Acts 10:1-48

MS_ClipArt_Gallery.2 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 2 Kings 10-11
Tape #7116
II Kings 10-11
By Chuck Smith
Shall we turn now in our Bibles to II Kings, chapter ten. As we progress in the second book of the Kings, we see also the progression of the deterioration that will ultimately destroy both the northern and the southern kingdom. The events that we look at in the northern kingdom are sort of gross. Especially in the light of our current society and age. Ahab with his wife Jezebel, had brought into the northern kingdom of Israel, the worship of Baal, and made it the national religion of Israel. Elijah the prophet, if you’ll remember in I Kings, chapter twenty one, pronounced upon Ahab, the judgement of God for his sin. He declared that there would not be any left of Ahab’s posterity, that God would cut it off completely, and that it would be like the house of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel that God cut off completely. No descendants. Now the vessel or the instrument that God chose to bring His judgement, was this man by the name of Jehu, and he has begun the execution of the descendants of Ahab. He killed his son, who was reigning on the throne. He has not yet completely established his position as king, but he is moving in that direction, as he is being used of God to fulfill the prophecy, of the cutting off of the descendants of Ahab. God pronounces judgement. But it should be noted that God, in accomplishing His work, uses human instruments. God could act apart from human instrumentality. But He has chosen to use humans for the accomplishing of His purposes. He announced His purpose through Elijah. Now He is using Jehu as His instrument of judgement, to fulfill this judgement against the house of Ahab, for the exceeding wickedness, and the evil that they brought upon the nation of Israel. So we come to chapter ten, and we read that.
Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. [Now this is a Hebrew term that refers to sons, and grandsons, and it’s just not that he had seventy sons of his own, but this goes on down the line a ways, and refers to grandsons also. So he had these seventy descendants. Sons of Ahab, who in a line could be open to become the king, because of their relationship to Ahab.] And Jehu wrote letters, and sent them to Samaria, unto the governors of Jezreel, and to the elders, and to those who were in charge of bringing up [these descendants of Ahab] Ahab’s children, and he said, As soon as this letter comes to you, seeing that your master’s sons are with you, and you have chariots, and you have horses, and you have a fenced [or a walled] city also, and you have armor; Look out among the best and the fittest of your master’s sons, and set him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house (10:1-3). So Jehu is now challenging the men of Samaria, who are taking care of the children of Ahab. And he said, “Look among these sons, find the most able, and fittest of them all. Put him on the throne, in as much as you have chariots, and you have horses, you have armor, you have a walled city, go ahead, set him on the throne, and then we’ll come, and we’ll face off with you”. But they were exceedingly afraid, and they said, [“Hey this fellow has destroyed two kings already!”] two kings could not stand before him: how then can we stand? And the one that was governor over the house, and the one that was over the city, and the elders also, and those that brought up the children, sent to Jehu, and they said, We are your servants, we will do whatever you bid us; we will not make any king: you do that which is good in your eyes (10:4-5). Rather than trying to fight against Jehu, realizing that he was a captain of Israel, his exploits were well know, he had already destroyed two kings, they feared if they should raise up an army against him, it would only be to their own damage and hurt. So they sent back really, letters of capitulation. “We are your servants. We’ll do whatever you want us to do. We’re not gonna try to set up any king. We’re not going to try to fight against you.” So he wrote the second letter, and this one said, If you are mine, and if you will hearken unto my voice, then take the heads of the men your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel by tomorrow this time. Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up. And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king’s sons, and killed the seventy persons, put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jezreel (10:6-7). So sort of a bloody execution, beheading the seventy sons of Ahab. But in so doing, they fulfilled the prophecy of judgement, against the house of Ahab, given by Elijah the prophet.
