II Kings Chuck Smith

8/19/2019 II Kings Chuck Smith

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II Kings 1-2 By Chuck Smith All right, shall we turn in our bibles to II Kings, chapter one. When king Ahab died, his son Ahaziah began to reign in his stead.Ahaziah was as bad as his father, if not worse. He did evil in the sight of theLord, he walked in the way of his father, and the way of his mother, who was worse than his father. And in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, for he served Baal, and worshiped him, and provoked to anger, Jehovah the God of Israel, according to all that his father had done. It was at this time, coming in now into II Kings... That Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab (1:1). When David was king over Israel, he subdued Moab, and Moab became a tributary to the nation of Israel. Later on Moab, sort of rebelled, but under Omri, the king of the north, who was a powerful leader, Moab again was brought into subjection to the northern kingdom of Israel, and they paid taxes, theybecame tributaries to the northern kingdom. This remained through the reign of Ahab, for Ahab also was a very powerful king, and so this business of Moab beinga tributary continued on until the death of Ahab. Now, as a rule, when a nationwas a tributary to another nation, when the king would die, they, especially a powerful king, they would always try to rebel, to see if they couldn't throw offthat yoke, uh that had been placed upon them. So, with the death of Ahab, came the rebellion of Moab, which was successful. There was discovered by the archeologists back at the turn of the century, in the late 1800's, what was called the Moabite stone. A stone that was, it had inscriptions upon it concerning this particular period of history. Mishna, the king of Moab who rebelled against Ahaziah, told of the victories, and of the delivering of the Moabite cities, from the hands of Israel, and even moving in and taking some of the cities of Israel. So th

is Moabite stone was an extremely important archeological discovery because it uh, actually dealt with facts that we already knew that were in the bible, and the bible confirms the accuracy of the history that is recorded on the Moabite stone, rather than the other way around. So many times say, "Well this, this confirms the Bible". Nothing confirms the Bible, it doesn't need confirmation. The Bible is the word of God, it stands as such . These other things that they find don't confirm the Bible. The Bible confirms them! You can test the accuracy of these other records, according to the Bible, and, rather than the other way around.So, never look upon these archeological discoveries as confirming the Bible. They are confirmed by the Bible. We know what they are, because of what the Bible says. So, this Moabite stone, dealing with this period of history in which Moab rebelled against Israel, after the death of Ahab. A successful rebellion. And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and h

e was injured: and so he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease (1:2). Ekron was one of the major Philistine cities. Baalzebub, the word means, "The Lord of the flies", and they worshiped the flies, of all things. And they have found the little flies that these people used to carry around in their pockets, that were cut out pieces of stone or whatever, that they had cut in the shape of a fly, andthey would keep them in their pockets, and they would kiss them, and uh, tragicwhat people who have rejected God, will choose for objects of worship. You know, I mean, it, it's really sad indeed to uh, see how, how weird people can becomeif they reject the truth of God. I, it's, it's, it's old but it's modern, it's today. You see a lot of these weird things that people do who've rejected the truth of God. The Washinish, who was up in Oregon, if, if you would see the pictures of what he had these people doing, as far as screaming the releasing, and the

writing on the floors, they screamed, and all of this far out, weird stuff. If you just walked in on it, you'd say, "There's a bunch of loonies!", I mean it was horrible, the things that they do once they reject the truth of God, they're open, 2 Kings 1-2, PW Twente, 10/15/10, [email protected], Phone # 310 476 4704 they're preys to any and every kind of crazy thing. So, he sent messengers toEkron, this Philistine city, to inquire, no doubt of a oracle there, as to whether or not he was going to survive this injury when he fell off the roof. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, and go and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is nota God in Israel, that you inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? Nor wherefore t



hus saith Jehovah, You shall not come down from the bed on which you have gone up, but you shall surely die. And Elijah departed (1:3-4). So, these messengers on the way, the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, "Hey you're going down to inquire, go tell him that he's gonna die". So, Elijah caught hold of these messengers, and he said, "Why would the king send to Ekron? Is it because there's no God in Israel?". They didn't worship Jehovah any more in Israel. He was rejected. "Is that why they have to send to Baalzebub, to find out what's gonna happen? You go back and tell him that Jehovah declares that he's not gonna get off the bed, he's gonna die." And so when the messengers came back to him, he said unto them,["How come you're back so soon?"] Why are you returned back? And they said untohim, There came up a man to meet us, and he said to us, Go, and turn again untothe king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Is it not becausethere is not a God in Israel, that you have sent to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which you have gone up, but you shall surely die (1:5-6). The implication is, if he had sought the Lord, he could've perhaps been healed, but because he didn't seek after the Lord, he was going to die. And he said unto them, [The king said to the messengers.] What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? ["What did he look like?"] And they answered him, He was a hairy man, and he was girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. [Just a rugged looking character! Beard, long hair.] And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. [The king recognized the description.] And so the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with hisfifty men. And he went up to him: and, behold, he was sitting on the top of a hill. And the captain spoke to him, and he said, Thou man of God, the king hath sa

id, Come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of the fifty, If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume you and your fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty (1:7-10). You remember Jesus called the brothers James and John, the sons of thunder, because at one time, and they probably remembering this, wanted to call down fire on the Samaritans who had treated Jesus in a corrupt way. When they wouldn't allow Jesus, they wouldn't allow Him to come into town. They just met Him and said, "You know we don't want you in our town". So as they were going on, James andJohn said, "Lord, shall we call down fire from heaven and consume them?". And Jesus said, "Fellows you don't understand the spirit that you are of.". That was Elijah, but that was for his time, but you know the law came by Moses, grace andtruth by Jesus Christ. For Elijah's day it was a thing that was acceptable and proper, but not for us today. We're not to go around crisping (Ha, ha!) people be

cause we don't like the way they talk to us or look at us! Now, the interestingthing though, though the day of grace is now upon us, the day of grace will be closing. It is my opinion that it'll be closing very soon. Once the day of graceis over, then God is going to deal again in fiery judgement. The book of Revelation tells us that there will be two witnesses upon the earth, during the periodof the great tribulation. They have power to call down fire from heaven on any who seek to arrest them, just like Elijah did here. Of course Elijah was no doubt, one of the two witnesses. So this hairy guy will come back, and again when they seek to arrest him, and this is exactly what the king was seeking to do, he'sseeking to arrest Elijah. This captain was sent out to arrest him. And he came out, and he said, "The king has said, `Come on down', thou man of God". He used the wrong term I guess, because Elijah said, "If I'm a man of God, then let thathappen". So the king sent out another captain with fifty more fellows. And he an

swered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly. [The king's getting tougher! Adding the word quickly.] Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume you and your fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. So he sent again Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today"Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7112 2 2 Kings 1-2, PW Twente, 10/15/10, [email protected], Phone # 310 476 4704 a third captain of fifty. And thethird captain of fifty went up, and he came and he fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, and he said to him, O man of God, I pray thee, let me live,and let these fifty men who are your servants, also live, let their lives be pre



cious in your sight. ["You know I'm a family man, and my family needs me, and you know I'm here on orders."] For behold, there came down fire from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight. ["Have mercy upon me!"] And the angel ofthe Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him: don't be afraid of him. And so he arose, and went down with him unto the king (1:11-15). So, the angel is guiding Elijah. The angel was the one that sent him to meet the messengers who were heading for Ekron. Now, with this captain, the angel says, "Go on down with him, don't be afraid, because, I, uh the Lord, will be with you". So, when Elijah came to the king, he said... Thus saith Jehovah, Forasmuch as you have sent messengersto inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? therefore thou shalt not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. So he died according to the wordof the Lord which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; [Now we've got a confusing sort of situation because we have a Jehoram reigning in the north, and a Jehoram reigning in the south.] Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did,are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel (1:16-18)? Now dealing with Jehoram for a moment. He was not the son of Ahaziah. Ahaziah did not have any children yet, he was still a young man. He was cut off. So,Jehoram was his younger brother who began to reign then over Israel, at the same time as Jehoram was reigning in Judah. Chapter 2 And it came to pass, when theLord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal (2:1). Now, there were in those days, sort of theological seminar

ies which were called the schools of the prophets. These were begun by Samuel, and it was training young men in the scriptures, in order that they might be a spiritual guide to the nation. The priesthood at this time did not have a powerful spiritual influence. This was maintained more by the prophets, they were God'sspokesmen to the people. Early on the priesthood became corrupted. So, God began to speak to the people through these prophets. They had these schools of the prophets, where the fellows would study the word of God, learn the word of God, and learn to listen to the voice of God. The major school of the prophets was in Gilgal, and Elijah of course, was the head over these schools during this periodof time. Later, Elisha became the head over these schools. There was also one in Bethel, and there was one in Jericho. "So it came to pass, when the Lord wouldtake Elijah into heaven by the whirlwind." Elijah went with Elisha, from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me t

o Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth,I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel (2:2). If you look at your bible map, you'll find that Gilgal is on the upper plains, and as they moved towards Bethel, they are moving down towards the area of Jericho. Coming down the valley that leads into Jericho, and to the Jordan River. Now the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and they said unto him, Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from your head today? And he said, Yes, I know it; hold your peace (2:3). So, Elijah no doubt, at this point had a premonition of his death. He knew he was going to die. He was probably sort of seeking solitude. Well, actually he wasn't going to die, and it doesn't actually say that, and I'm wrong in saying that. Elijah was going to be caught up into heaven. He didn't die, he was caught up into heaven. But the time had come, when he was to be caught up. That's what the scripture says, not that he was gonna die. S

o Elijah said, "Stay here son, I'm gonna go on down to Bethel; for the Lord's called me down there". And he said, "As the Lord lives, I'll go with you". So they came to Bethel. The Lord had spoken to the prophets there of Elijah's pending departure. "Don't you know your master's gonna be taken from you today?" Elisha knew it. "I know it", he said, "Hold your peace. It's alright, I know these things". Sometimes people get a premonition of death. Edited & Highlighted from "TheWord For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7112 3 2 Kings 1-2, PWTwente, 10/15/10, [email protected], Phone # 310 476 4704 Sometimes throughcircumstances you know that your time is short. Paul the apostle, writing his second epistle to Timothy, knew from the circumstances, having been rearrested by



Nero, brought back to Rome, he knew that he wasn't going to escape this time. He wrote to Timothy, and he said, "The time of my departure is at hand". Notice, he didn't say, "My death". Ha, ha. Because he who lives, and believes in Jesus, doesn't die, but we depart from these bodies, and we move into the new bodies. "The buildings of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." So, "The time of my departure's at hand, I have fought a good fight. I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, our righteous Judge shall give, but not to me only, butto all of those that do love His appearing. Peter, when he wrote his second epistle, said, "I write unto you these things, not that you don't know them, but tobring you again into remembrance of them. And knowing, that I'm soon going to be moving out of this tent, I thought that I would write them, so that you would have them even after I have gone". Now there are certain truths that we need to be constantly reminded about. It's not that we don't know these things, it seemsthat we sort of neglect truth, or we drift away from it. The bible says, "Let us take the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest at any time we should drift away from them". It's possible for a person to sort of drift away from truths that we know. Because of that, Peter said, "You know I've told youthese things before, but now I'm writing them to you, that even after I've departed, you still have them in remembrance. Because, I'm going be leaving this tent pretty soon". Talking about moving out of his body. Elijah knew that the time had come. Elisha knew it. These prophets also knew it. We had an interesting case here in the church a few years ago. A little five year old girl who said to her mommy, "Mommy, what would you do if I died?", and her mother said, "Oh sweethea

rt that's a terrible thought! I would just cry, and cry!". She said, "Well mother you shouldn't cry, because I will be with Jesus if I died. I would be very happy! And it would be wrong mommy for you to cry, if I would die, and you shouldn't cry, because I would be happy with Jesus". And, for two days, this little girl talked to her mother like this. The second night, the little girl passed away in the night, and the mother suddenly realized that she evidently had some kind of a premonition, and was seeking to just prepare her mother for her departure. A very special thing. Elijah knew that, "The time of departure is at hand". So, he said unto Elisha, [verse four] Tarry here I pray thee; for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I'll notleave thee. So they came to Jericho. [The same thing.] The sons of the prophetsthat were at Jericho came to Elisha, and they said unto him, Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from your head today? And he said, I know it;

hold your peace. And so Elijah said unto him, Tarry I pray thee, here; for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I'll not leave you. And so the two of them went on. The fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view from afar off: and they two stood by the Jordan (2:4-7). These prophets sort of followed them from a distance, and they watched them as they came to the Jordan river. And Elijah took his mantle, and he wrapped it together, [Sort of a leather cloak that he hung over his shoulders, and he wrapped it together, rolled it up.] and he smote the waters, and theywere divided hither and thither, so that the two of them went over on dry ground. [God stopped the flow of the Jordan, much as He did at the time that Joshua came into the promised land, with the children. God stopping the Jordan river.] And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken away from you. And Elisha said, I pray thee

, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. Elijah said unto him, You've asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so unto you; but if not, it shall not be so (2:8-10). Many commentators believe that what he was actually asking was, for the first born son's inheritance.For the first born son received a double portion over the other brothers, of the father's inheritance. So he was asking for the inheritance of the first born. "A double portion of your spirit to be upon me." Well, when you look at Elijah, and all that he had accomplished, it was quite a request at that! He said, "If you see me when I'm taken up, it will happen. If you don't, it won't". So it cameto pass, as they were still going on, and they were talking, that, behold, a cha



riot of fire, and horses of fire, parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a storm into heaven (2:11). Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7112 4 2 Kings 1-2, PW Twente, 10/15/10, [email protected], Phone # 310 476 4704 Whirlwind is a poor translation of the Hebrew word there, which just really means a storm. I don't picture a whirlwind, cyclone, or something, or a tornado. It was just a storm that came, and he went on up into heaven, in this storm. Three people. Enoch, "Walked with God, andwas not, for God took him". Translated, without seeing death. Elijah, taken up into heaven in the sight of Elisha. Of course Jesus Christ, taken up into heaven, in the sight of His disciples. When Elisha saw it, he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw Elijah no more:and he took hold of his own clothes, and tore them in two pieces. And he took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and he went back, and stood by the bank of the Jordan (2:12); So he watched Elijah till he went out of sight, asthe Lord took him up into heaven. Then taking the mantle that fell, as Elijah ascended, came back to the Jordan River. And he took the mantle of Elijah and he smote the waters, and said, Where is Jehovah the God of Elijah? and when he had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over (2:14).This was God's affirmation upon his life and upon his ministry, that he was theone to take the place of Elijah, as the prophet to the nation of Israel. This was the beginning now, of his ministry. God was confirming. These young prophets were sitting over there, still watching. They saw Elisha come back. They saw himsmite the waters. They saw the waters part, even as they saw it happen for Elijah, and they realized, "Hey, the anointing is resting upon this man, to be the pr

ophet to Israel". The question, "Where is the God of Elijah? Where is the God who demonstrates Himself in power, before the people?" The God who stopped the heavens that it did not rain. The God who sent the fire from heaven. The God who fed the prophet, the God who raised the dead! "Where is the God of Elijah?" Today, as we look at the conditions of the church, the conditions of the world, we'reprone to ask the same question. "Where is the God of Elijah?" Where is the power, where are the dynamics of the Spirit? There's a lot of hyped up kind of emotionalism today, that I really have no desire to be involved in at all. I cannot, in the wildest of my imaginations, picture Jesus doing some of the things that Isee done by some of these healing evangelists. Whipping people into frenzies. There's a lot of phoniness today, going on in the name of Jesus, by some of thesesupposed healing evangelists. A lot of fakery. A lot of these guys are nothing but charlatans, preying upon people's problems. It's a sad, and unfortunate thing

when a person is terminally ill. The desire to live is so strong, that they'llbecome a prey to almost any charlatan, who promises them hope. You see, when the doctors say, "Well we're sorry, there's no hope", that's a tragic thing, because that person then is going to follow anybody who will hold out hope. They seemto, at this point of desperation, set their good judgement and reason on the shelf, and they become victims, and preys, of these people who go about preying upon the illness, and the tragedies of their life. God will deal with those charlatans in a very powerful way, but usually there's just a lot of emotion, circus tent kind of an environment, where everybody is just brought to a peak of emotions, and then the supposed healings take place in the midst of this emotional frenzy. Now some people are healed, and that I don't deny. Their faith somehow takeshold in that kind of an environment, and God touches, and heals them. And, I praise God for that, I thank God for His mercy, and for His grace, and for His love

. But, there are far many people go away not healed, than those that are healed. If you take an average of those that are going there to be healed, and those that actually come away truly healed, you'll find that we have a better average on Saturday night prayer meetings, when the elders just gathered in the back room, and they handle the people according to the scriptures, and pray for the sick.There are more people being healed back there than in these big (bally-hoo) kind of meetings. But there are not as many being healed as I would like to see. I long to see the power of God, I long to see God demonstrate His power. My heart cries with Elisha, "O where is the God of Elijah?". I do not believe that God isfaulted, or can be faulted in the weakness of the church. I don't believe that G



od has changed. I don't believe that God doesn't heal anymore, that God isn't concerned with our physical needs any longer. I believe that healing is for us, and healing is for today, and that God is able. I believe that there has to be somewhere in us a lack, and I think that, that probably stems from the whole culture in which we live, which is a materialistic culture. It is extremely difficultin this culture and society, Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7112 5 2 Kings 1-2, PW Twente, 10/15/10, [email protected], Phone # 310 476 4704 to really be as spiritual as God would have us to be. I think that all of us are more deeply involved in the materialthings of this world, than God would have us to be. And, I think that, that is the cause for the weakness of the church, as far as the demonstration of spiritual power. God is the same. "His hand is not short that He cannot save, neither is His ear heavy, that He cannot hear." But, we've allowed the material things tocome between God, and our commitment to Him. So when some of the prophets whichwere to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests upon Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. [They saw the waters part, they saw the power of God was upon this man Elisha, and they came and did obeisance.] And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek your master: lest peradventure the spirit of the Lord has taken him up, and has cast him onsome mountain, or into some valley. And he said, ["Don't go."] You're not to send (2:15-16). Now it is interesting, you remember when Elijah came to Obadiah, the chief servant of Ahab, and he said, "Go tell your master that I will meet himtoday", and Obadiah says, "Hey why would you ask me to do that? Don't you know w

hat a honorable man I am? Haven't you heard that when they ordered all the prophets killed, I hid some of the prophets in a cave, and fed them, and cared for them? You know, why would you ask me to go tell the king to meet you? Because, assoon as I'm gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will catch you away someplace. And when the king gets back here, and you're not here, then he's gonna kill me. So, why would you do that to an honest god fearing man, like I am?" And, Elijah says, "I'll be here, I guarantee it. I'll be here. Go tell the king I want to meet him". So, but even Obadiah felt that the Lord would perhaps catch Elijah away. Now in the New Testament, we remember the story of Philip, who was preachingin Samaria, tremendous revival, and the Spirit said, "Go down to Gaza", that desert area. He went down there, and he saw this chariot heading for Ethiopia. So the Lord said, "Join yourself to the chariot", which he did. As he came near, hesaw the man sitting in the chariot, reading the scriptures. He said, "Hey fellow

! Do you understand what you're reading?", and he said, "How can I unless someone shows me, teaches me? Come on up!". So Philip got up in the chariot with him,and the fellow happened to be reading in Isaiah, prophecy concerning Christ. Hesaid, "Who is the prophet talking about, himself, or someone else?", and Philipbegan at that verse, and began to preach unto him, Jesus. As Philip witnessed to this Ethiopian eunuch, finally the fellow said, "Hey, here's some water! Why can't I be baptized?", and Philip said, "If you believe that Jesus is the Lord, you can!". He says, "I believe!". So they got off the chariot, and Philip baptized him, and when the came up out of the water, the Spirit of God caught Philip away, and he ended up in Azotus, he landed in Azotus. So, uh these prophets thought that the Lord is probably caught him up, but maybe He's dumped him someplace. On a mountain top, or in a valley or something. "Maybe he's fallen." They probably could see him from a distance, going up. But figured that he may have fallen a

gain to the earth. So they said, you know, "Let fifty of us go out and search for him", and Elisha says, "No. No need fellas, you know you won't find him". Butthey kept insisting. They urged him till he was ashamed, [He, he thought well, you know, he was embarrassed.] he said, ["Okay"] Send. So they sent fifty men; and for three days, they searched, but they could not find him. And when they came again to Elisha, (for he stayed there at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not tell you, Don't go? And so the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my Lord sees: but the water is terrible, and thus the ground is barren (2:17-19). Down in the Jordan valley, ofcourse it is around 1,200 feet below sea level, there at Jericho. There are many



springs of water that come out of the ground, but most of them are brackish. You can't really drink them, nor can you irrigate with them, because of the high salt content. So there was this one spring there at Jericho, and the water was brackish, and uh, so they came to Elisha and they said, "Man you know, great place to live. Everything will grow here, but this water is rotten. It's brackish". And so he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt in it. And so they brought itto him. And he went forth unto the spring of waters, and he cast the salt there, [Now salt is a symbol of purifying. They offered uh, the, there was, no, therewas a covenant of salt. Jesus said to His disciples, "You are the salt of the earth", talking about the purifying effect. Because salt, in an area where there was no refrigeration, was used to preserve the Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7112 6 2 Kings 1-2, PW Twente, 10/15/10, [email protected], Phone # 310 476 4704 meat. You cut your meat, and the bacteria immediately sets in on the warm meat, and so they would take and salt it down real good, and that kills the surface bacteria, keeps the meat from spoiling. So he said, "Bring me this cruse of salt, and he went forth unto the spring of waters, he cast the salt in there",] and said, Thus saith Jehovah, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death orbarren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha that he spoke (2:20-22). Today, right across the street from the Tel ofJericho, you can go to Elisha's spring. Still a very healthy spring. Good flow of water comes out, and I've drunk the water, and it is good, even till this day. That spring was healed, the water is not brackish, it's very palatable, and ofcourse the area below where the water flows, is just verdant garden area. Beauti

ful! And so, during the time of Elisha, that spring was healed, and it remains so to the present day. So he went up from there to Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth [And the word, little children, is a bad translation. Better translated, young lads. You think little children, you see a bunch of little five, six year old kindergartners. Not so, you're talking more about teenage boys. You go over to those cities today, and there's still a lot of brattylittle teenage boys around. Ha, ha! But, not all of them like tourists, and they will yell at you. And uh, "So there came forth",] these young boys out of the city, and they mocked him, [Taunting him.] and they said to him, GO on up, [For he was heading up the hill towards Bethel.] you old bald head; [Ha, ha!] go on up you bald head. And so he turned back, and looked on them, and he cursed them in the name of Jehovah. And there came forth two she bears out of the woods, and tore up forty two of these young fellows. And he went up from there to mount Carm

el, and from there he returned to Samaria (2:23-25). So again, uh you're dealing with the Old Testament period of time, and they, they were mocking this fellow, bringing to attention his bald head. And, he took care of them! Ha, ha! So, let me just warn you, be careful what you say! Ha, ha! Enough said. Ha, ha! Father, how we thank you for this age of grace in which we live. Your love that is shed abroad upon our hearts, through Jesus Christ. We thank You Lord for these men who walked in power. Whose lives were a demonstration of the power of Your Spirit. Lord even as You revealed yourself to that apostate generation, reveal yourself Lord, to this apostate generation. Come Lord in the power of your Spirit. Walk in the midst of your people. Work, O God, in meeting the needs. Let our hearts, O Lord, be open, and let our hearts be sensitive, to receive that work of YourSpirit. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. May the Lord be with you through this week, and as we seek the Lord together, making our commitment to walk with Him, may

you experience the power of God working in your life. May we see God demonstrate to the world around us, the truth of the resurrection, through the love that we have for each other, and the love that we have for Him. May God make your lifea very powerful witness for His truth. In Jesus' name. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7112 7 c:\users\dave\desktop\chuck smith\ii kings\7113 2 Kings 3-5.txt 2 Kings 3-5 Tape #7113 IIKings 3-5 By Chuck Smith Let's turn in our Bibles now to II Kings, chapter three. After King Ahab, that extremely wicked king had died, his son Ahaziah began to reign in his stead. Ahaziah was as wicked as his father, and so he had a shortlived reign. Only a couple of years, and he died. Because he had no children, no



sons, his brother, the second son of Ahab began to reign, his name was Jehoram. He began to reign over Israel in the eighteenth year of the reign of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, and he reigned for twelve years. He did evil in the sight of the Lord; [As did all of the kings of Israel.] but he was not as bad as his father, or his mother: and he did put away the idol and the worship of Baal that had been instituted by his father. Nevertheless he continued after the worship that was established by the first king of Judah, [The worship by, that was created,] through Jeroboam (3:1-3). When he put the altars in Bethel, and in Dan, and made the calves there, and told the people that they were the gods that brought them out of Israel, out of Egypt. So during the period then, that Jehoram began to reign... Mesha the king of Moab who was a sheepmaster, who paid tribute to the king of Israel: and the tribute was a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams, with the wool. [Every year. Got tired of paying the tribute.] He rebelled against Jehoram [And in his rebellion, he attacked some of the cities of Israel. He took some of the cities of Israel.] But it came to pass, that the king Jehoram decided that he would go to battle against Mesha. And he came down to Jehoshaphat. [He sent a message actually to him.] And he said, The king of Moab has rebelled against me: will you go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: For as you are, my people are as my people, and my horses as your horses (3:4-7). Now Jehoshaphat, you remember earlier, in the reign of Ahab, when he came to visit Ahab, Ahab said, "You know Syria is still holding Rabah andthat should be ours. Would you go help me take Rabah?". And Jehoshaphat said the same thing to Ahab, "You know my men are as your men, my horses are as your horses. Let's go." And they went to, but they, let's inquire of the Lord, he said.

So they brought in all the prophets that said, "Go, you know you're gonna prosper, you're gonna defeat them". And Jehoshaphat said, "Is there a prophet of Jehovah that we can inquire?", and Ahab said, "Oh there's one, but man he always gives me bad news. Micaiah. I can't stand the guy. Never prophesies anything good about me". He said, "Well don't say that. Let's call him in and let him prophecy". And, Micaiah came in and said, "Go. God will bless you". He said, "How many times have I told you not to lie to me in the name of the Lord?" Micaiah said, "Okay, you want to know the truth? I saw Israel without a shepherd, and they were just you know, their shepherd was smitten. Ahab, you've had it. You know when yougo to battle.", and Ahab said, "Didn't I tell you this guy always prophesies evil against me?", and so forth. Well, Ahab went to battle with Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat went with Ahab into battle. As they got near the battlefield, Ahab said, "I'd like to get in and fight. You, you, take and put on my robes, and stay here

in my chariot. But I'm gonna get into the battle". And Ahab went into the battle. Well, the king of Syria said, "Don't worry about the troops. Let's get the king, if we can wipe out their king, then they'll be demoralized, and they won't have any leadership, and they'll flee". So some of the captains saw Jehoshaphat in the king's chariot, with the king's robe, and they thought, "Aha there he is",and they began to pursue after Jehoshaphat. And, he began to flee, and he beganto cry out you know, and these guys realized that, "Hey, he's not the king of Israel". Now, you'd think that Jehoshaphat would've learned, but now the son of Ahab is inviting him to go to battle. "Will you with me against Moab? King Mesha has rebelled against us, and will you go?" And, he says, "Hey you know, my men are like your men, my horse like yours, let's go for it". And they said, Which way shall we go? And they said, Let's go by the way of the wilderness of Edom (3:8). Now Moab was pretty much directly across from the area of Jordan, and Jericho,

and the Dead sea. From Samaria the most direct route would be right down from Bethel, to Jericho, and across, and you catch them right there. You enter directly into Moab. The route that they have chosen, is a route that goes way around south of the Dead sea, crossing the plain on the southern end of the Dead sea, and coming up through Edom, and attacking Moab then from the south. It is a very circuitous route that they were taking. However, in doing so they picked up also the king of Edom with their troops. So you have three nations, Judah, Israel, and Edom, coming against Moab, and coming against them from the south. However... The king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom: and they fetched a compass [Or that is they went on around on a seven day journey. Pretty r



ough journey. It was only a distance of about thirty seven miles, but uh, it uh, it took, it's pretty tough wilderness area down there.] and there was no waterthere for the host, [Now there is a little stream that generally has water, down in that southern end, but it apparently was dry, and when they came to it, they found that it was dry, so they were really then, in desperate straits. Having that many men down there with their animals, without water, and uh, they uh,] Sothe king of Israel said, Alas! [Which is a term of you know, "Yikes!" or "We'vehad it!" or, sort of despair.] that the Lord has called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab (3:9-10)! Looks like Moab's gonna take us, rather than us wiping Moab out. Looks like we're gonna be destroyed. But Jehoshaphat [Always seeking to inquire of the Lord, and Jehoshaphat walked with the Lord. His only problem, he didn't keep the best company. He was always running around with these guys from the north. "But Jehoshaphat,"] said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah, that we may inquire of Jehovah by him? And one of thekings of Israel's servants answered and said, Elisha is here, the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah (3:11). Now we remember that while Elijah was still alive, that Elisha became his servant. Pouring hands upon his water, uh, pouring water upon his hands is just a term that shows his servitude. When Elijah washed his hands, here was Elisha pouring the water for him. And so Jehoshaphat said, The word of Jehovah is with him. SO the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom came down to Elisha. And Elisha said unto the kingof Israel, What have I to do with you? get to the prophets of your father, and the prophets of your mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, No: for Jehovah has called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab.

And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely were it not that I regarded the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would noteven look to you. ["I wouldn't even give you the time of day."] But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him (3:12-15). Now, there's an interesting thing. There seems to be a tie between the music, and the anointing of God upon the prophet. And, uhthis was often the case in those days. A prophet would have them play music. This was a part of the school of the prophets was the worship of God, and music, and as they would worship the Lord, the Spirit of God would move upon their hearts. That's why we have music as an important part of our worship. It sort of opens the door for the working of the Spirit within our hearts. It sort of prepares our hearts to receive the word of God, and that's why we always begin our services with the time of music. Just that of preparing our hearts, that the Spirit of

God might speak to our hearts, that have been opened, through the time of worship and music. And Elisha said, Thus saith Jehovah, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, You will not see the wind, neither will you see rain; and yet this valley will be filled with water, that ye may drink, both you, and your cattle, and your beasts. [The cattle were taken along for food, the beasts were taken along to carry their supplies.] And he said, [But, is, it but,] this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. And you shall smite every fenced city, every choice city, and you shall cut down every good tree, and stop up all of their wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. And it came to pass in the morning, when the meal offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by way of Edom, and the country was filled with water (3:16-20). Now this was a common occurrence down in this particular valley. You are at an area that is around eleven,

twelve hundred feet below sea level. It's this deep, rift called the Syro-African rift. The lowest spot on the face of the earth, outside of the ocean floors. And, many times you can be down there and it will be a sunny day. A beautiful day, down by the Dead Sea. These dry wadies will suddenly just be filled with water. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7113 2 You'll get a flash flood, and cars and busses, have been washed into these wadies, in these flash floods. Though the sun is shining, you don'tsee any clouds or anything down there in this valley, yet up in the area of Jerusalem they could be having a tremendous downpour, in the area of Hebron, and the water then comes racing down these, normally dry wadies, into the Dead sea. So



it is not at all an uncommon occurrence. We've been down there in the sunshine,a hot day, and yet you would have these flash floods coming through these wadies, on into the Dead sea. So he said, "You're not gonna hear the wind, or see thewind, you're not gonna see the rain, but this valley's gonna be filled with water. So make ditches to catch the water", actually, when it comes flowing through. And then, God is gonna be good, He's gonna deliver the Moabites into your hands. So when the Moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them,they gathered all that were able to put on armor, and they stood at the border.[They're ready for this clash.] And they rose up early in the morning, as the sun was rising upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood (3:21-22): You know how it is in the morning, when the sun rises,uh that uh, the reddishness of the sun is reflected off the water, and uh it looked like, instead of a valley full of water, it looked like a valley full of blood. The Moabites immediately assumed, you get three kings together, they had tofight among themselves. They had a big fight last night, all of the armies thathad come together, got to squabbling among themselves, and they wiped out each other. You know, "Let's attack them quickly, and we'll wipe out the remnants". So the Moabites saw the sun shining upon the water, that looked as red as blood. And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another: so to the spoil Moab. [And these guys came down expecting to spoil them.] And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them: but they went forward smiting theMoabites, even in their country. And they beat down the cities, on every good piece of land they cast a man his stone, and they stopped the wells of water, and

they cut down the good trees: only in Kirharaseth left they the stones thereof;howbeit the slingers went about, and smote it (3:23-25). The one city they werenot able to take was this fortress of Kirharaseth. It's a positioned on a, a hill that makes it extremely difficult to capture. In fact later the crusaders built a powerful fortress in this same location. But what they did, they did not take the city, it would've cost too many lives, the king and the people had fled to the city. So these guys, with these slings, went around and tossed these stones on into the city, of course harassing the people on the inside. These stones come flying in. But, they did not try to take the city. Now when the king of Moabsaw that the battle was too much for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, and tried to break through the ranks, even to the king of Edom: but they could not. [They decided that, "Well, at least we'll get one of them. We'll try and get the king of Edom". They could not break through the ranks.] And

so they took his oldest son that should have reigned in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. [And it was so repulsive, repugnant to theIsraelites,] that they departed from him, and returned to their own land (3:26-27). Chapter 4 Now there was a certain woman who was a widow, and she was the wife of one of the sons of the prophets. And she said to Elisha, Thy servant my husband is dead; and you know that he feared the Lord: now the creditors have cometo take my two sons to be slaves (4:1). Now in those days, when you borrowed money, you could pledge yourself as security for the money. So that if you could not pay your debt, then you were sold into slavery. And this son of the prophet, which was a term, "One of the sons of the prophets", which was a term, he was inthe prophet school. He had pledged his life for the debt. He died, and so the two sons then become the security for his debt. Then the men had come, uh the creditor in order to take and make slaves out of the woman's two sons. Elisha said,

What shall I do for you? tell me, what do you have in the house? And she said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil. And so he said, Go,and borrow as many vessels from your neighbors, empty vessels; that you can get, don't borrow a few. ["Just go out and borrow all the pitchers and the pots, and everything you can get from your neighbors."] And when you are come in, you shall shut Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7113 3 the door upon you and your sons, and you shall pour out into all of those vessels, and you shall set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her, and upon her sons, and who had brought the vessels to her; and she poured the oil out. [Into these vessels.] And it came



to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me some more vessels. And he said unto her, There's none left. And so the oil stayed. [That is, that was it.] So she came and told the man of God, and he said, Go and sell the oil, and pay your debt, and live you and your children on the rest of it (4:2-7). So here was a miracle of God. Now, there is a certain similarity between this miracle, and the one with Elijah. When the woman uh, had taken Elijah in,he said, uh you know, "Make me the cake first". She said, "I just have enough flour and oil to make a loaf of bread, and then my son and I are gonna eat it, and die". He says, "Make me one first, and then make one for you and your son". And the whole period of the famine, the oil never ran out, the flour never ran out. There was always enough for more during the three year period of the famine. Now, again we find God working in a miraculous way to provide for this widow's need. As Elisha said, "Just go and borrow all of the pans and all of the vessels that you can get hold of from your neighbors, and then take the oil that you have, and just fill all the pots, and all of the vessels. Then sell what you have to, to pay the debt, and just live off the rest of the oil". Now it fell on a day,that Elisha passed to Shunem. And there was a great woman; [And, that doesn't men uh, size. It's means wealthy. She was a rich lady. A wealthy woman.] and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, as often as he passed by, that he would turn in there to eat bread (4:8). Now Elisha is an interesting person. He'snot like Elijah. Elijah wasn't very sociable. Elijah was rough. A hairy guy with a leather girdle, and he was just uh, a rugged individualist, and not sociableat all. Where Elisha's a very sociable person. You find him mixing with the people. He's not sort of uh, as was Elijah, just you know, off to himself. So the wo

man invited him in for bread, so every time he passed by that way, he'd go and eat the bread. But also, with Elisha, he didn't care for material things. He wasn't interested in money or material things at all. He was willing to just go in and eat bread, uh you know, that the woman would provide. Uh, well we'll see in a little bit, his disinterest in material things. Fellow very satisfied, very content to just serve the Lord, and live on what God provided, and not after material gain. So [she] this woman said to her husband, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which is passing by here continually. So let's make a little room,I pray thee, on the wall; [Of our house. Just add a bedroom actually.] and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, that whenever he comes to us, that he can spend some time there (4:9-10). "You know, just make a chamber for the prophet. Put a bed in there, table and all, and whenever he's by it's just his room, and it's there available for him.

