WWUTT 534 Causing Israel and Judah to Sin?

So whenever we encounter a sinful king in Israel, it's said that he causes the rest of Israel to sin.

And so that is the case with sinful leaders in this world even today, when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, studying God's Word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you Becky, we continue with our study of the book of 2 Kings chapters 14 and 15 today.

And I'll also be jumping over to 2 Chronicles because there's a story there that helps us to understand a little bit better something that we're gonna read today.

2 Kings chapter 14 beginning in verse 1. In the second year of Joash the son of Jehoaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah began to reign.

He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was

Jehoadim of Jerusalem, and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

Yet not like David his father, he did in all things as Joash his father had done.

The high places were not removed, the people still sacrificed, and made offerings on the high places.

So indeed he loved the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength, but he did not bring

Reformation to Israel to tear down the high places, well to Judah in this case, to tear down the high places so that the proper worship of God would only be in the in the temple.

That's where God was supposed to be worshiped. Since he is one God, he designated one place for worship, the temple, but Judah was not worshiping there.

They still had the high places, those places that have been raised up by the pagans, and even though they had been desecrated by the the people of Judah in the sense that pagan gods were not worshipped there, only the true

God was worshipped, yet they were not torn to the ground, they weren't completely abolished, they were just reused for another purpose.

And so whenever a wicked king would sit on the throne in Judah, then worship to false gods would commence at those high places, whereas the one true

God was worshipped in the temple. And so this is the pattern that Israel and Judah have been following over the course of 1st and 2nd

Kings. So continuing on in verse 5 here, As soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father.

But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what was written in the book of the law of Moses, where the

Lord commanded, Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin.

So still a God -fearing man, still kept to the law of Moses, and only killed those who had killed his father and not their children.

If you'll remember, there was a story involving David. This was in 2nd Samuel 21, in which David avenged the

Gibeonites. He asked them, what may I do for you? Saul wanted to wipe out the Gibeonites, so the

Gibeonites told David, well give us seven of the sons of Saul so that we may kill them because of what

Saul wanted to do to us. And so David let them do that, but that was against the law of Moses, to kill sons for the fault of a father.

And so God cursed the land and would not let rain fall on the land because of what had happened to those sons until the manner of their bodies was handled in the right way.

So here you've got Amaziah handling these things in the right way, according to the book of the law.

So verse 7, he struck down 10 ,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm and called it

Jokthiel, which is its name to this day. Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, come let us look on one another in the face.

And Jehoash, king of Israel, sent word to Amaziah, king of Judah, a thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, give your daughter to my son for a wife.

And a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. You have indeed struck down Edom and your heart has lifted you up.

Be content with your glory and stay at home, for why should you provide trouble so that you fall, you and Judah, with you?

So for reasons that we don't know, Amaziah wanted to fight Jehoash, but Jehoash said, hey, don't think of yourself as being so bold just because you struck down the

Edomites. You're like a thistle and I'm like a cedar of Lebanon. And so Jehoash is basically saying, this isn't going to go well with you if you want to fight one another.

So Amaziah would not listen and Jehoash, king of Israel, went up and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, faced one another in battle at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah.

And Judah was defeated by Israel and every man fled to his home. And Jehoash, king of Israel, captured

Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for 400 cubits from the

Ephraim gate to the corner gate. And he seized all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the house of the

Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages. And he returned to Samaria.

So clearly in this confrontation, Jehoash was the mightier king to Amaziah.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did and all of his might and how he fought with Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the

Chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

And Jeroboam, his son, reigned in his place. This is of course a different Jeroboam. Amaziah, the son of Jehoash, king of Judah, lived 15 years after the death of Jehoash, son of Jehoaz, king of Israel.

Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish.

But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. And they brought him on horses and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was 16 years old, and made him king instead of his father

Amaziah. He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers.

In the 15th year of Amaziah, the son of Jehoash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Jehoash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria.

And he reigned for 41 years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the

Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he made

Israel to sin. So we have two different Jeroboams who are being talked about here. And whenever it is said that that they followed in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, it means that they worshiped the golden calves as well as the worship to the false gods in the high places, causing all of Israel to sin in this.

Sin goes from the top down. What the king did, the rest of the people of Israel followed in. Verse 25, he restored the border of Israel from Lebo Hamath as far as the sea of the

Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant

Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet who is from Gath -Hephir. Is this the same

Jonah as the Jonah of the Old Testament who wrote, you know, the famous book who spent three days and nights in the belly of a large fish?

Same Jonah? Yes, it actually is. Because as you read in Jonah chapter 1, verse 1, now the word of the

Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and he went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.

So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord. So there he is.

The identity is given right at the start of that book, that he is the son of Amittai. And as we read here,

Jeroboam listened to Jonah, the son of Amittai, and did what it was that the Lord told him to do.

Now, remember that the kings of Israel are all wicked. All the kings of Israel are wicked. None of them did what was right in the eyes of God.

And when God had told Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell that wicked city to repent of their evil,

Jonah hops in a boat and goes the other direction. Why? Well, what is often said about that is because Jonah was a bigot.

