Sermons

" The tale of kings" (2 Kings 20:1-21:26)

Serge HolSerge Hol, July 25, 2010
Part of the 2010 series, preached at a Sunday Morning service

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2 Kings 20:1-21:26

1In those days was Hezekiah sick to death. Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, 'Set your house in order; for you shall die, and not live.'" 2Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Yahweh, saying, 3"Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight." Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4It happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, 5"Turn back, and tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day, you shall go up to the house of Yahweh. 6I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake."'" 7Isaiah said, "Take a cake of figs." They took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. 8Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "What shall be the sign that Yahweh will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh the third day?" 9Isaiah said, "This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?" 10Hezekiah answered, "It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. Nay, but let the shadow return backward ten steps." 11Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz. 12At that time Berodach Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah didn't show them. 14Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, "What did these men say? From where did they come to you?" Hezekiah said, "They are come from a far country, even from Babylon." 15He said, "What have they seen in your house?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them." 16Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of Yahweh. 17'Behold, the days come, that all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left,' says Yahweh. 18'Of your sons who shall issue from you, whom you shall father, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'" 19Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of Yahweh which you have spoken is good." He said moreover, "Isn't it so, if peace and truth shall be in my days?" 20Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 21Hezekiah slept with his fathers; and Manasseh his son reigned in his place. 21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hephzibah. 2He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel. 3For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them. 4He built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, "I will put my name in Jerusalem." 5He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of the house of Yahweh. 6He made his son to pass through the fire, and practiced sorcery, and used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he worked much evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger. 7He set the engraved image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which Yahweh said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever; 8neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them." 9But they didn't listen: and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel. 10Yahweh spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, 11"Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols; 12therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle. 13I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. They will become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; 15because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even to this day.'" 16Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh. 17Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 18Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his place. 19Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did Manasseh his father. 21He walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them: 22and he forsook Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and didn't walk in the way of Yahweh. 23The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house. 24But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. 25Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 26He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his place. (WEB)

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