ANY KINGS OUT THERE???

Why I love I and II Kings
Because of the mirror of doctrine.
For example, today (after) I ran errands, worked out, etc., in the middle of the afternoon, whilst cruising home on the Interstate - (Remember, with a full day and afternoon still ahead of me, mind you) on my way home, the Spirit was (lovingly) convicting me about Matthew 6:33 ("But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.")

This is not the first time His still small voice invades my conscious efforts to complete "all these things" when I daily attempt to prioritize ahead of His Kingdom and Righteousness and instead, commence with my own affairs, whilst identifying, disguising / justifying these activities under the deceptive banner of "responsibility"!

"Where is my Word in you?" The Spirit beckons. "When will you join me in picking up where we left off just yesterday afternoon in II Kings 16"

And I'm immediately hit with pangs of guilt and discontent right in the midst of my "activities" which preceded my time with Christ in His Word. Ugh!!! And I missed the smell of the Bible pages, the sound of the Spirit's voice reading and revealing the scripture as though He's speaking it right out of my heart and letting it flow through my bloodstream...so that it is TRULY UNDERSTOOD becomes it is now a part of you. Not to mention the entertainment of God's history as the plot of God's ruthlessly loving pursuit of His everlasting love, Israel, thickens - and my heart fills up with sorrow bursting to break, my eyes water over the pages which violently rip the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of God's beloved Northern and Southern kingdoms right from His bosom - into the merciless talons of...sigh...the Assyrians...enter...the Babylonian Captivity. Oh God, how could I put errand running before this...?

Yet, I know why I avoided promptly returning to my study in II Kings 16 and 17 (as I write this in retrospect) and instead chose to distract myself with "necessary" activities. Why? Because I am just fearful as fascinated with what this intimate encounter with God's Word (Doctrine) does to me, when I submit to it.

I'm mourning over Assyria's capture of the Northern Kingdom under that foolish king Hoshea's reign (II Kings 17: 1-2) - "bribery" of all things...really, Hoshea?. And I am astonished (yet, can totally relate to) at the catalogue of Israel's rebellion, which God lists in harrowing detail. Which compels me to get out my highlighter and ink pen, yet that cannot keep pace with Israel's offenses against the very One True God who led them out of Egypt (II Kings 17: 7)! I can almost hear God's voice quivering with sadness as he metes out His Judgment in response to over ten acts of rebellion committed against Him by His very own (II Kings 17: 8 - 17). And I almost wept at verse 18. I had to look away for several moments.

And it all flows through my own bloodstream which was once in captivity to a fallen, enslaved Adamic nature. And His Spirit reminds me that Israel is a mirror into my own soul when it submits to sin's captivity. A captivity which the league of God's own prophets could not deliver Israel from (II Kings 17: 13), as the divine warnings of Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Micah, Joel ( to name a few) they did not heed.

So, what hope have I when I consider this portion of doctrine in II Kings 17 (which hit me today)? I appreciate this doctrine because it illuminates my hope in salvation from perpetual captivity via the NEW COVENANT of CHRIST'S shed blood on the cross. A salvation which far surpasses and fulfills the work which was attempted with tragic inefficiency under the OLD COVENANT by the Law and the Prophets. Illustrated beautifully by today's (lonely and isolative) study in II Kings 17.

Tomorrow, the Spirit beckons me to join Him in II Kings 18 as He reveals Judah's "comupin's" though delayed (because of King David's example, right?).

Sigh...

I don't expect anyone to read this whole message. I hope so. This is my reality, more than life itself. I am more in touch with reality when immersed in God's Word, than I am during those darn errand runs and aerobics classes, etc.

If so, tell me what's on your mind? As my quest in life is to seek Christ's Body of believers whom, I hope, find this stuff to be the substance of life.

Love-in-Christ

SCRIPTURE TEACHES ME (I Kings):

I was reviewing I KINGS today during my afternoon stroll. And WOW, WAS I BLOWN AWAY!!!

I want to be a King before I am qualified to be someone's Queen (or anything for that matter...)

Why? Because what I have learned (or rather, the Spirit revealed in my intimate study of I Kings) the following:

The book of 1 / 2 Kings holds the secret of success in reigning over the kingdom of your life. It is the secret of learning to be submissive to the authority and dominion of God in your own life. In other words, man can never exercise dominion over his life unless he first subjects himself to the dominion of God. If you yield to God's dominion, you are given reign over the areas in your own life.

I want to do this very thing. I desire it more than anything. And I am perpetually frustrated because I have not yet placed God's Dominion on the throne of my own "free" will.

I have learned by painful means (and am still struggling with this, right now as I type) that, if you refuse the dominion of God in your own life, you cannot under any circumstances or by any means fulfill your desire to be in authority over your life. It is impossible!

This is what I and II Kings is teaching me. That is why all through this book you will find that the spotlight is on the throne. It is the king that is the important one -- for as the king goes, so goes the nation. In your life your will is king. What your will allows to enter in to control your life, determines how the kingdom of your life goes.

make sense?

Please reply.

Phew!!!

II KINGS 18 today...and I AM ABSOLUTELY TRAUMATIZED by the contents of this portion of Israel's History....!!!!!!!!

I still have yet to absorb it all, saints! I'm no rabbi nor have had the pleasure of studying under a "Hillel" or "Gamiliel". The Spirit within me knows how much my heart and mind can endure...and my initial impressions coupled with the Spirit's very gentle revelation of what I found in this chapter is as follows:

(Pause...sigh...rubbing the enchantment from my eyes...) include:

Is it just me or did Judah get it worst than the Northern Kingdom? Oh...the sickening humiliation which those reptilian Assyrians inflicted on the first of a truly righteous King (Hezekiah) since David.

