2 Kings

     How must God be feeling as the story of 2 Kings gets underway?  He has freed the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt; He has carried them through the wilderness in spite of their constant rebelling, complaining and groaning; He has guided them into the Promised Land even though they do very little of what He tells them; He has liberated them from oppression during the time of the judges; He has granted them kings through the period of the united kingdom, and He has put up with their sinfulness during the first years of the divided kingdom.  Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel, have led the northern kingdom of Israel into full-scale idol worship.
     Upon the death of Ahab, his son Ahaziah takes his place.  Ahaziah injures himself in a fall, so he sends messengers to the temple of Baal-zebub, god of Ekron, to learn whether or not he will recover.
     "Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?" the prophet Elijah asks the messengers when he intercepts them along the way.  "Now therefore thus says the Lord," Elijah continues in 2 Kings 1:4, "'You shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you shall surely die.'"
     "Why have you returned?" the king asks when the messengers are back sooner than expected.
     The messengers repeat Elijah's words.  The king then wants to know what the man looked like.
     After deciding from the description that the man was Elijah, Ahaziah sends a group of fifty soldiers to arrest him.  Elijah calls fire from heaven to destroy the men.  Ahaziah sends fifty more men and they meet the same fate.  So the king sends fifty more.
     "O man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight," the leader of the third group wisely begs as soon as he arrives.
     Elijah accompanies the soldiers to the king's bedside, where he repeats the message from God.  Before long Ahaziah dies and his brother Jehoram takes his place.
     The Bible records only two people who do not die.   In Genesis 5:21-24 we learn about Enoch, who is taken up by God.  In the second chapter of 2 Kings we read about the second person who does not die, Elijah.
     Elijah knows his time to leave the earth has arrived, so he starts toward a designated place.  His helper, Elisha, insists on going with him.  When they arrive at the Jordan River, Elijah strikes the water with his mantle and the two walk across on dry ground.  As they are walking along beyond the Jordan, a chariot of fire and horses of fire come to carry Elijah in a whirlwind to heaven.
     Elisha picks up the mantle of Elijah and heads for home.  When he arrives at the river, he strikes the water with the mantle and it separates.  This is the fourth time that a river has been divided so God's people could cross.  There are those who would like to explain the crossing of the Red Sea by the nation of Israel as a natural occurrence involving a shallow area or low tide.  In addition to the fact that such an explanation is contrary to the biblical account, there is the additional obstacle of explaining away three other instances when the same thing takes place.
     Elisha soon demonstrates the powers given to him by God when he purifies the bad water of Jericho.
     In chapter four the widow of a prophet comes to Elisha with a problem.  A creditor is coming to take her two children and sell them as slaves.
     "What do you have in the house?" Elisha inquires.
     "Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil," she replies.
     Elisha tells her to borrow as many empty vessels as she can.  She begins to pour oil from her jar into the vessels and continues until all the borrowed containers are full.  She then sells the oil to pay the debt.
     Next there is the story of a Shunamite woman who invites Elisha to stop and eat whenever he is passing by.  The woman convinces her husband to build and furnish a small room for Elisha to use when he is traveling in the area.
     "What can I do for you?" the prophet asks gratefully.
     The woman replies that she needs nothing.  So the prophet asks his servant, Gehazi, what the woman might need.  Gehazi observes that the couple is old and has no children.  So Elisha tells the woman she will have a son within a year.
     When the child is older, he collapses and dies in his mother's lap.  She runs to get Elisha, and the prophet is able to raise the boy.
     In the same chapter Elisha prevents the deaths of a number of prophets who have eaten poisonous gourds.  He also feeds 100 men with a small quantity of food.

     Namaan, captain of the Syrian army, is a highly respected man.  He is liked by everyone from the king down to a girl who has been taken captive and forced to serve Namaan's wife.  The only problem is that Namaan has leprosy.
     "I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria!" the girl comments to the wife.  "Then he would cure him of his leprosy."
     As soon as the king of Syria hears this news he sends Namaan to the king of Israel with silver, gold, clothing and a letter requesting the healing of the leprosy.  All that the king of Israel can think is that the Syrians are looking for trouble.  After all, who can heal this disease?  But, as soon as Elisha hears about the situation he sends word that Namaan should come to him.
     The prophet does not even go out to talk with Namaan, which infuriates the high-ranking officer.  The message that Elisha sends is for Namaan to dip seven times in the Jordan River.
     Namaan has had enough insults for one day, so he turns toward home in a rage.  After all, there are rivers in his own country which are much nicer than the muddy Jordan.
     Fortunately for Namaan, he has some wise servants.
     "Had the prophet told you to do some great thing," they ask in 2 Kings 5:13, "would you not have done it?  How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?"
     Namaan goes to the Jordan and is healed after dipping seven times.
     Do we ever look at Namaan and think he is foolish for hesitating to do what God has commanded?  Are we honest enough to look at ourselves and do the same thing?  The New Testament clearly teaches that an adult must hear the Gospel, believe it, repent of his or her sins, confess Jesus as Lord and Christ and be immersed for the forgiveness of sins that is made possible through the blood of Christ.  How many people have actually followed this?  How many decide that there are other ways that are just as good?  Would Namaan have been healed had he returned home and dipped once in one of his clean rivers?
     After his healing, Namaan returns quickly to thank the prophet and to give him the gifts.  Elisha refuses the gifts and sends the soldier home in peace.  But Gehazi, Elisha's servant, is greedy.  He runs after Namaan and tricks the Syrian into giving him some of the silver and clothing.  Of course, Elisha knows what is happening.  He calls Gehazi and informs him that he will have Namaan's leprosy.
     Later the Syrians try to defeat the army of Israel, but Elisha warns his people about where the enemy is waiting.  At first the king of Syria is sure there is a spy in his group.  But then he is informed that Elisha knows everything that is going on.  So he sends a great army to take care of the prophet.
     Elisha's attendant goes out early in the morning and discovers the Syrians surrounding the city.
     "Alas, my master!" he cries in 2 Kings 6:15.  "What shall we do?"
     "Do not fear," the man of God calmly responds, "for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."
     Would it affect our lives if we realized this simple truth?  Would it help us if we really believed that God makes great strength available to those who follow Him?
     Elisha prays for God to open the eyes of the servant.  The mountains are full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha.
     The enemy army is struck with blindness.  Elisha leads them into Samaria, the capital city of Israel.  Then their eyes are opened.  The king of Israel asks if he should kill the soldiers, but Elisha tells him to provide them with bread and water and to send them back home.
     This is just a glimpse at the instruction we receive from the book of 2 Kings.  In this book we read about many kings of Israel, all of whom are evil.  We learn about several kings of Judah, some of whom are bad and some of whom are good.  In the latter group we find rulers such as Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah, who takes the throne at age eight.
     During restoration of the temple ordered by Josiah, a copy of the Law is found.  When Josiah hears the words of the Law he tears his clothes and orders that its words be followed.  But the reforms of Josiah do not last long after his death.  Israel has already been carried into captivity by the Assyrians, and now the Babylonians come to take the people of Judah into exile.  God has finally put up with enough from people who insist on rejecting Him and turning instead to the impotent idols of the nations around them.  It's sad, isn't it, when the right way would have been so simple?
     What about us?  Are we running blindly after false teaching or after the false security offered by the world?
     It's sad, isn't it?  This pathway led the children of Israel into captivity.  Only the truth will set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)