We Need a Better King 2 Kings 23:31-25:30 Ralph Davis likens these final chapters to the dilemma hairy men ahve when forced to remove a Band-Aid. Removing a Band-Aid is a big problem for men, like me, who are hairier than Chewbacca. There is no easy way to remove it, especially when it feels like it is stuck to your hairy harm with superglue. You could take it slowly, prolonging the agony, or you can just pull it off with one howl-creating jerk. When it comes to finishing this story about God’s removal of Judah, the writer seems to take the quick-rip method. There is no easy way to write this section (or preach it!). He could prolong the agony and give lots of detail. But he decides instead bring the story to an end quickly, giving us the impression that he wants to hurry (and the chronicler even more quickly, covering these events in one chapter). Our writer's message is simple: “Jerusalem is toast” (Davis, 29). Our writer moves rapidly through the reign of four kings who reigned for a total of twenty-two years. Two kings reigned for three months each: Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin. Two kings reigned for eleven years each: Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. Unfortunately, everything post-Josiah goes from bad to worse. In these two chapters, the writer tells us of the fall of Jerusalem. Babylon takes Judah into exile. The temple gets destroyed. The treasures are taken away. Solomon’s glory departs. The books of Kings comprise about 400 years of history that moves from Solomon’s golden age, through the divided kingdom, to the fall of Israel and finally to this sad conclusion. As we finish our study, I would like to consider these final chapters, while trying to also reflect on the book of Kings as a whole. I have tried to magnify one dominant theme in the study: We need a better king! Even the best of kings proved to fall short. That theme is in full view here. Allow me to make two points related to this dominant theme. #1: WE NEED A BETTER KING BECAUSE WE LIVE IN A FALLEN WORLD (23:31-25:26) In the beginning of our study, I noted that 1 Kings is about decline, and 2 Kings is about a fall. These books highlight the reality that we live in a fallen world, in need of a Redeemer. We need to realize this fact. Consider some of the effects of the fall in these final chapters, and in the wider context of Kings. Four Evil Kings Consider the particular kings mentioned in these final chapters. Jehoahaz (23:31-35) reigned for three months in 609BC. We read very little about him, other than the fact that he “did evil in the sight of the Lord” (23:32). Despite having a godly father, Josiah, Jehoahaz rebelled against God, doing evil. You do not have to teach a child to rebel. "Folly is bound up in the heart of the child" (Prov 22:15). You have to teach a child the Gospel. One time I got in trouble for calling kids “midget demons.” I had to apologize for my statement because “midget” offended someone. I never use the term any more. But what was curious is that no one got upset that I called their kids little demons! Parents know their kids are little rebels, who need to change, and that change ultimate comes through the power of Christ, or Redeemer. We also see once again that just because you have a godly father does not mean you will be godly. You must respond to the Gospel. His dad is Josiah! Yet, he rebels. Be diligent in teaching the Gospel in the home. The circumstances of his imprisonment are not described, but what is clear is that Pharaoh (Judah’s overload at the time) does not like him (33). So he replaces him with his brother, Eliakim, and changes his name to Jehoiakim (34). He is a puppet king, who installs a new tax program to pay the tribute to Egypt (35). Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years in 609-598BC. We read that he too “did evil in the sight of the Lord” (23:37). During Jehoiakim’s reign, the first deportation takes place (24:1-7), which is referenced during Daniel’s time (Dan 1:1-4). The writer reports: In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldeans and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by his servants the prophets. Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the LORD, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon. Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. And the king of Egypt did not come again out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates. (2 Kings 24:1-7 ESV) We read of judgment coming upon the land because of their evil. It seems that Nebuchadnezzar used these foreign raiders because his army just encountered the Egyptians in a war, so he uses them as an interim solution (Davis, 338). But the writer of Kings gives the real reason why they went against Judah, “the LORD … sent them” (24:2). And it happened “according to the word of the Lord.” We know more about the rebellion of Jehoiakim from Jeremiah’s prophecy. Jeremiah prophesied in the days of Josiah through Zedekiah. Consider the prophet's words: 11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, 12 but in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.” 13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages, 14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great house with spacious upper rooms,’ who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion. 15 Do you think you are a king because you compete in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. 16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the Lord. 17 But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.” We find that the king built a sweet palace of his own, while his people suffered. And he also refused to compensate the builders (Jer 22:13). A true king would deliver the oppressed, and do justice (15; 22:3). That king does not sit on the throne at this time, because he does not know the LORD like his father did (15-16). Jeremiah says because of his evil reign, “They shall not lament for him” (22:18). Further, Jehoiakim rejects God’s Word. We read later in Jeremiah that God in his mercy revealed His Word, with an offer for repentance (Jer 36:1-3), but Jehoiakim rejects it (36:20-26). Instead of listening, and turning, he burns the Jeremiah’s scroll (Jer 36:23). Perhaps he thought he could destroy it. But God’s Word endures forever. Paul, in prison could write, “But the word of God is not bound!” (2 Tim 2:10, ESV). His men do not tear their clothes, desperate for repentance as Josiah does when he hears it (36:24). What a picture of human depravity! Oppression. Indulgence. Bible burning. If God in his kindness should give you His Word, then you should treasure it like Josiah, and repent, not burn it like Jehoiakim. What are you doing with the scrolls? The point is clear: Repent while you can. Do not persist in unbelief. For what is coming is worse than Judah’s exile. The good news of the Gospel is that you do not have to be “forsaken” (cf., 2 Kings 21:14) because Christ became the forsaken one for us. Jesus cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46). Either God’s judgment will fall on you, and you will be removed from his blessing, and face only his wrath, or you can look to Christ as your substitute. You can be forgiven, and redeemed through faith in Him. You can live every day with this promise, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Heb 13:5). Next, we read in verse 8 that Jehoiachin reigned for three months in 597BC.