2 Kings Chapters 1,2, and 3

So we are now moving onto a new chapter! Yay!!! Another book full of historical contexts :D! We will continue on learning about these kings that ruled Israel and Judah and as we progress through the Bible, one can truly see the affect that they have had on what occurs later on. 

So we start out with Ahaziah, Ahab’s son, ruling over Israel. Ahaziah, as we read in 1 Kings, does not rule for a long period of time at all, and we are about to see why. Ahaziah was ill and wanted advice about what was to happen to him, so he sent messengers to contact Baal-zebub, but while these messengers went out, they ran into Elijah (my favorite guy). Elijah relays a message from God to the messengers to give to Ahaziah, and it is, “‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die,'” 2 Kings 1:6. The messengers tell Ahaziah what happened and Ahaziah requests to see Elijah immediately. Elijah was just such a great, faithful servant to God, and we see it in what happens next! Ahaziah sent 50 men to get Elijah to come down from a hill, and Elijah merely replies, “‘If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty,’” 2 Kings 1: 10. Of course the fire of God consumed the fifty men. The same thing happens again when another group of fifty came to him. He quoted the same thing and then had them consumed by fire. The third time however was different. The commander of the new 50 pleas out to Elijah to think of his and his 50 soldier’s lives as precious. They had seen what had happened before and understand that he is a man of God. An angel then appeared and told Elijah to go down the hill to Ahaziah and that all would be okay. Elijah said the same prophecy from beforehand that he had said to the messengers, and Ahaziah then died as was prophesied. Ahaziah did not have children, so his brother became the new king of Israel and his name was Jehoram. Once again we see how God’s word is never false!!! 

This next chapter has to be one of my favorite stories (I know I say that a lot, but it is true), because it revolves around Elijah and Elisha, my favorite people. This scene is one remembered and acknowledged most about Elijah. Elijah knew that he would be going to heaven soon, and was traveling all over where the Lord wanted him to go…his “student” Elisha followed him around as well even though Elijah told him that he did not need to do so. They traveled to Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, and finally to the Jordan river. Once at the Jordan river, Elijah took off his famous cloak (what he laid on Elisha previously) and separated the water in the Jordan to create a path to the other side of the basin. Elisha followed him. Elijah asks what Elisha would want before Elijah leaves for heaven, and Elisha replies that he wants to have double the portion of spirit as Elijah while being a prophet. Elijah says it will come true if Elisha is able to see him being taken up into heaven. “And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven,” 2 Kings 2:11. Throughout the rest of the Bible you read of Elijah and the chariots of fire. This chariot and horses of fire are a common theme throughout the Bible because of the story of Elijah. Elijah reappears throughout the Bible as well, especially in the New Testament. Elisha left where Elijah had been with Elijah’s cloak and was able to part the water like his mentor had done previously to get to the other side of the basin where the 50 men from Jericho were waiting for him. These men from Jericho knew instantly that Elijah’s spirit laid on Elisha and he was the successor now. Right after becoming the successor, Elisha heals tampered water, leads men, and had young boys that were verbally attacking him mauled by bears….that’s right, mauled by bears. Can you imagine how amazing that must have been to be Elisha? You see your mentor be taken up to heaven for eternal happiness in such an awesome way?! Elijah will always be my favorite person of the Old Testament and one of my favorites for the whole Bible (lets be honest my number one favorite person of the whole Bible is Jesus and God of course)! 

Chapter 3 talks more about the battles that occur again. 1 and 2 Kings focuses so much on the relations and battles between the kings, because God is playing the main role of what is to be the outcome. We learn right away that Ahaziah’s successor, his brother Jehoram, ruled like his father aka evil in the sight of the LORD. Jehoram did however get rid of the statues to Baal. Moab had been friends with Ahab, but after Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel. Jehoram had Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, go with him against Moab by going through the desert of Edom, where there was no water. The king of Edom wanted to help as well. A common theme of the time were for the kings to try to find prophets to help them determine if God would support them if they went to battle (even though the kings sometimes didn’t even honor the LORD, but another like Baal). The three kings searched for a prophet, and Elisha was there. Elisha passes on God’s word saying, “‘Thus says the LORD, I will make this dry steam bed full of pools. You shall not see wind or rain, but that steam bed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals. He will also give the Moabites in your hand,'” 2 Kings 3:16-18. The Moabites were being taken down easily, by what the LORD had said. Moab’s king was having a hard time fighting back, so he offered his own son as a burnt offering to God. Once he had done so, Israel started facing hard times and was forced back into their homeland. God’s prophecies did hold true. They were able to conquer every city in Moab and bring destruction. 

