Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
This Sunday will mark 81 years since that quiet Sunday morning when suddenly, unexpectedly the clear blue sky over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was filled with airplanes attacking the US Naval Base there. By the end of the day the USA was embroiled in WWII! For most everyone alive today, it’s a history story found in books and movies. Very few people can give you an eyewitness account of that day at Pearl.
NO one alive today can give us an eyewitness account of a far greater, more devastating invasion in Israel which changed history, but we have the record in 2 Kings 17, in your Bible. I left you yesterday with God’s prophet Elisha who had followed his mentor Elijah in proclaiming God’s passionate call to His people Israel.
What call? A call to return to God and repent of their gross immorality, their embrace of the false gods of other nations; and their abandonment of the God of Israel! After Elisha, came other men of God like Jonah and Amos and Hosea. As time passed their messages changed from God’s invitation to God’s WARNING of approaching judgment upon unrepentant moral and spiritual rebellion, that was widespread among God’s people Israel.
Generation after generation of Israelites rejected God’s appeal and flippantly ignored God’s warning! Now pause and think about that. Have you ever seen a person or family or maybe an entire city reject God, push God out of their lives and even their society? And have you learned that when we do that, when WE push God away, at the very same time the dark kingdom comes charging in. The demons believe our rejection of God is their INVITATION.
You see my friends, humanity cannot have it both ways. We cannot give our worship and allegiance to God and the devil at the same time. As our thinking doubts and then rejects God; as our hearts harden against God; our choices will become darker and then things turn really ugly, angry, defiant, decadent, as the darkness consumes us! That was happening in Israel generation after generation, and God’s patience ran out!!
For 200 years, from the death of King Solomon in 930bc until the invasion and conquest of the northern kingdom Israel in 722bc by the violent Assyrians, 19 kings ruled in the northern kingdom Israel. Each was wicked and rejected God’s prophets and their messages from God. 2 Kings 17 describes, in graphic detail, the ruthless invasion of Emperor Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and his 3 year siege of Israel which devastated cities and towns all across the land; killed or deported as slaves a very high percentage of the Israelites who lived there; and then imported a great many conquered peoples from other lands to occupy Israel as their new homeland.
Did you hear three very specific strategies the armies of Assyria were implementing all across Central Asia as they conquered a vast segment of the known world at that time? It was very effective and that’s a big reason why 2700 years later that part of our world is still so volatile, dangerous, turbulent and violent.
God’s very clear explanation is 1 Kings 17:7 “All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Do you see God wants there to be NO confusion about WHY God brought against His people the vicious holocaust of the Assyrian invasion. Oh yes, my friends, this was not God removing His hand of protection, this was God enabling and even empowering the enemies of Israel in their conquest and slaughter of Israelites! That’s the harsh reality of God’s judgment!
It will be difficult but it’s important you read 1 Kings 17 from beginning to end, taking careful note of every detail. God’s explanation continues: “They would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors…they rejected God’s decrees and the covenant He had made with their ancestors… they followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless… They bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD…” (1 Kings 17:14-17) Really? Did it really get that bad? Oh yes, my friends, the unrepentant evil of the Israelites was very evident and widespread. and God’s judgment was God’s justice!
And God summarized His judgment in these few words: “So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from His presence… the LORD rejected all the people of Israel; He afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers until God thrust them from His presence… So, the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.“ (1 Kings 17:18-23)
Oh my! Did you notice that last phrase? This conquest and deportation were permanent! From that day to this, much of that northern kingdom Israel land area has been under domination and occupation of Gentiles, especially Arabs and Palestinians. And most of the tribal lineage of the descendants of those 10 tribes of Israel has been long ago lost through intermarrying with Gentiles and pagans.
By the end of 1 Kings 17, the northern kingdom once called Israel was decimated, the Israelites slaughtered or in captivity with no hope of restoration. God’s judgment was final. Foreign peoples moved in and intermarried with some Israelites who remained and the crossbreed peoples who resulted were called the Samaritans. Remember them from the days of Jesus, about 700 years later?
While this prolonged invasion was taking place in the northern kingdom Israel, down in Jerusalem a young Prince Hezekiah was watching and about to become king in Judah. Tomorrow we’ll see what Hezekiah did and in response to the collapse of Israel.
Some powerful “Lessons Learned” notes from 2 Kings 17 are found in the Grand Narrative link just below and I urge you to look closely at them. Why? Well look around, what do you see has been happening in your country over the recent generations. Has God been pushed out, is God’s judgment soon coming?
This weekend, what type of worship will you offer God? Of course, you’ll find a link for a wonderful worship song about God’s justice and grace, at the end of this page, and I’ll be here ready for you on Monday.
Today’s Scripture: 2 Kings 17.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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