GOOD THING: I have found the kind of King I want to be like, Hezekiah! I could never be a David. But I'd love to be a Hezekiah, who is the model of what God fashioned as the perfect human will - II KINGS 18: 3 - (submitted to the Dominion of God's Will, yet still very effective, strong and brave in his own right).

Look at how Good and brave and uncompromising Hezekiah was as God outlines the beauty of this KIng's royal yet righteous deeds in II KINGS 18: 4 - 8). What a man. What a King!!!

So, I'll stop here preserving my everlasting appreciation and love for this King. I pray that God fashions my will to model the kingship of Hezekiah! I am confident that He will do this.

Again, I have to stop here, because I start to panic when I consider how it all shifted into the bowels of utter gehenna for Hezekiah (even in the midst of his consistent righteousness under the torrential taunting of that Spawn of Lucifer, Sennacherib the (Ass)yrian. I wonder what his name means, I bet it's something horrific. I'm going to look up the meaning of the name "Sen-nach'-er-ib".

If anyone finds out, please enlighten me.

Will be back soon with more on this devastating chapter. I love you, KIng Hezekiah!!!

LOve-in-Christ

kyp

"Sen-nach'-er-ib". You Satanic Rogue!

He and his (Ass)yrian hosts forced, brainwashed, taunted and terrorized the Israelites to the point of consuming their own excrement for God's sake......adding to the unbearable humiliation of Good King Hezekiah who had to witness this utter degradation of his own people.

God, help them? My Spirit too cried out with a loud voice along with Rab'-sha-keh, as he had to endure what he saw as the Jews sat along that cesspool wall of shame (II KINGS 18: 27 - 28). Oh, God! How can a human heart subject another human being to what those poor Jews endured whilst sitting on the wall???

Jeremiah did warn us, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" (Jeremiah 17: 9). I think the people of Judah found this out in II Kings 18: 27. Does Satan really so hate God's people? Can a man be so possessed with almost supernatural evil to oppress one another to such a devastating extent.

(II KINGS 18: 17 - 27)

There really IS A HELL!!!

At least my comfort and faith in the God - submitted human will and spirit can still prevail, when I consider KIng Hezekiah's divinely noble and beautifully patient and faithful candor whilst standing in the midst of this Hellish and eminent captivity. Hezekiah exhibited more power, virility, wisdom and courage when brought to his very knees at the unresolved conclusion of II King's 18, than the whole host of "Sen-nach'-er-ib" standing tall and wickedly majestic in their unjust conquest.

Again, I love you King Hezekiah!!!

Please help me out with this, saints!

kyp

It's said that this is all Hezekiah's fault for removing the high places (18:22). Hezekiah is trying to deceive you, but don't let him do that (18:29). The message was conveyed in the "language of Judah" so that all the people would hear (18:26-28). Assyria even claims that "The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it." (18:25b) So, there's confusion here--Assyria speaking in the name of the LORD as well as Asherah--which is it? Who cares about truth, whatever sticks. Turn away from Hezekiah, and you will have an abundance of good things (18:23,31-32)--visualize horses, olive trees, honey, and you'll live and not die....

I call this "Brainwashing" of the Anti-C hrist...no?

That was the bravest thing Hezekiah could do!!! Hezekiah was "cleaning house" with no interest in political correctness to win the favor of the people at the expense of God;s favor. Do you know of the hideous acts of adominable sodomy and temple prostitution, burning newborn babies in the fire of Molech, which were notorious for taking place on those very "high places" which GOOD King Hezekiah had had enough of. At the risk of losing the favor of a brainwashed and acclimated corruptive vox populi, Hezekiah, instead did what was right mot in the eyes of the comfortably deluded populace, but God's Holy Dominion. That took immensely divine courage to remove the high places which were notorious for pagan worship. Israel had no business worshipping and entering into the elevated planes which illustrated the abominable acts of what those pagans.

Although, there is much stacked against Hezekiah:

- Everything around him is falling down. The Northern Kingdom (Israel) just fell (18:11), following many other kingdoms (18:34), and Judah was next in Assyria's sights, and some fortified cities of Judah already did fall (18:13).

- The King of Assyria is trying to turn Hezekiah's own people against him. It's said that this is all Hezekiah's fault for removing the high places (18:22). Hezekiah is trying to deceive you, but don't let him do that (18:29). The message was conveyed in the "language of Judah" so that all the people would hear (18:26-28). Assyria even claims that "The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it." (18:25b) So, there's confusion here--Assyria speaking in the name of the LORD as well as Asherah--which is it? Who cares about truth, whatever sticks. Turn away from Hezekiah, and you will have an abundance of good things (18:23,31-32)--visualize horses, olive trees, honey, and you'll live and not die....

- Even Hezekiah seems to be faltering and becoming desperate, stripping the gold from the temple to give to the king of Assyria (18:16) and saying, contrary to his earlier defiance (18:7), "...I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear." (18:14a). I could imagine the gold being given away was a momentary respite that ultimately would not satisfy Assyria (18:20,32) who would want yet more and more, and it even might feed his armies.

One thing that seems wise is Hezekiah instructed his people to be silent and not reply (18:36).
Peeking ahead, Hezekiah consults with Isaiah the prophet. Chapter 36 of Isaiah's book tells of this same account of 2 Kings 18.

Who is Hezekiah who arrived here? Hezekiah took down Asherah poles. (Should we do the same? We have no record of Jesus doing this nor Paul (Acts 17:23), not in a physical way, except Mat 21:12.) Hezekiah was said to "not depart" from following the LORD, but he "kept the commandment the LORD commanded Moses" (18:6). Oh, and "he trusted in the LORD" (18:5), and someone needs a ton of that in this situation. He could have said, ok Sennacherib, yes sir, you da man, whatever you want, and give me my horses and olive trees. Luke 4:7 "If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." (ESV)

Here's a recent example of why I refuse to accept that Hezekian commited any folly which contributed the Judah's captvity. Infact, I learned today that Hezekiah's Christ-like kingship actually delayed their captivity.

This morning on my 4 mile workout walk, whilst walking I plugged in my headphones and uploaded the audio version of II Kings 17, 18 and 19. Though I had previously read the NKJV version (at home in the solitude of my chamber, the Holy Spirit was still "reading it to, with and through me).

Yet, during my stroll, I craved more understanding, I channeled these chapters AGAIN, but via a clearer translation (Eugene Peterson's "The Message" - plain english translation) AND via listening to the chapters being read to me via an audio device.

There was no interpretation nor exposition, just a repetition of the same three chapters I had already read but from an auditory receptive method and with a different translation.

AND BOY!!!! Was my mind blown. When reading the scripture, there is a risk and tendency (especially regarding my ADHD brain) for crucial elements of God's revelation to ill-adapt to the brain's (mind's) anatomically large grooves, fissures; small creases called sulci, and outward folds, called gyri.

When I listened to the three chapters via an audio translation of "The Message" instead of reading (after all, I was walking whilst listening) it...my mind, heart and spirit flowed...no...floated...(I say "floated" because even my body became engaged in this refreshed clarity right in spite of commencing with my habitual and routinely dis-associative outdoor walking workout. Though totally irrelevant to what was happening as I submitted my ears to heat...my feet even felt as though they were levitating above the paved walking trail because I could not feel the soles of my sneakers making contact with the pavement.

But in listening to II Kings 18, I could certainly feel and connect with every single thought, action, and prayer, and even confusion which that blessed Christ-like King Hezekiah endured as he fearfully "put his whole trust in the God of Israel" as he faithfully "kept to the standards of his ancestor David" (II KIngs 18: 1-4)...

...and bravely denounced the spiritually destructive appeasement of his own deluded nation (Judah), whom had grown accustomed to and dependent upon compromising with the very pagan idols which (just one chapter prior in II KIngs 17: 7-12) brought about Jerusalem's downfall and captivity under the evil king Hoshea of Israel, who, unlike Hezekiah, tolerated and allowed the Israelites to " do all kinds of things on the sly, things offensive to their God, then openly and shamelessly built local sex-and-religion shrines at every available site. They set up their sex-and-religion symbols at practically every crossroads. Everywhere you looked there was smoke from their pagan offerings to the deities?the identical offerings that had gotten the pagan nations off into exile." (II Kings 17: 7-12)

I know this sounds crazy and esoteric. Yet, it is more true and real than what I ate for breakfast this morning (which was a very bland and uneventful Iso-protein shake).

I have more to say on this euphoric revelation received after reviewing this chapter again but instead via the audio listening to another translation ("The Message")...

In the meantime...tell me what you think...

Here's a recent example of why I refuse to accept that Hezekian commited any folly which contributed the Judah's captvity. Infact, I learned today that Hezekiah's Christ-like kingship actually delayed their captivity.

This morning on my 4 mile workout walk, whilst walking I plugged in my headphones and uploaded the audio version of II Kings 17, 18 and 19. Though I had previously read the NKJV version (at home in the solitude of my chamber, the Holy Spirit was still "reading it to, with and through me).

Yet, during my stroll, I craved more understanding, I channeled these chapters AGAIN, but via a clearer translation (Eugene Peterson's "The Message" - plain english translation) AND via listening to the chapters being read to me via an audio device.

There was no interpretation nor exposition, just a repetition of the same three chapters I had already read but from an auditory receptive method and with a different translation.

AND BOY!!!! Was my mind blown. When reading the scripture, there is a risk and tendency (especially regarding my ADHD brain) for crucial elements of God's revelation to ill-adapt to the brain's (mind's) anatomically large grooves, fissures; small creases called sulci, and outward folds, called gyri.

When I listened to the three chapters via an audio translation of "The Message" instead of reading (after all, I was walking whilst listening) it...my mind, heart and spirit flowed...no...floated...(I say "floated" because even my body became engaged in this refreshed clarity right in spite of commencing with my habitual and routinely dis-associative outdoor walking workout. Though totally irrelevant to what was happening as I submitted my ears to heat...my feet even felt as though they were levitating above the paved walking trail because I could not feel the soles of my sneakers making contact with the pavement.

But in listening to II Kings 18, I could certainly feel and connect with every single thought, action, and prayer, and even confusion which that blessed Christ-like King Hezekiah endured as he fearfully "put his whole trust in the God of Israel" as he faithfully "kept to the standards of his ancestor David" (II KIngs 18: 1-4)...

...and bravely denounced the spiritually destructive appeasement of his own deluded nation (Judah), whom had grown accustomed to and dependent upon compromising with the very pagan idols which (just one chapter prior in II KIngs 17: 7-12) brought about Jerusalem's downfall and captivity under the evil king Hoshea of Israel, who, unlike Hezekiah, tolerated and allowed the Israelites to " do all kinds of things on the sly, things offensive to their God, then openly and shamelessly built local sex-and-religion shrines at every available site. They set up their sex-and-religion symbols at practically every crossroads. Everywhere you looked there was smoke from their pagan offerings to the deities?the identical offerings that had gotten the pagan nations off into exile." (II Kings 17: 7-12)

I know this sounds crazy and esoteric. Yet, it is more true and real than what I ate for breakfast this morning (which was a very bland and uneventful Iso-protein shake).

I have more to say on this euphoric revelation received after reviewing this chapter again but instead via the audio listening to another translation ("The Message")...

In the meantime...tell me what you think...

