Year 2, Day 11: 2 Kings 13

God’s Incredible Patience

This is a tough chapter for me to pull something out today, but I will try.  Here we have the record of two kings of Israel.  Both kings do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.  Both kings draw Israel away from their God.  Neither king has God’s respect.

Yet, both of them reign for a substantial amount of time: 16 and 17 years, respectively.  Altogether, they reign for a third of a century.  Surely God is more patient than I am!

Actually, I make this point for a reason.  Even though they were evil and did evil in the sight of the Lord, their reign was allowed by God to continue.  Because we have the sentence about their evil deeds in our text we do not think that their reign was blessed by God.  Yet, how often do we assume in today’s culture that someone in a position of power for that long must have God’s blessing?  Blessing has nothing to do with it in this case – and probably not in many cases!

God is slow to anger.  God is patient and lets us demonstrate our true character to Him over time.  God also lets us display our true character to ourselves over our lifetime, if we are willing to listen.  God gives us time and time again to fix our mistakes and learn from them.  God is patient and allows us to rejoice in our successes and learn from them, too! 

But just because a person has a long time in leadership does not make them inherently blessed by God.  I feel the need today to bring out the caution that just because our eyes see something that makes us to think that they are blessed – such as a long reign – that doesn’t mean that someone really is doing what the Lord desires.

Resurgence of Elisha

So now let’s turn to the death story of Elisha.  I marveled at the story of Joash coming to Elijah and calling him “My father.”  {For the record, don’t confuse the Joash/Jehoash of Israel in this chapter with the Joash/Jehoash of Judah that we have been following in the prior chapters.  They aren’t the same guy at all.}  I think I marveled at the story because I am so very much out of touch with a polytheistic mindset.  Let me explain.

First, my mindset is monotheistic.  I believe in one God, and either you believe in Him or you don’t.  I believe that if I believe in God then I can’t put any other gods before Him.  For me, it’s God or nothing.  That’s just the monotheistic mindset of Western culture speaking through me.  So when I hear Joash (remember, who did what was evil in the sight of the Lord) come and pay his respects to Elisha, my brain screams out “hypocrite!”

However, this is not necessarily the case.  I forget that most ancient cultures had dozens – if not hundreds or thousands – of gods.  It was nothing for a person to have their personal favorite gods and still be able to respect other people and their gods without feeling adversarial towards them.  I think this is the case here with Joash.  Joash doesn’t revere Elisha or Elisha’s God, but he does know that Elisha is a national treasure.  Elisha is a great prophet and is capable of doing great works.  So it makes sense to pay respects to Elisha (and even his God!) regardless of whether or not Joash believes in God or not.

I know that sounds completely strange.  But remember that this is just the difference between a monotheistic mindset and a polytheistic mindset.  Polytheism is a belief in many gods, and you don’t follow all of them.  Polytheism allows you to pick the gods that you revere all of the time, some of the time, or none of the time.  It is monotheism that asserts not only the belief that there is only one God but also the belief that it is all or nothing.

In this, please know that I am not excusing Joash for not believing in God and following in His ways.  I am simply acknowledging that the cultural mindset is different.  I personally enjoy monotheism as it allows me to know where I stand.  I believe Joash is wrong for not believing in God.

That brings me to another understanding.  I am glad to live in a monotheistic culture.  For a person who naturally sees in black/white instead of shades of gray, monotheism is simpler.  You either believe in my God and love Him or you don’t.  There is none of this “Your God isn’t my god but I still respect your God” kind of junk that can happen in a polytheistic culture that really confuses the issue.  I feel fortunate to be able to say that there is only one God and salvation comes only through Him.  I really do feel fortunate.  I am thankful to God for allowing me to exist in that truth.

For me, I guess that’s the feeling for the day.  In the midst of all of these stories, I feel fortunate to live when I do and to have the God that I do.

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Year 2, Day 10: 2 Kings 12

The Importance of Spiritual Influences

2 Kings 12:2 really does my heart good.  “Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord because Jehoida the priest instructed him.”  I honestly can’t think of a better epitaph for a man of God.

This just goes to show us how important it is to have a mentoring relationship with someone who can instruct you in being a disciple.  Having someone to talk to, to bounce ideas off, to correct your thinking when it is going astray, to teach you in things that you need to learn, and to have someone to push you further into growth – all of these things are very important.  Thanks be to God that He provided for Jehoash when he was in need of a strong mentor.  And thanks be to God that Jehoash was so willing to listen!

Lack of Repair

Of course, we see here that the priests – Jehoida included – are certainly not perfect.  Jehoash makes a plan for the repair of the temple, but the plan doesn’t produce any results.  Let’s take a look at this part of the story.  I have two thoughts with respect to this, and I think in the end they lead us to the same place.

The story initially reads as though the priests are unwilling to part with the offerings for the repair of the temple.  Thus, Jehoida the priest took a chest and made it very clear that the money in the chest was to go directly to the workforce to repair the temple.  It is indeed quite possible that this shows stubbornness among the priests.  After all, under Ahaziah and Athaliah the practice of worshipping Ba’al grew and the practice of worshiping the Lord waned.  The priests of the Lord surely had some lean years; it would only be human nature that they would horde and enjoy the surplus while they had it.  It’s not right, but it sure sounds like human nature to me!

However, it is also possible that there is a second way to understand this passage.  Jehoash’s first plan was to ask for donations.  It could be that the donations just didn’t come in above what the priests needed to live.  It could be that the repairs weren’t done because while there was some money coming in, there actually wasn’t a surplus until after the chest was put out and rather than taking donations there was an expected contribution to the chest.

In the end, though, we arrive at the same point.  For one reason or another, the repairs weren’t being done.  When those who are called to do ministry care more about their money and lifestyle than they care about serving God – nothing spiritual happens.  When the focus of the church becomes filling up the coffers, we lose sight of glorifying God and doing His ministry.  Yes, priests and pastors need to be able to live.  But they do not need to become fat off of the work God has set before them, either.

