We Three Kings
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History lesson, a backdrop to what is happening with the prophets.
Prophecy is hearing from God and speaking what He tells you to say. It is forthtelling more than foretelling. And so the backdrop of what is happening is critical to understanding how God is using the prophets to speak truth to his people… and to give them hope.
So Many Kings
So Many Kings
So many kings.
Most of the prophets we have seen so far have been in the Northern Kingdom and focused on the coming destruction of the Northern Kingdom.
In 721 B.C. it does. Assyria comes in conquers and scatters the Northern Kingdom and makes the Southern Kingdom a vassal state. You pay us money, we will leave you alone.
And so the southern kingdom rejoices that they are “spared”… in a way. But the prophets, the true prophets, keep telling the southern kingdoms that judgment is still coming. The next prophets: Nahum (who we read), Zephaniah, Habbakuk and Jeremiah are all in this time period.
We survived Assyria. Babylon is coming. What do we do?
Three of the most influential kings of the Southern Kingdom. Maybe, arguably, the most influential since David. Certainly two of them are the BEST kings since David.
First up: Hezekiah!
Hezekiah
Hezekiah
In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses.
Good stuff, right?
Three years into Hezekiah’s rule Assyria destroys the Northern Kingdom (Samaria).
… and conquered all the “fortified cities of Judah” and Hezekiah stripped the country, including the temple, to pay silver and gold to Assyria.
But Hezekiah rules almost 30 years.
Hezekiah almost dies
Hezekiah almost dies
In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’ ” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.”
And Hezekiah lives another 15 years. God prophesies one thing, Hezekiah repents and prays, God changes his mind and gives a new word.
If you think, in your systematic theology, that God “can’t” change His mind… that’s just wrong. He does it over and over again in Scripture, always in response to the prayers of His people.
Hezekiah is a GREAT king, none like him before or since.
You would think such a GREAT king would setup his son to follow in righteousness after him, right?
Manasseh
Manasseh
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.
So… just the WORST.
Hezekiah was GREAT! But Manasseh comes along behind him and undoes any and every good thing his father did. Wickedness and destruction. No matter how “good” Hezekiah was, it couldn’t “make up” for the sin that would follow.
And there has to be consequence for sin. Israel cries out for it when the other nations sin against them and against God. Now here is Manasseh, leading the nation, bathing the nation in blood… you think people aren’t crying out for God to do something???
Where is God when evil prospers? Ultimately, He is bringing judgment. We just don’t often like his timing.
Punishment:
And the Lord said by his servants the prophets,
“Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols,
therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
So, the die is cast, Babylon is coming for judgment.
Amon, Manasseh’s son, reigns for like 2 years. Evil and short-lived, then killed by his servants and they raised up his 8 year old son, Josiah in his place.
Josiah
Josiah
Then… Josiah becomes King. And Josiah is AWESOME.
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.
And then, the craziest thing. 18 years into his rule, so now he’s 30, something happens that blows my mind.
Josiah sends someone to get some records from the temple, and they’re digging around in the basement and they “find” the “Book of the Law.” The implication is that this is the “Book of Moses”, as in the first 5 books, as in the Torah, or the Pentateuch. Kind of important, yeah? Would have assumed they kept that around. Top shelf.
They’ve been winging it this whole time! Oral tradition, passed down, figuring it out, and mostly getting it wrong!
And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
How long was it lost for? Some clues:
Passover
Passover
There are all sorts of GREAT reforms, but here’s my favorite. Mind blowing.
And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.
HOW LONG?
So… not King Saul, or King David, or the dozen plus kings in between in the intervening centuries.
At least 400 years, longer than we’ve been a country.
What would your reaction be?
When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
We done messed up. And everyone before us messed up. So they go to another prophet, Huldah:
So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her. And she said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Tell the man who sent you to me, Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord.
I will relent? I won’t destroy your people?
Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.’ ” And they brought back word to the king.
Sin has consequences. Always.
Sin has consequences. Always.
Sin has consequences. Always. In this case, it is the looming destruction of the entire nation. Sent into captivity. And it’s never going to be the same after. Some great stuff happens in the exile, in the return from exile, but it’s never going to be the same really.
There is no amount of “good” that can make up for the evil that has been done. You can’t erase it from history. You can’t “make it right” by striving.
No matter how good Hezekiah was… he couldn’t prevent the evil that was to follow.
No matter how good Josiah was, he couldn’t “make up for” the evil that preceded him. The very best gift in the gract of God was to postpone it for a minute so Josiah himself could die in peace. Pretty faint blessing, given that he has family, kids, grandkids who are all going to face this tribulation.
No king could do it. So in these last few prophets before the exile.
Mostly they are filled with words of the coming destruction at the hands of Babylon.
Habakkuk
Habakkuk
The question: Habakkuk 1:2-4
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
And God tells him he is raising up the Chaldeans (aka Babylon) to bring justice.
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.
Sin has consequence. Babylon is coming. And so Habakkuk professes, he is going to trust the Lord even through the coming tribulation.
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
This profession of faith and expectation in the face of coming judgment:
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
Zephaniah
Zephaniah
Zephaniah fills two chapters with descriptions of the coming judgment. Read it this week. Zephaniah and Habakkuk. 5-10 minutes each, tops.
Woe to all the nations, and woe to Jerusalem… Babylon is coming. Justice and judgment is coming.
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.
Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.
At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.
No matter how good a king Hezekiah was… he couldn’t bring this about. He couldn’t prevent the evil his son would do.
No matter how good a king Josiah was, he couldn’t make up for the sin of his Grandfather Manasseh.
More than that, neither of them did it right either. They were the best… but they barely knew what they were doing. That’s why Josiah tears his robes… we are doing it ALL wrong!
We were missing the instruction manual!
No king could get it right. Judgment for their sin was coming and would always come.
Just like judgment for your sin and my sin is coming… and nothing we can do can “make up for” the evil we have done… or are going to do.
King of Kings
King of Kings
This is why it was so shocking when John the Baptist cries out:
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
He is the prophet who recognizes the fulfillment of ALL the prophets. There is the king who can finally make it right. There is the sacrifice that can finally bear ALL the sins. And make them go away. And make us right with God now and forever.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Propitiation. Good word. Atonement. It means this: he makes it right. Right with God, us with God and God with us.
Yeshua - YHWH saves.