Introduction to Old Testament Studies: Age of The Prophets - The Kingdom Divides

With the death of Solomon, Rehoboam is made King because he is the son of Solomon

1 Kings 12 CSB

Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it, he stayed in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon’s presence. Jeroboam stayed in Egypt. But they summoned him, and Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam: “Your father made our yoke harsh. You, therefore, lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.” Rehoboam replied, “Go away for three days and then return to me.” So the people left. Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to this people?” They replied, “Today if you will be a servant to this people and serve them, and if you respond to them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.” But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and attended him. He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to this people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?” The young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us!’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! Although my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.’ ” So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had ordered: “Return to me on the third day.” Then the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice the elders had given him and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.” The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events came from the Lord to carry out his word, which the Lord had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat. When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered him: What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Israel, return to your tents; David, now look after your own house! So Israel went to their tents, but Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah. Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to get into the chariot and flee to Jerusalem. Israel is still in rebellion against the house of David today. When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone. When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized one hundred eighty thousand fit young soldiers from the entire house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God: “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not to march up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you return home, for this situation is from me.’ ” So they listened to the word of the Lord and went back according to the word of the Lord. Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built Penuel. Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom might now return to the house of David. If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and go back to the king of Judah.” So the king sought advice. Then he made two golden calves, and he said to the people, “Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” He set up one in Bethel, and put the other in Dan. This led to sin; the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan. Jeroboam also made shrines on the high places and made priests from the ranks of the people who were not Levites. Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival in Judah. He offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had made. He also stationed the priests in Bethel for the high places he had made. He offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. He chose this month on his own. He made a festival for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.

He would not lighten the load of the people. He chose to listen to his young friends instead of the advisers.

North Revolted

The Northern Tribe. Lead by Jeroboam Revolted. Rehoboam barely escaped in his chariot. From this time on the kingdom would be divided.

922 B.C. Israel in the North and Judah in the South

South - Judah

Largest Tribe is Judah

Negatives

Small

Poor land

Small Population

Isolated

Positives

Jerusalem

Stability of Government. It will follow the Davidic Line

North – Israel

Largest Tribe is Ephraim

Negatives

Prime for take over

Instability of Government

Line of Saul

Election

Prophets

Sin of Jeroboam

With Jerusalem in the South

Jeroboam and the Northern tribes

They adapt the calf as a symbol of YHWH

Positives

Strong Economy

Larger Population

Major Roads

Prime Lands

Kings in Israel

Kings handout

After the death of Jeroboam. Kings come and go rapidly. Had to just kill the last one.

Nadab

Murdered by Baasha

Baasha

Died naturally. He Killed off all of Jeroboam’s Family

Elah

Murdered by Zimri

Zimri

Suicide provoked by Omri. Sets his palace on fire. 7 day reign. Kills of Baasha’s Family

Omri

Made a political treaty with the king of Tyre. Had other achievements known through non-Biblical sources. Bible only tells us that, “He did more evil than all who were before him”

Ahab

Son of Omri. Worse than his father. Marries Jezebel a worshiper of Baal and he worships her gods. Builds alters to Baal and made an idol to represent Asherah, Baal’s mistress. He also gave approval to human sacrifice as part of worship (16:31-34)

Non biblically speaking Ahab was the greatest builder between Solomon and Herod in Israel.

Has a treaty with Jehoshaphat.

Elijah

2nd greatest prophet in the Old Testament. Non-writing prophet. True spokesman for God.

Ra’ah

Seer - Ancient form of prophet

Navi’

One who speaks for another - Spokesmen.

Prophets speak a timely message with a timeless meaning. They speak for the people.

Six characteristics mark Israel’s prophets

God moved

“Thus say the Lord”

Courageous, unafraid to deliver the message

Honest persons

Moral persons who preached a message that demanded moral living

They were compassionate persons

Sensitive to the cry of the oppressed

Sensitive persons

Aware of what was happening in the world around them

And convinced that the Lord was in control of what was happening

Elijah is during the reign of Ahab

1 Kings 17 CSB

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from the Gilead settlers, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, in whose presence I stand, there will be no dew or rain during these years except by my command!” Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan. You are to drink from the wadi. I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” So he proceeded to do what the Lord commanded. Elijah left and lived at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan. The ravens kept bringing him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening, and he would drink from the wadi. After a while, the wadi dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Get up, go to Zarephath that belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman who is a widow to provide for you there.” So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup and let me drink.” As she went to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I don’t have anything baked—only a handful of flour in the jar and a bit of oil in the jug. Just now, I am gathering a couple of sticks in order to go prepare it for myself and my son so we can eat it and die.” Then Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid; go and do as you have said. But first make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me. Afterward, you may make some for yourself and your son, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the surface of the land.’ ” So she proceeded to do according to the word of Elijah. Then the woman, Elijah, and her household ate for many days. The flour jar did not become empty, and the oil jug did not run dry, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through Elijah. After this, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. His illness got worse until he stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, “Man of God, what do you have against me? Have you come to call attention to my iniquity so that my son is put to death?” But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms, brought him up to the upstairs room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord my God, have you also brought tragedy on the widow I am staying with by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times. He cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord my God, please let this boy’s life come into him again!” So the Lord listened to Elijah, and the boy’s life came into him again, and he lived. Then Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upstairs room into the house, and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “Look, your son is alive.” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know you are a man of God and the Lord’s word from your mouth is true.”

Comes to Ahab and gives an oracle. Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." The point being that Baal – god of the storm is now being challenged.

Elijah will go to the Transjordan to flee from Ahab. When the drought began to devastate the Transjordan.

Elijah travels to Phoenicia.

He stays with a widow and her son

1 Kings 17:8–24 CSB

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Get up, go to Zarephath that belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman who is a widow to provide for you there.” So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup and let me drink.” As she went to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I don’t have anything baked—only a handful of flour in the jar and a bit of oil in the jug. Just now, I am gathering a couple of sticks in order to go prepare it for myself and my son so we can eat it and die.” Then Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid; go and do as you have said. But first make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me. Afterward, you may make some for yourself and your son, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the surface of the land.’ ” So she proceeded to do according to the word of Elijah. Then the woman, Elijah, and her household ate for many days. The flour jar did not become empty, and the oil jug did not run dry, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through Elijah. After this, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. His illness got worse until he stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, “Man of God, what do you have against me? Have you come to call attention to my iniquity so that my son is put to death?” But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms, brought him up to the upstairs room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord my God, have you also brought tragedy on the widow I am staying with by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times. He cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord my God, please let this boy’s life come into him again!” So the Lord listened to Elijah, and the boy’s life came into him again, and he lived. Then Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upstairs room into the house, and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “Look, your son is alive.” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know you are a man of God and the Lord’s word from your mouth is true.”

Read

The presence of the man of God in her home brings her prosperity, and restored her son to life after he died

1 Kings 18 CSB

After a long time, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year: “Go and present yourself to Ahab. I will send rain on the surface of the land.” So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria. Ahab called for Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace. Obadiah was a man who greatly feared the Lord and took a hundred prophets and hid them, fifty men to a cave, and provided them with food and water when Jezebel slaughtered the Lord’s prophets. Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go throughout the land to every spring and to every wadi. Perhaps we’ll find grass so we can keep the horses and mules alive and not have to destroy any cattle.” They divided the land between them in order to cover it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went the other way by himself. While Obadiah was walking along the road, Elijah suddenly met him. When Obadiah recognized him, he fell facedown and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” “It is I,” he replied. “Go tell your lord, ‘Elijah is here!’ ” But Obadiah said, “What sin have I committed, that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to put me to death? As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent someone to search for you. When they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made that kingdom or nation swear they had not found you. “Now you say, ‘Go tell your lord, “Elijah is here!” ’ But when I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord may carry you off to some place I don’t know. Then when I go report to Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared the Lord from my youth. Wasn’t it reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the Lord’s prophets? I hid a hundred of the prophets of the Lord, fifty men to a cave, and I provided them with food and water. Now you say, ‘Go tell your lord, “Elijah is here!” ’ He will kill me!” Then Elijah said, “As the Lord of Armies lives, in whose presence I stand, today I will present myself to Ahab.” Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him. Then Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, the one ruining Israel?” He replied, “I have not ruined Israel, but you and your father’s family have, because you have abandoned the Lord’s commands and followed the Baals. Now summon all Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.” So Ahab summoned all the Israelites and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel. Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, follow him.” But the people didn’t answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only remaining prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us. They are to choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and place it on the wood but not light the fire. I will prepare the other bull and place it on the wood but not light the fire. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The God who answers with fire, he is God.” All the people answered, “That’s fine.” Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Since you are so numerous, choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first. Then call on the name of your god but don’t light the fire.” So they took the bull that he gave them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound; no one answered. Then they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah mocked them. He said, “Shout loudly, for he’s a god! Maybe he’s thinking it over; maybe he has wandered away; or maybe he’s on the road. Perhaps he’s sleeping and will wake up!” They shouted loudly, and cut themselves with knives and spears, according to their custom, until blood gushed over them. All afternoon they kept on raving until the offering of the evening sacrifice, but there was no sound; no one answered, no one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near me.” So all the people approached him. Then he repaired the Lord’s altar that had been torn down: Elijah took twelve stones—according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel will be your name”—and he built an altar with the stones in the name of the Lord. Then he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold about four gallons. Next, he arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and placed it on the wood. He said, “Fill four water pots with water and pour it on the offering to be burned and on the wood.” Then he said, “A second time!” and they did it a second time. And then he said, “A third time!” and they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar; he even filled the trench with water. At the time for offering the evening sacrifice, the prophet Elijah approached the altar and said, “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that you are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that at your word I have done all these things. Answer me, Lord! Answer me so that this people will know that you, the Lord, are God and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the Lord’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell facedown and said, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!” Then Elijah ordered them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let even one of them escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and slaughtered them there. Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a rainstorm.” So Ahab went to eat and drink, but Elijah went up to the summit of Carmel. He bent down on the ground and put his face between his knees. Then he said to his servant, “Go up and look toward the sea.” So he went up, looked, and said, “There’s nothing.” Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” On the seventh time, he reported, “There’s a cloud as small as a man’s hand coming up from the sea.” Then Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Get your chariot ready and go down so the rain doesn’t stop you.’ ” In a little while, the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and there was a downpour. So Ahab got in his chariot and went to Jezreel. The power of the Lord was on Elijah, and he tucked his mantle under his belt and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

Elijah challenges the people and all the prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel. Mt Carmel is an ancient worship site for Baal worshipers. Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing. The people agreed to follow what ever god won the contest. 450 prophets of Baal. Prepare a sacrifice and call on Baal to ignite the fire. He is the god of the Storm - Lightning. They began a day-long ritual designed to evoke Baal’s response. Dance circling the alter. At noon there was still no response.

