Moving along in the story of Hezekiah, 2 Kings 18 records conflict with the Assyrians even repeating the demise of the Northern Kingdom:

In the fourth year of Hezekiah and the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria attacked Samaria. He threw a siege around it and after three years captured it. It was in the sixth year of Hezekiah and the ninth year of Hoshea that Samaria fell to Assyria. The king of Assyria took Israel into exile and relocated them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River, and in towns of the Medes. All this happened because they wouldn’t listen to the voice of their GOD and treated his covenant with careless contempt. They refused either to listen or do a word of what Moses, the servant of GOD, commanded. (2 Kings 18.9 – 12, MSG)

“They wouldn’t listen to the voice of their God…” So God judged the Northern Kingdom and used Assyria to do it. But of course the king of Assyria thought it was his power and that he was God’s instrument to take out Judah too. He sent a message to the people of Jerusalem:

The third officer, the Rabshakeh, was spokesman. He said, “Tell Hezekiah: A message from The Great King, the king of Assyria: You’re living in a world of make-believe, of pious fantasy. Do you think that mere words are any substitute for military strategy and troops? Now that you’ve revolted against me, who can you expect to help you? You thought Egypt would, but Egypt’s nothing but a paper tiger…Or are you going to tell me, ‘We rely on GOD’? But Hezekiah has just eliminated most of the people’s access to God by getting rid of all the local God-shrines, ordering everyone in Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at the Jerusalem altar only.’ So be reasonable. Make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria…How long are you going to hold on to that figment of your imagination, these hoped-for Egyptian chariots and horses? Do you think I’ve come up here to destroy this country without the express approval of GOD? The fact is that GOD expressly ordered me, ‘Attack and destroy this country!’…I’ll take you to a land sweeter by far than this one, a land of grain and wine, bread and vineyards, olive orchards and honey. You only live once—so live, really live! No. Don’t listen to Hezekiah. Don’t listen to his lies, telling you ‘GOD will save us.’ Has there ever been a god anywhere who delivered anyone from the king of Assyria? (2 Kings 18.19 – 25, 32, 33, MSG)

Tough talk…with some errors. For example, he incorrectly assumed that Hezekiah had limited people’s access to God when he demolished the local shrines. (See 2 Kings 18.1 – 4) And, of course, God had NOT commanded Assyria to take out Judah.

The threats continue into chapter 19. We have the first mention of “Isaiah, son of Amoz” – the first of the “major prophets.” Isaiah promises relief:

Isaiah answered [Hezekiah’s messengers], “Tell your master, ‘GOD’s word: Don’t be at all concerned about what you’ve heard from the king of Assyria’s bootlicking errand boys—these outrageous blasphemies. Here’s what I’m going to do: Afflict him with self-doubt. He’s going to hear a rumor and, frightened for his life, retreat to his own country. Once there, I’ll see to it that he gets killed.’ ” (2 Kings 19.6, 7, MSG)

The king of Assyria pulled back temporarily, but his messenger wrote a formal letter reiterating the threat, including these boasts:

Don’t let that god that you think so much of keep stringing you along with the line, ‘Jerusalem will never fall to the king of Assyria.’ That’s a barefaced lie. You know the track record of the kings of Assyria—country after country laid waste, devastated. And what makes you think you’ll be an exception? (2 Kings 19.10 – 11, MSG)

I love Hezekiah’s response…one that we could learn from:

Hezekiah took the letter from the envoy and read it. He went to The Temple of GOD and spread it out before GOD. And Hezekiah prayed… (2 Kings 19.14, 15, MSG)

Hezekiah shows God the letter(!) and prays based on the honor of God (see 2 Kings 19.14 – 19). “Look at this letter Sennacherib has sent, a brazen insult to the living God!”