Repairs Accomplished

Also notice that the work gets done when the people who can accomplish the work are allowed to do it.  When Jehoash had instructed the priests to see that the work gets done, it hadn’t gotten done.  But when Jehoash saw to it that the workers got the means to accomplish the work, the task was finished in good order.

I think church administration can really take a lesson from this.  How often have we seen a good idea get sent to a committee and it fizzles, sputters, and eventually dies because it is forgotten?  Yet if the few people who had the idea were simply given permission to accomplish the task the task would no doubt have gotten done in short order!  I think we need to have leadership in the church, but often I think we over-administrate and our committees stifle the Holy Spirit and what tasks God has indeed sent our way.

Conspiracy to End It All

As we move to the end of this chapter, we hear that Jehoash (Joash) had a fairly long reign but was ultimately overcome by a conspiracy.  How sad it is when God takes the time to bring in a righteous leader yet the people underneath the leader continue in their sinful ways?  God had developed a great leader in Jehoash and Jehoida.  He had brought great reform through Jehoash and Jehoida.  But people are slow to change and easy to corrupt.  People scheme behind the back of Jehoash and he is killed out of a conspiracy.  Those who do God’s work are never free from the effects of sin even in the midst of true spiritual reform.  In the end, Jehoash was a great leader for Judah.  But is is still the victim of religious or political corruption stemming from a human desire to have our own way.

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Year 2, Day 9: 2 Kings 11

Our Own Psychosis

I’m going to jump head first into this one.  I find it absolutely unfathomable that the woman who goes around killing all the heirs to the throne (her very own nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great nephews) is the one who screams “Treason” who Joash is crowned king.  If anyone had a reason to scream treason, it was Joash who had to be put into hiding for all those years!

This then winds me down a deep psychological path.  Isn’t interesting how our minds can completely and totally twist reality to make sense to ourselves?  By this, I mean that our brains are so easily duped by our own understanding of reality.  Our own perception of reality is not always the most reliable.

I’ve spoken of this analogy before, but it is a valuable one to remember.  Any good detective knows that if you speak to 5 witnesses to a crime you will get versions of the same story.  You will get the 5 versions from each witness and somewhere in the twisted amalgamation of the stories you will also get the truth.  In other words, none of us are ever truly a “completely good” witness.  Our memory is errant.  Our ability to perceive is influenced heavily by that which interests us to begin with.  The human brain is great at taking what we think we see and “filling in the gaps” so that what we think we see makes sense.  {Google a TV series called “Brain Games” and watch it if you really want to see this principle in action.}

No doubt that Athaliah genuinely thought that this coronation of Joash was some sort of political coup.  No doubt that her mind had “filled in the gaps” in such a way as to think she hadn’t done anything wrong and was the victim here.  After all, she was the Queen Mother.  Her mind no doubt believed that she had ultimate authority and the ability to wield it as she saw fit.  Why shouldn’t she be able to eliminate contenders to the throne?

Yet, from the outside we see that what she did was completely wrong.  Murder is wrong on many levels.  Murdering one’s family is wrong on even more levels.  But it takes an outside perspective to see it.

The Balance Relationships Bring

This makes me really value the Christian relationships that I have.  I don’t plan on ever murdering someone, but that doesn’t mean I won’t sin in other ways.  If I rely upon my own understanding I will go headlong into more than my fair share of sin and be able to justify it in my own mind.  That’s just human nature.  I need my cadre of Christian support around me to make sure that I stay balanced in the faith.  We all do.

In fact, this reminds me of a famous quote from Machiavelli.  “All power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  If I give myself absolute power over what makes sense in my life, my perception will become corrupted.  But if I delegate power regarding what makes sense in my life to the people around me that I trust, I have a much more likely chance of being able to stay focused on what I should.  Again, this is the value of the cadre of spiritual folk around me.

Strong Leaders in the Face of Evil

I also give a fair amount of credit to Jehoida, the priest (and for the record, Jehosheba, Joash’s mother).  He was setting up a coup.  He was going against the Queen Mother – the ruling party at the time.  He was really risking life.  But it was for truth and righteousness.  It was for justice.  It was for God.  Some things are worth risking life.  And when a person or a group of persons put their life on the line for God, it is good to recognize it and give the glory to God.

Joash or Jehoash?

As a conclusion, let me give a note about the name given in the last verse of this chapter: Jehoash.  This is not meant to confuse, but it can – especially since earlier in the chapter we hear the name Joash.  These may be alternate spellings of the same name.  They may be a shortened version of the name as well.  Think of it as the difference between Sue and Susan or Rick and Richard.  Sometimes we use a formal name, other times we use an informal name.  Either way, don’t let yourself be confused by this.

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Year 2, Day 8: 2 Kings 10

Jehu Again

The story continues in its bloody tradition of Jehu killing more and more people.

I do have to confess that I personally just don’t like Jehu.  Yes, he killed Ahab’s family.  Yes, he purged a great evil from the face of the earth.  Yes, he also tore down a king who was leading Judah astray.  And yes, he did kill many of the prophets of Ba’al.  All of these things are good things for the world – as bloody and gruesome as they might be.

The problem is that I just don’t like his motivation.  Yesterday I spent a long time talking about the Lord being able to accomplish good even if our hearts are evil.  In this chapter it feels as though Jehu has an insatiable bloodlust and simply happens to be lucky in that he is able to focus his destructive passion on the mutual enemies of the Lord.

Perhaps a comparison might work.  Let’s take the story of Jehu’s killing of the priests of Ba’al and hold it up against Elijah’s killing of the priests of Ba’al.  (See 1 Kings 18:20-40)

Elijah’s story tells us that as many as 450 priests of Ba’al were slaughtered under his command.  We’re not told how many priests of Ba’al Jehu killed, but as they were able to meet within a “house of Ba’al” I’ll assume for a moment that it was no more than were killed under Elijah.  I make this point to illustrate that my issue with Jehu has nothing to do with how many people die.