Elijah made sarcastic remarks and suggested that they were not crying loud enough, maybe he is meditating, traveling, sleeping, or going the bathroom.

They began to cut themselves hoping that the flow of blood would cause rain to fall

Elijah will have is turn in the Evening. Built an altar. Prepared a sacrifice of a bull, the Symbol of Baal. And soaked it all down with water, Digging a trench around it so that the water wouldn’t escape. 4 large jars of water, 3 times

Prayed

"O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

Fire lit up the sacrifice.

Some say lightning

Some say the water contained petroleum or gas

God did it

The people seized the prophets of Baal and he killed them all. Elijah spoke and the rain falls again

1 Kings 19 CSB

Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!” Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there, but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. Suddenly, an angel touched him. The angel told him, “Get up and eat.” Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones, and a jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him. He said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. He entered a cave there and spent the night. Suddenly, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.” Then he said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.” At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Suddenly, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Armies,” he replied, “but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they’re looking for me to take my life.” Then the Lord said to him, “Go and return by the way you came to the Wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram. You are to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu. But I will leave seven thousand in Israel—every knee that has not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.” Elijah left there and found Elisha son of Shaphat as he was plowing. Twelve teams of oxen were in front of him, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah walked by him and threw his mantle over him. Elisha left the oxen, ran to follow Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.” “Go on back,” he replied, “for what have I done to you?” So he turned back from following him, took the team of oxen, and slaughtered them. With the oxen’s wooden yoke and plow, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he left, followed Elijah, and served him.

Jezebel wants Elijah killed. Elijah will go to Mt. Sinai and He rest in a cave. Goes into somewhat of a depression. He feels that he is all alone.

Theophany

God appears and ask him why is he in this cave. Instead of answering, he complains about being the only servant of the Lord left. God tells him to wait by the mouth of the cave and wait because he spirit of the Lord is about to pass by:

Earthquake

Fire

All pass God is not in any of them. Still, small voice and tells him to Get up and get busy. There are 7,000 people in Israel still faithful on his return he finds his new disciple, Elisha.

1 Kings 21 CSB

Some time passed after these events. Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard; it was in Jezreel next to the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard so I can have it for a vegetable garden, since it is right next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in its place, or if you prefer, I will give you its value in silver.” But Naboth said to Ahab, “As the Lord is my witness, I will never give my ancestors’ inheritance to you.” So Ahab went to his palace resentful and angry because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had told him. He had said, “I will not give you my ancestors’ inheritance.” He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and didn’t eat any food. Then his wife Jezebel came to him and said to him, “Why are you so upset that you refuse to eat?” “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite,” he replied. “I told him, ‘Give me your vineyard for silver, or if you wish, I will give you a vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I won’t give you my vineyard!’ ” Then his wife Jezebel said to him, “Now, exercise your royal power over Israel. Get up, eat some food, and be happy. For I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal. She sent the letters to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. In the letters, she wrote: Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people. Then seat two wicked men opposite him and have them testify against him, saying, “You have cursed God and the king!” Then take him out and stone him to death. The men of his city, the elders and nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them, just as it was written in the letters she had sent them. They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the people. The two wicked men came in and sat opposite him. Then the wicked men testified against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones. Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.” When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite who refused to give it to you for silver, since Naboth isn’t alive, but dead.” When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: “Get up and go to meet King Ahab of Israel, who is in Samaria. He’s in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you murdered and also taken possession?’ Then tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: In the place where the dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, the dogs will also lick up your blood!’ ” Ahab said to Elijah, “So, my enemy, you’ve found me, have you?” He replied, “I have found you because you devoted yourself to do what is evil in the Lord’s sight. This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on you and will eradicate your descendants: I will wipe out all of Ahab’s males, both slave and free, in Israel; I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have angered me and caused Israel to sin.’ The Lord also speaks of Jezebel: ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the plot of land at Jezreel: Anyone who belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and anyone who dies in the field, the birds will eat.’ ” Still, there was no one like Ahab, who devoted himself to do what was evil in the Lord’s sight, because his wife Jezebel incited him. He committed the most detestable acts by following idols as the Amorites had, whom the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth over his body, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth and walked around subdued. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? I will not bring the disaster during his lifetime, because he has humbled himself before me. I will bring the disaster on his house during his son’s lifetime.”

Naboth’s vineyard

Jezebel chooses Naboth’s vineyard for the site of the summer palace, In Jezreel. Ahab attempts to purchase it. Naboth refuses to sell. It is not his to sell. This is the land of his fathers God had given them this land.

Jezebel gets two witnesses to testify that he cursed God and king. Moabites kill Naboth and his family, Stoned.

Ahab gets the land because there is no one to inherit it

Elijah will confront Ahab And curse Ahab and his family. Jezebels curse is that she would be eaten by dogs. Most disgraceful thing that could happen.

1 Kings 22 CSB

There was a lull of three years without war between Aram and Israel. However, in the third year, King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to visit the king of Israel. The king of Israel had said to his servants, “Don’t you know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, but we’re doing nothing to take it from the king of Aram?” So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “First, please ask what the Lord’s will is.” So the king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked them, “Should I go against Ramoth-gilead for war or should I refrain?” They replied, “March up, and the Lord will hand it over to the king.” But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there a prophet of the Lord here anymore? Let’s ask him.” The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man who can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king shouldn’t say that!” Jehoshaphat replied. So the king of Israel called an officer and said, “Hurry and get Micaiah son of Imlah!” Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah, clothed in royal attire, were each sitting on his own throne. They were on the threshing floor at the entrance to the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them. Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made iron horns and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You will gore the Arameans with these until they are finished off.’ ” And all the prophets were prophesying the same: “March up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king.” The messenger who went to call Micaiah instructed him, “Look, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable for the king. So let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably.” But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, I will say whatever the Lord says to me.” So he went to the king, and the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war, or should we refrain?” Micaiah told him, “March up and succeed. The Lord will hand it over to the king.” But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the Lord?” So Micaiah said: I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, “They have no master; let everyone return home in peace.” So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster?” Then Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and the whole heavenly army was standing by him at his right hand and at his left hand. And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ So one was saying this and another was saying that. “Then a spirit came forward, stood in the Lord’s presence, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ “The Lord asked him, ‘How?’ “He said, ‘I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ “Then he said, ‘You will certainly entice him and prevail. Go and do that.’ “You see, the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced disaster against you.” Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up, hit Micaiah on the cheek, and demanded, “Did the Spirit of the Lord leave me to speak to you?” Micaiah replied, “You will soon see when you go to hide in an inner chamber on that day.” Then the king of Israel ordered, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son, and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this guy in prison and feed him only a little bread and water until I come back safely.’ ” But Micaiah said, “If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he said, “Listen, all you people!” Then the king of Israel and Judah’s King Jehoshaphat went up to Ramoth-gilead. But the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal attire.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. Now the king of Aram had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone at all except the king of Israel.” When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they shouted, “He must be the king of Israel!” So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. When the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. But a man drew his bow without taking special aim and struck the king of Israel through the joints of his armor. So he said to his charioteer, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!” The battle raged throughout that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. He died that evening, and blood from his wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot. Then the cry rang out in the army as the sun set, declaring: Each man to his own city, and each man to his own land! So the king died and was brought to Samaria. They buried the king in Samaria. Then someone washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria. The dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes bathed in it, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken. The rest of the events of Ahab’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, including the ivory palace he built, and all the cities he built, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings. Ahab rested with his ancestors, and his son Ahaziah became king in his place. Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Israel’s King Ahab. Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king; he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. He walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them but did what was right in the Lord’s sight. However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel. The rest of the events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, along with the might he exercised and how he waged war, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. He eradicated from the land the rest of the male cult prostitutes who were left from the days of his father Asa. There was no king in Edom; a deputy served as king. Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber. At that time, Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships,” but Jehoshaphat was not willing. Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of his ancestor David. His son Jehoram became king in his place. Ahaziah son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat, and he reigned over Israel two years. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He walked in the ways of his father, in the ways of his mother, and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. He served Baal and bowed in worship to him. He angered the Lord God of Israel just as his father had done.

Ahab calls on Jehoshaphat king of Judah to help re-conquer land after it had been taken. Ahab looks to Jehoshaphat for advise. Jehoshaphat will look to his 400 court prophets. They are yes men, They are provided for by the state so they are not going to contradict the King. Go into battle the Lord will give you victory

Micaiah

True Prophet disagrees

Micaiah is imprisoned by Ahab

Ahab is killed in battle

Dogs lick up his blood

2 Kings 1 CSB

After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel. Ahaziah had fallen through the latticed window of his upstairs room in Samaria and was injured. So he sent messengers, instructing them, “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.” But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, this is what the Lord says: You will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’ ” Then Elijah left. The messengers returned to the king, who asked them, “Why have you come back?” They replied, “A man came to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and declare to him, “ ‘This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you’re sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’ ” ” The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke those words to you?” They replied, “A hairy man with a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It’s Elijah the Tishbite.” So King Ahaziah sent a captain with his fifty men to Elijah. When the captain went up to him, he was sitting on top of the hill. He announced, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’ ” Elijah responded to the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men. So the king sent another captain with his fifty men to Elijah. He took in the situation and announced, “Man of God, this is what the king says: ‘Come down immediately!’ ” Elijah responded, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” So a divine fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men. Then the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. The third captain went up and fell on his knees in front of Elijah and begged him, “Man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious to you. Already fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains with their companies, but this time let my life be precious to you.” The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Don’t be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down with him to the king. Then Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel for you to inquire of his will?—you will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’ ” Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. Since he had no son, Joram became king in his place. This happened in the second year of Judah’s King Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat. The rest of the events of Ahaziah’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings.

Ahaziah

Injured - He consults pagan gods for his wounds. Elijah confronts Ahaziah. Tells him that he will die because of this consultations.