He was prejudiced, didn't want the people of Nineveh to be spared. Well, it wasn't necessarily that Jonah had a hatred for the people of Nineveh.

It was because Jonah knew that preaching to a pagan city like Nineveh meant that the people of Israel were not repentant.

So God was going to give repentance to the Ninevites, and that was going to signify that the judgment of God was coming upon Israel.

And Jonah didn't want that to happen. So he thought by running away from the responsibility of preaching repentance to Nineveh, that it would prolong

Israel's days. And of course, we know how that story ultimately went, or how that story will ultimately go, as we're reading here in 2

Kings. So what we would read about in the book of Jonah is happening around this time frame now, as to where we are in Israel.

So yeah, same Jonah being talked about. And by the way, this is one of those evidences that you can use with a person who tries to say that the story of Jonah is just a tale, and that person probably didn't even exist.

It's just a tall tale. It's just a neat story for us to read, but it's not meant for us to think of Jonah as being an actual person, or any of those events as having actually taken place.

Well, no. Jonah is a historical figure, and you find it mentioned right here in 2 Kings 14.

Jesus also talked about Jonah as being an actual person. And the account that happened with him in the fish,

Jesus references as an actual historical event. So it's not just a tall tale. It is true to the

Word of God. So verse 26 now, back in 2 Kings 14. For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left bond or free, and there was none to help

Israel. But the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

He didn't leave Israel to be vulnerable to their enemies because of the of the broken borders, but Jeroboam, though he was wicked, was at least blessed by God to restore this border that Israel would be protected.

Now was not yet the time for their iniquity to reach its apex, in which God would pour out judgment on them or turn them over to their enemies.

The time had not yet come. Verse 28, now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did in his might, how he fought and how he restored

Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel?

And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

In the 27th year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign.

He was 16 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem.

His mother's name was Jechaliah of Jerusalem, and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father

Amaziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places, and the

Lord touched the king so that he was a leper to the day of his death. And he lived in a separate house, and Jotham the king's son was over the household governing the people of the land.

Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

From here we're going to go over to 2nd Chronicles chapter 26, and we read about here the reason for the leprosy that that this king was was struck with.

Hang on, I gotta remember his name, Azariah, because it's a different name in 2nd Chronicles, so I get confused.

In case you haven't noticed, we've got a lot of J names, we have two Jeroboams, we have a king named

Azariah in 2nd Kings, who is called Uzziah in 2nd

Chronicles, a different name. So 2nd Chronicles chapter 26, I'm going to start reading in verse 16. But when

Uzziah was strong, he grew proud to his destruction, for he was unfaithful to the

Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

Now he wasn't unfaithful in the sense that he worshipped false gods, but he was unfaithful in the sense that he disobeyed the law of Moses.

Verse 17, but Azariah the priest went in after Uzziah with 80 priests of the

Lord who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, it is not for you

Uzziah to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense.

Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was angry.

Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the

Lord by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold he was leprous in his forehead, and they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out because the

Lord had struck him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper he lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the

Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king's household governing the people of the land.

Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah from the first to last, Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz wrote, and Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the burial field that belonged to the kings, for they said he is a leper, and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

So this this rebellion from King Uzziah is actually very similar to the rebellion that we see in Numbers chapter 16 or the story that's referred to as Korah's rebellion.

So you had those men who came before Moses and Aaron and said, why do you get to be proclaimed as holy?

Everyone here is holy. And so Uzziah basically had that same sort of mentality.

He's like, why do the priests get to be leaders in holiness? I want to lead not only this kingdom, but also lead in all spiritual matters.

And so he's taking upon himself to do things that only the priests have been designated to do.

And the chief priest Azariah even gives

Uzziah a chance to repent and go out. And what he is stricken for is because he got angry with Azariah and didn't repent.

And so then the Lord struck him with leprosy. It says that it struck him on his forehead and he was a leper to the day of his death.

And this is probably symbolic of the fact that when when a king sins, it brings sin upon all of Israel.

So just as we were talking before with the the sin of the kings of Israel causing all of Israel to sin.

Well, this pride from King Uzziah would afflict all of Judah. And so that was what was shown by the the leprosy that was affecting his forehead.

Because since the king is the head of the nation that he rules over, since he's sick, sick in his heart, not wanting to honor the

Lord or honor his law, he's going to affect the rest of the kingdom with him. So that's what was symbolic of the of the leprosy affecting his his his head.

And so then he had to stay in a different house for the rest of his reign. He could not be in the house of the

Lord. And when he was buried, it says that he was buried in a field and not in the tombs of his fathers.

Believe it or not, there was a stone plaque that was found in Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives from the second temple period.

And it bears the inscription here were brought the bones of Uzziah, king of Judah, do not open.

So they found the actual resting place of King Uzziah, but his bones would have been brought there centuries later because we haven't even gotten to the second temple period yet.

And that's when the stone was dated was from that that period after the Israelites were restored to their land.

