Read: 2 Chronicles 21:1-23:21; Romans 11:13-36; Psalm 22:1-18; Proverbs 20:7
Jehoshaphat died leaving seven sons whom he had given cities and authority. His oldest son, Jehoram was to be the king. When Jehoram became king, he had all his brothers killed. He was an evil king who married a daughter of Ahab and led Judah in idolatry.
Other nations that had been under Judah began to rebel because there was no fear of God in a leader who didn’t follow God. Edom was the first.
Elijah sent Jehoram a letter telling him that he had not rebelled like the other kings of Judah, but he had rebelled like the kings of Israel which was much more serious. Because of this, the Lord was going to hit his nation a heavy blow and he would die of a disease in which his bowels would fall out.
The Philistines and the Arabs rebelled and attacked Jerusalem and carried off more of their treasures and Jehoram died of the illness Elijah and predicted. The Philistines had carried off and killed all his sons except his youngest son, Ahaziah. He became king and his mothers’ name was Athaliah who was a grand daughter of Omri. Omri had been a ruthless killer who became the king of Israel by treason. He walked in sin, idolatry and vanity. His son was Ahab.
Athaliah encouraged her son to do evil and to align himself with Israel’s king Joram in a war with the king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. In this battle, Joram was wounded.
Ahaziah went to Jezereel so visit Joram after the battle to inquire for his health. This was the downfall of Ahaziah. Ahaziah and Joram went out to meet Jehu who they thought was on their side. Instead, Jehu killed them both.
Meanwhile, back in Judah, when Athaliah heard that her son was killed, she killed all of the other sons (except one) and relatives securing herself as the queen. Jehoram’s daughter took baby Josiah and hid him in the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled Judah.
In the seventh year of Josah’s life, the priests brought Josiah out. The high priest was Jehoiada and he had raised Josiah in the ways of the Lord so he could rule Judah. He gathered the commanders of the army, who hated Athaliah, to overthrow Athaliah and crown Josiah king.
Jehoiada armed the Levites and the priests with swords and shields. They surrounded Josiah and brought him out of hiding and took him from the south side around of the temple to the north side and crowned him, gave him a copy of the law, anointed him, blew trumpets and shouted, “Long live the king!”
When Athaliah understood what was happening, she tore her robe and shouted, “Treason!” The army men took her to the palace where they killed her. Jehoiada then began cleansing the land of Baal worship then cleansed the temple of the Lord and put the Levites and priests back in their places. Josiah was brought to the palace and placed on the throne.
The devil always overplays his role. Athaliah made herself queen but had no true followers. We are seeing a shift in our nation as people who have been duped into believing a lie are being forced to face the evil they once thought was okay. The far left is losing power because they are being exposed for what they really are - evil. It is not people that are our enemy, but they are being used by Satan to do his will. He is our enemy and he is overplaying his shot.
In Romans, Paul was speaking to the Gentiles as their apostle. He reminded them that their root was founded in Judiaism and they were grafted into the line of Abraham. God did this because the original branches rejected their own roots. Paul warned them against becoming arrogant, because they could be broken off just like the Jews were if they rebelled. One day, when the number of the Gentiles is complete, God would graft Israel back on to his tree.
Lord, your goodness is to all generations. Thank you for being our God.
No comments:
Post a Comment