It's said that this is all Hezekiah's fault for removing the high places (18:22). Hezekiah is trying to deceive you, but don't let him do that (18:29). The message was conveyed in the "language of Judah" so that all the people would hear (18:26-28). Assyria even claims that "The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it." (18:25b) So, there's confusion here--Assyria speaking in the name of the LORD as well as Asherah--which is it? Who cares about truth, whatever sticks. Turn away from Hezekiah, and you will have an abundance of good things (18:23,31-32)--visualize horses, olive trees, honey, and you'll live and not die....

BECAUSE IT WAS AN ABOMNIABLE PAGAN IDOL WHICH COMPETED WITH THE WORSHIP OF THE ONE TRUE GOD, WHICH ALSO HAVE A TEMPLE, WHICH HEZEKIAH REFUSED TO DESTROY BECAUSE IT WAS THE ONLY LEGITIMATE TEMPLE AS IT REPRESENTED (NOT MANY GODS) BUT THE ONE TRUE GOD, IN WHOM HEZEKIAH WAS TRYING TO RESTORE HIS PEOPLE TO WORSHIPING THE ONE TRUE GOD.
G
COME, LET US REASON THIS OUT AFTER YOU READ WHAT WAS REVEALED AFTER OFFERING MY EARS TO HEAR AND REVISIT THIS CHAPTER ON HEZEKIAH:

YOU BLAME HIM FOR DESTROYING THE IDOL WORSHIP PLACES... WHAT GOD SUBMITTED KIND WOULDN'T DO THIS?!?

Remember in 2 Kings 18:4: "He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan."

?Removed the high places?: Hezekiah was the first king of Judah to totally eradicate the high places, i.e., the WORSHIP CENTERS BUILT CONTRARY TO MOSAIC LAW (Deut. 12:2-7, 13-14).

?Brake the images ? the groves?: Hezekiah destroyed the IDOLS USED IN THE WORSHIP OF THE SEX GODS BAAL and ASHERAH (Jezebel's God's whom destroyed the prophets in I Kings!!!!).

AND WHAT ABOUT THAT SACRED BRASEN SERPENT?!? ONE THE SURFACE, THIS MAY SEEM LIKE BLASPHEMY, YEAH! BUT THE SPIRIT IS ANYTHING BUT "SURFACE". ?The brasen serpent?: That supernatural "look and live" pillar of power and healing, yeah?

Hezekiah broke the Nehushtan into pieces i.e., the bronze snake made by Moses in the wilderness (see notes on Numbers 21;4-9), because JUDAH HAD COME TO WORSHIP IT AS AN IDOL, (perhaps influenced by Canaanite religion, which regarded snakes as fertility symbols) when it was only intended to remain a symbol of deliverance and healing. However it had become a source of spiritual confusion and idolatrous worship, possibly associated with the worship of Asherah. Therefore, it had to be destroyed.

The ?bronze serpent? was a statue Moses erected to save the Israelites from deadly biting snakes (Num. 21:5-9). According to Jesus, it pictured how he would be lifted up on the cross (John 3:14-15). Over time, however, it had become an object of worship called the ?Nehushtan (a word that sounds like the Hebrew words for both bronze and snake. The current symbol of our idol manufacturing industry of pharmacopeia which has become the source, not of healing but addiction.

The very first thing that Hezekiah did, when he took office, was open the temple in Jerusalem back up for worship. GOOD FOR HIM!!!

More to come...

One thing I hadn't realized before is that the king of Assyria commanded one of the Hebrew priests to teach God's law to the non-Jewish people that he brought into the land. What a remarkable outcome and grace, though wasted: for those people to that day "feared the LORD but also served their own gods" or, in other words, "They do not fear the LORD..." For them too, sin took them so far as to burn their children in the fire for another god. Fast forward hundreds of years, did these become the Samaritans in Jesus' day? Those whom inspired the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:33), the discussion about Mount Gerizim (John 4:9), the reminder that Jesus came to save lives not destroy (Luke 9:55) and who received the Holy Spirit in Acts 8:14-17? In our own day, we sometimes hear of a small Samaritan religious community in Israel.

It was revealed to me during my review of ii Kings 17: 24 the following:

This poor and unciviclized remnant was left, chiefly however of the poor and lower classes, with whom these foreign colonists mingled; so that the prevailing character of society about Samaria was heathen, not Israelite. For the Assyrian colonists became masters of the land; and, forming partial intermarriages with the remnant Jews, the inhabitants became a mongrel race, no longer a people of Ephraim (Isa 7:6). These people, imperfectly instructed in the creed of the Jews, acquired also a mongrel doctrine. Being too few to replenish the land, lions, by which the land had been infested (Jud 14:5; 1Sa 17:34; 1Ki 13:24; 20:36; So 4:8), multiplied and committed frequent ravages upon them. Recognizing in these attacks a judgment from the God of the land, whom they had not worshipped, they petitioned the Assyrian court to send them some Jewish priests who might instruct them in the right way of serving Him. The king, in compliance with their request, sent them one of the exiled priests of Israel [2Ki 17:27], who established his headquarters at Beth-el, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. It is not said that he took a copy of the Pentateuch with him, out of which he might teach them. Oral teaching was much better fitted for the superstitious people than instruction out of a written book. He could teach them more effectually by word of mouth. Believing that he would adopt the best and simplest method for them, it is unlikely that he took the written law with him, and so gave origin to the Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch [Davidson, Criticism]. Besides, it is evident from his being one of the exiled priests, and from his settlement at Beth-el, that he was not a Levite, but one of the calf-worshipping priests. Consequently his instructions would be neither sound nor efficient.

Also,

These settlers were, after a short time, incommoded by lions, which increased upon them, and diminished their numbers (ver. 25). The idea arose that the visitation was supernatural, and might be traced to the fact that the newcomers, not knowing "the manner of the God of the land," displeased him by the neglect of his rites or by the introduction of alien worship (ver. 26). A remedy for this was sought in the sending to them from Assyria one of the priests who had been carried off, from whom it was thought they might learn how "the God of the land" was to be propitiated. This was the orion of the "mixed religion" which grew up in the country. While the nations who had replaced the Israelites brought in their own superstitions, and severally worshipped their own gods (vers. 30, 31), there was a general acknowledgment of Jehovah by all of them, and a continuance of Jehovistic worship in the various high places. Perhaps to develop a more civilized, productive and highly adaptable culture, as would be more likely the evolutionary blessing of having one's nature fashioned by the teachings of the one true and wise God Jehovah, as opposed to the Cave-man nature often produced by humans who evolutionary potential is stunted by inadequate pagan superstition. Like the paralyzing belief they attributed to the attack of the lions?!?
Edit

Sannacherib's high crime was in mocking God (Isa 37:4,23). But what is interesting is he sometimes seems to claim to speak for God, causing doubt and confusion about whether Hezekiah really is the good guy here. Compare to Satan in Gen 3:5."

*MY RESPONSE:

Listen...I found out what Sennacherib's name means: "BRAMBLE OF DESTRUCTION"

Sin (the god) sends many brothers, son of Sargon, whom he succeeded on the throne of Assyria (B.C. 705), in the 23rd year of Hezekiah. "Like the Persian Xerxes, he was weak and vainglorious, cowardly under reverse, and cruel and boastful in success."

MY QUERY:

"I wonder what's going on in 2 Kings 18:14-16. But maybe it was brief because if you look at 2 Chr 32 shortly after, Hezekiah seems far stronger, stopping his own water and "encouraging" his people to be "strong and courageous." When a bully comes, I think we try to find a peaceful way around it until we figure out that normal rules don't apply."

*MY RESPONSE:

This "Bramble of Destruction" first set himself to break up the powerful combination of princes who were in league against him. Among these was Hezekiah, who had entered into an alliance with Egypt against Assyria. He accordingly led a very powerful army of at least 200,000 men into Judea, and devastated the land on every side, taking and destroying many cities ( 2 Kings 18:13-16 ; See Isaiah later 2 Chronicles 32:1-8 ).

His own account of this invasion, as given in the Assyrian annals, is in these words:

"Because Hezekiah, king of Judah, would not submit to my yoke, I came up against him, and by force of arms and by the might of my power I took forty-six of his strong fenced cities; and of the smaller towns which were scattered about, I took and plundered a countless number. From these places I took and carried off 200,156 persons, old and young, male and female, together with horses and mules, asses and camels, oxen and sheep, a countless multitude; and Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jerusalem, his capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers round the city to hem him in, and raising banks of earth against the gates, so as to prevent escape...Then upon Hezekiah there fell the fear of the power of my arms, and he sent out to me the chiefs and the elders of Jerusalem with 30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver, and divers treasures, a rich and immense booty...All these things were brought to me at Nineveh, the seat of my government."

(Compare Isaiah 22:1-13 for description of the feelings of the inhabitants of Jerusalem at such a crisis.)

Hezekiah was not disposed to become an Assyrian feudatory. He accordingly at once sought help from Egypt ( 2 Kings 18:20-24 ).

Sennacherib, hearing of this, marched a second time into Palestine ( 2 Kings 18:17; 2 Kings 18: 37; 19 ; 2 Chr 32: 9-23; Isaiah 36:2-22 . Isaiah 37:25 should be rendered "dried up all the Nile-arms of Matsor," i.e., of Egypt, so called from the "Matsor" or great fortification across the isthmus of Suez, which protected it from invasions from the east).

Sennacherib sent envoys to try to persuade Hezekiah to surrender, but in vain. (See TIRHAKAH .)

He next sent a threatening letter ( 2 Kings 19:10-14 ), which Hezekiah carried into the temple and spread before the Lord.

MY FAVORITE ENDING to THIS HEART-STIRRING CHAPTER SUMMAY OF THIS PORTION OF HEZEKIAHS UNFIISHED HISTORY IN II KINGS 19 INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING EVENTS:

Isaiah again brought an encouraging message to the pious king ( 2 Kings 19:20-34 ).

"In that night" the angel of the Lord went forth and smote the camp of the Assyrians. In the morning, "behold, they were all dead corpses."

The Assyrian army was annihilated.

[This great disaster is not, as was to be expected, taken notice of in the Assyrian annals]

Though Sennacherib survived this disaster some twenty years, he never again renewed his attempt against Jerusalem.

He was murdered by two of his own sons (Adrammelech and Sharezer), and was succeeded by another son, Esarhaddon (B.C. 681), after a reign of twenty-four years.

INFACT, I CANNOT DO JUSTICE TO THE ACCOUNT OF HOW THE ONE TRUE LORD GOD JEHOVAH CONSOLED THE PRAYER OF KING HEZEKIAH
(II KINGS 19: 14-19) - (I MUST LEARN TO PRAY LIKE THAT), EMOWERED HIS PROPHETS WITH A DIVINE MESSAGE WHICH DUG UP THE ROOTS OF THAT ASSYRIAN BRAMBLE, Sennacherib...

Please bear with me as I ecstatically recount what absolutely rocked my world at the end of II KINGS 19. And I'd love to get the feedback of the saint whom have read this chapter.

MORE TO COME...

Love-in-Christ

The conclusion of II kiNGS recount the following historical events which reveal the personality and power of the God we serve:

FIRST REVELATION: SENNACHERIB: How to Kill, Clear and Control Bramble
(On a Sunny, not a Snowy Day, as the valiant Benaiah, son of Jehoiada did to the lion in I Chronicles 11: 22)

*NB* "Sennacherib's name means "Bramble of Destruction" and "Sin brings may brother"

What is Bramble?