The difference in the stories is that the priests of Ba’al knew they were up against a man of God with Elijah.  They came knowing that it was going to be a fight.  Elijah was honest about his service to the Lord.  Jehu, on the other hand, tricks the people.  Jehu claims to be a follower of Ba’al in order to get them to gather together.  Yes, the people that die were enemies of God; but they died in a manner that involved deceit, lies, and treachery.

With Elijah, we get a sense that God’s will is done in the way God desires it.  God’s will is done in a way that honors God’s character.  With Jehu we get a sense that God’s will is done, but it is done in a way that is contrary to God’s ways.  God’s will is done in a way that does not promote God’s character.

In a way, I have the same feeling about Jehu as I have about Solomon.  Solomon was clearly blessed by God.  Certainly Solomon started out by doing things that seemed to honor God.  But in the end we get a glimpse of his motivation and we are told that Solomon just couldn’t live according to God’s ways.  We hear that Solomon turned from the Lord and worshipped the gods of his harem.  It is no different here with Jehu.  Yes, the enemies of the Lord are slain, but in the end we hear that Jehu could not follow God’s ways.  He might not worship Ba’al, but instead he worships the golden calves erected in Dan and Bethel. 

Lessons for Myself

I am saddened because of this – as I was saddened with the story of Solomon.  Perhaps my being sad comes out of a fear of the future.  Life is long, and many of my challenges are left to be faced.  It concerns me to hear how many people in the Bible just aren’t able to maintain/sustain faith in God for their whole life.  They have glimmers of moments where God’s will is done, but they just aren’t able to muster faith for their whole life.  That element of humanity concerns me – whether it is in my future, the future of my friends and people close to me, or simply in the person down the street. 

I am pained by the possibility of people unable to sustain faith in God and unable to follow Him throughout their life.  I am pained because it shows just how willing the human heart is to believe it is “following God,” but in the end the human heart does not “follow God” because the human was never following Him for the right reasons.  It shows the human ability to convince ourselves that we are doing right while we never in truth are doing right.  It is troubling to me this day.

Jehu’s story is a sad story of grief for me.  Like Solomon, Jehu had such potential – even as gruesome as many of the events in his life happened to be.  But like Solomon, the story ends tragically.  I see too much of this in the world to do anything but grieve over this story.

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Year 2, Day 7: 2 Kings 9

This is a bloody and gruesome chapter. 

What’s The Point?

Yet, at first glance it seems to be a chapter of justice.  Joram, bad king and child of a bad king, is killed.  Jezebel, evil wife of a bad king, is also killed.  Ahaziah, bad king leading the people of Judah astray, is killed.  On these terms, this chapter seems to be a chapter about justice.

This is also a great chapter from another perspective.  Elijah’s prophecy about Jehu killing people begins to come true.  Since the Word of the Lord is proven true, this chapter seems just.  When Jehu kills Joram, his body is treated in such a way that another prophecy of the Lord comes true and this chapter seems just.  When Jezebel is slain and her body is consumed, yet another prophecy of the Lord comes true and this chapter seems just.  Not only do we have evil being slain but we also have the Word of God being proven true.  I seem to be building a great case for this being a great chapter of the Bible. It is.

Theodicy on Trial

However, I cannot deny that within me there is a need to put “Theodicy on trial”* here.  I know in doing so that I am taking the wrong point.  God is just and God is honorable.  But I’m going to do it because sometimes in order to get to truth you must walk the logic of untruth in order to expose it for what it is.}  I have to ask a question, and I’ll be honest and say that the question is coming because I have recently started up a Bible Study on Habakkuk.  Habakkuk also feels the need to put Theodicy on trial.

Here’s the question:

• How does a just and righteous God justify using evil people in this world in order to accomplish His will?

Or, let me put it another way:

• How does the involvement of evil not intrinsically make the act evil?

This second question is really the question that draws God’s character into question.  If God is willing to use evil to accomplish His purposes, then why doesn’t that inherently mean that the act is evil?  And if the act actually is evil and the act is inherently God’s plan, then what does that say about God?

Now, I’ve confessed earlier that I am doing something dangerous.  We should not put God on trial unless we expect to not only be proven wrong but also called to change.  If we think we can put God on trial, then clearly there is something wrong with our mind that needs to change.  If there is a part of our mind that can question God’s actions then by definition we are not on the same page as God.  Therefore, either God or I need to change.  Since it’s not God, it must be me.  This is why the process of putting Theodicy on trial is sometimes necessary.  It isn’t necessary to put the character of God on trial; it is necessary to expose the part of me that thinks I have a legitimate reason to put God on trial.  And it is necessary to change that part of me to bring it back in line with God.** 

So I begin the Theodicy on trial process knowing that it will result in me needing to change.  If God is just – and I genuinely believe that He is – then there must be something inherently wrong with my premise.  If God is just, then involving an evil person in an act does not inherently make the act evil.  If this is true, then there is nothing wrong with using an evil person (or an evil regime) to accomplish the good will of God.

In fact, I think what this brings to the table is the idea that some actions can be both good and evil depending on the motivation behind them.  Let me give you two examples. 

In the first example, suppose I complement a person of the opposite sex on their beauty.  This act could be righteous or evil – in fact it could be both at the same time! 

• God could be using my compliment to boost the confidence of the person to whom I am saying it.  Perhaps the person is having a bad day, the person has a low self-esteem, or the person just needs a reason to smile.  In passing along love, it could be a very good thing.  If my reason for giving the compliment is to pass along God’s love, then I am in line with God.
• However, what if I am passing along the compliment (in a complimentary way) because deep down in my heart I am actually lusting after the beauty before me.  Now it is I who am being evil, and doubly evil!  Not only am I lusting – which is bad enough – but if I am lusting and framing it as a compliment I am also being deceptive about my motivation.  In other words, I am guilty of both lust and lying!  God might be able to use the compliment for good, but certainly I was behaving in an evil manner while accomplishing His will.

In the second example, suppose I invite someone over for dinner.  This act could also be righteous or evil – or both at the same time!

