Sat.’s Devo - The Last Kings of Judah

Read: 2 Kings 23:31-25:30; Acts 22:17-23:10; Psalm 2:1-12; Provers 18:13 Pharaoh Necho of Egypt had killed Josiah on his way to fight the Assyrian army. When he conquered them and their territory, he returned and disposed Josiah’s youngest son, Jehoahaz and put his eldest son, Jehoiakim as the king. He took Jehoahaz back with him as a prisoner and demanded Judah to pay him tribute. Joahiakim had to collect taxes from the people to pay the tribute. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon then invaded the land and Jehoiakim surrendered and had to pay him tribute also. After three years, Judah rebelled and refused to pay. God sent bands of Babylonians, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites against Judah to destroy it. God was doing exactly what he had said through his prophets that he would do, because the people had rebelled against Him and because they had shed innocent blood, especially that of the children. Jehoachin was the next king and he was as evil as the last. Jehoiakim means “God will set up” and Jehoachin means “God will establish”. God set up through the first one what he would finish during the second which was the destruction of Jerusalem. Jehoiachin surrendered to Babylon and they carried the best of everything including people to Babylon. Only the weak and poor were left in the land and Zedekiah was made the king of the remnant. He had the same mother as Jehoahaz. He was evil also and rebelled against the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar came and totally destroyed Jerusalem and burned it to the ground. Interestingly the exact date of the end of Jerusalem would be the death dates of the two people who would come back years later and rebuild it’s walls and the Temple - Ezra and Nehemiah. The king tried to escape but was caught and had to watch his own children killed before his eyes were gouged out. What a horrible last sight. The religious, military and political elite were taken to Babylon. One of them was Ezra’s great grandfather. They were all killed in Babylon. Gedaliah, Jeremiah’s friend was appointed the governor of those left in Jerusalem. His name means “God’s gift” but he was assassinated by Ishmael, and royal family members. This caused the people to run in panic. Meanwhile, in Babylon a new king came to power named Evil-merodach which means “foolish is thy rebellion”. He gave favor to Jehoiachin and released him from jail promoting him to eat at his table. Thus ends the book of 2 Kings! In Acts, Paul continued his speech to the angry mob. He was at the part where the Lord told him to leave Jerusalem and take the gospel to the Gentiles. The once quiet mob exploded at the news of the Gentiles and demanded his death. The soldiers took Paul inside and had him whipped to confess of his crimes that would make the crowd so mad. Paul proclaimed his rights as a Roman citizen which changed their tune immediately. Now, they were afraid of him. When we know who we are in Christ, the devil is afraid of us. The next day Paul got to stand trial before the Sanhedrin. He made the same mistake as Jesus - rebuking the high priest. The high priest had paid for his position just like the guard had paid for his Roman citizenship. We don’t buy our salvation, it is our’s because Jesus bought it for us and we accepted his gift. Paul saw his audience and saw a way to divide them. Half were Sadducees and half Pharisees so he just mentioned the resurrection and he won the Pharisees and lost the Sadducees. But, he did exactly what he wanted to do - he divided their ranks and pitted them against one another. We could learn something about spiritual warfare in this. Lord, help us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves because we are sent out as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matthew 10:16). May we pronounce our Psalm today for our nation and our leader.