2 Kings 9 - No escaping judgement

Appointing Jehu king over Israel was another of the tasks given to Elijah in 1 Kings 19:16. Elisha sent one of the prophets from the company to go and anoint Jehu and then to run. Jehu was anointed specifically to destroy the house of Ahab. Jezebel would also come to a stick end. Jehu told the soldiers what had happened and they acknowledged him as king.
Jehu then started to take the throne. Joram and Ahaziah had been involved in defending against Hazael and were in the city of Jezreel. Jehu rode on a chariot and was accumulating followers. Joram went out to meet him and did so at the location of Naboth's vineyard. The powerful may have forgotten what they had done to Naboth, but God had not forgotten.
"How can there be peace as long as idolatry and witchcraft abound?" As long as evil abounds there can be no true peace and prosperity. This is something that our own nations would do well to remember. Both Joram and Ahaziah were killed, and Joram's blood was spilt on Naboth's land.
Finally Jezebel is killed and eaten by dogs. The eunuchs had thrown her down to the ground, realising which way the wind was blowing.
So judgement on the house of Ahab and Jezebel was complete.

2 Kings 8:16-29 - Bad kings in Judah

Jehoshaphat had been quite a good king, but his son Jehoram was not. Jehoram followed the ways of Ahab, and this was a result of his having married a daughter of Ahab. We need to be careful who we marry for it will have a deep effect on our lives. If you are a believer but marry a non-believer you take an enormous risk and may lose your salvation. Now there are cases where someone marries an unbeliever and the unbeliever gets saved. Praise God when this happens, but the most likely outcome is that the believer will be led away from the Lord. Now the case of where two people are married and one gets saved is completely different. In this case, Paul's instruction in 1 Corinthians 7 applies. We can so easily be led astray by our emotions.

God did not destroy Judah because of His promise to David. We need to realise that sometimes we are blessed, or seem to "get away with things" because of the goodness of someone else.

However, Judah did experience increased difficulties, with various subjugated nations rebelling against them. As mentioned before, when we rebel against God we lost authority. 

Ahaziah succeeded Jehoram and he was no better. Again, he was related to the house of Ahab and this was the source of the trouble. Ahaziah joined Joram in battles against Hazael.

2 Kings 8:1-15 - God's care and prophecies fulfilled

The Shunammite's woman appears again. Elisha had warned her about the famine and told her to go away for a while. Now this would have involved the risk of losing her property, but God had this matter in hand. God cares for us more than we ever imagine, and has taken care of all sorts of details. He doesn't always tell us everything He is going to do, but we can always have complete confidence in Him. The woman returned after seven years and Gehazi happened to be speaking to the king at that time. The king seemed to have a more favourable attitude to Elisha at the time, and Gehazi was relating the tale of Elisha raising the Shunammite woman's son back to life. So the king restored everything to the woman.

One of the things Elijah had been told to do was to anoint Hazael king over Aram (1 Kings 19:15). Ben-Hadad was ill and sent Hazael to consult Elisha. The reputation of Elisha had spread far and wide and godless nations were aware of him and wanted to consult him.

Elisha said he would recover, but he also knew that Hazael would kill the king, so it was not the illness but Hazael who would kill the king. Elisha also knew what a violent man Hazael would be.

2 Kings 6:24-7:20 - Siege and Siege lifted

Aram now attacked Samaria. There was a terrible siege and great famine in the land. A donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver and "the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung" for five shekels. Now you, as I was, are no doubt wondering why on earth dove's dung had any value whatsoever, siege or no siege. Well when famines get really bad people will literally eat anything. 

The king was apparently unaware of just how bad things were, but the reality of the situation was brought to his attention when two women brought a case to him about eating their children. Things really were that bad.

The king acted totally irrationally, thinking that beheading Elisha would help the situation, instead of realising that a little repentance on his part would far more effective. Today the world thinks it can avoid the consequences of its sin by shutting up those who preach the truth of the Bible, it is equally mistaken.

Elisha prophesied that the famine would soon be lifted, but that the messenger himself would not eat of any of the food.

The good news was brought by four lepers. They were as desperate as anyone else and decided to go out to the Arameans. However, God had put fear into the Arameans' hearts by means of a false report of help coming from the Hittites and Egyptians. So the lepers found lots of food left behind. They then acted honourably by going back to the city to tell the people.

Elisha's words were fulfilled.

