39 kings

The Word for today:
2 Kings 24, 25

39 kings.

Keeping them straight can be difficult, especially since 1 Kings jumps back and forth between two countries. Remember:

Israel was the Northern Kingdom, with its capital in Samaria. Its kings were all unfaithful to God.

Judah was the Southern Kingdom, with its capital in Jerusalem. Almost half its rulers remained somewhat faithful to God; the others proved disobedient.
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What are we to learn from this dizzying array of names?

1. The Kings are known by this: they either walked in the ways of the LORD, or they did not.
The same will be the summation of our own lives. Our lives will be defined by our relationship to God.

2. Our environment does not define us.
The second thing we learn from the kings is that we can change--for better or for worse. Hezekiah was one of the greatest kings. Manasseh his son was the "Ahab of Judah"--the worst. Amon, Hezekiah's grandson, was as bad as his father, Manasseh, had been. Then, next in line, is Josiah, who oversaw a great spiritual revival. So we are not locked into patterns which preceded us in our families or in our cultures.

3. Our own past need not define us forever.
The third thing we learn from the Kings is that we are not trapped by our own yesterdays. Manasseh, as we shall see in 2 Chronicles 33:10-20, will turn around and turns the people around with him as he reinstitutes worship of the LORD God!
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Israel was the first to fall—to the Assyrians, who carried them away into slavery and captivity.

Judah’s captivity was delayed by the godly governance of Hezekiah. But eventually they, too, declined and were carried away by Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon. For a few years the temple stood, but eventually it was stripped and burned, and the walls of the city were broken down.

The last king, Zedekiah, was captured and his sons were put to death before his very eyes. Then, they destroyed his eyes.