And so there came a messenger, and told Jehu, that they had brought the heads of the king’s sons. [This was of course to us it’s an extremely gory thing, and we have a hard time dealing with it. But in those days, it was sort of a common practice of beheading people, and stacking the heads in piles. The purpose of it was to create fear, which I would imagine it would do! Shock, and fear, when you see such a sight.] And so he said, Set them in two piles, on either side of the gate of Jezreel. [It’s sort of a pronouncement is, “This is what will happen to you if you seek to defy the king”. “So lay them in two piles, or two heaps at the entering in of the gate,”] until morning. And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and he stood, and said to all the people, You are righteous judges: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these (10:8-9)? In other words, he of course ignores the fact that he sent the command to do it, but he is saying, “Look, I’m guilty, I conspired and killed my master, but you are in this thing equally, because you are the ones who killed these men”.
And he said, Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab: for the Lord hath done that which he spake by his servant Elijah (10:10). Now it just so happened that Jehu was with king Ahab, when the Lord sent Elijah to meet him, and prophesied this wiping out of Ahab’s descendants. You can turn back to I Kings, chapter twenty one, and uh,, it was at the time, you remember that Ahab uh,, was coveting the vineyard of Naboth, and here’s this king sitting around sullen, sulking, won’t eat, and he’s just, he’s just sulking. And his wife says, “What’s wrong with you?”. He says, “I want Naboth’s field, he won’t sell it to me”. She said, “Is that your problem? Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it”. So, she hired some wicked fellows to bear false witness against Naboth, and um, they had the people stone Naboth, so Ahab, she just came home and said, “Hey the field is yours. Go take it”. So he had come to the field of Naboth, this field that he was coveting, and as he was in this vineyard, Elijah came to him. It was at this time that Elijah made this prediction. Ahab said to Elijah, verse twenty, “Have you found me O my enemy?”, and he answered, “I have found you, because you’ve sold yourself to work evil in the sight of the Lord, and thus I’ll bring evil upon you and your posterity, and cut off all your descendants in Israel. I’ll make your house like the house of Jeroboam, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherein you have provoked the Lord to anger, and made Israel to sin”. And so, uh,, he spoke then also of Jezebel, how the dogs would eat Jezebel at the wall of Jezreel, and we read how this was fulfilled last week. So, at this point, Jehu acknowledges, “Hey, God’s word, every word is going to come to pass. Not a word of God is gonna fall, or not a word of God will fail”. You can be sure of this. God’s word is going to come to pass. It is interesting that in the book of Daniel, as he speaks of the things that will happen, he attests to the writings, and he said, “These things are faithful and true”. And in the book of Revelation, as again it speaks of the future, again it affirms how these things are true. When God swears to the truth of the things that He has declared, hey you can be sure they’re going to come to pass. “These are the true and faithful sayings of the Lord.” So he recognizes, “Hey, God’s word is being fulfilled before your eyes, and not word of God is gonna fall to the ground. Everything shall come to pass, as God said”. Here is the silent, gory testimony to the truth of the prophecy that was made by Elijah. These piles of heads outside of the city of Jezreel.
So Jehu [verse eleven] slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all of his great men, and his kinfolk, and his priests, until he left him nothing remaining (10:11). All of those that uh, ruled with Ahab. All of those that had anything to do with him, were executed by And he arose then and came to the capital, to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing house [And uh, it is a city, called Beth Eked, and just where Beth Eked is, we don’t know. It was somewhere between Jezreel, Edited & Highlighted from “The Word For Today” Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7116 and Samaria, and it is one of those biblical cities that have not yet been identified. In many of those mounds, or Tel over in Israel, that have not as yet been excavated. But somewhere between Jezreel and Samaria, one of those Tel along the road that you can see, one day when they get around to excavating it, they’ll find out that it was Beth Eked. That means Beth is the house of shearing, so Beth Eked, the city. That’s what it is literally, in Hebrew. The translators just translated it into English, the shearing house. But, it is literally the house of shearing, Beth Eked. “And so he came to Beth Eked”. “And,”] Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah the king of Judah, [Now, Jehu had already killed Ahaziah, the king of Judah, who had come up to visit his family members. He was related to the northern kingdom. He was related to Ahab, actually the son-in-law of Ahab. And he was up visiting his uh,, family when Jehu had him killed also. He died of course you remember, in Megiddo. And so, there came these brethren, these relatives of Ahaziah,] and Jehu said, Who are you? And they answered, We are the brothers of Ahaziah; and we’re going to greet the children of the king and the children of the queen (10:12-13). Now it’s interesting these guys got far, this far in the land, and had not heard of the revolution, they had not heard that Jehu had taken over. They had not yet heard of the death, of uh, the uh,, king and all. So they’re coming up to visit.
And so he said to his men, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and they slew them at the pit of Beth Eked, even forty two men; and neither did he leave any of them alive. And when he was departed from there, he met [this fellow] Jehonadab who was the son of Rechab who was coming to meet him: and he greeted him, and he said to him, Is your heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. And he said, If it be, give me your hand. And he gave him his hand; and took him up into his chariot (10:14-15). Now this Jehonadab is an interesting fellow. The son of Rechab, that means that he was of the tribe of the Kenites, who were sort of a Bedouin type of people. They were a nomadic people that inhabited the area of the Negev and south. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, was a Kenite. They were an interesting people, Bedouins, living in tents. They were friendly to Israel, and thus were given a place within Israel, to live. The thirty fifth chapter of Jeremiah, deals with this fellow, Jehonadab, or with his descendants, at least. These men, descendants of Jehonadab, did not drink wine. In fact, turn to Jeremiah thirty five. It is a short chapter, and it uh,, it’s interesting, in that this whole thing pops up again. The name Jehonadab, who is he? You know, where did he come from, and all. “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah the king of Judah, saying, Go unto the house of the Rechabites, speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of (this other character) and his brethren, (Habaziniah, if you want it, but) and all of his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; And I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chambers of the sons of Hanan, and the son of Igdaliah, and the man of God, which was by the chamber of princes, (and so forth). And I set them pots full of wine, and cups, and I said, Drink ye wine. And they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever: Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyards, nor have any: but all your days you will dwell in tents;” And so, the Bedouins today, do not drink wine, they do not live in houses. In fact, the Israeli government, is trying to sort of help these people stabilize. They had a housing project down near Beersheba that they built for these Bedouins. Built them lovely houses there in the desert. The Bedouins pitched their tents outside of the houses, and used the houses for their sheep and their animals. An interesting cultural group. An interesting cultural group to study. To the present day, they do not drink wine, because Jonadab said, “Don’t drink wine”, ha, ha! “As long as you live, don’t drink wine.” And so, following the counsel of Jonadab, to the present day, this uh, group of people do not drink wine. So here is Jehonadab, this one who gave the commandment to his sons, not to drink wine. He is meeting Jehu, and Jehu invites him up into the chariot, and invites him to come, and to see his zeal for the Lord. And he said, Come with me, [verse sixteen] see my zeal for the Lord. So they had him ride together in the chariot with Jehu. And when he came to Samaria, he killed all that remained of Ahab’s posterity in Samaria, Edited & Highlighted from “The Word For Today” Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7116 till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of Jehovah, which he spake to Elijah. And Jehu gathered all of the people together, and said unto them, Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much (10:16-17). If you just stop there, you think, “Oh you fool. Don’t you realize that was Ahab’s problem!”, but it was a subtle way, by which Jehu planned to exterminate once, and completely the worship of Baal out of Israel. He said, “I’m gonna serve him much”.
Call unto me all of the prophets of Baal, all of his servants, all of his priests; don’t let any of them be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice to do unto Baal; [He sure does! Ha, ha!] and whosoever shall not come, will not live. [In other words, if they don’t show up, they will die.] But Jehu did it subtly to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. And Jehu said, Proclaim a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it. [A feast day.] And Jehu sent through all of Israel: and all of the worshippers of Baal came, and so there was not a man left that came not. And they came into the house of Baal; and the house of Baal was full from one end to the other. And he said unto him that was over the vestry, bring forth the vestments (10:19-22). Now they wore certain types of uh, aprons, or linen robes, white robes when they worshiped Baal, and uh,, it’s sort of like these Hairy Krishnas. You know, “Put their robes on them. That was so that we’ll know which ones are which, you know”. And, so uh,, “Put on their vestments”. And so Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal, and he said unto the worshippers of Baal, Search, and see that there be here with you none of the servants of Jehovah, [“Look around. If there are any servants of Jehovah, get em out! Make sure that there’s only worshippers of Baal here.”] And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, and Jehu appointed eighty men outside, and said, If any of the men whom I have brought into your hands escapes, he that lets him go, his life shall be for the life of him (10:23-24). In other words, “If one of these guys escapes out of here, it’s gonna be your life for his”. And so it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said unto the guard, and to the captains, Now go in, and kill them; don’t let any come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal. And they brought forth the images out of the house of Baal, they burned them. They broke down the image of Baal, they broke down the house of Baal, they made it a draught house unto this day. [Or a house of dung.] Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel (10:25-28). You think, “Alright, finally we’ve got a king, you know, that’s on the ball, as far as getting rid of all of the false worship, and the false gods. But unfortunately, though he was very zealous in the extermination of Baal, his heart really wasn’t turned towards Jehovah.
And howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam [The first king of Israel.] the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, he allowed the golden calves still in Bethel, and those that were in Dan. [And so the people were still worshiping these golden calves. Thus it was a, it was a partial spiritual reform, but unfortunately not a complete spiritual reform.] So Jehovah said unto Jehu, [Probably through Elisha] Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and you have done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your children to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel (10:29-30). So he’s promised now that his descendants to the fourth generation, shall reign. But Jehu [unfortunately] took no heed to walk in the law of Jehovah God of Israel with all of his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. [So it was more politic than spiritual with him.] In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: for Hazael began to smite them in all of their borders; And from Jordan eastward, [The] all of the land of Gilead, where the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the [tribe of] half tribe of Manassah dwelled, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even in Gilead and Bashan (10:31-33). He began to take the area on the east side of the Jordan river. Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, all that he did, all of his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehu slept with his fathers: and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty Edited & Highlighted from “The Word For Today” Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7116 So, he had a fairly long reign, according to the reigns of the kings in those days.
Now, shift gears. We go from the northern kingdom of Israel, we come down to the southern kingdom of Judah. We come again to Athaliah, who was the daughter of Ahab, and Jezebel. Through marriage there was a uniting, really of the northern and the southern kingdom.
And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah [Ahaziah was killed by Jehu, when he had come up to visit. “When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah,”] saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all of the royal seed (11:1). She was going to seek now to establish herself as queen over the land, and knew that to do so, she had to get rid of all of the royal seed. So here this murderous woman, killed even her own children, and her grandchildren. The sons, or the boys that might be heirs to the throne.
But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain; [So this half-sister of Ahaziah. Ahaziah was the son of Athaliah, and Joram. His half-sister had another mother. Another wife of Joram. So she was a half-sister to Ahaziah. Thus a step-daughter to Athaliah.] And she took this little baby boy, [The son of uh,,] and she stole him, [Joash he was the son of Ahaziah, the king that was killed. “And she stole him”,] from among the king’s sons; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah [The word bedchamber in Hebrew, is literally the mattress chamber, a room perhaps where they kept mattresses.] so that he was not slain. And she hid him in the house of the Lord for six years. And Athaliah [during this period of time] was reigning over the land. Now in the seventh year Jehoiada sent for all of the rulers over the hundreds, and with the captains and the guard, and he brought them into the house of the Lord, and he made a covenant with them, and took an oath from them in the house of the Lord, and then he showed to them the king’s sons (11:2-4). They were, no doubt unhappy with the reign of Athaliah, but not much they could do about it. They figured that all of the descendants were dead. Now, here’s an interesting thing, it is another one of those attempts of Satan, to wipe out the descendants of David, so that the promise of the Messiah could not be fulfilled. You see, if Josiah was slain, leaving no descendants of David, then how could the Messiah be the seed of David? So it is one of those cases again, where Satan was trying to thwart the plan of God, trying to destroy, or keep the Messiah from coming. So he took an oath from these guys, he said, “Hey there is a descendant of David, he’s a little boy. I want you to sware that you’ll give allegiance to him”. And, so he showed to them the king’s son.
