Study Desk

Then the captain had said to the man of God, "See, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?" And Elisha had said, "You will see it with your own eyes. But you will not eat of it."

So the woman got ready as the man of God had told her. She went with those of her house and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

Now the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, "Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done."

Then Elisha came to Damascus. Ben-hadad the king of Syria was sick, and he was told, "The man of God has come here."

The king said to Hazael, "Take a gift and go meet the man of God. Ask the Lord through him, saying, ‘Will I get better from this sickness?'"

Then Elisha looked at Hazael until he was ashamed. And the man of God cried.

Now Elisha the man of God called one of the sons of those who spoke for God. He said to him, "Get ready to travel. Take this jar of oil and go to Ramoth-gilead.

So the young servant of the man of God went to Ramoth-gilead.

So he got up and went into the house. He poured the oil on Jehu's head and said to him, "The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have chosen you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel.

You are to destroy the house of your owner Ahab, so that I will punish Jezebel for the blood of My servants who speak for God, and the blood of all the Lord's servants.

But Jehu was not careful to walk in the Law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel sin.

So the man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have hit it five or six times. Then you would have fought Syria until you had destroyed it. But now you will win the fight against Syria only three times."

He took back the land of Israel from Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, as was told by the word of the Lord, the God of Israel. The Lord spoke about this through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai. Jonah was the man from Gath-hepher who spoke for the Lord.

Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king. And he ruled for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done.

This happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God. He had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. But they worshiped other gods.

The people of Israel did things in secret which were not right, against the Lord their God. They built high places for themselves in all their towns, from the smallest town to the strongest city.

The Lord told Israel and Judah of the danger, through all His men who told what would happen in the future. He said, "Turn from your sinful ways and obey My Laws. Keep all the Laws which I gave your fathers, and which I gave to you through My servants and men of God."

But they did not listen. They were strong-willed like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.

They turned away from all the Laws of the Lord their God and made objects to look like false gods. They made two calves and an object to look like the false goddess Asherah. And they worshiped all the stars of heaven and worked for Baal.

Even Judah did not keep the Laws of the Lord their God. They walked in the ways which Israel had started.