by Wells, Steve
(21.22) “And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam … and … Baasha.”
23 And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
(21.23) “And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel.”
24 Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.
(21.24) “Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.”
25 But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
26 And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
27 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
(21.27) “When Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes.”
28 And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
29 Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.
(21.29) “Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.” Since Ahab humbles himself before the Lord, God decides not to bring evil on him; he’ll bring it on Ahab’s son instead.
41 Are children punished for the sins of their fathers?
1 KINGS 22
22 And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel.
2 And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.
3 And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is our’s, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?
4 And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.
5 And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.
6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
7 And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?
8 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
9 Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah.
10 And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.
11 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the LORD, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them.
12 And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king’s hand.
13 And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.
14 And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak.
15 So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
16 And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD?
17 And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.
18 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?
19 And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
(22.19) “I saw the Lord sitting on his throne.”
49 Can God be seen?
20 And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
(22.20) “And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab?” God asks for volunteer among the guys hanging out with him. He wants one of them to lie for him so that he can get Ahab killed.
21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
(22.22-23) God puts a “lying spirit” in the mouth of his prophets. (So those Bible verses saying that it is wrong to lie and that God doesn’t lie must be lies.)
86 Is it wrong to lie?
139 Does God lie?
22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
(22.22) “I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.”
23 Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.
(22.23) “Behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.”
24 But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee?
(22.24) “Zedekiah … smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee?”
25 And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.
26 And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son;
27 And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.
28 And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.
29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.
30 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.
31 But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.
32 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out.
33 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him.
34 And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.
35 And the battle in
creased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot.
(22.35) “The king … died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot.” God killed Ahab for showing mercy to King Ben-Hadad. (See 1 Kings 20.42)
God’s 98th Killing
36 And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country.
37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.
38 And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the word of the LORD which he spake.
39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
40 So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.
41 And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.
42 Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi.
43 And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places.
(22.43) “The high places were not taken away.”
240 Did Jehoshaphat remove the high places?
44 And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he shewed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
46 And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.
(22.46) “And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.” Jehoshaphat “did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord” and “took” the homosexuals (sodomites) “out of the land,” or as the RSV says, “he exterminated” them.
47 There was then no king in Edom: a deputy was king.
48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber.
49 Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not.
50 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.
51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel.
52 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin:
53 For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the LORD God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.
2 KINGS
Hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? — 2 Kings 18.27
If you read nothing else in 2 Kings, be sure to read 2.23-24, where God sends two bears to rip up 42 little children for making fun of Elisha’s bald head. It’s one of the many Bible stories that you never heard in Church or Sunday School.
Highlights:
Elijah proves that he is a man of God by burning to death 102 men. 1.10, 12
God kills Ahaziah for consulting another God. 1.16-17
He sends two bears to rip up 42 little children for making fun of Elisha’s bald head. 2.23-24
Elisha makes his servant (Gehazi) and all of his descendants lepers forever. 5.27
Elisha makes an iron axe head swim. 6.6
God answers Elisha’s prayer by smiting his adversaries with blindness. 6.18
Mothers boiling and eating their own children. 6.28-29
“Behold, this evil is from the Lord.” 6.33
A skeptic is trampled to death. 7.17-20
God sends a seven-year famine. 8.1
He vows to “cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall.” 9.8
He pays back Ahab by killing his son. 9.24-25
He has Jezebel thrown off a wall and feeds her body to the dogs. 9.33-37
All seventy of king Ahab’s sons are killed, their heads put in baskets, and sent to Jehu. 10.1-10
“So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him none remaining.” 10.11
Jehu meets with 42 brothers of Ahaziah, and then he murders them. 2 Chronicles 22.7 says that his killing was “of God.” 10.13-14
Jehu shows off his “zeal for the Lord” by murdering the rest of Ahab’s family in Samaria. 10.16-17
He assembled the followers of Baal and them slaughtered them all. 10.18-28
God rewards Jehu for murdering Ahab and his family. 10.30
He, the divine physician, strikes king Azariah with leprosy. 15.5
He sends lions to devour the Samaritans because “they knew not the manner of the God of the land.” 17.25-26
“That they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss with you” 18.27
An angel of the Lord kills 185,000 men while they sleep. “And when they arose, early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.” 19.35
God caused king Sennacherib to be murdered by his sons. 19.36-37
Isaiah makes the sun move ten degrees backwards. 20.11
He will “bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.” 21.12
2 KINGS 1
(1.2-8) Ahaziah was sick and sent messengers to Baalzebub to ask if he would recover. God was jealous of the attention given to his competitor so he told Ahaziah (through the “hairy man” Elijah) that he would die for asking the wrong god.
1 Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
2 And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.
(1.2) “Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber … and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.”
3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?
4 Now therefore thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.
(1.4) “Now therefore thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.”
5 And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said unto them, Why are ye now turned back?
6 And they said unto him, There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.
(1.6) “There came a man up to meet us, and said … Thus saith the LORD, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that thou sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.”
7 And he said unto them, What m
anner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words?
(1.7) “What manner of man was he?”
8 And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.
(1.8) “He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah.” (Nobody dresses like Elijah!)
(1.9-12) Elijah shows that he is “a man of God” by burning 102 men to death. He did the job in two shifts of 51 men each. God’s 99th Killing
9 Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.
(1.9) “Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty.”
10 And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
(1.10) “Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.”
11 Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly.
(1.11) “He sent unto him another captain of fifty with his fifty.”
12 And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
(1.12) “And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.”
13 And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.