1
00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:06,720
Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

2
00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,720
Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Study Headquarters

3
00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:15,160
Speaker 1: dot com. You're listening to the Chapter a Day Audio Bible.

4
00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:20,279
Speaker 1: I'm John Stangi, and today we're in Second King's chapter eight,

5
00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:26,400
Speaker 1: and this is what we read. Elisha had told the

6
00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:29,720
Speaker 1: woman whose son he had brought back to life, take

7
00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,879
Speaker 1: your family and move to some other place, for the

8
00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,920
Speaker 1: Lord has called for a famine on Israel that will

9
00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,760
Speaker 1: last for seven years. So the woman did as the

10
00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,400
Speaker 1: Man of God instructed. She took her family and settled

11
00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,760
Speaker 1: in the land of the Philistines for seven years. After

12
00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,680
Speaker 1: the famine ended, she returned from the land of the

13
00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,960
Speaker 1: Philistines and she went to see the king about getting

14
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,520
Speaker 1: back her house and land. As she came in, the

15
00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:01,400
Speaker 1: king was talking with Gahazi of the Man of God.

16
00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:05,640
Speaker 1: The king had just said, tell me some stories about

17
00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:09,800
Speaker 1: the great things Elisha has done, and Gahazi was telling

18
00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,960
Speaker 1: the king about the time Elisha had brought a boy

19
00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,800
Speaker 1: back to life. At that very moment, the mother of

20
00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,120
Speaker 1: the boy walked in to make her appeal to the

21
00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:23,800
Speaker 1: king about her house and land. Look, my lord, the king,

22
00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,800
Speaker 1: Gahazi exclaimed, Here is the woman now and this is

23
00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:31,560
Speaker 1: her son, the very one Elisha brought back to life.

24
00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:36,160
Speaker 1: Is this true, the king asked her, and she told

25
00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,600
Speaker 1: him this story. So he directed one of his officials

26
00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,640
Speaker 1: to see that everything she had lost was restored to her,

27
00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,520
Speaker 1: including the value of any crops that had been harvested

28
00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:52,680
Speaker 1: during her absence. Elishah went to Damascus, the capital of Arim,

29
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,240
Speaker 1: where King ben Hadad lay sick. When someone told the

30
00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,280
Speaker 1: king that the Man of God had come. The king

31
00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:04,160
Speaker 1: said to Hazael, take a gift to the Man of God,

32
00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,960
Speaker 1: then tell him to ask the Lord, will I recover

33
00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:13,400
Speaker 1: from this illness. So Hazel loaded down forty camels with

34
00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,360
Speaker 1: the finest products of Damascus as a gift for Elisha.

35
00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:22,080
Speaker 1: He went to him and said, your servant, ben Hadad,

36
00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,680
Speaker 1: the King of Aram, has sent me to ask will

37
00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:30,800
Speaker 1: I recover from this illness? And Elishah replied, go and

38
00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:35,520
Speaker 1: tell him you will surely recover. But actually the Lord

39
00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:40,040
Speaker 1: has shown me that he will surely die. Elishah stared

40
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:44,400
Speaker 1: at Hazel with a fixed gaze until Hazel became uneasy.

41
00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:49,240
Speaker 1: Then the Man of God started weeping. What's the matter,

42
00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:54,360
Speaker 1: my lord, Hazel asked him, Elisha replied, I know the

43
00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,040
Speaker 1: terrible things you will do to the people of Israel.

44
00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,919
Speaker 1: You will burn their fortified city, kill their young men

45
00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,760
Speaker 1: with the sword, dashed their little children to the ground,

46
00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:11,760
Speaker 1: and rip open their pregnant women. Hazel responded, how could

47
00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:17,880
Speaker 1: a nobody like me ever accomplish such great things? Elishah answered,

48
00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,280
Speaker 1: the Lord has shown me that you are going to

49
00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:26,080
Speaker 1: be the king of Aram. When Hazel left Elishah and

50
00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,680
Speaker 1: went back, the king asked him, what did Elishah tell you,

51
00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:35,160
Speaker 1: and Hazel replied, he told me that you will surely recover.

52
00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:40,400
Speaker 1: But the next day Hazeel took a blanket, soaked it

53
00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:43,840
Speaker 1: in water, and held it over the king's face until

54
00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:50,600
Speaker 1: he died. Then Hazeel became the next King of Aram. Jehoram,

55
00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,280
Speaker 1: son of King Jehosaphad of Judah, began to rule over

56
00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,960
Speaker 1: Judah in the fifth year of the reign of Joram,

57
00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:01,480
Speaker 1: son of Ahab, King of Israel. Jehoram was thirty two

58
00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,520
Speaker 1: years old when he became king, and he reigned in

59
00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:09,200
Speaker 1: Jerusalem eight years. But Jehoram followed the example of the

60
00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,840
Speaker 1: kings of Israel and was as wicked as King Ahab.

