This week, we shall continue to
study the book of 2 Kings in the Old Testament.
While the kings of Judah were not perfect, most of them at least earned their commendation that they “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord”. It was not so with Ahaz:
(1) Who were the two kings that preceded Ahaz? (15:1, 32)
(2) What kind of spiritual legacy was left by them to Ahaz?
(3) Whom then could Ahaz blame for his turning away from the Lord?
(4) In describing his wickedness, the Bible says, “He followed the ways of the kings of Israel” (16:3). Why does the Bible drag the kings of Israel into Ahaz’s sins?
(5) How thorough did Ahaz follow the ways of the kings of Israel?
(6) 2 Chronicles 28 and Isaiah 7 contain more detailed accounts of the joint attack by Rezin and Pekah, and 2 Chronicles 28:5 points out that this attack was a punishment by God for the sins of Ahaz:
a. Were the joint forces of Rezin and Pekah able to overpower Judah? (v. 5)
b. Why then did Ahaz turn to Tiglath-Pileser, the Assyrian king for help?
c. What price did he pay for seeking help from the Assyrian king?
d. Given his wickedness, did the Lord seek to intervene and help him? (Isa. 7:1-14)
e. Why didn’t Ahaz listen?
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) What was the result of Ahaz’s alliance (or submission) to Assyria? (16:9)
(2) How then would Ahaz look upon his decision to depend on Assyria rather than on God as the prophet Isaiah had admonished him? (Isaiah 7:4ff)
(3) Why did Ahaz desire to build a replica of the altar in Damascus? (see 2 Chr. 28:23)
(4) What did he do when he returned from Damascus and what did his action indicate? (2 Ki. 16:12-14)
(5) Ahaz intended to use both the new altar (modelled after the one used to worship the gods of Aram) and the old altar (the one used to worship the Lord):
a. What was each of the altars used for? (16:15-16)
b. Do you think he intended to use the latter to enquire of the Lord? (see 2 Chr. 28:24-25)
(6) The Bible does not give us the reason why Ahaz cut off the side panels, removed the basins from the movable stand and removed also the Sea from the supporting bronze bulls (see 1 Kings 7:23ff and the diagram of 1 Kings 6:1-38, Year 4 Week 19 Day 127 of this Devotional Guide). Consider the following questions:
a. What did his action signify?
b. Why did he also take away the Sabbath canopy used for his own entry outside the temple of the Lord? (16:18)
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Hoshea―Last King of Israel (see Note below)
(1) In what way(s) might Hoshea be less evil than the kings of Israel before him? (see 2 Chronicles 30 for possible answer(s), especially 30:10)
(2) In any case, why would God still put an end to the kingdom of Israel in the time of Hoshea, the less evil king?
(3) What did Hoshea do in an effort to rid of the control of Assyria? (17:3)
(4) What should he have done?
(5) Presumably Hoshea still put up a fight for three years. What was the final outcome of his effort? (17:5-6)
(6) The reigns of both Pekah and Hoshea marked the beginning of the phenomenon known as the “diaspora” which continues to these days among the people of Israel:
a. The word is first used in the Greek translation of the OT (Septuagint) in Deuteronomy 28:25 to foretell the diaspora (i.e. scattering) of the people: What was the reason given there for this scattering? (Deut. 28:15)
b. Now with the restoration of their nation in 1948, has their spiritual condition changed?
(7) The core reason for their destruction was given in v. 7:
a. What was the core reason for their fate?
b. In pointing out their core sin, why does the Bible emphasize the following?
- Who God is to them
- What He had done for them
(8) How may you apply your answers to 7b to yourself?
(9) How outrageous was their sin?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
There was some confusion over when exactly Hoshea seized the throne from Pekah due to the words of 2 Kings 15:30. However, “The earlier commentators, and almost all the chronologists have therefore justly assumed that there was an eight years’ anarchy between the death of Pekah and the commencement of Hoshea’s reign…there is nothing at all surprising in the existence of anarchy at a time when the kingdom was in a state of the greatest inward disturbance and decay” (K&D, 291).
Reasons for the destruction of Israel elaborated:
(1) The worship of gods of the nations: (v. 8)
a. How outrageous was such a sin?
b. Since these nations were driven out by them (or at least subdued by them), was it not proof that these gods could not protect the nations, or that they were at least inferior to the Lord? Why then would they choose to worship them instead?
c. The key appears to be not just the “worship” but the following of their practices:
- How did the practices of the nations differ from theirs?
