2 Kings Lesson 25

The gathering of the chapel

Sunday School - 9:30AM | Sunday worship- 10:45AM | Wed. Bible study - 6PM

May 14, 2023

We will finish Chapter 23 and the evil reign of Jehoahaz, and cover Chapter 24 four bad kings and the fall of Judah.

2 Kings Lesson 25 Study Questions

1. He did evil in the sight of the LORD: The reforms of King

Josiah were wonderful, but they were not a long-lasting

revival. His own son Jehoahaz did not follow in his godly

ways.

2. “His name is omitted from among those of our Lord’s

ancestors in Matthew 1... which may imply that God did not

recognize Jehoahaz, the people’s choice, as being in a true

sense the successor.”

3. He did evil in the sight of the LORD: Jehoiakim, like his

brother Jehoahaz, did not follow the godly example of his

father Josiah.

4. Jeremiah 36:22-24 describes the great ungodliness of

Jehoiakim – how he even burned a scroll of God’s word. In

response to this, Jeremiah received this message from

God: And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, “Thus

says the LORD: ‘You have burned this scroll, saying, “Why

have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly

come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to

cease from here?”’ Therefore thus says the LORD concerning

Jehoiakim king of Judah: ‘He shall have no one to sit on the

throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the

heat of the day and the frost of the night.’” (Jeremiah

36:29-30)

5. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up: This

campaign of Nebuchadnezzar was interrupted suddenly

when he heard of his father’s death and raced back to

Babylon to secure his succession to the throne. He traveled

about 500 miles in two weeks – remarkable speed for travel

in that day. Nebuchadnezzar only had the time to take a few

choice captives (such as Daniel), a few treasures and a

promise of submission from Jehoiakim.

6. The LORD sent against him: We might think that God

would honor the Judean independence movement of

Jehoiakim, but He did not bless it. God sent against

him many adversaries because Jehoiakim was a patriot of

the kingdom of Judah, but not a man submitted to God.

7. Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came

upon Judah: Many in the days of Jehoiakim believed that

God’s will was to deliver them from their enemies and to

preserve an independent Judah. Yet that was not God’s will;

it was His will to bring Judah into judgment (knowing they

had not genuinely repented and would not). The best thing

for Judah to do was to submit to this will of God, as

Jeremiah told them to do – despite great opposition.

8. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim: 2 Chronicles

36:6 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar intended to take

Jehoiakim to Babylon, bound in bronze fetters. Yet Jeremiah

22:19 tells us that he would be disgracefully buried outside

of Jerusalem.

9. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD: He carried on

in the tradition of the wicked kings of Judah. “That he was a

grievous offender against God, we learn from Jeremiah

22:24, which the reader may consult; and in the man’s

punishment, see his crimes.”

10. Took him prisoner: Like his rebellious father, God

allowed Jehoiachin to be taken as a bound captive back to

Babylon.

11. He cut in pieces all the articles of gold which

Solomon king of Israel had made: This tells us what

happened to the furniture and precious things of Solomon’s

temple. Some ancient traditions tell us that Jeremiah hid the

ark of the covenant before this, so that it was not among the

things that were cut up and carried back to Babylon.

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