WWUTT 499 The Kings of Israel Edom and Judah?

Jesus said, You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We're continuing our study of the book of 2

Kings, but before jumping into chapter 3, I wanted to come back to where we finished off last week.

I read those last two stories at the conclusion of chapter 2, but didn't explain their significance.

So that's where we're going to go back. Beginning in verse 19, Elisha at Jericho, and then at verse 23, going to Bethel.

Now there's miraculous things that happen in both cities that mean to show us

Elisha's importance, his authority as an apostle of God and the miracles he was able to do.

But there's something even deeper going on in both of these stories than just that. So verse 19, now the men of the city, this is at Jericho, which is mentioned in verse 18, the men of the city said to Elisha, behold, the situation of this city is pleasant as my

Lord sees, but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful. And Elisha said, bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.

So they brought it to him and he went to the spring of water and threw the salt in. And he said, thus says the

Lord, I have healed this water from now on, neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.

So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke. Now it's really funny that the men come to him and say, you can see that this place is pleasant, but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.

Then what was so pleasant about it? Jericho actually had a very good location and it was it was a great place to be able to live and raise crops.

It looked good, but when it came down to it, the water was causing people to get sick.

Pregnant women were having miscarriages and nobody was able to plant anything in the field and yield anything from it.

So it looked great, but underneath the surface of it, nothing really good was happening there.

So Elisha said, bring me a new bowl, because when it came to doing something ceremonial, generally you had something brand new, had never been used before.

And so Elisha has a new bowl with salt in it. He goes to the spring, throws salt in the water and he says, thus says the

Lord, I've healed this water and neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it anymore.

This was a land that was cursed ever since Hiel tried to rebuild Jericho. We read about that in First Kings 16.

In the days of Ahab, Hiel of Bethel built Jericho and he laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram, his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son

Seagub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua, the son of Nun. When you go back to Joshua 6, after Jericho had been conquered and decimated,

Joshua put a curse on that area. Chapter 6, verse 26, Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying,

Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city Jericho.

At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.

So the Lord was with Joshua and his fame was in all the land. And that's exactly what happened to Hiel when he tried to rebuild

Jericho. So the land was even further cursed, yet the people saw that it was a good place to live and Elisha healed the land by the authority of God so that the people could live there and be able to draw from its resources.

And there's something even deeper to the story than just seeing that Elisha healed the land.

He took a little bit of salt in a bowl and threw it in the spring. Now the salt would have no significance whatsoever on a spring of that much water.

So they knew it was something miraculous. But why salt? Why would that be the symbol of what it is that Elisha threw in the water and then it purified the whole land?

Well, Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 13, You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, or in some translations, if salt has lost its saltiness, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

So Jesus saying to his disciples, you are the salt of the earth. You give the earth its seasoning, its flavor.

You are a preservative. Salt was also purifying. And so as we go out with the gospel of Jesus Christ, this is the abundant life, the seasoning, the preservative, the cleansing of the message of the word of God that is preached.

Just a tiny little bit of salt can purify an entire group of people through the cleansing of the

Holy Spirit, working through the message of the gospel. You don't have to have a great big large group or a great big huge church.

Just a few people sharing the gospel can have that kind of an impact on a community.

So let us be bold to share it and be the salt of the earth. So that's the spiritual significance even of that story there in 2

Kings chapter 2. Let's go on to the next one, starting in verse 23. And Elisha went up from there to Bethel.

And while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him saying, go up, you bald head, go up, you bald head.

And he turned around and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she bears came out of the woods and tore 42 of the boys.

From there, he went on to Mount Carmel. And then from there, he returned to Samaria.

Now we don't really understand the significance of the name calling that these boys were doing go up, you bald head.

There's a lot of different theories, but I'm not going to go into it because it's not really significant to the point that I mean to I mean to make here.

So he goes to Bethel, which was kind of a capital city there in Israel, and it was the focal point of their apostasy.

So he's going there to speak the word of the Lord and tell the people to turn from their sin. And while he was going up, some boys came out of the city.