• Perhaps the person is in need of a meal or in need of fellowship.  I could be genuinely giving food and water to those who need it – fulfilling Jesus’ teaching from Matthew 25:35-36.  This would be a very good thing!
• However, perhaps I am doing it so that they will be in my debt.  Perhaps I am trying to be their friend so that when I need some support they will feel guilty and feel the need to take my side.  Perhaps I am doing the act not for generosity, but for selfish intent!  This is clearly evil, yet God could still use my evil inside and bring about good in the person that I have invited.

As we can see, God can work through good people and bring about good.  God can work through evil people – even while they are actively practicing evil! – and still bring about good.  For a great Biblical example of this, read Genesis 37:12-36.  Then read the commentary on this passage in Genesis 50:20.

My point in this exercise is to demonstrate how much my human understanding cannot fathom God.  In my frail humanity, I assume that just because God’s ways are accomplished through an evil man, then God is unjust.  But such is not the case.  God can work good even through an evil man – although the evil man will still be held accountable for his desire to accomplish God’s purpose through evil means.  Just because God accomplishes good through my acts does not mean that I am good or even responsible for doing good.  I am responsible for my intentions, not whether or not God can make my intentions do His will. I can be guilty of doing evil even while God is making the fruit of my actions turn out for good!

This is one of the underlying truths about Jehu’s actions against Joram, Ahaziah, and Jezreel.  Jehu does well in that the Lord is able to work through him.  But that does not inherently mean that he did it for the right reason, the right motivation, or even that he was a good man.  Let’s be careful to not evaluate Jehu as a good person until we have heard his whole story – which we will hear tomorrow.

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* Theodicy is the word we use for God’s nature of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence.  It comes from two Greek words: theos (God) and dike (righteousness/justice).  When we take God’s character and question it, we call it “Theodicy on Trial.”  This is a fairly common practice, and it appears often in our Old Testament.  2 great examples of Theodicy on Trial are the entire book of Job and the first two chapters of the book of Habakkuk.  There are certainly other examples in our Bible, illustrating that the process of putting Theodicy on trial is not inherently bad so long as we understand that we will be proven wrong and it is us who will be called to change, not God.

**This is the very nature of the book of Habakkuk and the book of Job.  Those two people put God on trial and in the end accept that they need to change.  And they do change through the process!  That is what makes those books neat!  And for the record, it is also the very thing that that makes the book of Jonah so very sad.  Jonah puts Theodicy on trial and doesn’t see that it is him that needs to change and not God.  So Jonah doesn’t learn through the Theodicy on trial process.  We need to be like Job and Habakkuk, not Jonah!

Year 2, Day 6: 2 Kings 8

The Shunammite

As we begin this story, we hear about Elisha’s foretelling of the drought and the saving of the Shunammite woman.  She is allowed to escape to Philistia before the drought sets in, but when the drought is relieved the woman is horrified to need to come back and have to sue for her land!  It makes sense that if she wasn’t there to tend it that squatters would have moved in wherever possible to take it.

What is neat about this story is we can see how God plans to use events in ways that we cannot expect.  We have already spoken about the raising of her son and how that plays into the demonstration of God’s power to the Shuanammite woman.  But here we also see how the event in the past plays into the life of the king.  Even more importantly, this event plays into the claim for the Shunammite woman to gain her land back!

Had Gehazi not been familiar with the case and lecturing the king on the case’s reality, no doubt this woman would have had a much harder time proving her point.  But since Gehazi could not only prove that this woman owned the land but had been touched by the hand of God upon it, it is clear that not only is the land hers but that God desires for this woman to be the master of it.  God is so cool in His ability to use an event in our past to reach forward and have an impact on a seemingly unrelated event in the future.

Hazael

The next story we have is a bit hard to fully wrap one’s mind around it.  Hazael is sent by the king of Syria to find out about the king of Syria’s sickness.  Elisha tells Hazael that the king will die and Hazael will reign in his place.  Of course, this spurs on Hazael to treat the king as though he was already dead until he dies.  The question is, how much of Hazael’s action can be attributed to Elisha’s prophecy?

I don’t think we should give any blame to the king’s death to Elisha - or God, who gave the prophecy.  It was decided that Ben-hadad would die and Hazael would reign.  We know that this was known by God for two reasons.  First, Elisha sees a vision about how Hazael will treat the Israelites, so that tells us that God is aware of what will happen.   Second, we actually see this much earlier when Elijah is told to anoint Elisha.  1 Kings 19:16-17 says this: “And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.  And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.”  This is actually the real time revelation of an old prophecy spoken by Elisha’s mentor.

Yet, God is not to blame for Hazael’s treatment of his king in letting him die.  Elisha is not to blame either.  Just because God is aware of the future does not mean that people involved are puppets to God.  God is aware of the choices the people will make, not forcing those choices upon them.

We must be careful not to lay the blame and responsibility at the feet of those who had no part in choosing the actions of another.  Neither Elisha nor God told Hazael to go and treat his king like he was already dead.  Hazael did that himself.  Hazael could have gone back and loved the king until he died, knowing that he would rule in his place.  Hazael is the one who chose the course of action that he did.

Why Does Hazael come to Elisha?

In another interesting point about Hazael, I can’t help but wondering why it is that Hazael would seek out Elisha.  Hazael wasn’t a Jew.  Neither was he a god-fearer.  So why come to Elisha?  Surely there were religious prophets and mystics and seers in the land of Samaria!

I believe this shows us a deep truth about human beings.  We’re content living the lie so long as things go well.  We’re content living the lie so long as we don’t absolutely need the truth.  But when we are in that moment where we have to know something we turn to God and His Word.  When we’re in that moment where life is crumbling around us, it is then that we turn to God and cry out to Him.  We as human beings can be fickle.  That’s what I see in Hazael.  He doesn’t want to be a Jew and he doesn’t want to be a god-fearer.  He just wants to use God for the time being to hear a small amount of truth so afterwards he can go back to life as he would rather live it.

Judah’s Slide Into Decline

We end this chapter with the hearing of two kings in Judah.  There is not too much to talk about as the stories are largely anecdotal to move us along the timeline.  However, we do note that in the story of Ahaziah we have it told that he married the granddaughter of Omri, a king in Israel.  This is significant for two reasons.

