In today's section, we read about:
The end of the northern kingdom, deported to Assyria, and Samaria resettled by foreign and alien tribes
The good kings Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah
The very bad king Manasseh
The capture and despoilment of Jerusalem and the temple by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar
Some thoughts which occurred to me:
I'm confused - 15:30 talks about the 20th year of Jotham's reign, yet 15:33, it says he reigned for 15 years. I guess it is because the first one is also counting the regency period when his father had leprosy.
17:7 makes clear the reason for Israel's suffering - the result of their turning away from God, and His judgment
Compare Ps 8:5 with 2 Ki 17:15 " They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves."
These "foreign settlers" (17:25) are presumably the forefathers of the Samaritans, who were despised by the Jews at the time of Jesus.
17:27 - the king of Assyria understands the importance of following God, even if Israel doesn't (Deut 32:21; 1 Sam 14:14). The people there worshipped God, but also kept their own customs, leading presumably to some form of syncretism
18:5-6 is a great testimonial - " Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord had given Moses."
Reading ch 18 and the speech of the Assyrian chief of staff, it occurred to me that his taunting could seem plausible and even resemble superficially something that could have come from God. Eg, v32 says "Choose life instead of death!"(cf Deut 30:19) Hezekiah's instinctive response is the key - 19:1, he went and prayed
The comparison between 18:25 and 19:21-28 is pretty striking!
If there was noone like Hezekiah before or since, does he really need a sign (20:8)? I wonder if there was irony in Isaiah's reply in 20:9, "and just how high would like me to jump, sir?"
20:19 is a pretty sorry end, coming on top of his folly in showing all his treasures to the Babylonians
After Hezekiah in 18:5-6, we get the other extreme in Manasseh (21:11)
Josiah is incredible in his assiduity in removing all the altars, which is described in enormous detail in ch 23. I had forgotten the prophecy in 1 Ki 13:2, but no word from God is forgotten or wasted!
In Josiah, you get a picture of the type of result God had in mind when instructing the king to read the law every day, and to instruct the whole nation every 7 years (Deut 17:18).
Destruction comes as a result of sins, but even in the darkest situation there is some mercy (25:27-29)
Question from Miriam (to which I do not know the answer) - what happened to the Ark of the Covenant, when the temple was destroyed. This is what wikipedia says ' When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and plundered the temple, the Ark entered the domain of legend. Many historians suppose that the ark was probably taken away by Nebuchadnezzar and destroyed. The absence of the ark from the Second Temple was acknowledged. The Ark is finally re-established to the Temple in vision: "Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the Ark of his Covenant" (Rev. 11:19 NIV).'
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