" And so it fell on a day, that he came there, and he turned into the chamber, and he laid down there. And so he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he called her, she stood before him. And he said to her, Say now unto her, Behold you have been very careful for us with all of this care; what do you want us to do for you? you want us to speak to the king or the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among my own people (4:11-13). "I don't need any favors, I'm satisfied." And he said, Well then what's to be done for her? AndGehazi answered, She doesn't have any children, and her husband is old. And so he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, you're going to be embracing a son. ["Next year about this time, you're gonna be holding a child, your son."] And she said, Oh no, my Lord, thou man of God, don't lie to your handmaid (4:14-16). You know, impossible! But the woman conceived, and bore a son and at that

season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life. And so when the child was grown, a certain day, he went out with his father to a field toreap. [The crops.] And he said unto his father, My head, my head. [He probably had a sun stroke.] And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him, and brought him to [the] his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then he died. And she went up, and laid him on the bed [Of Elisha, the bed,] of the man of God, and she shut the door upon him, and she went out. And she called to her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, andone of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God, Edited & Highlighted from"The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7113 4 and come ag



ain. And he said, Why will you go to him today? it's not a new moon, or a sabbath. And she said, It shall be well (4:17-23). A woman of faith. Now she didn't really say to her husband, "You know your son is dead, he's lying on the prophet's bed", she said, "Just send me a donkey and a young man. I've gotta get to the prophet". Of course, Elisha was in the area of mount Carmel, and he had sort of a place there where people would come, and they would offer sacrifices unto the Lord. But, uh she, she is, she's heading off, and she said, "It shall be well". A statement of faith. And so she saddled the donkey, and said to her servant, Now drive, and go forward; don't slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee. [In other words, "Don't slow down unless I tell ya, but let's get moving!"] And so when she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, here comes that Shunammite: Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her,Is it well with thee? is it well with your husband? is it well with your child?And she answered, It is well (4:24-26). Now he could tell by the way that she was driving that little donkey, that there was something wrong. There was a problem. So he sent his Gehazi out, to find out what the problem was. You know, "What's your problem? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with you? Is it well with your child?". She said, "It is well". And so when she came to the man of Godto the hill, she caught him by the feet: and Gehazi the servant came near to thrust her away. But the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me (4:27). Now Elisha to me is a very interesting fellow, because he is surprised when God didn't speak to him. I'm always surprised when God does speak to me! It's always just, it

's a pleasant surprise, a joyful surprise when God speaks to me, but, it's always to me a surprise. I'm just delighted when God speaks to me! He was surprised when God didn't speak to him. He was so tuned in, and we'll come to that a little more, as we look at this man Elisha. So tuned in that he was shocked here, that the woman was obviously in trouble, and God did not show him what the problem was. And she said to him, Did I desire a son of my Lord? did not I say, Don't deceive me (4:28)? So, with this, he realizes that the problem is with the son. She said, "Look I didn't ask for a son, and I said don't deceive me". And so he realized that the son was in bad shape. So he said to his servant Gehazi, Gird up your loins, [Now they usually wore robes and when they needed to run, they wouldtake the sash that they wore, and they would pull their robe up, and tie the sash up high. So then you have a short skirt, and you can run with a short skirt. So you read in the scripture, "Gird up thy loins", and that's what it's talking a

bout. It's taking these long ropes, pulling them up, tying it with a sash, so that it becomes a short skirt, so you could fight, or so you could run. So, he said, "Gird up your loins",] and take my staff in your hand, and go your way: and if you meet any man, don't even greet him; and if he greets you, don't answer him: and lay my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child said, As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I'm not gonna leave you. [I mean here's a mother who is desperate. Desperate for her child. She's not going to justallow a servant to run and place the staff. She said, "I'm not leaving you. You're coming with me".] And so, he arose, and followed her. And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neithervoice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and he told him, saying, The child is not awakened. And when Elisha had come to the house, behold, thechild was dead, and was lying upon his bed. And he went in therefore, and shut t

he door on the two of them, and he prayed unto Jehovah. And he went up, and he lay upon the child, he put his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, hishands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh ofthe child waxed warm. And then he returned, and walked in the house back and forth; and he went up, and stretched himself upon the child: and the child sneezedseven times, and opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in to him, he said, Take up your son. And then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out (4:29-37). So here, God's miraculous powerworking through Elisha. Now, you remember when Elijah said, "What do you want? W



hat is your request?", and he said, "I want a double portion of the Spirit thatyou have". Here we find Elisha, now exercising this ministry, and the power of the Spirit. The next, and actually we have, I Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7113 5 think about seventeen miracles recorded in the life of Elisha. The miracles didn't even end with his life! We're gonna have an interesting case, where later on, after Elisha was buried, there was a battle, and some guy was killed in battle, and they threw hisbody into this pit, where Elisha had been buried, where his bones were; and, when this guy's body hit the bones of Elisha, he revived! So the power went on even after Elisha's death. The next miracle is an interesting one. Elisha came to Gilgal: [And we told you that in Bethel, in Jericho, and Gilgal, there were schools, for these prophets. So he came to Gilgal.] there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on a great pot, and make some pottage for the sons of the prophets. And so one of the fellows went out into the field to gather some vegetables, and he found a wild vine, and he gathered from it some wild gourds his lap full, and he came and he shred them into the pot of pottage: for they didn't realize what they were. And so they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there's death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof (4:38-40). These wild gourds were bitter, obnoxious, and, and as they tried to eat it, they just said, "Ah, horrible! Can't eat that! Death in the pot!" And so the prophet said, Bring some meal. [Probably some corn meal.] He cast it into the pot; and he said, Now pour it out for the people, that they may eat. And they were able to eat it, there

was no harm (4:41). I see in this a spiritual kind of a sequel. There is in our hearts, a tremendous hunger to see the power of God demonstrated in the church, in the body of Christ. A week ago we spoke on the subject, "Where is the God of Elijah?" We shared the burden and the concern of our hearts. To really see God's power manifested amongst these people. There are those of our congregation that are suffering physical maladies. How I would love to see the power of God, touching, and healing them from these physical maladies. There is, within the heart of many people, the desire to see God work. Unfortunately there are men who take advantage of this desire. They have these meetings where the people are all whipped up into an emotional frenzy, and sometimes have sort of hyped, or faked kind of miracles. And, get the people all excited. Then they raise big offerings,and skip town. So that in the Pentecostal churches, there is sort of the promise of the power of God, and the demonstration of the power of God. Many people are

attracted because of the promises that are held out. But as you go, and as yousee the things that are happening, there is wild fire. Someone has shred in thewild gourds. You see what's going on, you see Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7113 6 c:\users\dave\desktop\chuck smith\ii kings\7114 2 Kings 6-7.txt 2 Kings 6-7 Tape #7114 II Kings 6-7 By Chuck Smith Let's turn to II Kings, chapter six. In the sixth chapter, we have recorded, just some of the incidental miracles that surrounded the life of this exciting man, Elisha, the prophet. To me it is interesting that miracles often took place in very ordinary kind of circumstances. It's great I think to learn to trust God in the every day issues of life. We're getting to the age, where we forget where we put things, and I think it's rather sad to spend half of yourlife looking. For what you forgot where you put it. So often when you put it there, you had in mind the thought that, "This is a great place, cause I'll surely

be able to find it here". I get frustrated looking for things that I know I setright there. Now it used to be when the kids were around the house, you could always say, "Well, they must've moved it", but the kids aren't there anymore. Butyou know we've learned, before we hit the point of frustration, just to say "Lord, you know where that crazy thing is, show us please. Don't want to waste a lot of time looking for it, got to have it. Lord, please show us where it is", andit's glorious the way the Lord can just lead you right to something that you'vemisplaced. And just to, well, the Bible says, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths". Now often times I think we take sort of a hyper spiritual kind of attitude, "Well I don't like to bother the Lord with such, yo



u know trivial little things". But it is interesting to me that God is interested in the trivia in your life. Talk about trivia, how many hairs do you have on your head? The Lord knows. He's interested in that kind of trivia. If He's in that kind of trivia, He's interested in every aspect of your life, and loves to beincluded in every aspect of your life. Oh that we would just take God into account! In everything, "In all your ways acknowledge Him." So, as we get to this portion of II Kings, we find how that God is involved in the everyday kind of things of life. And, interestingly enough, the first thing is something that was lost. And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold, the place where we aredwelling here is not large enough for us. [These were the prophets down near the, down near Jericho, the school of the prophets down there. They said,] Let us go, we pray thee, unto the river Jordan, and take from there every man a beam, that we might make a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go (6:1-2). So these schools were evidently growing in size, and as they were the school in Jericho had outgrown its quarters. As Elisha came to visit, they said, "Hey this place is too small for us. We're too crowded here, how bout us going down to the Jordan river, cutting down some trees, hewing the beams, and making us a place to stay down there, that we might have larger quarters". So Elisha encouragedthem to do it. But one of them said, I pray thee, go with your servants. And heanswered, ["Okay",] I'll go. [Elisha's just a real neat, kind of an easy going fellow. Far different from the character of Elijah.] And so he went with them. And they came to the Jordan river, and there they cut down wood. And as one of these young men was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed (6:3-5). So as he was hacking away

at the tree, the axe head fell off of the shaft, and went sailing out into the water. He came to Elisha and said, "Oh man, I'm in trouble! I had borrowed that axe head from another person. How am I ever going to explain how I lost it!" Andso Elisha said, Where did it fall in the river? And so he showed him the spot where it fell. And so he cut a stick, and cast it in there; and the iron did swim. And he said, Grab it, and so he put his hand out and took it (6:6-7). Now you have trouble with that? Some people do. Some supposed Bible scholars, suggested that he took the stick, and sort of made a spear out of the thing, and threw thestick on into the uh, axe head area. You know, where the stick went through, and it stuck in there, and then the stick came up with the axe head, or the stick floated and he was able to grab it. Someone else has suggested that he took the stick, and put it under, and fished the axe head out. Those are explanations of men who have trouble believing in God, that God can do anything. The God who crea

ted the universe. The God who is able to, if He so desires, not violate the laws of nature, but to enact other laws that we do not know. I have no problem withGod, uh causing the axe head, the iron axe head to swim, to float. Doesn't shake my theology at all. It really sort of confirms the fact that God can do anything. And that God is interested in the smallest detail of your life. Now the kingof Syria was warring against Israel, and he would counsel with his captains, and he would say, In such and such a place; we're going to set up camp. And the man of God, Elisha would send to the king of Israel, and say, Beware that you don't pass such a place; for the Syrians have come down there. And so the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and he saved himself there, not once nor twice (6:8-10). Several times Elisha saved the king of Israel from the ambush that was set for them, by the Syrian troops. So many times that... The heart of the king of Syria was troubled; he called his men

together, and he said unto them, Alright ["Fess up!"] which one of you is for the king of Israel? ["It's impossible that he can know our plans, unless one of you is spying for him."] One of his servants said, It's not so, my Lord: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, is telling the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber (6:11-12). "That fellow knows everything you talk about. Even what you say to your wife when you go to bed at night. I mean you can't hide anything from him." As I mentioned last week, Elisha did seem to have a very close contact with God. So much so, that he was surprised when God didn't show him things. I'm always surprised when God does show me something. I get all excited. "Wow! God showed me something!", you know thrilling! It sort of surprise



s me when God shows me things. This guy was surprised when God didn't show him!So the king said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And itwas told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore he sent there the horses, and the chariots, and a great host: [And so, he sent the tank, the chariots,the cavalry units, the horses. Then he also sent the infantry to capture Elisha.] then they came by night, and encircled the city where he was. And so when theservant of the man of God was risen up early, and was gone forth, behold, the host of the Syrians had encircled the city both with their horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do (6:13-15)? It's sort of, "Alas Elisha, we've had it man! They've surrounded us". Alas is a term of despair, of hopelessness. It's sort of uh, what we would in our modern vernacular, they sort of came in and said, "We've had it", you know. The term of alas, is just, "It's all over. We've had it". Elisha answered, and said, Fear not: forthose that are with us, are more than those that they have. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord openedthe eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha (6:16-17). There is the spiritual realm of which, for the most part, we are unconscious. But, it is a very real realm. There is the physical, there is the spiritual. We live in the physical, and unfortunately we get so involved in the physical, that often we lose sight of the spiritual. Paul the apostle said, "We look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen, are eternal". But unfortunately, living as we do in this material world, we get so involved in the physical, material things of

life, that, that's all we ever see. We lose sight of the spiritual. We get so concerned about the opposition that is facing us. The power of the enemy, especially when we begin to fight the forces of the world. We see the power of the various planned parenthood groups, and things of this nature. We, we see how clever they are, we see the power of the various lobbying groups, and all. And, we think, "Oh there's no way we can withstand them!". Because we get involved in the physical aspects of this battle. "But greater is He that is in you, than He that is in the world." And Paul, writing to the Romans, asked the question, "If God befor us, who can be against us?" But, we forget that sometimes, and we begin to panic. We see the activities of the enemy. We see the power of the enemy, and we're prone, like the servant of Elisha to cry, "We've had it! There's nothing we can do. Their forces are so powerful. They're so well entrenched! They've taken over! We've had it!" Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription

, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7114 2 Oh may God open up our eyes, that we might see the spiritual. When the eyes of the servant were open, that he could see the spiritual aspects, he saw that the angels of the Lord were surrounding the Syrians, the horses and chariots of fire surrounding the Syrian army. What a difference it made in his whole outlook. You know, when only you look at the material things, so often you say, "We've had it!", but when God opens your eyes, and you see the spiritual dimension, it changes completely. You say, "They've had it!" Sowith the servant of Elisha, he came in and he said, "We've had it, we're surrounded!" Elisha said, "Lord, just open his eyes". He went out and looked again, hesays, "They've had it! They're surrounded!". Oh that we would see the power of God! The powers that God has made available to us. Those resources that our oursin the realm of the Spirit. So when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to theLord, and said, Lord smite these people, with blindness, I pray thee. And so the

Lord smote them with blindness according to the request of Elisha. And Elisha said unto them, ["Hey fellas!"] You've come to the wrong city, I'll lead you where you want to go: follow me, and I'll bring you to the man that you're looking for. So he led them to this strong fortified city of Samaria. And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, ["Okay"] Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they might see. And they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. [In this powerful city.] And the king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them (6:18-21)? The king didn't really know what to do. Here's his enemy delivered right into his hands you know, and uh, "Shall I smite them?" But he answered, Don't smite



them: would you smite those that you've taken prisoners of war with the sword and with your bow? ["Feed them and give them a feast, and,"] set bread and water [In the Hebrew, it's really, "Set a feast"] before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. And so he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel for a time (6:22-23).In other words, they had been on these marauding excursions, they had been harassing and attacking, just almost daily. This ended that daily kind of harassment, and for a time there came peace. But it came to pass [in time] after this, that Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged the city of Samaria (6:24). In those days it was difficult to take a walled city. So the way that they would capture a walled city would be to surround it, to cutoff all supplies, not letting anybody in or out. And, after a period of time, you would just starve the city into submission. So that became the practice of warfare in those days. When you would come to a heavily defenced walled city, you'd just set up your troops all around the city, cut off anybody from coming in orgoing out, and in time, you would just starve the city into a surrender. So he began to besiege this city of Samaria, and it was successful. There came a greatfamine in Samaria: and, they besieged it, [Or they held the siege against it.] until a donkey's head sold for [sixty, or,] eighty pieces of silver, and a fourth part of a cab of a dove's dung was sold for five pieces of silver. [Terrible, the hunger, what hunger will do to a person, and what it will reduce you to, eating a donkey's head. Probably all you can do is boil it for soup. But, it still doesn't sound appetizing to me.] And as the king of Israel was passing by upon th

e wall, there cried a woman saying unto him, Help, my Lord, O king. And he said, If the Lord doesn't help you, how can I help you? out of the barnfloor, or outof the winepress? ["You think I have food in my barn? Do you think that I stillhave wine in my winepresses? Man, I'm hurting too lady. I don't have anything."] And the king said unto her, What ails you? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, ["Okay",] Give your son that we may eat him: and she has hid her son (6:25-29). Now there's an interesting prophecy, back in Deuteronomy, chapter twenty eight, verses fifty six, and fifty seven, where God warned Israel if they turned from Him, and they began to worship and serve other gods, that He would bring them into distress. And He said, "The tender and the delicate woman among you, which wouldnot venture so much as to set the sole of her feet on the ground, for delicatene

ss and tenderness". These you know, society women. "Her eye shall be evil toward her husband of her bosom, and toward her son and toward her daughter. And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7114 3 And toward her children which she shall bear, for she shall eat them, for want of all things, secretly in the siege, and in the straightness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates." Prophesied. "These very things will happen to you."The women who were once so delicate and all, that they wouldn't even set their foot on the ground. Out of the straightness of the siege, the hunger would actually turn to cannibalism, eating their own children. This happened three times inthe history of the nation of Israel. At this siege, by Benhadad. Later, it happened in the siege of Jerusalem, by Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah records it in the fourth chapter of Lamentations, verse ten. The women eating their offspring when Je

rusalem was besieged by um, Nebuchadnezzar. Then finally, Josephus speaks aboutit in Jerusalem's final overthrow by the Romans, in 70 A.D., as the Romans werebesieging the city of Jerusalem, things became so severe, that again cannibalism. Women began to eat their own children. Josephus, as I was mentioning Thursdaynight, as we were in the prophecy of Jesus, concerning the things that would transpire in Jerusalem. Jesus was prophesying of the destruction and the horrible things that transpired. We made reference at that time, to the seventh book of wars, by Josephus, in which he gives a very, uh gory kind of details of the horrible atrocities that were happening in Jerusalem, during the time of the siege ofthe Roman troops, under Titus. So, when the woman said this, the king was so sho



cked. And it is an abhorrent, I mean it's just one of those things, that it's, it's, you know, our body, our whole minds just sort of are repulsed by the very thought of it. The king, he ripped his clothes; As a sign. his outer garment He just took, and ripped it which is in those days, it was just a, a custom, to show your complete consternation, or, or feelings of despair and hopelessness. So when the king heard the word of the woman, he tore his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. [Now whenever a person really repented, or when a person was uh, in great straits, in sorrow, or despair, they would often wear sackcloth. It was a rough, scratchy cloth. Actually it was the wearing the camel's hide with the hairin. So it would irritate and scratch you constantly. The whole idea was to afflict yourself. So to their dismay, here was the king, under his outer garments, was wearing sackcloth. The people were surprised he had sackcloth upon his flesh.] Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stands upon his head this day (6:30-31). So the king made an oath to kill Elisha. Now unfortunately so often when we are guilty, and we begin to see thejudgements, in a sense, come upon us for our guilt, or things begin to turn, rather than accepting our guilt, and saying, "I was wrong, I should not have done that.", we try to then project our guilt onto others. "They did it! It's their fault!", so here he is trying now to blame the prophet of God, for this horrible condition that existed there in Samaria. Now Elisha was sitting in his house, with some elders that were sitting there with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but before the messenger came to Elisha, Elisha said to the elders, See how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? look, when the messen

ger comes, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: ["Open the door, and just pin him with it, hold him with it."] for he said, Behold, is not the sound of his master's feet behind him (6:32)? Elisha, again this interesting guy. God spoke to him, and he had this uh, he was tuned in. Now I am convinced that God does speak to man. I think our problem is that we're not really tuned in, to hear the voice of God. Of course in this day and age, we can understand a little bit about tuning in. Because we know that in this room tonight, there's all kinds ofmusic. Horrible kind of acid rock music, and then there's classical, semi-classical, all kinds of music, right here in the room. All you need to hear the music, is a tuner. And, tune in on various frequencies, various bands, and you can hear voices speaking in German, and Chinese. Short wave bands, and so forth. All kinds of voices, all kinds of voices in the air tonight, and to hear them, you'vegotta be tuned in. So here we sit, and we don't hear all of this raucous music,

or we don't hear all of this beautiful music, according to your opinion of the types of music. But you don't hear that, because we're not tuned into it. I believe in the same token, God so often speaks to us, but we're just not tuned in onthat spiritual wavelength, on that spiritual frequency. Elisha was tuned in! God spoke to him on many occasions, of many different things. I don't think ElishaEdited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7114 4 was any different from us, I think that you can develop a spiritual sensitivity, where you can hear the voice of God speaking to you, about manydifferent issues in life. I think that it's almost impossible in the society inwhich we live, our minds are so flooded with so many things, to discern the voice of God is extremely difficult. But here he is, sitting with friends, and he must have been an interesting fellow to be around, for, as he's sitting there with his friends, suddenly he sort of gets a faraway look in his eye, you know. You'

re talking to him, but you know it's not computing. Then he says, "Can you beatthat! Look what that son of a murderer is planning now! He's sending a guy downhere to get my head! Can you believe that? Look, the guy's gonna be knocking atthe door in just a moment. When he does, just open the door, and pin him, because, you know his master's right behind him." Man, that's tuned in! Sure enough! The knock on the door. And, the men opened the door, held him, and then here came Jehoram the king, and he says... Behold this evil is of Jehovah; why should I wait for Jehovah any longer (6:33)? Now, there's part of the story that isn't told to us. From this, we can intimate that Elisha had probably spoken words of comfort to Jehoram, during the time of the siege, and said, "Don't worry. God's gon



na deliver you. Wait upon the Lord. Wait upon Jehovah, He'll deliver." So the king comes down, and he's upset now because of the condition. And, he said, "Why should I wait for Jehovah any longer?" Chapter 7 So Elisha answered him, and said, Hear the word of Jehovah; Thus saith Jehovah, Tomorrow about this time a measure [Which is almost a bushel.] of fine flour will be sold for a shekel, [Which is about sixty five cents.] and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gateof Samaria (7:1). "By tomorrow it'll all be over. The famine and all will be gone, and food prices will be way down. Instead of a donkey's head for eighty pieces of silver, they'll be selling a bushel of fine flour for sixty five cents in the gate of Samaria." Then a Lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the manof God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And Elisha answered and said, ["Fellow"] you'll see it, but you won't eat it (7:2). The problem with this man, the Lord upon whom the king leaned, wasthat he sought in his own mind to figure out how God might resolve this issue. "How in the world could God do this?" Whenever we face a problem, the first thing that we are prone to do is figure out possible solutions for the problem. I work on it, and if this would happen, and this would happen, then that could happen, and yeah! I see! And, I'm always trying to figure out the possible solutions.The problem with that is two fold. Number one, when I have finally worked out asolution, then my prayers are often direction prayers, rather than direct prayers. I'm not just praying, "Lord, please supply my needs now, you know the bills that I am facing." But I've got it figured out that, if I just would win the Reader's Digest Sweepstakes, it would all be taken care of, so my prayer is now, a direction prayer, "Lord, help them, help that computer to pull out my number in t

his five million dollar sweepstakes that I just got news on this week". Now, when I figure out a solution, I usually figure out that, that is the best way to handle it. I've worked on this a long time. I've thought it through. I've thoughtevery angle, and I've, I've got this all doped out, and this is the best way tohandle it. So I'm directing God into my solution. The problem is, God doesn't always follow my directions. And, when God doesn't follow my directions, then I can get upset with God, and I can begin to make all kinds of crazy accusations against God, like He doesn't answer prayer. They drew the Reader's Digest Sweepstakes numbers, and my number didn't come up. God doesn't answer prayers, and God doesn't love me. God's not interested in my needs. You know there's no way I can pay my bills now, because they didn't get my number, and I, I'm sunk now! It's all over now! God didn't follow my directions. But often times, when situations like this arise, I find that God suddenly answers the need in my life, but He's do

ne it a totally different way. I haven't thought about that. That's quite simple, isn't it? I had such a complex thing worked out it took you know, about ten different moves to get it, and God did it with one simple move. Wow! Why didn't Ithink of that? You see, our problem is that, in our limited rationale, or Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7114 5 intellect, reasoning capacities, they are limited. We don't have all the facts in hand, and God is able to do things that we didn't even think about, in ways that we didn't even think about. So it's best just to lay the situation out before the Lord, and make it a direct prayer, "Lord, I need help!", and leave it at that. Don't tell Him how to help you. Just, "Lord, help!", and He'll figure out the best way. That way you're not giving directions, then that way you're not getting discouraged, and defeated, and angry with God, because it's not happening like you've been directing God to do it. The Psalmist asked the question,

or, is it the Psalm?, somewhere the question is asked, "And who has been His counselor at any time?". I think it is in the Psalms. "Who has been His counselorat any time?" Who's counseled God? I have. Ha, ha! I'm always counseling God. I'm always telling God how He ought to be doing things. He doesn't always listen to my counsel, because He has ways that are beyond my ways. And God said, "My ways are not your ways, saith the Lord. My ways are beyond your finding out". And so, we see the situation here, where this guy in his mind, tried to figure out how God might do it. Here's an amazing prophecy. Here's a glorious promise. The people are hurting, they're starving to death. "But that's alright, It's all over, tomorrow, by this time tomorrow, a bushel of fine flour will be selling for six



ty five cents, right in the gates of Samaria!" "Are you kidding man? If there should be windows in heaven, could such a thing be? God going around and pulling open grain chutes in heaven, and raining barley on the city of Samaria, could that happen, could such a thing be?" The price of his unbelief, "You'll see it, but you won't eat it". There's a terrible price for unbelief, because it keeps youfrom enjoying the work of God. Think of what unbelief has cost people. Of the benefits and blessings of God. What people have lost out on, because of unbelief!Think of the great salvation that God has offered to man. Eternal life! This gift of God. Because of unbelief, people are being robbed of this glorious gift ofeternal life, their unbelief, in the work of Jesus Christ. The finished work ofsalvation. Even though they see it, they can't receive it. "You'll see it", theprophet said, "but you won't eat it". Now, we're told about... These four leprous men who lived at the entering of the gate: [Because of their leprosy, they could not live within the city. It was under the law required that they be placed outside. They lived usually outside of what was known as the dung gate of the city. That gate where the garbage dump was, the trash dump. People would bring their trash out of the dung gate. They would have a place where they were constantly burning the trash of the city. There were the fires that were going on, and itwas thus called Gehenna, because of the continual fires in that area. So these fellows living there, surviving as they would rummage through the trash, and thegarbage that was sent over the walls, were really hurting because, "Nothing's coming over the wall anymore". People are so hungry and starving to death within the city that nothing is being discarded. Everything that is edible is being eaten, and even some things that weren't edible. So as they were sitting there toget

her, getting weaker day by day,] finally one of them said, Why sit we here until we die (7:3)? Good question! Why just sit there and die? If you don't do something about your life, and about the sin in your life, it's going to destroy you."The wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth shall surely die." Why just sit there in your sinful state, until you die? "Why sit we here", he said, "untilwe die?" If we say, Well let's go into the city, the famine is in the city, we'll die there: ["With the rest of them."] if we just sit still here, and do nothing, we're gonna die. ["Every avenue is closed. We can't go back, we can't stay here without dying. There's only one possible solution."] Let's go over to the camp of the Syrians: maybe they'll give us something to eat; maybe they'll kill us, if they do, [Doesn't matter, because,] we're gonna die anyhow (7:5). So reasonled them to venture out, to see what might happen. Now, we know what did happen. God had worked. God had done a marvelous work. God had emptied the camp of the

Syrians. They had panicked, and they had fled. There wasn't a soldier in the camp. All there was, was the camp all set up, the food was on the tables, it was dinner time, they were getting ready to eat when panic struck, and they took off on the run, leaving the food on the tables, leaving their horses and donkeys alltethered. Everything was in place. They were so anxious to get out of there, that they didn't bother to take anything with them. In fact, as they were leaving,they began to throw things off so that they could run faster! God had done a work. Nobody knew it. Here, the work of God had made the provision for more than what the people could ever devour. Yet, within the city of Samaria, people were hungry and starving. The Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7114 6 children were crying and complaining to their parents, about the horrible hunger. The parents themselves, were huddled close, their bodies were weak, as a result of the famine. Dying. Just within yards

of them, there's sufficient food for everybody. God had worked. The work of Godwas discovered by desperate men. Men who had come to the conclusion that there's only one answer, "Let's venture and see. If they kill us, doesn't matter, because we're gonna die if we just sit here. We'll die if we go in the city, we'll die if we do nothing, we may die by doing something, but we may not." So it was just a slim little maybe kind of a thing, that caused their venture in faith, andas they did, they discovered the work of God. Now, just what the Syrians heard,we don't know. But they interpreted what they heard, as chariots, and horses, and armies. The Syrians, in that dusk, in that evening darkness, thinking that the king of Samaria had hired the Hittite kings, and the Egyptian kings to come wit



h their armies, and chariots, they began to flee. Leaving their camp intact, sothat when the four leprous men came to the first tent, pulled back the flaps, not a Syrian there, but there was a table full of food, not a Syrian there. They went in and they began to eat. They weren't worried that maybe the Syrians were gonna come in and catch em' and kill em', they're gonna die anyhow. "Let's die full." There were golden vessels and silver vessels, and they began to bury those. They went to the next tent, began to take the food and began to bury the treasures of the next tent. And one of them said, ["Hey fellows",] this isn't right. Glorious things have happened. We do not well: this day [verse nine] for it is aday of good tidings, and if we hold our peace: and wait until the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: therefore come, let's go and tell the king's household what's happened. ["Let's tell the king what God has done. This is a day of good news. God has worked."] So they came and they called to the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, behold, there's not a man there, neither the voice of man, the horses are tied, the donkeys are tied, and the tents are as they were. And so the porters went; and told it to the king. And the king arose in the night, and he said to his servants, ["I'll tell you what's going on!"] Those Syrians know that we're hungry; therefore they've gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we'll catch them alive, and then we'll get into the city (7:8-12). Here is the tragedy now, God has worked, the king has heard the goodnews of the work of God, but still he can't believe. He would hold the people back from the work of God, through unbelief. Tragic thing. People hear the good news, "God has provided for your salvation. You don't have to die in your sins. Go

d has given to you the gift of eternal life." And people say, "Oh I can't believe. It's a trap. You know they just want to get you in there, and then they're gonna start pushing you for money. Watch out you know, it's a trap!". And people get all kinds of weird ideas. Unbelief that holds them back from the work that God has done. Deliverance, plenty, salvation, eternal life. God has worked. God has scattered the enemy. God has brought victory and salvation. But unbelief keeps a person from entering in to the glorious provisions of God, that He has made for those who would trust in Him. One of the servants answered, and said, ["Look,"] Let some I pray, take the five horses that remain, that are left in the city, and let's send them out and find out if this is so. So they took two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. ["Ifyou can find them."] So they went after them all the way to the Jordan river: and, lo, all of the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had ca

st away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king. And thepeople went out, and they spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So that a measure of fine flour was sold for sixty five cents, and two measures of barley for sixtyfive cents, according to the word of Jehovah. And the king appointed that Lord on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate: and the people trampled on him in the gate, so that he died, [They trampled him to death.] and thus the wordof God from Elisha was fulfilled, who said, That it shall come to pass that twomeasures of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria: And the Lord that hadanswered the man of God, and said, If God should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And the prophet answered, Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but you will not eat it. And so it happened to him, just like God said: the people trampled him in the gate, and he died (7:13-20). Again, the tragedy. God wo

rked, God did a work, God kept His word, God fulfilled His promise, but becauseof his unbelief, he saw it, but could not partake. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7114 7 Unbelief willrob you of the work and the blessings of God. Unbelief will keep you from partaking of the provisions that God has made. Oh God help us, to throw off the shackles of unbelief, and trust the Lord. To trust the Lord completely. Shall we pray? Father, we thank You tonight for the lessons that we can glean from history. Help us Lord, that we might take to heart these lessons, trust, and faith, in Your word. Lord we thank You for Your interest in our lives, and the trivia of our lives, and in the major issues of our lives, in every aspect of our lives; Lord,



help us to see Your hand in all things. Help us to hear Your voice. Help us Lord, to live after the Spirit, and walk after the Spirit, and seek after the things of the Spirit. Free us Lord, from carnality. Free us from the flesh, the desire for material things, and open our hearts, O Lord, fully, to the things of the Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. Next week we'll take chapter eight, and nine. May the Lord be with you, and may His hand be upon you this week. May you have a glorious week, and may God help you to partake of the glorious work of God. May youenter into the blessings, and the provision that God has made for you. May God help you, that unbelief would not rob you of the work that God has wrought for you. But, may you venture out in faith, believing and trusting the work, and the promises of God. May you thus experience the discovery, the glorious discovery that God has worked marvelous things, and may you come into the discovery of those exciting things that God has wrought for you, as His child. In Jesus' name. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7114 8 c:\users\dave\desktop\chuck smith\ii kings\7115 2 Kings 8-9.txt 2 Kings 8-9 Tape #7115 II Kings 8-9 By Chuck Smith Let's turn to II Kings, chapter eight, this evening, and let's continue our journey through the book. II Kings, chapter eight. When Elisha first began his ministry, there was a woman who recognized he was a man of God. So she provided hospitality, in fact, even had her husband build him a little room, so that whenever he passed by that way, he could stop and refresh himself, and could sleep there, and she just provided for him. In time, he wanted to return the favor to her, and he asked what he could do forher, and he said, "Shall I talk to the king?", she says, "No, I'm satisfied, I dwell peaceably". His servant Gehazi said, "She doesn't have any child", and so h

e called her in, and he said, "Next year, about this time, you'll be nursing a baby". She said, "Oh don't put me on", and he said, "No, you'll have a child." So, she did have a son. Her husband was an older man, they had not been able to have children, but God gave to her a son. One day, the little boy was out in the field with his father, and he evidently had a heat stroke. He said, "My head! Myhead!" So, the father had the servants rush him back to his mother, where he laid on her lap, and died. So she laid him in the prophet's chamber. She ordered the servant to saddle the donkey. She said, "Don't slow down unless I tell you. So she came riding furiously to mount Carmel, where the prophet Elisha was staying at that time. When he saw her coming he realized the haste and all, by which she was coming, something was evidently wrong. He sent Gehazi, his servant out toask her is everything was okay, and she said, "Everything is okay", but, she continued driving on, and as she came to Elisha, she grabbed hold of his feet. Geha

zi said, "Shall I cast her away?", and he said, "No, there's something troubling her, and the Lord hasn't shown me." So she said, "Why didn't I tell you don't deceive me, when you said that I was going to have a child!" Elisha said to Gehazi, "Take my staff and put it upon the child. Hurry!", and she said, "You're going with me." So she took Elisha back, and he laid down upon the child, and God restored her son to life. An outstanding miracle! But, this relationship had developed between Elisha, and the family of this Shunammite woman. So that when the Lord showed Elisha, that the land was going to experience... He came to this woman [chapter eight] whose son he had restored to life, and he said, Arise, and with your household, go and sojourn wherever you can: for the Lord hath called fora famine; and it's gonna be on the land for seven years. [So, "Don't stay in the land of Israel. God is gonna bring judgement, by reason, or by way of a faminethat's going to last for seven years."] And so it came to pass at the end of the

seven years, that the woman came back from the land of the Philistines: where she had gone to dwell during the time of the famine (8:1-2). Someone had taken over her house and her property. So she came to the king for the restoration of her house, and of her land. Now, Gehazi, who was the servant of Elisha, was talking with the king. For the king had asked him to, Tell me about this man of God. Gehazi had, of course you remember gotten in trouble when Naaman, the Syrian captain had come to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy. And, Elisha sent Gehazi outto him, with a message. "Go down to the Jordan river, dip yourself in the waterseven times, and you'll be recovered from your leprosy" And he headed back to Syria angry as could be. Angry at the prophet of God, for not even having the cour



tesy to come out and tell him himself, sent the servant out. "We've got better rivers in Damascus you know!", and he was determined that he wasn't going to follow the advice of the prophet, but his servant said to him, "Look, if he had asked you to do some terribly difficult thing, you would've been glad to do it. Howmuch more than that he just says a simple thing, `Dip yourself', why don't you and see what would happen". So he dipped himself in the Jordan river seven times. When he came up, his flesh was like that of a little child. He was cured completely of the leprosy. Well, he came back to Elisha and wanted to reward him. Wanted to lay a lot of loot on him, actually. Gold, and silver, and changes of apparel. And Elisha unlike the modern evangelists today, said, "No you keep it". "I don't need anything from your hand. You know, you keep it. I don't want it". So the servant Gehazi, this servant Gehazi, as Naaman went away, he thought, "Man, if I just had a part of that loot, I could buy vineyards, I could buy olive orchards, I could hire servants. Man! I could be set up" So he slipped away! And he went chasing down the road after Naaman. So they saw him coming, and they stopped, and they said, "Is everything okay?", he said, "Oh yes, everything is okay, except that just after you left my master had a couple of young prophets come in,who needed help. So if you could just give a couple of the bars of gold, and a couple of changes of raiment, you know it would help them out. And my master would appreciate it." And, Naaman said, "Oh, here take four!", and he loaded the gifts on Gehazi, who came back and hid them, and came in to Elisha, and Elisha said, "Where have you been?". "I haven't been anywhere!", he said, "Oh, as you went, did not my spirit go with you? Is this a time to receive rewards? Is this a time to buy vineyards, and orchards, and to hire servants?" He began to read the in

tentions of Gehazi, what he intended to do with this money. He said, "The leprosy that was upon Naaman will cling to you", and he turned a leper, and went out from the presence of Elisha. No longer a servant of Elisha, he now is talking with the king. He's become sort of an entertainer for the king, of sorts. No longer is he able to actually participate in the work of God, but now he is rehearsing what God did. It's always a sign of a sad state of spiritual affairs, when youhave to talk about the word of, work of God, in the past tense. When there isn't that present work of God within your life, that you're excited about. Things that God is doing. "This day, or this past week, The Lord has been so good." But when you have to say, "Well I can remember, you know back in the days of the tent. Oh those were exciting days!" you know. Or, when you have to go back to find excitement in the work of the Lord. It should be something that is fresh day by day, the discovery of God's grace unto us. So Gehazi is now entertaining the king

with the stories. "Tell me, what this guy Elisha did. Tell me some of the stories!" So he's become an entertainer, as he relates to the king the stories of the past. Well, it just so happened in one of those coincidental things, if you believe in coincidences, that... As he was telling the king how Elisha had raised this boy, and brought the dead body back to life, [That just as he was telling the story,] here came in the woman with her son. [Because she is wanting to get ajudgement from the king that will cause the people who appropriated her property, to give it back. So she came in at that very time he's telling the story. This marvelous story of the raising of the son. She comes in,] And Gehazi says, ["Hey"] there's the woman right there, and there's her boy, that's the one I'm telling you about. So the king asked her concerning the story. [So she related to him the same story of how God had brought her son back to life.] So the king appointed an officer, to see that she got back all of her property, and all of the fru

it of her property, during the seven years, that she was gone (8:5-6). Now in atypology, for those that are interested in typology, and it is an interesting subject. This woman, becomes the type of the nation of Israel, that will be restored by God. When restored by God, will receive all of the fruit that it was deprived of, during the years that others had appropriated her property. But Israel,even as the woman, will receive this grace and benefit, because of the resurrection of the dead son. So the son of course, being raised from the dead, becomes a type of Jesus Christ, and Israel's blessings that will come to her, as a result of the resurrection of the dead son. So, you have an interesting type from theold testament. Now Elisha [Meanwhile, we come back to Elisha now.] has gone up t



o the capital of Syria, Damascus; and Benhadad [who was] the king of Syria [wastold, he] was sick; and he was told that the man of God [That is, Elisha.] has come here (8:7). He was very familiar with Elisha. He was the one who sent his captain Naaman down for the curing of his leprosy. Elisha had been revealing all of his plans of attack, against Samaria, to the king of Samaria. He thought thatone of his generals was a spy, and he found out that there was a man of God in Israel, who knew everything he said. So he sent his army to capture Elisha. But,instead Elisha captured his army, and delivered his army to the king of Samaria. So he was familiar with Elisha, and they said, "Hey that man of God is here!".And, so he sent Hazael to take a present in his hand, and to go, and to meet the man of God, and inquire of Jehovah by him, saying, Shall I recover of this disease (8:8)? Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, PastorChuck Smith, Tape #7115 2 "Is it, is this fatal?" You know it's an interesting thing, whenever we've been sick for awhile, we somehow think you know, that it's, it's, this is it! You know, "The rest of my life I'm gonna bear this infirmary, I'm gonna have this particular pain or something you know, from now on". It's crazy the way our minds work, a week of sickness, and we think we're dead, you know. So he was wondering, "Am I going to recover from this disease?" So Hazael went to meet him, and he took the present with him, of all of the good things of Damascus, [Actually] forty camels were loaded down, [With presents for the prophet.] and he said, Your son Benhadad the king of Syria has sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this disease? And Elisha said unto him, Go, and say to him, You may certainly recover: howbeit the Lord has shown me that he shall surely die (8:9-10). A interesting answer. It leaves a little confusion, until you read

the rest of the story. And so he settled [Elisha settled] his countenance steadfastly, [That is, he began to stare intently at Hazael. And as he began to stareintently at him, until actually it was sort of embarrassing.] he then began to weep. And Hazael said, Why are you weeping? And Elisha said, Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: their strong holds you're gonnaset on fire, their young men you will slay with a sword, their children you will dash in the streets, and you will rip up the pregnant girls. And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do these horrible things? And Elisha answered, The Lord has shown me that you shall be the king over Syria (8:11-13). Now if you remember back a few chapters, actually back in I Kings, one of the duties that God appointed Elijah, remember when Elijah had fled to mount Horeb, from the wrath of Jezebel. While he was there in mount Horeb, the Lord came to him as he was standing in the cave, the mouth of the cave, He said, "What are y

ou doing here Elijah?", and he said, "Oh I've been jealous for God, they've slain all your prophets, I'm the only one left, and they're trying to kill me.", and, and so the Lord finally said, "Look, go on up to Syria, and anoint Hazael to be the king over Syria". God commissioned him on two or three little tasks, thathe was to perform. We don't know, the scripture doesn't say that he ever got toSyria to anoint Hazael, but this is the same Hazael. Now Elisha is saying to him, "The Lord has shown me that you are going to be the king over Syria". But theinteresting part of this story is that, he did not know the evil that was in his own heart. It is difficult for us to know the evil that is in our own hearts. Given the right circumstances, given the right situation, the evil things that we are capable of doing. Though we might sware, "I would never do that!", and if someone would tell us the things that we are capable of doing, we would be insulted, we would be as Hazael, who said, "Am I a dog that I would do such things? Wh

o do you think I am man!". He did not know the potential for evil that was in his own heart. We do not realize the potential for evil, that is in the unregenerate heart of man! Jesus said that, "Out of the heart precedes the murders, the adulteries, the fornications, the thefts, and all of these things". It is possible for a person to find himself involved in situations that he at one time in hislife, considered abhorrent. Things that you've condemned others for doing, and yet you find yourself guilty of doing those very same things, it was in your heart also. So much of what is done, is done for the impression of others. Because,we want people to like us, we want people to respect and admire us. So much of what we do is done just for the sake of impressing others, but the sad thing abou



t that is that we impress ourselves. We begin to think more highly of ourselvesthan we ought, though the scripture warns us not to. "Therefore let no man think more highly of himself than he ought, but rather think soberly, and diligently, realizing that whatever you have that's of good or worth, has been given to you. If it was given to you, then why should you boast, as though it wasn't given to you? If you have any talent, capacity, or ability, it's because God has givenit to you. Any goodness that is there, it's come to you as a gift of God. Then if it is a gift of God, why should you boast about what you've done, if it was something that God has done?" So, in deceiving others, we deceive ourselves, and we develop this self- image of, the wonderful me. The sweet, and the kind, and the generous me. I'm really sort of the perfect man. Ha, ha! Whenever I do anything that is contrary to that image of myself, then I have a good reason for having done it. I begin to excuse my bad temper, my bad actions, it was, "I really didn't mean to do that. That just slipped you know. It was this horrible pressure,I just wasn't myself. You know, I plead insanity. Temporary insanity." Works inthe court, so you..., "But that wasn't the real me, that was, that was some ugly...". It's interesting, with our, with our uh little granddaughter, who is the sweetest, most perfect little girl in Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7115 3 the world, but every once in awhile, she doesn't come to visit us. But, Prunella comes to visit us, and Prunella is a mean little girl, and she does nasty things! She sticks out her tongue, and she sasses, and all of this kind of stuff. Our perfect little granddaughter wouldn't do that kind of thing. Thus it's Prunella, who's disguised herself as our granddaughter, who does those things. There's two of all of us, isn't there