Elisha

2 Kings 2 CSB

The time had come for the Lord to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal, and Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord is sending me on to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?” He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.” Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; the Lord is sending me to Jericho.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho. Then the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho came up to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today?” He said, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.” Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord is sending me to the Jordan.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men from the sons of the prophets came and stood observing them at a distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan. Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water, which parted to the right and left. Then the two of them crossed over on dry ground. When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you.” So Elisha answered, “Please, let me inherit two shares of your spirit.” Elijah replied, “You have asked for something difficult. If you see me being taken from you, you will have it. If not, you won’t.” As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire with horses of fire suddenly appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind. As Elisha watched, he kept crying out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” When he could see him no longer, he took hold of his own clothes, tore them in two, picked up the mantle that had fallen off Elijah, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle Elijah had dropped, and he struck the water. “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” he asked. He struck the water himself, and it parted to the right and the left, and Elisha crossed over. When the sons of the prophets from Jericho who were observing saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed down to the ground in front of him. Then the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Since there are fifty strong men here with your servants, please let them go and search for your master. Maybe the Spirit of the Lord has carried him away and put him on one of the mountains or into one of the valleys.” He answered, “Don’t send them.” However, they urged him to the point of embarrassment, so he said, “Send them.” They sent fifty men, who looked for three days but did not find him. When they returned to him in Jericho where he was staying, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?” The men of the city said to Elisha, “My lord can see that even though the city’s location is good, the water is bad and the land unfruitful.” He replied, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.” After they had brought him one, Elisha went out to the spring, threw salt in it, and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. No longer will death or unfruitfulness result from it.’ ” Therefore, the water still remains healthy today according to the word that Elisha spoke. From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking up the path, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Go up, baldy! Go up, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the children. From there Elisha went to Mount Carmel, and then he returned to Samaria.

Elijah is taken to heaven. Elijah and Elisha on their way to Gilgal. Leave me the Lord has called me to Bethel. Elisha I will not leave you. Leave me the Lord is calling me to Jericho. Elisha I will not Leave you. Leave me the Lord is calling me to Jordan. Elisha I will not leave you. Come to the Jordan. Elijah roles up his cloak, strikes the water and passes on dry ground. Elisha let me inherit you portion of the spirit. If you are there when I go to heaven then it will be so. Chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. His cloak drifted down, Put it on saying that he has taken Elijah’s place.

Elisha is a public figure - Elijah was a private man.

Healing of Naaman

2 Kings 5 CSB

Naaman, commander of the army for the king of Aram, was a man important to his master and highly regarded because through him, the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man was a valiant warrior, but he had a skin disease. Aram had gone on raids and brought back from the land of Israel a young girl who served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his skin disease.” So Naaman went and told his master what the girl from the land of Israel had said. Therefore, the king of Aram said, “Go, and I will send a letter with you to the king of Israel.” So he went and took with him 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets of clothing. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, and it read: When this letter comes to you, note that I have sent you my servant Naaman for you to cure him of his skin disease. When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and asked, “Am I God, killing and giving life, that this man expects me to cure a man of his skin disease? Recognize that he is only picking a fight with me.” When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king: “Why have you torn your clothes? Have him come to me, and he will know there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go wash seven times in the Jordan and your skin will be restored and you will be clean.” But Naaman got angry and left, saying, “I was telling myself: He will surely come out, stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the skin disease. Aren’t Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and left in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more should you do it when he only tells you, ‘Wash and be clean’?” So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the command of the man of God. Then his skin was restored and became like the skin of a small boy, and he was clean. Then Naaman and his whole company went back to the man of God, stood before him, and declared, “I know there’s no God in the whole world except in Israel. Therefore, please accept a gift from your servant.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, in whose presence I stand, I will not accept it.” Naaman urged him to accept it, but he refused. Naaman responded, “If not, please let your servant be given as much soil as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will no longer offer a burnt offering or a sacrifice to any other god but the Lord. However, in a particular matter may the Lord pardon your servant: When my master, the king of Aram, goes into the temple of Rimmon to bow in worship while he is leaning on my arm, and I have to bow in the temple of Rimmon—when I bow in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.” So he said to him, “Go in peace.” After Naaman had traveled a short distance from Elisha, Gehazi, the attendant of Elisha the man of God, thought, “My master has let this Aramean Naaman off lightly by not accepting from him what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?” Gehazi said, “It’s all right. My master has sent me to say, ‘I have just now discovered that two young men from the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them seventy-five pounds of silver and two sets of clothing.’ ” But Naaman insisted, “Please, accept one hundred fifty pounds.” He urged Gehazi and then packed one hundred fifty pounds of silver in two bags with two sets of clothing. Naaman gave them to two of his attendants who carried them ahead of Gehazi. When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the gifts from them and deposited them in the house. Then he dismissed the men, and they left. Gehazi came and stood by his master. “Where did you go, Gehazi?” Elisha asked him. He replied, “Your servant didn’t go anywhere.” “And my heart didn’t go when the man got down from his chariot to meet you,” Elisha said. “Is this a time to accept silver and clothing, olive orchards and vineyards, flocks and herds, and male and female slaves? Therefore, Naaman’s skin disease will cling to you and your descendants forever.” So Gehazi went out from his presence diseased, resembling snow.

Healing of Naaman

Naaman is a Syrian General, Struck with leprosy Became outcast. Servant Girl tells him to Go to Elisha for healing.

Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Jordan river, muddy water. If it was harder would you not do it. Gives in and goes and is healed. Naaman offers him great riches, Elisha tells him no and to go in peace

Gehazi

Servant of Elisha. Catches up with Naaman and tells him that Elisha had changed his mind. When he gets back Elisha ask him where he had been. He denied ever leaving. Gehazi was Caught. Elisha declared that Naaman’s Leprosy will be Gehazi and his families, And he became white as snow

2 Kings 6 CSB

The sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Please notice that the place where we live under your supervision is too small for us. Please let us go to the Jordan where we can each get a log and can build ourselves a place to live there.” “Go,” he said. Then one said, “Please come with your servants.” “I’ll come,” he answered. So he went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Oh, my master, it was borrowed!” Then the man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, the man of God cut a piece of wood, threw it there, and made the iron float. Then he said, “Pick it up.” So he reached out and took it. When the king of Aram was waging war against Israel, he conferred with his servants, “My camp will be at such and such a place.” But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Be careful passing by this place, for the Arameans are going down there.” Consequently, the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had told him about. The man of God repeatedly warned the king, so the king would be on his guard. The king of Aram was enraged because of this matter, and he called his servants and demanded of them, “Tell me, which one of us is for the king of Israel?” One of his servants said, “No one, my lord the king. Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in your bedroom.” So the king said, “Go and see where he is, so I can send men to capture him.” When he was told, “Elisha is in Dothan,” he sent horses, chariots, and a massive army there. They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up early and went out, he discovered an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?” Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us outnumber those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, please open his eyes and let him see.” So the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the mountain was covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. When the Arameans came against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Please strike this nation with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, according to Elisha’s word. Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you’re looking for.” And he led them to Samaria. When they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open these men’s eyes and let them see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “Should I kill them, should I kill them, my father?” Elisha replied, “Don’t kill them. Do you kill those you have captured with your sword or your bow? Set food and water in front of them so they can eat and drink and go to their master.” So he prepared a big feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The Aramean raiders did not come into Israel’s land again. Some time later, King Ben-hadad of Aram brought all his military units together and marched up and laid siege to Samaria. So there was a severe famine in Samaria, and they continued the siege against it until a donkey’s head sold for thirty-four ounces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for two ounces of silver. As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, “My lord the king, help!” He answered, “If the Lord doesn’t help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?” Then the king asked her, “What’s the matter?” She said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, and we will eat him today. Then we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him, and I said to her the next day, ‘Give up your son, and we will eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.” When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes. Then, as he was passing by on the wall, the people saw that there was sackcloth under his clothes next to his skin. He announced, “May God punish me and do so severely if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.” Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a man ahead of him, but before the messenger got to him, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Isn’t the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. Then he said, “This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

Ax head that floats

Disciples of Elisha grown. Go to the Jordan so that they can make a place for them. While cutting wood an ax head fell into the water. Elisha will ask where did it fall. Elisha cut a stick and threw it there and the iron floated

King of Aram

King of Aram is a war with Israel

Aram = Syria

2 Kings 6:8–23 CSB

When the king of Aram was waging war against Israel, he conferred with his servants, “My camp will be at such and such a place.” But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Be careful passing by this place, for the Arameans are going down there.” Consequently, the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had told him about. The man of God repeatedly warned the king, so the king would be on his guard. The king of Aram was enraged because of this matter, and he called his servants and demanded of them, “Tell me, which one of us is for the king of Israel?” One of his servants said, “No one, my lord the king. Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in your bedroom.” So the king said, “Go and see where he is, so I can send men to capture him.” When he was told, “Elisha is in Dothan,” he sent horses, chariots, and a massive army there. They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up early and went out, he discovered an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?” Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us outnumber those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, please open his eyes and let him see.” So the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the mountain was covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. When the Arameans came against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Please strike this nation with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, according to Elisha’s word. Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you’re looking for.” And he led them to Samaria. When they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “Lord, open these men’s eyes and let them see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “Should I kill them, should I kill them, my father?” Elisha replied, “Don’t kill them. Do you kill those you have captured with your sword or your bow? Set food and water in front of them so they can eat and drink and go to their master.” So he prepared a big feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The Aramean raiders did not come into Israel’s land again.

Read

Ben-Hadad Attacked Samaria. Food became so scares inside the city because of the siege. The people revert to cannibalism.

Elisha provokes the king, Jehoram. Blaming him for the problems. The king wants him arrested. When the men came to arrest him Elisha assures them that there will be plenty of food tomorrow, having been frightened by noises of what they thought was an army attacking the Syrian army fled during the night. 4 Israelite lepers bring word that the camp was abandoned. Supplies are turned over

Ben-hadad falls sick. He calls Elisha to predict whether he would die. Elisha confirms that he will. Sending word by the messenger Hazael. Telling him that Hazael would become king. Hazael returned to Ben-hadad and made Elisha’s prediction come true. He smothered Ben-hadad and seized the throne.

Joram

Loses control of Edom.

Married Athaliah, Ahab’s Daughter

Ahaziah, Jehoram’s Son Died that year 842

Jehu

Son of Ahab, Kills off Joram, Shot the injured Joram, arrow through the heart.

Kills off Ahaziah, Chased down and shot

Going to Jezreel Came to the house of Ahab’s wife, Jezebel. has her thrown out of a second-story window into the street. When soldiers came to collect her body Her hands had been eaten by dogs.

Kills off the Omri Dynasty

Kills off the prophets of Baal

Hosea will judge him

Not a good leader

During the Jehu dynasty Assyria becomes an emerging world power. Israel has to pay tribute.