So anyway, so Uzziah was was a leper to the for the rest of his days because of his dishonor before the

Lord. Now, Second King speaks of him more favorably than Second Chronicles does.

Well, that's because Uzziah honored the Lord his God in the sense that he worshiped only God. He did not worship the false gods.

However, he dishonored the Lord in that he did not keep his law. So we're gonna finish up our story here in Second Kings chapter 15 and and I think we can we can wrap up the chapter here.

So beginning in verse 8, in the 38th year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria for six months and he did what was evil in the sight of the

Lord as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he made

Israel to sin. Shalom the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him down in Iblium and put him to death and reigned in his place.

Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah behold they are written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

This was the promise of the Lord that he gave to Jehu, your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation and so it came to pass.

Shalom the son of Jabesh began to reign in the 39th year of Uzziah the king of Judah and he reigned one month in Samaria.

Then Manahem the son of Gadi came up from Terzah and came to Samaria and he struck down Shalom the son of Jabesh in Samaria and put him to death and reigned in his place.

Now the rest of the deeds of Shalom and the conspiracy that he made behold they are written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

At that time Manahem sacked Tifsa and all who were in it and its territory from Terzah on because they did not open it to him therefore he sacked it and he ripped open all the women in it who were pregnant.

In the 39th year of Azariah king of Judah Manahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel and he reigned 10 years in Samaria and he did what was evil in the sight of the

Lord. He did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he made

Israel to sin. Paul the king of Assyria came against the land and Manahem gave

Paul a thousand talents of silver that he might help him to confirm his hold on the royal power.

Manahem exacted the money from Israel that is from all the wealthy men 50 shekels of silver from every man to give to the king of Assyria so the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land.

Now the rest of the deeds of Manahem and all that he did are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel and Manahem slept with his fathers and and Pechiah his son reigned in his place.

In the 50th year of Azariah the king of Judah Pechiah the son of Manahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria and he reigned two years and he did what was evil in the sight of the

Lord he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he made Israel to sin and Pekah the son of Ramalia his captain conspired against him with 50 men of the people of Gilead and struck him down in Samaria in the citadel of the king's house with Argab and Ariah he put him to death and reigned in his place.

Now the rest of the deeds of Pechiah and all that he did behold they are written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

In the 52nd year of Azariah king of Judah Pechiah the son of Ramalia began to reign over Israel in Samaria and he reigned 20 years and he did what was evil in the sight of the

Lord he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat which he made Israel to sin.

In the days of Pechiah the king of Israel Tiglath -Peleser king of Assyria came and captured

Aijon, Abel, Beth, Maacah, Jenoa, Kadesh, Hazor, Gilead and Galilee and all the land of Naphtali and he carried the people captive to Assyria.

Then Osea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pechiah the son of Ramalia and struck him down and put him to death and reigned in his place in the 20th year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.

Now the rest of the acts of Pechiah and all that he did behold they are written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

In the second year of Pechiah the son of Ramalia king of Israel Jotham the son of Uzziah which we get that name now king of Judah began to reign he was 25 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem his mother's name was

Jerusha the daughter of Zadok and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father

Uzziah had done nevertheless the high places were not removed the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places he built the upper gate of the house of the

Lord now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah in those days the

Lord began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pechiah the son of Ramalia against Judah.

Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father and Ahaz his son reigned in his place and that's where we'll pick up the story next week beginning with the reign of Ahaz.

So the king is a reflection of the sins of his people and will also influence the people either to sin or to do righteousness and so we see the same thing happening here in the

United States of America Donald Trump was elected to president of the United States and he is clearly a reflection of the sins of the people and is also causing the people to sin by the poor example that he sets we just witnessed the death of a prominent man in America a week ago and of course

I'm talking about Hugh Hefner the pornography mogul there's really little difference between Hugh Hefner and Donald Trump and Trump has raised up around him a lot of religious people but they're a bunch of yes men there are not really people around him that are calling

Trump to repent and likewise many of Trump's followers are seeing him as a godly man and he is anything but so we should certainly pray for our president that he would repent that he might lead this people in righteousness instead of instead of leading them in sin his his horrid sinful past of which he has not repented and his foul mouth as well encouraging other people to speak obscenities toward one another this is what we are witnessing happening in the

US and so let us pray that that he would indeed repent that there would be godly people around him who would call him to repentance our

Lord God we thank you for the salvation that we have been given in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Jesus Christ who reigns over all the government is on his shoulders and so we have nothing to fear of any man or or even long for something that is of this earth because this world is not our home and we are looking toward a heavenly kingdom not an earthly one but we pray for the salvation of our president that he might lead this people in righteousness and he would turn from his sin he would repent and set an example for others and lead in a righteous way right now we have a president who is causing division our previous president caused division

Donald Trump just sends in a different way and so we pray that he would indeed be led to salvation and set an example for this nation that needs to repent and come to the

Lord lest we perish in judgment forgive us our sins and lead us in paths of righteousness for you for your namesake we pray this in Jesus name amen

Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City Kansas Find out more online at www .utt