Study Desk

Elisha said, "I respect King Jehoshaphat of Judah, and I serve the Lord All-Powerful. As surely as he lives, I came here only because of Jehoshaphat. I tell you the truth, if he were not here, I would not pay any attention to you. I would ignore you completely.

Naaman was the captain of the army of the king of Aram. He was very important to his king because the Lord used him to lead Aram to victory. Naaman was a great and powerful man, but he was also sick with leprosy.

Then Naaman said, "If you will not accept this gift, at least do this for me. Let me have enough dirt from Israel to fill the baskets on two of my mules. I ask this because I will never again offer any burnt offering or sacrifice to any other gods. I will offer sacrifices only to the Lord !

But the man of God sent a message to the king of Israel. Elisha said, "Be careful! Don't go by that place, because the Aramean soldiers are hiding there!"

Elisha talked to the woman whose son he had brought back to life. He said, "You and your family should move to another country, because the Lord has decided that there will be a famine here. It will last for seven years."

Hazael said, "Sir, why are you crying?" Elisha answered, "I am crying because I know the bad things you will do to the Israelites. You will burn their strong cities and kill their young men with swords. You will kill their babies and split open their pregnant women."

But Jehoram lived as the kings of Israel and did what the Lord saw as evil. He lived as the people from Ahab's family, because his wife was Ahab's daughter.

But the Lord would not destroy Judah because of the promise to his servant David. He had promised David that someone from his family would always be king.

Ahaziah did what the Lord said was wrong. He did many bad things, just as the people from Ahab's family had done. He lived like this because his wife was from Ahab's family.

Jehu went into the house and ate and drank. Then he said, "Now see about this cursed woman. Bury her, because she is a king's daughter."

Joash said to the priests, "There is much money in the Lord 's Temple. People have given things to the Temple and have paid the Temple tax when they were counted. And they have given money simply because they wanted to. You priests should take that money and repair the Lord 's Temple. Each priest should use the money he gets from the people he serves. He should use that money to repair the damage to the Temple."

Those who were in charge of paying the workers did not have to give a report of how they spent the money, because they could be trusted.

Then Jehoahaz begged the Lord to help them. The Lord listened to him because he had seen the terrible troubles that the king of Aram had caused the Israelites.

But the Lord was kind to the Israelites. He had mercy and showed his care for them because of his agreement with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He did not want them to be destroyed. He has never completely left them.

But he did not kill the children of the murderers because of the rules written in the book, The Law of Moses. The Lord gave this command in there: "Parents must not be put to death for something their children did. And children must not be put to death for something their parents did. People should be put to death only for what that they themselves did."

True, you have defeated Edom. But you have become proud because of your victory over Edom. But stay at home and brag! Don't make trouble for yourself. If you do this, you will fall, and Judah will fall with you!"

Workers had built a covered place inside the Temple area for the Sabbath meetings. But Ahaz removed the covered place and the outside entrance for the king. He removed all these from the Lord 's Temple. Ahaz did this because of the king of Assyria.

These things happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God. And it was the Lord who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt! He saved them from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. But the Israelites began worshiping other gods.

Some people said to the king of Assyria, "The people who you took away and put in the cities of Samaria don't know the law of the god of that country. So that god sent lions to attack them. The lions killed them because they don't know the law of the god of that country."

This happened because the Israelites did not obey the Lord their God. They broke his agreement and did not obey everything that Moses, the Lord 's servant, had commanded. The Israelites would not listen to the Lord's agreement, or do what it taught them to do.