Transcription of 20ID3377 November 25, 2020

2 Chronicles 30-36 “From to the Captivity”

Good evening. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. We are going to continue our study through Chronicles tonight – chapter 30 if you have your with you.

We’ve approached Chronicles differently than we’ve done most of the studies through the Bible because it’s repetitive in the sense that much of what we study here – in fact all of what we read here – can be found in 1 & 2 Kings or, if you go a little bit further back, in 1 & 2 Samuel when it comes to 1 Chronicles. God gave us these two books so that He might make commentary on the history of His people. And so you find things here that are emphasized that you don’t find as you read through the historical records. It’s God’s viewpoint of the kings. He gets us real quickly from Adam to because there’s a promise established to get to Jesus. And then once He gets to David, most all of the rest of 2 Chronicles is all about the kings and the divided kingdom. You don’t read anything about the northern kingdom because they were in rebellion against God. You read only about the southern kingdom, and then God leaves out a lot of stuff that was wrong like David’s sin with Bathsheba. That was pretty prominent in 2 Samuel, but it is not prominent at all here because, by His grace, God forgives us. So the Lord wants us to look at those He used and learn lessons from them in the ones that He chooses. And we’ve mentioned to you a couple of times that 2 Chronicles, especially once we get by , is really dedicated to the kings of Judah, the southern kingdom, and specifically five good kings that all had very glaring weaknesses. So if you’ve been with us, hopefully you’ve seen that these are men that God raised up, that were good men in God’s sight. For the most part, they seem to fall apart towards the end of their lives rather than at the beginning. Not always true, but for the most part at least in the examples that we have.

Tonight, as we begin chapter 30, and we’ll finish, like I said, through chapter 36, kind of teaching this way. For many years we did Sunday night through the Bible doing ten chapters a week. I liked it. I may return to that sometime. I like the old looking from the higher view down because you get, kind of, the big picture. I spent years with Pastor Chuck at Costa Mesa just sitting at his Bible studies, and literally he’d start at 7:30 on Sunday nights, and he’d go through ten chapters, and then come about 9:45 in the evening (which was late), he’d say, “You want me to quit?” and everybody’d go, “No! More chapters!!!!” And we literally went through

1 the Bible with him three times like that. So I appreciate you sitting through the overviews. I know it isn’t something we’re constantly used to, but I think even tonight we’re not going to read every verse. We’re going to select the verses, but you won’t miss out on the story whatsoever or the lessons as well.

We’re going to begin tonight in chapter 30, though, with the northern kingdom having been defeated. Historically, the Syrians came in in 722 B.C. and took out the northern kingdom never to be allowed to return as the northern kingdom, as a country, if you will. They would have had to eventually go back to where the LORD put His name. And with the overthrow of the north, in the south King Hezekiah came to the throne. He’s on your list. He’s a good king. He’s the 13th king to come to the throne. He would reign for twenty-nine years. He would begin actually six years after the northern kingdom fell. God devotes four chapters (which I think is a lot) to his reign. We saw one last week. We’re going to, like I said, finish with him tonight. By the time we get to the end of these seven chapters, we’ll find ourselves at 586 B.C.: twenty years into the overthrow of the south; twenty years into their captivity; twenty years before the place is really leveled – Jerusalem is; fifty years before those seventy years will be fulfilled and they will all be allowed to go back to the land. In fact, chapter 36, the last verse, is a declaration by a king in 536 B.C. to allow the Jews to go back home. So that’ll bring us to the last couple of books here in the historical books. We, a year or two ago, went through the book of Nehemiah and then included Esther, which was the preparation of the people to go home.

So we’re going to stop in the historical books tonight. We’re going to have a couple of topical studies between now and the end of the year; want to do some with Christmas as well. And then we will start on January 6th the book of Revelation, and we expect that we’ll be in that book the whole year. So, I hope you’ll join us. I think it’s a good time to start looking up.

So, we ended last week with this young man, Hezekiah, coming to the throne. You can go back and read chapter 29, if you will. He was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne. He would reign for twenty-nine years. And he was a good king, a very good king. In fact, if you look on your list, he’s (except for ) the last good king that the southern kingdom will see. But he begins by cleansing the Temple. His father, , had just neglected it for years. He prepares it for the people to use it again. The people are thrilled. It’s interesting that one good leader can turn the hearts of so many. In fact, the last verse in chapter 29, you’ll

2 read there, “Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly.” In other words, the work of the LORD seems to have just been, “Wow, look what God did in such a short amount of time.” And that’s pretty cool to see that your heart turns to the Lord, God wants to work if we’ll just let Him.

Chapter 30:1, “And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the to the LORD God of Israel. For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month.” (Now you might remember, way back in Exodus 12, that the Passover was established as the first month of the year of the religious calendar; so, a month later.) “For they could not keep it at the regular time,” (a month earlier) “because a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem.” (So this has been just a neglect over the years.) “And the matter pleased the king and all the assembly. So they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel,” (the northern kingdom which, remember, had been overthrown) “from ” (in the north) “to ” (in the southern portion of that country), “that they should come to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem, since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner.”

