THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of Kings: The Kings Of Israel And Judah From Solomon To The Babylonian Captivity

III. The Latter Era Of The Divided Kingdom, 2 Kings 2:1-27:41

X. God's Sovereign Care Amid Awful Leaders

(2 Kings 15:8-31)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Last Sunday after our morning service, two men independently of one another told me of their concern over awful leaders we face in today's world, and reports in the media readily confirm the validity of their alarm:

(1) An April 4 editorial in the Boston Herald noted, "'Democrats know very well that the full, unredacted [Mueller] report cannot be released as a matter of national security. Compromising intelligence sources and methods is a reckless and immoral endeavor and it should be worrisome to all Americans that opponents of President Trump are so willing to embark on such an errand.'" ("Jerrold Nadler's shenanigans are cynical showboating," on Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and the House Judiciary Committee authorizing subpoenas for Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III's report on his examination of allegations of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian government, April 4, 2019, cited in "Quotable," Republican-American, April 6, 2019, p. 6A; brackets ours)

Victor Davis Hanson, an historian at Stanford University, in his April 7 post at American Greatness blog ("All the Progressive Plotters," cited in "Quotable," Ibid., April 9, 2019, p. 6A) observed, "No reporter" of the "(p)rogressive luminaries at CNN and the New York Times . . . seems to care that Hillary Clinton hired a foreign national to work with other foreign nationals to sabotage, first, her opponent's campaign, then his transition and his presidency, along with the wink and nod help from key (Barak) Obama officials at the Department of Justice, State Department, National Security Council, FBI and CIA."

(2) We face this problem at the state level: all last week on "The Talk of Connecticut" radio talk show, I heard legendary talks show host Brad Davis and other talk show hosts, elected officials, business experts and callers complain about an ever escalating tax burden on the people and businesses in the state of Connecticut.

In one case, a caller told Brad that due to the one-party rule in the state, the governor and legislature was going to push highway tolls on the unwanting public regardless of public opinion just because they have the power to do so.

(3) We face awful leaders in many of our nation's big cities: the lead editorial, "A shortage of diversity," in the April 4, 2019 Republican-American, p. 6A, asserted that arguably, "many of these cities are essentially ungovernable, having been taken over long ago by crooked and parasitic politicians," among other causes.

Two big cities in our state are affected: "Former Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez is . . . looking to become the second big-city Connecticut mayor to reclaim his seat after being forced out by a public corruption scandal" besides "Mayor Joe Gannim" of "Bridgeport . . . who served time in prison for corruption before winning election to the same office in 2015." (Michael Melia, "Ex-Hartford Mayor Perez tries for political comeback," Ibid., April 5, 2019, p. 7A)

Need: So we ask, "In view of the awful leaders we face in today's world, what does God direct that we do?!"

I. In the latter years of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the nation face unsettling, hard times due to terrible actions by the nation's awful kings, 2 Kings 15:8-31:

A. In fulfillment of God's promise that Jehu would have a dynasty of four generations since he had obeyed God by destroying the wicked house of Ahab (2 Kings 10:30), Zachariah ruled as Jehu's fourth descendant, 2 Kings 15:8, 11-12. However, he held to Jeroboam I's syncretism, angering the Lord, so God let Shallum the son of Jabesh slay Zachariah and rule Israel after he had ruled Israel for only 6 months, 2 Kings 15:9-10.

B. Shallum then ruled 1 month before Menahem, the commander in chief of Jeroboam II's army, assassinated him, for Menahem thought he had more right to be Israel's king than Shallum did, 2 Kings 15:13-15. (Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 567, citing Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, 9. 11. 1)

C. After such repeat national upheavals in just 7 months, Menahem afflicted Israel as a tyrant, 2 Kings 15:16-22:

1. The Hebrews in the town of Tiphsah refused to accept Menahem as their king, so to secure a following from the rest of the nation, he slew all of Tiphsah's people as far as the town on Tirzah and ripped open all of their pregnant women, 2 Kings 15:16; Ibid.; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to 2 Kings 15:16.

2. Menahem then held to Jeroboam I's syncretism, further angering God for this apostasy, 2 Kings 15:17-18.

3. Thus, in fulfillment of Deuteronomy 28:15, 49-52, God let "Pul" (Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria) invade Israel, and "Pul" made Menahem pay him 37 tons of silver to help Menahem retain power in Israel versus his enemies who wanted the despotic Menahem removed, 2 Kings 15:19-22; Ibid., B. K. C., O. T., p. 567.

4. Menahem then further angered and oppressed Israel's people under him by taxing Israel's wealthy men 50 shekels each to fund his big 37-ton tribute of silver to the king of Assyria, 2 Kings 15:20 ESV!