First, daughters (or granddaughters) of kings were married to other kings for political reasons.  So what we see going on here is a political marriage attempting to bring about peace to two nations that God had intended to be united in the first place!  Here are human beings that are trying to accomplish God’s will through human means!  They could have accomplished this feat much easier had they simply turned back to God and followed His ways.  Unwilling to do that, they set out to do it their own way using the ways of the world.  As we shall see, the ways of the world are a poor substitute to God’s ways.

Second, we can tell that the insertion of the political marriage into the land of Judah only helps push them even further from the ways of the Lord.  Asa and his son had brought reform to Judah.  But the country begins to slide away with Jehoram; and they slide away even further once Jehoram’s son, Ahaziah, marries Omri’s granddaughter.  When we try to accomplish God’s will by human methods, not only do we fail to achieve our purpose but we end up falling further away from God in the process.

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Year 2: Day 5: 2 Kings 7

Doubting God’s Hand

Doubting a true prophet from God usually has its consequences.  The whole town under siege is concerned for their future.  We’ve already had stories about cannibalism happening in the last chapter.  That right there tells you that things have gotten pretty bad.  Everyone is looking for deliverance and Elisha gives it to them in the opening of this chapter.

But notice that the captain of the guard throws in a doubt as to whether or not even God is powerful enough to accomplish what Elisha spoke.  It is after this expression of doubt that Elisha pronounces that the captain of the guard will see it but not be able to partake of it.  I’m not saying that this man would have lived had he not pronounced his doubt out loud – that’s not my point.  My point goes actually deeper than that.  It is natural for us as a people to doubt the impossible.  It is natural for us to doubt human ability.  None of that is a sin.  But the captain of the guard goes beyond this.

We cannot fathom the depths at which God is able to work.  However, it is possible to express our understanding of an impossible act without also saying that we doubt God can accomplish it.  I think that’s the point here.  Where the captain of the guard sins is when he doubts whether or not God could even do something.  For God, all things are possible.

For example, we know that the captain of the guard is having trouble believing what Elisha says.  The captain of the guard could have simply expressed his doubt by saying, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”  This expresses his doubt, but it does not impose a limit upon the ability of God.  The captain of the guard could have said, “That act is so unlikely that if it happened it would have to be by the hand of God!”  That declaration would have served to not only express his doubt but also to actually affirm the power of the Lord!  But how does the captain express his doubt?  He says, “Even if God should open up heaven, is this possible?”  In other words, the captain is saying that he believes Elisha’s prophecy to be impossible – even for God. 

I really think this is the problem here.  God knows we are human beings with a limited conception of the world.  We will doubt.  Quite often will need to be shown before we believe.  God can accept our doubting nature.  But God does not accept when our doubting nature turns into a questioning of His character and His power.  We can doubt, but let’s learn how to do it in a way that reinforces the character and omnipotence of God rather than a way that puts God’s character in question.

God’s Deliverance

Before we get to the fulfillment of Elisha’s prophecy, let me spend just a moment on the act of God.  The armies of God are so fierce and so overpowering that the Syrians flee without breaking camp.  They literally leave everything behind in their haste to escape.  Sure, they are convinced that the sounds of armies that they are hearing are actually the sounds of Egyptians and Hittites – and who could blame them for this human misunderstanding?  But the point is that when God comes to fight it is so fearsome that his opponents will leave everything behind simply to spare their lives.  This is what it means to come against God – to put ourselves in a position that when the battle is joined we will have lost everything and barely escaped with our lives.

I love that expression, but it is really the truest for the follower of Jesus Christ.  The true follower of Jesus Christ begins life in conflict with God as we all do.  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  See Romans 3:23.  While we were enemies of God we were reconciled to Him through Jesus Christ.  See Romans 5:10.  We are born into a corrupt and sinful nature.

But as the follower of Christ is confronted by God, the follower of Christ lets go of everything in this world.  In an attempt to flee utter destruction, the true follower abandons all in the realization that nothing the person is, has, or does can save the true follower.  The follower of Christ abandons the world and its ways in order to embrace Christ and His ways. 

This is where the story of the true follower diverges from the example of the Syrian army.  The Syrians continue to flee away from God back to their homes.  The true follower – after abandoning all – turns back to God and accepts God’s judgment upon him or her.  The true follower accepts God’s judgment while placing the faith of salvation purely in Christ.  The true follower accepts that God’s wrath with destroy all that is unworthy to belong in the follower of God while God’s grace in Christ will rebuild the person in a holy way.  This is really just another way of describing what Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians 3:10-17.

Back to the Israelites

So now we move onto the fulfillment of Elisha’s prophecy.  With the Syrians gone, the people in the town no longer need to worry about things like starvation and cannibalism.  Imagine their joy at having that weight lifted off of their chest.  Can there be any wonder that the people flee the city to ransack the things left behind by the Syrian army?  The problem that I see is simple: who of the city turns to remember – or even notice – that the deliverance came from God?  There’s a spiritual problem right there.  We are so happy to find relief that as human beings we often forget to thank God and give credit to God.

Salvation Discovered by Lepers

To close, let me go back and pick up a loose end that I overlooked because I wanted to save it.  I think there is irony in the fact that it is actually lepers that discover the Syrians are gone.  Who is it that finds God’s grace in the world but people who have no reason to continue living in the world!  These lepers have no reason to enter the city – they’ll just starve.  They have no reason to stay outside the gates – they’ll just die of starvation or exposure or other things.  So these people who have nothing to hold onto in this world decide to go to the Syrians and there they find God’s grace!

Of course, in finding God’s grace they immediately show their humanity.  They stuff God’s grace into hiding and begin by hoarding it all to themselves.  Fortunately they are convicted of their wrongdoing and do share God’s grace with others eventually.  But humanity is humanity regardless of our condition.  Human instinct is self-centered first and foremost, even in the face of God’s grace.  Thank God that there is repentance and forgiveness!