So Hezekiah, a young guy, wants to get back with the LORD. This was a Feast that God had established for the nation, a celebration of His deliverance for them from Egypt. They hadn’t done it for a long time. Back in Numbers 9, there’s a clause that says if you’re not ready in January, you can wait a month. And it gave you lots of reasons why you could postpone it, but you didn’t want to miss it.

So, invitation went to everyone in Judah, also sent to some of the fragments of the tribes that were left in the north; invited everyone who was left behind from this captivity and from this overthrow to come and to again worship the LORD as they used to do.

We read, in verse 6, “Then the runners went throughout all Israel and Judah” (the northern and southern kingdoms) “with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: ‘Children of Israel, return to the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. And do not be like

3 your fathers and your brethren, who trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, so that He gave them up to desolation, as you see. Now do not be stiff- necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD; and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the LORD your GOD, that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you. For if you return to the LORD, your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.’ ”

Pretty merciful message, don’t you think? From a young king to a, first of all, nation in the north that was very antagonistic to them, always fighting with them. Other than that, just a call from God’s heart. “Come. And you want to be restored? Come back. You want life? Come back. You want to be treated well? Walk with God. And know this: that God won’t turn away from you if you’re coming back to Him” And I love that. You want to come back to the Lord tonight? You don’t have to give me the excuse, “I don’t know if He’ll take me. You don’t know what I’ve done.” Yeah, I don’t want to know, either. But He’ll take you back. He’ll take you back…..just the way you are. He’s ready to take you back. What a good Thanksgiving message, don’t you think? He’s ready to take you back. Praise the Lord. There’s a Scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – and we won’t get to it this Sunday, but it says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks.” But how do you give thanks in everything until you know that “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). If you know that God’s at work doing good, then you can be thankful in everything; even in the things that you are facing, the testings that you have to go through, the trials that you face. If God is perfecting you, teaching you to trust Him, to rely upon Him, then you can be thankful. You remember those ten lepers that came to Jesus (in Luke 17)? And the Lord healed them of their leprosy. And, as they went, they were healed, and then one guy came back; realized how thankful he was for God’s touch. And the Lord said to him, “You’re well.” And I think so often we’re with the nine. Right? We want stuff, and then we just move along. But if you can go back and be thankful, then you can be well. You can’t just be healed; you’ll be well. Quite a distinction, right? There’s an added blessing there.

So, Hezekiah wrote a great letter for a young king. “Just come back to the LORD. He is waiting for you with open arms.” It just was going to be a time of restoration. “God won’t turn His face away from you.” Love that verse. One of my

4 memory verses. I’ve got it underlined and circled. Those are the kind you don’t want to run by too quickly.

Well, verse 10 tells us, “So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun; but they laughed at them and mocked them. Nevertheless some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.” Isn’t that unfortunate? It’s an unfortunate truth that wherever the gospel is preached, a lot of people laugh, some people listen. And you maybe remember the times that you laughed, and now, at some point, you listened, and God was there. When you’re ready to listen, He’s ready to work. But I am amazed when I read how, for example, in the northern kingdom here (and it’s not covered in this book, but) what they suffered at the hands of the Assyrians was horrendous. I mean, your life would never have been the same. And yet, even in that distress and captivity, they laughed when they were told, “God’ll take you back.” It reminds me of Revelation 9:21 and Revelation 16. There’re a couple of places that said, “In all of their tribulation, all of their sorrow, they still wouldn’t return to the Lord.” For all that they’d gone through, they still wouldn’t come back. So this is pretty typical of man, you know? It doesn’t matter how far you fall. If you’re not ready to relinquish your life to the Lord, you can be pretty foolish. And some of these guys, or most of them it looked like, laughed while some (and those that took advantage of it) came to the LORD. They repented of their evil ways.

Verse 12, “Also the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders, at the word of the LORD.” (So God brought unity and a commitment.) “Now many people, a very great assembly, gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. They arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the incense altars and cast them into the Brook Kidron. Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month” (rather than the first). “The priests and the were ashamed” (of themselves), “and sanctified themselves, and brought the burnt offerings to the house of the LORD. They stood in their place according to their custom, according to the Law of the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood received from the hand of the Levites.” So in Judah, God’s Word preached brought hearts of commitment. A lot of people showed up. There was a revival again. The priests were ashamed of themselves. Why? Well just go back and read what Ahaz had done. Just go back and read the chapter before then – the lack of devotion. But,

5 again, you ready to repent, God’s ready to restore. And so they were ashamed, as they should have been, but the LORD was also willing to work with them.

In fact we read, in verse 17, “For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves;” (or had not set themselves apart) “therefore the Levites had charge of the slaughter of the Passover lambs for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to the LORD. For a multitude of the people,” (from the north especially) “many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written” (to what the Law said). “But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, ‘May the good LORD provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.’ And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.”