? We've all got the Prunella side! We don't like it, we don't want to recognizeit, we don't want to admit to it. But, the scripture is true, and the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. The only hope I have, is the surrendering of my heart, and life to be controlled by the Spirit. If a person, a prophet of God,could stare in our eyes, and tell us the things that we are capable of doing inthe flesh, we would respond to them, "Am I a dog, that I would do such things?". We would be shocked, we would be abhorred, and insulted! We would be repulsed,as was Hazael! He was repulsed at these suggestions! "I would dash a baby in the street! I would rip up a pregnant woman? Am I a dog? Who do you think I am man!" And yet, these very things Hazael was guilty of, it was there, and the prophet could see it. And, he here, becomes a type of Jesus, who weeps over Jerusalem,because He can see the devastation that is going to come. He saw the children being dashed in the streets. He saw the temple on fire, He could hear the screams

of the people being cremated within it, and as He looked at Jerusalem, He wept.Because He could see. He said, "If you only knew the things that belong to thy peace, but they are hid from your eyes. And now, your children are gonna be dashed in your streets." And He went on to tell of the horrible carnage that would take place. So Elisha the prophet, being able to see what was gonna happen to thepeople of God, through this man, through this instrument, through Hazael. Seeing what he was gonna do, he wept over the fate of Israel, in the hands of Hazael.So he departed from Elisha, and he came to his master; [Benhadad the king.] whosaid to him, What did Elisha say? And he answered, He told me that you would surely recover. But it came to pass on the next day, that he took a thick cloth, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died: [He suffocated him.] and Hazael reigned in his stead (8:14-15). So already, the man who was shocked the day before, when the prophet suggested that he was capable of doing ev

il things. "Am I a dog, I would do these things?" And, the very next day he is guilty of murder! Murders the king. Now we turn from there, to the genealogies of the kings again, and here it becomes a little sticky. So, I'll do my best to explain it, and you do your best to follow. We are dealing with the northern kingdom of Israel, and the southern kingdom of Judah. The sticky part comes, is thatfor a time here, both of them are gonna be ruled over kings by the same name, Jehoram. Or Joram. The names are the same, but they are both called Jehoram, and they are both called Joram. The interesting thing is, is that there is a relationship between Jehoram, and Joram in that they are brothers-in-law. The sister ofJoram, who was the king of Israel, his sister, was married to Joram who became t



he king of Judah. She was one wicked gal, and we'll be looking at her in the next few chapters, in the next two weeks or so. We'll be looking at this woman, Athaliah, who was the daughter of Jezebel, and king Ahab. Thus the sister of Joram, who was the king of Israel. So in the fifth year of Joram, who was reigning inIsrael, Jehoshaphat being the king over Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat began to reign in Judah (8:16). So his step-brother had been reigning for five years in the northern kingdom of Israel. Now, Jehoshaphat who was the king of Judah, was a fairly good king. However, he seemed to somehow be attracted to Ahab, who was an extremely wicked king. There should have really been no place of fellowship before these two guys. "What fellowship hath light with darkness? What concourse hath Christ with Belial?" But Jehoshaphat seemed to have some strange fascination for this horribly wicked king Ahab. He had come up to visit Ahab, and in fact you remember, it was last week or so, that Ahab said, "How would you liketo go to battle with me. You know, we're gonna go over and try and take Ramothgilead, back from the Syrians", and he said, "You know, I am as you, my men like your men, and you know, let's go for it". So Jehoshaphat went to battle, and that was the battle in which Ahab was killed, and Jehoshaphat fled for his life. Well now in this getting involved with this wicked king, they no doubt, in the friendship that had developed between them, made this marriage arrangement. For, marriage was by arrangement in those days. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word ForToday" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7115 4 "Hey, look I have a fineyoung son, you have a pretty young daughter, why don't we marry the two, and then we'll be related." So there came this relationship of the kingdoms during this period of history. When Jehoshaphat the king of Israel, married off his son, Je

horam unto Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, and Jezebel. So it was a ungodly alliance that brought havoc on both kingdoms. The northern kingdom was already in amess, but now it introduces this same kind of corruption into the southern kingdom, through Athaliah. So it's a, it's a very sad thing that many times though aparent may be able to escape from getting into total corruption by his acquaintances, the kids are the ones that get hurt. So Jehoshaphat was able to keep himself sort of clear from that stuff, his son Jehoram was a mess. And, and, and went right into the evil practices, no doubt through the influence of his wife Athaliah. And, her influence unfortunately went on for awhile, and affected her son,who began to reign, and it went on awhile. And, we'll, as I say, we'll be following her, coming back to her from time to time. So um, we read that... Jehoram the king of Judah was thirty two years old when he began to reign; but he only reigned for eight years. [That means that he died when he was forty years old.] But

[And here's the sad commentary. Verse eighteen.] he walked in the way of the kings of Israel who were corrupt, as did the house of Ahab: [Which was the most corrupt of all the kings of Israel.] for the daughter of Ahab [That is Athaliah.]was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah. And yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for David his servant's sake, as he promised to give him alwaysa light, and to his children (8:17-19). So God was merciful for David's sake, and did not destroy the family of Jehoram completely. There was a wife out, and we'll get that. Now in the days that Jehoram was the king over Judah, Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and they made their own king. So Joram [Who is also Jehoram, and this is the contraction of his name.] went over unto Zair, andall of the chariots with him: and he rose by night, and smote the Edomites which had encircled him, and the captains of the chariots: and the people [The Edomites.] fled into their tents. And yet Edom continued rebelling from under the hand

of Judah unto the present day. [That is unto the time that this was written.] Then Libnah revolted at the same time. And the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the chronicles of the kings of Judah (8:20-23)? So when we're through with II Kings, we get to I and II Chronicles, so wehaven't left this guy completely yet. For when we get to the Chronicles, we will come across Jehoram once again. And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead (8:24). Now he only reigned for eight years, he was uh, forty years old when he died, and thus his son was pretty young when he began to reign. So in the twelfth year [His brother-in-law is still reigning up in Israel. "In the twelfth yea



r",] of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram theking of Judah begin to reign. He was twenty two years old; [So that means he was eighteen years old, uh or his father was eighteen years old when he was born. And, "He was twenty two years old",] when he began to reign; and he reigned onlyfor one year [Wicked kid, and God wasn't gonna allow him to continue long in his wickedness.] his mother's name was Athaliah, who was the granddaughter of Omrithe king of Israel. [She was the daughter of Ahab.] And he walked in the way ofthe house of Ahab, he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab. [Son-in-law to king Ahab.] And he went with Joram [That is, it would be his um, uh, mother, it would be his uncle. "He went with Joram",] to the war against Hazael the king of Syria in Ramothgilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. And so the king Joram went back to Jezreel to be healed of the wounds which were inflicted by the Syrians there at thebattle of Ramah, when he had fought against Hazael the king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram the king of Judah, [Went up to visit his uncle.] to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick (8:25-29). As the result of his battle wounds. Twenty two year old, or twenty three year old kid at this time. Chapter 9 So Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, unto him, and he said, Gird up your loins, [Now we told you that this is a, they wore the long robes, and when you need to hurry on a mission, Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7115 5 youpull your robe up, and tie a rope around, so you'd have a short skirt, so you could run. So the gird up your loins, is always preparing yourself to move fast, to run. You can't, you ever try and run with a robe? Of course not. You don't wea

r robes, but you can imagine how restricting it would be if the football players wore robes, instead of the tight pants, and the pads, and so forth. You know, I mean it would be a slower game to be sure. So that you gird up your loins whenyou want to really move.] and he said, take this box of oil in your hand, and go to Ramothgilead: And when you come there look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat [who is] the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and take him in to the inner chamber. And then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith Jehovah, I have anointed you the king over Israel. Then open the door, and [Split as fast as you can.] don't tarry. So the young man went, even as the prophet, Elisha told him, and he came to Ramothgilead. And when he came there, behold, the captains of the host [The captains of the armies, of, of, uh, Israel were sitting there, you know, just um, fellowshipping together.] and he said, I have an errand unto thee, O captain. And Jehu said,

To which one of us? And he said, To you, O captain. And so Jehu arose, and went into the house; and the young man poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel, I have anointed thee to be king over the people of Jehovah, even over Israel (9:1- 6). Now this to me is an interestingverse, in that he is speaking in the name of the Lord, and as he anoints him tobe the king over Israel, he said, "I anoint you to be the king over the people of Jehovah." Now Israel had long ago forsaken Jehovah, under the influence of Ahab, and all, they were worshiping Baal. You remember Elijah said, "You know theyhave killed your servants and your prophets, and I, only I am left, and they'retrying to kill me". The Lord did say, "I have seven thousand that I have reserved", but for the most part, the nation had forsaken God. But the fascinating thing to me, is that God had not yet forsaken the nation. You know that speaks to me volumes. The faithfulness of God to His people. There are those that maybe have

forsaken the Lord sometime back, but the Lord has not yet forsaken them. God hangs on. The Spirit of God continues to call back into fellowship, to call to repentance, God doesn't let go easily. The Lord hangs on, even long after we've been guilty of forsaking Him, the Lord doesn't forsake His people. What a beautiful thing it is to me, that God still said, "They're my people. They are the people of Jehovah." Though they had forsaken Jehovah, God still acknowledged them as His people. And he said, You shalt smite the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish:and I will cut off from Ahab every male, and him that is shut up and left in Isr



ael (9:7-8): Now, "You're to go and you're to wipe out this house of Ahab, the descendants, all of them. You'll be my instrument of judgement. Now God had, through Elijah pronounced judgement that was gonna come upon the house of Ahab. There, I think it's in the latter portion, of the Kings, where Elisha pronounces upon him, after this thing of the Naboth appropriating, having Naboth murdered, and then appropriating his property. the Lord said that uh, verse twenty one, of chapter twenty one. "Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, I will take away your posterity, I will cut off from Ahab every male." So it's actually he's quoting a portion of the prophecy here that Elijah gave unto Ahab. So this prophecy of Godagainst Ahab was known by the people. For this young prophet quotes it to Jehu.I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah: [Those were the two dynasties, that preceded the Omri dynasty, that were totally wiped out. Now God is going to bring the end of this dynasty, and Jehu will begin a new dynasty that will go for four generations.] And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled (9:9-10). Now this is the prophecy of Elijah. He told Jezebel, he said that dogs are gonna eat Jezebel in the field of Naboth that you know, "The guy that you have murdered, and there will be none to bury you", and this was the prophecy of Elijah. So thisyoung kid gave him the prophecy, and then he opened the door and ran. So Jehu came back out to these guys where he'd been eating with them, and all. And one said to him, Is everything okay? why did this fellow come to you? And he said to them, You know the man, and his communication. And they said, Is it false; tell us now. And he said, This is what he said to me, Thus and thus he said to me sayin

g, Thus saith Jehovah, I have anointed thee king over Israel. So Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7115 6they hurried, and took every man his garment, put it under him at the top of the stairs, and they blew the trumpets, and the announced Jehu his king (9:11-13).So he was uh coronated there by the men, on the spot. So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramothgilead, he and all of Israel, because of Hazael the king of Syria. But king Joram hadreturned to be healed there in Jezreel [Which was one of the palaces. And he,] from the wounds that he had as a result of the battle against Hazael.) And Jehu said to the fellows that were there, Now if it's in your mind to make me the king, then don't let any one escape from here, and go and warn, Joram and tell it to them in Jezreel. [what's, what we're doing.] So Jehu rode in a chariot, and hecame to Jezreel; for Joram was lying there. And Ahaziah the king of Judah had co

me to visit his uncle (9:14-16). You remember we got that at the end of the last chapter. Ahaziah had come up to visit his uncle. And there stood a watchman onthe tower in Jezreel, and he spied [He's this guy watchman, and of course in those days they had the towers, they didn't have radio communications. Guys would sit there in the tower and watch for movement and action, and here he sees this,these chariots coming, and the dust flying, the guy looks you know. "So there stood a watchman at this tower, and he spied",] the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take a horsemen, and send them to meetthem, and say, Is it peace? So there went out one of the horsemans, [One of theguys on horseback.] to meet him, and he said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace?And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? turn behind me. And so the watchman told them saying, The messenger came to them, but he's not coming back again. SO he sent out the second on horseback, and when he came to them, he said, Thus

saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What have you to do with peace? turn behind me. And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and he doesn't come back again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously (9:17-20). In my younger days, my wife used to call me Jehu. Because I drove my chariot furiously. So Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Ahaziah the king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and they met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. [They came out to meet, and it just so happened, that in that field that Jezebel had taken from Naboth, is where they met.] And it came topass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, Wha



t peace, so long as the whoredoms of your mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many (9:21-22)? "How can there be peace with all of the wickedness that your mother has introduced to the land?" Jehu had the proper concept that as long as you've got all of this corruption going on in the land, there can't be peace. As long as we have so much satanic worship, and witchcraft, these things that are going on, there cannot be peace. There can't be peace in our land, there can'tbe peace in the world. Joram turned his hands, and he fled, and he said to Ahaziah, There's treachery, O Ahaziah. And so Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and he shot Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, andhe sunk down in his chariot. Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, andcast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember howthat, when I and you were riding together after Ahab his father, the Lord laid this burden on him; saying, Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, saith Jehovah; and I will requite thee in this plat of ground, saith the Lord. Now therefore take and cast him into that plat of the ground, according to the word of the Lord (9:23- 26). So, "Take his body, and tossit there in that field that once belonged to Naboth, that he might die there". So when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, [This young kid, just twenty three years old,] he fled by way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, [To the fellows.] Smite him in his chariot. And they did so at the going up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to the fortress city of Megiddo, and there he died. And his servants carried him in a chariot back to Jerusalem, and buried him in a sepulchre with his fathers in the city of David. And in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to reign over Judah. Now when Jeh

u was come to Jezreel, Jezebel [This wicked, wicked woman, who had introduced the idolatry, the worship of Baal, who had killed the prophets of God, who had gone out in vengeance against the servants of the Lord to destroy them out of the land. This wicked woman, Jezebel,] heard that Jehu was Edited & Highlighted from"The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7115 7 coming; and so she [Put on her makeup, and fixed her hair.] painted her face, and tired her head, and she looked out the window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master (9:27-31)? Referring to a historic event that we've already covered. Zimri who had killed his master. So he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And two or three eunuchs looked out at him. And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot. [That is, he just allowed his horse to stomp her to death.] And when

he was come into the house, he was eating and drinking, and he said, Go and seenow this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is the king's daughter (9:32-34). Her father was the king of Sidon, and Ephbaal was his name. So she was a king's daughter, and so he said, you know, "At least give her the honor of a burial in as much as her dad's a king." And so they went out to bury her: but they did notfind any more of her than just the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. [Interesting thing, when wild dogs, even to the present day, devour a carcass, they don't eat the soles of the feet, or the palms of the hands, for some strange reason. Thus it was then I guess, because that's all they found. The palmsof her hands, the soles of her feet, and her skull. Nothing left really to bury.] And so wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the wordof Jehovah, which he has spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: [Now this is a fulfill

ment of a prophecy of Elijah years earlier.] And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel (9:35-37). You won't be able to recognize her. The dogs will eat her. So the prophecy that was made by Elijah the prophet was fulfilled, literally, Jezebel being eaten there, of the dogs. Now as we move on next week. We see this fellow Jehu, some interesting traits, and characteristics, but also some weaknesses, that led to uh, his, not, he could've been perhaps, a great king. He wasn't because of his weaknesses. But, we do see some interesting andexcellent traits, in this fellow Jehu. So, next week, we'll continue with chapters ten, and eleven, read on. Interesting reading as we continue through this sor



t of historic account of what was going on, at this particular time. Father, thank You again, for the privilege of studying the word. And, Lord help us that wemight learn from the mistakes of the past. From the events that we have studied. May we realize Lord, the importance of committing our ways unto you. Serving you completely. Following after you. Keeping ourselves and our lives from the defilement of idolatry, turning aside from You, and becoming enamored of the thingsof the world, the material things. Lord, keep our minds, our hearts steadfast upon thee, that we might walk, Lord after the Spirit, and the things of the Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you, keep His hand upon your life, watch overyou through the week. May you be strengthened by that hand of the Lord, may yoube led by the Spirit, may God open up doors of opportunity for you to share your love for Jesus with someone else. May your life become a real witness of God'sgrace, as you share with others, the work of His Spirit within your own life. God bless you, and keep you in His name. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7115 8 c:\users\dave\desktop\chuck smith\ii kings\7116 2 Kings 10-11.txt 2 Kings 10-11 Tape #7116 II Kings 10-11By Chuck Smith Shall we turn now in our Bibles to II Kings, chapter ten. As we progress in the second book of the Kings, we see also the progression of the deterioration that will ultimately destroy both the northern and the southern kingdom. The events that we look at in the northern kingdom are sort of gross. Especially in the light of our current society and age. Ahab with his wife Jezebel, had brought into the northern kingdom of Israel, the worship of Baal, and made it the national religion of Israel. Elijah the prophet, if you'll remember in I Kings, chapter twenty one, pronounced upon Ahab, the judgement of God for his sin. H

e declared that there would not be any left of Ahab's posterity, that God wouldcut it off completely, and that it would be like the house of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel that God cut off completely. No descendants. Now the vessel orthe instrument that God chose to bring His judgement, was this man by the name of Jehu, and he has begun the execution of the descendants of Ahab. He killed his son, who was reigning on the throne. He has not yet completely established hisposition as king, but he is moving in that direction, as he is being used of God to fulfill the prophecy, of the cutting off of the descendants of Ahab. God pronounces judgement. But it should be noted that God, in accomplishing His work, uses human instruments. God could act apart from human instrumentality. But He has chosen to use humans for the accomplishing of His purposes. He announced His purpose through Elijah. Now He is using Jehu as His instrument of judgement, to fulfill this judgement against the house of Ahab, for the exceeding wickedness, a

nd the evil that they brought upon the nation of Israel. So we come to chapter ten, and we read that... Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. [Now this is a Hebrewterm that refers to sons, and grandsons, and it's just not that he had seventy sons of his own, but this goes on down the line a ways, and refers to grandsons also. So he had these seventy descendants. Sons of Ahab, who in a line could be open to become the king, because of their relationship to Ahab.] And Jehu wrote letters, and sent them to Samaria, unto the governors of Jezreel, and to the elders, and to those who were in charge of bringing up [these descendants of Ahab] Ahab's children, and he said, As soon as this letter comes to you, seeing that your master's sons are with you, and you have chariots, and you have horses, and you have a fenced [or a walled] city also, and you have armor; Look out among the best and the fittest of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house (10:1-3). So Jehu is now challenging the men

of Samaria, who are taking care of the children of Ahab. And he said, "Look among these sons, find the most able, and fittest of them all. Put him on the throne, in as much as you have chariots, and you have horses, you have armor, you have a walled city, go ahead, set him on the throne, and then we'll come, and we'llface off with you". But they were exceedingly afraid, and they said, ["Hey thisfellow has destroyed two kings already!"] two kings could not stand before him:how then can we stand? And the one that was governor over the house, and the one that was over the city, and the elders also, and those that brought up the children, sent to Jehu, and they said, We are your servants, we will do whatever you bid us; we will not make any king: you do that which is good in your eyes (10:4



-5). Rather than trying to fight against Jehu, realizing that he was a captain of Israel, his exploits were well know, he had already destroyed two kings, theyfeared if they should raise up an army against him, it would only be to their own damage and hurt. So they sent back really, letters of capitulation. "We are your servants. We'll do whatever you want us to do. We're not gonna try to set upany king. We're not going to try to fight against you." So he wrote the second letter, and this one said, If you are mine, and if you will hearken unto my voice, then take the heads of the men your master's sons and come to me in Jezreel by tomorrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up. And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and killed the seventy persons,put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jezreel (10:6-7). So sort of a bloody execution, beheading the seventy sons of Ahab. But in so doing, they fulfilled the prophecy of judgement, against the house of Ahab, given by Elijah the prophet. And so there came a messenger, and told Jehu, that they had brought the heads of the king's sons. [This was of course to us it's an extremely gory thing, and we have a hard time dealing with it. But in those days, it was sort of a common practice of beheading people, and stacking the heads in piles. The purpose of it was to create fear, which I would imagine it would do! Shock, and fear, when you see such a sight.] And so he said, Set them in two piles, on either side of the gate of Jezreel. [It's sort of a pronouncement is, "This is what will happen to you if you seek to defy the king". "So lay them in two piles, or two heapsat the entering in of the gate,"] until morning. And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and he stood, and said to all the people, You are righteo

us judges: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these (10:8-9)? In other words, he of course ignores the fact that he sent thecommand to do it, but he is saying, "Look, I'm guilty, I conspired and killed my master, but you are in this thing equally, because you are the ones who killedthese men". And he said, Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah (10:10). Now it just so happened that Jehu was with king Ahab, when the Lord sent Elijah to meet him, and prophesied this wiping out of Ahab's descendants. You can turn back to I Kings, chapter twenty one, and uh,, it was at the time, you remember that Ahab uh,, was coveting the vineyard of Naboth, and here's this king sitting around sullen, sulking, won't eat, and he's just, he's just sulking. And his wife says, "What's wrong with you?". He says, "I want Naboth's field, he won't sell it to me".

She said, "Is that your problem? Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it". So, she hired some wicked fellows to bear false witness against Naboth, and um, they had the people stone Naboth, so Ahab, she just came home and said, "Hey thefield is yours. Go take it". So he had come to the field of Naboth, this field that he was coveting, and as he was in this vineyard, Elijah came to him. It wasat this time that Elijah made this prediction. Ahab said to Elijah, verse twenty, "Have you found me O my enemy?", and he answered, "I have found you, because you've sold yourself to work evil in the sight of the Lord, and thus I'll bring evil upon you and your posterity, and cut off all your descendants in Israel. I'll make your house like the house of Jeroboam, and like the house of Baasha, theson of Ahijah, for the provocation wherein you have provoked the Lord to anger,and made Israel to sin". And so, uh,, he spoke then also of Jezebel, how the dogs would eat Jezebel at the wall of Jezreel, and we read how this was fulfilled l

ast week. So, at this point, Jehu acknowledges, "Hey, God's word, every word isgoing to come to pass. Not a word of God is gonna fall, or not a word of God will fail". You can be sure of this. God's word is going to come to pass. It is interesting that in the book of Daniel, as he speaks of the things that will happen, he attests to the writings, and he said, "These things are faithful and true". And in the book of Revelation, as again it speaks of the future, again it affirms how these things are true. When God swears to the truth of the things that He has declared, hey you can be sure they're going to come to pass. "These are the true and faithful sayings of the Lord." So he recognizes, "Hey, God's word is being fulfilled before your eyes, and not word of God is gonna fall to the ground



. Everything shall come to pass, as God said". Here is the silent, gory testimony to the truth of the prophecy that was made by Elijah. These piles of heads outside of the city of Jezreel. So Jehu [verse eleven] slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all of his great men, and his kinfolk, and his priests, until he left him nothing remaining (10:11). All of those that uh, ruled with Ahab. All of those that had anything to do with him, were executed by Jehu. And he arose then and came to the capital, to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house [And uh, it is a city, called Beth Eked, and just where Beth Eked is, we don't know. It was somewhere between Jezreel, Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7116 2 and Samaria,and it is one of those biblical cities that have not yet been identified. In many of those mounds, or Tel over in Israel, that have not as yet been excavated. But somewhere between Jezreel and Samaria, one of those Tel along the road that you can see, one day when they get around to excavating it, they'll find out that it was Beth Eked. That means Beth is the house of shearing, so Beth Eked, the city. That's what it is literally, in Hebrew. The translators just translated itinto English, the shearing house. But, it is literally the house of shearing, Beth Eked. "And so he came to Beth Eked". "And,"] Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah the king of Judah, [Now, Jehu had already killed Ahaziah, the king of Judah, who had come up to visit his family members. He was related to the northern kingdom. He was related to Ahab, actually the son- in-law of Ahab. And he was upvisiting his uh,, family when Jehu had him killed also. He died of course you remember, in Megiddo. And so, there came these brethren, these relatives of Ahaziah,] and Jehu said, Who are you? And they answered, We are the brothers of Ahazia

h; and we're going to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen (10:12-13). Now it's interesting these guys got far, this far in the land, and had not heard of the revolution, they had not heard that Jehu had taken over.They had not yet heard of the death, of uh, the uh,, king and all. So they're coming up to visit. And so he said to his men, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and they slew them at the pit of Beth Eked, even forty two men; and neither did he leave any of them alive. And when he was departed from there, he met[this fellow] Jehonadab who was the son of Rechab who was coming to meet him: and he greeted him, and he said to him, Is your heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. And he said, If it be, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand; and took him up into his chariot (10:14-15). Now this Jehonadab is an interesting fellow. The son of Rechab, that means that he was of the tribe of the Kenites, who were sort of a Bedouin type of people. They we

re a nomadic people that inhabited the area of the Negev and south. Jethro, thefather-in-law of Moses, was a Kenite. They were an interesting people, Bedouins, living in tents. They were friendly to Israel, and thus were given a place within Israel, to live. The thirty fifth chapter of Jeremiah, deals with this fellow, Jehonadab, or with his descendants, at least. These men, descendants of Jehonadab, did not drink wine. In fact, turn to Jeremiah thirty five. It is a short chapter, and it uh,, it's interesting, in that this whole thing pops up again. The name Jehonadab, who is he? You know, where did he come from, and all. "The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah the king of Judah, saying, Go unto the house of the Rechabites, speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of (this other character) and his brethren, (Habaziniah, if you want it, but) and all of

his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; And I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chambers of the sons of Hanan, and the son of Igdaliah, and the man of God, which was by the chamber of princes, (and so forth). And I set them pots full of wine, and cups, and I said, Drink ye wine. And they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever: Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyards, nor have any: but all your days you will dwell in tents;" And so, the Bedouins today, do not drink wine, they do not live in houses. In fact, the Israeli government, is trying to sort of help these people stabilize. They had a housing project down near Beersheba that



, shall reign. But Jehu [unfortunately] took no heed to walk in the law of Jehovah God of Israel with all of his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. [So it was more politic than spiritual with him.] In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: for Hazael began to smite them in all of their borders; And from Jordan eastward, [The] all of the land ofGilead, where the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the [tribe of] half tribe ofManassah dwelled, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even in Gilead and Bashan (10:31-33). He began to take the area on the east side of the Jordan river. Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, all that he did, all of his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehu sleptwith his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith,Tape #7116 4 eight years (10:34-36). So, he had a fairly long reign, according to the reigns of the kings in those days. Chapter 11 Now, shift gears. We go from the northern kingdom of Israel, we come down to the southern kingdom of Judah.We come again to Athaliah, who was the daughter of Ahab, and Jezebel. Through marriage there was a uniting, really of the northern and the southern kingdom. And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah [Ahaziah was killed by Jehu, when he had come up to visit. "When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah,"] saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all of the royal seed (11:1). She was going to seek now to establish herself as queen over the land, and knew that to do so, she hadto get rid of all of the royal seed. So here this murderous woman, killed even her own children, and her grandchildren. The sons, or the boys that might be heir

s to the throne. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons which were slain; [So this half-sister of Ahaziah. Ahaziah was the son of Athaliah, and Joram. His half-sister had another mother. Another wife of Joram. So she wasa half-sister to Ahaziah. Thus a step-daughter to Athaliah.] And she took this little baby boy, [The son of uh,,] and she stole him, [Joash he was the son of Ahaziah, the king that was killed. "And she stole him",] from among the king's sons; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah [The word bedchamber in Hebrew, is literally the mattress chamber, a room perhaps where they kept mattresses.] so that he was not slain. And she hid him in the house of the Lord for six years. And Athaliah [during this period of time] was reigning over the land. Now in the seventh year Jehoiada sent for all of the rulersover the hundreds, and with the captains and the guard, and he brought them into

the house of the Lord, and he made a covenant with them, and took an oath fromthem in the house of the Lord, and then he showed to them the king's sons (11:2-4). They were, no doubt unhappy with the reign of Athaliah, but not much they could do about it. They figured that all of the descendants were dead. Now, here's an interesting thing, it is another one of those attempts of Satan, to wipe out the descendants of David, so that the promise of the Messiah could not be fulfilled. You see, if Josiah was slain, leaving no descendants of David, then how could the Messiah be the seed of David? So it is one of those cases again, where Satan was trying to thwart the plan of God, trying to destroy, or keep the Messiah from coming. So he took an oath from these guys, he said, "Hey there is a descendant of David, he's a little boy. I want you to sware that you'll give allegiance to him". And, so he showed to them the king's son. And then he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you that enter in

on the sabbath shall be the keepers of the watch over the king's house; ["Now,you watch the palace, a third part of you guys."] A third part of you shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: and so shall you keep watch of the house, that it be not broken down. And two parts of all ofyou that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of Jehovah about the king (11:5-7). So, "We're gonna set things up, and we'll setthe guards, and we'll set the ranks." And you shall encircle the king, surroundhim, every man with his weapon in his hand: and if anybody tries to break through the ranks, let him be slain: and you be with the king as he goes out and he comes in. And the captains over the hundreds did according to all of the things th



yield its fruit, and you're gonna go through heavy, heavy trials, and terrible times. The history of Israel, is the history of a nation that would seek God, beblessed of God, and then would forsake God, and be cursed. Fall into the hands of their enemies. Be oppressed by their enemies, and then out of the oppression,they would cry unto the Lord, and the Lord would raise up a judge, and deliver them. During the period of the judges life, they would serve the Lord, but then they would revert back to their idolatry, and back into oppression. It was just a cyclical kind of miserable history. The covenant was good. There's nothing wrong with the covenant, there's nothing wrong with the law. People think, "Oh the law, Yuck!" or, "The law, ugh!" No, read the law, there's nothing wrong with that! I cannot fault the law at all. I believe that the law is good. I wish we could all live by that law, the ten commandments. For it deals with man living in a right relationship with God, and a right relationship with his fellow man. The world would be a much better place, if we all lived by the law of God. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Can't fault that! "Thou shalt not make any graven images, to bow down and worship them." Can't fault that! "Thou shalt not takethe name of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7116 6 sabbath day, keep it holy." Can't find any fault with those things! Then, in my relationship with my fellow man, "Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor." Good laws! I find no fault in the law of God, it's a good covenant! But man didn't keep it. In fact he keptbreaking the first commandment. He kept turning to other gods. He began to worsh

ip other gods. He began to become idolatrous. Making little idols, and worshiping these idols, objects of worship. Man to the present day, continues to violatethe law of God, or the commandments, the covenant that God established. God wants to be first in your life. He wants to be above everything else. He wants to sit on the throne of your life. He wants your heart and your mind to be first towards Him. He wants to occupy the first place, the highest place in your life. But we allow other things to take top priority. Things usually that involve our own pleasure, things of our flesh. They were to be a people who walk after the Spirit. A people who denied self, the flesh life, in order to live after the Spirit. They would break the covenant of God, they would turn, and begin to worship other gods, and thus, the calamities would come. The broken covenant. At this period the covenant had been broken again. Here in Jerusalem even, is a temple unto Baal, and the priests of Baal, and all. The people had turned from God, but now t

he renewing of the covenant, "We will be the Lord's people", and He made the covenant with the king, and with the people. "We're going to be the Lord's people.We're gonna worship Jehovah again." And so the people of the land went into thehouse of Baal, and the broke it down; they broke down the altars and the images, they broke them into pieces thoroughly, and the slew Mattan the priest of Baalbefore the altar. And the priest appointed officers over the house of Jehovah. And he took the rulers over the hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all of the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of Jehovah, and they came by the way of the gate of the guard of the king's house. And he sat on the throne of the kings (11:18-19). So this little seven year old boy, was sitting there on the throne. And all of the people of the land rejoiced,and the city was in quiet: [Peace] and they slew Athaliah with the sword besidethe king's house. Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign (11:20-21).