Jehoahaz

Reduced by the Syrians to a military weakling

Jehoash

More successful than his father, since the Assyrians had virtually destroyed Syria in 801 BCE. Elisha dies during Jehoash’s reign.

Jeroboam II

Israel’s last burst of Prosperity. Made possible by Assyrians destruction of Syria in 801 and Jeroboam is a military leader and civil administrator.

Period of Prosperity

Uneven distribution of wealth

Indifference to those in need

Religious but not faithful

Jonah

750-760 BC, During Jeroboam II reign

2 Kings 14:25 CSB

He restored Israel’s border from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word the Lord, the God of Israel, had spoken through his servant, the prophet Jonah son of Amittai from Gath-hepher.

This is about all we know of Jonah

How not to be a prophet

Jonah 1

Jonah 1 CSB

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.” Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. But the Lord threw a great wind onto the sea, and such a great storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart. The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god. They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep. The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god. Maybe this god will consider us, and we won’t perish.” “Come on!” the sailors said to each other. “Let’s cast lots. Then we’ll know who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.” So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us who is to blame for this trouble we’re in. What is your business, and where are you from? What is your country, and what people are you from?” He answered them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were seized by a great fear and said to him, “What have you done?” The men knew he was fleeing from the Lord’s presence because he had told them. So they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down for us?” For the sea was getting worse and worse. He answered them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea so that it will calm down for you, for I know that I’m to blame for this great storm that is against you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t because the sea was raging against them more and more. So they called out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, don’t let us perish because of this man’s life, and don’t charge us with innocent blood! For you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.” Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. The men were seized by great fear of the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Stubborn prophet - “I won’t Go”. God calls Jonah the prophet to go to Nineveh. Nineveh is the capital of Assyria. These are enemies of the nation of Israel. Go and preach to the Islamic people in Iraq. It was a great city, a very large city.

So he got up and went the other direction. He went to Joppa a port city and got on a boat heading for Spain. He was trying to outrun God. Jonah then found that he could not run from God.

A storm came. It was so big that it was about to break up the ship. Each man cried to his god, except Jonah. They were all throwing things over board, except for Jonah. He was asleep. And for the second time Jonah was called to arise, this time not to call for God to Nineveh, But to God for forgiveness

Trial - Judgment came but who is to blame. They had a trial, they cast lots which is something like casting dice. And through this process God revealed to the heathens that it was the Prophets fault. 

Sentence - Through me into the water. A sacrifice needed to be made to turn away God’s wrath. God turned even the hour of the wicked out for his glory, these mariners that worshiped many gods. Now turned and worshiped YHWH the creator of the seas.

Jonah was swallowed for a fish for three days

Jonah 2

Jonah 2 CSB

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish: I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol; you heard my voice. When you threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas, and the current overcame me. All your breakers and your billows swept over me. And I said, “I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look once more toward your holy temple. The water engulfed me up to the neck; the watery depths overcame me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. I sank to the foundations of the mountains, the earth’s gates shut behind me forever! Then you raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God! As my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple. Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love, but as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Psalm of Lament and of praise.

We see right off that Jonah has finally become willing to pray. He prayed to God. He first said I won’t Go. So he hid from God and if your hiding you don’t talk less you be found. But now after being thrown off the boat, he was willing and ready to pray. As Jonah prayed God answered. There is nowhere that we can hide from God that he is not already there.

Sheol

I cried out from the depth of Sheol

Sheol is the abode of the dead. Sheol is the resting place of the dead. It is not hell.  Nowhere in the old testament does it speak of Sheol as a place of punishment or torment.

When the Psalmist tells us that he is calling out from the belly of Sheol he is telling us that he is crying out from the verge of Death and that he felt abandoned by God. This idea of being abandoned by God is carried on throughout verse 4-5

I was expelled from your sight the psalmist tell us. What a frightening place to be, What a terrible place to be. But that is where Jonah found himself. Not that God wasn’t their but that Jonah couldn’t find him.

While he felt that his very being was fading away. He promised to sacrifice. Sacrifice and worship the heavenly father. He came to the point in which he was willing to say “I WILL GO” And with that He was thrown back onto the land

Jonah 3

Jonah 3 CSB

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you.” Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command. Now Nineveh was an extremely great city, a three-day walk. Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be demolished!” Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least. When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he issued a decree in Nineveh: By order of the king and his nobles: No person or animal, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. Furthermore, both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from his wrongdoing. Who knows? God may turn and relent; he may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish. God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.

At this point the world of the Lord Comes to Jonah a second time, now that you are willing to go. Get up and Go to Nineveh like I told you to the first time and proclaim the message that I will provide for you. God is always in Control and if he tells you to go tell someone, he always provides the message through the Holy Spirit and through The Holy Scriptures.

So Jonah Got up and headed to Nineveh.

We see a shift here in setting the first half of the story he is on the great sea. Now he is in the great city so great that it is a three day walk across

Jonah 3:4 CSB

Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be demolished!”

Jonah Gets to the city

I AM HERE Lord

I don’t want to be here but I am.

Day one of being in Nineveh, He cries out, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown”.

Eight words that was his entire message. It wasn’t some great sermon or some well thought out plan, or some sales pitch 8 words, yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown. 5 Words in Hebrew and what happens. The people of Nineveh believed in God, and the put on sackcloth and the fastest as signs of their repentance 8 words and the city repents. including the king who declares that no man or beast should eat or drink, every one should repent

How might is the Work of the Lord

No man can have such a message without God. Even though they were the capital of the pagan nation and they repented and God Spared them.

Jonah 4

Jonah 4 CSB

Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. He prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster. And now, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Jonah left the city and found a place east of it. He made himself a shelter there and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew over Jonah to provide shade for his head to rescue him from his trouble. Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, and it withered. As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head so much that he almost fainted, and he wanted to die. He said, “It’s better for me to die than to live.” Then God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “Yes, it’s right!” he replied. “I’m angry enough to die!” And the Lord said, “You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. So may I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left, as well as many animals?”

Jonah becomes angry at God. He did not want God to turn away his wrath. Jonah went to the reluctantly and now God has saved them. He had even done his absolute worst in trying to get them to repent. He was disappointed to say the least. So much so that he wanted to die.

Jonah chooses to go up on a hill overlooking the city, made himself a tent and waited to see what Would happen to the city. Jonah thought that God was still going to destroy the city at least punish them and Jonah thought that he was going to be able to sit back and enjoy the show. He even had the popcorn out.

While he is sitting there waiting in the desert. God causes a vine to grow. In order to ease Jonah's suffering. Jonah liked this. shade in the desert now he was definitely ready. Alright God I see that I am still favored

Destroy them. Destroy the enemy of Israel

A worm comes and destroys this vine as he sleeps that night, And Jonah gets mad again. So much so that in verse 8 he says, it would be better for me to die. dramatic isn’t he.

God comes to him and ask him what right do you have to be angry. I am angry enough to die. Did you make this vine. I can grow it in a day and I can kill it in a day

Why should I not be more concerned with Nineveh. More than a hundred and twenty thousand people in the city. Who can’t tell their right hand from their left. Ignorant people who didn’t know better. Why should I not be concerned with them

Jonah is a missionary tract. Shows us that even then were the Jews concerned with Missions, Shows the extreme nationalism of Israel, and that God is not just a God of one nation.

Zechariah

6 Month reign

assassinated by Shallum

Shallum

1 Month

Assassinated by Menahem

Menahem

10 year reign

Assassinated by Pekahiah

Paid tribute to Assyria

Pekahiah

2 Year reign

Assassinated by Pekah

Pekah

20 years

Established the Syro-Israelite Alliance, Tries to defeat the Assyrians. Attacked Judah when it did not join the Alliance. Put down by Assyria.

Israel became a vassal of Assyria

Hoshea

Assassinated Pekah

Hoshea attempts a revolt relying on Egyptian help

Put down by Assyria

Assyrians lead by Sargon II, defeated Israel in 722 and the northern kingdom fell. Sent 27,290 people into captivity. And will repopulate the area with captives from other areas. To Reduce Resistance.

The rise of the Samaritans.

Israelites will intermarry with the Samarians, Forming the Samaritan’s.

Two Prophets to Israel - Amos and Hosea

Spoken during the Eighth century BC.

Amos

A Shepherd from Tekoa which is in Judah, he was a Dresser of sycamores. Sycamore was a kind of low-quality fig used for food for both cattle and poor people. To dress a sycamore tree means to pinching or puncturing its fruit to hasten its ripening. We Don’t know if he was rich or poor.

Time frame -760 – 750 BCE

Time of Jeroboam II

Period of Prosperity

Uneven distribution of wealth

Indifference toward those in need

Kept ritual sacrifice but not social aspects of the Covenant

Religious but not faithful

Message

Intro

Amos 1:1–2 CSB

The words of Amos, who was one of the sheep breeders from Tekoa—what he saw regarding Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. He said: The Lord roars from Zion and makes his voice heard from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the summit of Carmel withers.

God roars from Zion like a Lion Roars.

Look what your neighbors are doing

Verses 1:3 – 2:5 is a Cyclical Sermons or For every one

Repeated is For three transgressions and for four

I will send fire.

Syria (1:3-5)

War atrocities

NE

Philistines (1:6-8)

Slave Traders

SW

Phoenicians (1:9-10)

Slave traders and covenant breakers

NW

Edomites (1:11-12)

Did not show compassion in war

SE

Ammonites (1:13-15

Ripped open pregnant women

SE

Moab (2:1-3)

Desecrated the bones of the King of Edom

SE

Judah (2:4-5)

Rejected the law of the Lord

S

Israel (2:6-16)

Enslave the poor for small debts

Oppress the poor

Father and son patronize the same prostitute

Where the Lord is to be worshiped

On garment kept overnight

Garment of pledge

Suppose to be given back at night

Priest and friends have drunken orgies with the “church’s money”

Told prophets to shut up

Made Nazirites break their vows by drinking wine

Swift judgment

Amos 3:1-5:17 – Hear this word

Chapter 3

Amos 3 CSB

Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, Israelites, against the entire clan that I brought from the land of Egypt: I have known only you out of all the clans of the earth; therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together without agreeing to meet? Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey? Does a young lion growl from its lair unless it has captured something? Does a bird land in a trap on the ground if there is no bait for it? Does a trap spring from the ground when it has caught nothing? If a ram’s horn is blown in a city, aren’t people afraid? If a disaster occurs in a city, hasn’t the Lord done it? Indeed, the Lord God does nothing without revealing his counsel to his servants the prophets. A lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who will not prophesy? Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod and on the citadels in the land of Egypt: Assemble on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great turmoil in the city and the acts of oppression within it. The people are incapable of doing right— this is the Lord’s declaration— those who store up violence and destruction in their citadels. Therefore, the Lord God says: An enemy will surround the land; he will destroy your strongholds and plunder your citadels. The Lord says: As the shepherd snatches two legs or a piece of an ear from the lion’s mouth, so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be rescued with only the corner of a bed or the cushion of a couch. Listen and testify against the house of Jacob— this is the declaration of the Lord God, the God of Armies. I will punish the altars of Bethel on the day I punish Israel for its crimes; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. I will demolish the winter house and the summer house; the houses inlaid with ivory will be destroyed, and the great houses will come to an end. This is the Lord’s declaration.

