Kings
Memory Verse: 2 Kings 23:21 And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
As we continue the story of Israel’s monarchy in 2 Kings, the kingdom is already split in two. King Ahaziah is ruling the northern kingdom of Israel and King Jehoshaphat rules Judah in the south. This book traces the stories of nearly 30 kings as we watch God’s people fall farther into sin and ruin. Elijah, the bold prophet who stood against the false prophets and evil kings was crying out for the people to turn back to God. God sent Elisha, whose name means God is salvation, to be a comfort and assistant to Elijah, whose name means, Jehovah is God.
Elisha is faithful to continue Elijah’s courageous ministry of preaching against evil kings and false prophets, as he performed miracles and healings. Elijah did not die, but was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind and the prophet Malachi stated that Elijah would return before the “Day of the Lord.” In the book of Matthew, Jesus identified John the Baptist as the fulfillment of that prophecy. John was the voice crying in the wilderness to make straight the way of the Lord. Jesus is the Lord who brought His Kingdom to earth that He might rule perfectly and change the people’s hearts to love God and others.
Elisha’s preaching could not change the people’s hard hearts and his death is recorded in 2 Kings chapter 13. Other prophets will take his place to speak the word of God to the kings and the people of both Israel and Judah, but they will not heed the warning.
Israel will fall first, only lasting until chapter 17 and being destroyed in 722BC by the Assyrians. The Kingdom of Judah under good King Hezekiah seems to learn from her sister nation’s destruction and there is religious reform in the southern kingdom as the people turn back to God.
This reformation does not last long though and when Hezekiah dies, the people turn again to idolatry. Josiah, the boy king rediscovers the Law with the help of high priest Hilkiah and is one of the last hopes for Judah. Josiah makes a covenant with the Lord and destroys the idols and the high places where the evil priests worship false gods. He outlaws the perverted temple prostitution with both women and men. Josiah restores the Passover celebration and bans fortunetellers, mediums, and necromancers from the land. Josiah’s attempt to free Judah from Assyria and to reclaim some of the northern kingdom ends at Megiddo when Josiah is killed in battle.
Shortly after Josiah’s death, Jerusalem and all of Judah were capture by the Babylonian army in 586BC. Most of God’s people are killed or sent into exile and only a remnant of the faithful remains. The 300 years of kings tells the tragedy of a people tempted by idols and following their sinful hearts. But the story ends with hope as the last king of Judah, Jehoiachin, is released from prison and we remember that God is good and faithful to His promises.
Read 2 Kings 22:1-2, 8-13; 23:1-27
Jesus in 2 Kings
Ahab is perhaps the most wicked king in the history of God’s people, encouraged by his equally evil wife, Jezebel. Most of the other kings of both Israel and Judah are not much better and leave us longing for the future messianic king promised by God through His prophets. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon carried the people of Judah along with King Jehoiachin off into exile and perhaps the people thought that God had abandoned them. Jehoiachin was the last king of the line of David and he sat in prison in Babylon displaying the righteous judgment of God against His idolatrous people. But in the final verses of 2 Kings, Jehoiachin is released from prison and God’s people have hope that His Kingdom will be restored. This comes to pass when Jehoiachin is listed as Jechoniah in Matthew as a son of David and a father of the line that would lead to Jesus, the true King of kings who rules His people with truth and justice, and mercy and grace.
Questions
1. Would you want to be king of the Philippines? Why or why not?
2. Who is the best leader you have seen? It could be a president, boss, or community leader
3. Tell us about a bad leader you know.
4. What was the difference between the good and the bad leaders?
5. Have you ever warned your kids to not do something, but they ignored your advice and suffered the consequences?
6. What do you think about Josiah becoming king when he was 8 years old?
7. Why did Josiah tear his clothes when he heard the words of the Book of the Law? (The Book of the Law was most likely Deuteronomy, read to the kings as the basis of their rule. If the king wanted the nation to succeed and be prosperous, he was supposed to lead the people in following the law. In all the evil committed by the bad kings of Judah, they lost or hid the Book of the Law and Josiah did not know it existed. When the high priest found the Book of the Law and read it to Josiah, the Holy Spirit convicted his heart and he knew that the people were not living according God’s will and the Law said that God would punish transgressors of the Law in His holy wrath. Josiah was scared that the people of Israel would be destroyed for their wickedness. Rending his clothes was a way to show that he was mourning because the people did not have faith.)
8. What do you think is the best thing Josiah did? (Josiah tried his best to set the people on God’s path. He humbled himself and determined to live God’s way. Josiah promised to obey the law and started right away. He burned everything used to worship false gods and put an end to child sacrifice. He fired the evil priests and broke and burned idols. He stopped sacred prostitution, tore down altars and even whole buildings, and got rid of the people who talked to spirits. Josiah did not just destroy the evil; he also revived the good and restarted the celebration of the Passover and the worship of the one true God. There had been no celebration of Passover since the time of the Judges, and even King David did not institute this time of memorial. Unfortunately, the people were already ruled by their sin at this point, and God would cleanse them. Only the extreme measure of exile would purge God’s people of their deeply rooted unfaithfulness.)
Comments