So next week we get into the reign of Jehoash, or Joash, as he is known by both names, and uh,, get into some very interesting things, as we move into chapters thirteen, and fourteen. Father, we pray tonight, that we indeed might covenantwith You, to be Your people. Acknowledging You as our God. And we thank You Father, that You have made a new covenant with us through the blood of Jesus Christ. A covenant now, that is based upon Your faithfulness, in keeping Your word. A covenant that shall stand forever, because Your word Lord, will stand forever. So Lord, we want to be Your people. We want You to be the first, and the highest,priority of our lives. We want to love You Lord, with all of our hearts, and with all of our minds, and with all of our souls. Lord, we want to love our neighbo



rs as ourselves. We thank You that you have given to us, the capacity, and the power to do so. That which we could not do, in and of ourselves, You have done for us, though Jesus Christ. So we yield our lives to Him, that He might dwell within us, and through His power, we might be all that You want us to be, for His glory. Amen. May the Lord be with you, watch over you, keep you in His love, andguide you during the week, as you become the Lord's people. His witnesses to this world. May the light of Jesus Christ shine brightly, through your life, in this darkened world. May the love of Jesus Christ flow out from your life, as a witness to others, that you are indeed, His disciple. God bless you, and watch over you, and keep you in His love, and may you indeed be, the Lord's people. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7116 7 c:\users\dave\desktop\chuck smith\ii kings\7117 2 Kings 12-13.txt 2 Kings 12-13 Tape #7117 II Kings 12-13 By Chuck Smith Shall we turn in our Bibles to II Kings, chapter twelve. The twelfth chapter of II Kings, deals basically with the reign of Jehoash, also called Joash, in the southern kingdom of Judah. So it begins... In the seventh year when Jehu was the king in the northern area of Israel, Jehoash began to reign; and forty years he reigned in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all of his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him. But the high places were not taken away: and the people still sacrificed and burntincense in the high places (12:1- 3). Now we are told in the previous chapter, that Jehoash was only seven years old, when he began to reign. You remember, he was hid by his nurse when he was a year old, and Athaliah had killed all of the royal seed. When he was seven years old, Jehoiada the priest brought him out, had

a coronation ceremony. They crowned him as the king over Judah, and uh, when Athaliah cried, "Treason! Treason!", they took her out, and they killed her, and Jehoash began to reign. Now in verse two, it said, "And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all of the days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him". During the lifetime of Jehoiada, it seems that he was under the influence of this priest. However, at the death of Jehoiada, we find that there was a real downward trend by Jehoash. Some of the young princes of Judah came to him, and they desired to return to some of the pagan worship, which he allowed them to do. So, idolatry was again introduced into the southern kingdom of Judah, by Jehoash in his later years, after the death of Jehoiada. The son of Jehoiada, Zachariah, came to Jehoash, and rebuked him for allowing the return of idolatry. Hehad the high priest, Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada put to death, because of the rebuke for his evil deeds. So unfortunately, in the latter days, Jehoash made a

very dramatic turn downward. But during the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest, it seems that under the influence of Jehoiada, he did alright. But, his reformation was not a total reformation, in that he still allowed the high places for sacrifices, and worship. The people burned incense, and offered sacrifices in thesehigh places, and not always in the temple. The tragic thing about reformation is that it usually isn't a complete reformation. Jesus spoke of the difficulty ofputting new wine, in the old skins. I don't know why, but it seems like anything after a while, becomes corrupted. Governments after a time, become corrupted. The good thing about a two party system is, one party will be in party for awhile, until it is so corrupt, you vote it out, and then the other party gets in forawhile, and they become so corrupt, you vote it out. And, and, it is an advantage about the two party system, at least every once in awhile, you can vote in the other party, they can imprison all the corrupt ones, from the previous administ

ration, and you start over again. But give em' a little time, you know, and they'll become corrupt too. With the church, over a period of time, it seems it becomes weakened, corrupted. Tragically, so many times, those works of God that were begun in the Spirit, turn to the flesh for perfection. Paul wrote to the Galatia church, you remember, and he said, "Oh foolish Galatians. Who has bewitched you that you would so soon be turned away from the truth? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now going to be made perfect in the flesh?" And, it seems that God moves in a fresh new way, by His Spirit, and everybody is excited, and there's aglorious work of God. But, as time goes on, we feel that the Holy Spirit isn't able now to run the thing, actually we're so big, we can't depend on the Holy Spi



rit anymore, we've gotta get this thing organized. So we get together, and we start getting committees for this, and committees for that, and we get all organized, and you know, death sets in. It's great that we're in the beginning, in thefresh stages. I feel sorry for our kids, who'll have to watch it die. I hope the Lord comes before it happens. Reformation is never complete. There's too much it seems, to be overcome. When the Lord addressed in the book of Revelation, thechurch of Sardis, which was the church of the Protestant reformation, His complaint against it was, "I have not found your works complete before the Lord". There was a very necessary reformation against the abuses that had developed withinthe church. But they didn't go far enough. They still held on to many of the practices that were borrowed from the Babylonian religion, and they were incorporated into Protestantism. So though there was a reformation, it wasn't a total reformation. The same thing is here, evidence. They had a reformation under Jehoash, but not a complete reformation. They still allowed the high places to exist, where the people would burn their incense, and offer their sacrifices. But, the whole system was even rather corrupt, even the priesthood itself, at this time. For Jehoash said to the priests, All of the money of the dedicated things that isbrought into the house of the Lord, even the money of every one that passeth the account, the money that every man is set at, and all the money that comes intoany man's heart to bring into the house of the Lord, Let the priests take it tothem, every man of his acquaintance: and let them repair the breaches of the house, wherein any breach shall be found (12:4-5). Now under the reign of Athaliah, the daughter of Jezebel and Ahab, who had married into the family of the kingsof Judah. Under her reign, they had built in Jerusalem, a temple unto Baal. They

had built the temple of Baal, by sacking the temple of God. Athaliah had gone in, and taken the stones, and taken a lot of the timbers and all, out of the temple of God, to build this pagan temple unto Baal. So the temple of God was in a state of disrepair. Stones were missing, doors were missing, furniture was missing, that she had taken out of the temple of God, to place and to make this temple unto Baal. So Jehoash wants to see that the repairs made to the temple, and sothere are three sources for the money. He said that they were to take the moneyof everything uh, "that passeth the account". They would take a census in Jerusalem, and in the census, every man had to put a half a shekel into the temple treasury. They wouldn't count people, but they'd count the shekels, so they knew how many people. After the taking of the census by David, and the plague that ensued, they would not take a census again in Israel. In fact, to the present day, the people don't like to be counted, if they're orthodox. If you're going to a pa

rty, in the orthodox, you need to play a game in which you need to number off, they have a problem. So they'll just say, "You're not one, you're not two, you're not three, you're not four, and you're not five". Uh, so you're not really being counted. But uh, there's a way to get around anything I guess. But to take the census, they would always just count the number of shekels in the uh, treasury, and they knew how many people there were, because it was required that every adult place that half shekel in the temple offering. So this money was to be used. Then if you would make a vow unto the Lord, and you'd want to buy your way outof it, there was the price of things that were dedicated. "Lord, I give this calf to you, It's your calf Lord." Later as it grows up, and it is a nice, healthylittle uh, what would a calf become? I don't know. A heifer? Or whatever! You want to eat the thing, you say, "Well Lord, I'm gonna eat it so...", you had to give the Lord, you had to buy it from the Lord, actually. You dedicated it to the

Lord in the beginning, so you have to buy it now, from the Lord. That was thosethings that were dedicated unto the Lord. That was the redemption. The idea wasyou were redeeming it from God. Your first born son, had to always be redeemed from the Lord, because the Lord required that. He said, "The first born belongs to me". And the first born of any of your animals, belong to the Lord. So you would have to redeem those. So that price was to be placed. Along with free will offerings, that people would give to the priests. These were to all be used now, to repair the temple that was in the state of disrepair, as the result of Athaliah's treachery. So, he commanded that these funds should come from these sources. The priests who lived in communities, and would come and serve for a time in th



e temple, and then go back to the communities. "In your communities, collect these sums, and bring them, and let's repair the temple." But it happened, that after the twenty third year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches in the house of God. [They didn't do anything. They collected the money, butthey didn't do any repairs.] So king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the other priests, and he said, Why haven't you repaired the breaches of the house? now therefore don't receive any more money of your acquaintance, [If we'regonna take money, we're gonna gather the money a different way.] but deliver itfor the breaches of the house. ["Don't take it for yourself, but deliver it in."] And the priests consented to receive no more money of the people, [Themselvespersonally.] and neither to repair the breaches of the house. But Jehoiada Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7117 2 the priest took a chest, and he bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one came into the house of the Lord:and the priests that kept the door therein all of the money that was brought into the house of the Lord (12:6- 9). So, instead of the priests collecting the money, and bringing it in, they just put this big chest in, and they bored a hole in the top, and the people, as they came in, could drop the money into the chest, for the repair of the temple. And it was so, when they saw that there was a lot of money in the chest, that the king's scribe, and the high priest came up, and they put the money in bags, [In these days, they did not have yet, coinage. They would just have the chunks of silver, and they would put it in bags, and thenthey would weigh the bags.] and they told the money [Or they weighed the money that was in the sacks.] that was found there in the house of the Lord. And they g

ave the money, being told, [or weighed] into the hands of them that did the work, that had the oversight of the house of the Lord: and they laid it out to the carpenters and the builders, that wrought upon the house of the Lord, To the masons, and the hewers of stone, to buy the timber and they hewed the stone to repair the breaches of the house of the Lord: and for all of that was laid out to repair it. Howbeit there were not made for the house of the Lord the bowls of silver, the snuffers, the basins, the trumpets, and the vessels of gold, or the vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of the Lord (12:10-13): But the breaches in the house of the Lord, the temple, was repaired. Of course it was about a hundred and thirty years old at this time, so just you know, the natural decay, plus that which Athaliah did in dismantling it. But they gave the money to the workmen, they repaired therewith the house of the Lord. Moreover they reckoned not with the men, in whose hand they delivered the money to be be

stowed upon the workmen: for they dealt faithfully. [So there was that rebuilding.] The trespass money however, the sin money was not brought into the house ofthe Lord: it remained the priests'. [So when a person had made a trespass, he was to restore the money of the person, and if his family were dead, then the priest was to receive the money. Or if the priest would offer a sin offering for the people, it was customary often, for the people to give the priest sort of a love offering kind of a thing, for his service for them. So they could keep that money, the rest of it went in to the repair of the house.] Then Hazael the king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, [Now Gath is south, and west from Jerusalem. It was one of the major Philistine cities. It belonged to Judah at this time. However, Hazael the king of Syria, had come clear on, that far into the country, had taken the city of Gath.] and he set his face to go up to Jerusalem (12:14-17). He began his attack against Jerusalem. He was successful in the beginnin

g of his attack. They, though heavily outnumbered, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, fell before Hazael. So the king Jehoash took all of the hallowed things that [The previous kings] Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, the kings ofJudah, had dedicated, he took his own hallowed things, and all of the gold thatwas found in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and in the king's house, and he sent it to Hazael the king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem (12:18). Now in the mean time here, and though it is not recorded here in II Kings, it is recorded in II Chronicles. During this period of time, Jehoiada had died, and there was that downward kind of a spiritual spiral downward, and the invasionof Hazael was again, a judgement of God against the kingdom because of the allow



use I can see the evil that's in your heart. I can see the evil that you're gonna do to the people of God. How you're going to smite the young men with the sword, how you're going to dash the babies in the streets, and how you're gonna ripup the pregnant girls". And Hazael said, "Am I a dog that I would do these things!". He didn't even know what was in his own heart, but God did. Now this Hazael went back to the king who was sick, with the message, "The prophet said you'regonna recover. Because Elisha said, "He can recover, but he's gonna die". And Hazael then murdered him! Put this heavy towel over him, soaked the towel and putit over him, and suffocated him. But what's he do? Names his son after the guy he killed. Kind isn't it? So his son's name was Benhadad. He named him after theking that he had killed, in order to get the throne himself. Not to be trusted!But Jehoahaz [verse four] besought the Lord, [Now it's interesting, in time of trouble, people often seek the Lord. That's alright, better to seek the Lord, then not to seek the Lord. I don't know but what the Lord Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7117 4 doesn't often times allow trouble, to cause you to seek Him. I think a lot of times, the Lord just allows things to pile up on you, just to force you to seek Him. You know, you get so heavy, you can't handle it. You say, "Oh Lord help me!" He says, "Well, nice to see you. Where you been?" Ha, ha! You know, it's just one of those things that God allows, I think many times, these problems to just compound until we're forced to seek Him. I think many times God allows sicknesses, tragedies, to get our attention, to cause us to seek Him. You never know in an hour of tragedy, but what God hasn't allowed that to happen, just so that you would seek Him. Several years ago, when I was in my first pastorate, in Prescott, Arizona, w

e had a mother come by the house, quite desperate, who said her son was in the Whipple Veteran's Hospital there, dying of tuberculosis, and wondered if I wouldgo and call on him, there in the hospital, which I assured her I would. She said, "Oh don't go yet. Let me, wait, he's very bitter. He hates ministers, and he's very bitter against God, against the church, and all. So we'll have to wait until there's sort of, you know, when he's in a good mood someday, I'll give you acall, and then I'd like you to go call on him". I said, "Okay, you know, whatever. If he gets mad, and curses me, it doesn't matter. I can handle it. You know,I'm not worried about that". So that afternoon she called back, and she said uh, she was crying, she said, "The doctors just told me that he's not gonna live through the night. So you better get out here right away". So I headed out to thehospital, and I talked to him, and was sharing you know, about the Lord. His father had been a minister. Somehow he became embittered, and turned away from God.

But, he knew basically what it was all about, and thus sharing with him was easy. It just so happened, that we hit it off well. So I said, "Well Howard, things don't look so good, and maybe you ought to commit your life to Jesus Christ, and just you know, ask the Lord to forgive you, and turn your life over to Him". He looked at me, and he said, "Chuck, I know I should, and I intend to. But,", he said, "a year ago, I weighed a hundred and ninety pounds, I was a member of the Purple gang, in Detroit, Michigan, and", he said, "I cursed God with every breath. Now," he said, "I weigh ninety pounds. I can hardly get a breath". He said,"To turn my life over to God in this condition, would be cowardly. If the Lord should touch me, and restore my health again, then I'll commit myself to Him". Isaid, "Well Howard, how do you know that God hasn't allowed this condition to come upon you because of His immense love for you, and He knew that as long as you were weighing a hundred and ninety pounds, were the picture of health and all,

that you'd never come to Him. But, He loves you so much, He allowed you to cometo this weakened state, because He knew that the only way you'd ever turn your life over to Him, would be in a, in a weakened state, where it's just you know, it's all over". And, he looked at me, and he studied me for a bit, and honestly,he said, "Chuck, I think you're right!" He saw the light, and he turned his life over to the Lord. But how do you know? You see, God in His love wants to reachyou. You run from God. And, and God is so in love with you, and so desires thatyou know Him, and serve Him, that He is not beyond allowing you to go to the bottom, if you have to go to the bottom before you look up. So, God so often, allows the tragedy to cause us to turn to Him. So was the case here, with Jehoahaz. A



s the east bank of the Jordan river was taken by Syria, the areas of Gilead, and Manassah, and the tribe where Rueben inhabited over there, was taken by Syria.Syria was beginning to menace the kingdom. So Jehoahaz besought the Lord. In spite of the fact that the guy was wicked, he was evil, he was not a good king, the Lord, in His mercy,] the Lord [In His grace] hearkened to him: and he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria was oppressing them (13:4). So God listened to his prayers, even in that sinful state. Every once in a while youhear a person say, "Well God doesn't hear the prayer of sinners". Wrong. That was a statement that was made in the bible by a man who was blind, and who Jesus healed. The Pharisees were sort of trying to disprove the miracle. So they askedthe parents of the boy, "Was he born blind?", and so forth. They said, "Yeah hewas born blind". "How is it that he can see now?" "We don't know. He just can see." Because they were afraid if they testified of the power of Jesus, that they'd get kicked out of the Synagogue. So they came to the boy that was healed. Said, "Were you really blind?" He says, "Yeah, I was blind!" "How can you see?" "Well this man came along, and he put his hands on my eyes, and then I could see." "Oh you weren't really blind!" He said, "I was!" So they kept questioning him. And, he said to them, they said, you know they said, "Well give glory to God, as for this guy, we don't know who he is, or where he came from". He said, "Hey wait a minute. That's a pretty remarkable statement. If you don't know who he is, or where he came from, maybe he could be the Messiah, Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7117 5 you know." Because he opened the eyes of the blind. And, he said, "We know that God doesn't hear the prayer of sinners". Now, the blind man said that. That doesn't necessari

ly make that scriptural truth, you see. It's just a quotation of the blind man.Here's a case where God did hear the prayer of a sinner. God heard your prayer when you were a sinner, and said, "God have mercy upon me". I'm glad God hears the prayers of sinners! He heard my prayer when I cried unto Him. He'll hear yourprayer, when you cry unto Him. God does hear the prayer of sinner. God heard the prayer of Jehoahaz. That was a statement of a blind man. You've gotta always read it in context, don't make doctrine out of such a statement. Read it in its context. So, "Jehoahaz besought the Lord, the Lord hearkened to him: because of the oppression". (And the Lord gave Israel a Saviour, [Now this is later on, it didn't happen immediately. But, the son of Jehoahaz, Joash, began to be the savior of Israel. God began to deliver them out of the hands of Syria, through Joash.Then, fully our of his grandson, Jeroboam. "So the Lord gave Israel a Saviour",] so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of I

srael dwelt in their tents, as beforetime. Nevertheless [Unfortunately] they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin, but they walked therein: and there remained also [This place of licentious worship.] the grove there in the city of Samaria) (13:5-6). Where all kinds of lewd, and licentious worship practices went on by the people. It's an interesting thing. You know, this sounds pagan, it sounds far away. People in their worship, getting involved in sex rights, getting involved in dancing nude, and sensuous dances and all, it's a part of a whole worship scheme, there in the grove. It seems so far away and removed. I was talking with a young man this week, who bought a pieceof property out in the country, just outside of Vista. He heard that weird things were going on, out in that area. So he went out one night into this wooded area, right down here in Vista. He watched these people as they gathered together,and began their worship. Satanic worship. He watched them as they began to commi

t unspeakably vile and a, sensuous acts of lewdness and incest. Fathers with their young daughters, and all. There they were in this whole, that's right here. That's today. That's in our neighborhood! These things that once seemed so totally removed, and just you know unthinkable, are happening in the United States, and are happening in our very area. Then the witchcraft, into Satanism, and, and it's something that is no longer remote and far removed. But it is something that is very close. Unless, unless we have a powerful spiritual revival, I question, concerning the future, desperately. I'll tell you, my heart goes out for my grandchildren. When I see my beautiful little granddaughters, and my beautiful little grandsons, and realize that they are growing up in a world that has become so



corrupted, that they are in danger of being kidnapped off the street, and usedas a sacrifice in some of these Satanic rituals. It disturbs me, deeply. You might have to bail me out one day. Rambo will go after him, I'll tell ya. So they continued in their sins. Neither did they leave the people to Jehoahaz [Neither did he leave, Jehoahaz was strict. All he had left was,] fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand infantrymen; [Just enough to keep peace within his own country. But his whole army was wiped out, destroyed.] for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and made them like the dust by threshing. [He had just really threshed and decimated the armies of Israel.] Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria: and Joash his son reigned in his stead (13:9). Now, a little confusion, watch this one! Joash is still the king in Judah, but it's a differentJoash. For three years, these guys reigned at the same time. So you have kings by the same name, reigning in the north, and reigning in the south, for a periodof three years. In the south, Joash is an old man, bout' ready to die. He's been reigning, well he's not that old either, he's forty four years old. Young kid!Ha, ha! Because he was only seven years old when he began to reign, he reigned for forty seven years, and so this is three years before he died, so, he was forty four years old, reigning in the south, before his assassination. He was assassinated when he was forty seven. In the north now, you have also, a fellow by the name of Joash, that is reigning. But it won't last long, because the guy is gonna get bumped off in the south real soon. So we'll not get too confused with it. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smit

h, Tape #7117 6 Now in the thirty seventh year of Joash the king of Judah [In the south. His thirty seventh year, he was seven years old when he began. Forty four, so we were right on it.] Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he had a short reign, only sixteen years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, [The first king of Israel.] who made Israel to sin: but he walked in the very same practices. [Continued in that idolatry.] Now the rest of the acts which Joash, [And, this is still in the north.] the things that he did,his might wherewith he fought against Amaziah the king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Joash slept with his fathers; and Jeroboam sat on his throne: and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel (13:10-13). Don't think you're through with Joash yet. Joash is still in the picture. He just gives you, you know, he jumps ahead. Why he

does, I don't know. But, the guy who was writing this, jumps ahead and tells you of his death, before he tells you of his life. We'll be studying next week how he defeated Amaziah, the king of Judah. So that's yet to come up, and but, it does record, and it goes on to tell his death, and Jeroboam reigned in his stead, his son. But we'll come back now. In fact, in this next little vignette here, we have him visiting Elisha, as Elisha was dying. Now Elisha [This mighty prophet of God] was fallen sick of the sickness whereof he died. [In spite of his tremendous faith. In spite of the many miracles that were wrought through his life, the dead brought back to life, the lepers cleansed. Miracle after miracle attended this man's life. Yet, he fell sick of the sickness whereof he died. You can have all of the positive confessions in the world, and still die of your sickness. Your positive confessions are not going to bring necessary cures. I do believein divine healing, and that's the problem! I believe that God does heal, and God

can heal, and I believe in praying for healing. God has healed me over and over again. I attribute my strength, my health, unto the Lord, and I thank the Lordfor it. I thank the Lord that I have very few days of illness, and I have a very positive attitude that the Lord's gonna take care of me! But, I know that it is very possible, that I can get sick one day, and die. If the Lord tarries, thatprobably will happen. God doesn't always heal. God can even have purposes in sickness. When it comes time to die, I'm going to die by some cause. My heart willfail, or something will happen. Because God does not intend for me to live forever in this corrupting body. If He doesn't come quick, I'm gonna fall apart! I mean the dentist, the other day, said that I have some teeth that need to be taken



out. The gums are receding, I mean this is bad news! You just, well like the guy said, "Well I'm just not the man I used to be", and I never was! But we know that when this earthly tent, the body in which we presently live, is dissolved. But we have a building of God, it's not made with hands. It's eternal in the heavens. So then, "We who are in these bodies do groan", and I'm beginning to understand the scripture more and more! Ha, ha! Earnestly desiring to be delivered, not that I would be an unembodied spirit, but that I might be clothed upon with the body which is from heaven. For we know that as long as we are living in this body, we are absent from the Lord, but we would choose rather, to be absent fromthis body, and to be present with the Lord. One day, I'm gonna move out of my tent, and I'm gonna move into a beautiful new mansion! For the real me is spirit.The body is just the tent, in which I presently live. When that transition takes place, the metamorphosis, when I move out of my tent, and into my mansion, if you really love me, you wouldn't cry. You'd say, "Oh that lucky stiff!" "No longer living in that old corrupted tent. He's living now, in a beautiful mansion." You can just send out change of address cards. I've moved. So, "Elisha fell sickof the sickness whereof he died.] Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and he wept over his face, [He leaned over and crying so that his tears dropped onto Elisha's face.] and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof (13:14). A statement in which he recognized that in this man, is the real strength of the nation. This man living in a relationship with God, represents the strength of the nation. For a nation's strength is always related to that nation's relationship to God. When a nation is living in a right relationship with God, that nation is strong. Righteousness exalts a nation. The kin

g, though he was an evil man, though he was a sinful man, still recognized, "Herein is the strength. The chariot of Israel, the horsemen thereof". There is thestrength, the power of the nation, and it's represented in this man, who is nowdying. He realizes, that though when Elijah died, Elisha was there to fill in. There's no one that is to take Elisha's place. There's no prophet waiting in line to catch the mantle, for continued strength. Thus he realizes that the strength of the nation is going with Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7117 7 this man. And, he's, he's concerned. "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." As herealizes the strength lies in the relationship with God. So Elisha said unto him, Take your bow and your arrows. And he took unto him the bow and the arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put your hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon the bow: and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. And then he said,

Open the window toward the east. [The area that had already been conquered by Syria.] And he opened the window. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And Elisha said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for you shall smite the Syrians in Aphek, till you have consumed them. And then he said, Take your arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king ofIsrael, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed (13:15- 18). Nowthere's a discrepancy, I mean there's a difference here, not really a discrepancy, we don't really know what this entails. There are some of the scholars that translate and say that what he did was say, "Shoot your arrows down to the ground", out the window, into the ground. And, others said, just smite them on the ground. In other words, take em' and just smite them. You know, with uh, your handful of arrows smiting them on the ground. So, whether or not it was this way, orthis way, is a, let the theologians argue about it. What difference does it make

? Whatever it was, he only did it three times. And Elisha was angry with him, and he said, You should have smitten five or six times; then you would have smitten Syria till you had consumed it: whereas now you will only smite them but three times (13:19). So the smiting was symbolic of God, the arrow deliverance. "Nowyou take the arrows and smite with them." It was symbolic of God's smiting the Syrians. He should've just kept smiting. But half-hearted, nonchalant, boom, boom, boom. "So what", you know, and thus the prophet was angry, because it symbolized the fact that he would not really destroy, or have complete victory, but only a partial victory over the enemy. Half-hearted commitment never makes it. There are so many people that take sort of a nonchalant type of an attitude towards t



he things of the Lord. They don't make that full commitment. To win, takes total dedication, and total commitment to the Lord. To utterly defeat the enemy, takes a total commitment of your life, to the things of the Lord. If you take sort of a easy come easy go, or sort of a casual attitude towards the things of the Spirit. "Oh when I can, I make it around. You know, when I get an opportunity, I'll be glad to do it", you know and you take just sort of that casual, carefree attitude, you'll never know what it is to live in total victory. You've got to beaggressive in this battle against the enemy. Now Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.[In the springtime, here came the Moabites again. Every year in the spring, they had this little raiding party.] And so it came to pass, as they were burying aman, [A funeral procession was going on, they were burying this guy,] and they spied this band of Moabites; [This unit that was approaching. These guys of course, burying the guy, they didn't bring their swords and all with them. And they saw this armed band coming.] so they just threw the guy in the sepulchre of Elisha: [Which was the handiest thing. They had no doubt taken the rock off of the top of the cave, and here came this band of Moabites. "Toss him in you know. Let's get out of here!" and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet. [I mean, that old man Elisha he was powerful! He had been a prophet for sixty years, there in Israel. Such power in this man's life, that even after death, when this man, this dead corpse touched his bones, it came back to life.] But Hazael the king of Syria oppressed Israel all of the days of Jehoahaz (13:20-22). Now this goes back to Jehoahaz, who was the father of Joash. But the Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion on the

m, and had respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, [Now notice what it says about the Lord. "The Lord was gracious unto them, the Lord had compassion on them, the Lord had respect unto them, because He had made a covenant with Abraham." So often I hear people say, "Well I don't like the God of the old testament. He seems so harsh, and hard. I like the God of thenew testament". As though they were two Gods. Evidently they haven't read the book of Revelation. Or, Romans chapter one, or even a lot of the things that Christ said, concerning the future judgement that's going to come upon the unrighteous. Now this is old testament, and it's talking about God. You see there are twosides to God's nature. He is a God of love, He is a God of Edited & Highlightedfrom "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7117 8 compassion, He is gracious, He is merciful to those that fear Him. But, to those who rebel against Him, then He is a God of justice, who will consume the evil doers.

He's not soft. He's not a Polly Annie. He's a powerful God, bringing vengeance upon the evil doers, but extending His mercy and grace unto a thousand generations of those who will follow after Him. In both the old testament, and the new testament, you see both sides of God's nature. Here, notice He is revealed as being gracious unto them. Surely He was! They weren't serving Him. They were servingthe idols that they had made, the golden calves. But yet, "He had compassion onthem, He was gracious to them, He had respect to them, because of the covenant that he had made with their father Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob",] and he wouldnot destroy them, neither cast them out of his presence yet (13:23). Still giving them opportunities to repent. Still giving them opportunities to turn. As Godis gracious and compassionate towards you! So longsuffering, giving you the opportunity. Know you not, that this goodness of God is intended to bring you to repentance? The graciousness of God, giving you opportunity to turn. So Hazael the

king of Syria died; Benhadad his son reigned in his stead. And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities,which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. [So the dads sort of uh, during the reign of Hazael, he whipped Jehoahaz. But Jehoahaz, his son, whipped Hazael's son, Benhadad, and took again the cities that had been taken by his father. Or taken from his father, through war.] Three times [Smote, thethree times. "Three times",] did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel (13:23-25). Too bad he didn't smite more, he would've completely destroyed,and had victory. So, moving along, and we're getting into some exciting storiesnext week, as we study the reign of Azariah, and Amaziah, and these other guys.



May the Lord bless you, keep His hand upon you, and guide you through this week. I pray that God will help you to make a full commitment unto Him. Not just a half-hearted, "Well you know, if it doesn't rain, we'll see about coming out Thursday night. You know, and if it all goes well, and nothing's in the way you know, we might". But, let's just really, in our hearts make that kind of total commitment. "Lord, I'm yours. I will serve you, I will live for you, Lord I'll followyou. In whatever endeavor you might lead me, to do your will, and to do your work. May you experience really, the presence and the power of the Lord working inyour life this week, in a very special way. Edited & Highlighted from "The WordFor Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7117 9 c:\users\dave\desktop\chuck smith\ii kings\7118 2 Kings 14-15.txt 2 Kings 14-15 Tape #7118 II Kings 14-15 By Chuck Smith Let's turn to II Kings, chapter fourteen. In the book of first and second Kings, we are following the history of two nations, in chronological order. So we jump back from the story of one kingdom, to the story of the other kingdom, and back and forth. For there was at the death of Solomon, a division of the kingdom of Israel, into the northern and southern; the northern kingdom being called Israel, the southern kingdom being called Judah. We're trying to follow now the history of these two kingdoms, as we look at the kings and certain aspects of their reign. So it's a lot of gear shifting, as we shift from the north to the south, from the south to the north, and back again. You have to sortof concentrate to keep up. "Are we in the north, or are we in the south?" Rightnow, in chapter fourteen, we're in the south. We're dealing with the reign of Amaziah. And it was during the second year of the reign of Joash [In the north.] the son of Jehoahaz that Amaziah the son of Joash the king of Judah began to reig

n (14:1). Now, there's the problem is that, there are kings by same names, bothin the north and the south, close to each other. The king in the north, Joash the son of Jehoahaz, and then Amaziah, who was the son of Joash, the king of the south. He was twenty five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for twenty nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father: he did according to all of the things as Joash his father did. Howbeitthe high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burn incense on the high places (14:2- 4). Now under the law, it was commanded that they should bring their sacrifices unto the place that God would appoint. They weren't to just offer sacrifices unto the Lord anywhere. But it developed that it was sort of an inconvenience to come to Jerusalem to sacrifice. So they had set these various altars in the high places, where they would sacrifice, and burn ince

nse unto Jehovah. They weren't worshiping pagan gods, they were worshiping Jehovah, but not in precisely the prescribed way. Thus it was a sign of weakness, and of disobedience, that the kings would allow these traditions to remain. This business of establishing other places of worship, high places, began back in the period of the judges. It became deeply ingrained into the traditions. The familywould have their own altar and all, and it was hard to root out. Only king Asa did that which was like his father, David. Then of course, later Hezekiah, the high places were removed. But, most all the way through you'll find that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet he didn't remove the high places where the people burnt their sacrifices, and offered their incense. So it wasalways a sign of a partial, not complete commitment to the Lord. A compromise, in spiritual things. But, compromises in spiritual things are always a sign of spiritual weakness, when you begin to make compromises. Now, the kingdom of course

, was divided between the northern and the southern. The northern kingdom, known as Samaria, often, and from whence of course you have the Samaritans, which were sort of a mixed breed of people. You remember that at the time that Jesus washere, that as He went through Samaria, He met the woman of Samaria, who, after He had disarmed her, and she realized that He was a prophet, and could see rightthrough her mask, she said, "Our fathers say that we are to worship God on thismountain". The high place was Gerizim, where the Samaritans offered their sacrifice, where they have their yearly Passover. "You say Jerusalem?", and what she was really asking is, "Where is the proper place to worship God?", and Jesus answered, "Woman the day is coming, and now is, when they that worship God will neit



her worship in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, for God is a spirit, and they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and truth". God is seeking such to worship Him. But, the establishing of the high places. Other places to worship God, rather than the place prescribed by God, in Jerusalem. The sign of the compromises, it was a sign of spiritual weakness of the king. Though they did right inthe sight of the Lord, yet not fully after the Lord. There was that compromise that was there. So, his father had been assassinated. Joash had been assassinated by his servants. And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, [As soon as he had established himself.] that he slew the servants which had slain the king his father. But the children of the murderers he did not slay: according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, whereinthe Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin (14:5-6). Now an interesting thing about verse six, is that here Amaziah is following a command that is in the book of Deuteronomy. There were some scholars, biblical eggheads! Who had developed a theory that Deuteronomy was written much later in the history of the nation. It was suggested that the book of Deuteronomy was written during the time that Hezekiah was king, or even periods after that. These fellows sought to offer all kinds of proofs that the book of Deuteronomy was not an original part of the original Pentateuch, not written by Moses, but came along much later. Interesting that here in II Kings that they should quote from Deuteronomy, before it was ever written. Quite an amazing thing indeed! He then fought against the Edomites in the valley of salt,and there he killed ten thousand, [Of the Edomites.] and he took Selah [Which is

Petra.] by war, and he called the name of it Joktheel until this day. [Until the day that the guy was writing. However, later on it's called Selah again by Isaiah, who lived not too much longer after this. So, the fellow who was originally recorded this, up until his day, it was still called Joktheel. But that name didn't stick, and it went back to the city of Petra, which of course means, "rock", in Greek.] Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, [Now there is a part of the history here, that we pick up in Chronicles, that isn't recorded here, and wedon't understand fully, this particular portion of the story, except we have itfrom the book of Chronicles. Edom had about a hundred years earlier, rebelled against the uh, kingdom of Judah, which had subjugated it, and they were paying tribute. So he decided to go down and take Edom again. He gathered together an army of three hundred thousand men, and they hired a hundred thousand mercenaries from Israel to go with them. As they were going down to Edom, a prophet of God sa

id, "Why would you lean upon an arm of flesh for victory over Edom? Why would you hire these mercenaries? God is able to deliver them unto you". So, he sent the mercenaries home to Israel, but they were angry for being sent home. So as they went back home, they ripped up some of the cities of Judah. So when he came back from the victory over Edom, he sent messengers to the king of Israel, and really it was because of what these mercenaries from Israel had done. He said, Comeand let's look one another in the face , [In other words, he was challenging him to a fight. Challenging him to warfare.] And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah the king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to thecedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son for a wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle (14:7-9). Now it is a parable, and of course in the parable, the thistle was Amaziah, the cedar tree was Jehoash, and the desire to have his daughter as the husband

's bride was setting himself on an equal, with Jehoash. But Jehoash said, "A wild animal came by, and knocked over, trode down the thistle". In other words, "You're nothing man! You know, you're a thistle trying to find equality with a cedar tree, but a little wild animal can knock you over!". You have indeed [he said] smitten Edom, and your heart has lifted you up: glory in this, and stay home: for why should you meddle to your hurt, that you should fall, even you, and Judah with you (14:10)? Jehoash sent back a message with a parable, and said, "Look,you're excited, you're proud, because you've had a victory over Edom. Don't getcarried away. Just enjoy the victory that you have. Stay at home, and glory in your past accomplishments, but don't meddle to your own hurt, to your own defeat"