If you remember back in Exodus, the Passover came with lots of rules – a lot of setting yourself apart and things that you couldn’t do, the blood you couldn’t touch, the xxxx you couldn’t come near. There were lots of requirements because it’s a portrait of you trying to get next to a holy God, and so every step reminded you of that. Now, in this time of restoration, people are coming from the north that are, first of all, living in captivity; there’s not even a northern kingdom. Before that, there were 200+ years of worshipping in the worst way possible, not at all according to the Scriptures. And so these guys had a heart to want to walk with God. They’d seen what the other side could do, the way of life that they’d chosen, the idolatrous way. They wanted to get right with God, but they didn’t know the rules. So they all just showed up, “I don’t know the rules.” You know, this has been generations. They’d lived their entire lives without the knowledge of God’s Word or their rights and the ceremonies. And so they just showed up with, “Hey, let’s have the Passover. I’m ready to eat. I’m ready to get right with God.” And someone went, “Time out, man. You didn’t go through the proper channels. You didn’t follow all the rules, the ceremonies, to make yourself ceremonially clean.” Lots of busyness, lots of excitement. Not everybody could be checked. We read there about the Levites being involved. And so they were hungry, but they didn’t have the proper ritual, if you will. And so Hezekiah just said, “LORD, look at their hearts.” And I think that’s so important to us because sometimes in a church, especially, you’ll get people that will call and say, “Hey, do you baptize like this or like that? What do you do, exactly?” Or they want to know your procedures. And so we try to explain to them what we do and why, and they’ll, “Oh, that’s not the way you should do it.” And I’ll go, “What are we missin’?” “Well, you know……” So

6 then I try to have them explain to me what the purpose of all of those things is. What is the example? What does the ritual represent? What is the lesson, outwardly, that reflects the heart within, where God is looking? It’s like David eating the showbread. It’s illegal. But then he was hungry. And the Lord used it as an example (Matthew 12) and said to those that He was speaking to in the gospels, “Look, it’s illegal, but people’s needs go before ceremonial law.” So the people needed to get right with God. They didn’t know the Law; the form, the ceremony they were negligent of, but the heart was right. They were hungry to know God. And so I just want you to know the ceremonies can be good – they’re representative, they help you to see things clearly – but God is just interested in the heart and always has been. So notice what he prays, and I love the fact that we read the Scripture, “And the LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.” He met them right where they were at. Rules and ritual are important, and they can be helpful, but they’ll never trump the heart, which God is interested in. It’s like circumcision in the . You can be circumcised. If your heart’s not right with God, it doesn’t do you any good. You can have communion tonight, but if you don’t know the Lord, it won’t do you any good. It really is just a ceremony without a heart, then.

So, verse 21 tells us “the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing to the LORD, accompanied by loud instruments. And Hezekiah gave encouragement to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the LORD; and they ate throughout the fast seven days, offering peace offerings and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers. Then the whole assembly agreed” (they were having such a good time) “to keep the feast another seven days with gladness.” And so God was working, and they were just loving it. And so Hezekiah provided for the whole of Judah seven more days of offerings.

Verse 26, “So there was great joy in Jerusalem” (during that time), “for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.” God listened to their prayers, all because they were whole-hearted in their commitment, and their prayers hit their target, man. God was listening. Since the days of Solomon it hadn’t been like this.

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Before going home, chapter 31, those from the northern kingdom who had come down to the south, before they went home, they began to dismantle everything that Hezekiah’s father Ahaz had left in town when he died. He was a guy that was very fond of the northern kingdom. He instituted child sacrifice and all those ugly things to Baal. And so now that the kingdom is overthrown, these folks have come back home; but before they go home, they begin to tear down all of these highs places and these horrible places where the LORD had been offended. And so the very people that were represented there are on hand to kind of move it away and tear it down. You can read the whole story in and 19. There is also a whole chapter dedicates to this action in Isaiah 36, where we read that the LORD had begun this work in their hearts. And then, in the next chapter, when the king of Assyria comes to battle against Jerusalem. So, there was a spiritual revival in the hearts of the people. The people were blessed.

We read, in verse 1, “Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the sacred pillars in pieces, cut down the wooden images, and threw down the high places and the altars – from all Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh – until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned to their own cities, every man to his possession.” So it wasn’t just a xxxxx fourteen-day feast. There were changes in the hearts of the people that was serious. Right? Their behavior had changed as well. They were touched again.

The rest of chapter 31 lays out in Chronicles the reforms that Hezekiah made after everyone went home. He reappointed priests to their courses that David had established (and Solomon), that had been neglected, so they could care for the Temple, look after the worship, encouraged the people to tithe again so that the care of the Temple would not go in disrepair. Verse 10 mentions that as well. And then, if you get to verse 20 (kind of the ending, kind of summary) it says, “Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and true before the LORD his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered.” Just a big key word. Right? “He did it with all his heart.” You don’t ever want to be working with people that are 50% in. Right? He was 100% in.