1 Kings Chapters 19 and 20

My second favorite person in the Old Testament comes up in these chapters…can you guess who it is? Here is a hint, his name is very similar to Elijah and you really have to pronunciate in order to tell the difference between the two! Still don’t know? No worries, you will soon find out! 

So we left off with Elijah pretty much making Ahab and Jezebel look dumb for supporting the false god of Baal. I bet their faces were priceless. You know the phrase, “Hell hath no fury like a woman (scorned),” well we will see this with Jezebel. She threatens to take down Elijah ASAP. So Elijah fled to Beersheba in Judah to drop off his servant and then he went off into the wilderness! Elijah exclaimed under a broom tree (I need to google this…I have never heard of such a thing), “‘It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers,'” 1 Kings 19:4. God responds by simply sending an angel down to him and the angel tells Elijah to eat and drink twice for he will need his strength for his journey. He was in the wilderness for the magical amount of 40 days and 40 nights (the longest amount of time the human body can go without food or water –> Jesus does the same thing in the New Testament), on his way to Horeb aka Mount Sinai. Once he is in the cave in Mount Sinai, God speaks to Elijah. God asks Elijah why he is there, and Elijah says that he is the only true believer left in Israel and he will be dead whenever he is seen; so he pretty much would like to die because of this. God then tells Elijah to stand out on the mountain and when he does, God passed him and there were strong winds and earthquakes, fires, and then finally a low whisper. Elijah covers his face (a common thing to do when one speaks to God directly, Moses did the same things years before). God gives Elijah a long list of instructions which include: going to Damascus and anoint Hazael as king of Syria, and Jehu as the king of Israel, and Elisha(!!!!) as the new prophet to take Elijah’s place. He also told Elijah this, “‘And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not ‘kissed him,”” 1 Kings 19:17-18. If people say God does not have a plan, this most definitely proves them wrong! Following this meeting with God, Elijah leaves the wilderness to find Elisha (my second favorite person in the Old Testament), and to anoint him as the new prophet. This is what is so cool about this meeting: Elijah threw his cloak onto Elisha and instantly Elisha was ready to leave and then sacrificed all 12 oxen that he was taking care of in honor of God. In that instant, Elisha knew his calling…that is so awesome!

Chapter 20 is a lot of battles and defeats, so be prepared. Ben-hadad of Syria decides that he wants to take down Ahab and add new territory to Syria. Ahab refuses to bow down to Ben-hadad in any respect, so Ben-hadad prepares to strike against Israel. A prophet then comes to speak to Ahab with a message from God which is, “‘Thus says the LORD, Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will give it into your hand this day, and you shall know that I am the LORD,'” 1 Kings 20:13. Ahab lead the troops at noon to attack Ben-hadad, whom was drunk. The Syrians were taken down easily by Israel, but Ben-hadad escaped. Next is what makes God very VERY angry with the Syrians. Ben-hadad’s servants tell him, “‘ Their gods are gods of the hills, and so they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they,'” 1 Kings 20:23. That following spring Ben-hadad attacked Israel again. God tells the prophet to tell Ahab again, “‘Because the Syrians have said, ‘The LORD is a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys,’ therefore, I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD,'” 1 Kings 20:28. The Syrians were defeated again but Ben-hadad was not killed. His advisors told him to go with pity to Ahab and the offer of territory and Ahab would let him free. Ahab ACTUALLY went for it, despite all God told him, and made a covenant with Ben-hadad. God told a prophet to tell Ahab, “‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore, you life shall be for his life, and your people for his people,'” 1 Kings 20:42. Ahab merely responded to God by heading to Samaria. Ahab is gonna have something come to him for sure, but we will just have to wait for the next chapter for God to take action! 

