Study Desk

Now Elisha came to Damascus, and Ben-hadad king of Aram (Syria) was sick; and he was told, "The man of God has come here."

And the king said to Hazael, "Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, 'Will I recover from this illness?'"

Elisha stared steadily at Hazael until he was embarrassed, and then the man of God wept.

So Jehu got up, and they went into the house. And he poured the oil on Jehu's head and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel.

But Jehu did not take care to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin.

So the man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Aram until you had destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times."

Jeroboam restored Israel's border from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah (Dead Sea), in accordance with the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath-hepher.

Only [the altars on] the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places [instead of worshiping God at the temple].

Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father (ancestor) David had done.

Now this came about because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared [and worshiped] other gods

The Israelites ascribed things to the LORD their God which were not true. They built for themselves high places [of worship] in all their towns, from [the lonely] lookout tower to the [populous] fortified city.

However they did not listen, but stiffened their necks as did their fathers who did not believe (trust in, rely on, remain steadfast to) the LORD their God.

They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves cast images of two calves; and they made an Asherah [idol] and worshiped all the [starry] host of heaven and served Baal.

Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God either, but walked in the customs which Israel introduced.

So the king of Assyria was told, "The nations whom you have sent into exile and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the god of the land; so He has sent lions among them, and they are killing them because they do not know the manner of [worship demanded by] the god of the land."

Then the king of Assyria commanded, "Take back [to Samaria] one of the priests whom you brought from there, and have him go and live there; and have him teach the people the custom of the god of the land."

"But the LORD your God you shall fear [and worship]; then He will rescue you from the hands of all your enemies."

Hezekiah trusted in and relied confidently on the LORD, the God of Israel; so that after him there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.

because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, but broke His covenant, everything that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded; and they would not listen nor do it.

"But if you tell me, 'We trust in and rely on the LORD our God,' is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, and has said to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall worship [only] before this altar in Jerusalem'?