As an answer to the prayer, Isaiah sends a response to Sennacherib (“I will turn you back to where you came from.”) and a promise for Hezekiah:

To sum up, this is what GOD says regarding the king of Assyria: He won’t enter this city, nor shoot so much as a single arrow there; Won’t brandish a shield, won’t even begin to set siege; He’ll go home by the same road he came; he won’t enter this city. GOD’s word! I’ll shield this city, I’ll save this city, for my sake and for David’s sake. (2 Kings 19.32 – 34, MSG)

And it happened:

And it so happened that that very night an angel of GOD came and massacred a hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians. When the people of Jerusalem got up next morning, there it was—a whole camp of corpses! Sennacherib king of Assyria got out of there fast, headed straight home for Nineveh, and stayed put. One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer murdered him and then escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon became the next king. (2 Kings 19.35 – 37, MSG)

It’s never a bad idea to pray based on God’s honor:

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. (Matthew 6.9, ESV)

O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name. (Daniel 9.18 – 19, ESV)

We continue with 2 Kings after the dispersal of the Northern Kingdom. Hezekiah takes the throne of Judah and is off to a good start, including something I’d forgotten even though I just wrote about it in March!

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz began his rule over Judah. He was twenty-five years old when he became king and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. In GOD’s opinion he was a good king; he kept to the standards of his ancestor David. He got rid of the local fertility shrines, smashed the phallic stone monuments, and cut down the sex-and-religion Asherah groves. As a final stroke he pulverized the ancient bronze serpent that Moses had made; at that time the Israelites had taken up the practice of sacrificing to it—they had even dignified it with a name, Nehushtan (The Old Serpent). Hezekiah put his whole trust in the GOD of Israel. There was no king quite like him, either before or after. (2 Kings 18.1 – 5, MSG)

Hezekiah destroyed the bronze serpent from Moses’ day. During the wilderness wanderings, the people started complaining, and “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people…” When they confessed their sin, God gave this instruction:

And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (Numbers 21.8, 9, ESV)

It was such a significant event that even Jesus used it to explain to Nicodemus what was going to happen:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3.14, 15, ESV)

So here’s a God-ordained cure: a bronze serpent on a pole. “Look and live!” A lovely picture of the cross. However, by Hezekiah’s time, it had become an idol. Not unlike the Israelites in Eli’s day who wanted the Ark of the Covenant on the battlefield:

“Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” (1 Samuel 4.2, 3, ESV)

“It” doesn’t save – whether it’s the Ark of the Covenant or the bronze serpent. Sometimes, things that were once a symbol used for good must be destroyed whether it’s a serpent on a pole, a once-beloved church program or tradition, even (gasp!) materials and methods that were once effective but are no longer.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5.21, ESV)

I’ve been sitting on this story for about six weeks, wondering what to do with it. I wasn’t an Elvis fan although I did appreciate some of the hymns he recorded. The man could sing. At any rate, here’s the official announcement of one of his personal bibles going up for auction:

Elvis Presley’s Personal Holy Bible on His Nightstand the Night He passed W/Underlined and Book Marked Passages (Comes W/Letter From Patsy Presley) – This Holy Bible (World Edition) was personally owned by Elvis Presley, and was on his nightstand in his bedroom at Graceland on the night he passed. The Bible is embossed with “Elvis Aaron Presley” in gold, and contains a large amount of book marked pages and underlined passages that seemingly spoke to Elvis. One of these underlined passages in particular is from the book of Job, 31:24-26, which reads, “If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand has gotten much; If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness.” This Bible comes with a handwritten letter from Elvis’ cousin Patsy Presley, with whom he was very close. The letter states in part, “Shortly after Elvis’ passing my uncle Vernon (Elvis’ dad) and I went up into Elvis’ bedroom at Graceland to organize and pack many of his personal belongings. This Holy Bible was one of three that Elvis had on his night table. After packing them Uncle Vernon had me take them home for safe keeping and eventually gave them to me.” It is well known that Elvis was an avid reader and a deeply spiritual man. Of all of Elvis’ Bibles sold over the years, this particular book has a truly touching story and fantastic provenance. – Official Notice of Auction, Lot # 2D: Elvis Presley’s Holy Bible on His Nightstand the Night He Passed

Elvis not only read the Bible, he “read and marked,” just like I teach. He realized that God’s creation was “very good” as recorded in Genesis 1, and he knew the dangers of trusting in wealth, from Job 31.

But what’s the lesson for us? My first thought was that for all I talk about making daily Bible reading and meditation part of our lives, more than reading and marking is required. Maybe the warning in 1 Kings 9 applies as does James’ admonition:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)

And maybe Elvis tried to obey, I don’t know.

The other thought comes on the heels of yesterday’s text, the last half of 2 Kings 17. I wonder if Elvis wanted both.

So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away…So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images… (2 Kings 17.33, 41, ESV)

Here are some snippets from a report from CBN:

“He was a Christian, and most people don’t know that,” Presley’s stepbrother, Billy Stanley told Faithwire. “When I say ‘Christian,’ he was a Bible-carrying Christian…wherever he went, he took the Bible with him.”

Stanley, who worked for Elvis when he was on tour, was tasked with carrying the performer’s Bible and shared that he often observed his stepbrother praying before performances and singing gospel songs afterward.

“He read the Bible almost every day,” he said.

Stanley authored The Faith of Elvis: A Story Only a Brother Can Tell, which reveals other unique details of Elvis’ faith and life.

“Nobody can really imagine the position Elvis was in…here you have a man that really changed culture,” Stanley said. “I always thought…he had the devil on one side, and he’s got God on the other side, and there was a constant battle going on inside of his head.”

Tragically, Elvis died at the age of 42 due to heart failure, but Stanley says that without a shadow of a doubt, Elvis remained connected to God. 

“I would hear people say, ‘You’re the king.’ He said, ‘No, no, I’m sorry. There’s only one true king, and that’s Jesus,'” Stanley told Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, adding, “He was not afraid to show his faith.”

Elvis, a Bible-reading believer in Jesus, dead at 42. Maybe the Apostle Paul’s warning from the experience of the Israelites in the wilderness applies, I don’t know:

The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did. And we must not turn our religion into a circus as they did—”First the people partied, then they threw a dance.” We must not be sexually promiscuous—they paid for that, remember, with twenty-three thousand deaths in one day! We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them. These are all warning markers—DANGER!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence. (1 Corinthians 10.6 – 12, MSG)

PS The auction was held Memorial Day weekend, and the Bible was sold for $150,000.

Yesterday we saw the end of the Northern Kingdom in 2 Kings 17, ending with:

In the end, GOD spoke a final No to Israel and turned his back on them. He had given them fair warning, and plenty of time, through the preaching of all his servants the prophets. Then he exiled Israel from her land to Assyria. And that’s where they are now. (2 Kings 17.23, MSG)

But that’s not the end of the story! There are 41 verses in 2 Kings 17. Verse 23 begs a question, if the northern tribes were exiled to Assyria, what happened to the people who were already in Assyria? And who is going to live in Israel?

The king of Assyria brought in people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and relocated them in the towns of Samaria, replacing the exiled Israelites. They moved in as if they owned the place and made themselves at home. (2 Kings 17.24, MSG)

And this relocation created a problem:

When the Assyrians first moved in, GOD was just another god to them; they neither honored nor worshiped him. Then GOD sent lions among them and people were mauled and killed. This message was then sent back to the king of Assyria: “The people you brought in to occupy the towns of Samaria don’t know what’s expected of them from the god of the land, and now he’s sent lions and they’re killing people right and left because nobody knows what the god of the land expects of them.” (2 Kings 17.25, 26, MSG)

Oops! What to do?

The king of Assyria ordered, “Send back some priests who were taken into exile from there. They can go back and live there and instruct the people in what the god of the land expects of them.” One of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came back and moved into Bethel. He taught them how to honor and worship GOD. (2 Kings 17.27 – 28, MSG, emphasis mine)

Problem solved, yes? Well, no, actually.

But each people that Assyria had settled went ahead anyway making its own gods and setting them up in the neighborhood sex-and-religion shrines that the citizens of Samaria had left behind—a local custom-made god for each people…They honored and worshiped GOD, but they also kept up their devotions to the old gods of the places they had come from. And they’re still doing it, still worshiping any old god that has nostalgic appeal to them. They don’t really worship GOD—they don’t take seriously what he says regarding how to behave and what to believe, what he revealed to the children of Jacob whom he named Israel. (2 Kings 17.29, 33, 34, MSG, emphasis mine)

It’s no wonder the Jews (tribe of Judah) of Jesus’ day had little dealing with the people of Samaria. Good thing we wouldn’t do anything like that: attempt to worship God but “don’t take seriously what he says regarding how to behave and what to believe…”

I have a VERY modern day example. Stay tuned.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6.4, 5, ESV)

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” (Matthew 22.34 – 38, ESV)

After 2 Kings 16, about King Ahaz of Judah, we’re back to the Northern Kingdom…and its end.

In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel. He ruled in Samaria for nine years. As far as GOD was concerned, he lived a bad life, but not nearly as bad as the kings who had preceded him. Then Shalmaneser king of Assyria attacked. Hoshea was already a puppet of the Assyrian king and regularly sent him tribute, but Shalmaneser discovered that Hoshea had been operating traitorously behind his back—having worked out a deal with King So of Egypt. And, adding insult to injury, Hoshea was way behind on his annual payments of tribute to Assyria. So the king of Assyria arrested him and threw him in prison, then proceeded to invade the entire country. He attacked Samaria and threw up a siege against it. The siege lasted three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign the king of Assyria captured Samaria and took the people into exile in Assyria. He relocated them in Halah, in Gozan along the Habor River, and in the towns of the Medes. (2 Kings 17.1 – 6, MSG)

Done. Kaput. Unlike the Babylonian captivity of Judah, which we’ll come to shortly and again in 2 Chronicles, there was no return from exile for the northern tribes.

GOD was so thoroughly angry that he got rid of them, got them out of the country for good until only one tribe was left—Judah…In the end, GOD spoke a final No to Israel and turned his back on them. He had given them fair warning, and plenty of time, through the preaching of all his servants the prophets. Then he exiled Israel from her land to Assyria. And that’s where they are now. (2 Kings 18, 23, MSG)

The text makes the WHY clear:

GOD had taken a stand against Israel and Judah, speaking clearly through countless holy prophets and seers time and time again, “Turn away from your evil way of life. Do what I tell you and have been telling you in The Revelation I gave your ancestors and of which I’ve kept reminding you ever since through my servants the prophets.” But they wouldn’t listen… They threw out everything GOD, their God, had told them, and replaced him with two statue-gods shaped like bull-calves and then a phallic pole for the whore goddess Asherah. They worshiped cosmic forces—sky gods and goddesses—and frequented the sex-and-religion shrines of Baal. They even sank so low as to offer their own sons and daughters as sacrificial burnt offerings! They indulged in all the black arts of magic and sorcery. In short, they prostituted themselves to every kind of evil available to them. And GOD had had enough. (2 Kings 17.13, 14, 16, 17, MSG)

There is grace until there’s not, and if anyone thinks the United States gets a special pass, they need to read about the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. (I do not think the US is a fulfillment, or reincarnation, or whatever of God’s chosen people, but there are those who do.) There is no question that the US has been blessed…but the lesson here is that blessings aren’t permanent.

