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In Second Kings, chapter seventeen, verse eight, Israel all too eagerly accepted the lifestyles and standards of those who were not God’s people. Although separation from the nations was one of God’s fundamental requirements for Israel, as in Leviticus eighteen, verses three and thirty, Deuteronomy twelve, verses twenty-nine through thirty-one, and chapter eighteen, nine to […]

In the Second Chronicles, chapter seventeen, verse seven, the Holy Spirit gives the theological and moral reasons why God brought about the downfall of His redeemed covenant people and removed them from His presence, as in verse eighteen. They forgot the love and grace manifested in their redemption from Egypt. They served the gods of

In Second Kings, chapter seventeen, verse six, after two hundred and ten years of idolatry, spiritual rebellion, and moral corruption, God decreed the ultimate fall and exile of the nation Israel: the example of the ten tribes of the northern kingdom. The relentless progress of evil among God’s people had reached a point of no

In Second Kings, chapter fifteen, verse twenty-nine, this invasion by Tiglath-pileser of Assyria represented the first stage of Israel’s captivity in exile. Those living in the northern and eastern sections of Israel were carried away from their homeland into Mesopotamia as in chapter sixteen, verses five through nine, Second Chronicles twenty-eight, verses sixteen through twenty-one,

In Second Kings, chapter fifteen, verse one, Azariah, also called Uzziah in Second Chronicles twenty-six, was King of Judah for fifty-two years. When the son of Amariah died, God commissioned the prophet Isaiah as a messenger to Judah and Israel. However, Azariah was struck with leprosy because he disobeyed God by assuming the function of

In Second Kings, chapter fourteen, verse twenty-six, in compassion for His people, God used Jeroboam to help Israel. However, God’s goodness did not lead to repentance. Israel’s prosperity was a time of corruption spiritually, morally, and socially. Both Amos and Hosea spoke of a people deeply depraved. Luxury, revelry, immorality, injustice, violence, and deceit of

In Second Kings, chapter fourteen, verse twenty-five, Israel regained land, and the people attained great material prosperity during the reign of Jeroboam II, as in Amos six, four through six, and Hosea twelve, verse eight, respectively. However, the prophets Amos and Hosea, who ministered to Israel during his reign, saw the rotten foundations on which

In Second Kings, chapter fourteen, verse one, Amaziah the King began well but later fell into idolatry as in Second Chronicles, twenty-five, verse fourteen, for he did not act “with a perfect heart,” as in verse two. Amaziah had not firmly resolved to do God’s will at any cost. Essential to perseverance in the faith

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