. Oh that we would learn the lesson of the danger of meddling. How often we, asChristians even meddle in areas that we have no business being, with things which we have no business meddling with. The result of meddling is usually hurt, defeat. We meddle around with things the Lord specifically tells us we're not to have anything to do with it. You meddle around in the world. The Lord said, "Lovenot the world, neither the things that are in the world, for he that hath the love of the world in his heart, hath not the love of the Father". Yet we see Christians meddling with things of the world. But it's only to your own hurt. But weread... Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7118 2 Amaziah would not listen. Therefore Jehoash the king of Israel went up; [He took the aggressive. He rather than waiting to be attacked, he sent his troops south, to the area of Bethshemesh, which is the area where Samson hung out, in the earlier days.] and Amaziah the king of Judah looked one another in the face at Bethshemesh, [With Jehoash, the two of them.] And Judah wasput to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to his tents. And Jehoash the king of Israel took Amaziah the king of Judah, the son of Jehoash and he came to Jerusalem, and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, about six hundred feet. And he took all of the gold and the silver, and all of the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord, andin the treasures of the king's house, and he took hostages, and returned to Samaria (14:11-14). He had been warned not to meddle. He wouldn't listen to the warning, and as a result he was defeated. As the result, he lost part of his defenses, as the wall of Jerusalem was torn down on the north side. His defenses destroyed, and his treasures were taken. Just because he wouldn't listen, but insisted

on meddling. So often is the case with us. We insist on meddling around, untilwe are defeated by the enemy. With that defeat comes the destruction of our defenses. You're not as strong as you once were, having once given in, you don't have the same defenses against it the second time, or the third, or the fourth. A valuable treasure is lost. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash [And that is going back north. This fellow who just wiped out Amaziah.] which he did, his might, and how he fought with Amaziah the king of Judah, are they not written in the book of chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehoash slept with his fathers, andwas buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam his son reigned inhis stead. And Amaziah the son of Joash the king of Judah lived after the deathof Jehoash for fifteen years. And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are not theywritten in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Now there was a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem: [Against Amaziah.] and so he fled to Lachish;

but they pursued after him to Lachish, and they killed him there. And they brought his body on horses: and buried him in Jerusalem with his fathers in the cityof David (14:15-20). Now his father had been assassinated, and now he, is assassinated. And all of the people of Judah took Azariah, who was only sixteen yearsold, and they made him the king instead of his father Amaziah. And Azariah built Elath, and restored it to Judah, and after that the king slept with his fathers (14:21-22). Now Elath was down on the Red sea. It is in the area of the gulf of Aqabah, it is across from present Elat, which means that he again went into the area of Edom, and conquered the area of Edom. Now the name Azariah, may be more familiar with you, by the name of Uziah. He is called by both names. The name Azariah means, "The Lord is my help". Uziah means, "The Lord is my strength". Wehave a much more complete history of him in II Chronicles, than we have here inII Kings. He did reign for fifty two years. He was a popular king, and he had a

powerful rule. During his reign, Judah prospered immensely. At the death of Azariah, is when Isaiah began to prophecy. So we're now beginning to put some of the prophets in perspective, as we come into this particular period of history. Around the year 26 B.C., and on down, we're gonna be dealing with the area of the prophets of which books we have. So, thus as you read Isaiah, in chapter six, hesaid, "In the year that king Uziah died, and this would be the Azariah here, also known as Uziah. "I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and His train did fill the temple, then said I, `Woe is me!', for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwellamongst people of unclean lips". And this, the story of how the Seraphim came with a coal from the altar, and touched his lips, and the Lord said, "Who will go



for me?", and Isaiah said, "Here am I, send me", and Isaiah's commission to be the prophet came in the year that king Uziah died. So we're beginning to move into the period of the prophets. Now in the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash the king of Judah [And we're introduced to Azariah here, and then we pop back to the northern kingdom, where we go back to Jeroboam. "In the fifteenth yearof Amaziah the son of Joash the king of Judah",] Jeroboam the son of Joash the king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned for forty one years. Hedid that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: [As did all of the other kings in the northern kingdom. Jeroboam, this would be the second, because the firstking of the northern kingdom, was Jeroboam. "He did that which was evil",] he departed not from Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7118 3 the sins of Jeroboam [The first king.] the son of Nebat, [And he however, was a strong king from a military standpoint.] He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Jehovah, God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah (14:23-25), This is the Jonah that you know, from the book by his name. So this is the time of the prophet of Jonah, and the time of his prophecy. Also in the northern kingdom, during the reign of Jeroboam, there came Amos from Tekoa. Now Tekoa is south, and east of Bethlehem. And Amos came up to Jeroboam, and prophesied, concerning Jeroboam, and all. Thus, for extra credit, you should read the book of Amos, at this point. You'll now get the prophecies ofAmos in historic perspective, if you will read them and think of them in light of Jeroboam's reign. Also, during this time, Hosea also was prophesying. So that's another book that you'll have to read. You don't have to read Isaiah until nex

t week. Because as we get into the son of Azariah, then you get into the time of Isaiah's prophecy. But, it helps if you can, in the reading of these prophets,put them in their historic setting. Because, then you can understand so much better, the things that they are talking about, as they speak concerning the deterioration, spiritually of the kingdom and all. When you're reading the historic part, along with the prophets, it helps immensely in getting the whole picture inperspective. So, "Jeroboam began to reign, he did that which was evil, but he did have a powerful kingdom. And Jonah had prophesied that they were gonna expandthe kingdom which they did. And the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper forIsrael. And the Lord said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash (14:26-27). Without seeking to be disrespectful, or sounding blasphemous, it should be not

ed that, in a way, God is sort of a softie, in regards to His people. Very tender, very patient, very soft. Jeroboam was not a good king, he was doing that which was evil, but God looked upon the nation of Israel, "They're my people". Though they had turned their backs on God, and had forsaken the Lord, God had not yet forsaken them. Wonderful thing about God. He is so slow to forsake His people.He saw them in their pitiful condition. Even though the pitiful condition was brought about by their own sin! Their own rebellion against God! Yet, God seeing them in this pitiful state, no one would stand with them. They had no allies, everybody was against them, which touched the heart of God. And, because everybodywas against them, God was for them, and God helped them, reached out His hand to help them. O how patient, how loving, how kind, is the God that we serve! How quick to forgive, how slow to react in judgement. So the Lord saw the affliction. It was bitter. They had been shut up. Their enemies, they were surrounded by en

emies. There was no one left to help them. God felt sorry for them. He didn't say that He wouldn't blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, this king. Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, all that he did, his might, how he warred, how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath,which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead (14:28-29). Now, the northern kingdom goes through some real times of anarchy. Chapter 15 But before we get to that we come back to Judah. In the twenty seventh year of Jeroboam[Now remember he reigned for forty two years. "In the twenty seventh year",] Aza



riah, [Or Uziah.] the son of Amaziah the king of Judah began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, he reigned for fifty two years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done;Except that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places. And the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and so he had to dwell in an isolated house. AndJotham the king's son was over the house, judging the people of the land (15:1-5). So there was a co-reigning of Uziah, with his son, Jotham. Now the Lord smote Uziah, it says, with leprosy. In II Chronicles, we are given the story of how it happened. He was a very popular king. He was a powerful king. He went into the temple, into the holy place, to burn incense before the altar of incense. The Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7118 4 high priest, along with eighty other priests, came in and challenged him, and said, "What are you doing in here? It's not been appointed for you to burn incense before the Lord. That's the job of the priest. Get out of here!", and Uziah raised his hand against the high priest, but as he did, they were amazed, because they saw this leprosy just break out all over his body. So the Lord smote him with this leprosy, because of his intrusion into an office to which he was not called. Now God called him to be a king. God did not call him to be apriest. And thus he had no right intruding into the area of the priesthood. It's important to know what God has called you to be, it's important to be what Godhas called you to be, and it's important not to try to be something God didn't make you. I think that one of the many frustrations of the Christian experience,

is created by our endeavor to be something that God didn't make us. We hear people testify who God has called to be evangelists, and they have the gift of evangelism. They just are able to very easily, very naturally, share Christ on the airplane, in the airport, and at the ticket counter, and to the gal who sells them the tickets, and to the gal who takes the tickets. I mean, they just have the gift of evangelism. As they're sharing how they witness to this one, and that one, and the other one, and all, we think, "My I'm such a, a failure for God, I don't witness!", or "I don't talk to people like that everywhere I go", you know, and so I think I'm failing God and so we then endeavor to be an evangelist. If God hasn't called you to be an evangelist, you're gonna be out of, out of your territory trying to be an evangelist. You're gonna be frustrated, you're gonna be miserable. It's always frustrating to try to be something God didn't make me. I know that, because for years I sought to be an evangelist. I wanted to be an evan

gelist. I just felt that I wanted to, and I tried to be an evangelist. Oh the struggle, and oh the effort, and the frustrations of trying to be something didn't call me to be! The same is true, trying to do something God hasn't called you to do. That's one of the problems with the churches that have the theory that, you need to get everybody involved! So after they're there the second Sunday, youhand them a Sunday school book, and say, "We need a teacher for second grade, and you know, we've chosen you. Go teach the second graders". Well, you're terrified of kids! But they're pushing you into an area where God hasn't called you. I'll tell you when you're trying to do something that God hasn't called you to do, burn out comes fast. I've heard an awful lot lately, about burn out, in fact there's even been books written concerning ministerial burn out. A lot of seminars for pastors who are experiencing burn out. I don't understand it, and I don't have an understanding for it, and thus, I really don't have much sympathy for it,

because I don't understand it. I just, it's, it's an area that, you talk aboutburn out, you think, "Burn out?", you know. What are you burned out for? Jesus said, "My yoke is easy, my burden is light. He also said, "I delight to do thy will O Lord". How can you get burned out in doing something that is your joy, your delight, and brings you more pleasure than anything else in all the world? It's like a surfer saying, "Oh I'm getting burned out on surfing", you know. Or a gourmet saying, "I'm getting burned out on hot fudge sundaes", you know. Something you enjoy, something you delight in, how do you get burned out in it? I don't know. The excitement, and the joy, just keeps you going. So, Azariah attempted to do something that God had not called him to do. Going in to offer incense. Thus



we read here, "Only that the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death". And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did,are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? [Yes they are, and we'll be looking at them when we get to the twenty sixth chapter of II Chronicles.] So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead (15:6-7). Popular king, we're gonna find that everybody was talking about him. He had developed a very strong and powerful reign. Now back to the north, and chaos, chaos. Here's fifty two years that the one fellow is king down there in Judah. But, up in the north, man they're going through kings like they're going out of style. So back in the north... In the thirty eighth year of Azariah [Or Uziah] the king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam [That is the previous king.] beganto reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned for six months. He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7118 5 assassinated him in the public before the people, he slew him, and he reigned in his stead (15:8-10).So this fellow Shallum assassinated him and took over the throne. And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, they're written in the book of the chronicles. This was the word of the Lord which he spoke to Jehu, [You remember earlier, when Jehu wiped out the worship of Baal, and Jezebel, the Lord said, "Because of your zealin doing this, I will give you four generations to sit upon the throne". It wasa longer dynasty than any other dynasty in the nation of Israel. The others were

only three generations at the most. He had more generations, and so this was the fulfillment of the word of the Lord, from Elisha to Jehu.] saying, You sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. And so it came to pass. Now Shallum [Who murdered the king to get the throne.] began to reign in the thirty ninth year of Uzziah the king of Judah; and he reigned for a full month in Samaria. [Things are getting bad.] For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and he smote Shallum the son of Jabesh, and he slew him, and reigned in his stead. And the rest of the acts of Shallum, and the conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel (15:11-15). So uh, real anarchy is setting in as, you know they're just murdering off the kings, one after another, and taking over the throne. A real period of deterioration, as far as the nation goes. They're, they're heading downhill fast, and they're heading on out to the end of the history of the

northern kingdom. It's rapidly approaching. In this period of spiritual and civil confusion. Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, [Because the city of Tiphsah would not submit to him, but then he was brutal.] and becausethey would not open to him, therefore he smote it; and he ripped up the women who were with child. [The pregnant women.] And in the thirty ninth year of Azariah the king of Judah began Menahem the son of Gadi to reign over Israel, and reigned for ten years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: [Andyou get the same old sad story. During that time,] Pul the king of Assyria cameagainst the land: and Menahem [Bought him off.] he gave Pul two thousand talents of silver, [About two million dollars,] which he exacted from the wealthy men of Israel.(15:16-19). Fifty talents from each he exacted from them, and uh, paidoff Pul, the Assyrian king. This is the first mention of Assyria, but it beginsto rise now, in power. The king, Pul, took the title of Tiglathpileser, and so w

e will be looking at him again soon, under the title Tiglathpileser, but his name was actually, Pul. From history, we have learned that they are one and the same. So there is an account, and the history records of Assyrian that were discovered by the archeologists, in which he makes mention of this Menahem, king of Samaria, paying him tribute. So a historic confirmation of what the bible declareshere, "The thousand talents of silver that were paid to the Assyrian king, so that he would not attack them. And Menahem exacted the money from the mighty men of wealth, each man paid fifty shekels, [He went to Forbes 200 and got the money. Ha, ha!] So the king of Assyria turned back, and did not invade the land. The rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the boo



k of chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Menahem slept with his fathers; andPekahiah his son reigned in his stead. And in the fiftieth year of Azariah the king of Judah Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria,he reigned for two years. He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: continued in the sins of the first king Jeroboam. But Pekah the son of Remaliah,the [Captain of his counsel.] captain of his, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king's house, with Arbog and Arieh, and with him the fifty men of the Gileadites: so he was assassinated. [Pekahiah was assassinated by Pekah, so it gets again, a little confusing.] In the fifty second year of Azariah [That is the year that he died.] Pekah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, he reigned for twenty years. Did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: and during his reign, Tiglathpileser the king of Assyria, took some of the cities, [Began to wipe them out.] Ijon, Abelbethmaachaah, and Jenoah, andKedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and all of the Galilee region, the area that belonged to the tribe of Naphtali, and he began to carry them away captives to Assyria (15:20-29). Now, this is the Assyria that Jonah was called to go and prophesy to. Now you begin to see why Jonah didn't want to go. Because Assyria had begun to attack Israel, and they were the enemies of Israel. The Assyrians were extremely cruel. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. They were extremely cruel. Theywould carry off the people from the land, and then they would bring other people to inhabit the land. They sought to completely demoralize the people, by taking them away from their homes. They would replant them in other Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7118 6 areas, so that they would not have the strength of unity. There'd be just little po

ckets of them, completely outnumbered in other areas. They lost the sense of national identity. The purpose was to wipe out national identity, and to wipe out any thought of rebellion. The Assyrians also would brutalize their captives, mutilating their bodies, cutting off their noses, or gouging out their eyes, or cutting off their tongues. They were extremely cruel, and thus, Jonah had no desireto go to Nineveh. His fear was, he knew God was gracious and merciful, and if he prophesied and preached there, he might be successful, and then Ninevites might repent, and he knew that God was soft, and if they repented, God wouldn't wipethem out! He was just determined he wasn't gonna go. Because, it might be a successful campaign and they might be saved, and he didn't want that. So he decidedto head to Tarsus. Just the jumping off place of the world. "No place but Nineveh Lord, I won't go". Of course, we know then the story of Nineveh, but you remember in the story, when the Ninevites repented, the king put on sackcloth, and as

hes, and dust on him, and he repented before the Lord. The Lord was merciful and He spared Nineveh, and Jonah was out sitting under the tree, waiting really tosee the judgement fall, and it didn't come. He was pouting, and he was angry, and the Lord says, "Hey, what are you so angry about?", he said, "I knew this wasgonna happen! I knew that you're merciful and gracious, and I just figured thiswas gonna happen, you know! Why didn't you kill em'!". He was really angry, because God didn't kill the people he preached to. I know some ministers that are sort of that way too. Ha, ha! But, upset with God because the people had repentedand were saved. He wanted to see them wiped out. That of course, was his reluctance in going. But now, Assyria begins to come upon the scene, and the northern kingdom of Israel ultimately falls to Assyria completely. Here, they are greatlyweakened. In time Assyria will come and destroy them completely, in a short time. We're getting out to the end of Israel soon, and Assyria will be the one who w

ill come and conquer over them. So during the time that Pekah was reigning, is when Assyria, under Tiglathpileser began to really move against the nation of Israel. Now Hoshea made a conspiracy against Pekah, and he smote him, and killed him, and he reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. [So we see how really dangerous it was to become the king over Israel. You're really sort of signing your death warrant, because someone's out to get you!] And the rest of the acts of Pekah, all that he did, behold, they're written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel (15:30-31). Now, going back to the south. In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah the king of Judah to reign. He was twenty five years



old when he began to reign. he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord: he did all that his father Uzziah had done. Howbeit he still allowed the high places to remain: and the people sacrificed and burned the incense in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the Lord.The rest of the acts of Jotham, all that he did, are written in the book of chronicles. And the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah. And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David (15:32-38). So we come to the beginning of the reign of Ahaz over Judah, and Ahaz was one of the exceptions, as far as Judah is concerned. He was a wicked king, and we'll get into his reign in our next lesson. But, following back and forth, not the easiest thing in the world, but, you guys are doing great! I must commend you. You're hanging in there, and I'm proud of you, I reallyam. Shall we stand. May the Lord be your strength, as you go in His name. May He guide you with His counsels, with His wisdom. May you experience the joy of the Lord in your heart this week, as you see the blessings of God, and the work ofHis Spirit. May the peace of Christ, which passes human understanding, just fill your heart and your life, as you give thanksgiving unto God, for all of His goodness, and His blessings. May you have a glorious time, as you worship the Lord, and give thanks around the table, and as you remember, and recount, the wonderful things that God has done for us. May it be just a special week, of the work of God's Spirit within your life, as you're enriched in your walk with Jesus Christ. God bless you, and keep you in His love, always. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7118 7 c:\users\dav

e\desktop\chuck smith\ii kings\7119 2 Kings 16-17.txt 2 Kings 16-17 Tape #7119 II Kings 16-17 By Chuck Smith Let's turn to II Kings, chapter sixteen. And in the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham the king of Judah began to reign (16:1). Jotham had reigned over Israel, or over Judah rather, the southern kingdom, for sixteen years. He was, had a short lived reign. But it was at the beginning of Jotham's reign, that Isaiah the prophet began hisministry as a prophet to Judah. So during the reign of Ahaz, Isaiah was active as a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah. Isaiah declares, "In the year theking Uzziah died", which is the Azariah of our text, "I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and his train did fill the temple". There, beholding the Lord, he realized his own sinfulness. Seeing God, he saw himself, which is always the case. Aperson who has a true concept, or true grasp, or vision of God, when you reallyseek God, then you really see yourself, and the effect of that is the tremendous

feeling of sin, and guilt. "Then said I, Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips." Now, during the reign of Ahaz, there are a couple of chapters, chapters six and seven, of Isaiah, are prophesies that he made during the reign of the king of Ahaz. Ahaz was a wicked king. Up to this point in the history of Judah, he is the most wicked king that they had. He will be exceeded soon in his wickedness, by Manassah. But up to this point, there's been none worse than Ahaz. He begins really, the introduction of Baal worship in Judah, and uh, the worship of Molech, the downward trend. Hezekiah, evened it off, and undid some of the evils ofhis father, however, after the death of Hezekiah, his son Manassah, began the real plunge to the bottom, for the southern tribe of Judah. So Ahaz a very wickedking. We have more about him in II Chronicles. But, he began his reign when Pekah was the king over the northern kingdom of Israel. He was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem, but he did no

t that which was right in the sight of Jehovah his god, like David his father. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, [Which was about the worst thing you could say about a man, because the kings of Israel were exceedingly sinful, wicked kings.] yes, he made his son to pass through the fire, according to theabominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children ofIsrael (16:2-3). Now we made mention this morning of this pagan practice, in the ancient world, of the sacrifice of your children unto your gods. Both in the worship of Baal, and in the worship of Molech, they both involved the sacrifice of children. Unwanted children. Some say, children that a person really wanted tomake a great offering and sacrifice to his god, he would sacrifice his child. Bu



t, uh, they, they would make these images of Molech, or Baal, and both, as I said, religions involve child sacrifice. They have found one image of Molech. A great iron image that was hollow inside. The evidence is that they built the fire inside of the image, so that it would become glowing hot, red hot, with the firethat was inside. It had very large arms extended, and they would place the little babies in the arms of the image, and burned them to death, as they sacrificedunto their god. Horrible pagan practices. But, this is exactly what this king began to do, in the worship of Molech, there in the valley of Hinnom, he burnt his children, or he cremated his children in offering unto the god Molech. Ahaz, avery wicked king. He sacrificed and burnt incense in high places, [Now the other kings had allowed these high places. God had said that he should be, the sacrifices should be made in the place that He had appointed, which was at the templein Jerusalem. But for convenience sake, they had built these high places. Altars in the high tops of the mountains, where they offered sacrifice, and burnt incense. They supposedly were offering sacrifices to Jehovah, and burning incense to Him, but it was not according to the commandment of the Lord, in fact, it was opposed to the commandment of the Lord, and the Lord always looked upon it as a rebellion. But, it's a religion of convenience. "Don't bother going all the way to Jerusalem", you know, "In our neighborhood here, we've established a place ofworship of Jehovah, and burn your sacrifices here, and your incense here". It seems like man is always trying to accommodate man, as far as his religion is concerned, and make your service to God a convenient thing. If it's convenient, youknow serve the Lord. Let your service to God be as pleasurable and convenient as possible. The church is endeavoring to accommodate people. They have made the w

orship almost entertainment. In some places, it is quite entertaining. Thus it's, it's a convenient religion. Don't inconvenience yourself, don't really put yourself out to worship the Lord, or to serve the Lord. You seek to accommodate the people, I've even read of them giving green stamps, you know the people that come to church, and all. It's the idea of accommodation, and to lure people to worship God. Well, I wonder what God thinks about that kind of stuff. David said, "I will not offer anything to God that costs me nothing". A gift is always measured by the sacrifice that it took to give it. When Jesus watched them casting their money into the treasury, the wealthy people coming by, and putting in their large gifts, sounding trumpets, and calling all kinds of attention, and with great ostentation, dropping their gifts into the treasury, as everybody went, "Ooh", and "Aah". Jesus and His disciples watched as little lady came up, a little widow woman, and dropped two mites into the box there, and hurried off. Two mites,

about a quarter of a cent. Jesus turned to His disciples, and He said, "Did yousee that little woman? She gave more than all of the rest of them". Because allof the rest of them were giving out of their abundance. Or the Greek word wouldbetter be translated, superfluity. Didn't cost them anything. But she, gave outof her substance, because that's all she has. So God measures the gift in a different standard than man. We look at the amount, God looks at the cost, the sacrifice that was involved. A cheap religion, a convenient religion, an accommodating religion, is not what Christianity is. You say, "But I thought the gospel wasfree!", yes it is in one sense. It's free to you, but it cost a lot. It cost God His only begotten Son. But once you commit your life, it costs you your life. It is a commitment of yourself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It isn't just the mouthing of the words. It isn't just the repeating of the apostles creed. It isn't just a something that we pay verbal homage to, but it means the commitment o

f myself, my life, to the Lord. "Lord, I'm yours. I belong to you." The sacrifice, and the giving of myself. So the children of Israel. This fellow went along,he sacrificed, and burned his incense in these high places, which you remember,all the other kings, though they reformed, it says, "But they did not remove the high places". It seemed like they just sort of, well, they knew they were there, but they didn't bother to get rid of them. This king actually participated insacrificing and burning incense, in these high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. Then Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah that is the king of [Judah, or,] Israel [the northern kingdom] they came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but they could not overcome him. [However, we do read in Chroni



cles, that they actually killed 100,000 of his troops, and they took some 240,000 captives. Though they could not take the city itself, they, they did destroy very effectively, the armies of Pekah.] And at that time Rezin the king of Syriarecovered Elath to Syria, [Now, the previous king had taken Elath back, which is down in the area of Edom, and the Syrians attacked down in that southern part,whereas Pekah was attacking Judah itself.] and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there until this day. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser the king ofAssyria, 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 riseup against me. And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house, and he sent it for as apresent to the king of [Syria] Assyria (16:4-8). So he made himself a vassal tothe king of Assyria. He's calling upon him for help, to deliver him from this confederacy of the Syrians and the Israelites, the northern kingdom. Now, Isaiah gave to Ahaz the word of the Lord, telling him to trust in the Lord, and the Lord would deliver him. At this point, Isaiah was saying, "If you'll just turn yourlife over to God, turn this issue over to God, God will deliver you out of it. God will save you". Ahaz did not listen, but instead turned to the arm of flesh,asking for the king of Assyria to attack Damascus, and attack Samaria, so that these kings would have to withdraw from their attack against him. In doing that,he subjected himself unto the king of Assyria. "I am your son and your servant." The word servant there, is slave. Now isn't it interesting that he is willing to submit himself totally to this pagan king, and yet not willing to submit himself unto God? Isaiah's saying, "Submit yourself unto the Lord, and the Lord will

help you, and the Lord will deliver you". That is when Isaiah said, "Ask of theLord, and He will give you a sign. God's Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7119 2 gonna deliver you, if you'll just turn yourself over to Him. Ask the Lord, He'll even give you a sign!", and he said, "I'm not gonna ask for any sign!". So, Isaiah said, "Alright, theLord will give you a sign". And, there is the beautiful prophecy concerning, "Avirgin, shall bring forth a son, and shall call his name Emanuel". Which interpreted is, God with us. That beautiful prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ. But the king, refusing to submit himself to the authority of God, submits himself to the king of Assyria. Becomes a vassal of the king of Assyria. And so the kingof Assyria hearkened to him: and he sent his troops against Damascus, and he took it, and he carried the people of it captive to Kir, and he slew Rezin the king (16:9). Now it is interesting that all of this particular history is all record

ed in the Assyrian history, which we have discovered many of the Assyrian records, and the inscriptions of the kings at this time, coincide completely with this biblical account. How that Shalmaneser came against Damascus, however at the time that he was attacking Damascus, he was overthrown by Shallum, and so the whole thing though, is tied together from a historic standpoint with secular history, the Assyrian history. It doesn't prove the bible, the bible proves that the history accounts of Assyria, are correct. I hate for people to say, "Well this proves the Bible". No. The Bible proves the other things, they don't prove the Bible. The Bible doesn't need any proof. It's God's word. You don't have to prove God's word. But you find out that other parts of historic accounts are correct, because they coincide with what the Bible says. And king Ahaz then went up to Damascus to meet [The king of Assyria, to meet,] Tiglathpileser the king of Assyria, and he saw the altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah who was

the high priest a drawing of this altar (16:10), He went up, and he saw the altar of the Assyrians, the Assyrian king. This was a customary thing, when the kings would go to war, they'd take their altars with them, because they were relying upon their gods to deliver them, and to give them victory. This was somethingthat, really it even goes to the modern day. When our men go to war, we pray toGod, that God will give us victory over the enemies. We trust in God to help usin the battles, and all. This was common in those days, they would trust in their gods. The Romans, god of war was Janice, and whenever the Roman troops were out in combat, the gates of the temple of Janice were opened, and the people would go in and pray to Janice, the god of war, that he would give success to the Rom



an legions, as they were battling against the enemies. So the kings would carrytheir altars with them, into the areas of battle. Here, Tiglathpileser had brought his altar, and when Ahaz saw this altar, it fascinated him. So, and perhaps thinking, "Well he must have a powerful god, because his god delivered Syria into his hands, so he must be serving a pretty powerful God". Thus, he ordered Urijah the priest to make an altar that was similar to it. He drew it out, he drew out the designs and all, and he sent it down to Urijah. He says, "I want you to make me an altar like this. And Urijah the priest built an altar according to allthat king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so that Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz who came from Damascus. And when the king was come from Damascus, the king saw the altar: and he approached the altar, and he offered a sacrifice upon it. And he burn his burnt offering, and his meal offering, and poured out hisdrink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar (16:11-13). We've covered, as we were going through Leviticus, these various types of offerings, the burnt offering was that of consecration. The meal offering was that of um, fellowship. The drink offering, and the peace offering again werecommunion and fellowship type of offerings, where you eat with God, and drink with God, and sort of a peace thing with God. And he brought also [The brass altar] the brazen altar, which was before the Lord, from the forefront of the house,from between the altar and the house of the Lord, and he put it on the north side of the altar (16:14). When he set the altar there, when Urijah set the altar in the courtyard, he left the brazen altar that had been made by Solomon, where the offerings were usually offered. But, the altar that he had made, that was copied after the Assyrian altar, the brass altar was between it, and the temple. So

he ordered that they move this brazen altar, over to the north side, so there would be nothing between this new altar that he had made, Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7119 3 and theentrance into the temple. And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meal offering, and the king's burnt sacrifice, and his meal offerings, with the burnt offering of the people of the land, [And so they, they just started really the brazen altar that had been used previously. Now he orders that they use this new altar,fashioned after the Assyrian, in their uh, offering of their sacrifices. He said, "I'll use the brazen altar, I'll figure out what we're gonna do with it later, to inquire by". Literally in the Hebrew means, "I really don't know what I'm gonna do with it yet, but you know, I'll figure out something for it. But we'll replace it with this new altar".] And thus did Urijah the priest, according to all

that Ahaz the king commanded him (16:15-16). Rather than standing up, as did Azariah, or I mean, as did the priest in the days of Azariah, who went into the temple to offer a sacrifice, and the priest came in and said, "Get out of here! You have no business being here", and Uziah was smitten with leprosy. Here Urijahjust goes along with anything the king wants. So king Ahaz cut off the borders of the bases, and removed the lavers from off of them; [So he took these bases with the lavers, there were several of them leading up to the porch, and he took them, and used them for ornamentation elsewhere, probably in other temples, or other areas of pagan temples that he had built around there. This large brass bath that was built by Solomon, that they put on the twelve oxen, that he also removed.] So 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. [So he remodeled the thing, in order that they might accommodate the king of As

syria.] Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, [And there are more, andthey are worse.] and they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. [So we'll come to Ahaz again, as we get into II Chronicles.] Ahaz slept with his fathers, he was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead (16:17-20). Now, Hezekiah is sort of a rosebetween two thorns. Ahaz, his father, was an extremely wicked king. A bad king,and yet perhaps Hezekiah, in seeing the wickedness of his father, determined, "Hey, I'm not gonna follow his path!" But the tragedy is, though Hezekiah was a good king, and initiated many reforms, in fact, he went so far as to remove the high places, which the other kings had not done. But is probably seeing the evil o



f his father now, that he did that. Of course Hezekiah was one of the sons thatsurvived. Ahaz burnt several of his children in the fires unto the gods of the pagans, there in the valley of Hinnom, we'll see in II Chronicles. Hezekiah, hisson, removed the high places, was a good king, was heavily influenced by Isaiahthe prophet, and God blessed and prospered Hezekiah's reign. But his son Manassah, even exceeded his grandfather Ahaz in wickedness, which we'll get to as we move along. Chapter 17 Now in the twelfth year of Ahaz [You remember he reigned for sixteen years. So in the twelfth year,] the king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel for nine years (17:1). Hoshea was the last king of Israel. It was during his reign that Shalmaneser came, and attackedSamaria. Tiglathpileser took Damascus, but now Shalmaneser became the king of Assyria, and he attacked Samaria during the time of the reign of Hoshea, the lastking. He reigned for nine years. He did that which was evil in the sight of theLord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. [In other words, he wasn't as bad as some of his predecessors.] But against him came Shalmaneser theking of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found a conspiracy by Hoshea: [In other words, Shalmaneser came,and he bought him off the first time. Gave him presents and all. So Shalmaneserdid not attack Samaria at that time. However, he learned that Hoshea had sent down to the king of Egypt, to send the troops from Egypt, to fortify and to strengthen him against another attack from Shalmaneser. So when Shalmaneser found outthat,] he had sent these messengers to So the king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, [He did not pay the tribute that he was supposed topay.] as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, an

d bound him in prison. And the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land,and went up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, [Now notice it didn't say that Shalmaneser took it. But the king of Assyria. Actually what happened is that Shallum rebelled, and we get this from the Assyrian history, Shallum declared himself king in Assyria, and so he overthrew Shalmaneser and he was the one who Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7119 4actually took Samaria, though the siege began under Shalmaneser, a three year siege. It was finally taken by Shallum.] and he carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the city of the Medes (17:2-6). So you get the end of the northern kingdom. A kingdom that began during the reign of Rehoboam, the grandson of David. It lasted for about twohundred and fifty years. The first king was Jeroboam, he immediately apostatized

. Upon establishing the kingdom, he built the altars with the golden calves, inDan, and in Bethel, and he commanded the people to worship there at those altars

. The golden calves, he said, were the gods that brought them out of Egypt. Each of the succeeding kings of the northern kingdom, and there wasn't a long dynasty, the longest was that of Jehu, four generations. Unlike the southern kingdom,where God had promised David that there would be one of his descendants sittingupon the throne. The southern kingdom was always ruled by a descendant of David, with the exception of that short period with Athaliah, who was a daughter-in-law to one of the descendants, or who was a wife of one of the descendants. So that the northern kingdom is now gone. So the chronicler here, establishes the reasons by, for which God allowed this northern kingdom to be destroyed. For so it was [verse seven] that the children of Israel had sinned against Jehovah their God (17:7), The word sinned means, missed the mark. They had turned aside, and you

know, there is indication that when he made the golden calves, and the altars in Dan, and in Bethel, that he meant for them to represent Jehovah. "These are representations of the gods that brought you out of Egypt." The God they knew that brought them out of Egypt, was Jehovah. So these were representations of God. However, that in itself was forbidden in the law. "You're not to make any gravenimage, or any idol of any thing, any likeness of any thing that is heaven." Which these golden calves were supposed to be a likeness of Jehovah. It was really borrowed from the Egyptians, who worshiped the cow, calf. Remember when Aaron brought the children of Israel in the wilderness, Moses was up on the mountain getting the law, and he came down, and Aaron had made this golden calf. The people w



ere dancing nude around the thing. You say, "Well, it still represented Jehovah, it's just a slight departure, just you know, yeah, it's not quite right. But, you know, it's close". One degree variance, if you continue to follow it, you can miss your mark by a long way. If you took off sailing for Hawaii, and your compass was one degree off, that's not much, just a slight diversion. You'd never hit Hawaii. You'd end up somewhere out in the Pacific. One degree off, the further you follow that one degree off direction, the further you get from the mark. The longer you go the one degree off, it leads you further, and further away. So,there's a lot of doctrines, there are a lot of practices of the church, that, oh they're close to true, they're just a slight aberration here, just a little bit off. "You know surely we can tolerate a little diversion here. Make allowance for a little error." No, you can't. You want to be right on the mark. If, if youknow, if you're gonna continue to survive as a species upon the planet, and when you drop below the zero population growth level, then, then you're on the way out! By practices man can bring himself, by the practice of abortion, and homosexuality, and lesbianism, goes with those things, and the practice of abortion, you can bring yourself to below the zero population growth, and thus you're on the way of extinction. So you're ultimately, by these horrible practices, going todestroy yourself. Satan's whole ploy is the destruction of man. The enemy is come to rob, to kill, to destroy. Thus there are always in the Satanic kind of worship, or the Satanic kind of following, the things that will bring you to destruction. Bring mankind to destruction. So God seeks to eliminate from your life, those things that are destructive. Those things that will destroy. God seeks to protect. Jesus said, "I've come that you might have life, and that more abundantly

". That's God's purpose for you, whereas in contrast, the enemy has come to rob, to kill, and to destroy. So as Satan is seeking to destroy man, he gets them into those practices that will bring destruction. It is much like a mad dog, who is doomed to die, because it has rabies. You don't just allow that little dog torun around the school grounds, biting all the little children! Saying, "Oh I can't stand to put to death a little puppy like that. It's a cute little dog". Butits got rabies! It's foaming at the mouth, and it's going around biting all those little children. Those children bitten by the mad dog, unless they get the Pasteur treatments, they're gonna die! "Oh but I just can't stand the thought. It's so cruel to put a little dog like that to death!". Well you take it Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7119 5 home. No, you see, these people were infected by a deadly practice, and yet, as deadly as it was, because of its sensuous nature, it had, a, a, a strange at

traction to that evil side of man. Curious, looking and delving into the evil aspects. Shocked, horrified, and yet strangely drawn. Isn't that interesting about us? Things that shock us, are somehow fascinating or interesting. There are some people that recognize the psychology, and the human make up. Like this guy who smokes the cigar on TV, and claims to be a minister. He gets the biggest, fattest, ugliest cigars he can find, because he knows it's a shocking thing. And, you sit there and you watch him in disbelief! "I can't believe this weirdo!" The only reason why you watch him, is because it shocks you so much! "I can't believeI'm seeing what I'm seeing! This has got to be unreal!" You know, and the wholeidea of the guy is just to, just to shock the pins right out from under you. That's the attraction of him. There is that strange fascination with things that are so totally evil. Many people find that fascination with evil satisfied in going to the x-rated movies. That's the fascination there. "It's horrible! I would n

ever think of doing that!" But, you can watch with a strange fascination, all kinds of atrocities, horrible things. People's brains exploding, or splattered, and all. You know, you're shocked, but you know, you're glued. You're drawn. God,seeking to protect His innocent children, from that practice which would destroy them, ordered them as His instrument of judgement, to totally wipe them out. You see, if you don't destroy that bacteria in the human body, in the body politic, that bacteria will infect the whole body, and the whole body will ultimately be destroyed. That is what happened. Not obeying God in bringing total judgementagainst the land, and the people in the land, they began to follow the pagan practices. They began to do those very things, those ugly, horrible things that wer



e done by the inhabitants of the land of Canaan before them. The very things that perpetrated the judgement of God against them! The very things that caused God to destroy them, and to wipe them out, were now being done by His own children, who have been affected, and infected by this same evil. Thus again, the disobedience to God, in the little thing, brings on the greater problem, and ultimately brought the destruction of Israel. It's now wiped out! This is the reason. They walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel. And the children of Israel did secretly those things which were not right against Jehovah their God, [Began these secret practices.] and they built them high places in all of their cities, and even the little places where they would meet in the towers, out in the fields, where the watchmen would watch the fields, to the fenced cities. [Or the walled cities. In all of these places, they had these places of worship for the pagan practices.] And they set up images [And this Ashorem, and as we said before, this Ashorem was the goddess of sex. It was the Ashtoreth of the Babylonians, and the Aphrodite of the Greeks, and the Venus of the Romans. The goddess of sex, the goddess of love, and sexual pleasures. The Ashorem, the goddess of sex was worshiped with all types of horrible, lewd, lascivious, sexual rites, which could not even be mentioned in mixed company. But you read some of the rites, the sexual rites accompany the worship of Ashorem, and you realize how horribly deplorable, how unspeakably evil the inventive mind of man can be, when it's turned in the wrong direction. ] and on every high hill, and under every green tree (17:8-10): This kind of sexual immorality, this kind of sexual looseness, this kind of perverted sex will always bringon all kinds of venereal diseases. It's just a part of the whole human make up,

and there's the transmitting of these deadly diseases, which God sought to protect. But, it's interesting to me that the scientists today, much to their chagrin, are saying, "The only real safe sex now, is between married couples, who are devoted completely to each other". As though it's a shame! Some kind of a tragedy has befallen us, you know. I say, "Yea God! Go for it!", you know. "Teach em' a lesson." That's what God said. That's what God has declared! That's where God said, "You should enjoy that relationship within the confines of commitment, in love to each other for life". Thus the byproducts of that love, the children that are born, are desired, are the greatest thing that God can give. They are wanted. But where you have sex without commitment, sex without love, sex for sex sake, where the woman is nothing but a sex symbol. Something by which you can gratify your lust. Then sex becomes empty and meaningless, and the children that might be born are a tragic mistake, and they're an Edited & Highlighted from "The Wor

d For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7119 6 inconvenience, andyou want to get rid of them. So the worship of Ashorem was followed by the worship of Molech, and Baal, where they offered the children as human sacrifices. Itwas a way of getting rid of the unwanted babies. By offering them as a sacrifice to your god. The Supreme Court, first of all, opened the doors to pornography,the worship of Ashorem. In opening the doors to the pornography, where women were reduced again, to a sex object, and the woman's body was exposed in order that men's passions might be inflamed. There's some kind of lust that becomes satisfied, as you see uh, women without character, and without minds, exposing their bodies in provocative ways, for the bucks that they get. The Court's opening thedoor, in saying, "It's perfectly permissible. It's another form of art". Removing the laws that had been there for our protection. Having inflamed the passions, and then having declared the freedom of sexual activity. That as long as you're

a consenting adult, anything goes, do what you want. Removing the restrictionsof sexual activity, that had once been laws. It results in a lot of unwanted pregnancies. So when you've got an unwanted pregnancy, you've got a child that's not wanted. What do you do? Well you've got to now take down more barriers, let'sworship Molech. Let's sacrifice the children. So the Supreme Court opened up the doors to abortion. It would be a little abhorrent for us to take a live baby and place it on a glowing hot arms of a little idol. So we take the live baby, while it is still within the womb, and we inject the saline solution, which burns it there in the womb, and causes the abortion. One million, five hundred thousand babies, every year are offered as sacrifices unto Molech, the god of pleasure,



by the people here, in the United States. Now for this cause, God destroyed Israel. Do you think that God can look upon us, and the things that we are now allowing, and doing, in this nation, and just allow us to get by with it? I think not. I believe that our nation is ripening for the judgement of God. The very practices by which these other nations were gradually destroying themselves, the things that God tried to keep His people from being infected with, they were infected. They began to do them, and thus God used Assyria as His instrument of judgement, to destroy Israel. I would not be a bit surprised if God did not use Russiaas His instrument, to judge the United States. You say, "Oh but they're worse than we are. They don't even believe in God". That's what Habakkuk said, when Godsaid He was going to use the Babylonians to destroy Israel, or to destroy Judah, the southern kingdom. Habakkuk said, "That's not fair! They're worse than we are!", God says, "Yeah, but they're not my people. They'll be my instruments of judgement". You can't just mock God, the laws of God. You can't scoff at God. If you want to turn your back, and turn away from God, you're gonna have to pay theprice, you can't escape it. It's serious business. So they burnt incense in allof these high places, [verse eleven] they did as the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and they wrought the wicked things to provoke Jehovah to anger: And they served idols, whereof Jehovah had said to them, You shall not do this thing. [God had made a covenant, they broke the covenant. God said, "You shall have no other gods before me. You're not to make any idols, images, graven images, any likenesses of things in heaven, or on the earth, to bow down to them,and to worship them.] And yet Jehovah testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all of the prophets, [It wasn't that God just says, "Okay, that's it! Cut

em' off". For two hundred and forty years, God dealt with them. For two hundredand forty years, God stretched out His arms. For two hundred and forty years, God said, "Don't do that, you're gonna destroy yourself".] but they turned their backs upon God, and upon his prophets, and upon the seers, who said to them, Turn from your evil ways, keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, according to your law which I commanded your fathers, when I sent to you by my servants the prophets (17:11-13). God sent the prophets, with His warning, with His word, to return to God, to turn away from their evil ways. To keep the commandments of God. And notwithstanding they would not hear, but they hardened their necks, like the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in Jehovah their God (17:14). They just hardened themselves to God, to the word of God, to the prophets of God. In proverbs we read, in the twenty ninth chapter, "He that hardeneth hisneck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy". Harden your heart t

o God, harden your neck to God, become stiff, and rigid in your attitude towards God, "I'm gonna do what I want to do", and stiffen your neck, God will move with severity and with Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7119 7 finality. And they rejected his statutes, the covenant that he had made with them and his testimonies, [He had warned them about these things. Go back and read again, Deuteronomy, thirty two. "His testimonies,"] which he testified against them; [He warned them of these very things!] and they followed after the [emptiness, or the] vanity, and they became vain, [Which is always the result of following vanity. Following emptiness, you're just gonna become empty. Oh the empty life in this world apart from Jesus Christ! Theemptiness of the sex experience outside of marriage. The emptiness of success, the emptiness of the world. Following after emptiness, they became empty.] and they went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord h

ad charged them, they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and they made the molten images, even two calves, and they made the Ashorem [These goddesses, these images, these nude images of the female body.] and they worshiped all the hosts of heaven, [They began to follow after astrology, the casting of the horoscopes, and the following after. Seeking guidance and all, from the influence of the stars, and all upon their lives. Theyworshiped the hosts of heaven.] and they served Baal. [The god of the intellect.] And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, [That is they burnt them, in their pagan rituals to Molech.] and they used divination and enchantments, [They got into spiritism, they got into Satanic worship. They



got into the occult, they got into witchcraft. Seeking to use these supernatural powers of evil against others. The divinations and enchantments.] and they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. Therefore [And therefore, is always that concluding. You know, "Because of this.." "Therefore",] Jehovah was very angry with Israel, and he removed them out of his sight: and there was none left but the southern tribe of Judah only (17:15-17). The nation of Israel was removed, carried away as captives, to Assyria. Gone. Soit'll be easier for us, because we don't have to follow Israel any more throughthe text, and keep the kings straight. But it's tragic history, for a nation that had so much potential and possibility, to end up destroyed. Also Judah kept not the commandments of Jehovah their God, but they walked in the statutes of Israel. [And unfortunately the same thing that brought the destruction on Israel, now was infecting Judah. Ahaz the king is doing evil in the sight of the Lord, leading Judah in the same path.] And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, he afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of the spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. For he tore Israel from the house of David and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat their king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of Israel walked inall the sins of Jeroboam which he did; and they departed not from them; Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all of his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. [Gone! Out!] Now the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthath, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and he placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Sa

maria and dwelt in the cities thereof (17:19-24). In the Assyrian records again, of Shallum during his reign, said they brought 22,242 out of Samaria, and placed them in this particular city of Assyria. But they repopulated the area with people from other territories. That was the practice of the Assyrians. In order to demoralize people completely to rebelling, they would move whole segments of the population, to other areas. Then they would bring people from other areas, and plant them here. So you're in a strange place. It would be like, if Russia say, conquered the western part of the world, and wanted to keep us from rebelling,taken and uh, plant several hundred of you over in Jakarta, and some of you in Peking. And, I mean you're too small to do anything, you're outnumbered, you're in a different culture, and you're so culturally confused, that there is no thought of rebelling. Thus was the practice of Assyria, to totally subjugate the people, moving the population so that you're in an unfamiliar area, and, and you hav

e to learn how to make a living here. You have to learn the practices to just survive here. You're so busy, just surviving, you don't have it in your mind to, "Let's get together, and let's rebel!". It's just a matter now of survival. But at the beginning of these other nations dwelling here. These people that came todwell in Samaria, that were brought by the Assyrians, they didn't reverence Jehovah. They didn't worship Jehovah. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7119 8 They feared not Jehovah: therefore Jehovah sent lions among them, which slew some of them. [They weren't familiar with the area, and they weren't used to lions, and the lions began to attackthem, and began to kill them.] Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which you have removed, and place in the cities of Samaria don't know the manner of the God of the land: therefore he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they are killing them, because they don't know the manner of the G

od of the land (17:25-26). In other words, "Man, we don't know how to survive here. We don't know what the God is like and He's sent these lions". And so the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let them go and dwell there, and let them teach the manner of the God of the land. Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and he taught them how that they should also worship the Lord. [Or Jehovah. How they should fear, or reverence Jehovah.] Howbeit every nation made the gods of their own, and they put them in their houses, and on the high places which the Samaritans had made, and every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. And the men of Babylon made Succothbenoth, and the men o



f Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima. And the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adramelech and Anamelech, the gods of the Sepharvaim. So they [And here's an interesting paradox. "So they",] feared Jehovah, but they made unto themselves of the lowestof them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. They feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, [Isn't that an interesting paradox? So, "We learn about Jehovah, that He's there, we reverence Him, we give Him His place, but we really serve our other gods". I wonder how many people are like that today. They reverence Jesus. You know they celebrate in Thanksgiving. I watched a, a sort of a news program the other night, and this reporter was saying, "What part do you think God has in Thanksgiving?" "Oh He has a part, yeah He's there somewhere, you know". Feared Jehovah, but they served their own gods. The real god was pleasure, or possessions. They served these things, though they acknowledged, reverenced Jehovah, reverenced Jesus, acknowledged Jesus, He'll have a place in Christmas. Small as it may be, second to Santa Claus of course. They worshiped their own gods, but they feared Jehovah. Strange paradox, but it is a one of the things of human nature. All too common. People who have a place for Jesus, but not first place. People who believe in Jesus, but Heisn't the Lord of their lives. People who desire salvation, they desire Jesus, as Savior, but they don't want Him as Lord. Fear of Jehovah, fear Jesus, reverence Jesus, but you serve your own gods. There's something else at the center of your own heart. There's another master passion that governs your life, though youbelieve in Jesus, and reverence Him. A paradox. "They served their own gods",] after the manner of the nations whom they had carried away from there. And unto t

his day they do after the former manners: they fear not Jehovah, neither do they after their statutes, or their ordinances, or after their law and commandment which Jehovah commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel; With whom the Lord had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not reverence the other gods, nor bow yourselves to the, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them (17:27-35): "You're not to do that. That's the covenant. I must be your God, exclusively, solely, you cannot have these other gods." But Jehovah, who brought youup out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shallyou [worship, or] fear, and him shall your worship, and to him shall ye do yoursacrifices. 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 reverence these other gods. And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither shall you reverence the other gods. [Over and over, these

were the commandments. But, these were the very things that people broke.] But Jehovah your God you shall reverence; he will deliver you out of the hand of your enemies. Howbeit they did not hearken, they did after their former manner. Andso these nations feared Jehovah, and served their graven images, both their children, their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day(17:36-41). And, unfortunately we can say, and so many do, even unto this day. Reverence the Lord, but follow other gods, serve other gods. The Lord bless you,fill you with His love, guide you with His Spirit, keep you in the power of HisEdited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7119 9 Spirit. That you might be a light shining in a dark world. That you might stand forth as a servant of Jehovah. Not just the reverence or the acknowledging, but the serving of the Lord our God. May He be with you and bless you, and keep you in all ways. In Jesus' name. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word

For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7119 10 c:\users\dave\desktop\chuck smith\ii kings\7120 2 Kings 18-19.txt 2 Kings 18-19 Tape #7120 II Kings18-19 By Chuck Smith Let's turn now to II Kings, chapter eighteen, as we come now to the reign of Hezekiah. He and Josiah probably rank as the two greatest kings, outside of David. Hezekiah probably a little above the others. But, one of the best kings of the tribe of Judah, after David. So it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea [Now Hoshea remember, was the last king of Israel. It was during the reign of Hoshea that the nation of Israel fell to Assyria. He reigned for nine years, so in the third year of his reign,] Hezekiah began to reign in Judah. He was twenty five years old when he began his reign; he reigned for twenty nin



e years in Jerusalem. His mother's name is Abi, [And it probably is Abaji, rather than Abi. Abi, means, "My father". In Chronicles, her name is Abaji, which is, "My Father is Jehovah". So, the Chronicles is probably the, and it could be she was just called Abi, for short, but,] she is the daughter of Zachariah. And Hezekiah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did (18:1-3). So he modeled his kingdom after David. Now, he had a very wicked father. His father had led Judah into idolatry. His father had introduced the worship of Baal, but Hezekiah no doubt, under the strong influenceof Isaiah, was led away from the acts of his father, and did lead in a spiritual renewal for the people. The accounts are far more elaborated upon, in II Chronicles. But here in II Kings, we read that... He removed the high places, [Now inthe reading of the other kings of Judah, we find that "They did right in the sight of the Lord, however they did not remove the high places". It was something that was allowed to continue, during the reign of the other kings. But, Hezekiahmakes a complete reformation, and even restores these high places, where peoplehave built altars, and would offer sacrifices, and would offer incense before these altars. They were still worshiping Jehovah, however the Lord had said, thatthey should worship Him in Jerusalem. But the other kings sort of just allowed this to go on, it was a convenience kind of a thing. Beware of convenience religion. It was something that was obviously displeasing to God, and Hezekiah removed these high places. But, he also cut,] broke the images, [Now the images were introduced by his father, Ahaz, and he broke the images.] he cut down the groves,[The places of pagan worship.] and he broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it:

and he called it Nehushtan (18:4). So this brazen serpent that Moses had raised in the wilderness, at the time when the children of Israel were under the attack of these snakes, deadly poisonous snakes, were dying as a result of the snakebites. They came to Moses, and they said, "We sinned against God, we've sinned against you in our complaining against the Lord, please pray to the Lord for us,that we might live". Moses prayed, and the Lord instructed him to make this brazen serpent, to put it on a pole in the midst of the camp, and whoever was bitten by these snakes, if they would look at this brazen serpent on the pole, would live. So Moses followed the instruction of the Lord, and in time this brazen serpent became an object of worship. It became like an idol. It was a sacred relic,and the people began to burn incense before it. They made it sort of an altar, an object of worship itself. Because it reminded them of that time that God worked in such a powerful way, with their forefathers. But as we pointed out in the l

esson this morning, if you have to look back, at the time of God's work and blessing upon your life, if you can't look around and see a present-tense relationship, then you are in a dangerous spiritual state. You've been sliding backwards.Your relationship with God should be more tight, and exciting tonight then it has ever been. Or else, you slidden back from a point of greater dedication. Greater commitment, greater experience of God's power and love within your life. When a person begins to worship a relic, an object, it is a sign of spiritual decay. The loss of the consciousness of God's present work. But it is also a sign of that longing to again see the work of God. These people were worshiping this brazen serpent, so he broke it in pieces, and called it, "Nehushtan", which means, "A thing of brass". It isn't a magic amulet, it's not some kind of God. It's only a thing of brass, and he called it for what it was. Broke it in pieces. And hetrusted in Jehovah, God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all

the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. [He was outstanding of the descendants of David, upon the throne. None quite as equal either before, or after.] For he clave to Jehovah, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses (18:5-6). Now there were other kingsthat were commended for their faithfulness to the Lord. Asa was one. But unfortunately, in his later years, Asa turned from the Lord, began to rely upon man. Hezekiah remained faithful unto the Lord. He clave, or he stuck with the Lord, and kept His commandments. "And the Lord was with him", as the result of Hezekiah's dedication, the Lord was with him. You remember when Asa became king, and defeated the Ethiopians, the prophet said, "The Lord is with you, while you'll be wit



h Him. And if you seek Him, He will be found of you. But if you forsake Him, Hewill forsake you". Here Hezekiah stuck with the Lord. He kept the commandments of the Lord, and hence God prospered him. The scripture promises that if a person will keep the law of the Lord, that God will prosper him. "He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, bringing forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither. Whatever he does will prosper". So it is related, and we can the pattern through all of the kings. When they sought the Lord, when they served the Lord, God prospered them. They had power and victory over their enemies. They lived in, in a period of, of strength, and power. When they forsookthe Lord, then God would forsake them. They would go into captivity. They wouldbe sacked by their enemies. So it was a thing where God said it, and then we see the examples of it in the, in the succeeding history of Israel. When Joshua took over from Moses, the Lord said to Joshua, that he should, "Continue in the law, meditate in it day and night, and thus shalt thou make thy way prosperous, thus shalt thou have good success". Follow the history of Israel from then on. Whenever they kept the law of the Lord, whenever they were obedient to God, whenever there was spiritual revival, it was also marked by spiritual national strength. That is not coincidence! That is just the way things work. When they forsook the Lord, and turned to idols, and turned their backs upon God, then they were defeated by their enemies. This is what God said would happen. Read Deuteronomy, chapter thirty two. And as Israel, so the United States. As long as we seek the Lord, and as long as we put God at the front, our nation will prosper and be blessed. But, when we turn our backs upon God, we can expect the nation is gonna go down hill. We can see the down hill plunge of the nation today. We can see the ec

onomic chaos. No one really knows what's gonna happen to the stock market. No one really knows what's gonna happen to the banking industry. No one really knowsif we're gonna have another crash. No one really knows what's gonna come of this summit meeting with Russia. Are we going to make another treaty with Russia, that will turn out in history, to be a detriment to us? Are we going to be givingaway more than we get once again? It seems like the United States is just on a course that spells peril. In the same ratio, that we have forsaken the Lord, andtrying to shove God out of the national life. So we see the nation going down. We see the horrible social evils that we aren't able to cope with. We see drug abuse at a tremendous peak. We see pornography, and all the side effects. We see children running away from home, fourteen, fifteen years old, becoming prostitutes, becoming drug addicts. We see teenage suicide. A million and a half kids attempting suicide every year. Because what is there to live for? We see our nation

unable to cope with the financial aspects, and we see a trillion dollar deficit. We see deficit spending by the government. We see all of these ills and yet, somehow we can't associate it to the fact that we've tried to rule God out of thenational life. But they go together! What the nation needs is a spiritual revival. With a spiritual revival would again come, the strengthening of God, and theprosperity of God. So with Hezekiah, he initiated the spiritual reform, and Godblessed and prospered his reign. And so the Lord was with him; and prospered whithersoever he went forth: and so he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. He began to smite the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and unto the borders thereof, and from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. [The area, the, the territory began to take the territory from the Philistines, all the way down to the Gaza strip.] And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah the king of Israel, tha

t Shalmaneser the king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. Andat the end of three years Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7120 2 they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which is the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Israel, Samaria fell. [The northern kingdom came to an end.] And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and he put them in Halah in Habor by the river of Gozan, in the city of the Medes: Because they obeyed not the voice of Jehovah their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and they would not hear them, nor do them (18:7-12). So the northern kingdom actually fell because of its disobedience to God. Ruled God out. God stepped out,



and that was all. So Sennacherib then in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah,Sennacherib came against all of the fenced cities of Judah, and he took them (18:13). According to the Assyrian records, and it's interesting, we have very complete records in it, from the Assyrian annals. The archeologists have uncovered voluminous records from the Assyrian empire, that uh, as we say, are proved to be true because of the bible. In these Assyrian records that, they speak of this invasion of Sennacherib, and according to the records, he took 200,125 captives in this particular invasion. As he captured the other cities of Judah, not coming against, or not taking Jerusalem. But he took the cities of Judah, and the... Hezekiah the king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, [Where he wasat that time, besieging Lachish.] and he said, I have offended; return from me:that which thou puttest on me I will bear. [In other words, he was sort of capitulating to Sennacherib. "Whatever you appoint, whatever you say I have to pay, I'll, I'll come up with it. Whatever you put on me, I'll bear".] and the king ofAssyria pointed unto Hezekiah the king of Judah [A tribute] three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And so Hezekiah gave him all of the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, in the treasures of the king's house. And at that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which he [Had earlier] over laid with gold, and he gave it to the king of Assyria. But then the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh [Now these are titles of men. The Tartan, in the Assyrian is, commander in chief. The Rabsaris was, the chief of the Eunuchs. The Rabshakeh was, the sort of, chief of staff, so to speak. He was the low man on the totem pole, of these that came, however he was the spokesman, because he spoke Hebrew. S

o these three men, emissaries, a political or a uh, envoys from the king of Assyria. He brought, he came, he sent them,] against Jerusalem with a great army. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool,which is in the highway of the fuller's field (18:14-17). So an area in the upper pool, the area of Jerusalem, probably in the northern part of the city. The lower pool was the area of the spring of Gihon. Now Hezekiah, knowing that they were coming and were planning an invasion, at that time made this tunnel through 1,700 feet of solid rock. That is recorded in II Chronicles. And, he brought thewater from the Nihon spring, under the wall of Jerusalem, and to the pool of Siloam, with a very fascinating engineering feat, especially for the day in which they were doing it. As you walk through that tunnel today, I'm always amazed every time I walk through. Amazed, first of all, that they've talked me into it again. Every time I go through, I say, "This is the last time". After you've been wa

lking in that dark tunnel, and you've bumped your head several times, and you're up to your knees, or up to your waist in water, I always say, "Never again!". But it seems like you forget, and the next year when you have a bunch of eager beavers, they say, "Oh let's go walking through", you know, and I usually capitulate, and say, "Okay, let's go". But, every time I do, not only do I get angry for myself for doing it again, but I marvel as I, as I try, you know here you are playing around with a candle, and trying to keep the thing lit, and uh yet, you realize that these guys, with hammers and chisels, not jack hammers. They must have had torches for light. It must have been smoky and smelly, and yet with these primitive kind of tools, cut this cave 1,700 feet long. They started at both, at either end. One group started at the spring of Gihon, and the other started from the pool of Siloam, digging towards each other. Without modern engineering devices to keep them you know, coming towards each other. When they finally met, t

hey were only about six feet apart. There were areas where they got off on the up and down, but you can see where they corrected themselves on that. But it's an amazing engineering feat, through solid rock. I mean that rock is solid, and it is hard! Yet these guys carved that tunnel, to bring the water on through. Nowthis spring of Gihon was then covered over, so that they did not know exactly where the water Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7120 3 supply was coming, for the city of Jerusalem, because they were getting it out of the pool of Siloam, within the city walls. But, "They were meeting in the upper pool, by the fuller's field". And when they had called to the king, the king sent out to them Eliakim which was over his househol



d, [His chief servant.] and Shebna who was the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph who was the recorder. And so Rabshakeh said to them, Speak now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, [Notice he didn't say, "To king Hezekiah". The guy is extremely rude, he is discourteous, he is blasphemous. And so he said, "Speak nowto Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king",] the king of Assyria, What confidence is this where in you trust? You say, (but they are vain words), I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom do you trust, that you would rebel against me (18:18-20)? The king of Assyria had a tremendous spy network. He did know what was going on in Hezekiah's kingdom. Perhaps some of the captives that he had taken, were telling him just what Hezekiah was planning on doing, the plans for war. Because Hezekiah had summoned for help from Egypt. Even though Isaiah told him he should not. Isaiah told him, "Just trust in the Lord. The Lord will deliver you." But he did send for help from the Pharaoh, which never came. And he said, Behold, you trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, [Referring to the Pharaoh. One of the reeds that grows by the Nile river. They are very brittle, they look, you know they look strong, but you go to use them for a cane, and they'll break. He said, "You trust in one of these bruised reeds",] even upon Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it will break and pierce his hand: so is the Pharaoh theking of Egypt unto all of those who trust on him. But if you say unto me, We will trust in Jehovah our God: is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah's taken away, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem (18:21-22)? So he knew, that Hezekiah had removed these high places, and that he had appointed Jerusalem, again as the place to worship God, to offer their sacrifices before the altar, in Jerusalem. Now therefor

e, I pray thee, give pledges to my Lord the king of Assyria, and I will deliverthee two thousand horses, if you're able on your part to put riders on them. [Now Israel had an infantry, they had chariots, but they did not have a cavalry. He said, "If you would give me some money, I'll sell you two thousand horses, butyou don't even have men that can ride them!] And how [In the world] do you think you're gonna turn away the face of just one captain of the least of my master's servants, and you put your trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Am I now come up without Jehovah against this place to destroy it? For Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it (18:23-25). The guy's really blasphemous. He said, "Don't you think that Jehovah's commanding me too? He told me to come up here, and destroy". Then said Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to your servants in the [Aramaic language] Syrian [Or Aramaic. Now the Aramaic was similar to Hebrew, but enough diff

erent, that the common people didn't know Aramaic. However, these fellows did. They didn't want them conversing with the people. If they'd want to talk to the king, they should do it through the proper channels. There's a lot of curious people on the walls, listening to what's going on. They said, "Speak to us in Aramaic".] We understand it: and don't talk to us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on the wall. But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my mastersent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? no he's sent me to the men that sit on the wall, that they may perish in the famine that will come? [The famine that will be so great that they will be partaking of their own body excrements.] Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and he spoke, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria: Thus saith the king, Don't let Hezekiah deceive you: for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand: Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, sayi

ng, Jehovah will surely deliver us, and this city will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and thenyou can eat every man of his own vine, and every man of his own fig tree, and drink from your own wells of water: Until I come and take you away to a land thatis like your land, a land of corn and wine, and land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil and olive, and honey, that you may live, and not die: don't hearken to Hezekiah, when he persuades you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us (18:26-32). So this fellow broke every rule of protocol, and diplomacy in trying to create arebellion directly among Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcri



the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and Hena, and Ivah? And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read it: and Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7120 5 Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and he spread it out before the Lord (19:6-14). Here he gets this letter of threat, from the king of Assyria. He goes to the house of the Lord, and he just spreads it out, as though the Lord didn't know what was in it. He says, "Look Lord, what this guy's written". And so Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and he said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwells between the cherubims, you are the God, even you alone, [Recognizing there's only one true God. One living God. "You arealone, God. There are other gods, gods plenty. The gods of the heathen, but there is only one true, and living God." And so you, he refers to Him as the livingGod. "You've seen the letter which they've sent to reproach the living God." Bow down your ear, [Now that phrase, "Bow down your ear", is uh, you see an older person when they are getting a little hard of hearing, they'll say, "What?", youknow and they'll bend their ear down, and that's what he's saying. "Lord, bend your ear down, I want to talk to you a minute", you know, and, "Bow down thine ear". It's sort of bending your ear down, so that you can hear what I'm going to say.] open Lord, your eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hehas sent to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands (19:15-17), "They have conquered. They have destroyed." And they have cast their gods into the fire: but they were really not gods, but they were just the works of men's hands, they were made of wood and stone: and therefore they've destroyed them. ["Lord, what he said is true, th

ey have wiped out these other nations, and they've destroyed their gods. But,"]Therefore, Jehovah our God, I beseech thee, save us out of his hand, that all of the kingdoms out of the earth may know that you are Jehovah God, even you only(19:18-19). I think that we should pause at this point to make a few comments about some of the teachings, the crazy, weird, false teachings that are going on today in many circles. In the mystic religions of India, Hinduism. They have a belief that a man, through fastings, prayers, and a rigorous procedure, can come to an experience where he turns into a god. He becomes a god. An Avatar. And, there are many such as the Rashinesh, and others who claim to have had this experience of being, of transcending from the human into the divine. Sibaba, and others who claim to be God, and who are worshiped by thousands of people, as God. In fact Sibaba counts his worshipers into the millions. People actually believe that these men are gods incarnate. They worship them as gods. That teaching has had

a tremendous influence on the New Age movement. Thus those of the New Age movement, are declaring that man is God, and the New Age is the developing of our consciousness into that universal consciousness. It is being freed from the old traditions of the past, from the limited types of thinking of the past, it's cominginto this altered state of consciousness where, "I can rise into the universal consciousness, and I become one with universal consciousness, I realize that I am God. That I control my own destiny. That I create my own reality. That by my thinking processes, I can control reality. I am what I think, and I'm not to lookto some outside force, or power, or God for help. But I'm to look within, for God is within, for I am God." The teaching of the New Age movement, which is borrowed from Hinduism. Now unfortunately, this has crept into the church! Among many of the charismatic leaders, they are now coming out with the very same declarations. That, "You are God", and it is a, well I, I just can't imagine a person st

upid enough to think that he's God! But yet many people are swallowing this, hook, line, and sinker! They talk about you know, "The God within", and, "The universal consciousness", and, "All is good". They get these stupid smiles on their face, and think that they're gods. Tragic indeed. Of course, the Mormon's also feel that if they follow faithfully, the Mormon religion, that their marriages are sealed within the temple, and they're faithful in their practices as Mormons, that when they die, they will be able to go to some planet out in the universe, and they will be gods. They will be able, with their celestial wives, to populate these planets, and to oversee the development of their forms of life, that they create on these other planets. Watching over them, and all. They have that same



hope within the Mormon faith. That they are going to become gods. That whole, "I will be like the Most High", goes back before man, when Satan, in Isaiah, thefourteenth chapter, said, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven. I will ascend above the stars. I will sit in the congregation in the mount, on thesides of the north. I will be like the Most High". "And yet, how art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning, thou that didst weaken the nations, been cast down to the sides of the pit." But in the garden of Eden, when Satan came to Eveto tempt her, he said, "God doesn't want you to eat Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7120 6 of the fruitof that tree, for He knows that in the day that you eat of it, you will be as God, knowing good from evil". So it is a fallacy that has existed, from the beginning of man's existence. That idea that, "I can be as God, that I can be God. That I can come into a God-state. That I can come into, I can ascend into this God- state, where I control my own reality. Where I'm in control of my own world". So a man's god is often himself, or the projection of himself. Here, Hezekiah ashe is speaking to the Lord, says that, "You alone are God. It's true that Assyria has conquered these other nations, but their gods weren't true gods, they weren't real gods! They were gods of man's making. They had made their own gods. They've been conquered, and tossed in the fire, and destroyed. But you alone are God. There's only one true God, one living God, one creator". So, Hezekiah's prayer. "Now, I beseech thee, save us out of his hand, that all of the world may know, that you only are Jehovah God." Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah,saying, Thus saith Jehovah God of Israel, That which you have prayed to me against Sennacherib the king of Assyria I have heard. ["Bow down thy ear Lord, and op

en your eyes." And the Lord sends the message, "I heard you".] This is the wordthat the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at thee. Who have you reproached and blasphemed? against whom have you exalted your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? even against the Holy One ofIsrael. And by thy messengers you have reproached the Lord, and you have said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees, and the choice fir trees: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forestof his Carmel. I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet I've dried up all of the rivers of the besieged places Has thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and from ancient times that I formed it? now I have brought it to pass, [That you should be laid waste. That you should be,] that tho

u shouldest be to lay waste the fenced cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they wereas the grass of the field, and as the green vegetable, and as the grass of the house tops, and as the corn that is blasted before it is grown up. But I know your abode, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against me. And because your rage against me and the tumult is come up into my ears, therefore Iwill put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn theeback by the way which you came. And this shall be a sign unto you, You shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that whichspringeth of the same; and in the third year ye shall sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward (19:20-30). So the message to Hezekiah. God has heard the threats, He's heard the blasphemy

. He's gonna turn back this Assyrian king. "And God will give you the sign. This year, you're gonna eat of what's planted. Next year, the same. But the third year, you're gonna go out and plant your fields, and your vineyards, and you're gonna dwell there in peace. You'll eat the fruit. For the remnant, of God's seed that has escaped shall take root downward, and bear fruit upward." For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: and the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. [Isaiah's words of comfort. "God has heard your prayer. And God is going to destroy your enemies."] Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, norshoot an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast a bank against



it. [Jerusalem will be spared a siege from Assyria.] By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith Jehovah (19:31-33). This seems like a totally preposterous prophecy! It seems totally unlikely, because the Assyrian army is just outside! They're ready to set up the attack against the city. They're ready to start the siege. The troops are massing! And, Isaiah gives this most unrealistic prophecy. "They're not gonna shoot an arrow against this city. They're not gonna lay up a bank against the walls." For God said, I will defend this city, to save it, for my own sake, and for my servantDavid's sake. And it came to pass that night, that an angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty five thousand men: and when the others arose early in the morning, they were surrounded by all these corpses (19:34-35). God did a job on the Assyrians, wiping out 185,000 in one night! An angel of the Lord. Angels have to Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7120 7 be interesting created beings of God indeed! And quite powerful! You remember when in the garden, when Judas led the soldiers to arrest Jesus, and Peter drew his sword to defend Jesus, that Jesus said to Peter, "Put away your sword. Don't you realize that if I wanted, at this moment I could call on ten legions of angels to deliver me?" Now, if one angel could wipe out 185,000 Assyrians, imagine what ten legions of angels could do! Which sort of shows to us the folly of seeking to defend the Lord, which we often feel sort of called upon. "I've gotta defend the Lord." Really, the Lord doesn't need my defense. He's perfectly capable of handling Himself in any situation. I will stand up for the Lord, I will bear witness of the Lord. But it isn't necessary that I defend the Lord, He is perfectly capable of doing s

o. So the angel of the Lord smote the Assyrian army,185,000. Now, this whole area right in here, these two chapters, really take up most of the book of Isaiah.The majority of the book of Isaiah. From seventh chapter on, is taken up in this same period of history. So to really understand the book of Isaiah, if you could, and if you would, it would be extremely beneficial to jump over to Isaiah atthis time, and just read. Because, you'll get such a fuller understanding of this little portion of history. Here in the Kings, it's extremely abbreviated. It is expanded some in Chronicles, but Isaiah, the majority of the book of Isaiah, is devoted to this period of history. Isaiah tells us that the time that God wiped out the Assyrian army, that a great fear fell upon all of those men in Judah.The sinners in Zion, and the hypocrites were afraid when they saw what God did to the Assyrians. And they said, "Who amongst us can dwell in the midst of the devouring fire?" I mean they were really smitten with real fear when they saw the

power of God against the Assyrians. Those that were sinners and hypocrites, manthey thought, "Uh oh! Who among us can dwell in the midst of this devouring fire?" So Isaiah gives you a lot of further insight, concerning Hezekiah, his ministry as the king and so forth. But God wiped them out! So Sennacherib the king ofAssyria departed, and he returned and dwelt at Ninevah. But it came to pass, ashe was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped to the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead (19:36-37). So the end of the reign ofSennacherib, and of his blasphemies against the Lord. We'll continue next week in Kings, taking chapters twenty, and twenty one, as we look at the rest of Hezekiah's reign, and then the evil reign of Manassah, his son, in chapter twenty one. Lord we know that the fear of man, brings a snare, but they who trust in the Lord, shall be saved. We see the example of that tonight before us, as Hezekiah p

ut his trust in You. As he obeyed Your word, as it came to him from Isaiah. Youdestroyed their enemies. So Lord, we put our trust in You, that You might destroy our enemies. Lord, we know that if You are for us, no man can really be against us. Deliver us Lord, from the fallacy of thinking that we have to defend ourselves, or that we have to defend You. We thank You Lord, that You are our defense, and You are our strength. And we belong to You Lord. You're perfectly capableof dealing with any, and every situation. So Lord, we rest, we rest in Thee. Wetrust in Thee, Lord that You will bring to pass your purposes, for this church,and for these people. We know Lord, that You have built your church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. So we go forth in confidence, and in victo



ry Lord, to become the witness to the world that You would have us to be. To stand against the powers of darkness, though they are overwhelming, though they outnumber us, Lord, we know that we are victorious, because You will fight our battles. Thus Lord, we stand, in Your strength, and we wait upon You for Your victory, as a church body, collectively, and Lord, as individuals, in those individual aspects, and areas of our lives. We place our trust in Thee, Lord, we are yourchildren, we are Your people. Show your strength and Your power Lord, in defending those who trust in thee. Against all odds, against all foes Lord, let us seeYour victory be complete. And we thank You Father, In Jesus' name, Amen. Edited& Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape#7120 8 c:\users\dave\desktop\chuck smith\ii kings\7121 2 Kings 20-21.txt 2 Kings 20-21 Tape #7121 II Kings 20-21 By Chuck Smith Let's turn to II Kings, chapter twenty. In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. [It seems that he had somekind of a severe boil. Must have been extremely severe, it was enough to put him in bed. The poison in his system. He was dying.] And so the prophet Isaiah theson of Amoz came unto him, and he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live (20:1). Rather than a prophecy, it seems that this was a warning from the Lord unto Hezekiah. "Get things right Hezekiah. You're gonna die, and not live." There is the importance of setting our house in order. None of us really expect to die. We've all put off things thatwe know that we should do, that we intend to do someday. But we think that we have forever. Thus we often times, put off very important things. Sometimes people even put off their relationship with God. How foolish, and how tragic. I have never yet met a person who has accepted Jesus Christ, who really bemoaned the fac

t that they did it. I have met many who bemoaned the fact they waited so long to do it. Especially those that accepted Christ in their older years. How often they will rue the fact that they didn't turn their lives over to Christ earlier. Because you can look back and see, "If we were just walking after the Lord and following Him, how many of the tragedies of life we could've averted, had we beenseeking the guidance of the Lord, had we been walking in the Spirit, had we been living as God wanted us to live". How many marriages would still be together, but people foolishly put off the most important thing in your entire life, and that is, making sure that you have a right relationship with God. That right relationship can only come through Jesus Christ, who said, "I am the way, the truth,and the light, no man comes to the Father, but by me". You say, "Well isn't that rather narrow Chuck?" Yes it is, it's very narrow. "And few there be that findit." "Oh, but I think that all roads lead to God. I think that if you're just si

ncere, God will accept you. I'm much broader than that narrow concept that you have". Yes and, "Broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are,that go in thereat". Who said that? Jesus. So don't look to me, I'm no authority, but He is. Then he turned his face [Hezekiah, when he heard he was gonna die,he turned his face.] to the wall, and he prayed unto the Lord (20:2), I like Hezekiah. Now you have to realize that at this point he's only thirty nine years old, and he hasn't had a son as an heir yet, to the throne. Thirty nine's pretty young, to get the summons from God, "Get your house in order man. It's all over". Not having yet a son to be heir to the throne, he turned his face to the wall.Probably to just sort of, there no doubt were a lot of people attending him, there in his illness, and just sort of turn away from the earthly, and to seek theLord. I like Isaiah in the fact that whenever a problem came, he always resorted to prayer. You know, you remember when Sennacherib sent that letter to him, tha

t was threatening, and all? He took the letter in before the Lord, and he opened it up there in the temple. He said, "Look what this guy has said Lord!", and he opened up the letter before the Lord. He prayed, and he asked God's help. Now at the crisis of life, the first thing he does is he resorts to prayer. Tragic isn't it that, that is often our last resort? Sort of the motto, "When everythingelse fails, pray". But it was his first resort. I've found if you make prayer your first resort, you usually don't get to the last resort. "Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer." Hezekiah was the kind of guy, when anything came up, he prayed about it. That's what made him such a successful king. He prayed, I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I



have walked before thee in truth with a complete heart, I've done that which is good in your sight. [Now the Lord had promised, to those that would walk in righteousness before Him, a long life. It's one of the promises of God. Thus in the old testament, he was really saying, "Lord, in your word, you promised me a longer life, if I would do the good and right things, and Lord, I've done that which is good. I've done that which is right! Thirty nine years old is just to young to be cut off Lord."] and Hezekiah wept sore (20:3). Let's turn for a moment, to Isaiah thirty eight, because Isaiah does give us uh, his prayer more completely. Isaiah was the prophet that came in and warned him, there in verse one, of the fact that the Lord had told him to get his house in order. So in the thirty eighth chapter, it reads very much like this chapter, with the exception that it does give us, more completely, his prayer. "Hezekiah was sick unto death. Isaiahthe prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Set your house in order: for thou shall die and not live." Exactly the same. "Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, prayed unto the Lord, and he said, Remember Lord, I beseech thee, how I walked before thee in truth with a perfect heart...", and so forth. "And Hezekiah wept sore." Those three verses are word for word, from what we just read. "And then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,Go, tell Hezekiah, Thus...", and so forth. Now, as we get down uh, verse nine. "The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and recovered of his sickness:" So, this now gives you a little further insight to the prayer. This was what Hezekiah himself wrote of the incident. "I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: and I am deprived of the residue of my years." "Lord, I haven't really lived out my life. If I go to the grave n

ow, I'm being cut short." "I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living: I shall behold man nor more with the inhabitants of the world." "If I go to the grave now, it's gonna be curtains. I'm gonna be cut off." Now this is indicative of the fact that, in the old testament, there wasn't really very much hope in life after death. There were only hints, there were only sort of grasps, but they didn't have the kind of promises that we have, through Jesus Christ. Job asked the question, "If a man dies, does he go on living?", but with Job it was just a question. He said, "If I only knew that this was so, then it would be a lot easier to live. I could understand better the things that happen to me". He had just gotten word that his ten children were killed. "Is that all? Is it all over for them? Is that it? If I only knew that they were continuing to live, then it would be a lot easier to deal with my grief." When David'sson died, after David's prayer, and he was lying on his face, on the ground, pra

ying for his sick son. They tried to get him to eat, he would, he refused to eat, just lying there, weeping. Then, his son died, and his servants said, "Uh oh,what are we gonna do? Man! The way he's been grieving while his son was sick, he hears that the son has died, and it's just gonna wipe him out! What shall we do?" David heard them whispering, he said, "Is the son dead?", and they said, "Yes sir." David got up, and took a bath, and he said, "Fix me something to eat". They said, "Man you're weird! We don't understand you! Here your son is sick, andyou're lying on the ground, your face in the dirt, weeping, and crying, and nowthat your son is dead, you want to eat!" David said, "As long as he was alive, I was hoping that maybe God would change, and, and spare him. Now that he is dead, I really can't do anything about it. I shall go to be where he is, but he cannot return to me". Maybe a slight hint of the son still being alive, but there wasn't any real definitive substantive promise, that took Jesus Christ in the New

Testament. It is in the New Testament where the doctrine of the resurrection isreally developed. You don't really have much hope in the Old Testament. So, Hezekiah without much hope, is saying, "Man I'll be cut off you know, I won't see anybody anymore! You know, I'm, I'm getting cut short. I'm gonna miss out on the residue of my years". In fact, he went on to say, "My age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I am cut off like a weaver my life, I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even till night wilt thou make an end of me." And, then he went on to say uh, verse eighteen, "For the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth." In other words, "It'll all



be over. I can't praise you if I'm in Sheol", and the word "grave" there, is "Sheol". "And if I'm in the grave, I can't praise you and I can't celebrate your holidays anymore. I can't come on the feast days and worship you". So, not really any hope for the resurrection, life after death. That comes, as I say, with Jesus Christ in the new testament, who said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live". Now, Daniel did teach that in the last days, there would be a general resurrection. Some to eternal life, and some to eternal damnation. But, not really any substance to the teaching of the resurrection in the old testament. Thus, Hezekiah felt, "Hey if I die now, it's all over." You see, with Paul, with the teaching, when they banished the teaching of Christ, wrote to the Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7121 2 Philippians, and said, "Man have I got mixed emotions! Because, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, I know, for your sakes, I really should stick around awhile. You need me. So I feel drawn because of your need for me, from the earthly side, but oh, I'm really drawn from the heavenly side. I have a desire to be part and be with Christ, which is far better!". Of course, in writing to the Corinthians, he said, "For we who are in this body, do often groan, earnestly desiring to move out of them, not that I would become an unembodiedspirit, but I want to be clothed upon with a body which is from heaven. For I know that as long as I am living in this body, I'm absent from the Lord. But I would choose rather, to be absent, I would choose rather to be absent from this body, and to be present with the Lord". See the hope of the resurrection, made a whole different attitude towards death. Rather than, "Oh that's the end, you know