Well then we read this, which is interesting, on the heels of that beautiful chapter. Chapter 32:1, “After these deeds of faithfulness, king of Assyria

8 came” (he’s the guy that overthrew the north) “and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself.” Now, we read in 2 Kings 18 that Hezekiah, facing this threat (and up to now, we’ve read nothing but good things), decided that he would try to buy the king of Assyria off, like, “If I could give him some money, maybe he’ll go away.” They were tough and bad. The Assyrian way of captivity, by the way, historically, wasn’t to kill you; it was to drag ten people out of your town and cut off their leg or their arm, to maim them, put out an eye, and then send you back into town and say, “This is going to happen to all of you if you don’t give up.” And, as you might suspect, people just gave up. Nobody died, but they all got hurt. So this was a fearful and fierce bunch of folks. So Hezekiah, up to now, just a man of God who prays, he prospers, he seeks the LORD. We aren’t told here why because this is God’s account. But we read there that he tried to buy the guy off. The guy said, “Okay, give me the money,” took the money and then came anyway. It didn’t work out for him, but it’s kind of his failure of faith here that we don’t find, like I said, mentioned here but we do find mentioned there.

The other thing I want to point out is the first five or six words of this chapter, chapter 32. It says, “After these deeds of faithfulness.” Now you and I would suspect, after we had really served the Lord with a whole heart, to be blessed. “Hey, we’ve been doin’ everything right. We’ve been servin’ the Lord. We got our A-game on.” Right? And what do you read? As he was faithfully serving the LORD, his greatest enemy came knocking at his door and scared the heck out of everyone. It looked like they could totally be wiped out. So I want you to attach those two because trials come to you even when you’re faithful. Right? And Hezekiah, like I said, tried to buy his way out. When he saw that he couldn’t, he went back to faithfulness, and he began to diligently prepare the city for attack. He hid the water sources underground. Usually, in these battles, if you get control of the water, you control the battle. So he ran the water underground from the springs that fed the town. He began to build up some of the cities with armor and with fortifications. And he got the troops ready as he turned to the people to encourage them.

Verse 2 says, “And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, he consulted with his leaders and commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city; and they helped him. Thus many people gathered together who stopped all the springs and the brook that ran through the land, saying, ‘Why should the kings of Assyria

9 come and find much water?’ And he strengthened himself, built up all the wall that was broken, raised it up to the towers, and built another wall outside; also he repaired the Millo” (the landfill) “in the City of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance.” (Obviously this took some time, but the battles kind of developed over time.) “Then he set military captains over the people, gathered them together to him in the open square of the city gate, and gave them encouragement, saying, ‘Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.’ And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.”

So, he might have tried to buy his way out, but he’s still on track. Right? He’s still saying the right things and encouraging the people. He did his best, by the way, when he was in…….he didn’t just sit back and go, “The LORD’ll take care of us.” He said, “The LORD’ll take care of us. Let’s build a wall. The LORD’ll take care of us. Let’s train the army. The LORD’ll take care of us. Let’s hide the water. The LORD’ll take care of us. Let’s encourage the people.” And then he gathered everyone together, and he began to speak to them, and his basic message is, “They may have a lot of people, and they’ve killed everyone in the north, and they’ve taken over the land, and now they’re here to take us out. But we have more with us.” Well, they didn’t have more with them physically. Not even close. They were as outnumbered as you could be. You were destined to be overthrown at this point. Unless you did the Bible arithmetic. You plus the LORD is a majority, and that’s exactly what he saw. “All we need is the LORD to be with us.” And notice he says that in verse 8. “With them, all they have is strength, fleshly strength. With us, we have God with us.” And the people, “Amen!” They yell, “Amen!” Amen.

Well, beginning in verse 9, the story is something probably you are familiar with. The king of Assyria, Sennacherib, sent an ambassador, an emissary, by the name of Rabshakeh to the gates of Jerusalem (which were obviously locked), and they began to yell up to the people (and the people, looking over the wall, and the guards outside), “You guys don’t really think your God’s going to help you, do you? I hope that’s not what Hezekiah is telling you because, to be honest with you, every city we beat up has a god. And so far we’ve traveled all the way from Syria, almost, to here. Nobody stopped us. So I’m pretty sure your God’s not going to be able to help you anymore than these gods helped them. So your best bet is to lay down your weapons, come on out and give up. And then, hey, we’ll treat you good, but

10 we’ll be in charge.” And this is what was being yelled over the fence. “Hezekiah is lying to you.” We are told, in 2 Kings 19, that Hezekiah went before the LORD into the Temple, fell on his face and began to cry to the LORD for help. “LORD, help us, deliver us. We don’t know what to do.” God, in answer to Hezekiah’s prayers, sent a messenger to the Assyrians outside that they were being attacked back home. And so the army leaves, and it looks like all is well. But while they’re gone, they write letters saying, “We’ll be back,” signed Arnold. No. (Laughing) Signed….. “we’re comin’ back.” And fear again. “They’re comin’ back. LORD!” This time Hezekiah takes Isaiah, his buddy (the Isaiah of your Bible), and they go to the Temple to pray, and they lay out all of the letters before the LORD. They were casting their cares and their hate mail before the LORD. “God, read what they’re saying. God, read what they’re doing.” And, again, there is that praying before the LORD. In fact, you can go to 2 Kings 19, and you can read Hezekiah’s prayer; it’s recorded there as he talks about the threat and the fact that, “LORD, You’re the only One that can deliver us.”