Privilege brings responsibility

Chapter 4

Amos 4 CSB

Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan who are on the hill of Samaria, women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to their husbands, “Bring us something to drink.” The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: Look, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, every last one of you with fishhooks. You will go through breaches in the wall, each woman straight ahead, and you will be driven along toward Harmon. This is the Lord’s declaration. Come to Bethel and rebel; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tenths every three days. Offer leavened bread as a thanksgiving sacrifice, and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings, for that is what you Israelites love to do! This is the declaration of the Lord God. I gave you absolutely nothing to eat in all your cities, a shortage of food in all your communities, yet you did not return to me. This is the Lord’s declaration. I also withheld the rain from you while there were still three months until harvest. I sent rain on one city but no rain on another. One field received rain while a field with no rain withered. Two or three cities staggered to another city to drink water but were not satisfied, yet you did not return to me. This is the Lord’s declaration. I struck you with blight and mildew; the locust devoured your many gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees, yet you did not return to me. This is the Lord’s declaration. I sent plagues like those of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I caused the stench of your camp to fill your nostrils, yet you did not return to me. This is the Lord’s declaration. I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick snatched from a fire, yet you did not return to me— This is the Lord’s declaration. Therefore, Israel, that is what I will do to you, and since I will do that to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God! He is here: the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, the one who makes the dawn out of darkness and strides on the heights of the earth. The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name.

Improper worship

Women

Cows of Bashan

Greedy

Carried out by hooks

Attacks their worship

All form, No Substance

Chapter 5

Amos 5 CSB

Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel: She has fallen; Virgin Israel will never rise again. She lies abandoned on her land with no one to raise her up. For the Lord God says: The city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left, and the one that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left in the house of Israel. For the Lord says to the house of Israel: Seek me and live! Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal or journey to Beer-sheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing. Seek the Lord and live, or he will spread like fire throughout the house of Joseph; it will consume everything with no one at Bethel to extinguish it. Those who turn justice into wormwood also throw righteousness to the ground. The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the water of the sea and pours it out over the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name. He brings destruction on the strong, and it falls on the fortress. They hate the one who convicts the guilty at the city gate, and they despise the one who speaks with integrity. Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact a grain tax from him, you will never live in the houses of cut stone you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted. For I know your crimes are many and your sins innumerable. They oppress the righteous, take a bribe, and deprive the poor of justice at the city gates. Therefore, those who have insight will keep silent at such a time, for the days are evil. Pursue good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord, the God of Armies, will be with you as you have claimed. Hate evil and love good; establish justice at the city gate. Perhaps the Lord, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Therefore the Lord, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: There will be wailing in all the public squares; they will cry out in anguish in all the streets. The farmer will be called on to mourn, and professional mourners to wail. There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass among you. The Lord has spoken. Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! What will the day of the Lord be for you? It will be darkness and not light. It will be like a man who flees from a lion only to have a bear confront him. He goes home and rests his hand against the wall only to have a snake bite him. Won’t the day of the Lord be darkness rather than light, even gloom without any brightness in it? I hate, I despise, your feasts! I can’t stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. Even if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will have no regard for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle. Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream. “House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the wilderness? But you have taken up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, images you have made for yourselves. So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.” The Lord, the God of Armies, is his name. He has spoken.

A Lament and a A Call to repentance.

The day of the Lord (18-27) Not something you want

Amos 5:24 CSB

But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.

True worship

Chapter 6

Amos 6 CSB

Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those who feel secure on the hill of Samaria— the notable people in this first of the nations, those the house of Israel comes to. Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours? You dismiss any thought of the evil day and bring in a reign of violence. They lie on beds inlaid with ivory, sprawled out on their couches, and dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall. They improvise songs to the sound of the harp and invent their own musical instruments like David. They drink wine by the bowlful and anoint themselves with the finest oils but do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore, they will now go into exile as the first of the captives, and the feasting of those who sprawl out will come to an end. The Lord God has sworn by himself—this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Armies: I loathe Jacob’s pride and hate his citadels, so I will hand over the city and everything in it. And if there are ten men left in one house, they will die. A close relative and burner will remove his corpse from the house. He will call to someone in the inner recesses of the house, “Any more with you?” That person will reply, “None.” Then he will say, “Silence, because the Lord’s name must not be invoked.” For the Lord commands: The large house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble. Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does anyone plow there with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood— you who rejoice over Lo-debar and say, “Didn’t we capture Karnaim for ourselves by our own strength?” But look, I am raising up a nation against you, house of Israel— this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Armies— and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.

Woe to complacency and wealth At ease in Zion

Just as the Lord Destroyed other nations, He Will destroy Israel

Chapter 7:1 - 9:4

5 visions

Locust turned back

Fire Turned Back

Plumb Line

Will not be turned back

Basket of Summer fruit

Qayits

Summer Fruits

Qets

The End

NIV

Basket of Ripe fruit

the time is ripe

Famine of the word

THE Lord at the Alter

No Escape

V. 7 God’s concern for all nations

Amos 9:11–15 CSB

In that day I will restore the fallen shelter of David: I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name— this is the declaration of the Lord; he will do this. Look, the days are coming— this is the Lord’s declaration— when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the one who treads grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel. They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities, plant vineyards and drink their wine, make gardens and eat their produce. I will plant them on their land, and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them. The Lord your God has spoken.

Word of Hope (9:11-15)

Judgment time of cleansing

Faithful remnant will return

Hosea

Native of the Northern Kingdom

Difficult to translate - Highly emotional and charged

Message

Chapter 1

Hosea 1 CSB

The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and of Jeroboam son of Jehoash, king of Israel. When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, he said this to him: Go and marry a woman of promiscuity, and have children of promiscuity, for the land is committing blatant acts of promiscuity by abandoning the Lord. So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. Then the Lord said to him: Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. On that day I will break the bow of Israel in Jezreel Valley. She conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and the Lord said to him: Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel. I will certainly take them away. But I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will deliver them by the Lord their God. I will not deliver them by bow, sword, or war, or by horses and cavalry. After Gomer had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said: Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I will not be your God. Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not my people, they will be called: Sons of the living God. And the Judeans and the Israelites will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves a single ruler and go up from the land. For the day of Jezreel will be great.

Commanded to marry a prostitute - Gomer

Three Children

Jezreel

Jehu’s Slaughter of people

Lo-ruamah

Not pitied

No pity by conquerors

Lo-Ammi

not my people

Not mine - Questioning Gomer’s integrity

Rejected by God

Israel

“People of God” but here he is saying “Not my people”

Word of Hope

Pity is shown, Jezreel a pace of blessing and you will be my loved ones

Chapter 2

Hosea 2 CSB

Call your brothers: My People and your sisters: Compassion. Rebuke your mother; rebuke her. For she is not my wife and I am not her husband. Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face and her adultery from between her breasts. Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her as she was on the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and like a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst. I will have no compassion on her children because they are the children of promiscuity. Yes, their mother is promiscuous; she conceived them and acted shamefully. For she thought, “I will follow my lovers, the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink.” Therefore, this is what I will do: I will block her way with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so that she cannot find her paths. She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will think, “I will go back to my former husband, for then it was better for me than now.” She does not recognize that it is I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil. I lavished silver and gold on her, which they used for Baal. Therefore, I will take back my grain in its time and my new wine in its season; I will take away my wool and linen, which were to cover her nakedness. Now I will expose her shame in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from my power. I will put an end to all her celebrations: her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths— all her festivals. I will devastate her vines and fig trees. She thinks that these are her wages that her lovers have given her. I will turn them into a thicket, and the wild animals will eat them. And I will punish her for the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense. She put on her rings and her jewelry and followed her lovers, but she forgot me. This is the Lord’s declaration. Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her vineyards back to her and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt. In that day— this is the Lord’s declaration— you will call me, “My husband,” and no longer call me, “My Baal.” For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth; they will no longer be remembered by their names. On that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will shatter bow, sword, and weapons of war in the land and will enable the people to rest securely. I will take you to be my wife forever. I will take you to be my wife in righteousness, justice, love, and compassion. I will take you to be my wife in faithfulness, and you will know the Lord. On that day I will respond— this is the Lord’s declaration. I will respond to the sky, and it will respond to the earth. The earth will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the fresh oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. I will sow her in the land for myself, and I will have compassion on Lo-ruhamah; I will say to Lo-ammi: You are my people, and he will say, “You are my God.”

Unfaithful wife = Unfaithful people

Chapter 3

Hosea 3 CSB

Then the Lord said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and nine bushels of barley. I said to her, “You are to live with me many days. You must not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.” For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols. Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come with awe to the Lord and to his goodness in the last days.

The purchase of Gomer

Written in the 1st person

Buys Gomer back for the price of a slave which is 15 shekels of silver

Chapter 4 – 14:9

Judgment and hope

Presented as a lawsuit by God against Israel

Religious leaders

not faithful to God

Harlotry of the people

Followed after Baal

Result of harlotry

Could not find their way back to God

Approaching war

sought aid from world powers but not the Lord

Suffering would hopefully bring them to their senses

False repentance

Love like the morning mist

Committed love required

Anarchy

Plots and counter plots

Half-baked cakes

Unfit for consumption

Follow Bal and not God

False worship, False friends

Sown the wind and reap the whirlwind

Judgment

Rejection by God

Increased altars – Increased sin

Grapes on the grapevine

Coming Judgment

Trust in military power and not Lord – Thus defeat

A plea to return

Return to God and rely of him

Wisdom saying

Remnant not explicit but implied

Hosea 14:9 CSB

Let whoever is wise understand these things, and whoever is insightful recognize them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

Kings of Judah

Rehoboam

1 Kings 14:21–29 CSB

Now Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put his name. Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. Judah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. They provoked him to jealous anger more than all that their ancestors had done with the sins they committed. They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree; there were even male cult prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt went to war against Jerusalem. He seized the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the treasuries of the royal palace. He took everything. He took all the gold shields that Solomon had made. King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and committed them into the care of the captains of the guards who protected the entrance to the king’s palace. Whenever the king entered the Lord’s temple, the guards would carry the shields, then they would take them back to the armory. The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

Son of Solomon - not as good as Solomon

With the Revolt in the north and Egypt in the south, which they are paining tribute to.

