Azariah Reigns in Judah Zechariah Reigns in Israel. 2 Kings 15:1-12
The Decline and Fall of Israel and Judah
INTRODUCTION
The Second Book of Kings is a continuation of the First. It records the reigns of fifteen kings in Judah and of eleven kings in Israel. In Judah the dynasty of David continued to the end, while in Israel there were nine changes of dynasty.
The northern kingdom maintained an unbroken course of idolatry, until the nation was ripe for destruction. The end came in 722 B.C., when Samaria was taken by the Assyrians. Judah continued her course for nearly 150 years longer. But in spite of the efforts of prophets and good kings, the tide of idolatry could not be stayed, and Jerusalem fell before the Babylonians, 586 B.C. Nothing but the Exile could avail to purify the nation and restore the spirit of true worship.
I. FROM THE REIGN OF AHAZIAH TO THE FALL OF SAMARIA, 1Ki_22:51 – 2Ki_17:1-41; 2Ki_18:9-12
8. The Reign of Azariah in Judah, and the Reigns of Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah and Pekah in Israel, 2Ki_14:21-22; 2Ki_15:1-29
33. Why was Uzziah smitten with leprosy?
AZARIAH REIGNS IN JUDAH ZECHARIAH REIGNS IN ISRAEL.
In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam [II] king of Israel, Azariah (Uzziah) the son of Amaziah king of Judah became king.
He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
He did right in the sight of the LORD, in accordance with all that his father Amaziah had done.
Only [the altars on] the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places [instead of worshiping God at the temple].
And the LORD struck (afflicted) the king, and he was a leper until the day of his death, and lived in a separate house. Jotham the king’s son was in charge of the household, judging the people of the land. [2Ch_26:16-21]
Now the rest of Azariah’s acts, and everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
Azariah slept with his fathers [in death], and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. His son Jotham became king in his place.
In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam [II] became king over Israel in Samaria for six months.
He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his fathers had done; he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam [I] the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin.
But Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah and struck and killed him in the presence of the people and reigned in his place.
Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
This is [the fulfillment of] the word of the LORD which He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons (descendants) shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it came to pass. [2Ki_10:30]
AZARIAH REIGNS IN JUDAH ZECHARIAH REIGNS IN ISRAEL.
“A LEPER UNTIL THE DAY OF HIS DEATH”
The reign of Azariah, or Uzziah, in Judah was very splendid. Fifty-two years of almost unbroken prosperity! The story is told in the glowing periods of 2Ch_26:1-23. Here, too, we learn that his sun suffered an eclipse because he persisted in the sacrilegious endeavor to combine the office of king and priest-the exclusive prerogative of Messiah. See Zec_6:13. As a leper he was excluded from all contact with his fellows, and dwelled in a separate house, while his son Jotham acted as his viceroy.
For more than thirty years preceding its dissolution, the Northern Kingdom was terribly distracted. Anarchy, idolatry, high-handed crime, and immorality of a flagrant description swept like a hurricane over all classes. Rent by these evils, and with no strong men like Hezekiah and Isaiah then in Judah to place their hands on the helm, the kingdom drifted to destruction. The sacred books give but brief and disjointed accounts of the last times of the kingdom of Israel, because God has no pleasure in the process of decay. He has no pleasure in the death of individuals or in the nation that dieth, but rather that “they should turn unto Him and live.”
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