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Year 2, Day 4: 2 Kings 6

2 Kings 6 has some very unique stories with some fairly basic messages to us.

The Axe Head

In the story of the axe head, let’s not miss the beginning of the story.  One of the buildings housing a school of prophets that Elisha was overseeing had gotten too small.  That means that they were growing!  In a time when the general faith of the nations was in decline, there was a small bubble of faithfulness that could be found among the Hebrew people.  The whole world may not be faithful, but that that doesn’t mean that there isn’t faith in the world!

It would seem that some of the students of the school were poor, because at least one of the students had borrowed tools in order to work on the school.  Of course, there is no inherent problem with being poor and there is no inherent problem with borrowing tools.  In fact, I think that it is neat that we have a testimony here that Elisha took disciples who couldn’t even provide for themselves.  It demonstrates the lesson we learned yesterday – accruing wealth was not a motivating factor for Elisha.

What is important is that we are a responsible for what we do have – and if that means borrowing something then we are careful to return it back in the same (or better) condition than we got it.  Of course, when an axe head flies off the handle and into water, that makes it tough to do.  There can be little wonder why this poor student was worried.  If he had to borrow the axe in the first place, how could he ever replace it?

What’s pretty cool here is that God performs a miracle and it appears to be over something of little consequence.  I mean, it is one thing to know a person is terminally ill – or even dead – and restore them to full health.  It is a big deal to feed thousands of people with food that shouldn’t have stretched that far.  But compared to those incidents making a little axe head float for a reasonably insignificant student seems pretty minor.  Yet, God still cares enough to perform a miracle.  God doesn’t care about how big the circumstance is; God cares about making His name glorified through the things that He does.  It doesn’t matter to God that that axe head is insignificant and the borrower of the axe head is poor.  God still resolves the circumstance.

Horses and Chariots

The next story in this chapter is the story about the horses and chariots of Syria.  As we read this story, we can see the true agenda of God.  God is not interested in promoting the wars of mankind.  In fact – and be careful, I might go a little heretical here – God doesn’t care about making His people the dominant people in the world. 

Think about this for a second.  In the sum total of human history, how many of those years have the Jews been the dominant force over the face of the world?  Let’s talk about Christianity, even.  Today, how many of the “world’s most important people” are genuinely Christian?  If God’s primary agenda was to promote His people, then God is doing a pretty poor job of accomplishing that goal.  The reality is that God has a different agenda than promoting His people into high positions in this world.

God’s agenda is about revealing Himself and His ways to the world so that the world can be in relationship with Him.  That’s the really neat part of this story.  If God’s agenda was promoting “His people” then Elisha would have told the king of Israel to slaughter the Syrians that had been delivered into his midst. 

But that isn’t what happens at all.  Elisha tells the king to feed them, give them water, and send them on their way.  God isn’t interested in destroying the Syrians even in the slightest!  Instead, God is interested in revealing His ways to them.

Now, we do know that the Syrians don’t come to God as a nation over this event – although it is certainly possible that some in the army got the message.  But what we do see is that this particular king of Syria learns to respect God’s ways and doesn’t send raiding parties any more.  The king of Syria understands that the king of Israel could have slaughtered his force.  Instead, the Syrian soldiers are cared for and returned unharmed.  Respect is gained and earned.  It is amazing just how much respect we can earn from others by adopting a policy of loving our enemies rather than fighting with them.

Sieges and Blame

Most of the last story in this chapter ties into tomorrow’s reading, so I’ll leave a good bit of the discussion for then.  But for now I will note that the king of Israel is quick to assume that the siege of the city is Elisha’s fault.  The king looks for a scapegoat rather than turning to God.

This is pretty common among the prophets.  The people turn from the Lord.  To deal with this reality, God asks the prophets to warn the people.  Rather than seeing the error of their own ways, the people assume that the prophet is responsible for the calamity that is coming upon them because of their own choices.  In a sense, it’s the whole “Don’t kill the messenger” principle all over again.

In fact, this is pretty common among humanity.  How many of us really enjoy hearing bad news or experiencing bad events in our life?  The first person who comes along to try and tell us about our issues and how we might resolve them usually gets our wrath and our defensive walls.  We like to “kill the messenger” when the truth is that the fault pretty typically lies with ourselves and not the messenger.  But since it is usually far easier to blame them instead of listen to them, that is what we do. 

People of God – especially people who have the calling to be a prophet and bring God ways to others – need to understand that sometimes it is part of the job.  It’s a pretty bad part of the job, but it happens pretty much every time God wants to prove a point to a rebellious group of people.  Human beings don’t like to hear that they are wrong.  We enjoy rebellion if it means that we can be right.

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Year 2, Day 3: 2 Kings 5

As odd and unusual as the stories were yesterday, the stories today fit like an old glove that has been well shaped to fit my hand.  I love the stories of Naaman the Syrian general.  We have such a classic piece of humanity in this passage.  But before we get to Naaman, let’s get to slavery.

An Unexpected Lesson

This whole story comes about because a slave girl was willing to be a witness in the midst of her slavery.  She could have been spiteful against Naamam because of her condition.  She could have been spiteful against God because she was dragged away from her homeland.  But she is neither.  She is bold in her proclamation and tells Naamam about the prophets back in her homeland.

Yes, she’s a slave.  She’s a captive of war, no doubt.  She has every reason to grumble, complain, and be bitter.  But her focus is on what God is doing in her life, not her own desires.

In this light, this slave girl displays a great amount of faith.  She had no reason to speak up.  Imagine what could happen to her if she spoke up, Naaman went on this long journey, and had Naaman not been cured!  She is really putting her neck out on the line believing that God could accomplish what she knows Him to be able to accomplish.  She steps out in faith, and God honors her faith.

On to Naaman

Now let’s move ahead and look to Naaman.  As I said earlier we see a pretty good display of humanity here.  Naaman is certainly not a man of faith, if for no other reason than he is a Syrian and likely has had very little contact with God.  But he is willing to put in some effort so long as the outcome is beneficial to him.  This is the first thing we can learn about people.  When a person is motivated enough, the person will go out and do whatever needs to be done.  Whether they believe it or not, a person will do it if they think there is a chance at a successful outcome.  That’s why many people play the lottery!  But until a person reaches that level of motivation, there is no guarantee that they will put forth the effort.  This is why many people don’t play the lottery!