I'll never praise you again. I'll never celebrate you know. I go down to the grave man, I'm being cut short, and lost everything", and all. Not so with, with Paul in the new testament, and those who had the hope of the resurrection, through Jesus Christ. "He that liveth, and believeth in me", Jesus said, "shall never die". You'll never be consciously separated from God! So, coming back now, to IIKings. "He turned his face to the wall, prayed unto the Lord". Started saying, "Lord you promised in your word, if a person would live the right kind of a life, he'd have long years. And he wept sorely." I mean he really took it hard! And it came to pass, before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, [Now it couldbe that Isaiah stuck around for awhile, because in the thirty eighth chapter ofIsaiah, it would seem that Hezekiah spent the night in prayer. In fact uh, he says, he mentions some interesting aspects to his prayer, there in chapter thirtyeight, um, he said, "I reckoned till morning. That as a lion, so will he break a

ll my bones. From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me? Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter". That is a funny way to pray. "I did mourn as a dove. My eyes fail, with looking upward. Oh Lord, I'm oppressed, undertake for me." If you want to really get into Isaiah's, Hezekiah's prayer, you can look at it. So it could be that Isaiah just sort of stood by him for awhile, and as he turned to leave, before he got out of the outer court. While he was still in the courtyard, the Lord spoke to him.] the word of the Lord came to him, saying (20:4), Now, how did the word of the Lord come to Isaiah? Generally, the prophets received visions. "God, who at sundry times, divers manners, spoke to the, our fathers, by the prophets". But, usually it was by vision. But, even in Hebrews, it recognizes, "divers manners". So it was probably just the voice of the Spirit, tothe heart of Isaiah, he recognized it as being from the Lord. And so he turned again, to tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, [The Lord said, "Turn again, an

d tell Hezekiah the captain of my people",] Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: [He prayed, he wept. God said, "I've heard your prayer, I've seen your tears". So it can be said of every one of you who have cried out unto the Lord, in a time of distress, some of you weeping before God over the situations and the problems that you face. The Lord hears your prayer, the Lord sees your tears.] behold, I will heal thee:on the third day thou shalt go up to the house of the Lord. ["In three days, you'll be strong enough to go up to the temple to worship again, and to give thanks unto God." "In three days, you'll go up to the house of the Lord."] And I willadd to your days fifteen years; ["I'll give you fifteen more years."] and I will



deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; ["During you're lifetime, you'll be freed from the hand of the Assyrians." Now the Assyrians made two more incursions, in this direction during Hezekiah's life, but they never came to Jerusalem. The Lord delivered him out of the hand of the Assyrians.] and I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. And so Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered (20:5-7). This to me is very fascinating. The Lord said, "I will heal thee". But God uses different methods to do His work. Dried figs were used as a poultice, to put over the boil, to draw out the infection, the poison. Even as to the present time, they often use sort of flaxy types of poultices to draw out the poison from boils. Bring it to a head, draw out the poison, a lump offigs. Now the Lord said, "I'm going to heal you". But the method that God used,was the placing of this lump of figs over the boil. God does use medicine to bring healing to people. God doesn't have to use medicine. God could just heal, without the fig poultice. But, God uses sometimes, medicine to bring help and healing to Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7121 3 people, and there is nothing wrong with taking medicine, when you're sick. I totally agree with those evangelists who are supposed healingevangelists, that decry anyone who goes to the doctor, as a sign of lack of faith. I've noticed that many of them wear glasses. Ha, ha! I believe that God has given to man, tremendous insight, His knowledge of the body, the functions of the body. The chemical makeup of the body. We're learning more and more, and I believe that God does help in guiding those researchers. Because God is basically interested in a person's health. He created you, He wants you to be strong and hea

lthy. He has provided information and knowledge, and there is nothing wrong with using medicines, when a person is sick. Now I say that, though I am one who never takes any medicines. I just, you know, tough it through. But, I see nothing wrong with it. Here, he pronounces, "The Lord is gonna heal you". Then he instructs the people the method to use to bring the healing, by the putting of the figs, the dried figs, over the boil. So, I, I think that, that is a important thingto know. Paul the apostle, writing to young Timothy, who was through Asia, getting all kinds of amoebas, having all kinds of stomach problems, because of the various polluted water systems. Paul writing to Timothy, probably at the suggestion of Luke, who was the physician, that was Paul's companion, said, "Take a little wine for your stomach's sake, and your oft infirmities", and offering to him,sort of as a medicinal uh, usage of wine, to help in his stomach problems, caused by the polluted water of the area of Asia Minor, where Timothy was staying at

the time. So, don't, don't ever be guilty of trying to make God be confined to one method or one way. God is not confined to methods, or to ways and to singular ways of doing things. God is extremely diverse, and He can do things in many different ways, and He doesn't want us to get to the place where we try to conform Him to a box. Whenever you try to box God in, to one method or one way, He's gonna break that box every time! He's gonna show that He can do things in diverseways. He's not bound to any single pattern. I'm really glad for that, because that means that you have to always leave every option open. It means that you don't get discouraged, when one option fails. "Oh He didn't do it that way! Terrible! It's, He's not gonna do it, you know". Because He didn't do it that way. (It's, oh, He always does it.) God often times changes, and does things other ways, just so that we know that He's not limited to one method, or one way of doing His work. So Hezekiah recovered. But, when Isaiah gave him this promise, "In three

days, you're gonna go to the temple. You know, you'll be strong enough to go tothe temple to worship"... Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What sign shall there be that the Lord will heal me (20:8), He wanted a sign from the Lord, and in the Old Testament, they often asked God for a sign. You remember, Gideon said, "Give me asign, that I'm sure that you're an angel that's talking to me. Let me put out apiece of wool on the ground, and if in the morning, it's dry, and the ground iswet...". Asking for a sign. In the New Testament, Jesus said, "A wicked and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign", in the New Testament, it was a sign of unbelief, to ask God for a sign. But, in the Old Testament, it was something that was done quite often. Now that we have Jesus Christ, what more proof do we ne



ed? He is the sign, once and for all, of God's love for you! But here this fellow's asking for a sign. Now, his son Ahaz, Isaiah had come to him, and he said, "The Lord saith unto thee, Ask for me a sign. Ask from me a sign, either in heaven above or the earth below. Ask a sign", and Ahaz said, "I'm not gonna ask for a sign", and it was a sign of his unbelief. Ahaz was a wicked king, wouldn't askfor a sign. He says, "Well, the Lord will give you one anyhow". And he said, "Avirgin's gonna conceive, and bring forth a son, call his name Emmanuel". Actually, the sign that Ahaz refused, was the, the greatest sign to be given to man, concerning the Messiah, that He would be born of a virgin. Now Hezekiah's saying,"Show me a sign, give me a sign. What shall be the sign the Lord will heal me. That I know, that in three days, I mean that's an awful long time. I'm awful sick, you know, I feel miserable still, and how can I know that in three days I'm gonna be strong enough to go to the temple? Give me, what sign shall it be?" And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back tendegrees? [That is the sundial. "Shall the shadow on the sundial go forward, or go backward ten degrees?"] And Hezekiah answered and said, ["Well if it would goforward, it wouldn't be much. I mean, it means the sun fell a little bit in thesky maybe,"] but if it returned backwards ["It would be quite a sign!"] So Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: [Now Isaiah Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7121 4 prayed about it. The guy asked for a difficult sign. "Let the sundial go back ten degrees."] and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz (20:9-11). Fascinating! How do you explain it? I don't. I don't know, e

xcept that I don't have any problem with it. Now, I know that it is a scientific impossibility. We know that the earth is rotating on its axis, and it would, it would appear to be, that maybe God just stopped it, and turned it back a little bit, and then spun it again. Now, my concept of God, is such that I wouldn't be troubled with it. I'm sure that God could do that. If God could create the universe, and the heavens are the work of His fingers, then it'd be no problem for God to just take, and bring the thing to a stop, and turn it backwards, and thengive it another spin. There are other plausible scientific explanations. It could be a refraction of the sun, that was caused by a partial eclipse, which wouldgive the appearance. If the moon would cross just a portion of the sun, and change the shadow, there would be a refraction, and it would appear that the shadowwent back. That is a possible explanation. A partial eclipse of the sun, at that time. I don't like that quite as well. The God that I serve, can do anything. I

have no problems. You say, "But the earth is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. If God would just suddenly stop the earth, man everybody would go flying off you know!" Well, you can, you can slow from a thousand miles an hour, down to zero in about ten minutes, without disturbing too much, without having to break too hard. You're going a hundred miles an hour in your car, and you can break the thing down to a, a stop, in you know a mile or so distance. So God could, I mean God's not dumb, He's not gonna just Boop! You know, and stop the thing, and everybody fly off! I mean, do it in an orderly way. Of course He doesn't have to spin it again with a thrust, He could start the thing up sort of slow, and buildup the momentum again. You're going to be amazed when you find out how big God is! When you find out just how powerful God is. He is not controlled by the universe, He controls the universe. I can hardly wait to find out how wrong a lot ofour brilliant scientists are. We've already found that out! My in just, in my li

fetime they've been proven wrong in so many of their postulations. Their concepts in all of the universe. Even our fly by Jupiter, and ah, God's done some realfascinating things. With Saturn, God sort of interwove those rings, just to really confuse them. I love it! He's done a lot of interesting things out there, that, that just have us totally astounded. We think we've got it all figured out, and then we look closer, and we say, "Well no, that couldn't be. My! Must be this...", you know. They're always speculating. Many of their speculations have already proven to be false, as we gain further knowledge of the subject. Actually, remember before the lunar landing, all of the concern by the scientists that thespace shuttle, or the space lab was gonna sink into seventeen feet of lunar dust



? You know, "And we just might lose the thing in that lunar dust. Because, scientifically we know that the moon has been there for at least four billion years,and possibly as many as twelve billion, and it doesn't really have an atmosphere to consume the meteorites, and so all of this meteorite dust, from all of the exploding meteorites that have struck the moon, throughout these twelve billion years or so, it must have at least, seventeen feet of dust!" So they had all thepreparations of this thing just dropping into the dust! Blowing dust all over the place. There was a couple of inches. Ha, ha! "Oh! Does that mean then that the moon hasn't been there for twelve...", "Oh no, no, no. Takes twelve billion years for a man to evolve from a protozoa to his present state. So we've gotta have twelve billion years. Because we know evolution is true. We just don't understand why there isn't more dust!" "Can't be that the moon is a lot younger than wethought it was." Figures don't lie, but liars sure can figure! Doesn't bother me how God did it, I believe that it happened, because the Bible says so. That's all I need. Now at this time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he heard that he had been sick (20:12). So there came these envoys from Babylon. Now at this time, Babylon was just a little province, and it was being harassed by Assyria. In fact, it was sort of under the control of Assyria. This Baladan had made about three abortiveattempts to revolt against Assyria. In sending to Hezekiah, the probable purpose was to form an alliance against Assyria. Because Assyria was the world power at that time, and most of the nations had been subdued by Assyria. So, Assyria was too strong for any single nation to overthrow, and he no doubt, was looking for an alliance with Hezekiah. He had heard of the strength of the kingdom under He

zekiah, how Judah had become Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7121 5 so strong, and how actually, a hundred and eighty five Assyrian soldiers were wiped out, when they came against Jerusalem in the siege. So he was looking, no doubt, for a sort of military alliance, that together they might join against Assyria. And so, hearing that Hezekiah was sick, he sends a present to him. And Hezekiah hearkened to them, and he showed them all of his house, the precious things, the silver, the gold, and the spices, [Which were again, in that day, a sign of wealth.] the precious oils, he showed him his armory, and all that found in his treasures: there was nothing in all of his house or dominion that he didn't show. [These guys. Was it showing off? Was it that he wanted to say, "Hey I can be a strong ally to you". Or was it that he was looking himself, for an alliance, because Assyria was still a threat to him. Even though Isaiah said, "Don't trust in the arm of flesh, trust in the L

ord, the Lord will deliver you from the Assyrians". Is it that he is sort of looking, to perhaps forge this alliance with Babylon, against Assyria? We don't know, but anyhow, he showed them everything. His armory, and his wealth and all that he had.} And then came Isaiah the prophet to king Hezekiah, and he said, Whatdid these men say to you? and from whence did they come unto thee? [He answers the second question first, sort of avoiding the first question.] He said, They've come from a far country, even from Babylon. ["A long way off!" And Isaiah pressed the first question again.] And he said, And what have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in my house have they seen: nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them. And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord. Behold, the days will come, that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shallbe carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord (20:12-17). Here

is the first prophetic indication that Babylon would be the conqueror of the southern kingdom, of Judah. Assyria had already conquered the northern kingdom. Ifyou were there at the time, and if you were a analyst and all, and if you, you know were looking at the world powers, and all of this, you would say, "Well surely that major threat to Judah", and if you were prophesying out of your own head, you'd be prophesying that Judah would fall to Assyria. That would be the logical assumption. But Isaiah is speaking from the Lord, he's prophesying. "And it will not be Assyria that conquers Judah, it will be Babylon." Now, as time goes on, Isaiah in his prophecies, are, is going to make a lot of declarations concerning Babylonian's conquering of Jerusalem. Jeremiah who prophesied a short while



passions.] and he placed it right in the temple, the house of the Lord, [I meanthis guy was totally evil!] and he reigned for fifty five years in Jerusalem (21:1-7), They never could completely recover, though under Josiah, his grandson, there was a spiritual reform, they never could recover from the damage that was done from Manasseh, and he sealed the fate of the kingdom. He actually sealed their fate. Now, Hezekiah received the word of the Lord, "You're gonna die, and not live". He prayed, he cried, he wept, he chattered like a dove, he mourned, I mean chattered like a sparrow, mourned like a dove, and God said, "Okay. I'll give you fifteen more years". During that fifteen years, this horribly wicked son was born. Had he died at that time, it could be that the history of the nation could've been changed. At least Manasseh would never had, had this horrible reign.Is there such a thing as the permissive will of God, versus the direct will of God? Is there such a thing as my insisting that God do something, which only proves to be to my own detriment? If I demand that God does things, a thing a certain way, and God in His love, and in His patience, sort of, in a sense, acquiesces to my insistence. Where I am sort of usurping my authority over God. My desireover God's, and my will over God's. "God I don't care what your will is. This is what I want you to do!" And, can I enter into a shadowy realm of God's permissive will. God permits me to do it, but it's not His direct will for my life. I think that a powerful case can be made for this. I do believe that there are manypeople who are living in the permissive will of God, rather than the direct will of God. In other words, they're living far below the standards that God would have them to live. There are always adverse consequences. When I do not acquiesce to the will of God, when I insist, "I'm gonna go this way. Now God please, go a

long with me. Cause I'm gonna go this way. And I want you to go with me, but I'm going this way". You remember when Balaam prayed unto the Lord, when the messengers had come and said, "Balaak the king wants you to come and curse these people that are coming into his land", and Balaam prayed to the Lord, and He said, "Thou shalt not go to the king, neither shalt thou curse them". Balaam went out and said, "I can't come fellas, and I can't curse them. They're God's people, andI'm not gonna do it". The king sent other messengers, loaded down with expensive gifts. They said, "The king desires that you come to him, and just advise him and give him counsel concerning these people passing through the land". Balaam prayed again, I think if we could've heard his prayer after he saw all the loot. "You know Lord, come on! Please Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7121 7 Lord, oh you can't keep, Lord I've gotta go, Lord!", you know, and the Lord finally said, "Okay, Go." But the Lord

wasn't pleased with his going. Because the angel of the Lord stood in the backwith a drawn sword. He was in the permissive will of God. God permitted him to go, but was not pleased with his going. I think that, that's possible. I think that we can insist on our way, and we can enter into this realm of the permissivewill of God, rather than the direct will of God, and we suffer as the result. Or, as was the case with Hezekiah, the nation suffered as a result. Because Manasseh, this horribly evil king, was born three years after God extended his life for fifteen years. "He was twelve years old when he began to reign." According toextra biblical sources, he was the one that ordered Isaiah, the prophet, to be sawed in two. Isaiah the prophet, who had led his father, who had been such a powerful influence upon his father. Who was probably the spiritual force behind the tremendous reformation by Hezekiah. Isaiah this man of God, ordered, when he came to Manasseh, no doubt to rebuke him for the things he was doing, Manasseh ord

ered that he be sawed in two. So, in the book of Hebrews, it talks about those of whom the world was not worthy, who were sawn asunder, means that they just sawed them in two. They believe that it was a reference to Isaiah, who was orderedsawed in two, by this wicked Manasseh. I'll tell you, for one, I am not interested in the permissive will of God for my life, I want the direct will of God formy life. Because I am convinced that God knows better than I, what's best for me. I'm always reticent, reluctant to insist on my way. Lest I move from the direct will of God, to the permissive will of God, into that shadowy..., I'm not interested in the permissive will of God. I want God's direct will for me. So Manasseh, we get into the evils that he did. Actually all of the things that were done



in the northern kingdom of Israel, before it fell, he did them all! In fact, in Jeremiah, chapter nineteen, we are told concerning this causing their childrento be put in the fire, burning their children. Verse four, the Lord said, "Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place", that is the temple, which we read that he put idols in the temple itself. Now, that's worse than anything that has been done. Athaliah had built another temple, and had idols near by. She just let the temple of God just sort of go to ruin. Others had built idols around Jerusalem. No one had dared to be so sacrilegious, as to put pagan idols right in the temple of God, and a nude statue of the Ashtoreth, within the Holy of Holies. Horrible desecration by Manasseh! "And it's because they have forsaken me, they've estranged this place, and have burned incense in it, unto other gods." Talking about the temple. They've made it strange to God, they've burned incense to other gods. "Whom neither they, nor their fathers have known, nor thekings of Judah. They've filled this place with the blood of innocence. For theyhave built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire, for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind." So they were burning their children unto Baal. According to Jeremiah, I mean according to uh, Ezekiel, there in the valley of Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, just at the southeastern portion of the city of Jerusalem, according to Ezekiel, the prophet, the fires were continually burning. In other words, theywere constantly burning their children down there, just one after another. The fires, they continually burned their children. You say, "How can they do that?" They, the little gods were so designed as to hold the children. They would put the gods in the fire, and heat them up until they were red hot, then they would la

y the children in the arms. Then, as the children would burn, they would fall on down through the arms, into the fire. As their parents stood by worshiping Molech, and Baal. For this cause, God ordered their destruction. These are the things that the people that lived in the land before them were doing. These were thethings that sealed the fate of a society. But if there is a progression, there is first of all, the opening of the door to pornography. The grove, the Ashtoreth. The worship of the goddess Ashtoreth, in the Hebrew, Ashorem, in the Greek, Aphrodite, in the, in Rome, Venus, the sexual goddess. In America, Madonna, at the present time. The worship of this woman, who is the epitome of sexual enticement. Who does all kinds of horrible things on stage. While in Costa Mesa here, did unspeakably horrible things. Simulating oral copulation with one of the guitarists, when she was on stage here in Costa Mesa. Yet the people paid big sums of money to go and hear her, to watch her, to get excited. It's the same thing they

were doing. When you have this kind of sexual excitement, through pornography, through the, and they had it in those days. They didn't have printing presses like we have, and so they did it with statues, Edited & Highlighted from "The WordFor Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7121 8 images. The female statues in all types of provocative positions. Sometimes, male and female together, then as it progressed, it was male, and male. For these things, God destroyedthe nation. For these things, God destroyed the nation of Israel, for these things God will soon be destroying the nation of Judah. For these things, God destroyed the nations that were before them. For these things, God destroyed Greece. For these things God destroyed Rome. Now, when you have this kind of sexual freedom, and sexual activities, the by product is unwanted pregnancies. In those days, they were not scientifically developed enough to have abortions. So they would have the babies, but then after the babies were born, they would bring them dow

n, and they would burn them in the fires, unto their gods, Molech, and Baal. Itwas just getting rid of the unwanted babies. Today, we are a little more cultured. We burn them in the womb, with saline solution, but we're doing the same thing! Well, you see the one leads to the other. Free sex, freedom of sexual expression, pornography leads to unwanted pregnancies. Illegitimate children. They become a problem to the society. So the society must get rid of them. And, 1,000,500 were aborted in the United States, last year. Tell me we are not worshiping Molech, tell me we're not worshiping Baal. Tell me we're not worshiping Ashorem. Don't kid yourself! Tell me God will be lenient, He'll let it pass, He's asleep, He's unaware, He doesn't care. Not so. He is merciful, He is patient, He is longs



uffering. But He's also, just. America will get her just deserts. If we don't repent and change, it will be very soon. Manasseh created the die, that they could not break. The things that his father had undone, he did. The high places he tore down, Manasseh built. The images his father destroyed, Manasseh created new ones. Verse seven. He set the graven image of the Ashorem [This female sex goddess.] that he had made in the house, of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all thetribes of Israel, I'll put my name forever. [In this very place, he put this idol, image, of this female sex goddess.] Neither [he said] will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave to their fathers; only [These promises God said, "My face will be here forever, and I'll not move them out of the land,] if [Conditional promise.] they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all of the law that my servant Moses commanded them. But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel (21:7-9). They were worse than those nations that God had destroyed before them! So the Lord spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh the king ofJudah has done these abominations, and has done more wickedness than all of theAmorites, which were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols.Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever hears of it, both of his ears shall tingle. [In other words, "It'll bring pain to your ears, when you hear what I'm gonna do". The suffering, the pain, the agony that these people are gonna go through!] For I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, [God is no respecter. God i

s saying, "I judged Samaria for these things, I'm gonna judge Judah".] and the plummet of the house of Ahab: I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, and wiping it, turns it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; they shall become a prey and a spoil to all of their enemies; Because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord (21:10-16). Now, we are also told, and this was the final straw. We are also told,that next to the temple of God, he set up this place of worship of the female god, and had these priestesses, which were nothing but prostitutes, that would, well the worship of the god was in all kinds of lewd, and lascivious sexual acts.

But then also, beside these priestesses, which were prostitutes, there were also the homosexuals, that came out in the open. They came out of the closet, and they too were parked next to the temple of God. This was the final straw, when they did this, God said, "That's it", and God allowed them to be destroyed. It seems like the final movement in the death of a nation, if you will look at it froma historic standpoint, is when a nation becomes so morally corrupt, that the homosexuals become brazen, and begin to parade, and Edited & Highlighted from "TheWord For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7121 9 begin to not beashamed of the things that they do, but brazenly flaunt their homosexual preferences. This is what happened in Sodom. This is what happened in Judah, as we will get to the history, as we find it in Chronicles. This is what happened in Greece. This is what happened in Rome, and if you're a student of history, you know that I tell you the truth. Look where we are today, in the United States. I mean

the final abomination, we can't last much longer. The rest of the acts of Manasseh, all that he did, his sin, they're written in the book of chronicles. [We'llget it.] Manasseh slept with his fathers, was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. [Now Amon was just as bad as his dad.] He was twenty two years old when he began to reign, he reigned only for two years. [Thank God, and it's a blessing to Jerusalem.] And his mother's name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. [Jotbah.] Andhe did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh did. He walked in all the ways that his father walked, and he served the idols thathis father served, and he worshiped them: And he forsook Jehovah the God of his



fathers, and walked not in the way of Jehovah. And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew him in his own house. And the people of the land slew all of them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land madeJosiah his son king in his stead. And the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? He was buried in the sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead (21:17-26). Now Josiah, interestingly enough, good king. Interesting, I mean man, you got such tremendous contrast here! Hezekiah, good king. His father, Ahaz, evil king. Manasseh horrible king. Amon, a horrible king, but he only lasted two years. Now, Josiah come to the throne, a good king, and because of him, the nation is spared for awhile. But after his death, whew! Down hill! Down and out! We'll follow the progression, as we continue through the book of II Kings. So much for us to learn! You've heard that history repeats itself. In a sensethat is true, because though times have changed, man hasn't. If man will followa certain progression. As you open one door, it forces the other, and the other, and the other, and they're like dominoes, you tilt the first one, and they allgo down the line. The one thing follows the other. When you open the door to one form of worship of pagan gods, and the worship of sex is the worship of a pagan god, and goddess. You open that door, then all of these other things fall intoline. They sort of necessitate the other. If the Supreme Court opens the door to pornography, and to freedom of sex expression. Then they've got to open the door to abortions, because the one, leads to the other. Unwanted pregnancies. So, we see that progression, and history repeating itself. We can see it happening here. Apart from a divine sovereign work of God, the days of this nation are numbe

red. Perhaps in my lifetime, perhaps not in my lifetime. But I don't rejoice inthat, and say, "Oh good it won't happen in my life", because I have kids, and grandkids around, that I'm deeply concerned about. So you know what I'm praying, "Jesus come and get your church, and then come and bring your judgement". I'm ready for the Lord to take His church out of this mess, and I believe He will, before He allows His judgement to fall. But believe me, His judgement is pending, and our nation deserves it. Let's pray. Father, it's solemn, it's serious, the sins of the nation, as we look Lord, at the downward spiral. We see the abominations that are taking place within the United States today. Lord our hearts are sick, when we see how people have defiled Your name. Rebelled against Your law. Have sought to put You out of the public consciousness, so that they can do these things without any feelings of guilt or remorse. So they can abort all of these children, without any pangs of conscience. So they can live immoral lifestyles, wi

thout feeling guilty. Lord we see that You've already begun Your judgement. ForYou are not mocked. We see Lord, how the AIDS epidemic has begun to take it's toll. We realize Lord, that the plague has already started within the land. Lord,help us, as Your people, to turn to You with all of our hearts. For we know that when the judgements of the Lord are in the land, it will cause His people to turn to righteousness. Lord, being Your people, help us that we will turn to righteousness. In Jesus' name. Amen. Over, and over, and over, the prophet sent by God said to the people, "Get right with God". Our word to you tonight is, "Get right with God". As Isaiah said unto the king, "Set your house in order", and the time has come. You better get your house set in order, get right with God, get right with your fellow man, but the one includes the other. You can't be right with God, without being right with your fellow man. You can't Edited & Highlightedfrom "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7121 10 love

God, and hate your fellow man. Set your house in order. Because you don't have much time. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7121 11 c:\users\dave\desktop\chuck smith\ii kings\7122 2 Kings 22-23.txt 2 Kings 22-23 Tape #7122 II Kings 22-23 By Chuck Smith Turn to II Kings, chapter twenty two, as we get into the reign of Josiah. Josiah was just eight years old when he began to reign, [His grandfather, Manasseh, was the most wicked king that Judah had. However, as wicked as Manasseh was, there seemed to be some sort of repentance in his later years, and God forgave him. Now if you'rewondering about yourself, and if God will forgive you, read about Manasseh. I mean this guy was totally bad, totally evil, and yet God forgave him. Let me tell



you something, if I were God, I wouldn't have forgiven him. But God is so gracious, and I think God forgave him just to show people, that if He would forgive Manasseh, He would forgive anybody! It'll give you hope if you're wondering whether or not you've gone too far. Just read about this fellow Manasseh, and God forgave him, when he repented. However, Manasseh's son, Amnon, Amon, who reigned inhis stead, was just as evil as his father. However, he was cut short, he was assassinated after two years of reign. So now, Josiah began to reign, he was only eight years old,] and he reigned for thirty one years in Jerusalem. His mother'sname was Jedidah, and she was the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath (22:1). Now Boscath was near Ekron, if that'll help you any. Ekron was one of the major cities of the Philistines. So, uh. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, [Now here he is only eight years old, but yet evidently under the influence again, of good men. "He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord."] and walked in all the way of David his father, and he turned not aside to the right or to the left. [That is, he didn't deviate from the straight path. Great testimony of a man! He walked a straight path. He didn't waver in the path, but he walked a straight path.] And so it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan [Now of course in his eighteenth year, he would have been, now twenty six years old."And he sent Shaphan"] the son of Azaliah,the son of Meshullam, to the scribe, to the house of the Lord saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may total the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered from the people: And let them deliver it to the hands of the doers of the work, that they might have the oversight of the house of the Lord: and let them give it to the doers of

the work which is in the house of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house, [You)] Give it to the carpenters, the builders, the masons, that they might buy timber and hewn stone and repair the house. Howbeit there was no reckoning with them for the money that was delivered into their hand, because they were faithful men (22:2-7). During the reign of Manasseh, the temple was not only in a state of disrepair, but under the reign of Manasseh, the temple had been desecrated. They built altars for Baal right in the temple. They set up images of Ashorem right within the temple, and it had been horribly desecrated, and just allowed to lapse into a state of disrepair. So the purpose of Josiah was to repair again,the house of the Lord. To replaster, and to just refurbish the thing, it havingbeen allowed to fall in such a state of disrepair. And so Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. [Sort of an interesting thing that under the long reign of Manasseh, yo

u remember he reigned for fifty some years. Evil wicked king. During that period of fifty some years, of over a generation passed, and they actually had lost track of the law. Of course they didn't have publishing, everything was done by hand, and thus um, as they were going through the rubble there in the temple, they found a copy of the law of the Lord. So Hilkiah announced to Shaphan this glorious discovery, as they were repairing the temple, cleaning up the rubble, they had come across a copy of the law of Moses.] And so he gave the book to Shaphan,who read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and he brought the king word again, and said, Your servants have gathered the money that was found in thehouse, they've delivered it to the hand of those that do the work, and those that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has given to me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the boo

k of the law, that he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, [And I hate these names. Ha, ha!] and Shaphan the scribe, [Why can't they just call them Joe,and Jim, and. Ha, ha!] And he said, Go and inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all of Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us (22:8-13). Now in the book of the law of the Lord, Deuteronomy, God declared all of the things that He would do to them, if they forsook Him. "If you begin to worship these other gods, if you turn your back on me..."



, and so forth, God pronounced in Deuteronomy, the horrible judgements. "I willdrive you out of the land that I have given to thee, and you will be driven throughout the world. You'll become a curse, and a byword." God told them all of the judgements that were gonna come upon them, and Josiah recognizing the justice of God, realized that they had done those things that God had forbidden. That they were just ripe for the judgement of God, and it shook him, when he heard the law of God. He realized how the law was almost a prophecy. Because those very things that the law had forbidden, were the very things that had been done. Thus God had pronounced what would happen to them for doing these things, and Josiah knew they were guilty, and knew that they were ripe for the judgement of God. So he asked them to go and inquire of the prophets. Now up until the time of David,they inquired, through the time of David, they inquired of the Lord from the high priest, with the Urim and the Thummim. After David, there came the period of the prophets, and they would go to the prophets. There were two prophets who prophesied during the time of Josiah's reign. One was Zephaniah, but he prophesied in the early years of Josiah's reign. Jeremiah began his prophesies in about thetwelfth year of the reign of Josiah. So you're gonna have to sort of in your minds, tie in now, Jeremiah, and the first part of Jeremiah, with this particular portion of history, when Josiah was king. Now, we're going to read of the reformations by Josiah. They were pretty thorough. During his reign there was a returnof the people to the worship of Jehovah. He was quite thorough in getting rid of the false places of worship. The pagan altars, the images of Baal, and Ashorem, and all, he, he was faithful in getting rid of that, and the people returned to the temple to worship God. But, as there was this sort of a spiritual renewal,

inasmuch as the people you might say, were going back to church again. It was only a surface renewal. It wasn't a deep repentance and a turning to God with allof their hearts. It was because the king, a popular king, was requiring it, so it was just, it was the political thing to do. Thus the Lord told Jeremiah, "Go down to the house of the Lord, and as the people are going in, cry aloud to themsaying, Trust not in lying vanities, saying, The house of the Lord! The house of the Lord! The house of the Lord, are these!" So, Jeremiah was to go down and to rebuke them for the shallowness of their return to God. It wasn't a deep, spiritual conviction, but just, it became you know, the "in" thing to do. So he cried out, Jeremiah cried out against this. But you have to put this period of history with Jeremiah the prophet, and Jeremiah's gonna carry us through. He'll be prophesying during the rest of the book of II Kings. From Josiah onward Jeremiah was prophesying, as he watched the death of the nation of Israel. So there is this

surface movement towards God, under the reign of Josiah. Now Jeremiah came from Anathoth, and it could be that at this point, he was still in Anathoth, and thus they did not inquire of Jeremiah. Zephaniah could, at this point, already be dead. So they inquired of the prophets concerning what God had said in His law, and concerning their guilt. "God what will you do?", and "What are you going to do?" So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahiakam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, [(There they are, but)] (and she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) [That is in the school of the prophets. Now interestingly enough, Huldah was the prophetess at that time that, who walking with the Lord, had the mind of the Lord. Now, Miriam was a leader of the women in their worship of God, during the time of Moses, she took an active role of leadership. Of course later, Deborah became one of the prominent women of Israel, judging Israel. Now Huldah, the prophete

ss. When we go to the new testament, we find Anna, the prophetess who was therein the temple of the time that Jesus was brought for His dedication, and had been, the Lord had spoken to her concerning uh, the Messiah. So, women of prominence, who exercised ministries. Ministries such as prophetesses, and as Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7122 2 with Miriam, a prophetess, or leading also the people in worship. I say that because there are those that would forbid women any kind of role or office within the church. Surely the bible doesn't, and we shouldn't. "So they went to Huldah, the prophetess",] they communed with her. And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me. Thus saith the Lord,



Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: Because they have forsaken [And God's gonna bring evil, this is the reason. "Because they have forsaken,"] me (14-16), Now this was basically one of the first messages Jeremiahgave. God said, through Jeremiah, "Israel hath committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have hewn out for themselves,cisterns. Empty cisterns that can hold no water." Israel is much like Southern California, almost a desert. It has just enough rain to keep it from being a desert. In the southern portion of Israel, you do have desert, much like our Mojavedesert, and all. It's extremely hot, and very deserty. Jerusalem gets probably twelve to fourteen inches of rain a year, as does the area around Tel Aviv. The area around Tel Aviv is much like southern California, and uh, the Sharon plain there, is just a lot like our weather, and a lot like southern California is. It's very fertile, and there is enough rain for some agriculture, but not like Oregon where you get tired of it. Because of the lack of rain, and the long summer months without rain, you'll find all over the land these huge cisterns. What they are, are caves that are carved by hand, out of solid rock. They would direct the flow of rain with little dams, and sluices. They'd direct the flow of the rain, on into the cisterns. Then, in the summertime, the cisterns would serve as well. There would be the hole in the top, and the rope to drop your pan down in, and collect the water with the bucket, and so forth, and keep the water, the gardens watered. Thus, there are many areas, especially around the city of Jerusalem, where there are cisterns. Under the Sister of Mary's Convent there, there's huge cisterns underneath. In the cave of the, I mean of the burial place of the kin

gs there's an interesting set of cisterns there. Over in the mount of Olives, you'll find cisterns. They were reservoirs, where the rain water would be collected to be used during the summer. In the garden tomb area, quite a system of cisterns there, because it was a garden, and thus they would collect the water, and use it to keep the garden watered during the summertime. Cisterns, at best held water that over a period of time became stale. The little wiggle tails would form in it, and it was just a reservoir for keeping water. Now, there would be occasions where they would dig out or hew out these cisterns, out of the rock, buildall their little dams, and sluices, and to bring the water in. But, there wouldbe a fracture in the rock so that these cisterns wouldn't hold the water. They'd fill up, but then it would just seep on into the rock, and they wouldn't hold water. Broken cisterns. They represented years of labor, because they had to do it with hammer and chisel. I mean some of the cisterns, I've seen cisterns as lar

ge as the interior of the sanctuary here. Imagine that with a hammer and a chisel, in solid rock! It'd take you awhile. Sometimes after all of this expended labor, they'd discover that there was a fracture, a fissure in the rock, and it wouldn't hold the water. Now, there is also there in Jerusalem, springs of water. The Gihon spring, where the water is just constantly gushing out. That's called,living water. Whenever you have running water in a stream, or from a spring, the water that is running, Artesian well, that's called "living water". Now through Jeremiah, God said they'd done two evils. Number one, "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water", or running water. "They have cut out for themselves cisterns, but their cisterns can't hold water. They're broken cisterns, they can't hold water." What God is saying is that, "In following me, and worshiping me, there's life. It's like living water". Man has to worship something. That's just a part of our very make up. When men do not worship the true and the living

God, then they'll develop a philosophy, an ideal, whatever, and they'll begin to worship that. Broken cisterns. Religions, and look at all of the religions today. People are basically religious. But, what can you say about the religions? They can't hold water. That is, they can't satisfy your thirst, and when you're really in need, and you go to find help, it'll be dry. So God's complaint againstIsrael. So here, Huldah, the prophetess repeats it. God said the first thing...They have forsaken me, and in their broken cisterns, they have burned incense unto other Gods, that they Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7122 3 might provoke me to anger with all of the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place,



and shall not be quenched (22:17). In other words, "They've gone too far". I think there comes a point of no return, when they've gone too far. God said, "My wrath is kindled, and will not be quenched". But to the king of Judah which sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, As touching the words which you have heard; [That is the word of the law, which was read to him.] Because your heart was tender, and you have humbled yourself before the Lord, [Actually, we are told in Chronicles, not only did he tear his clothes, but he wept before God.] when you heard what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have rent your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. And behold therefore, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; for your eyes will not see all of the evil which I will bring upon this place. And so they brought the king the word of the prophetess (22:18-20). So it, "it's gonna come, judgement is gonna come, but because of your repentance, your tenderness, humbling yourself, your weeping before the Lord, it won't come in your lifetime. You will see peace during your reign". In other words, the judgement of God was forestalled, or prolonged, but it's surely going to fall. Someone asked me this past week if I thought it was too late for the United States, and I answered, "Yes, I really believe it's too late". I think our only hope is the forestalling of the judgement of God, by really turning to God with all of our hearts, and really seeking the Lord,I think that we can forestall the judgement. But, I really believe that it's too late to avert it. I believe that God is going to judge the United States, for the same reasons that He judged Israel, because we're guilty of doing the very sa

me things. We're just as guilty as Israel. A nation that began with dependence upon God. A nation that looked to God for strength and for help, as they foundedit. A nation when it became strong, turned its back upon God, and more and morewe see our nation turning its back upon the Lord. We've gone so far away from God. We have enshrined so many different idols, we've worshiped so many differentgods, that I really feel that it is, that the fire is kindled, and cannot be quenched. Chapter 23 So the king sent, and they gathered unto him all of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. [He put out a notice, "Get all the elders together".] And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all of the men of Judah andthe inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all of the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all of the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord (23:1-2). Now the effect upon the king was a spiritual renewal, he wept before God, sough

t the Lord. Now he gathers the people, that they also may hear the word of God.Oh the power of God's word! Jesus said to His disciples, "Now you are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you". I am rather amazed at how hard it isto find a church that teaches the Bible, when it is the word of God that is alive, and powerful! When it is the word of God that brings revival to the hearts of the people. So, "He gathered them together that they might hear the word of the Lord". And the king stood by the pillar, [And as this word was read, God, the word of the covenant again out of Exodus, as God said, "If you will do these things, then I will be your God". As they read the word of the covenant, when Mosesread it, the people said, "We will do all that God has commanded". They made that covenant with God, and God established a covenant with them. Now over the intervening years, they've broken that covenant with Him. But as the law was read, the king before the people,] made covenant with God, he vowed to keep the law of