He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing. (Proverbs 29.1, ESV)

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life… (Deuteronomy 30.15 – 19, ESV)

2 Kings 15 lists in rapid-fire a number of kings of both Judah and Israel. We’re still in parallel, the Northern Kingdom of Israel (many dynasties, no good kings) and the Southern Kingdom of Judah (one dynasty (David) and a few good kings). Then there’s a pause to talk about Ahaz, king of Judah, not a good king:

In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king and he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He didn’t behave in the eyes of his GOD; he wasn’t at all like his ancestor David. Instead he followed in the track of the kings of Israel. He even indulged in the outrageous practice of “passing his son through the fire”—a truly abominable act he picked up from the pagans GOD had earlier thrown out of the country. He also participated in the activities of the neighborhood sex-and-religion shrines that flourished all over the place. (2 Kings 16.1 – 4, MSG)

Remember, this is Judah, where Solomon’s Temple is, and it turns out that Ahaz is more impressed with how the Assyrians worship their false gods:

King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria in Damascus. The altar in Damascus made a great impression on him. He sent back to Uriah the priest a drawing and set of blueprints of the altar. Uriah the priest built the altar to the specifications that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. By the time the king returned from Damascus, Uriah had completed the altar. The minute the king saw the altar he approached it with reverence and arranged a service of worship with a full course of offerings: Whole-Burnt-Offerings with billows of smoke, Grain-Offerings, libations of Drink-Offerings, the sprinkling of blood from the Peace-Offerings—the works. But the old bronze Altar that signaled the presence of GOD he displaced from its central place and pushed it off to the side of his new altar. (2 Kings 16.10 – 14, MSG)

The text goes on to say that Ahaz made other modifications to the Temple:

Then King Ahaz proceeded to plunder The Temple furniture of all its bronze. He stripped the bronze from The Temple furnishings, even salvaged the four bronze oxen that supported the huge basin, The Sea, and set The Sea unceremoniously on the stone pavement. Finally, he removed any distinctive features from within The Temple that were offensive to the king of Assyria. (2 Kings 16.17 – 18, MSG)

There’s not even a commentary like, “This was really bad!” Or, “God was angry about these actions.” Nope. Those judgments are so obvious they’re not even recorded.

There is always the temptation to fit in. In the days of the early church, some wanted not to get too far away from Old Testament law keeping, they wanted to lessen the “offense” of the cross, and they were attracted to new, complex teaching. Who wants a plain, bronze altar, when we can have something fancier?

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. (Hebrews 13.8 – 13, ESV)

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— (Galatians 1.6, ESV)

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸  Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,  and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. (Colossians 2.16 – 19, ESV)

We are beginning recognize July 20 as National Moon Day in honor of the first moon landing, July 20, 1969. I remember it well, and I was privileged to meet several of the astronauts, including Buzz Aldrin about whom I wrote two blogs. Please check them out:

• Magnificent Desolation
• Humility

Buzz Aldrin preparing to salute the flag after the first moon landing

The moon landing was a magnificent achievement by tens of thousands of people over a remarkably short period of time: it was less than seven years from President John Kennedy’s “We Choose to Go to the Moon” speech until the first manned landing.

We choose to go to the moon. We chose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we’re willing to accept. One we are unwilling to postpone. And therefore, as we set sail, we ask God’s blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure that man has ever gone. – John Kennedy, September 12, 1962

“That goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.” There’s power in attempting something hard…together, something God recognized way back at the building of the tower of Babel:

And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” (Genesis 11.6, ESV)

Are there worthy goals to attempt today? Either as a community of nations, the United States, or even the Church? It would require unity…which we’re not good at today at any level.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4.1 – 6, ESV)

This blog originally appeared July 20, 2023.

Back to 2 Kings, we’re entering the period leading up to Israel (the Northern Kingdom) being scattered in 2 Kings 17. The text mentions a lot of kings of both Israel and Judah but not much detail about each. (We’ll get some additional detail about pivotal kings of Judah when we go through 2 Chronicles.)

However, there is this interesting aside in the story of Jeroboam II (no relation to the first king of Israel):

In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash became king of Israel in Samaria. He ruled for forty-one years. As far as GOD was concerned he lived an evil life, never deviating an inch from all the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into a life of sin. But he did restore the borders of Israel to Lebo Hamath in the far north and to the Dead Sea in the south, matching what GOD, the God of Israel, had pronounced through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher. (2 Kings 14.23 – 25, MSG)

It’s the only mention of Jonah outside the book of Jonah, and it confirms he’s a real guy from a real place, Gath Hepher, a town near Nazareth:

Today the site, at latitude 32° 44′ 30″ N and longitude 35° 19′ 30″ E in the Galilee, is a small set of ruins on a hilltop near the Arab village of Mashad five kilometers north of Nazareth and one kilometer from Kafr Kanna. – Wikipedia

And where is Gath Hepher? Galilee! Which gives one pause when reading about one of the attacks against Jesus:

The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” (John 7.47 – 52, ESV, emphasis mine)

But there was a prophet from Galilee: Jonah!

