The End Of Stiff-Necked Disobedience Of Judah And Israel. 2 Kings 17:13-26
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.
II. FROM THE FALL OF SAMARIA TO THE FALL OF JERUSALEM, II Kings 18-25
1. The Reign of Hezekiah, II Kings 18:1-8, 13-37; 19-20
39. Of what sins were Judah and Israel guilty?
THE END OF STIFF-NECKED DISOBEDIENCE
Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes, in accordance with all the Law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.”
However they did not listen, but stiffened their necks as did their fathers who did not believe (trust in, rely on, remain steadfast to) the LORD their God.
They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers, as well as His warnings that he gave them. And they followed vanity [that is, false gods, idols] and became vain (empty-headed). They followed the [pagan practices of the] nations which surrounded them, although the LORD had commanded that they were not to do as they did.
They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves cast images of two calves; and they made an Asherah [idol] and worshiped all the [starry] host of heaven and served Baal.
They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire [as human sacrifices], and used divination [to foretell the future] and enchantments; and they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight; none [of the tribes] was left except the tribe of Judah.
Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God either, but walked in the customs which Israel introduced.
So the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel (Jacob) and [repeatedly] afflicted them and handed them over to plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight.
When He had torn Israel from the [royal] house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit a great sin.
For the Israelites walked in all the [idolatrous] sins which Jeroboam committed; they did not turn from them
until the LORD removed Israel from His sight, just as He had foretold through all His servants the prophets. So Israel went into exile from their own land to Assyria to this day [the date of this writing].
ASSYRIA RESETTLES SAMARIA
The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah and from Avva and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the sons (people) of Israel. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
Now when they began to live there, they did not fear the LORD; therefore the LORD sent lions among them which killed some of them.
So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations whom you have sent into exile and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land; so He has sent lions among them, and they are killing them because they do not know the manner of [worship demanded by] the god of the land.”
THE END OF STIFF-NECKED DISOBEDIENCE
There are three leading counts in this terrible indictment against Judah and Israel: (1) idolatry; (2) the ignoring of the Law; and (3) disregard of the many warnings brought them by prophets and seers. And all were aggravated by the fact that they sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt. How greatly the complexion of our sins is deepened, when we remember the anguish by which we have been redeemed!
Interwoven with the black catalogue of sin are golden threads of tender love, 2Ki_17:13. But note the remarkable expression of 2Ki_17:15, that we resemble the objects we adore, Psa_115:8. Israel, as we have seen, was never restored. Those that returned to Judah with Ezra were for the most part Jews. Yet many Hebrews became believers in Christ, and were added to the Church at Pentecost and afterward, 1Pe_1:1-2. Paul gives us a far horizon in Rom_11:25-27; and who can tell, in these days when the Turkish Empire is trembling to its foundations, whether we are not very near that hour of the restoration of Israel and the restitution of all things!
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