- On whom did the Bible lay the blame for their introduction to Israel?
- Why?
(2) Their secret sins (vv. 9-11)
a. What were the secret sins?
b. Why does the Bible refer to them as being done secretly?
c. What was the result of such secret deeds?
(3) Spurning the mercy of God (vv. 12-15)
a. What did God do all these years as they did these wicked things?
b. Can you recall some of the faithful and powerful prophets you have read so far in 1 & 2 Kings?
c. Can you recall how they responded to the messages of the prophets and how they treated some of these prophets?
d. What is meant by “(they) themselves became worthless”?
(4) Specific charges of idolatry (vv. 16-17)
a. What particular sins are being cited by the Bible?
b. Which, in your opinion, was the most abhorred by the Lord? Why?
(5) The ultimate judgment (vv. 18-23)
a. What was the consequence brought upon them by their sins?
b. Why does the Bible call the destruction of Israel and the exile of the people into the land of Assyria as the “removal of them from His presence”?
c. In conclusion, why does the Bible single out the sin of Jeroboam?
- How particularly wicked was this sin? (1 Ki. 12:28)
- How was it able to persist throughout the history of Israel? (1 Ki. 12:26-27)
- Was destruction of the nation and their exile inevitable? Why or why not?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
The resettlement of the people to Samaria gives us insight into the background of the relationship between the Samaritans and the Jews in the time of Jesus:
(1) While the deportation of the Israelites to Assyria might not be total (17:6), who would be the dominant residents in Samaria from this time onward? (v. 24)
(2) Why did the Lord choose to kill the new residents with lions? Should He not “leave” as the nation of Israel was put to an end?
(3) What did the king of Assyria do in response to the ravaging of the lions in Samaria? (vv. 27-28)
(4) Did it result in the worship of the Lord by these new gentile residents of Samaria? (vv. 29-33)
(5) Can you find present-day examples of syncretism where Jesus Christ is being worshipped alongside idols and pagan gods?
(6) Was such syncretized worship acceptable to the Lord? Why or why not? (vv. 34-39)
(7) Is such syncretized worship of Christ and idols acceptable to the Lord today? (2 Cor. 6:14-18)
(8) In the period following the Babylonian captivity (i.e. the destruction of Judah and the temple of the Lord), it appears that those post-exilic Jews who returned to Jerusalem had gradually relinquished idol worship up to the time of Jesus: How did these Jews look upon the Samaritans as illustrated by the following?
a. The encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman in John 4
b. The parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:25-37)
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) When did the reign of Hezekiah begin?
(2) What had Hezekiah and the people Judah witnessed as far as the Northern Kingdom was concerned?
(3) What kind of a nation did Hezekiah inherit from his father, Ahaz? (see 2 Ki. 16:3-4, 17-18; 2 Chr. 28:24)
(4) What does his breaking of the bronze snake of Moses tell you about his determination to be rid of idols and the restoration of the genuine worship of the Lord? (18:4)
(5) What commendation did he receive from the Bible and how was he rewarded by the Lord? (18:5-8)
(6) The resumption of the power of Judah appeared to have happened in the first thirteen years of his reign. What was the significant event that took place to his north in his 4th year of reign? (vv. 9-12)
(7) What happened to Judah in the 14th year of his reign?
a. How did he respond to the capture of his fortified cities by the Assyrians? (v. 14)
b. What constituted the total tributes he had to give to the Assyrians (vv. 14-16)
(8) Since he was such a godly king:
a. Why did he not fight with the help of the Lord?
b. What would his people think of him and the God that he honored?
(9) Did his effort to appease the Assyrians work? (vv. 17-25)
a. From the words of the field commander, what outside help was Hezekiah counting on? (vv. 21, 24)
b. How was his faith being challenged and ridiculed? (vv. 22, 25)
(10) What should Hezekiah do under the circumstances?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) How did the officers from King Hezekiah respond to the words of the field commander? (v. 26) What did they call themselves in particular?
(2) Could the field commander tell that they were people who belonged to the Almighty God? Why or why not?
(3) How did the field commander challenge the faith of Hezekiah? (v. 30)
(4) What kind of bait did the field commander dangle before the people of Judah? (vv. 31-32)
(5) How did the field commander directly challenge the Lord? (vv. 33-35)
(6) While the people remained silent, what might they be saying in their hearts? (v. 36)
(7) What would you do at this time, if you were Hezekiah?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?