2 Kings 24

Is it frustrating to anyone else when you begin reading a chapter and see “he did evil”? This chapter doesn’t begin that way (chapter 23 ends that way to show the beginning of this new king), but most of the new kings seem to fall under the evil category. No matter how bad it has gotten for Judah, they are so blinded that they don’t see they have the power to try and begin to fix it. This chapter begins with King Neb (sorry not typing the whole thing) came to take Jerusalem. In other historical readings, I found that he did this because the king of Egypt had gone into Babylon, and Jerusalem has been loyal to Egypt.

 King Neb stopped his campaign because of his fathers death, and he went back to Babylon to claim his inheritance. At this point, Jehoiakim rebelled against King Neb. This is where God stepped in. Jehoiakim was rebelling you save Jerusalem, yes. But he was doing it for the sake of independence alone, not for the sake of God. So the Lord set up Jerusalem to be taken because of all the innocent blood she’s by Manasseh. Jehoiakim does and his son takes over, also doing evil in the sight of the Lord (verse 9). Babylon takes control of Jerusalem, takes all the treasure, and puts Jehoiachin’s uncle as new king. Who is also evil. 

God warned them over and over again to turn from their evil ways. He laid out his plans against them, and the still did not listen to him. Thankfully because of Jesus’s death, we don’t have to fear God’s anger if we sin. I still believe if we choose to sin against another and do not seek repentance, you may face His anger. But that’s between the sinner and God. For me growing up, facing my parents anger if I sinned was enough for me to never make that mistake again. When I was maybe 8 or 9, I stole some Tic Tacs from the grocery store. I had a fanny pack on, and while mom was checking out, I snuck it in the zipper. When we were home and unloading, my Fanny pack hit against the car and she heard the candy make noise. (Because I was naive enough or guilty enough to still wear the bag while unloading groceries). My mother told me she was disappointed in my choice, took me back to the store, made me return the candy to the office manager and I had to apologize. I have never again stolen anything because of that incident. I fully understood what it meant after that, and didn’t want to hurt other people like that again. 

It is good to know that God loves us enough to forgive us when we sin. That he will not forsaken us. But we also have to choose to be forgiven. And that the choice I make daily. 

Chapter 24

God’s prophetic word was fulfilled when Judah went into exile.  God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar to steal the treasures of the house of the Lord and capture all the people of Jerusalem including the warriors, craftsmen, smiths, the king and his royal family.

God warned the kings of Israel over and over to turn from their wicked ways, but they refused to listen to the prophets of their day.  As a result, they faced severe consequences for their waywardness.  Because of Jesus’ death on the cross covering our sins, we do not have to live in fear of God’s judgement.  But we still sin and because we sin, we face sorrow, broken relationships and other kinds of pain in our lives. Can you think of a time, when you were disciplined for something sinful in your life? What consequences did you face?  Is there anything in your life that you need to repent of today?  Confess it now and commit to changing your ways.

2 Kings 24:20 For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.