61
00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:17,279
Speaker 1: For he had married one of Ahab's daughters. So Jehoram

62
00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:20,120
Speaker 1: did what was evil in the Lord's sight. But the

63
00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:23,360
Speaker 1: Lord did not want to destroy Judah, for he had

64
00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:27,799
Speaker 1: promised his servant David that his descendants would continue to rule,

65
00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:34,720
Speaker 1: shining like a lamp forever. During Jehoram's reign, the Edomites

66
00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:39,160
Speaker 1: revolted against Judah and crowned their own king. So Jehoram

67
00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,680
Speaker 1: went with all his chariots to attack the town of Zeyr.

68
00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,919
Speaker 1: The Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, but he

69
00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,159
Speaker 1: went out at night and attacked them under cover of darkness.

70
00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:55,359
Speaker 1: But Jehoram's army deserted him and fled to their homes.

71
00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:00,279
Speaker 1: So edom has been independent from Judah to this day.

72
00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,000
Speaker 1: The town of Libna also revolted about that same time.

73
00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,039
Speaker 1: The rest of the events in Jehoram's reign and everything

74
00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,000
Speaker 1: he did are recorded in the book of the History

75
00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,840
Speaker 1: of the Kings of Judah. When Jehoram died, he was

76
00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,479
Speaker 1: buried with his ancestors in the city of David. Then

77
00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:24,360
Speaker 1: his son Ahaziah became the next king. Ahaziah's son of Jehoram,

78
00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:27,359
Speaker 1: began to rule over Judah in the twelfth year of

79
00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:30,640
Speaker 1: the reign of Joram, son of Ahab, King of Israel.

80
00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:34,880
Speaker 1: Ahaziah was twenty two years old when he became king,

81
00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,760
Speaker 1: and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother was Athaliah,

82
00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:44,480
Speaker 1: a granddaughter of King Amri of Israel. Ahaziah followed the

83
00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,320
Speaker 1: evil example of King Ahab's family. He did what was

84
00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,599
Speaker 1: evil in the Lord's sight, just as Ahab's family had done,

85
00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,240
Speaker 1: for he was related by marriage to the family of Ahab.

86
00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:00,400
Speaker 1: Ahaziah joined Joram, son of Ahab, in his war against

87
00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:05,520
Speaker 1: King Hazael of Aram at Ramath Gilead. When the Aramians

88
00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,280
Speaker 1: wounded King Joram in the battle, he returned to Jezreel

89
00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,360
Speaker 1: to recover from the wounds he had received at Ramath.

90
00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,479
Speaker 1: Because Joram was wounded, King Ahaziah of Judah went to

91
00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:25,320
Speaker 1: Jezreel to visit him. Let's pray, Lord, we thank you

92
00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:27,520
Speaker 1: for your word and for the privilege of being able

93
00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,480
Speaker 1: to look at this passage of scripture today. And Lord,

94
00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:32,719
Speaker 1: we pray that by your grace that you would help

95
00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:35,320
Speaker 1: us throughout the course of this day to honor you

96
00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:38,000
Speaker 1: and to love you, and to put you first, and Lord,

97
00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:40,960
Speaker 1: we see as an example in this scripture men who

98
00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:43,719
Speaker 1: chose the way of this world over the way of

99
00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:47,080
Speaker 1: following you. We see kings who were raised up to

100
00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:50,960
Speaker 1: their position and then they thumb their nose in your direction. Lord,

101
00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:54,680
Speaker 1: and Lord you would have been completely justified in destroying

102
00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:58,480
Speaker 1: them and their kingdoms. But Lord, it's fascinating how we

103
00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:02,560
Speaker 1: see in this passage your desire to protect Judah because

104
00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:04,960
Speaker 1: of the promise you had made to David that his

105
00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,840
Speaker 1: descendants would rule and would shine like a lamp forever.

106
00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:12,080
Speaker 1: And we know, Lord, that that promise is ultimately fulfilled

107
00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:15,160
Speaker 1: in your son Jesus Christ, who came to this earth

108
00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,320
Speaker 1: as a descendant of David and is referred to as

109
00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,840
Speaker 1: the lion of the tribe of Judah, whose rule is forever,

110
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,880
Speaker 1: and who shines like a lamp forever. And we're grateful,

111
00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,560
Speaker 1: Lord that through faith in your son Jesus Christ, we

112
00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:31,560
Speaker 1: have the privilege of ruling and reigning with him as

113
00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:35,360
Speaker 1: part of your family and part of your kingdom forever. Lord,

114
00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:37,960
Speaker 1: thank you for this reality, thank you for these truths,

115
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,440
Speaker 1: and thank you for the fact that your word continually

116
00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:44,160
Speaker 1: points to Jesus Christ. So Lord, as we look at

117
00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,320
Speaker 1: your word, chapter by chapter, day after day. We pray

118
00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:51,080
Speaker 1: that we would not miss that fact. Thank you Lord

119
00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:53,080
Speaker 1: for your love for us. We commit this day to

120
00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:57,240
Speaker 1: your care, and we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen,