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In Second Kings, chapter thirteen, verses seventeen through eighteen, the shooting arrow toward the east was a symbolic action predicting that Israel was to overthrow the oppression of Syria. It was a pledge that God would keep Israel safe. By striking the ground with arrows only three times, King Joash demonstrated that he lacked the […]

In Second Kings, chapter thirteen, bottom verse of fourteen, King Joash, the same chapter, looks upon the strange appearance of the chariot and horses of fire that parted him and his friend. He sees once more ‘the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof,’ the reappearance of the shining armies whose presence had of old

In Second Kings, chapter thirteen, verse fourteen, Elisha, through whom God performed many extraordinary miracles, eventually succumbed to a fatal illness. Elisha lived long, for it was now about sixty years since before becoming a prophet. It was a great mercy to Israel, especially to the sons of the prophets, and continued so long as

In Second Kings, chapter twelve, verse twenty, the conspiracy against Joash (Jehoash) occurred because he had rejected the Lord, begun to worship other gods, and killed the high priest Zechariah as in Second Chronicles twenty-four, verses seventeen through twenty-two and twenty-five, respectively. Not long after the departure of the Syrians, who had left Joash, according

In Second Kings, chapter twelve, verse two, as long as Jehoiada, the high priest, was his counselor, Jehoash served the Lord. However, after Jehoiada’s death, Jehoash forsook the Lord and began to serve idols, as in Second Chronicles twenty-four, verses seventeen through eighteen. He multiplied his sin by murdering Jehoiada’s son Zechariah, who had condemned

In Second Kings, chapter eleven, verse four, Jehoiada, the husband of Jehosheba, was the high priest of the Lord during Athaliah’s reign in the southern kingdom, as in verse two and Second Chronicles twenty-two, verse eleven, respectively. He instigated Athaliah’s overthrow in Second Chronicles twenty-three, set Joash in chapter twelve, verse one, on the throne,

In Second Kings, chapter eleven, verse one, Athaliah, the only non-Davidic ruler in Judah’s history, was queen during a six-year reign of terror. This daughter of wicked Ahab and Jezebel had married Jehoram, the son of Judah’s King Jehoshaphat. When King Ahaziah, the only son of Jehoram and Athaliah, was killed in Jehu’s purge of

In Second Kings, chapter ten, verse thirty-one, Jehu, though zealous for God, did not serve Him with all his heart. He permitted the worship of the golden calves for political reasons, as in verse twenty-nine, and took little interest in God’s law. Therefore, spiritual reformation for Israel did not progress because of a leadership failure

In Second Kings, chapter ten, verse twenty-eight, Jehu had been chosen by God to destroy the idolatrous dynasty of Ahab, as in verse thirty and chapter nine, verses six through ten. Inherent in that call was the commission to eradicate Baalism, an unspeakable vile and cruel religion associated with fornication, drunkenness, and human sacrifice. The

In Second Kings, chapter nine, verse twenty-five, Ahab and Jezebel, the parents of King Joram, as described in chapter three, verse one, had ruthlessly defrauded Naboth to steal his field. The episode happens in First Kings twenty-one, verses one through twenty-four. The dead body of their son was now in that very field. The parents’