God, and to walk after the Lord, to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and with all their soul, and to perform thewords of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stoodin agreement to the covenant (23:3). It's like, "All in favor, stand", and theyall stood, "that we will keep covenant with God". But as I said, it was only following the king. It was something that was not a, a genuine work in the heart of the people. I believe it was in the king himself. But, many people were just sort of hanger's on you know, it's uh, jump on the bandwagon. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7122 4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and the priests of the second order, and t



he keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all of thevessels that were made for Baal, and for the Ashorem [Or the Ashtoreth, or the Venus of the Romans] and for all of the host of heaven: and burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and then carried the ashes of them to Bethel (23:4). So they got rid of all of the trappings of these false pagan religions, that had been brought into the temple, by Manasseh, under his evil reign, andget them all out of there, burn them, and then carry their ashes clear on up toBethel. So the ashes cannot leech into the ground, around Jerusalem. And he putdown the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, [They got rid of all those idolatrous priests.] them also that burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. [Or the word "host" there, is mansions of heaven, or those, it refers to the zodiac, and those that were following the zodiac. As they had the different houses, the twelve houses of the zodiac. That's exactly what it's a reference to. Those that were following the stars, the zodiac, looking to their horoscopes for their guidance, and for direction. And he took all of these things out, and he got rid of them.] And he brought out the grove [That is the little image of the nude image of the Ashorem,] from the house of the Lord, and he took it outside of Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and he burned it at the brook Kidron, [And it was no doubt, of metal, because they,] ground it into small powder, and they cast the powder upon the graves of the children of the people. And he broke down the houses of the sodomites, [The male prostitutes, which were related to the worship of the groves, to the Ashorem. And I can't even tell in a mixed company the, the filthy, vile things that

you read in history, concerning these male prostitutes. They were the sodomites, the homosexuals, the male prostitutes. Of course you read today of their activities, and it's, it's nauseating.] that were by the house [And they were doing this right by the house of the Lord! They had this house of the sodomites, and the prostitutes of Ashorem, right near the temple of God, where the woman wove their hangings for the Ashorem. They would make these little embroidery type figurines, and hangings for this goddess, a female sex goddess.] and he brought out all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places where thepriests had burned the incense, [His great grandfather had destroyed them underManasseh they were put back into use, and now he again destroys the high places.] all the way from Geba to Beersheba, and he broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand in the gate of the city. Nevertheless the prie

sts of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren. And he defiled Tophedth, which is in the valley of Hinnom, that no man might cause his son or daughterto pass through the fires to Molech (23:5-10). In other words, the place where they were sacrificing their babies, burning them to death. He destroyed there inthe valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna. And he took away the horses that the kings ofJudah had given to the sun, the entering in of the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire (23:11). Now according to the ancient superstitions, the sun was carried on a chariot, drawn by horses, through the sky each day. It was a common worship among the ancients, the worship of the sun. And of the, they would have these horses and chariots, and supposedly they represented the horses and the chariots that carried the sun to the sky every day. They were objec

ts of worship, and veneration. They even had these in Israel, in Judah, and he got rid of those. The altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, the altars which Manasseh had made in the twocourts of the house of the Lord, [Which we read about during Manasseh's reign.]he did beat them down, broke them down from there, and cast the dust of them inthe Kidron brook. And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were onthe right hand of the mount of the corruption, [Mount of corruption was the mount of Olives, actually. That's where first of all Solomon had built high places for his wives. For he had married many wives from other nations, and they were used to worshiping on these high places, so he built them the high places, over on



the mount of Olives, opposite of Offel, there across the Kidron valley, on thesouthern slopes of the mount of Olives. It became known as the mount of corruption. That whole area of the mount of Olives became an area of pagan worship, allthe way Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7122 5 up to Scopus. So the right hand of the mount of Olives, looking across from Jerusalem. The right hand would be in the southern slopes, of the mount of Olives.] which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreththe abomination of the Zidonians, [This is that grove, the Ashorem of the Hebrew, the Ashtoreth of the Babylonians.] and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king, hedefiled all of these places where they had worshiped these pagan gods. And he broke in pieces the images, he cut down the groves, [The Ashorem] and he filled their places with the bones of men (23:12-14). Now, bones of human were considered unclean. If you would touch a bone, of a skeleton, you would be ceremonially unclean. You'd have to bathe, and you could not go into the temple for a day. You'd have to go through a ritual bathing, and then a purification rite, before youcould come to worship the Lord. He took these bones, and put them on these places, which was really just sort of to show his disdain for them, and to desecratethem. Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the highplace he broke down, and burned the high place, and stamped it into small to powder, and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchers that were there in the mount, and he sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchers, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of

the Lord which the man of God proclaimed to proclaim these words (23:15-16). Now, let's go back to I Kings, chapter thirteen. As we go back to I Kings, chapterthirteen, you're turning back three hundred, and twenty-five years of history. So we're going back before the United States was a nation. If we would go back, at the present time, the three hundred and twenty five years, we'd be going way back, in the 1600's. Here we read, "Behold there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord. (That is, by commandment from the Lord.) He came to Bethel: and Jeroboam, (Who was the first king of Israel, the northern tribes.) stood by the altar to burn incense". This altar that he made in Bethel had the golden calf, said, "This is the god that brought you out of Egypt". And this man of God, "Cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn

incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, thealtar will be torn, and the ashes there upon it shall be poured out. And when king Jeroboam heard this (You remember?) he stretched out his hand saying, Arrestthat man!". His hand froze. I mean he couldn't pull it back again. And he said to the young man, "Pray for me that God will heal me." And the young man prayed,and he was able to use his arm again. But, I want you to notice this, three hundred and twenty five years. Three hundred years before Josiah was born! This young man is prophesying at this altar in Bethel, saying to the king, "There shall arise a young child from the house of David, who will destroy this altar, those that worship, the priests that lead the worship, and he will burn bones of men upon it". How could he know that? How could he know the name, except by God. I mean this is specific prophecy that was fulfilled specifically. According to the He

brew language, it would appear, you see Josiah didn't have this prophecy. You say, "Well Josiah knew it was prophesied, so he went ahead and did it, you know".No. They had just found the law of Moses. They didn't have these other writingsat that point. Here is Josiah, fulfilling exactly what was said would happen, over three hundred and twenty five years earlier. So, God's word. Man! You can besure it will come to pass. So, "The altar that was in Bethel". Verse fifteen, back to our text in twenty-three. "Which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place, he broke down. Burned the high place, stamped it to small powder, and he burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied these sepulchers that were there in the mount, he



sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchers, and burned them upon the altar,and polluted it, according to the word of the Lord." Then he said, What is the writing that I see there? [So on one of the sepulchers there was this little tablet with an inscription on it.] And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things thatyou have done against the altar of Bethel. ["That's where that young prophet was buried, who came up and prophesied these things. And it's the inscription overhis Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7122 6 sepulchre there."] And he said, Let him alone; don't let anyman move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bone of the prophet that had come out of Samaria. [And deceived him into coming back.] And all of thehouses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all of the acts that he had done in Bethel. And he slew all of the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, [Just as was prophesied by this young man.] and burned men's bones upon them, and he returnedto Jerusalem (23:17- 20). Now, during this period of history, in which Josiah was reigning, the Sidonians, had begun massive invasions, and the Assyrians were attacked by both the Babylonians, who began to rise in power, and by the Midians. So that, the Assyrians who had made Judah and Israel, well they had conquered Israel, sort of made Israel, a vassal state, and were controlling over the territory of Israel, were having their own problems at home. Thus they could not exercise the control over Samaria any longer, and so Josiah took advantage of the fact that in the area of Assyria, there were wars going on between the Assyrians, t

he Midians, and the Babylonians, and of course, the Sidonians also were invading the area. So, because of all of the turmoil up there, Assyria had to let go ofher hold on all of these little provinces. Josiah just sort of had a free reignin his territory. He was able to move on up into Samaria, into Bethel which wasa part of the area of Samaria, and actually sort of bring it back under his reign for a time. Until later, of course the Babylonians came down, and they were the ones that conquered over Judah. So the [people, the] king commanded all of the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of the covenant. [In the law it was told that they were to have this passover feast. Present themselves before the Lord.] Surely there was not held such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all of the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; [I mean, this was the bash to end all bashes! I mean, they never in their history had a passover, with as

many lambs and so forth, sacrificed, and with the greatest celebration as was ordered by Josiah.] But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, where this passover was held to the Lord in Jerusalem. Moreover the workers with familiar spirits,[Those that had been into Satanic worship. Those that had been into witchcraft.] the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all of the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah, and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which was written in the book of that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. And like unto him there was no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all of his heart, and with all of his soul, and with all of his might, according to all of the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him (23:21-25). He really had a tremendous heart towards God. Serving God with singleness of heart, and ordering these spiritual reforms. Notwithstanding [In spite of this. It was too late!] the Lord turned not fr

om the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all of the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him. [So Manasseh took them too deep, too far. There was no turning back.] And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there (23:26-27). It's gonna come. Jerusalem, Judah, the temple, all gonna be destroyed. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the chronicles of the kings of Israel? [Yes they are,and we'll get into Josiah again, when we get into II Chronicles. In fact we geta few more details in Chronicles, than what we have here.] Now during his days t



he Pharaohnechoh the king of Egypt came up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: [He was trying to take advantage of the fact that Assyria was being attacked in all directions.] but Josiah went out to meet Pharaohnechoh, and he was killed in battle up near Megiddo. And his servants carried him in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought the corpse back to Jerusalem, and they buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah,and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead. And Jehoahaz was twenty three years old when he began to reign; he reigned only for three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that hisfather's had done (23:28-32). Here the tremendous spiritual reformation, but asI told you, it was only surface with the people. Josiah's Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7122 7 heart was in it, but with the people it was only surface, as is pointed out when you get to Jeremiah, that it was just with the people, not a genuine, real move towards God. Thus they're able to lapse back immediately, at the death of Josiah. Here comes along his son Jehoahaz, and the people lapse immediately back into the old practices. And so Pharaohnechoh captured him put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he put the land to tribute [So he conquered over the land, and taxed them,] a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah the king in the [place of, uh, in the,] room of Josiah's father, and turned his nameto Jehoiakim (23:33-34), So we have four kings after Josiah. Short reigns, we're at the end of the rope, the nation is just about to go over the falls. It's jus

t about through. God has withdrawn His hand of blessing, His hand of protection, and now they must face the judgement of God for their sins. In Jeremiah you'llfollow the reigns of these kings and the declination downward, as Jeremiah was the instrument that God used to oversee the death of the nation. That surely must have been one of the most difficult jobs any prophet was called to do. To prophecy to the nation, during its final days. To watch it die. Still the people persisting in their evil ways, not turning from their wickedness. So Jehoiakim gavethe silver and the gold to the Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the moneyaccording to the commandment of Pharaoh: and he exacted the silver and the goldfrom the people of the land, to everyone according to his taxation, to give it to the Pharaohnechoh. And Jehoiakim was twenty five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. [Gotta get that "iah, iah" in there, "iah".] And

he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, [As you'll really read inJeremiah.] according to all that his father's had done (23:35-37). So, corruption sets in again, as the nation is taking now, its final plunge to its destruction. Tragic, always tragic when you see a nation forsaking God. "For righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." Again, through Jeremiah, as God was crying out against Judah. He said, "Check, look at history. Is there any nation that actually forsakes its gods? Yet those nations don't serve a true God, but at least their faithful to them! Nations don't change their gods, which aren't even gods!" But, God said, "You've forsaken me". Just how is it that people would forsake the true and the living God, and yet will not forsake the false gods? They maintain a loyalty to their false gods. You notice how the Indians, in the United States, are trying to revive their tribal types of worship. Don't want to forsake their gods, and there's a big move among the Indians in the U

.S. to go back to the worship of their forefathers, and back to the, the gods that they worshiped, their forefathers worshiped. They don't like to forsake their gods. Yet people turning against the true and the living God. Forsaking the true and the living God. Sort of unthinkable, but yet that was the case. But the tragedy is that if a nation will worship God, and serve God, that nation will be blessed beyond measure. There is such a potential for greatness, for strength. For people to live together, in prosperity and in abundance. The potential is there. But the wasted potential, because it seems, in the time of prosperity, in the time of strength, is when they feel independent of God, and they begin to turnfrom God, and forsake God, and pleasure becomes their god, or power becomes thei



city, made them a vassal state. He changed the name of Josiah's son to Jehoiakim, and he allowed him to reign upon the throne. Now as you're dealing with the reign of Jehoiakim, he was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, he reigned for eleven years. You're dealing now with the bulk of the prophecy of Jeremiah. Jeremiah prophesied during the reign of Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. He was a bad king, and he allowed the people again to revert to idolatry, and the sins of Manasseh. Those sins for which the nation was doomed. So in chapter twenty four... In his days Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years: then hereturned and rebelled against him (24:1). So, as Nebuchadnezzar came, he saw that his forces were outnumbered, he realized there was no sense in trying to holdoff against Nebuchadnezzar. So he submitted unto Nebuchadnezzar, and thus the city of Jerusalem was spared the siege. But the Lord sent against him the bands of the Chaldees, the bands of the Syrians, and the bands of the Moabites, and thechildren of Ammon, and he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by the servants the prophets. And surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, [That is, the things that Manasseh had introduced. The worship of Baal, the sacrifice of their children unto the idols, and all of these things.] according to all that he did (24:2-3). Now, when Nebuchadnezzar first came, Jehoiakim surrendered, or submitted to him. Nebuchadnezzar went away.Three years later, Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. Now what had happened, is that the Babylonians had other problems. Nebuchadnezzar at this time was engaged personally in the siege of the city of Tyre. There was so many problems

with the Babylonian kingdom, they were being attacked by different groups, that Jehoiakim probably felt secure in rebelling. "Why should I submit to him? He'sgot his own problems, and he can't get back here for awhile." So, Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. So Nebuchadnezzar then asked the other nations that were vassal states to Babylon, to go ahead and to attack Jerusalem. So that iswhere you read, "They sent the bands of the Syrians, and the Moabites, and the Ammonites against Judah, to destroy it". So he turned loose the neighboring states to attack. But, they were not able to take Jerusalem, and so Nebuchadnezzar came again to Jerusalem, and the Lord declares that, "Because of these sins that Manasseh introduced", that were prevalent again. Also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would notpardon (24:4). In the book of Jeremiah, we read that there was a prophet by thename of Urijah, who prophesied against Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim had him put to death

. He also sought to put to death, Jeremiah and Baruch. But Jeremiah and Baruch hid themselves, and Jehoiakim could not find them. When we get to Jeremiah, we'll expound the story, but Jeremiah had Baruch as his scribe, as his secretary, and he dictated on this scroll, the judgements that God pronounced against Jerusalem. He had Baruch take it to the temple, and read the scroll. When some of the men heard the reading of the scroll of judgement against Jerusalem, they got together the princes, and they said, "We want you to hear the words of this scroll".So he read it to them, and they said, "We need to get this to the king", and sothey started to read the scroll to the king, and the king took his knife and cut the thing, and threw it into the fire! Then Jeremiah and Baruch wrote a secondscroll with the same thing, and said, "Though you may try to get rid of the pronounced judgements, you can't". You know, "Though you may burn the scroll in thefire, still the judgements are going to come. You can't escape the judgement". S

o Jehoiakim was guilty of shedding the innocent blood. During his reign, again they began to offer their children in the fires, to Molech. And, of course the killing of the prophets of God, who spoke against these acts. Now the rest of theacts of Jehoiakim, all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? [And they are also written in the prophecies of Jeremiah.] So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned inhis stead (24:5-6). Jehoiachin was also known as Jechoniah, or in some places as Coniah. Jechoniah, Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim. And he, . The king of Egypt did not come again anymore out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken allof the territory from the river of Egypt [Not the Nile that would be a, but a wa



die down towards Egypt.] unto the river Euphrates and all that pertained to theking of Egypt. [So where they could've been expecting Pharaohnechoh to come andhelp them, he did not come again.] Jehoiachin eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he only reigned for three months. His mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done. And at the time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged (24:7-10). So a very short reign under Jehoiachin, or Jechoniah.Interesting prophecy in Isaiah, concerning this fellow Jechoniah. In the twentysecond chapter of Jeremiah, he prophecies against Jechoniah, and he predicts that there would not be any of his seed to sit upon the throne of Israel. Verse thirty. "Thus saith the Lord, right ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days. For no man of his seed shall prosper sitting on the throne ofDavid, or ruling anymore in Judah." So, Jechoniah did not have, because of thiscurse of the Lord, his son reigning in his stead. But instead his uncle reignedin his stead. Jechoniah was carried as a captive to Babylon, and his uncle was placed on the throne in his stead, by Nebuchadnezzar. Now the interesting thing about this fellow Jechoniah, and about this prophecy, is that when in the new testament, you have two of the gospels giving the genealogy for Jesus, the gospel of Matthew, as it records the genealogy of Joseph, Joseph was a descendant of Jechoniah. In Matthew it is of course called, Coniah, but it is Jechoniah, or Jehoiachin, and being a descendant of Jehoiachin, had Christ been the son of Joseph,he could not be the heir to the throne of David, because of the curse under Jeremiah, that, "Not any of his seed shall sit upon the throne of David forever". Hi

s line was cut off, and thus had Jesus been the son of Joseph, he could not, according to this prophecy of Jeremiah, sit on the throne of David. That is why Luke's gospel records for us, the genealogy of Mary, who also was a descendant of David, royal seed. Mary's line goes back through another route, so that she was not a descendant of Jechoniah. Thus, being of the royal seed, her son could be heir to sit upon the throne of David, and we know indeed that, that shall be the case. "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David, to order it, and to establish it in righteousness and in judgement." Some people wonder, "Why is it that in the new testament you have two genealogies for Jesus, and they are different?". It isbecause the one in Matthew is the genealogy of Joseph, but it would disqualify Jesus from being upon the throne of David. The other is the genealogy of Mary in

Luke's gospel, but bypassing in the genealogy Jechoniah, coming back to David by another line, it does then make Jesus an heir to the throne of David, and thusthe rightful King, to sit upon the throne of David. So a little interesting insight from Jeremiah the prophecy against this fellow, Jechoniah, or Jehoiachin. Now Nebuchadnezzar during his reign, came to Jerusalem, and he besieged the city.And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign (24:11-12). That is the eighth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. It was only the third month of the reign of Jehoiachin. When Nebuchadnezzar came, he had been besieged by these other little nations. They weren't able to do anything, but when Nebuchadnezzar himself came, probably with extra troops from Babylon, he realized that to try to hold off the Babylonian army was useless. Thus, he surrendered. He came out to Nebuchadnezzar. But

, Nebuchadnezzar took him as a captive to Babylon, and placed him in the prisonthere. But in his later years, as we get to the end of chapter twenty-five, we find that he was released from prison, and was allowed to have uh, to sit with the king in the court of Babylon. But at this time, "Nebuchadnezzar Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7123 2 carried away the servants, the princes, the officers, and the king of Babylon took him in the eight year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign". In this particular captivity, Daniel the prophet was also taken to Babylon. So now you're beginning to get into the time of the prophet Daniel, who was just a young man, carried away toBabylon while he was probably still in his teens. He was one of the princes in J



udah, and when he came to Babylon he was groomed in the schools, in order that he might be a counselor in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. So this is the time thatDaniel was taken, with his friends, Azariah, and the other two, I forget their Hebrew names, but they're more commonly known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed Nego. Babylonian names that were given to them by Nebuchadnezzar. So he carried [Atthis time.] the treasures of the house of the Lord, the treasures out of the king's house, he cut in pieces all of the vessels of gold which Solomon the king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. And he carried away all of Jerusalem, and all the princes, the mighty men of valour, even tenthousand captives, [Actually according to Josephus, it was 10,852 that he carried away to Babylon, at this time.] he carried away all the skilled craftsmen, the silversmiths, goldsmiths: [and all] and none remained, save the poorest sort of people of the land. [He left just the very common poor people.] And he carriedaway Jehoiachin to Babylon, the king's mother, the king's wives, his officers, the mighty of the land, those he carried away to captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even seven thousand, craftsmen, smiths a thousand, and all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. And the king of Babylon then made Mattaniah [His father] his father's brother king in his stead, [So none of his seed sat upon the throne, but rather his uncle.] and he changed his name to Zedekiah. Zedekiah was twenty one years old when he began to reign, he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did thatwhich was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, unt

il he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon (24:13-20). So Zedekiah was made king, but now he is rebelling also against the Babylonian reign. The writer makes note that it was, "of the Lord". God had given to Judah opportunities of repentance, and turning from their sins. "The Lord is slow to anger, plenteous in mercy", the scripture says. Over, and over, and over again, through the prophets, God pleaded with these people to turn from their sins, to follow after the Lord. God had declared in the beginning, when He made a covenant with this nation. "If you will follow me, if you willkeep my statutes, and my commandments, then I will bless thee, and you will be prosperous. But if you forsake me, then you will be taken captive. You'll be driven from this land that I have given to thee. And they'll carry thee away captive...", and all. All of this had been promised by God. In spite of the warnings, the people turned their backs on God, and would not repent. All kinds of vile, fi

lthy acts were going on. The sins of the time of Manasseh, the killing of the innocent children, the sacrificing them, of them to their gods Molech, in the fire. Things of this nature. The sodomites, or the homosexuals, the temple prostitutes, the pornography. It was all very common, and very prevalent at this time, as the nation was destroyed. Idolatry, the thing that god had forbidden. I was talking with professor Shiloh, who was in charge of the excavations of mount Offal. Just that area of the old city of David, that is just below the dung gate in Jerusalem. Going from the area of the dung gate, down to the pool of Siloam. They've done quite a bit of extensive archeological work there, and what they have uncovered is the city of Jerusalem, at the time of the Babylonian siege. The houses of the people that were destroyed by this Babylonian siege, when as we read right here, where the city was broken down and so forth, by Babylon, in this, in this next chapter. The interesting thing, professor Shiloh was showing me picture

s of the little idols. And he said, "We found hundreds upon hundreds of these little idols in every one of these little houses". They found the houses, they found the ashes where they burnt the city with fire, and they broke down the houses. In the rubble that they are now excavating, the rubble of the people of the time of Zedekiah's reign, the people that were destroyed by the judgement of God,there is the mute evidence of their idolatry in their houses. Scores of these little household gods. These little nude images and so forth, the Ashorem that the people worshiped. It's again just the indictment of God was for these things. Now it is interesting to me how that people are always wanting God, and others to be tolerant of their particular weakness of the flesh. I can be very judgmental



against people's problems, which I do not share. If Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7123 3 you have a particular weakness of the flesh, that I don't have, it's horrible, and I can bevery judgmental against you. But those weaknesses that I have, I want you to understand, I want you to be tolerant, I want you to say, "Well that's alright, you know, we all have our weaknesses!". It's interesting how that we are all trying to protect our own area of weakness, rather than repenting saying, "Hey it's wrong. God help me, God deliver me". I somehow want to coddle my own weakness, and want people to say, "Well it's alright to go on in your weakness". Now this isperhaps evidenced today in, in the main, by the homosexual community. Though this is a sin that is forbidden in the word of God, and judgement is pronounced against it in the word of God, and it is explicitly declared by God, to be a sinful act that in the law, they were put to death! The act for which the city of Sodom was destroyed, and from which the name, "Sodomites" comes. Yet these people are trying to twist the scripture, saying, "No, no, you know, I was born with this penchant. I, and I, it's a part of my very nature, and thus I want you to accept me". And, they wanted to be recognized as an acceptable alternative for marriage. An acceptable lifestyle. "Don't look down upon me. Don't call me a sinner. Don't call me wicked because I do these things. This is just the way I was born!It's just a part of my nature, I just happen to love men." You know, and it's sick! Yet they want it to be recognized socially, as sociably accepted behavior. Why should I accept that anymore than I would accept a pedophile, who says, "HeyI just happen to love little boys who are eight years old. That's just my nature. I have a drawing, an attraction, a physical lust for little boys eight years o

ld. But, that's just the way I was born, so I want you to accept me. Accept thefact that I'm willing to entice your little son, and to bring him into..."? Or,"I happen to have a fixation and fascination for little girls. I'm drawn and I lust after little girls, but that's just the way I was born, and so I want you to accept that". No! I can't accept that!! Or, a fellow says, "Hey, I just love women man! One woman's not enough for me. So, I was just born that way, I'm just so powerful in my sex drives, there's no woman, no single woman can, can satisfyme, so I've got to have a lot of experiences. So, I cheat on my wife, but accept that. That's just the way I am". No you can't accept that! The bible calls it adultery, it's sin! But it's interesting how that we always want toleration for our sin. "Well I just have a bad temper man. I was just born with it, you know it's just my nature. So accept my bad temper". No, we can't! We're not to be accepting or tolerant of our own weaknesses! We are to be repentant! We're to ask God

's help. Now, everybody has a problem with the flesh, in some area or the other. I have never yet met a person who did not have some problem with the flesh-life. We are living in these bodies, and as long as we're living in these bodies, we're gonna be problemed with the desires of the flesh, with the weaknesses of the flesh, in some area or another. Though God forgives us, God does not intend toleave us as we are, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, transform, and change us. So, rather than seeking the acceptance of the flesh-life, the weaknesses, or the problems of my flesh, I should be seeking God for freedom, and deliverance from that flesh-life. That the body of sin should no longer rule over me. God's answer is, "Put it to death. Let there be that recognition that, that old life, the life of self, the self-life, and the, "I'm gonna have my way, and you've gotta do it my way, and if you don't, I'm gonna throw a little temper tantrum,and I'm gonna scream and yell at you, and I'm gonna make your life hell, if you

don't surrender to my will!" Hey, hey, hey wait a minute. That's not the way God wants us to live. "Know ye not that the old man was crucified with Christ?", that the body of sin might be put out of business. That you might not be ruled bythe body appetites any longer. If you do have a weakness, and homosexual tendencies, God can give you freedom, or deliverance over that. If you have inordinatelusts for children, God can deliver you, and free you from that. If you have a vicious temper, if you are prone to say, mean, cutting, hurting things, God can deliver you from that. Rather than seeking acceptance and toleration, we should be seeking God's deliverance from the power of the flesh reigning over us! No matter what area it might be in your life, or in my life, God is able to set me fre



e, and to deliver me. I should be seeking God's help. Now, because the childrenof Israel gave themselves over to the flesh, rather than seeking the help of God, and deliverance from God, they gave themselves over to the flesh, and did notrepent. As the result, God allowed them to go into captivity. If you do not find God's deliverance from those areas of the flesh- life, the ultimate result will be, God will allow you to go into the captivity of the enemy. Judah fell, because Judah would not repent. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7123 4 Chapter 25 As we get into the twenty fifth chapter, we come to the fall. It came to pass in the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzarthe king of Babylon came, he, and all of his host, against Jerusalem, [This is again the second time. He first time, carried away all the captives, the princesunder the reign of Jehoiachin, carried away Jehoiachin, put on his, on the throne his uncle. His uncle did the same thing, rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. So in the ninth uh, year, or the tenth, "It came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem.] they built the forts against it. And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, [The Babylonians had cut off the supplies, and they were now six months under thesiege. The food was depleted within the city. People began to starve, and Josephus describes some of the horrible conditions under this particular siege that existed in Jerusalem. "And the famine prevailed",] and there was no bread for thepeople of the land. And the city was broken up, and all of the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the king's gar

den: [That is, they fled down through the Tyropian Valley, and probably escapedat night, somehow undetected by the Babylonians.] (but when the Chaldees were [had] encircled the city:) the king went by the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, they overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and his army was scattered from him (25:1-5). So every man for himself, they were all fleeing. They caught king Zedekiah down by Jericho. And so they tookthe king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and there they pronounced the judgement upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, [He watched them, as they killed his little sons. His sons, of course could not have been very old, he was still a rather young man. So his sons were not that old. "And they slew his sons before his eyes,"] and then they put out his eyes, [It was a common practice of putting out the eyes of your enemy, in order to disable him. You remember that they put out the eyes of Samson. The idea was to

weaken and disable your enemies. Up until rather recent times, whenever the king would be placed upon the throne in Persia, they would put out the eyes of allof his brothers, so that none of them would think about assassinating the king,in order to take the throne. So it was a very common practice. In ancient warfare, often a common practice of putting out the eyes of the captives, in order todebilitate them, and to, oh I don't think, I can't grab the word I want, it's not forestall, it's not forego, but it is like that. Their endeavor to rebel.] sothey bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him away to Babylon (25:6-7).Now, let's turn to Ezekiel, chapter twenty-two, or chapter twelve rather, and notice here an interesting prophecy concerning Zedekiah. Verse thirteen. He is prophesying against the rebellious house, against king Zedekiah. He declares, "My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, to the land of the Chaldeans, yet shall he not see it, thoug

h he shall die there." Interesting prophecy. "I'm gonna take him, and make him a captive, catch him in my trap, I'm gonna carry him away to Babylon, though he won't see it." This of course was literally fulfilled, when Nebuchadnezzar put out the eyes of Zedekiah, so he was carried as a captive to Babylon, though he never saw Babylon. His eyes had been put out. So the prophecy literally fulfilled.The prophecy of Ezekiel, against Zedekiah. Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, came Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, a servant to Nebuchadnezzar: And he burnt the house of the Lord, the king's house, and all of the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire (25:8-9). Today, as you go down th



e area of Ophel, you can see the ashes of these fires, there in the ruins of these houses. You can see the layer of ashes, that come to this very passage of scripture here. When Nebuzaradan came, and destroyed the temple, destroyed the city, destroyed the houses. And all of the army of the Chaldees, that were with thecaptain of the guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away. [In other words it was a total sacking now of the city. The city was devastated. The walls were torn down, the temple was torn down, that glorioustemple of Solomon. The houses, the palaces, just a rubble.] But the captain of Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7123 5 the guard left the poor of the land to be the vinedressers and the husbandmen. [So just the poor people living in the fields, to keep the vines and the crops.] Now the pillars of brass [That Solomon had made for the temple. Boaz, and Jehoiachin.] that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, [Upon which those pillars stood.] and that brass sea [That big fifteen foot, brass laver that was made for the priests to bathe in.] that was in the house of the Lord,did the Chaldees break in pieces, and they carried the brass away to Babylon. And the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all of the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered in the house of the Lord, they took away. And the firepans, the bowls, such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away (25:10-15). So they, they just totally sacked the place. Now you remember, later in the book of Daniel, when Belshazzar was having that great feast with a thousand of his lords? He commanded that they

bring to him the gold and the silver vessels, that his father had taken out of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. They began to drink their wine out of the gold, and silver vessels, and they began to praise the gods of gold and silver, when came the hand, and the writing on the wall. This is when those things were taken. So the whole thing, Daniel and the whole thing, begins to tie together, as you look at the accounts here. The two pillars, the sea, the bases which Solomonhad made for the house of the Lord; the brass of all the vessels which you could not weigh. [There was no way to measure the weight.] The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, the chapiter was of brass: [The chapiter, that is the fancy brass around the top.] the height of the chapiter was three cubits; with the wreathen work, the pomegranates upon the chapiter around about, all of the brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with the wreathen work. And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest

, and the three keepers of the door: And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence, which were found in the city, the principal scribe for the host, which mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land that were found in the city: And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah: And the king of Babylon smote them, and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out oftheir land (25:16-21). Tragedy, and the tragic end of a nation that had forsaken God. The interesting thing is that there is no mention of their taking of the ark of the covenant, which would have had tremendous value, for the amount of gold that was used in the overlaying of this ark of the covenant. According to oneof the books of the Apocrypha, the reason why it does not declare that they took of the ark, they took the ark of the covenant, was that according to the book,

one of the books of the Apocrypha, Jeremiah, upon word that the Babylonian troops were coming, and knowing that they were no doubt, going to just totally sack the city, took the ark of the covenant, and hid it, so that it could not be taken by the king, or the king's man in this case. There is no mention of the ark ofthe covenant when the temple was rebuilt. Where the ark of the covenant is at the present time, no one really knows. It is possible that the ark of the covenant was taken, but no mention made. It is possible that Jeremiah did hide the ark of the covenant, and many Jews believe that, that is so. Many believe that he hid it in one of the caves under the temple mount. There are some who believe thatit is hid in a cave, over on the mount of Olives, in the courtyard of the area t



hat is now in an empty cistern, in an area that is now controlled by the Greek orthodox church. A man a few years ago, claimed that he found the ark of the covenant over on mount Nebo in Jordan. This same man also claimed he found Noah's ark. He is a man who makes great claims. His name is Tom Crotzer. So Associated Press picked up the story of his discovery of the ark of the covenant. I made several calls to him, and finally he sent me the picture that he had taken of this little box that he found in a cave, over in mount Nebo. Upon examination of the pictures, it is my personal conclusion that what he found is not the ark of the covenant. The pictures do not match the description in the book of Exodus. It isinteresting that in the arch of Titus, in the city of Rome, as they have the base release on the arch that show his triumphant entry into Rome, with the captives that they had brought from Israel when Titus conquered Israel, after their last rebellion in 70 AD It, also in the parade, the victory parade of Titus, showshis soldiers carrying what would appear to be the ark of the covenant. Whether or not it was brought out at the time of the rebuilding of the temple under Ezra, and placed again in the Holy of Holies, later to be incorporated in the templethat was built by Herod. But, then finally destroyed by Titus, and carried to Rome, is not really known. Edited & Highlighted from "The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7123 6 Could the ark of the covenant be found today, it would surely be one of the most remarkable of all of the archeologicaldiscoveries. If you'd like your name to go down in history, especially in an archeological sense, you might find that ark someplace! But, it is fascinating that there is no record of them taking the ark of the covenant, or the uh, menorah,that was in the temple, but the other things, they took. Now for the people that

remained in the land, [verse twenty-two] whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, the ruler (25:22). They would not leave the place without any kind of rule, any kind of authority, so now they chose this man, Gedaliah. Referring, or coming back to Zedekiah for a moment, and as you read the book of Jeremiah, because he prophesied during the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, you find thatthey come up in the book of Jeremiah, and concerning Zedekiah, he called Jeremiah in, and Jeremiah told him, "Look God has appointed that the Babylonians are gonna take this land. God is using them as His instrument of judgement. Now, justsurrender to them. Don't try to fight them, just surrender to them, because they're gonna take this place. It'll be easier on you and the people, if you surrender, rather than go under the siege". Zedekiah said, "Don't tell anybody that you talked to me and told you these things. I can't surrender, you know, I'd have i

nsurrection by the princes that are here. These other fellows are wanting to hold out and fight. So just keep it quiet that you talked to me, and told me thesethings. I'm sort of helpless you know. These guys will rebel if I try to capitulate." Isaiah, I mean, Jeremiah was actually accused of being a traitor, as he was telling the people, "Don't try to resist Babylon. Go ahead and surrender. Babylon's gonna take this place, it's gonna fall to Babylon". And, there were falseprophets, who were going around saying, "You know, no, no. We're gonna push Babylon right out of here, thus saith the Lord", you know, and they were going around predicting victory. So Jeremiah prophesied against them, "Woe unto the prophets who say, `peace, peace', when there is no peace". So this whole drama was allplayed out in Jeremiah, so remember this bit of history. You're at that point of Jeremiah, and when we read Jeremiah, then in your mind you're gonna have to flip back. Make a file, that you can flip back to in your mind, II Kings here, chap

ters twenty-four, and twenty-five. Because this is the time of Jeremiah's prophecy. The time under Jehoiakim, he threw him in prison, you remember, in the dungeon. Zedekiah, later imprisoned in the courtyard, and said, "Feed him with breadand water until the bread runs out." All because of his prophecy which got him in trouble as a traitor, because he was saying that Babylon was gonna conquer the place, no sense resisting". So Gedaliah was made the ruler, and when the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, [These are the names that you're gonna get in Chronicles, I told you to skip, and so



let's just skip them.] And Gedaliah swore to them [verse twenty four] and to their men, and said unto them, Don't be afraid to be the servants of the Chaldees:dwell in the land, serve the king of Babylon; and it will be well with you (25:22-24). So Gedaliah was using real wisdom, he said, "Hey, they've conquered us, don't be afraid to dwell here. You know, they're gonna be okay. They're not going to be hard taskmasters." But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came, with ten men, and they assassinated Gedaliah, and the Jews, and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah. [And so some of the Babylonians that were there, with some of the Jews, and Gedaliah, they came up, and they wiped them out.] And all of the people, both small and great, the captains of the armies, arose, and they fled to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees (25:25-26). They knew that after this act of treason against Babylon, that it was gonna really be tough, so they allfled for safety, to Egypt. It is declared that at this time, Jeremiah also fledto Egypt, according to traditions. That, we don't know for sure. And it came topass in the seventh and the thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin [Now this is the guy that was, only reigned for three months. When the Babylonians came, he surrendered and they carried him off captive. "In the thirty seventh year",] in the twelfth month, on the twenty seventh day of the month, that Evilmerodach [Who was king after Nebuchadnezzar.] began to reign and he lifted up the head of Jehoiachin the king of Judah out of prison; [And so he in the beginning of his reign, sought to show a kindness unto the king, released him from prison.] He spoke kindly to him, and he set his throne above the Edited & Highlighted from"The Word For Today" Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7123 7 kings that

were with him in Babylon; And he changed his prison garments: and he did eat the bread continually before him all the days of his life. And his allowance was acontinual allowance given to him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life (25:27-30). So he was brought out of prison, and treated kindly by the king of Babylon, the successor to Nebuchadnezzar on the throne. Thus we get to the end of the history as such, as we move into Daniel, and in Ezekielwe'll have parts of their history, while in captivity in Babylon. As we get to Ezra, and Nehemiah, we will pick up their history again, after the Babylonian captivity. So that will carry us out to the end of the old testament period, in which God spoke through the prophets, to the time of Malachi, and Zachariah, whichthen we have a four hundred years of silence prior to the angel announcing to Zachariah, that his wife was going to have a son who would be the forerunner of the Messiah. So we'll, we'll try and keep these whole things historically in a per

spective, as we move along through them. Tying them together, so that you can tie the prophets with their period of history, in the Kings, and in the books of Chronicles, so that you'll get hopefully a good, overall grasp of how the thingswere working, why the prophets said the things that they were saying. It will help in understanding the prophets, when you can place them at that point of degeneration of the kingdom. May the Lord be with you, and bless and keep you in Hislove. As we come to that point of the calendar that says that it's the end of the old year, and the beginning of the new, let us resolve to serve the Lord, andto love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. To so commit o

II Kings Chuck Smith

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