Brambles are a real problem, especially in gardens that have been neglected, growing through shrubs, under hedges, between the cracks in broken concrete and brickwork. The speed bramble grows, combined with the painful thorns, mean gardens quickly become no good areas if it's not controlled.

Bramble shoots grow up to 8ft long, when the end of the shoots touch soil they root and send out more shoots quickly forming a dense thorny blackberry bush. (AS both OF HIS NAMES MPLY, YEAH?)

A single bramble shoot can soon become a bramble jungle and difficult to eradicate once established. If your garden is clear of Bramble, Keeping it clear by pulling and digging out young seedlings as soon as they appear, will save a lot of hard work later, isn't a easy way, and there isn't a new miracle shortcut but it can be done.

There are basically two ways to clear Bramble:

Using a systematic weed killer that kills the whole bush including the roots, especially useful when the bramble is growing up through cracks in concrete and brickwork.

Digging out the bramble roots. used in closely planted borders this method works for small areas and for organic gardeners.

SECOND REVELATION: GOD'S MESSAGE SENT BY HIS PROPHETS TO Sennacherib TO DIG OUT HIS ROOTS (II KINGS 19: 20 - 34)
(OH HOW THE LORD HAS A WAY WITH HIS WORD ESP. WHEN AS DRESSED DOWN, SLICED AND DICED THAT ASSYRIAN KIND WITH SHARP TWO EDGED SWORD OF HIS TONGUE DRIPPING WITH TRUTH)

It wasn?t long before Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah:

GOD'S WORD:

You?ve prayed to me regarding Sennacherib king of Assyria; I?ve heard your prayer.

This is my response to him:

The Virgin Daughter of Zion
holds you in utter contempt;
Daughter Jerusalem
thinks you?re nothing but scum.

22 Who do you think it is you?ve insulted?
Who do you think you?ve been bad-mouthing?
Before whom do you suppose you?ve been strutting?
The Holy One of Israel, that?s who!

23 You dispatched your errand boys
to humiliate the Master.
You bragged, ?With my army of chariots
I?ve climbed the highest mountains,
snow-peaked alpine Lebanon mountains!
I?ve cut down its giant cedars,
chopped down its prize pine trees.
I?ve traveled the world,
visited the finest forest retreats.

24 I?ve dug wells in faraway places
and drunk their exotic waters;
I?ve waded and splashed barefoot
in the rivers of Egypt.?

25 Did it never occur to you
that I?m behind all this?
Long, long ago I drew up the plans,
and now I?ve gone into action,
Using you as a doomsday weapon,
reducing proud cities to piles of rubble,

26 Leaving their people dispirited,
slumped shoulders, limp souls.
Useless as weeds, fragile as grass,
insubstantial as wind-blown chaff.

27 I know when you sit down, when you come
and when you go;
And, yes, I?ve marked every one
of your temper tantrums against me.

28 It?s because of your temper,
your blasphemous foul temper,
That I?m putting my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth
And turning you back
to where you came from.

29 And this, Hezekiah, will be for you the confirming sign:

This year you?ll eat the gleanings, next year
whatever you can beg, borrow, or steal;
But the third year you?ll sow and harvest,
plant vineyards and eat grapes.

30 A remnant of the family of Judah yet again
will sink down roots and raise up fruit.

31 The remnant will come from Jerusalem,
the survivors from Mount Zion.
The Zeal of God
will make it happen.

32 To sum up, this is what God says regarding the king of Assyria:

He won?t enter this city,
nor shoot so much as a single arrow there;
Won?t brandish a shield,
won?t even begin to set siege;

33 He?ll go home by the same road he came;
he won?t enter this city. God?s word!

34 I?ll shield this city, I?ll save this city,
for my sake and for David?s sake.

I'M still SWOONING OVER THESE VERSES!!!

THEN, GOD USES HIS DIVINE GREEN THUMB TO SYSTEMATICALLY DESTROY THIS STUBBORN "BRAMBLE OF DESTRUCTION" FROM THE GARDEN OF JUDAH at the conclusion of II KINGS 19: 35-37, which also happens to be the conclusion of Sennacherib's life on this planet:

35 And it so happened that that very night an angel of God came and massacred 185,000 Assyrians. When the people of Jerusalem got up next morning, there it was?a whole camp of corpses!

36-37 Sennacherib king of Assyria got out of there fast, headed straight home for Nineveh, and stayed put. One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer murdered him and then escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon became the next king.

This is Scripture SUPERBOWL!!! Saints!!!

My how protected we are from evil when we worship and abide in the Lord and place His Dominion on the Throne of the human will. As Hezekiah did. THis is why I want a King's heart like Hezekiah.

Can I just make One more reflective declaration about both I AND II kings AS A chronology:

The thing that makes these books perennially fascinating to us me that this kingdom in Israel is a picture to each of us of the kingdom in our own lives. The nation of Israel was picked out particularly from the nations to be a representative of the individual human life. God chose Israel. Israel did not come into the position of prominence and favor in God's sight by their own efforts. God chose them. He formed them and molded them and produced a nation that would be a sample to all the world of what God is willing to do in any individual's life. As I read these books, I find myself right in the midst of the problems and blessings and possibilities that are reflected in these books of the kings.

*THE DIVISION of THE NORTHERN and SOUTHERN KINGDOMS? WHY?

The Word Reveals what I maintain to be the metaphysical and spiritual application of this division (as it applies to us, right now, saints):

From the beginning there were always two divisions in the monarchy. Even under David this was true. When David first came to the throne, he was king only of Judah for seven years. It was not until after that seven-year reign that he became king over both divisions of the nation. This division between the ten tribes in the north and the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the south where Jerusalem was located, existed right from the very start.