Don’t confuse me with facts; my mind is made up!

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21.9 – 11, ESV)

One last, odd story about Elisha. His miracles don’t even cease after his death:

Then Elisha died and they buried him. Some time later, raiding bands of Moabites, as they often did, invaded the country. One day, some men were burying a man and spotted the raiders. They threw the man into Elisha’s tomb and got away. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came alive, stood up, and walked out on his own two feet. (2 Kings 13.20 – 21, MSG)

Really? “When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came alive…” I told you in advance that there were a lot of miracles in the story of Elisha, many of them pretty far-fetched like this one. But the only reason I can think of that this story would be included in scripture is that it’s true! I wonder what happened to the guy?

We’re back to God is real! God is here! It’s the only explanation for this miracle-dense section of scripture: 1 Kings 17 (Elijah’s entrance) – 2 Kings 13 (Elisha’s death). Is it a lesson in times and seasons? This set of miracles was done in Israel, the Northern Kingdom, where there were no good kings and people were not encouraged in the true worship of the true God. There is another set of miracles in Daniel – signs to a pagan kingdom(s). Then Jesus, the apostles, and others. God is alive and well and can act as he chooses.

There are those who believe that these kinds of miracles don’t happen today. I don’t agree. Please see these blogs:

• Falling Iguanas
• Power Today?

You do not have because you do not ask, (James 4.2, ESV)

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us… (Ephesians 3.20, ESV)

Back to 2 Kings, the second half of chapter 13 records the death of Elisha and includes, I think, poignant instruction on prayer.

Jehoash, King of Israel, visits Elisha on his death bed:

Elisha told him, “Go and get a bow and some arrows.” The king brought him the bow and arrows. Then he told the king, “Put your hand on the bow.” He put his hand on the bow. Then Elisha put his hand over the hand of the king. Elisha said, “Now open the east window.” He opened it. Then he said, “Shoot!” And he shot. “The arrow of GOD’s salvation!” exclaimed Elisha. “The arrow of deliverance from Aram! You will do battle against Aram until there’s nothing left of it.”

“Now pick up the other arrows,” said Elisha. He picked them up. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground.” The king struck the ground three times and then quit. The Holy Man became angry with him: “Why didn’t you hit the ground five or six times? Then you would beat Aram until he was finished. As it is, you’ll defeat him three times only.” (2 Kings 13.15 – 19, MSG)

A picture of prayer? The arrow of GOD’s salvation! The arrow of deliverance! But the king needed to strike more than three times. Do we often not persist long enough? Do we not defeat the enemy enough? He always comes back. For example, as we wrote a few weeks ago:

The commandos poured out of the city with the full army behind them. They hit hard in hand-to-hand combat. The Arameans scattered from the field, with Israel hard on their heels. But Ben-Hadad king of Aram got away on horseback, along with his cavalry. The king of Israel cut down both horses and chariots—an enormous defeat for Aram.

Sometime later the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, “On the alert now—build up your army, assess your capabilities, and see what has to be done. Before the year is out, the king of Aram will be back in force.” (1 Kings 20.19 – 22, MSG, emphasis mine)

Back to Elisha…Maybe the king didn’t strike the arrows more than three times because he saw hitting the ground with arrows as a pointless exercise. Maybe we don’t pray persistently because praying appears pointless. But God’s Word is clear:

…praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. (Ephesians 6.18, ESV)

Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you… (1 Samuel 12.23, ESV)

We’ll get to the death of Elisha tomorrow.