Sat.’s Devo - The Succession of Kings

Read: 2 Kings 15:1-16:20; Acts 19:13-41; Psalm 147:1-20; Proverbs 18:4-5 Uzziah ruled in Judah for 52 years and pleased the Lord, but didn’t destroy the pagan shrines. The Lord struck him with leprosy so he had to live in a separate house. He put his son Jotham in charge of his palace and governing the people. *** Meanwhile in Israel, they went through king after king. Zachariah ruled 6 months and was evil. He was assassinated by Shallum who became the next king. He only reigned one month before he was assassinated by Menahem who became the next king. He was an evil king who ruled Israel for 10 years. He paid the king of Assyria 37 tons of silver to keep Assyria from attacking them. He extorted the silver from the rich of Israel. *** Menahem’s son, Pekah became king and only reigned 2 years and was evil. He was assassinated by his own army commander, Remaliah. Remaliah became king and ruled 20 years. He was evil and lost much territory to the Assyrians. He was assassinated by Elah. *** During all these kings of Israel, Judah had had two kings: Uzziah and Jotham. Jotham was a good king who pleased the Lord only he didn’t destroy the pagan shrines. He rebuilt the upper gate of the Temple. During his reign, the Lord sent King Rezin of Aram and king Pekah of Israel to attack Judah. Jotham died and his son, Ahaz became king and reigned for 16 years. He did not please the Lord, but sacrificed to idols and even passed his own son through the fire of Molech. He was attacked and conquered by King Resin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel. *** King Ahaz sent messengers to the King of Assyria, Tiglath-pileser to come and help them. Ahaz gave him silver and gold from the Temple as payment. King Tiglath-pileser drove out the king of Israel and Aram. *** King Ahaz went to Assyria to meet with King Tiglath-pileser in Damascus and saw the altar he had in his pagan temple. He sent blueprints of it back to Jerusalem where they copied it. When he returned home, he sacrificed on it and replaced the altar in the Temple with this new altar. He also changed the basin that was on the backs of the oxen and placed it on a stone pavement. He removed the canopy that had been constructed in the palace to use on the Sabbath. He did all this to please the king of Assyria. Ahaz died and his son Hezekiah became the next king. *** In Acts, the seven sons of Sceva had been casting out demons in the name of the Jesus that Paul preached. They came across a principality greater than them that wouldn’t listen to them. It said that it knew Jesus and Paul, but not them. It violently attacked them and they fled, naked and battered. This story spread throughout Ephesus and the fear of the Lord fell on the people and they greatly honored the name of Jesus. Many who had sorcery books brought them to be burned. *** Trouble arose in Ephesus because the Gospel was hurting the idol-making industry. Demetrius, a silversmith was greatly hurt economically by the preaching of Jesus. He met with other craftsmen to discuss it. He riled them up to a riot defending their great god, Artemis and took Paul’s two traveling companions into the amphitheater. They shouted for two hours. *** Finally, the mayor was able to quiet the crowd and speak. He reminded them that their city was founded on the story that Artemis’ image had fallen down to them from heaven and no one could take that away. He also reminded them that these men had not stolen anything or spoken against their god. If Demetrius had a charge against them then he needed to do it legally through the courts. He warned them to go home or they might be charged with starting a riot. This caused them to disperse. *** Lord, your truth always causes disruption in the enemies’ camp. May we be aware of his tactics and not fall back into fear. May we boldly face our enemies knowing that greater is he that is in us than he who is in the world.