And then he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you that enter in on the sabbath shall be the keepers of the watch over the king’s house; [“Now, you watch the palace, a third part of you guys.”] A third part of you shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: and so shall you keep watch of the house, that it be not broken down. And two parts of all of you that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of Jehovah about the king (11:5-7). So, “We’re gonna set things up, and we’ll set the guards, and we’ll set the ranks.”And you shall encircle the king, surround him, every man with his weapon in his hand: and if anybody tries to break through the ranks, let him be slain: and you be with the king as he goes out and he comes in. And the captains over the hundreds did according to all of the things that Jehoiada the priest commanded them: and they took every man his men that were come in on the sabbath, with them that they should go out on the sabbath, and they to Jehoiada the priest. And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David’s spears and shields, that were in the temple of the Lord. And the guard stood, every man with his weapon in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along the altar and the temple. And he brought forth the king’s son, [All was set up, all of the guards and all, standing around, and then he brings out this little seven year old boy, Joash.] and he put the crown upon him, and he gave him the testimony; [Or he made him swear you know, to the faithfulness unto Jehovah, to reign over the people.] and they made him king, and anointed him; and they began to clap their hands, and said, God save the king. So when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and the people, she came to the people in Edited & Highlighted from “The Word For Today” Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7116 the temple of the Lord. And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, and as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters were by the king, and all of the people of the land were rejoicing, and they blew with the trumpets: and Athaliah rent [or tore] her clothes, and she cried, Treason, Treason. But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, and the officers of the host, and he said unto them, Have her [Take her] forth out through the ranks: and him that follows her kill with the sword. [“If anyone tries to help her, or defend her, kill them with the sword.”] For the priest had said, let her not be slain in the house of the Lord (11:8-15). “Take her outside of the temple to kill her.”And they laid hands on her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king’s house: and there she was slain. And Jehoiada made a covenant between Jehovah, and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord’s people; between the king also and the people (11:16-17). So having set up this little boy, they now make the covenant that, “We are going to again be Jehovah’s people”. Now Athaliah, had taken and built a temple unto Baal, there in Jerusalem. But she took, and sort of sacked the temple of God, to build the temple of Baal. She sort of just took the materials from the one temple, to build the other. Thus the house of the Lord was in disrepair. It had been forsaken, they had established the worship of Baal, through Athaliah, and had built the temple unto Baal. So this is a covenant, that Jehoiada the priest makes, “And we are going to be Jehovah’s people”. It is a return to God, a return to the worship of Jehovah. The return to Jehovah, as the center of the national life of Judah, once again. “We are gonna covenant to be His people.” Throughout history, God has sought to make a covenant with man. An agreement, that is based upon conditions, that must be kept. “This is what I’ll do for you, this is what I require of you, that I do this for you.” God first made a covenant with Noah at a time of almost spiritual depravity upon the earth, when the hearts of men, and the imaginations of their hearts were evil continually. God decided to destroy man, from off the face of the earth, but God spoke to Noah, and He made a covenant with Noah, whereby He would spare Noah, the coming judgement of the great flood. After the flood, God made a second covenant with Noah, that He would not again destroy the earth with water, and He put the cloud in the sky, as a sign of the covenant, that the earth would not again be destroyed by water. Then God made a covenant with Abraham, that God would bless him, He would make him the father of many nations, that He would give to Abraham’s seed, all of the land, from the river Euphrates, to the Nile river. That He would bless him abundantly. Then God established a covenant with the nation of Israel, through Moses. God established the basis by which He would be their God, and by which He would bring them into the land, by which He would subdue their enemies, by which He would prosper them in the land. The basis of that covenant, was written on two tables of stone, the ten commandments. These ten commandments were placed in this little box, that was called, the ark of the covenant. That is the terms of the covenant were in this little ark, this little box. So it was called, the ark of the covenant. This is the basis by which these people could relate to God, but the nation was constantly warned. “If you break the covenant with God, then instead of blessings, there will be cursings, instead of subduing your enemies, you will be subdued by your enemies. The ground will not yield its fruit, and you’re gonna go