Here is a picture of a broom tree, if you were as interested in it as I was to see what it looked like:

1 Kings Chapter 16, 17, and 18

Stick with me on this! It is going to be even more names thrown out within these three chapters! It will be fun! I am sending my history loving ways towards you, so you will love all the names and arraignments being thrown out! Lets do this! Oh and one of my all time favorite people from the whole Bible comes into play within these chapters! I will point him out when we get there! 🙂

So at the end of chapter 15 we read how Baasha lead in the same path as Jeroboam, so God pronounces in chapter 16 that Baasha’s household will end like Jeroboam’s did, “Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the field the birds of the heavens shall eat,” 1 Kings 16:4. So following Baasha’s death, his son Elah reigned in Israel. He only reigned for two years, until his servant, named Zimri, attacked Elah when he was drunk and killed him. Zimri took the throne and killed all that were alive in the family line of Baasha. So Zimri’s reign lasted A WHOLE SEVEN DAYS! The people were not happy with his coup and instead made the military leader, Omri, king. So while Omri reigned, only half followed him while the other half wanted Tibni to be the ruler. Omri’s supporters overcame Tibni’s supporters, so Tibni died. Once Omri eventually died after ruling for 12 years his son, Ahab came to power. Ahab is a key figure in the Old Testament, and plays a huge role with my favorite person of the Old Testament. Him and his wife Jezebel worshipped the god Baal….aka not our LORD. God was not happy about this at all. SO yes a lot happened within a short span of time I would say. This is better than a soap opera in my opinion? If you love battles and conspiracy, then this chapter was for you!  

YAY! My favorite person finally comes into play. His name Elijah…hopefully you all have heard of him?! Elijah predicts a drought for the kingdom of Israel, because God is punishing Ahab. God then tells Elijah, “‘Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by he brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the rook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there,’” 1 Kings 17:3-4. Elijah did exactly what God told him to do, and he was able to survive by the water from the brook and from the food that the ravens brought him. If you were in Elijah’s shoes, would you be so eager to go to the middle of nowhere and depend on birds to feed you? I love Elijah because of his strong faith in God. I aim everyday to have such a strong faith in our LORD. Next God tells Elijah, “‘Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you,'” 1 Kings 17:9. Of course Elijah once again obeyed and listened to God’s orders. The widow was scared to feed Elijah because she barely had any flour or oil to make bread with, but Elijah told her that God would ensure that she would always have flour and oil, and it will never go empty until the drought ends. Not only does God provide food for the widow, Elijah, and the widow’s son, but He allows for the widow’s son to be brought back to life after he died from an illness! Elijah cried out to God for Him to save her son, and God did just that! The woman was amazed and proclaimed, “‘Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth,'” 1 Kings 17:24. Elijah is just an amazing person to read about because of all that God does for him.

This is the last chapter for the day, I promise! A lot happens though, so be ready for action packed happenings! God tells Elijah after 3 years to confront Ahab, and as soon as he does it will begin to rain; like the prophecy that Elijah told Ahab 3 years previously. Obadiah worked Ahab but feared God and had protected one hundred prophets in caves. SO he was ecstatic to see Elijah, and when Elijah told Obadiah to send Ahab for him, he was hesitant. Obadiah did listen to Elijah, for he was instructed by the LORD. Elijah tells Ahab to bring all 450 prophets of Baal to Mount Caramel, and he will prove whom the real God is: Baal or our LORD. Elijah creates a form of competition between himself and prophets of Baal, he said, “‘Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one full for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is God,'” 1 Kings 18:23-24. Elijah watched the prophets of Baal prepare their bull and call out to Baal, but nothing happened. Now when Elijah built his altar he wanted to get his point across! He built the altar and put a total of 8 jars of water on the wood. So not only was the altar not lit but it was also soaked. Elijah called out for God, and the bull on the altar was lit on fire. The people all believed and fear God, and listened to Elijah as Elijah said to bring all the Baal prophets to the river. Elijah had all the false prophets slaughtered. God finally brings rain to Israel and Ahab witnesses it. What is interesting about the Mount Caramel incident is how the Bible tells of the prophets of Baal by saying that they “limped” around, because of how they go back and forth on whether or not to believe. The last sentence of chapter 18 tells of Elijah being held by God and RUNNING forward, because of his confidence and faith in God. Be a sprinter, not a limper in God!