The Intersection of Bible and Life

Behind Closed Doors II Kings 4 Let’s consider two desperate parents.  One royal, and the other common.  One who operates mostly in the public arena.  The other in relative obscurity.  Both highly vulnerable with real needs.  One who serves gods without eyes or ears.  The other a servant of the One true and living God, who responds to the trusting heart. At the end of chapter three the king of Moab is militarily engaged and losing.  Tired of paying tribute he has rebelled against the king of Israel.  The king losing the income enlists support from two allies and the war is on.  The king of Moab finds himself desperate in the extreme. He holds to the adage that desperate times call for desperate measures and so he goes extreme.  He resorts to human sacrifice.  He offers his own son, and heir to the throne, in a bloody and brutal attempt to appease his gods and align them with his cause.  The religious excuse for cold-blooded murder generates such fear that all the combatants r

A Royal Flop II Kings 3 Jehoram ascended Ahab’s throne and did nothing to stop the downward trajectory his ancestor accelerated.  Ahab reigned poorly over a doomed dynasty.  Jehoram perpetuated a losing legacy.  He did let go of some of Ahab’s idols but “clung” (covenant word used for sticking to the agreement) to a predecessor’s lifeless gods.   The One True and Living God wants us to cling to Him.  He especially expects this clinginess of kings who rule over God’s people.  Instead, these Israelite kings were glued to the pagan gods of the surrounding culture. There is an obvious royal tone to II Kings 3.    The word king is used 22 times.  The verbal form is used another three times.  We might expect royal power to be the theme of this chapter.  Instead the theme is royal weakness.  Even a coalition of three kings can’t accomplish its simple goal of reining in one rebel king.  King Jehoram faced rebellion from the outset of his reign.  Kings accumulate wealth and influ