through heavy, heavy trials, and terrible times. The history of Israel, is the history of a nation that would seek God, be blessed of God, and then would forsake God, and be cursed. Fall into the hands of their enemies. Be oppressed by their enemies, and then out of the oppression, they would cry unto the Lord, and the Lord would raise up a judge, and deliver them. During the period of the judges life, they would serve the Lord, but then they would revert back to their idolatry, and back into oppression. It was just a cyclical kind of miserable history. The covenant was good. There’s nothing wrong with the covenant, there’s nothing wrong with the law. People think, “Oh the law, Yuck!” or, “The law, ugh!” No, read the law, there’s nothing wrong with that! I cannot fault the law at all. I believe that the law is good. I wish we could all live by that law, the ten commandments. For it deals with man living in a right relationship with God, and a right relationship with his fellow man. The world would be a much better place, if we all lived by the law of God. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Can’t fault that! “Thou shalt not make any graven images, to bow down and worship them.” Can’t fault that! “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Edited & Highlighted from “The Word For Today” Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7116 sabbath day, keep it holy.” Can’t find any fault with those things! Then, in my relationship with my fellow man, “Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Good laws! I find no fault in the law of God, it’s a good covenant! But man didn’t keep it. In fact he kept breaking the first commandment. He kept turning to other gods. He began to worship other gods. He began to become idolatrous. Making little idols, and worshiping these idols, objects of worship. Man to the present day, continues to violate the law of God, or the commandments, the covenant that God established. God wants to be first in your life. He wants to be above everything else. He wants to sit on the throne of your life. He wants your heart and your mind to be first towards Him. He wants to occupy the first place, the highest place in your life. But we allow other things to take top priority. Things usually that involve our own pleasure, things of our flesh. They were to be a people who walk after the Spirit. A people who denied self, the flesh life, in order to live after the Spirit. They would break the covenant of God, they would turn, and begin to worship other gods, and thus, the calamities would come. The broken covenant. At this period the covenant had been broken again. Here in Jerusalem even, is a temple unto Baal, and the priests of Baal, and all. The people had turned from God, but now the renewing of the covenant, “We will be the Lord’s people”, and He made the covenant with the king, and with the people. “We’re going to be the Lord’s people. We’re gonna worship Jehovah again.” And so the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and the broke it down; they broke down the altars and the images, they broke them into pieces thoroughly, and the slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altar. And the priest appointed officers over the house of Jehovah. And he took the rulers over the hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all of the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of Jehovah, and they came by the way of the gate of the guard of the king’s house. And he sat on the throne of the kings (11:18-19). So this little seven year old boy, was sitting there on the throne.
And all of the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet: [Peace] and they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king’s house. Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign (11:20-21). So next week we get into the reign of Jehoash, or Joash, as he is known by both names, and uh,, get into some very interesting things, as we move into chapters thirteen, and fourteen.
Father, we pray tonight, that we indeed might covenant with You, to be Your people. Acknowledging You as our God. And we thank You Father, that You have made a new covenant with us through the blood of Jesus Christ. A covenant now, that is based upon Your faithfulness, in keeping Your word. A covenant that shall stand forever, because Your word Lord, will stand forever. So Lord, we want to be Your people. We want You to be the first, and the highest, priority of our lives. We want to love You Lord, with all of our hearts, and with all of our minds, and with all of our souls. Lord, we want to love our neighbors as ourselves. We thank You that you have given to us, the capacity, and the power to do so. That which we could not do, in and of ourselves, You have done for us, though Jesus Christ. So we yield our lives to Him, that He might dwell within us, and through His power, we might be all that You want us to be, for His glory. Amen.
May the Lord be with you, watch over you, keep you in His love, and guide you during the week, as you become the Lord’s people. His witnesses to this world. May the light of Jesus Christ shine brightly, through your life, in this darkened world. May the love of Jesus Christ flow out from your life, as a witness to others, that you are indeed, His disciple. God bless you, and watch over you, and keep you in His love, and may you indeed be, the Lord’s people.
Edited & Highlighted from “The Word For Today” Transcription, Pastor Chuck Smith, Tape #7116

Source: http://calvarychapelgrangeville.com/wp-content/uploads/Chuckbooks/Kings/7116%202%20Kings%2010-11.pdf