Sun.’s Devo - Changing Kings

Read: 2 Kings 23:31-25:30; Acts 22:17-23:10; Psalm 2:1-12; Proverbs 18:13 God had promised to destroy Jerusalem after Josiah’s death and now we read how this came true. Josiah had died in battle against King Neco of Egypt. Jehoahaz his son reigned only 3 months when Neco put him in prison in Hamath (which is in Syria). Neco demanded that Judah pay 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold. Neco put Eliakim (one of Josiah’s sons) as the ruler of Judah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim had to impose an income tax on the people in order to pay Neco. Jehoiakim ruled for 11 years. He was evil like his brother. During his 11 year reign, King Neuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Judah and Jehoiakim surrendered to him and had to pay him tribute also. He refused to pay it after three years so the Lord sent the Babylonians, Arameans, Moabites and the Ammonites against Judah to destroy it. This all happened because of the sins of Manasseh and all his murders (mainly innocent children). Jehoiakim died at the early age of 36 and his son Jehoiachin became the king. Jehoiachin was only 18. He did evil also. Nebuchadnezzar had captured most of Egypt so Neco didn’t venture out of his country after that. Nebuchadnezzar then came for Jerusalem and besieged it. Nebuchadnezzar stripped and pillaged everything that was of any worth from the Temple. He even took the pillars down and carried them to Babylon. Jehoiachin and his leaders surrendered and were taken prisoner to Babylon. He exiled 7,000 of the best troops and 1,000 craftsmen. Nebuchadnezzar only left the weak and poor to stay in Jerusalem. He assigned Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle as the next king but changed his name to Zedekiah. Zedekiah ruled 11 years but did evil and rebelled against eh king of Babylon. So Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem to beseige it for 2 years. When all the food was gone Zedekiah and a group of soldiers devised a plan to escape through a broken down section of the wall at night. They were chased by the Babylonian troops and captured. Zedekiah was taken to Babylon where he was judged, had to watch his sons killed and then had his eyes gouged out. Nebuchadnezzar had the Temple, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem destroyed then he had the wall torn down. I read that there was gold in the mortar of the wall so he had them take every stone apart to get the gold out of the mortar. They took all the other bronze, gold and silver that was left to Babylon. The high priest, his assistant and the three chief gatekeepers were taken prisoner to Babylon where they were tried and put to death. The people of Judah were sent tinto exile from their land. Gedaliah was appointed governor of the people left in Judah. All of Judah met Gedaliah in Mizpeh to hear his leadership plan. He told them that as long as they did what the king of Babylon wanted, they could live their lives in peace. But one of the royal family, Ishmael, formed a coup and went to Mizpeh and killed Gediliah and all the Babylonian soldiers. The people ran in panic of Babylon’s response. In Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar was replaced by Evil-merodach. Jehoiachin, who was in prison there, found favor with Evil-merodach and was promoted to eat with the king. He was given new clothes and didn’t have to wear the clothes of the prison. Well, that was enough to make your head spin! The kings changed like diapers on newborn all because of their sins of idolatry. In Acts, Paul was giving his testimony to the mob of people. They listened in silence until he got to the part about God sending him to the Gentiles. When he said the word, ‘Gentile’ the place erupted. The commander brought Paul in and strapped him down to whip him. He ordered him to confess to why the crowd had become so furious. Paul asked him if it was legal to whip a Roman citizen before he was tried. When the commander found out he was a Roman citizen by birth he quickly released him to prison to await his trial. The next day the leading priests were brought before the Jewish high council to find out what was going on with Paul and the crowd. Paul began that he had lived before God his whole life with a clear conscience. Ananias ordered Paul slapped. Paul was incensed and called him a corrupt hypocrite. He apologized when they told him he was the high priest. Paul saw that half the council was Pharisees and half was Sadducees, so he brought up the matter of resurrection since he knew that was their main dissension. It caused such a division that the soldiers had to rescue Paul and have him taken back to prison. Paul had to be laughing on the inside. Lord, help us to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves. Give us strategy during these days we are living in and an answer to every person. May your Kingdom come.