Guilty of Religious apostasy (Renouncing religion or turning away from God)

Abijah

1 Kings 15:1–8 CSB

In the eighteenth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah, and he reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom. Abijam walked in all the sins his father before him had committed, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God as his ancestor David had been. But for the sake of David, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up his son after him and by preserving Jerusalem. For David did what was right in the Lord’s sight, and he did not turn aside from anything he had commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hethite. There had been war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of Rehoboam’s life. The rest of the events of Abijam’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. There was also war between Abijam and Jeroboam. Abijam rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place.

3 years

Continued war with Jeroboam

God only gracious because he was a descendant of David

Asa

1 Kings 15:9–22 CSB

In the twentieth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam, Asa became king of Judah, and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His grandmother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom. Asa did what was right in the Lord’s sight, as his ancestor David had done. He banished the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all of the idols that his ancestors had made. He also removed his grandmother Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image and burned it in the Kidron Valley. The high places were not taken away, but Asa was wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his entire life. He brought his father’s consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into the Lord’s temple: silver, gold, and utensils. There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel throughout their reigns. Israel’s King Baasha went to war against Judah. He built Ramah in order to keep anyone from leaving or coming to King Asa of Judah. So Asa withdrew all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the treasuries of the royal palace and gave it to his servants. Then King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion king of Aram who lived in Damascus, saying, “There is a treaty between me and you, between my father and your father. Look, I have sent you a gift of silver and gold. Go and break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will withdraw from me.” Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. He attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, all Chinnereth, and the whole land of Naphtali. When Baasha heard about it, he quit building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah. Then King Asa gave a command to everyone without exception in Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had built it with. Then King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah with them.

Brother of Abijah

Reigned 41 years - often long reign signified favor with God

Attempt to abolish land of pagan worship

With aid of Ben-hadad of Syria turned back Baasha’s advance

Jehoseophat

1 Kings 22:41–50 CSB

Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Israel’s King Ahab. Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king; he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi. He walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them but did what was right in the Lord’s sight. However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel. The rest of the events of Jehoshaphat’s reign, along with the might he exercised and how he waged war, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. He eradicated from the land the rest of the male cult prostitutes who were left from the days of his father Asa. There was no king in Edom; a deputy served as king. Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber. At that time, Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships,” but Jehoshaphat was not willing. Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of his ancestor David. His son Jehoram became king in his place.

Good King 25 years. He Made peace with Israel. Rooted out corrupt religious practices. Took control of Edom. Tried to re-establish a merchant fleet. Alliance with Ahab in battle against Ramoth Gilead

Jehoram and Ahaziah

2 Kings 9:16-29, 10:1-17

Married Ahab’s Daughter

Little else died before the Jehud purge

Ahaziah killed by Jehu while visiting Joram he will reign for 1 year

Athaliah

2 Kings 11:1–21 CSB

When Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs. Jehosheba, who was King Jehoram’s daughter and Ahaziah’s sister, secretly rescued Joash son of Ahaziah from among the king’s sons who were being killed and put him and the one who nursed him in a bedroom. So he was hidden from Athaliah and was not killed. Joash was in hiding with her in the Lord’s temple six years while Athaliah reigned over the land. In the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, and the guards. He had them come to him in the Lord’s temple, where he made a covenant with them and put them under oath. He showed them the king’s son and commanded them, “This is what you are to do: A third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath are to provide protection for the king’s palace. A third are to be at the Foundation Gate and a third at the gate behind the guards. You are to take turns providing protection for the palace. “Your two divisions that go off duty on the Sabbath are to provide the king protection at the Lord’s temple. Completely surround the king with weapons in hand. Anyone who approaches the ranks is to be put to death. Be with the king in all his daily tasks.” So the commanders of hundreds did everything the priest Jehoiada commanded. They each brought their men—those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty—and came to the priest Jehoiada. The priest gave to the commanders of hundreds King David’s spears and shields that were in the Lord’s temple. Then the guards stood with their weapons in hand surrounding the king—from the right side of the temple to the left side, by the altar and by the temple. Jehoiada brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, gave him the testimony, and made him king. They anointed him and clapped their hands and cried, “Long live the king!” When Athaliah heard the noise from the guard and the crowd, she went out to the people at the Lord’s temple. She looked, and there was the king standing by the pillar according to the custom. The commanders and the trumpeters were by the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed “Treason! Treason!” Then the priest Jehoiada ordered the commanders of hundreds in charge of the army, “Take her out between the ranks, and put to death by the sword anyone who follows her,” for the priest had said, “She is not to be put to death in the Lord’s temple.” So they arrested her, and she went through the horse entrance to the king’s palace, where she was put to death. Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord, the king, and the people that they would be the Lord’s people and another covenant between the king and the people. So all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed its altars and images to pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, at the altars. Then Jehoiada the priest appointed guards for the Lord’s temple. He took the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the Lord’s temple. They entered the king’s palace by way of the guards’ gate. Then Joash sat on the throne of the kings. All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet, for they had put Athaliah to death by the sword in the king’s palace. Joash was seven years old when he became king.

Only woman to reign as ruler of Judah or Israel. Mother of Ahaziah, seized throne at his death. Started purge of royal family. Joash, son of Ahaziah will be hidden.

Jehoash (Joash)

Jehoiada leads a coup and makes Joash king. Jehoiada is the Chief priest.

2 Kings 12:1-22

Boy king

Peaceful reign. He Did right in the eyes of God With Jehoiada’s directions. Used temple repair money to bribe Hazael the king of Aram – Syria. He will be Assassinated. This will show the stability of Judah through the Davidic line continued despite coup.

Amaziah

2 Kings 14:1–22 CSB

In the second year of Israel’s King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, Amaziah son of Joash became king of Judah. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the Lord’s sight, but not like his ancestor David. He did everything his father Joash had done. Yet the high places were not taken away, and the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, Amaziah killed his servants who had killed his father the king. However, he did not put the children of the killers to death, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses where the Lord commanded, “Fathers are not to be put to death because of children, and children are not to be put to death because of fathers; instead, each one will be put to death for his own sin.” Amaziah killed ten thousand Edomites in Salt Valley. He took Sela in battle and called it Joktheel, which is still its name today. Amaziah then sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, and challenged him: “Come, let’s meet face to face.” King Jehoash of Israel sent word to King Amaziah of Judah, saying, “The thistle in Lebanon once sent a message to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. You have indeed defeated Edom, and you have become overconfident. Enjoy your glory and stay at home. Why should you stir up such trouble that you fall—you and Judah with you?” But Amaziah would not listen, so King Jehoash of Israel advanced. He and King Amaziah of Judah met face to face at Beth-shemesh that belonged to Judah. Judah was routed before Israel, and each man fled to his own tent. King Jehoash of Israel captured Judah’s King Amaziah son of Joash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh. Then Jehoash went to Jerusalem and broke down two hundred yards of Jerusalem’s wall from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. He took all the gold and silver, all the articles found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king’s palace, and some hostages. Then he returned to Samaria. The rest of the events of Jehoash’s reign, along with his accomplishments, his might, and how he waged war against King Amaziah of Judah, are written in the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings. Jehoash rested with his ancestors, and he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam became king in his place. Judah’s King Amaziah son of Joash lived fifteen years after the death of Israel’s King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz. The rest of the events of Amaziah’s reign are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. A conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. However, men were sent after him to Lachish, and they put him to death there. They carried him back on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his ancestors in the city of David. Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. After Amaziah the king rested with his ancestors, Azariah rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah.

Led in capture of Jehoash’s army

Uzziah (Azariah)

2 Kings 15:1–7 CSB

In the twenty-seventh year of Israel’s King Jeroboam, Azariah son of Amaziah became king of Judah. He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. Azariah did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his father Amaziah had done. Yet the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. The Lord afflicted the king, and he had a serious skin disease until the day of his death. He lived in quarantine, while Jotham, the king’s son, was over the household governing the people of the land. The rest of the events of Azariah’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. Azariah rested with his ancestors and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His son Jotham became king in his place.

Azariah in Chronicles

Led Judah in a period of great prosperity

More in the Chronicler

Conquered Philistine territory and re-established control of coastal highways

Pushed back others out of Judah all the way to Egypt

Fortified Jerusalem and key areas

Promoted agriculture

Modernized the army

Downfall is listed as his Pride. He presumed on the Priest’s Role. and he became a Leper. While he remained king his son Jotham was regent until Uzziah’s death

Jotham

2 Kings 15:33–38 CSB

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. He did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his father Uzziah had done. Yet the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. Jotham built the Upper Gate of the Lord’s temple. The rest of the events of Jotham’s reign, along with all his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. In those days the Lord began sending Aram’s King Rezin and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah. Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried with his fathers in the city of his ancestor David. His son Ahaz became king in his place.

Regent

Begin to feel pressure from Pekah and Rezin

Jehoahaz (Ahaz)

2 Kings 16:1–19 CSB

In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God like his ancestor David but walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even sacrificed his son in the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. Then Aram’s King Rezin and Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah came to wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but were not able to conquer him. At that time Aram’s King Rezin recovered Elath for Aram and expelled the Judahites from Elath. Then the Arameans came to Elath, and they still live there today. So Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. March up and save me from the grasp of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” Ahaz also took the silver and gold found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasuries of the king’s palace and sent them to the king of Assyria as a bribe. So the king of Assyria listened to him and marched up to Damascus and captured it. He deported its people to Kir but put Rezin to death. King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria. When he saw the altar that was in Damascus, King Ahaz sent a model of the altar and complete plans for its construction to the priest Uriah. Uriah built the altar according to all the instructions King Ahaz sent from Damascus. Therefore, by the time King Ahaz came back from Damascus, the priest Uriah had completed it. When the king came back from Damascus, he saw the altar. Then he approached the altar and ascended it. He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splattered the blood of his fellowship offerings on the altar. He took the bronze altar that was before the Lord in front of the temple between his altar and the Lord’s temple, and put it on the north side of his altar. Then King Ahaz commanded the priest Uriah, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering. Also offer the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offerings. Splatter on the altar all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of sacrifice. The bronze altar will be for me to seek guidance.” The priest Uriah did everything King Ahaz commanded. Then King Ahaz cut off the frames of the water carts and removed the bronze basin from each of them. He took the basin from the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pavement. To satisfy the king of Assyria, he removed from the Lord’s temple the Sabbath canopy they had built in the palace, and he closed the outer entrance for the king. The rest of the events of Ahaz’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.

