Blogging Bible Study - The Heart of the Matter : 2 Kings

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

2 Kings has really only a few mentions of heart/ hearts so we'll look at all of them today...

The first mention isn't until chapter 9, so there's a fair amount of action that happens before we get to it. But in chapter 9,  Jehu was anointed to be king over the northern tribes, and he consequently took it upon himself to complete the prophesied destruction of the house of Ahab.  Ahab had died, his son Ahaziah had died, so Ahaziah's brother Joram was now king over the northern kingdom.  Jehu took a chariot to where Joram was, arriving at the same time as Jehoshaphat's grandson Ahaziah (yeah, I double checked.  Same name), who had succeeded his father Jehoram as king over the southern tribes and was technically Joram's nephew,  as his mother Athaliah was Joram's sister.  Jehu rode right up to the other two; it just so happened that they met at the field of Naboth...which Jezebel had obtained for Ahab by having Naboth killed on false accusations several years earlier.  

When Joram saw Jehu he asked, "Have you come in peace, Jehu?"

"How can there be peace," Jehu replied, "as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?"  

Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, "Treachery, Ahaziah!" Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders.  The arrow pierced his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot. - 2 Kings 9:22 -24 (Heart: Leb  Strong's H 3820, which we have seen often. In this case...the physical organ).

Jehu had Joram thrown on the field of Naboth, fulfilling a prophecy that the blood debt of Naboth would be paid on that very plot of ground.  Jehu also killed Ahaziah, Joram's kinsman and ally, which touched off a blood bath in Jerusalem instigated by Ahaziah's mother, but that story doesn't involve the word heart/hearts so...another time.

So Jehu obliterated the house of Ahab and became king over Israel.  God was pleased with what he had done and promised him that his descendants would rule over Israel for 4 generations.

Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the low of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he caused Israel to commit.  -- 2 Kings 10:31 (Heart: Lebab, Strong's H3824, which we have also seen often.)

I believe that, if Jehu had torn down those altars that Jeroboam built, God would have kept his house in power in Israel.  But...he didn't.  So his dynasty was limited to 4 generations.  Which, incidentally, was the longest time any one family line ruled in the Northern Kingdom. Treason, murder, and coups were the typical way of succession in Israel. It was a violent era.  But Jehu's line ruled through his son Jehoahaz, grandson Jehoash, great-grandson Jeroboam II and great-great-grandson Zechariah...who was the 4th generation.  None of the kings following Jehu served God, but God kept his promise to Jehu.  Zechariah ruled for 6 months...and then was assassinated.  Roughly 20 years later, after a series of coups and assassinations, the Assyrians attacked and defeated Israel, forcing the people into exile and bringing foreigners in to replace them.

Meanwhile, in the Southern Kingdom, the lineage of David continued unbroken, with a slight hiccup when Athalia seized power, but it was soon set to right and Joash was anointed king, returning rule to David's line,  There were kings who served God, and kings who didn't, and kings who started well but got sideways.  Hezekiah, who followed God,  saw God deliver them from the same Assyrians who overran Israel. But neither Hezekiah's son nor his grandson were righteous, which led the people into deep error.  Hezekiah's great-grandson, Josiah, however, had a heart for God and, in restoring the Temple, found the Book of the Law.  He had the book read and was alarmed at what he heard, for the people had not kept that law.  Huldah the prophetess, however, had a word from God; Josiah's heart had been seen.

"Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard.  'Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people, that they would become accursed and laid waste, and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD.' "   2 Kings 22:18-19 (Heart is  H3824 again)

Huldah assured Josiah that the calamity spoken about would not happen in his lifetime.  Josiah looked to inspire the people to forsake their false gods and had the Book of the Law read to them.

The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD -- to follow the LORD and to keep his commandments, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book.  Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. -- 2 Kings 23:3 (Heart here is H 3820...the center of the will)

After that, revival swept through the land; Josiah and the people tore down all the altars in the high places; Josiah even destroyed and defiled the altars that Jeroboam had built at Bethel, which fulfilled a prophecy made at the time it was built.  After the land was cleansed, they observed Passover.

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did -- with all his heart and with all his soul  and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. -- 2 Kings 23:25 (Heart:  H 3824)

However, for all that the people jumped on Josiah's bandwagon and followed him in tearing things down, it seems there was no genuine repentance happening; nowhere do we read of the people mourning as Josiah had done when the Law was read to them. It inspired them to  get religious and zealous, but not repentant.  God did not relent on the consequences of the idolatry, which they resumed immediately when Josiah died; perhaps even because Josiah died.  Three of Josiah's sons and one of his grandsons ruled over a period of about 22-23 years, but none of them actually served God or even listened seriously to the prophets.  Mattaniah, whom the Babylonians renamed Zedekiah, rebelled against Babylon and in the ensuing battle and siege the Babylonians defeated him and Judah utterly, and Judah went into captivity.

We will be revisiting this story again at least two more times, but what struck me today was the incredible religious zeal of the people in Josiah's revival.  Things actually changed for a bit; which is a sign of a real move of God BUT...there was no repentance accompanying it, so the moment things didn't go as the people expected (IE, Josiah died in battle) they completely abandoned their law-following practices and went back to what they'd been doing all along.

Because while their actions matched the king's, their hearts...did not.