Study Desk

The story of Joash's sons, the great prophecies against him, and how he repaired the Temple of God are written in the book of the kings. Joash's son Amaziah became king in his place.

But a man of God came to Amaziah and said, "My king, don't let the army of Israel go with you. The Lord is not with Israel or the people from the tribe of Ephraim.

You can make yourself strong for war, but God will defeat you. He has the power to help you or to defeat you."

Amaziah said to the man of God, "But what about the seventy-five hundred pounds of silver I paid to the Israelite army?" The man of God answered, "The Lord can give you much more than that."

As the prophet spoke, Amaziah said to him, "We never gave you the job of advising the king. Stop, or you will be killed." The prophet stopped speaking except to say, "I know that God has decided to destroy you because you have done this. You did not listen to my advice."

But Amaziah would not listen. God caused this to happen so that Jehoash would defeat Judah, because Judah asked for help from the gods of Edom.

He took all the gold and silver and all the utensils from the Temple of God that Obed-Edom had taken care of. He also took the treasures from the palace and some hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.

Uzziah obeyed God while Zechariah was alive, because he taught Uzziah how to respect and obey God. And as long as Uzziah obeyed the Lord , God gave him success.

God helped Uzziah fight the Philistines, the Arabs living in Gur Baal, and the Meunites.

But when Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his ruin. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God; he went into the Temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar for incense.

They told him he was wrong and said to him, "You don't have the right to burn incense to the Lord . Only the priests, Aaron's descendants, should burn the incense, because they have been made holy. Leave this holy place. You have been unfaithful, and the Lord God will not honor you for this."

Jotham became powerful, because he always obeyed the Lord his God.

So the Lord his God handed over Ahaz to the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated Ahaz and took many people of Judah as prisoners to Damascus. He also handed over Ahaz to Pekah king of Israel, and Pekah's army killed many soldiers of Ahaz.

The army of Pekah son of Remaliah killed one hundred twenty thousand brave soldiers from Judah in one day. Pekah defeated them because they had left the Lord , the God of their ancestors.

But a prophet of the Lord named Oded was there. He met the Israelite army when it returned to Samaria and said to them, "The Lord , the God of your ancestors, handed Judah over to you, because he was angry with those people. But God has seen the cruel way you killed them.

Now you plan to make the people of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves, but you also have sinned against the Lord your God.

Ahaz gathered the things from the Temple of God and broke them into pieces. Then he closed the doors of the Temple of the Lord . He made altars and put them on every street corner in Jerusalem.

In every town in Judah, Ahaz made places for burning sacrifices to worship other gods. So he made the Lord , the God of his ancestors, very angry.

Hezekiah said, "Listen to me, Levites. Make yourselves ready for the Lord 's service, and make holy the Temple of the Lord , the God of your ancestors. Remove from the Temple everything that makes it impure.

Our ancestors were unfaithful to God and did what the Lord said was wrong. They left the Lord and stopped worshiping at the Temple where he lives. They rejected him.