But Naaman does want to be cured of his leprosy, so he goes through the motions.  He goes to the king, who sends a letter and Naaman goes with some gifts to the king of Israel.  Naaman even goes and speaks to Elisha.  However, Naaman is unwilling to listen to the advice because the advice doesn’t meet his own expectations.  This is the second thing that we learn about humanity.  We are very likely to be critical about things when they do not match our expectations.  Even if something is far simpler than what we anticipate we’re likely to be critical instead of grateful.  We as human beings are so wrapped up in ourselves, our dreams, our hopes, and our desires that we are often prone to missing what God is trying to do in our life.  We are so self-centered that we have a hard time listening to God.  That’s Naaman’s reaction when Elisha tells him to simply go and wash 7 times.

But, let’s not be completely hard on Naaman.  Although Naaman is self-centered like all humans are, he is not stubborn.  Although he initially sees Elisha’s prophetic message through a critical eye, Naaman is willing to change.  He is willing to listen to the perspective of others.  He is willing to acknowledge that his first impulse may have been wrong.  He is willing to do what he must.  Here we learn something valuable about human beings and our relationship with God.  God does not demand perfection, but he does demand humility and a servant nature.  To put it in words that sound like the Apostle Paul’s writing in the New Testament, we must be willing to crucify the sinful self-centered person and allow the God-centered humble servant, made alive in us by the Holy Spirit rather than our own creation, to shine through.

Naaman is cured.  Because he is willing to be humble and consider that he was wrong, he meets God.  Because he is willing to be humble, he finds himself in a genuine life-changing relationship with God.

Gehazi

Now we turn to Gehazi.  We see here Gehazi’s greed.  Let’s put some facts on the table.  First, remember that a talent of silver was worth about 15 years worth of income.  Gehazi doesn’t receive some small payment, he receives about 30 years worth – a lifetime – of income.  Second, let’s note that Gehazi doesn’t receive a gift, he receives a payment.  Naaman came to Elisha to pay him for his services and Elisha refused, letting Naaman go away knowing that it was through the grace of God that he was healed.  Gehazi goes after Naaman to procure wealth.  He might phrase it as a gift, but it is a payment.  Third, Gehazi receives spiritual payment for the desires of his heart.  Gehazi lusted after the things of Naaman, and the Lord saw it fit to give Gehazi not only a portion of Naaman’s wealth but also a portion of his leprosy.  While Naaman walks away cleansed and knowing God’s grace, Gehazi walks away knowing the result of his human desire for earthly treasure.

It is sad to see the corruption of sin even among the faithful – and let me confess that it is there, even among me!  Spiritual leaders are not immune to succumbing to sinfulness once and a while.  Yes, we are human.  No, that is no excuse.  It is always sad to see the destructive nature of sin, especially in people who should know better.  It was sad to see it when Moses struck the rock.  It was sad to see it when Joshua made pacts with the Canaanites rather than driving them out.  It was sad to see it so often in David.  It was sad to see it in Elijah.  It is sad to see it all throughout history and in the present.  But the good news is that if we are repentant and willing to face the consequences, God can still use us in spite of our sinful nature.

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Year 2, Day 2: 2 Kings 4

Today we have a collection of stories about Elisha, and I’ll not kid you today.  Some of these stories feel a bit weird.  The stories are enigmatic and unusual.  So if you read this passage today and felt as though you missed something or if you felt like the meaning of the stories is just out of your reach, that’s okay.  These stories are easy to hear, hard to understand, and even more difficult to feel as though they have been mastered.  But let’s try to at least get some understanding from them.  I can’t promise to have mastered them today, but I think we can learn something from them.

The Widow and the Oil

Let’s begin with the story of the widow with a debt.  Clearly this is a supernatural story as the jar of oil never runs out until the woman has plenty of oil to sell and bring her family out of debt.  From this story we can gain several interesting thoughts.

First, this story flies in the face of physics.  Physics has a law that states the conservation of matter and the conservation of energy.  It is impossible for mankind to create new matter.  We can take matter and alter its chemical form, change its nuclear construction, and thus change the appearance of the matter.  We can even take matter, change its form, and release (or consume) energy in the process.  But in the end when we add up the total matter and the total energy the beginning value and ending value must be in balance. 

However, this story indicates that the woman had some small amount of oil and then miraculously she had more oil.  It isn’t that she had some hidden stash of oil – if she did she would have just sold it in the first place and not had the problem with the debt.  So first things first – this is a story that flies in the face of science.  It is a story that can only be believed if one believes that God is capable of working outside the natural laws of physics that God put in place when He created the universe.  From my perspective this just makes sense, but I am admittedly a bit biased.

Second, we can learn that God is capable of using what we have to provide for our needs.  God doesn’t need for us to win the lottery.  He doesn’t need for us to meet a rich member of the family.  God can meet our needs with what we have and what He has given to us.  Life proves this – especially in today’s economy.  How many people in this world are struggling to make ends meet?  Yet, they continue to do it.  How many people throughout history spent most of their life wondering how they would put food on the table and a roof over their head?  Yet they have managed.  God can meet our needs and God can get us through life.  It may not be easy and it may not be luxurious.  But God can do it if we are willing to work with Him.

The Shunammite

We will continue with the story of the Shunammite woman.  There are three very important aspects to this story.  First, the woman and her husband were wealthy.  Second, Elisha has no trouble interacting with them in spite of their obvious wealth.  Third, the Shunammite woman knows how to be gracious amidst her status in life.

This story goes to prove that God does not consider wealth a sin.  When looking at sinful behavior, God considers how we use our wealth and how we treat others with respect to our wealth.  But having wealth is no sin in and of itself.  The woman is gracious to Elisha in spite of her wealth.  Not only is she gracious, but she is doubly blessed through her graciousness.