And there's a lot of them, a lot of boys, because when the bears came out, they tore 42 of them. So you might be thinking of like, you know, a hundred boys running in some sort of pack or a great big gang.

Elisha turns around and when he sees them, it's clear that he feels threatened.

So he curses them. These two bears come out and these are rough and tumble bears here for two bears to grab 42 of the boys.

And it shows the wickedness of this city was so deep that even their own children were evil and were not willing to listen to the words of a prophet of God, which has serious consequences.

For to reject the words of a prophet was to reject the words of God himself. In Luke chapter 16, verse 31,

Jesus said that if a person will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

And that was foreshadowing himself who was going to die on the cross for our sins and rise again from the grave.

So because they weren't willing to listen to Moses and the prophets, they're not going to believe Jesus and his apostles either.

And that is even more serious because if we reject

Christ, the penalty is worse than the death that we might face in this life.

It is the eternal punishment that is handed to those who did not worship

Christ in life. And so this story, even here in second Kings chapter two, points to that ultimate reality that we must turn from sin and obey the words of Christ lest we perish under the wrath of God.

So let's continue here in our study of second Kings now up to chapter three. In the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria and he reigned for 12 years.

He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made.

Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin and he did not depart from it.

Now remember when Ahab had sinned against God, the Lord sent Elijah to Ahab and told him that he would die and he would not have a successor to the throne.

Well, Ahab mourned over his sin and so God said, all right,

I will not issue this curse to Ahab, but it will be to his sons. So one of Ahab's sons did assume the throne, but his sons would not have anyone that would succeed the throne over Israel.

So Ahaziah was Ahab's first son to take the throne and then Ahaziah died and then the next son is

Jehoram. Now, Jehoram did not continue in the Baal cults the way that Ahab and Jezebel did, but he still did not love the

Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength. And so he did what was wicked in the sight of the Lord, according to what

Jeroboam had done. And Jeroboam, if you'll remember, he appointed priests to the high places which were raised up to false gods.

So there was still idol worship that was going on in Israel and Jehoram was just letting it happen.

But he himself was not worshiping in the Baal cult. So he is the brother of Ahaziah, son of Ahab, and now he is reigning over Israel.

Now something fascinating going on here in verses four and five. Now Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheep breeder and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100 ,000 lambs and the wool of 100 ,000 rams.

So that was the agreement between the king of the Moabites and the king of Israel in the treaty that they had made.

Verse five. But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

Now this story recorded here in second Kings three verses four and five was also recorded by the king of the

Moabites himself, Mesha, the king of Moab. He chiseled this out.

His rebellion against the king of Israel, he recorded in a stone that has since been recovered and it's known as the

Moabite stone. It's actually a fairly large stone. It's four feet high and two feet wide.

It was discovered in 1868 by a missionary and it is one of two ninth century extra biblical references to the house of David.

Prior to the discovery of the Moabite stone, there were some people that questioned that David's dynasty ever even existed.

I mean, you know how skeptics can get. Well, the Bible says this, but we can't find any other evidence of it.

So maybe it never even happened. Well, now there are extra biblical references to the house of David and this

Moabite stone being one of them. Mesha, the king of Moab had recorded his rebellion against Israel and made reference to the house of David.

And so this is another piece of evidence that confirms the things that we read about in the Bible are accurate.

Not only that David's dynasty existed, but that this story itself in second Kings chapter three verses four and five really did take place.

So after the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel, King Jehoram marched out of Samaria and at that time mustered all of Israel.

He went and sent word to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah and said, the king of Moab is rebelled against me.

Will you go with me to battle against Moab? And he said, I will go. I am as you are.

My people is your people. My horses as your horses. And then he said, by which way shall we march?

And Jehoram answered, by the way of the wilderness of Edom. So Jehoshaphat would not partner with Ahaziah, probably because he recognized that Ahaziah was a

Baal worshiper, just as Ahab was. And Jehoshaphat had some problems with Ahab, so wasn't willing to partner with Ahaziah.

But Jehoram is not a Baal worshiper, and so Jehoshaphat is willing to partner with him because again, as I mentioned before,

Jehoshaphat has a desire to see the kingdoms of Israel and Judah united again.