Now it was intended to be this way, but they were all to be under one king. They represent the divisions in the human life.

Everyone knows that there are two evident divisions of human life.

First of all, there is the body of which we are so aware. We take it around with us. We spend our time taking care of it, primping it, dressing it up, painting it, unpainting it, and doing all the things necessary to keep it looking good. Unfortunately most of life seems to be spent in taking care of the body.

But of course there is more than a body to each man.

There is also the soul, the invisible part that contains the personality, and is so obviously gone when we look at the emptiness of a corpse and the terrible tragedy of death.

Here in the two kingdoms this division of life is acted out.

The ten tribes of the north are representative of the body, while Judah and Benjamin, the two tribes of the south, represent the soul.

It was in the southern kingdom that the capital city of Jerusalem was located, and the temple was in Jerusalem, and God dwelt in the temple.

We know from the scriptures that in the human life there is not only a body and soul, but within the soul -- so closely linked to it that only the word of God can divide between the soul and the spirit -- is this dwelling place of God. It is there that the Holy Spirit takes up his residence when he comes into the human heart.

When this happens, man is as God intended man to be. Without the Holy Spirit dwelling in the human spirit, man is only an incomplete example of what he is supposed to be. But when God the Holy Spirit comes in, he takes up his residence in the human spirit, the temple of the body.

In the New Testament, this figure is drawn for us as we are told that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians. 6:19). If we permit the Spirit of God to dwell within our human spirit he governs our soul, thereby adjusting and controlling the body and the outward life.

What do y'all think?

We can thank God if He provided us anything small we can offer.

In the body of Christ there are many members. Even the thief on the cross, Balaam's donkey, or the inanimate "stones that would cry out," could offer good words.

Pride almost led to Hezekiah's downfall. Some of Jesus' harshest words were against the pharisees and greatest words were for the most flawed Luke 7:47. So, I had wondered if Hezekiah made no mistake asking his life to be extended, 2 Chr 33:13.

I do love the manna. I crave it constantly.When I depart from the Word of God, the hunger pangs are unbearable!!!!!

So now, we have this King "Josiah" - Valiant, indeed....fearlessly destroyed all of the pagan worship shrines...Impressive, indeed.

Yet, I can more identify with King Hezekiah.....his weaknesses....his abject fear with brought him to his knees before God...his insecurities which led him to seek the council and comfort of the prophet (Isaiah)....ALL IN SPITE OF POSSESSING THE DOMINION OF BEING A KING!!!

A REAL KING IS NOT SO MUCH THE ONE WHO CAN FEARLESS DESTROY PAGAN TEMPLES AS JOSIAH DID

A REAL KING IS PERPETUALLY ON HIS KNEES BEFORE THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE GOD, FORFEITING HIS MAJESTY AND DOMINION AKIN TO THE WEIGHT OF HEAVY ARMOR - SO THAT GOD REACH INTO THE KING'S INNER MAN AND REVEAL TO HIM THAT HIS KINGSHIP IS ROOTED IN SERVITUDE TO THE DOMINION OF GOD ALMIGHTY.

HEZEKIAH DISPLAYED AN AUTHENTICALLY HUMAN RESPONSE TO KINGSHIP - I'LL TAKE HIM OVER JOSIAH, ANY DAY.
Edit

Sister enjoyed reading your posts. Time does not allow me to respond to all of them. But praise God he is ministering to you as you listen to his word.

I think I mentioned on your other thread that I am listening to the Old Testament in the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Just finished 1st Samuel and now into 2nd Samuel. Delighting in the stories of how God uses David to fulfill his kingdom purposes in Israel. Ultimately of course to bring to us the Lord Jesus Christ.

I look forward to listening to the section about Hezekiah in another day or two. Since I'm listening to the Old Testament in a more contemporary translation. It becomes more riveting.

Look forward to reading more of your posts.

May God continue to bless you as you listen to his word.

Your brother in Christ.

Ohhh WOW, You are in for a treat.

I loved "Hannah's Song/Prayer in I Samuel 2!
And how she was so faithful and thankful to God, that after he gave her that precious baby boy: I Samuel 24-28

"24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull,[e] an ephah[f] of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, "Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

Hannah even made baby Samuel a little tike priestly robe.

"And his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice." (I Samuel 2:19

The "little robe” provided by Hannah is probably an outer garment of some sort to be worn over the linen priestly ephod [I Samuel 2:19]. In both the Bible and the ancient Near East generally, special garments often carried symbolic significance or marked the wearer as holding a particular office or status. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel.

Hannah leaves Samuel in the care of Eli, the priest (I Samuel 1:24-28). Though she is not a daily part of her firstborn son’s life, she does visit him. Most English translations convey annual pilgrimages in conjunction with sacrifice: "each year” (ESV, NLT, NRSV, RSV), "annual” (HCSB, MSG, NIV), "year to year” (ASV, KJV, NASB), "year by year” (NKJV), "every year” (CEV). The Hebrew, however, is not this explicit.

From the earliest days of his youth to his resurrection in I Samuel 28:11-20, Samuel wears a robe representing the royalty that was wrapped around Israel during the course of the story. When Samuel first started ministering to the LORD at Shiloh, his mother Hannah began a practice of making a small robe, which she would take him each year when she went up to Shiloh
(I Samuel 2:19).

That young, berobed Samuel is now an old man and dead, and the robe has become a shroud [I Samuel 28:14]. During his career, Samuel’s robe was torn by Saul
(I Samuel 15:27), an action Samuel interprets as the tearing away of the kingdom from Saul.