Did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord - false worship.

When threatened by Israel and Syria became a vassal of Assyria. Changed the Temple in accordance to the king of Assyria.

Isaiah

Name means “The Lord is Salvation”

742-687 BC

Divisions

Chapters 1-39 Deal with the 8th Century the Death of King Uzziah forwar

Chapters 40-66 AKA Deutero-Isaiah. Deals with the Babylonian Exile and the return to Judah

Four False Assumptions of the People

God’s covenant with Israel/Judah is un-dissolvable 

Israel /Judah was fully covering the covenant obligations by observing the ritual of the cult

Day of the Lord will be a day of Triumph for God and for Israel/Judah

No matter what happened God would never let anything happen to Jerusalem or the Temple

Call of Isaiah

Isaiah 6 LEB

1 In the year of the death of Uzziah the king, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and raised throne, and the hem of his robe was filling the temple. 2 Seraphs were standing above him. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And the one called to the other and said, “Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of hosts! The whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 And the pivots of the thresholds shook from the sound of those who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said, “Woe to me! For I am destroyed! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I am living among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, and in his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 And he touched my mouth, and he said, “Look! This has touched your lips and has removed your guilt, and your sin is annulled.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “I am here! Send me!” 9 And he said, “Go and say to this people, ‘Keep on listening and do not comprehend! And keep on looking and do not understand!’ 10 Make the heart of this people insensitive, and make its ears unresponsive, and shut its eyes so that it may not look with its eyes and listen with its ears and comprehend with its mind and turn back, and it may be healed for him.” 11 Then I said, “Until when, Lord?” And he said, “Until the cities lie wasted without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is ruined and a waste, 12 and Yahweh sends the people far away, and the abandonment is great in the midst of the land. 13 And even if only a tenth part remain, again she will be destroyed like a terebinth or like an oak, which although felled, a tree stump remains in them. The seed of holiness will be her tree stump.”

Call of Isaiah

Read

Worship

Recognizes God

Verses 1-4

Seraphim = Burning ones

Recognition of sin/ Recognition of who we are

Verse 5

Forgiveness

Verse 6-7

Service

Verse 8

Message

He will be a prophet to a people who will not hear. Develops the idea of the holiness of God and the faithful remnant.

Isaiah and Ahaz

Concerning the Syro –Ephraimitc war. Ephraim another name for northern kingdom. God calls Isaiah to help Ahaz.

Isaiah’s Sons

Isaiah’s sons used

Shear-jashub - “A remnant shall return”

Immanuel - “God with us”

We see it as referring to Christ. In context refers to Hezekiah - Ahaz’s Son

Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz - “quick loot, fast plunder”

Destructiveness of the Assyrians

Hezekiah

Did right in the eyes of God. Closely associated with Isaiah. Led in religious reforms. pagan alters destroyed. Destroys the Nehushtan, Bronze serpent. Destroyed

2 Kings 18:5 LEB

5 He trusted in Yahweh the God of Israel; there was no one like him, before or after, among all the kings of Judah.

Evaluation of king Hezekiah.

Isaiah led him through two crises.

Ashod Rebellion

Western state rebellion against Assyria. Told by Isaiah not to join. Isaiah’s example 3 year naked march.

Sennacherib invasion

701 BCE - Sennacherib king of Assyria lead a campaign of subjugation . Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem. Isaiah will Assure Hezekiah that Jerusalem would not fall and it won’t. Though Hezekiah forced to pay heavy tribute in the end. Both sides claim victory in the history books.

Hezekiah’s Water tunnel was built during this siege. A 1750-foot (530m) tunnel carved during the reign of Hezekiah to bring water from one side of the city to the other.

Sennacherib killed in his own country as Isaiah said by his own sons

Micah

The Man

Eight century prophet. Little known about him. He is Not an insider. He is from From Moresheth-Gath which means he is a Country boy. Held Jerusalem on the same level of the sin cities in Samaria.

4 division of Micah

Micah 1:1–3:12 LEB

1 The word of Yahweh that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, that he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem: 2 Hear, all you peoples; give heed, O earth and its fullness. And let the Lord Yahweh be against you as a witness, the Lord from his holy temple. 3 For behold, Yahweh is coming out from his place, and he will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. 4 The mountains will melt under him and the valleys will burst open, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. 5 All this is for the rebellion of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the rebellion of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? 6 So I will make Samaria as a heap of rubble in the field, a place for planting a vineyard. And I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations. 7 Then all her idols will be broken in pieces, and all her prostitution wages will be burned in the fire, and all her idols I will make a desolation, For from the wage of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the wage of a prostitute they will return. 8 On account of this I will lament and wail. I will go about barefoot and naked. I will make a lamentation like the jackals, and a mourning ceremony like the ostriches. 9 For her wounds are incurable, because it has come to Judah. It has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem. 10 Do not tell it in Gath; you must not weep at all. In Beth-le-Aphrah roll yourself in dust. 11 Pass on, you inhabitants of Shaphir, in naked shame. The inhabitants of Zaanan do not come forth; the wailing of Beth-ha-Ezel will take its protection from you. 12 For the inhabitants of Maroth writhed for good, because disaster has come down from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem. 13 Harness the chariot to the team of horses, O inhabitants of Lachish; it is the beginning of sin for the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you. 14 Therefore you will give parting gifts to Moresheth-Gath; the houses of Achzib will be a deception to the kings of Israel. 15 I will again bring the conqueror upon you, O inhabitants of Mareshah; the glory of Israel will come to Adullam. 16 Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair for the children of your pleasure. Expand your baldness as the eagle, for they will go into exile away from you. 1 Woe to those who plan wickedness and evil deeds upon their beds! In the light of the morning they did it, because they have power in their hands. 2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and they take them away. They oppress a man and his house; a man and his inheritance. 3 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Look! I am planning disaster against this family from which you will not be able to remove your necks. You will not walk proudly, for it is a time of disaster. 4 In that day they will raise a proverb against you, and will wail a bitter wailing, saying, “We are utterly ruined; he exchanges the portion of my people. How he removes it from me; he apportions our field to an apostate.” 5 Therefore you will have no one casting a line by lot in the assembly of Yahweh. 6 “Do not preach!” they are preaching. They should not preach to these; disgrace will not overtake us. 7 Should this be said, O house of Jacob? Is the patience of Yahweh shortened? Are these his deeds? Are my words not pleasing to him who walks upright? 8 But recently my people have risen up as an enemy; from before the cloak you strip off the robe from those passing by in confidence, returning from war. 9 You have driven out the women of my people from the houses of their pleasure. From their children you have taken away my glory forever. 10 Arise and go, for this is no resting place, on account of uncleanness that destroys with painful destruction. 11 If a man walks about in a spirit of deception and lies, saying “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” then he would be a preacher for this people! 12 I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely gather together the remainder of Israel. I will set them like sheep of Bozrah. Like a herd in the midst of their pasture they will be in tumult from people. 13 The one who breaks out before them goes up; they break through and pass the gate, going out through it. Their king passes before them, Yahweh at their head. 1 And I said, “Listen, O heads of Jacob and leaders of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? 2 Those of you who are haters of good and lovers of evil, who tear their skin from them and their flesh from their bones, 3 and who eat the flesh of my people, and strip their skin from them, and break their bones, and chop them like meat in the pot, and like flesh in the midst of a cooking pot.” 4 Then they will cry to Yahweh, but he will not answer them. He will hide his face from them at that time, when they have made their deeds evil. 5 Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who are leading my people astray, who are biting with their teeth and proclaim, “Peace,” but whoever puts nothing into their mouths they declare war against. 6 Therefore it will be as night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. And the sun will set on the prophets, and the day will grow dark over them. 7 Then the seers will be disgraced, and those practicing divination will be put to shame. All of them will cover their lips, for there is no reply from God. 8 But I, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of Yahweh, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his rebellion, and to Israel his sin. 9 Hear this, O rulers of the house of Jacob and leaders of the house of Israel, those detesting justice and perverting all that is right, 10 he who builds Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wickedness. 11 Its rulers judge for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money. But they lean on Yahweh, saying, “Is not Yahweh in our midst? Disaster will not come upon us.” 12 Therefore on account of you Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will be a heap of rubble, and the temple mount as a high place in a forest.

Oracles against Jerusalem. Use of Israel to show that Jerusalem was just as bad. Against upper class. Leaders of Judah – Cannibals. Prophets – curried the favor of the rich. Not much hope for Jerusalem.

Micah 4:1–5:12 LEB

1 And it will be that at the end of those days, the mountain of the house of Yahweh will be established as the highest of the mountains, and it will be lifted up above the hills, and people will stream to it. 2 And many nations will come and say, “Come! Let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the temple of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths,” for the law will go out from Zion, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem. 3 And he will judge between many peoples and will arbitrate for strong nations far away; and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up a sword against a nation, and they will no longer learn war. 4 But they will sit, each under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken. 5 For all the nations walk, each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God, forever and ever. 6 “In that day,” declares Yahweh, “I will assemble the one who limps, and I will gather the one who has been scattered, and those whom I have mistreated. 7 And I will make the one who limps a remnant, and the one driven far away a strong nation, and Yahweh will reign over them on Mount Zion from now to forever. 8 And you, O Migdal-Eder, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come, and the former dominion will come, the reign of the daughter of Jerusalem. 9 So then, why do you shout a loud shout? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished that pangs like a woman in labor have seized you? 10 Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor. For now you will go forth from the city, and you will camp in the field; you will go to Babylon. There you will be rescued; there Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. 11 And now, many nations are gathered against you who are saying, ‘Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.’ 12 But they do not know the thoughts of Yahweh, and they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to his threshing floor. 13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for your horn I will make as iron and your hooves as bronze. And you will break many peoples in pieces, and their gain you will devote to destruction to Yahweh, and their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.” 1 Now muster troops, O daughter of troops; a siege he puts against us. They strike the ruler of Israel with a rod on the cheek. 2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you one will go out for me, to be ruler in Israel; and his origins are from of old, from ancient days. 3 Therefore he will give them up until the time of she who is with child has given birth. And the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel. 4 And he will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God. And they will live, for now he will be great unto the ends of the earth. 5 And this one will be peace. As for the Assyrian, when he comes into our land and when he treads on our fortresses, then we will raise up against him seven shepherds and eight leaders of men. 6 And they will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at its entrances. And he will rescue us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land, and when they tread upon our border. 7 And the remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many nations, like dew from Yahweh, like showers upon the grass which does not wait for a man, nor delays for the children of humankind. 8 And the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the wild animals of the forest, like a young lion among the herds of sheep which, when it passes through and treads down and tears in pieces, there is none who can deliver. 9 Your hand will be lifted high over your enemies, and all your foes will be cut off. 10 “And it will happen that in that day,” declares Yahweh, “then I will cut off your horses from among you, and I will destroy your chariots. 11 And I will cut off the cities of your land, and I will demolish all your fortifications. 12 And I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will not have soothsayers.

