2 Kings 15:1 – 11 “In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, Azariah (Uzziah) son of Amaziah became king of Judah. He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done.
Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there.
And the LORD afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, so that he lived in a separate house while his son Jotham had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.
As for the rest of the acts of Azariah (Uzziah), along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
And Azariah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in the City of David. And his son Jotham reigned in his place. (Azariah/Uzziah could not be buried with his fathers due to the skin disease he had in his feet.)
In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah’s reign over Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria six months. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.
Then Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah, struck him down and killed him in front of the people, and reigned in his place.
As for the rest of the acts of Zechariah, they are indeed written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. So the word of the LORD spoken to Jehu was fulfilled: “Four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”
In the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah’s reign over Judah, Shallum son of Jabesh became king, and he reigned in Samaria one full month.
Then Menahem son of Gadi went up from Tirzah to Samaria, struck down and killed Shallum son of Jabesh, and reigned in his place.
As for the rest of the acts of Shallum, along with the conspiracy he led, they are indeed written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
At that time Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah (On the Euphrates River) and everyone in its vicinity, because they would not open their gates. So he attacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.
In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah’s reign over Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria ten years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and throughout his reign he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.
Then Pul (Tiglath – Pileser) king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver in order to gain his support and strengthen his own grip on the kingdom. (1,000 talents is approximately 37.7 tons or 34.2 metric tons of silver.) Menahem exacted this money from each of the wealthy men of Israel—fifty shekels of silver from each man—to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew and did not remain in the land. (50 shekels is approximately 1.26 pounds or 569.8 grams of silver.)
As for the rest of the acts of Menahem, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Menahem rested with his fathers, and his son Pekahiah reigned in his place.
In the fiftieth year of Azariah’s reign over Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king of Israel and reigned in Samaria two years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.
Then his officer, Pekah son of Remaliah, conspired against him along with Argob, Arieh, and fifty men of Gilead. And at the citadel of the king’s palace in Samaria, Pekah struck down and killed Pekahiah and reigned in his place.
As for the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, along with all his accomplishments, they are indeed written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.”
WHEW! Trying to keep all the kings mentioned in this chapter is tough. Although the name Azariah means little to most of us, we are very familiar with the name “Uzziah,” from Isaiah 6:1. “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and lifted up….” Uzziah reigned in Judah for 52 years and was generally good, except for the fact that people were still worshiping at the high places. But in Uzziah’s old age, he became proud and attempted to offer sacrifices himself, something he was not qualified to do. When the priests attempted to stop him, he refused. Suddenly, God caused Uzziah to become a leper and he was forced to quickly leave the temple and go into seclusion. Meanwhile, during Uzziah’s reign in Judah, there was a series of kings in Israel.
- Zechariah son of Jeroboam the Second – reigned for six months and was publicly assassinated by Shallum son of Jabesh. This ended God’s promise to Jehu that his family would reign for four generations.
- Shallum – set a new record for the shortest reign possible – 2 months. Shallum was murdered by Menahem son of Gadi.
- Menahem son of Gadi – reigned for ten years. Menahem was a very violent man, marching nearly 400 kilometers from Tirzah to Tiphsah on the Euphrates River. When the citizens of Tiphsah refused to open their gates, Menahem took the city, ripping open pregnant women. Menahem was purely evil, following the ways of Jeroboam the First. When Tiglath – Pileser, the Assyrian king, attacked Samaria, Menahem succeeded in buying him off by giving him 1,000 talents of silver – the staggering equivalent of 37.7 tons or 34.2 metric tons. Menahem got these riches from the wealthy citizens of Samaria.
- Menahem died and was succeeded by his son Pekahiah.
- Pekahiah proved to be just as evil as his father, and only reigned for two years before being struck down by his chief officer Pekah, along with two other men and fifty men from Gilead on the east side of the Jordan.
APPLICATION: At this point, the throne room of Israel practically needs a revolving door! Revolving doors allow one person to enter as another one leaves and are very efficient, moving quite rapidly. But revolving doors just keep moving in one direction, and if you don’t enter the hall when you get to the other side of the door, the door will force you onwards, slinging you back outside.
The root cause of the unrest in Israel was spiritual, dating all the way back to Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who led the rebellion against Rehoboam, who succeeded his father, Solomon. Despite God making direct promises to Jeroboam about blessing him, Jeroboam turned away from God, refusing to believe or accept those promises. Jeroboam insisted on establishing his own religion employing idols reminiscent of Egypt and the Canaanite religions. With a ruler actively promoting idolatry, it was little wonder that the ten tribes of Israel rapidly began worshiping every pagan god they had ever heard of.
Today there are nations around the world whose people once served the Living God. Now these nations have turned away and are preoccupied with technology, social programs, and all kinds of other causes. God is not bothered by technology; after all, He spoke the universe into existence with a single word. It is God who has given men the intelligence to learn things. King Solomon said in Proverbs 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but it is the glory of kings to search out a matter.” God knows all about the issues of global warming, refugeeism, economic downturns, and all the other things with which people are preoccupied. God’s knowledge is perfect while our knowledge is spotty. (Incidentally, there is nothing new under the sun. Read the Old Testament and you will see evidence of climate changes and shifts of refugee populations thousands of years ago.)
But technology will never bring salvation, nor will attention to social or environmental causes. All of these things are worthwhile; yet, involving ourselves in these things to the exclusion of worshiping God will never bring us spiritual peace. No matter how many worthwhile causes we espouse, we can never earn our way into heaven.
Our problem today is the same problem that the human race has always had: sin. Even with the best of intentions, we still find ourselves judging others, feeling that we are better than others because of our very involvement in worthwhile causes. Sin is inescapable. Saint Paul said in Romans 7:21 “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.” As human beings, we are caught in a quagmire with no way out. But God has made a way! God has sent His Son Jesus Christ to shed his blood as payment for our sins if we will only believe on Him.
Romans 8:2 tells us, “The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” If the people of the Northern Nation of Israel had returned to serve the God of Israel, God would have blessed them and given them political stability. But under the influence of the demonic, this nation as a whole and its people individually were pursuing an increasingly downhill path.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to realize that You are our only hope and not technology or worthy causes. Thank You for sending Jesus to be the blood sacrifice for our sins. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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