D. After Menahem's brutal 10-year reign, his son Pekahiah ruled 2 years, but he held to Jeroboam I's syncretism, so God let Pekah, a military captain with 50 men from Gilead, kill him and seize the throne, 2 Kings 15:23-26.

E. Pekah had "apparently" never accepted Menahem's rule, but set up a rival government east of the Jordan River in Gilead, waiting for the right time to assert himself and attack Israel's government west of the Jordan, Ibid., p. 567-568. Thus, when Pekah came to the throne by assassinating Menahem's son Pekahiah, he ruled Israel for about 8 years and angered the Lord by holding to Jeroboam I's syncretism. Assyria's king Tiglath-Pileser III ("Pul") then invaded Israel again, defeating some of its towns and capturing all of Gilead east of the Jordan and the tribe of Naphtali, deporting them all to Assyria, 2 Kings 15:27-29.

F. Pekah was then assassinated by Hoshea the son of Elah who in turn assumed Israel's throne, 2 Kings 15:30-31.

II. Amid all of this upheaval and oppression in Israel's latter days due to her awful kings, the LORD'S hand MERCIFULLY moved in BEHALF of His PEOPLE ISRAEL through the king of Assyria (as follows):

A. The continued apostasy of Israel's kings coupled with their rapid, traumatic changes of power and Menahem's physical brutality and oppressive taxation required action by the Lord to save His people from imploding as a people lest it hinder God from fulfilling His Abrahamic Covenant to bless them. (Genesis 12:1-3)

B. Accordingly, opposite God's former work to WEAKEN Assyria during the reign of king Jeroboam II (Ibid., p. 566), the Lord let Tiglath-Pileser III ("Pul") gain Assyria's throne as a strong king and invade Israel twice in order to begin to take Israel's people captive and deport them to Assyria.

C. These events not only fulfilled the Mosaic Covenant regarding God's discipline for sin (Deuteronomy 28:15, 49-52) but they also graciously began to move Israel's people into a more orderly, less destructive government in Assyria to preserve them for eventual restoration to the land of Israel under a better government format!

Lesson: In her latter days when Israel faced awful kings who did awful things, God began to fulfill His promises of judgment in mercy, bringing the Assyrians to invade and start to deport Israel's people to Assyria to save them from self-destruction so He could later restore them to their land in line with God's long-term plans to bless them.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for salvation, John 3:16. (2) In facing awful leaders today, (a) may we trust God to make it possible for us to have room to heed His will regardless of the harm caused by the leaders we face, (c) being careful to live wisely to make the best use of our time, for our era is evil, Ephesians 5:15-16.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

In order to apply the sermon lesson above, living wisely to make the best use of our time due to our evil era, we need to (1) recall what Bible prophecy tells us about our era and (2) what Scripture teaches about living well in it:

(1) We recall that (a) Daniel 2:41-43 predicted the latter Roman Empire, including the U. S. and Europe, will be composed of partly strong and partly weak peoples, what seems to be groups of initially strong Western Civilization ideology and groups of newer, weak ideologies (Marxism, etc.) This mix of conflicting views in different people groups will counter national unity as Daniel 2:43 foretold, what we see in Western Civilization nations today.

We also recall that (b) Revelation 3:21 with 7:17 predicted that in our era, God will make churches that rightly expound Scripture become havens of balm for those who are oppressed and disillusioned by evil leaders in the world.

God thus want us to expect the conditions we now see and expound Scripture to address them for balm!

(2) Scripture then guides us on how to address what we see, giving us balm (as follows): (a) 1 Thessalonians 4:11a calls us to aim to live a quiet life, what avoids attracting negative attention from problem leaders in the world. (b) 1 Thessalonians 4:11b then calls us to work for a living, seeking to do so as independently of others as we can for adequate income and to keep a good testimony before the world. (c) For financial growth, Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 calls us to invest boldly for the long-term, to diversify our investments and regularly add to them. [Diversification includes holding enough savings in cash to avoid being left cash-poor in market downturns!] (d) Since we should try to stay in good health as doing so better equips us to live free of the world's problem medical care and health insurance systems in line with 1 Thessalonians 4:11b, we note Genesis 9:3 [with 1 Timothy 4:4] shows God has given us a diet of natural plant and animal life. We thus best stick to as natural a diet in food (and medicinals) as is sensibly possible! [Getting enough sleep and exercise and minimizing stress are other good steps for good health!] (e) Galatians 5:16, 22-23 calls us to rely on the Holy Spirit for the behavior control needed to heed the Scripture passages above!

May we trust in Christ for salvation. May we then trust God to help us deal with awful leaders in our era, and live wisely by relying on the Holy Spirit's power to heed God's Biblical guidelines for living in our era.