4:1 – 5:12

New Day will Come

Bethlehem oracle 5:2-6

Micah 6:1–7:7 LEB

1 Hear now what Yahweh says: “Arise! Plead your case with the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.” 2 Hear, O mountains, the indictment of Yahweh, and you eternal foundations of the earth, for Yahweh has an indictment against his people, and against Israel he contends. 3 “O my people, what have I done to you, and how have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and from the house of slavery I redeemed you. And I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you. 5 O my people, remember what Balak the king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you might know the righteous acts of Yahweh.” 6 With what shall I approach Yahweh, and bow down to God on high? Shall I approach him with burnt offerings, with bull calves a year old? 7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams, with myriads of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does Yahweh ask from you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? 9 The voice of Yahweh calls to the city (it is sound judgment to fear your name): “Hear, O staff! Now who has appointed it? 10 Is there any longer a man in the house of the wicked treasures of wickedness, and the ephah of scarcity which is accursed? 11 Shall I regard as pure the one with scales of wickedness, and with a bag of deceitful weights? 12 Because her rich are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 13 And I also have made you sick by striking you down, making you desolate because of your sins. 14 You yourself will eat but not be satisfied; your hunger will be in your midst, and you will put away, but you will not save, and what you save I will hand over to the sword. 15 You yourself will sow, but you will not reap; you will tread olives, but you will not anoint yourself with oil; you will tread grapes, but you will not drink wine. 16 For you have observed the regulations of Omri and all the works of the house of Ahab. And you have walked in their counsels, so that I am making you a desolation and your inhabitants an object of scorn. So you will bear the scorn of my people. 1 Woe is me! For I have become like the gatherings of summer, like the gleanings of the grape harvest, when there is no cluster of grapes to eat or early ripened fruit that my soul desires. 2 The faithful person has perished from the land, and there is none who is upright among humankind. All of them lie in wait for blood; each hunts his brother with a net. 3 Their hands are upon evil, to do it well; the official and the judge ask for the bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; and they weave it together. 4 The best of them is like a brier; the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchman, your punishment, has come; now their confusion will come. 5 Do not put faith in a friend; put no trust in a close friend. Guard the doorways of your mouth from the one who lies in your lap. 6 For a son treats a father with contempt; a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; the enemies of a man are the men of his own house. 7 But as for me, I will look to Yahweh; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

6:1 – 7:7 - A court oracle. People of God on trial

Micah 7:8–20 LEB

8 You should not rejoice over me, O my enemy! When I fall I will stand up; when I sit in darkness Yahweh will be a light for me. 9 I will bear the rage of Yahweh, for I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes my justice. He will bring me out to the light; I will see his righteousness. 10 Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is Yahweh your God?” My eyes will look upon her; now she will become a trampling place, like mud in the streets. 11 A day for building your walls; on that day he will extend your boundary. 12 On that day he will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, and from sea to sea and mountain to mountain. 13 But the earth will be a desolation because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds. 14 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, those dwelling alone in a forest in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. 15 As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt I will show him wondrous things. 16 The nations will see and be ashamed because of all their might. They will lay the hand on the mouth; their ears will be deaf. 17 They will lick the dust like the serpent, like the crawling things of the earth. They will come trembling from their strongholds to Yahweh our God. Let them fear and be afraid of you. 18 Who is a God like you, forgiving sin and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, for he delights in loyal love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; he will trample our iniquities. And you will hurl all their sins in the depths of the sea. 20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and loyal love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.

7:8 – 20 - Hope for the future

Micah 6:8 LEB

8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does Yahweh ask from you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Optional Homework: Memorize

Kings of Judah

Manasseh

Pro-Syria

Has Isaiah killed. Seen as the Evilest King. Adopted pagan religious practices that Hezekiah had done away with, Canaanite fertility gods and Star worship. Human sacrifices? or Child Sacrifice. Reigns for 55 years odd because long reign usually represents God’s blessing. He is a Puppet king.

Interesting fact: The Lord had told Manasseh's father, Hezekiah, who was deathly sick, to prepare to die (2 kings 20:1). When Hezekiah broke down, cried and prayed to God, The Lord added 15 years to Hezekiah's life. Three years later his son, Manasseh, was born. If Hezekiah had accepted death when first told by the Lord, then his son Manasseh, the most evil of kings, would have never been born.

Amon

Continues Manasseh’s evil policies and will be Assassinated

Josiah

Last great king of Judah. Became King when he is 8 years old. During his reign, Assyria will be falling. Egypt is weak. Babylonia not strong enough yet. So it will be a time of rest for Judah. Influenced by Hilkiah, High priest. Destroy pagan religion that Manasseh instituted.

622 BCE - They rebuild the temple find the scroll of the Law. Leads to Deuteronomic Reform (which is why some scholars suggest the Deuteronomy was written then). He will centralize in Jerusalem, Led by Huldah a Prophetess.

The Babylonians attack the Egyptians

Josiah takes his army to prevent the attack by attacking Pharaoh Neco

Battle of Megiddo - 609 BCE. Josiah dies. Judah falls after this battle. Becomes a symbol of end of things. Armageddon is harmogiddo

Zephaniah

Prophet of Josiah

Major theme

Day of the Lord. Almost direct quotes from book of Amos. Rapidly approaching day of wrath but hope for the righteous

Outline

1:2-6 Lord’s Sweeping Judgment

1:7-13 The High and Mighty of Jerusalem

1:14-18 The great day of the Lord

2:1-3 Hope for the righteous

2:4-15 Devastation on the Nations

3:1-7 Woe to Jerusalem

3:8-13 A better day is coming

3:14-20 Jerusalem shall be restored

Nahum

Preaches against Nineveh. For tells the fall of Nineveh happens 612 BC.

Shows that God is the God of all nations

Jehoahaz II

Imprisoned as Judah fell to Egypt. Imprisoned in Egypt. Died there

Jehoiakim

Placed as king by Egypt. Real name is Eliakim – son of Josiah. Pharaoh changed his name (what does that Mean?). Pays heavy tribute.

605 BCE - Babylonians defeat Egypt. Jehoiakim switches sides.

601 BCE - Babylonia suffers a set back to Egypt. Jehoiakim switches allegiance back to Egypt. This is a Fatal mistake.

598 BCE - Babylonia invades Judah. Jehoiakim dies (natural causes or assassination?)

3 major deportations

597 - Jehoiachin, Ezekiel & Daniel and leaders Taken into captivity.

587/6 BC - Fall of Jerusalem

582 BC - More People Taken

Jehoiachin

King in exile in Babylon. Ezekiel taken to Babylon

Zedekiah

Line of David. Last King to reign in Judah from the line of David. He sees all his descendants killed and then blinded.

Gedeliah

Will set up as Governor by Nebuchadnezzar

Habakkuk

Little Known of The prophet – Mentioned in Bel and the Dragon.

Known as The Philosopher prophet. How long will I cry for help and you not be here? Don’t worry I am sending the Chaldeans (Babylonians)

How can you allow the faithless to punish the faithful? Great time of punishment.

Habakkuk 2:4 LEB

4 Look! His spirit within him is puffed up; it is not upright. But the righteous shall live by his faithfulness.

Key verse Habakkuk 2:4

Quoted in Romans 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38-39

Habakkuk 3 LEB

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. 2 O Yahweh, I have heard the report of you; O Yahweh, I stand in awe of your works. In the midst of the years, revive it! In the midst of the years, make it known! In wrath, may you remember to show compassion. 3 God came from Teman; the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His splendor covers the heavens, and his praise fills the earth. 4 And his brightness was like the light; flashing rays came from his hand for him; And there is the covering of his strength. 5 Before him went Disease, and Pestilence went out at his feet. 6 He stood and measured the earth; he looked and made the nations tremble. Then the mountains of old were shattered; the hills of old collapsed. The ways of old belong to him. 7 Under affliction I saw the tents of Cushan; the tent curtains of the land of Midian trembled. 8 Was the anger of Yahweh against the rivers? Was your wrath against the rivers, or your fury against the sea, when you mounted upon your horses, upon your victory chariot? 9 You laid bare the nakedness of your bow, swearing oaths with the arrows of your word. You split the earth with rivers. 10 When the mountains saw you they writhed; a torrent of waters swept by; the deep gave its voice; it raised its hands on high. 11 Sun and moon stood still in their place; at the light of your arrows they moved about; at the gleam of the flashing of your spear. 12 In fury you marched through the earth; in anger you trampled the nations. 13 You went forth for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of wickedness, laying bare from the foundation to the top. 14 You pierced the head of his warriors with his own arrows; they came like a whirlwind to scatter me, their exultation like one who devours the afflicted in ambush. 15 You trampled upon the sea with your horses, the churning of many waters. 16 I hear and my stomach shakes; my lips quiver at the sound; infection enters my bones; that which is beneath me trembles; I wait quietly for the day of trouble to come upon the people attacking us. 17 Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vines; the yield of the olive tree fails, and the cultivated fields do not yield food; the flock is cut off from the animal pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh; I will exult in the God of my salvation. 19 Yahweh, my Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer; he causes me to walk on my high places. To the choirmaster with stringed instruments.

A psalm or Or prayer

Rejoice even though things are falling apart

Habakkuk 3:19 LEB

19 Yahweh, my Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer; he causes me to walk on my high places. To the choirmaster with stringed instruments.