She is first blessed by having a son in spite of the advanced age of her husband.  But not only is a son born to her, later in life she gets to experience the power of God over death.  Because of her ability to be generous in the midst of the vast temptation into sin that her wealth offered her, she was able to see a physical manifestation of the absolute physics-defying power of God.  If God can defy physics by making oil out of nothing, is it any harder to believe that God can restore life to a life that He created in the first place?

Spiritual Food

The last story we have is the story of the “death in the pot” and the “miraculous stretching of food.”  In both cases we find Elisha able to provide for the needs of the people through the power of God.  Elisha demonstrates that God is able to take “death in a pot” and through His Word turn it into something that is life-giving.  This is absolutely a foreshadowing of God’s ability to taking a bunch of sinful human beings and through His Spirit turn us into life-bringing disciples of His Son!

Elisha demonstrates again that there is always enough to go around in God.  Regardless of our need and regardless of how many people come to believe in Him, there is always enough God to go around.  In many ways, this story foreshadows the feedings of the 5,000 and 4,000 as told to us by the Gospel writers.

Foreshadowing Christ

As I conclude this passage, I am struck by the comparisons with Elisha to Jesus in this chapter.  Let’s look at this a little more deeply and expand it a bit:

• Elisha was preceded by Elijah; Jesus was preceded by John the Baptizer. 
• Elisha raised a young child of a community leader from death to life; Jesus raised several people from death to life.  Among them was a young girl to a community leader named Jairus.
• Elisha stretched food to feed more than it should; Jesus has the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000. 
• Elisha is not afraid to mingle and minister with women and men; Jesus also thinks it valuable to make disciples of both women and men.

Is there any wonder that when the Jews looked for the Messiah to come, they looked for Elijah to precede Him?

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Year 2, Day 1: 2 Kings 3

There are a few chapters in the Bible that still surprise me from time to time in that I simply don’t remember the stories that they contain.  This chapter happens to be the case for me.  I’m pretty good at remembering the stories contained within the Bible, but this one felt brand new to me today.  What was really new to me was the water appearing as blood.  But we’ll save that for the end.

Jehoshaphat

Let’s begin with Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa and the good king of Judah.  Although he is a good king, he makes a mistake here.  Jehoshaphat aligns himself with a godless king Jehoram of Israel.  What’s worse, both of these kings align themselves with the godless nation of Edom – one of the enemies of the Hebrew people – although somewhat kin due to the Jacob and Esau connection from many generations back.  Jehoshaphat is taking up some strange company for some strange purposes.  He seems to be choosing physical blood relationships and their goals instead of the spiritual relationship of God.

This passage reads dangerously close to Jehoshaphat making alliances with worldly kings and relying upon the Lord less and less.  Fortunately, before it can go too far down that road God withdraws water from them and causes the kings to question whether what they are doing is really a good thing.  It is at this point that Jehoshaphat comes to his senses and asks for a man of God.  Jehoshaphat is reminded that he needs to depend on God and he makes the necessary course correction to reflect this truth in his actions.

This is a really cool point today.  How many times do we go off on our own expeditions in life, forgetting to check with God?  I know I do it all the time.  As we see here with Jehoshaphat, God comes to us and places reminders in our life to remember to check with Him.  Here we see Jehoshaphat begin to wander a bit, but he correctly identifies his error when God gives him the opportunity.  Well done, Jehoshaphat!  We would be wise to also learn this lesson.  We will wander, but God will desire to draw us back to Him.

Elisha’s Involvement

So Elisha comes before Jehoshaphat and the two godless kings.  For the sake of Jehoshaphat, God uses Elisha to bring water before the army so that they can be victorious.  God desires to save His people, but He wants to make sure that they recognize their need for Him and learn the lesson first.

We can gain two really neat understandings from this part of the story.  First, as we discussed earlier, human beings make many mistakes – even good godly people.  So long as we are still alive it is never too late to turn to God, repent of the times we have forgotten Him, and continue in the relationship that He so much desires. 

Second, we can also learn that those in leadership need to take their spirituality seriously.  Had Jehoshaphat not called for a prophet of the Lord, would the armies have been saved or would they have gone so much without water that they would have been easily destroyed by the Moabites?  The godless following worldly behaviors almost went forth into peril.  It is the faith of the sole spiritually attuned leader who responds to God’s lesson and begins the path back to God’s blessing.

The Battle is Joined

Now let’s shift gears and talk about the end of the story.  The Moabites hear about the army marching towards them.  They muster their troops, see the water that they knew hadn’t been there before, see that the water was red like blood, and assumed that the armies who had initially come to defeat them had turned on each other.  They think the battle will be easy.  In fact, they are so convinced of their victory that they go out to claim spoil rather than to fight.  They are routed hard.

What can we learn from this story?  First, expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies.  The army of Moab thinks the battle will be easy and they are not mentally prepared for the tough battle ahead.  They go into the battle with a half-hearted effort and they are routed.  We must be careful not to fail because of our attitude.

Furthermore, we can learn that God fights our battles for us in ways that we cannot imagine.  There is no way that the trio of armies could know that God was going to use the color of the water to set the tone for the battle, but that is precisely what God does.  God can use the most seemingly unrelated influences to bring about His will.  God’s use of the water in this way is simply unpredictable, but that is how God works.  God’s ways are great, glorious, and not at all ways that are comprehensible and predictable to mankind.  Just look at Christ for proof of that concept!

Finally, we also learn that desperate men do desperate things in desperate times.  The king of Moab sacrifices his own son upon the wall of the city.  The battle is going poorly and the king starts panicking.  Human beings typically make poor decisions in the moment of panic.

Historical Footnote

I would encourage you to look up and research the Moabite Stone, know within archaeological circles as the Mesha Stele.  A stele is an object with an inscription upon it – often a stone.  On the Moabite stone we have the account of this very story from the perspective of the king of Moab (King Meshe)!  How cool is that!  We have discovered an extra-Biblical archaeological artifact affirming that this story in 2 Kings 3 is an actual historical fact!  I love it when we find things in the world that show that what the Bible talks about actually did happen.

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