2 Kings 10

WEEK 1                                             2 Kings 10

 

MONDAY  Reflections

Jehu did all that Elisha had prophesied. He destroyed all of those who served Baal. He destroyed the images and all there was concerning the ways of Baal. God even promised his children would remain on the throne of Israel for four generations. One might think this was the beginning of the reign of a good king in Israel, but it wasn't. 

Jehu rid Israel of the false gods but kept the golden calves as a way to worship God. He not only left the golden calves Jeroboam raised up but didn't walk as the law of God commanded. His obedience gave some benefit, but his disobedience left Israel open for God to begin the actions which would lead to its destruction. As has been noted before, it isn't how you start but how you finish. Jehu finished poorly.

2Ki 10:1-36
(1)  And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying,
(2)  Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced city also, and armour;
(3)  Look even out the best and meetest of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house.
(4)  But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand?
(5)  And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes.
(6)  Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up.
(7)  And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel.
(8)  And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning.
(9)  And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?
(10)  Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the LORD hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah.
(11)  So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.
(12)  And he arose and departed, and came to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house in the way,
(13)  Jehu met with the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brethren of Ahaziah; and we go down to salute the children of the king and the children of the queen.
(14)  And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and slew them at the pit of the shearing house, even two and forty men; neither left he any of them.
(15)  And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot.
(16)  And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot.
(17)  And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the LORD, which he spake to Elijah.
(18)  And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much.
(19)  Now therefore call unto me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal; whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtilty, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.
(20)  And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it.
(21)  And Jehu sent through all Israel: and all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full from one end to another.
(22)  And he said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments.
(23)  And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the LORD, but the worshippers of Baal only.
(24)  And when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, Jehu appointed fourscore men without, and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escape, he that letteth him go, his life shall be for the life of him.
(25)  And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal.
(26)  And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, and burned them.
(27)  And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day.
(28)  Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
(29)  Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.
(30)  And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.
(31)  But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.
(32)  In those days the LORD began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel;
(33)  From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan.
(34)  Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
(35)  And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead.
(36)  And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty and eight years.

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Jonah 4 It's about you!

WEEK    25                                               Jonah 4

FRIDAY  Reflections

The book of Jonah ends on a very unsatisfactory note. There is no clear-cut solution, no resolution, no word on the future of Nineveh since they repented, or on Jonah. Jonah realized God was a God of mercy, but he didn't want God to be merciful, at least not to Nineveh. 

The book ends with the question being turned to the readers: How would you respond? In the end, this book isn't about Jonah or Nineveh. The book asks you, how are you going to respond to God’s mercy on your enemies? 

So how are you going to respond?

Side note: They have many cattle (the way to repent according to the Law), so what are you going to do? People have Jesus today, so how are you going to respond?

Jon 4:1-11
(1)  But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
(2)  And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
(3)  Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
(4)  Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
(5)  So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
(6)  And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
(7)  But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
(8)  And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
(9)  And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
(10)  Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
(11)  And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

Jonah 3

WEEK    25                                              Jonah 3

THURSDAY  Reflections

Jonah went this time when God told him to. He gave the message but just barely and left. He didn't preach to the whole city, try to instruct them on repenting, or tell them how to get right with God. He just said that they were going to be destroyed (turned over) in 40 days.

 

The Spirit of God had to move on these pagan people because, without instruction, they repented in sackcloth and ashes (ways to show grief and remorse). They were not going to take any chances and even clothed their animals with sackcloth and ashes. These people believed, and since the proclamation was for forty days, I assume they wore these types of clothes the whole time. If you have ever held sackcloth and felt how uncomfortable it is, you can understand that these people were serious. 

Jon 3:1-10
(1)  And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
(2)  Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
(3)  So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
(4)  And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
(5)  So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
(6)  For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
(7)  And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
(8)  But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
(9)  Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
(10)  And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

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Psalm 95

WEEK   25                                           Psalms 95

WEDNESDAY  Reflections

Let's worship God but let's not be like Israel who first worshipped and then disobeyed. God is so good but when we turn our back on him there are consequences. For the people who came out of Egypt, they missed out on going into the promised land. I don't know what promised land God wants you to take or what it looks like for you but it will be good, so let's remain faithful to the shepherd of our soul so we can see it.

Psa 95:1-11
(1)  O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
(2)  Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
(3)  For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
(4)  In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
(5)  The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
(6)  O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
(7)  For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
(8)  Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
(9)  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
(10)  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
(11)  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

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Jonah 2

WEEK   25                                               Jonah 2

TUESDAY  Reflections

Some have said that you have to hit rock bottom before you look up. For Jonah, it was a different bottom; it was the bottom of the ocean in the belly of a fish. Jonah's prayer was answered. He was delivered, but what a deliverance being vomited up by a fish. Disobedience brings consequences. Jonah now relented and promised God he would go to Nineveh.

Reminder to self: obey God, don't run away.



Jon 2:1-10
(1)  Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,
(2)  And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
(3)  For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
(4)  Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
(5)  The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
(6)  I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
(7)  When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
(8)  They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
(9)  But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
(10)  And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

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