Well, God, in response, sends the prophet Isaiah, his friend, to him. “Thus says the LORD: ‘Judah is going to laugh in the face of the Assyrians when this is all over,” and He promises Hezekiah a return to blessings. “I’ll defend your city. They’ve bitten off more than they can chew.” But they came back, and then they began to yell at the people in their own language, and Hezekiah begged them, “Please, don’t speak to them in their tongue. We understand your language. Speak to us.” And they wouldn’t; they wanted to frighten the people.

After this time of prayer and, again, the gathering of the people outside, we read, here in verse 20 (because, again, this is the LORD’s answer to us, this is His report), “Now because of this King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven. Then the LORD sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned” (the king) “shamefaced to his own land. And when he had gone into the temple of his god, some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there. Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side. And many brought gifts to the LORD at Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter.”

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So God gives us a very terse report that’s much longer, again, in Kings of an angel of death sent by the LORD to the Assyrian camp. We are told in Kings that 185,000 people were killed in one night – one angel. So if the Lord tells you you have a guardian angel, you’re all right. Some of you need two or three, but, you know…….God watches over you. By the time the morning came around, the threat was gone. Psalm 76, by the way, was written as a result of this victory. Arriving home to his own temple, the temple of Nisroch (which is a human being with an eagle’s head, which is who the Assyrians worshipped), Sennacherib is killed by his own two sons. So I guess his proud boasting against God turned out to be a lot of hot air. And aren’t we glad?

Well then we read, verse 24, “In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to the LORD; and He spoke to him and gave him a sign.” Now you remember 2 Kings 20; at thirty-nine years old, right after happened what we just read, Hezekiah gets sick; and his buddy, Isaiah, who’s used to bringing words from the LORD, brought him a bad word from the LORD, “Get your house in order, you’re gonna die.” Well, he didn’t even have any children, he felt he was young, he had a lot to do, the people were still in turmoil. It says he laid on the bed; he began to just weep towards the wall. Isaiah was back to his horse getting ready to leave, when the LORD said, “Go back and tell him he’s got fifteen more years. I’ve heard his prayer.” And so then Hezekiah doesn’t know what to believe…… “what you just told me ten minutes ago, what you told me five minutes ago.” Now he’s in a dilemma. And you might remember he asked for a sign, and the sign that the LORD agreed to was to move the shadow on the sundial back ten degrees, which is impossible, but the LORD did it just to prove this was the message that he wanted. And so he was given a message of healing, but though he was going to be healed, he still had to put medicine, this poultice, on this boil on his leg. It says that he recovered. The full prayer of Hezekiah before the LORD, when he heard the bad news, is in Isaiah 38. So, again, the prophets are best read in light of the historical books.

We read, in verse 25 (this is part of the last years of his life), “But Hezekiah did not repay” (uh oh) “according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah. Hezekiah had very great riches and honor. And he made himself treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for

12 all kinds of desirable items; storehouses for the harvest of grain, wine and oil; and stalls for all kinds of livestock, and folds for flocks. Moreover he provided cities for himself, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance; for God had given him very much property. This same Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon, and brought the water by tunnel to the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his works. However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of ,” (now Babylon would be the ones that God would use to overthrow the south) “whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.”

So the last fifteen years, again, good king, you start to see these cracks in the armor. Some major setbacks. Number one – he would have a son named Manasseh during that time, the most wicked king that the south ever saw. We’re going to read about him in a minute here. Evil guy for most of his life. He would eventually return to the LORD. We read, in verse 25, that when he became popular and successful and victorious, Hezekiah became proud. Now that’s not unlike all of us. But rather than being thankful, he became proud and apparently God made His wrath known to him and to the people he oversaw, verse 25. And it led Hezekiah to go, “I’m sorry, that’s the wrong thing to do,” humbled himself for a time, and it’s consistent, I think, with someone that has power to learn not to flaunt it but to trust the LORD. He did well for a long time. It seems like much of his accomplishments there are good ones. You just get to verse 31, and you read, “However.” You don’t want to read “however” at the end of your life. However, when the ambassadors from Babylon came to see the blessings of God in Judah, Hezekiah showed them everything he had, with great confidence and pride. “Yeah, we got this, and then I got one of them, I bought two of them, I got three of these. That city’s mine. That’s my car over there.” It was so tantalizing that down the road, and not too much down the road, like eighty years down the road, they would be back in full force to get everything they saw. They took pictures and made a list. “They got stuff. Let’s go get it.” So this turned out to be a pretty bad move. But that’s the last thing we read about him here. “However.”

Then we read, in verse 32, “Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, indeed they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet,” (you can get lots about Hezekiah there) “and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. So Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper tombs of the

13 sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death.” And then here comes this little boy, Manasseh.

Chapter 33:1, “Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.” (He went back to the idol worship of the heathen.) “For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he raised up altars for the Baals, and made wooden images; and he worshipped all the host of heaven and served them. He also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, ‘In Jerusalem shall My name be forever.’ And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire” (he sacrificed his children) “in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger. He even set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, ‘In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers – only if they are careful to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.’ So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel. And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen.”