2 Kings 6:7-23 - Those who are for us

God revealed things to Elisha, and this included the troop movements of the king of Aram. Obviously, this gave the Israelites a great advantage.  The king of Aram realised that something was going on and initially thought there must be a spy or traitor in the camp. However, his officers had obviously heard of Elisha and knew that he was the source of the inside information.

The king decided to send troops to capture Elisha. One might have thought that he would have had an inkling that trying to capture a clearly effective man of God by natural means was unlikely to work, but people do not always think logically. 

The troops came and Elisha's servant was greatly concerned. Elisha, however, was perfectly calm and uttered the famous word "those who are with us are more than those who are against us". There is an echo of this in 1 John 4:4, "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world". We need to realise who is on our side! Elisha then prayed for God to open his servant's eyes to see the true situation. We need to look at things with the eyes of faith. Notice in the opening chapters of Ephesians and Colossians the things that Paul prays for. He prays for our eyes to be opened to the fullness of what God has done for us. 

Elisha's servant saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire. Remember that Elijah was taken away in a chariot of fire. 

Elisha then prayed for God to strike the enemy with blindness. Then he led them into a trap. The king of Israel wanted to know if he should seize the opportunity and kill them. Elisha advised against it, citing the equivalent of our "Geneva convention". The king then threw a feast for the captives and then sent them away. As a result the raids stopped. If the king had killed them it is likely that there would have been more intense raids. So we see a mixture of the supernatural, righteousness and wisdom at work here.

2 Kings 6:1-7 - Lord of all

Elisha was not the only prophet but had a "supporting cast" in the form of the company of prophets, literally it says "sons of prophets". It seems that there numbers had grown and they needed a larger place to meet. So they went to chop wood in order to build a bigger hall. In the course of this one of them lost an axe head, and this axe belonged to someone else. We can all imagine the anguish that the man felt. Elisha did another miracle and the axe head was retrieved. Note how trivial this was, and that it could have been put down to the carelessness of the man, yet God still intervened. God truly does care about all the details of our lives, as Jesus said, all the hairs on our head are counted. This is not an excuse for a lackadaisical approach to life, but nor should we get neurotic about things. God's concern for our lives goes far deeper than we ever imagine.

Note also that God puts these stories in the Bible. There are accounts of kings and prophets, great battles, the moral degeneracy of the nation, and then these seemingly trivial matters. God is involved in all things.

People sometimes mock Christians who pray for a parking space or some such thing. There is nothing wrong with doing this! Of course, if that is all I ever pray about there is a problem and I should pray for other matters as well. Moreover it betrays a deep misunderstanding. If God blesses me it does not mean that He has less to bless someone else with! There is also another side to this. When God blesses someone else it does not mean He has less to bless you with! We can sometimes think "why has such and such been blessed and I haven't". We should never be envious of others, instead we should rejoice with those who rejoice, we should rejoice when others are blessed.

2 Kings 5 - Don't be proud

This is one of the well-known stories in 2 Kings, the healing of Naaman. As happens periodically, it is a non-Jew who receives God's blessing, reminding us that God has no favourites, and His eventual mission is to the world. As God said to Abraham, "all nations will be blessed through you" (Gen 12:2,3).

Note in verse 1 that the victory of Aram over Israel is attributed to the Lord. Naaman was the commander of the army but had leprosy. During the course of their wars an Israeli girl had been captured, and she was serving Naaman's wife. Evidently she had heard of Elisha and told her mistress that the prophet could heal Naaman. So God was working through the the minutiae of events. 

Naaman sought permission from his king and off he went. First Naaman went to the king, who was greatly distressed, knowing that he did not have the power to heal, and fearing the consequences. However, Elisha heard about this and sorted things out.

Elisha gave his famous instruction to Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan. Naaman was displeased about this, for it offended his pride. When we come to God we must come in humility, we need to recognise the true nature of our position in life. Fortunately one of Naaman's servants enabled him to see sense, Naaman did dip in the Jordan and was healed.

Naaman wanted to give Elisha a gift, but Elisha refused. Naaman also asked that the Lord would forgive him for he had to go to the temple of Rimmon as part of his job. Naaman now recognised who the Lord was.

While Naaman's servants had been very helpful to him, indeed vital in enabling him to receive the blessing of God, Elisha's servant was far less righteous. He saw a chance to make a killing from Naaman. As a result Gehazi was struck with leprosy.