Jonathan's robe played a simila role when he slipped it off to hand over to David (I Samuel 18:4), again signifying the transfer of royal power, the kingdom, from Saul’s house to David’s. Then David himself cut off the end of Saul’s robe in I Samuel 24:5, presenting Saul and the reader with a cleaner, more clearcut image of the seizing of kingship. When Saul had seized Samuel’s robe, the kingdom was torn from Saul’s grasp; when David cut Saul’s robe, it was delivered up into his hands. This robe of royalty appears one final time in I Samuel, now wrapped around a dead person. In line with the conjoined character zones of Samuel and Saul throughout the story, Samuel is clothed in a dead man’s robe as he foretells the imminent death of Saul and his sons. The robe as shroud enfolds Saul’s death and well as Samuel’s.

I completed I and II Samuel when I was jail/

My life was in those two books. I could identify with Jonathan (If I were a male) and identified intimately with
Hannah.

Thank you for the translation tip.

I usually prefer "The Message" translation by Eugene Peterson

But I uploaded the audio Holman Bible per your suggestion.

Thank You...

With Calvary's Love,

kyp2204

I am copying the comments from the other thread to this one and deleting the duplicate OP in the other thread:

appolus
Member

Joined: 2004/5/16
Posts: 729

Re: ANY KINGS OUT THERE???\t75.87.171.149 Reply To This Post | Edit | Delete
Dear sister, I read every word and it was beautifully written and the over-arching sentiment is something that transformed my world many years ago, seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. That scripture is a lovers call not a burdensome command. It calls us and wooes us, it beckons us come like the lover in the night in the song of Solomon.

And of course the question will always be " shall we come?" Shall we walk with Him in the cool of the day. Shall our hearts meet with His heart and shall we feel it burn within us? There are many distractions in this world, so many. Yet the key seems to be to rise up above them. And we can rise up, we have been given wings that we can spread out to catch the updrafts of His presence. He bids us come yet it is His very presence that carries upwards, that carries us to the throne room itself. It is there, there before the beauty of Holiness that we are changed. There before His glorious majesty that we are transformed. There before His resplendent glory that we are sanctified. It s there where all is right with the world. There where all things are possible. Right there where very soon millions upon millions of saints from every tribe and every tongue and every nation shall cry out with all that is in them " Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy is our God who sits upon the throne, who is and was and always shall be." And all around like a vast field of wheat, the saints sway as one as the wind of the Holy Spirit moves then in unison. All of this saints, waiting right now. Will you come today?..............bro Frank

_________________
Frank

2016/8/29 6:27\tProfile
jeffmar1130
Member

Joined: 2013/9/11
Posts: 1181

Re:\t166.137.8.26 Reply To This Post | Edit | Delete
Truly beautiful stuff. In God's Sovereignty, when I picked up a Bible as a lost & desperate sinner in a jail cell facing 20 years for Organized Crime, what did I read first? Yep..1 & 2 Kings. Then Proverbs. Then the Gospels, and then I cried out, surrendered & was born again (& then finished the NT, & then read through the entire OT, & then back through it all again - what a blessing that time was though it was painful). I Didn't know it then, but there was a reason for that specific reading path that established what I needed to see and hear. Good stuff! Ok, I'll go back in my hidey hole. 😊
God Bless,
Jeff

_________________
Jeff Marshall

2016/8/29 13:21\tProfile
kyp2204
Member

Joined: 2016/8/28
Posts: 25
Virginia

Re: I'm crying...\t100.4.9.25 Reply To This Post | Edit | Delete
Your post brought tears...to my eyes...

Oh, God...there really is a Body of Christ on earth...in the midst of all this "worldly" distraction...I can still access Christ via and in fellowship with his saints!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's why I'm here at "SermonIndex"...I'm so desperately seeking to join and abide in The Body until He comes...

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Katina

2016/8/29 14:35\tProfile
kyp2204
Member

Joined: 2016/8/28
Posts: 25
Virginia

Re: God's Imprisoned Kings\t100.4.9.25 Reply To This Post | Edit | Delete
Greetings Brother Jeffmar

What I have learned (or rather, the Spirit revealed in mY CURRENT intimate study of I and II Kings) the following:

The book of 1 / 2 Kings holds the secret of success in reigning over the kingdom of your life. It is the secret of learning to be submissive to the authority and dominion of God in your own life. In other words, man can never exercise dominion over his life unless he first subjects himself to the dominion of God. If you yield to God's dominion, you are given reign over the areas in your own life.

I want to do this very thing. I desire it more than anything. And I am perpetually frustrated because I have not yet placed God's Dominion on the throne of my own "free" will.

I have learned by painful means (and am still struggling with this, right now as I type) that, if you refuse the dominion of God in your own life, you cannot under any circumstances or by any means fulfill your desire to be in authority over your life. It is impossible!

This is what I and II Kings is teaching me. That is why all through this book you will find that the spotlight is on the throne. It is the king that is the important one -- for as the king goes, so goes the nation. In your life your will is king. What your will allows to enter in to control your life, determines how the kingdom of your life goes.

Yet, I am sooooo looking forward to diving into the I and II Chronicles, as it is God's version of this regal history. I love how God makes several references and assurances all throughout I and II Kings that the gaps will be filled in the "Chronicles". I am looking forward to it.

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Katina

2016/8/29 21:42\tProfile
kyp2204
Member

Joined: 2016/8/28
Posts: 25
Virginia

Re: HALLELUIAH!\t100.4.9.25 Reply To This Post | Edit | Delete
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY

IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY,

WHO WAS

AND IS

AND IS TO COME!!!

I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!! Forever and ever and ever we will sing and worship His Holiness in a splendid everlasting chorus. Day and night we will sing these words...about Him and His divine nature.

I want to do it RIGHT NOW!!! Even it means forfeiting everything I have acquired in this world...family...wealth...occupation...whatever...

It all can become a vapor trail in the sky in exchange for adjoining my voice in this blessed and everlasting chorus...

I wa

_________________
Katina