Weds.’s Devo - The Unrest of the Kingdoms

Read: 2 Kings 15:1-16:20; Acts 19:13-41; Psalm 147:1-20; Proverbs 18:4-5 Uzziah became the king of Judah. He was a good king except he didn’t take down the places of pagan worship, so he was struck with leprosy. His son, Jotham had to rule while he was quarantined for his leprosy. Meanwhile in Israel, Zechariah became king during Uzziah’s 39th year. Zechariah was an evil king and worshipped other gods. Shallum conspired against him and assassinated him in public to become the next king. Zachariah had been the fourth king from Jehu’s descendants fulfilling the prophecy. Shallum only reigned a month when he was assassinated by Menahem who became Israel’s next king. Menahem was ruthless and evil. When he was attacked by the Assyrians he extorted money from the rich of Israel to pay the king off. When Menahem died, his son Pekahiah became king of Israel. He reigned for the last two years of Uzziah’s reign in Judah. Pekahiah was evil and his army commander conspired against him and assassinated him to became king. His name was Pekah. He reigned for 20 years and was evil. He lost five towns to Assyria when he reigned. He was assassinated by Hosea who became king. In Judah, after Uzziah died, his son Jotham ruled. He did what was pleasing to the Lord but didn’t destroy the pagan worship. He rebuilt the gate of the Temple. God began to send Aram to attack Judah because they refused to give up their idols. Jotham died and his son Ahaz became king. He was an evil king who sacrificed to idols and even offered his own son to Molech to burn. He increased pagan worship throughout Judah. The king of Aram and Israel came against Judah to attack Jerusalem and besiege it but they could not conquer Ahaz. Ahaz sent from help from the Assyrians. He took silver and gold from the Temple of the Lord to pay the Assyrian king. The king of Assyria attacked the Aramean capital of Damascus and carried many away captive and killed their king. Ahaz met with the king in Damascus and saw his magnificent altar he had. He sent a diagram of the altar home to Jerusalem and had them make a copy of it. When he got back to Jerusalem, he replaced the bronze altar with this new pagan altar. He told the priest to use it instead of the bronze altar and he would use the bronze altar for himself. He turned God’s Temple into a pagan worship site to look like the one in Damascus. When Ahaz died, his son, Hezekiah became king of Judah. All of the pagan gods that the kings allowed into Israel were the same gods and demons that Paul had to face and bring down. The seven sons of Sceva learned that casting out demons was dangerous if you did not have the spirit of God in you. When the demons attacked them, the fear of the Lord fell on the people. The people of Ephesus encountered the spiritual warfare from the silversmiths who made idols for Artemis. Their business was being attacked since Paul preached that their gods were powerless. They met to discuss this but the meeting turned into a riot with people shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians”. They turned the whole town into confusion and dragged Paul’s traveling companions into the amphitheater. The people were uncontrollable until the mayor finally calmed them down and speak. He brought out that Paul and his men had not stolen anything or committed a crime. They couldn’t tell them what to believe. If the silversmiths had a complaint against Paul and his men, they could settle it in court. He told them that they needed to go home peaceably or the Roman government might get involved and then they would all pay a price. Lord, may we honor your name in all we do. May your name be exalted in our nation.