Tuesday, April 13, 2010

2 Kings 1

Oh woe to the house of Israel! Once again the generational sin is passed down as an inheritance to the son, in this case Ahaziah. Of course, change can be made and sin is not a mandatory inheritance...we can choose to take or walk away from it and into the arms of God. And God will walk along a with us as we strive to sort out what is good and what is bad.

Can't help but think of the wives of all those poor soldiers. No mercy to those who follow the commands of a sinner. Shudder.

2 comments:

Mac an Rothaich said...

Wow. What a story about respect. I find it interesting after all that that the king got the same message he had already received. Getting Elijah to come didn't change the news.

Unknown said...

Wrote this out in the body of the intro to 2 Kings post (edited the erroneous 1 Kings 23 post) but wanted to copy it here as well.

The tone for the book is set in the first two verses. "AFter Ahab died, Moab broke away from Israel's rule. Ahaziah fell down through the wooden bars in his upstairs room in Samaria and was badly hurt. He sent messengers and told them, "Go, ask Baal-Zebub, god of Ekron, if I will recover from my injuries.

In those inaugural words you find death (Ahab died), rebellion (Moab broke away), calamity (Ahaziah fell) and superstition (go ask the god of Ekron).

What a beginning. It doesn't get any better. 2nd Kings is not a book for teh faint of heart. But it is a book for the serious desciple. Its message is embossed at the top of every page: "THE WAY OF TRANSGRESSORS IS HARD."

Remember what Paul said about the wages of sin being death? This book proves his point. 25 chapters of people reaping the harvest of sin. Story after story of people learning firsthand the eternal truth: THE CONSEQUENCE OF PERSISTENT SIN IS PAIN. Pain, not just in your life but in the lives of those you love." Max Lucado

This is so sad. When I look at the consequences of sin in our lives it just grieves me so. God showed me some time ago that the reason that he hates sin is because it destroys, not because he just demands right living from us and we fail and he is mad. But because He hates to see us squandering His blessings and ending up sitting amongst the slops like the (pre)prodigal son. My heart is heavy as I ponder this this morning.