So in verse 9, the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom.

And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them.

Then the king of Israel said, alas, the Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.

And Jehoshaphat said, is there no prophet of the Lord here through whom we may inquire of the Lord? It's a common response for Jehoshaphat.

He said the same thing to Ahab. Let us find a prophet of God who will tell us what it is that we shall do.

Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, Elisha, the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.

And Jehoshaphat said, the word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Edom, went down to him.

And Elisha said to the king of Israel, because Elisha knows that Israel is wicked and that Jehoram is wicked, he says, what have

I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother. But the king of Israel said to him, no, it is the

Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.

So Jehoram is saying, I don't listen to the priest of Baal. I'm going to listen to the prophet of God.

And Elisha said, as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you.

But now bring me a musician. And when the musician played, the hand of the

Lord came upon him and he said, thus says the Lord, I will make this dry stream bed full of pools.

For thus says the Lord, you shall not see wind or rain, but that stream bed shall be filled with water so that you shall drink you, your livestock and your animals.

This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give you the Moabites into your hand and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones.

The next morning, about the time of the offering of the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom till the country was filled with water.

So the Lord shows himself through a miraculous sign here. And then he's also going to be working through these three kings to to utterly destroy the

Moabites. This is not just going to subject the Moabites to the kings of Israel, Edom and Judah, but they're utterly going to be destroyed.

That's the order from Elisha that has been given to them. And these three kings, the

Edomites, you remember who they are? They are the descendants of Esau. So all of these kings are descendants of Jacob.

You have the king of Israel, king of Edom and the king of Judah. Now the

Edomites, though we see fellowship with them here, at least in this story, eventually they're going to turn on the

Israelites and God is utterly going to lay waste to them, which we read about in the book of Obadiah.

That's another story for another time. But anyway, verse 21 here, when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor from the youngest to the oldest were called out and were drawn up at the border.

And when they rose up early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood.

So the water wasn't red. It's just the way the sun was shining on it. And so they thought it was blood.

And they said, this is blood. The kings have surely fought together and struck one another down.

Now then Moab to the spoil. So they're thinking that the Israelites and the

Judeans and the Edomites, they all kind of turned on one another.

So now we just have to go in and we get all of their goods. But when they came to the camp of Israel, the

Israelites rose and struck the Moabites till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the

Moabites as they went. And they overthrew the cities. And on every good piece of land, every man threw a stone until it was covered.

They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees till only its stones were left in Kir Hareseth.

And the slingers surrounded and attacked it. Here we have references to the

Benjamite slingsmen who were skilled slingsmen.

We read about them in the book of Judges. And even they, along with Judah, are here conquering the

Moabites. Verse 26, when the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 swordsmen to break through opposite the king of Edom, but they could not.

Then he took his oldest son, who was to reign in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall.

And there came a great wrath against Israel, and they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

Now this is not the wrath of God that came against Israel. It seems that what happened here is that the king of the

Moabites offered his own son, and the Moabites saw that as an offering to their own false god.

And so it kind of motivated them to come stronger against the Israelites than they had before.

And so they were successful, and Israel fled from them and returned back to their land surrounding

Samaria. So they succeeded in making the land desolate.

All the stones that they threw down and stopping up the springs of water, but the Moabites were still able to come against the

Israelites and force them back. So that is where we're going to conclude, and then we'll pick up there next week with 2

Kings chapter 4, the story of Elisha and the widow's oil.

Let's conclude with prayer. Our Lord God, I praise you that though we have been faithless, you are faithful.

And you have called us to your own glory and goodness through your son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins and rose again.

All who are in Christ Jesus have been buried with him in their sins and risen again to new life.

And I pray that in that new life to which we have been called, we would take the gospel of Christ to the world as the salt of the earth.

We would preach the gospel to the lost, that they would turn from their sin and believe in Christ and have everlasting life, being saved from the wrath of God that is to come.

You have delivered us out of darkness and into your glorious kingdom. So help us to live as your kingdom people, holding out the word of life until the day of your return.

Lead us in paths of righteousness, for your name's sake, forgive us our sins. In Jesus' name, amen.

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