These weeks are short on history and long on prophets, so two weeks of history are in one post. Want to see which kings are good and how many are wicked? Let’s get to it!
Good king Hezekiah dies, as all men must do. He leaves behind a great legacy, for he has restored the Temple and reinstituted the Passover. His son Manasseh becomes king at the age of 12, and...
HE DOES EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD!!!! WHY??? All his father’s good work is gone! Manasseh reigns for 55 years, during which Israel sins more and more. One bad leader, and the country goes downhill. It hurts to watch the nation of Israel sink into depravity again, since they had just had such a wonderful king one generation before.
Finally, the Lord has had enough. God says, “I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, turning it upside down,” (2 Kings 21:13).
Manasseh is captured by the Assyrians, the same nation who has taken the Northern Kingdom captive. While he is being held there, he sees he wrong that he has done, humbles himself, and God brings him back to Jerusalem. God never misses a chance to restore His people! Manasseh then takes down the foreign gods that he has placed in the temple (smart move).
When he dies, his son Amon becomes king. Guess what? Amon does evil in the sight of the Lord! Only two years into his reign, Amon is killed. Those who killed the king are put to death, because it is wrong to kill the Lord’s anointed, even if he is an idiot.
Amon’s son Josiah becomes king at age 8. In a shocking turn of events, Josiah did what was right in the sight of the Lord! Whoo-hoo! The Bible tells us “He sought the Lord in the 8th year of his reign,” when he was only 16 years old. There are no more Ba’als, no more Asherah poles, no more false altars. These are broken, burned, even the very stones are ground to dust so that they cannot be rebuilt. Josiah also repaires the Temple. During this restoration, the priest Hilkiah finds the lost book of the law (The Torah, or the books of Moses). Josiah reads the book and understands that the nation of Israel has sinned gravely, led by his father and grandfather. God tells Josiah that he himself will die in peace--for Josiah has been a good ruler--and that the coming punishment will fall on the nation that is to follow. Like Hezekiah before him, Josiah hosts the Passover for the first time in decades. Sadly, this great king is killed in battle.
Josiah’s son Jehoahaz becomes king, and I find myself asking again, why oh why oh WHY do such great men have such evil sons? Jehoahaz leads the nation of Israel for only three evil months before he is deposed by the Pharaoh of Egypt, and his brother Jehoiakim becomes king. He is also evil, as evil as Ahab and Jezebel had been.
Because of the evil of these two men, as God has promised, Judah is invaded by king Nebuchadnezzar. We will learn more about him...next week.
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