Study Desk

God caused Ahaziah's death when he went to visit Joram. Ahaziah arrived and went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi. The Lord chose Jehu to destroy Ahab's family.

Then the Levites made an announcement in Judah and Jerusalem. They told the people to bring in the tax money for the Lord . That tax money is what Moses the servant of God had required the Israelites to give while they were in the desert.

The people buried Jehoiada in the City of David where the kings are buried. The people buried Jehoiada there because in his life he did much good in Israel for God and for God's Temple.

They all stopped worshiping at the Temple of the Lord , the God their ancestors worshiped. Instead, they started worshiping Asherah poles and other idols. Because they sinned in this way, God was angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

God sent prophets to the people to bring them back to the Lord . The prophets warned them, but they refused to listen.

The Spirit of God filled Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood in front of the people and said, "This is what God says: ‘Why do you people refuse to obey the Lord 's commands? You will not be successful. You have left the Lord . So he has also left you!'"

The Aramean army came with only a small group of men, but the Lord let them defeat the much larger army of Judah. This was a punishment for Joash because the people of Judah had left the Lord , the God their ancestors worshiped.

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

Maybe you will make yourself strong and ready for war, but God can help you win or help you lose."

Amaziah said to the man of God, "But what about the money I already paid to the Israelite army?" The man of God answered, "The Lord has plenty. He can give you much more than that."

When the prophet spoke, Amaziah said to the prophet, "We never made you an advisor to the king. Be quiet! If you don't be quiet, you will be killed." The prophet became quiet, but then said, "God has decided to destroy you because you did this and didn't listen to my advice."

But Amaziah refused to listen. God made this happen. God planned to let Israel defeat Judah, because the people of Judah followed the gods the people of Edom followed.

Uzziah did what the Lord wanted him to do. He obeyed God the same as his father Amaziah had done.

Uzziah followed God in the time of Zechariah's life. Zechariah taught Uzziah how to respect and obey God. When Uzziah was obeying the Lord , God gave him success.

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

But when Uzziah became strong, his pride caused him to be destroyed. He was not faithful to the Lord his God. He went into the Lord 's Temple to burn incense on the altar for burning incense.

They told Uzziah he was wrong. They said to him, "Uzziah, it is not your job to burn incense to the Lord . It is not right. That is for the priests, Aaron's descendants, to do. They are the only ones who have been prepared for the holy work of burning incense. You have not been faithful, so you must go out of the Most Holy Place. The Lord God will not honor you for this."

Jotham did what the Lord wanted him to do. He obeyed God just as his father Uzziah had done. But Jotham did not enter the Lord 's Temple to burn incense as his father had. But the people continued doing wrong.

Jotham became powerful because he faithfully obeyed the Lord his God.

Because Ahaz did these things, the Lord his God let the king of Aram defeat him. The king and his army defeated Ahaz and took many people of Judah as prisoners to the city of Damascus. Ahaz also suffered a terrible defeat by the king of Israel, Pekah son of Remaliah. Pekah and his army killed 120,000 of the bravest soldiers in Judah in one day. All this happened because the people of Judah had turned away from the Lord , the God their ancestors worshiped.