At the age of twelve, this young boy began to rule with his father, Hezekiah, who was a very good king. He would rule for fifty-five years. It’s a long time to have a bad guy. That’s more than one election, by the way. (Laughing) He reigned until 643 B.C., or thirty-seven years before the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar would come in and begin to wipe them out – the first siege. He, notice over those years, undid every godly reform of his father. He got rid of the worship of the LORD. He instituted the way of the north. The groves were the sexual places of perversion and worship of the idols. Horoscopes – the worship of the stars. It never seemed to occur to him that what had caused the overthrow of the northern kingdom, just twenty-five years before he was born, would now be his undoing as well. He just threw himself after these images and idols and put them in the very place of God’s worship. I mean, how bad could this be. He led the people astray,

14 verse 9, did worse than the heathen. And God spent a majority of his life calling out to him. Fifty-five years he reigned. Sixty-seven-year-old, he died. But until he was probably in his 60’s, the LORD yelled at him, called to him, sent him prophets, warned him. “Read your prophet books.” He sent him Joel. He sent him Nahum. He sent him Habakkuk. He sent him Isaiah. And, at least by Jewish tradition, at one of these times of warning, it was he who took Isaiah and cut him in half and killed him for his messages. So, this was a bad guy. I guess I don’t need to add that. Fifty years of terror, and yet God, in His mercy (and don’t forget verse 10), He spoke to him, He spoke to him, He called him. God is not quick to give up on us no matter how far we run.

Well, at some point late in his life, “the LORD,” verse 11, “brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria” (those are the fellows still in play from the north), “who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon. Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He” (God) “received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.”

Most remarkable part of the story. I think all of us, had we been alive at that time, would have written this guy off. The most evil dictator the world has ever seen; the slaughterer of children, the guy without a moral fiber in his body. And I think the day that he was captured and beaten, we would have gone, “Yes! I hope he fries!” But in his jail, there in Babylon, he remembers the God of his fathers. He really had no choice, I don’t think. It was kind of repentance by arm bar. You know? God had him where He wanted him, and yet closes his eyes, “God, forgive me,” and God listens. It’s that kind of mercy that kept my dad from getting saved because he’d make a list of people that should have died, and he would say, “All right. So if you give your life to Jesus, would so-and-so go to heaven?” and then he’d name some horrible guy. And I’d go, “Yeah, I guess so.” “That’s not right.” And I’d say, “Well, if you turn your life to Jesus, you’ll get to go to heaven, and that’s not right either.” (Laughing) We’d have that argument. Then he’d tell me to watch what I was saying. But to me this is just a remarkable example in the midst of a people that were really heading downhill. And all you have to do is look at your list to see that from Manasseh forward, except for thirty-one years of Josiah’s rule, everything is downhill to judgment. And yet one guy, who couldn’t have done worse in chains in Babylon, wakes up, calls out to the God of his fathers, and God, in

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His faithfulness, receives him. Just so you know – that’s the God we love. That’s the God that I serve and you serve. And this is the God…..I know we wouldn’t hold the door open for anybody this long, but He does. How good is that! I can brag about Him. I wouldn’t do it, but He does. I can’t do it, but He does. And He can do it for you.

Well, we’re told, in verse 14, that after he was released, he came back to Jerusalem. He began to really restore all that he had destroyed: building up the city, he built up the military, he fortified the cities of Judah. Verse 15, “He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD….he cast them out. He also repaired the altar of the LORD, sacrificed” in a way that was acceptable to the LORD, “and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places,” (we’ve talked about that a lot) “but only to the LORD their God.” And so, with his release, he uses whatever days he had left – and it doesn’t appear like they were years – to try to right what he had wronged. He was going to make his days count. Did he have great effect? He did not. But he tried, and the LORD was only interested in his heart.

So, verse 18, “Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. Also his prayer and how God received his entreaty, and all his sin and trespass, and the sites where he built high places and set up wooden images and carved images, before he was humbled, indeed they are written among the sayings of Hozai.” (I wish we had it, we don’t; the word “Hozai” just means seer or prophet; so, other than what we have in our prophetic books about him, that’s all we know.) “So Manasseh rested with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. Then his son Amon reigned in his place” (comes to the throne). Interesting fellow, at least.

We are told, in verse 21, “Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.” (As you might suspect, from a father who had lived most of his life in the dark), verse 22, “he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done; for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and served them. And he did not humble himself before the LORD, as his father Manasseh had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.” (He got worse rather than better.) “Then his servants conspired against him, and killed him in his own house. But the people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people

16 of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.” So, we have this really quick kind of insight into Manasseh’s son, chosen to follow in his dad’s steps; not in his last, final steps but his dad’s earlier steps. And I would say to you, you parents, teach your kids early. Get to them as quickly as you can because you know the way that the twig is bent, the tree grows. And unfortunately this kid, I think, had a lot in his heart long before he got to a place where he could repent, and he decided not to. Two years he lasted. He’s killed by his own servants. He has an eight-year-old son named Josiah who was born to him at age sixteen, and he is made king. He’s the last good king. I think that he probably was influenced more by his grandpa, Manasseh, the one that turned back to the LORD in his older years. But, regardless, this is their last hope. Josiah will die three years before the Babylonians come into Jerusalem for the first time.

So, we read in chapter 34, “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign,” (so when he was sixteen) “while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David;” (so, here’s a high school kid that gets walking with God, coming from a father who never did) “and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images. They broke down the altars of the Baals” (it’s kind of like a tear down and build up constantly here, isn’t it?), and he began to take care of the city and restore it to its former glory. So, at eight, he’s made king. At sixteen, he becomes a believer, if you will. At twenty, verse 3, he begins to remove the images and all. And, in verse 8, at the age of twenty-six, he begins to put in the big work of rebuilding the Temple. So, like I said, he rules for thirty-one years. He dies three years before Nebuchadnezzar comes in. I’ll just throw out some numbers to you if you can remember them. Nebuchadnezzar wiped out Jerusalem in three phases. In 606, he took all the rich kids to train them in battle, and Daniel was among them. Ten years later, in 597, he came back because the king wasn’t paying his taxes and just laid waste to a lot of the city. People died. And it was kind of like a warning, “Straighten up and fly right.” Eleven years later, in 586, he brought the whole army of the Babylonians in, and he wiped out the city; took everything that was of value, just left the maimed and the handicapped behind, and he dragged everyone hundreds of miles away to Babylon in captivity. So, this is their last hope, like I said. This guy leads the people, and he begins to tell the people, “Come on. Let’s love the LORD.” But by then the judgment of God that was coming against Judah

17 was already written, it was certain. What they could, at best, do now was walk with the LORD and take their punishment and do things right in His sight, and they could live.

So, he was zealous for the LORD, this fellow Josiah. The people were not very committed to the LORD during this time. In fact, would be the prophet during these years, and God would often have Jeremiah stand at the Temple and say to the people coming in, “Yeah, you sing really pretty, and you sit up really straight. I like your clothes, but God doesn’t like your heart. And what’s in your heart is not in your mouth, and you’re just a contradiction in terms.” And so he was constantly warning them during the life of Josiah.

Again, beginning in verse 9 (and we won’t read these verses either), there is this reconstruction, again, of the Temple again. During this time of the reconstruction – and remember, it had been without a Temple again for half a century because of Manasseh’s wickedness – they found a copy of the Law, if you will, the Word of God. Imagine. There weren’t many around. The kings were supposed to write one for themselves. Apparently not all of them did. But they found it in the restoration. It was brought to him, and there in chapter 34:19, “Thus it happened, when the king heard the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes,” and he began to weep, and he began to say to the people, “I get it. We’ve been so disobedient to God, and as a result, we have suffered all of these things. We have to make these things right.” And so he sent some people to go talk to the prophet about what the LORD wanted them to do, but the prophet wasn’t available. But there was a prophetess in town named Huldah, and they went to her, and they said, “What does the LORD want to say to us? What does He want to do?” And the LORD said, “Indeed, calamity is coming because of your sin. You’re going into captivity, but because of your faithfulness, it won’t happen in your lifetime.” And so this one godly young man, I think, spared the nation for a time the sufferings that were coming their way because of the things that were happening. So the Word of the LORD was bittersweet. They were going to suffer but not now. And I love verse 27 because Huldah says to him, “ ‘because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you. Surely I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place and its inhabitants.’ ” God just wanted to

18 spare him from what was coming. He was a godly man. But I love verse 27. God knows what’s in your heart, doesn’t He? Praise the Lord.

Well, it led Josiah to just pray. And he put his foot down like a strong leader, demanded everybody to worship the LORD. They did what he said. They didn’t necessarily like it. And notice verse 33, “Thus Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the LORD their God.” And notice it says, “All his days they did not depart from following the LORD God of their fathers.” But the minute he died, they died. So this was kind of by force.

In chapter 35, we have a report of the reinstitution of the Passover that we started with tonight. The preparations again – and it’s been years, obviously – for the priests and the singers, the reparation of the Temple. You’ll read through it, you’ll get to verse 16, and it says, “So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah. And the children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet; and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.” So, much like it was in the days of Hezekiah, there was a strengthening, a commitment. There was a party like none…….you know, when you’re right with the Lord, man, all this stuff’s so great. I love having communion, but it’s good when you’re right with the Lord. It doesn’t mean much if you’re just kind of, “Oh, I don’t really want to walk with God.” It wasn’t like that. Not now, not then.

Beginning in verse 20, we are then quickly brought to the death of Josiah. Remember I said every good king has a flaw. This one seems to have been his. And I won’t read the last eight verses, but let me just tell you what it says (because we want to have time for communion). Josiah looks like he died because he made a mistake in judgment in going out to battle without seeking the LORD first. He was even warned by a heathen pharaoh in Egypt, Pharaoh Necho, not to go to the Battle of Carchemish. He felt somehow that Egypt’s move against Babylon was bad for Judah. And so rather than seeking the LORD, he got involved in the fray at Megiddo. He shouldn’t have gone to the battle; he thought he could effect a

19 difference. God, I think, would have told him not to go, obviously. But he did. He didn’t ask, he didn’t pray. He just went, and he got killed. Fairly young. He was sorely missed by the people. But I’ll tell you what – with him, the last vestiges of spiritual leadership died with him; he’s the last good king. The last few kings only occupy what happens about the last twenty-two years, all the way to that overthrow in 586. So, yeah, in the end of his life again. Gosh, these guys are good kings. Revival at their hands, and then they just kind of pfft at the end. You that are older – here’s my lesson for you tonight: don’t pfft at the end. (Laughing) Thank you very much. Worked all week on that.

Well, finally chapter 36, and thank you for being so diligent to go through these long chapters. The history is in one chapter as they head for captivity and then the promise of deliverance and repatriation. Verses 1, 2 and 3 – Jehoahaz. He lasts three months. He does things in an evil manner; 2 Kings 23 talks about him. The king of Egypt overthrows him, and they begin to tax God’s people in Judah very heavily. From verses 4 down through verse 8 or so, the Egyptian king takes Jehoahaz’s brother. His name is Eliakim. He is put on the throne, but the king changes his name to (I know this is going to get confusing, but don’t worry, you won’t have it on the test), while taking his brother Jehoahaz to Egypt, where he dies in captivity. Jeremiah, in chapter 22, mentions this event because he was on the scene at the time. He reigned for eleven years. During that time, Nebuchadnezzar came in his first assault; remember, taking all the rich folks’ kids, Daniel included, in 606. This fellow, Jehoiakim or Eliakim (whatever name you want to call him by), seems to have died in that assault, rebelling against Babylon. So, he seems to have just kind of gone his way in battle.

From there, Eliakim’s son, Jehoiachin, comes to the throne at eight years old. He only lasts a year. In fact, he only lasts three months and ten days – exactly - before Nebuchadnezzar comes and takes him to Babylon. And he makes his brother, , a puppet king in Jerusalem, where he reigns until 597 B.C, which is the second assault of the Babylonians upon the nation of Judah. A lot of people die. There’s an assault and a raid, and Nebuchadnezzar leaves, but he leaves in charge, verse 11, a fellow named Zedekiah, and he would last the last eleven years. He would be a vassal king, if you will. He was there just to pay taxes and to do what he was told. He ends up, in 586, rebelling and saying, “We’re not going to pay any more money. We’ve had it!” He’s going to do his big act. God used that to finally wipe out Jerusalem in 586. Twenty years into the captivity, they come and just, by force, take everything in the land that God had given to Judah. In 2 Kings

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25, you will read of Zedekiah, this last king, being forced by Nebuchadnezzar to watch the slaughter of his children before his eyes were gouged out, so that it would be the last thing that he had seen. So this was a horrible time, obviously, in Israel.

Verse 20 we read, “And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia,” (which would come in, in 538, and overtake them as world leaders) “to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.” For the last 490 years of Judah’s reign, the land had not been given a Sabbath day rest. Now you’ve got to go way back to the Law. You remember the LORD said plant for six years, seventh just let it rest; don’t plant. Just eat whatever God gives you the six years, and you wait. Don’t get greedy. Let the land rest. Trust the LORD. They hadn’t done it for 490 years. You just divide it. The LORD said, “You owe me seventy years of rest in the land.” And so they had been in the land for 900 years by now, but God uses this, and He explains to them, at least in part, why this judgment had come.

Verse 22 and verse 23 are very important. It says, “Now in the first year of Cyrus” (he was the first king in Persia, the Medo-Persian Empire, you might remember) “king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom,” (now remember, they overthrew the Babylonians) “and also put it in writing, saying, ‘Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up!’ ” If you happen to flip your page over to the , the first two verses of the book of Ezra are the last two verses in this book. So they tie those two together, and the book of Ezra will move the history forward seventy years, passed in silence between that flip of your page, and what you’re left with are Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, which are really the restoration of the land.

So the ebb and flow of the history from the days of David through the captivity. But the lessons are always the same: finish well. You can be a godly person and yet not really finish the way that the Lord would want. The advice to almost every one of these kings, “I’m for you if you’re for Me. I’m with you if you’re with Me. If you

21 look to Me, I’ll look to you. If you want to forsake Me, I’ll forsake you.” And time after time after time the lesson is carried out. When the nation sought the LORD, they were strong. When they resisted God, they were terribly weak. When someone, in their weakness, decided to come back to the LORD, the door was always open; even to the guys like Manasseh that we probably would have shut the door on a long time ago. So if you’re in that position – if you’re away from the Lord tonight – come back. “Will the Lord take me?” Yes! “How do I know?” I read my Bible. I’m as surprised as you are that He’ll take you back. (Laughing) But He will. He will!

So we’ve got plenty to be thankful for, don’t we? I know we’re livin’ through some rough times and a lot of frustration, but let’s face it – we can be thankful in all things because all things work together for good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Amen?

Submitted by Maureen Dickson November 30, 2020

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