Bible In One Year Day 191 (2 Kings 25, 2 Chronicles 36, Proverbs 9:1-6)

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Agape Bible Study 
2 Kings 25

Chapter 25: The Siege and Fall of Jerusalem

The word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his whole army, with all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples, were waging war on Jerusalem and all its towns, "Yahweh, God of Israel, says this, God and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, Yahweh says this; I am going to hand this city over to the power of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down. And yourself will not escape his clutches [hands] but will certainly be captured and handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon face to face and speak to him personally. Then you will go to Babylon. Even so, listen to the word of Yahweh, Zedekiah king of Judah! This is what Yahweh says about you: You will not die by the sword; you will die in peace ...the prophet Jeremiah repeated all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, while the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and all such towns of Judah as still held out, namely Lachish and Azekah, these being the only fortified towns of Judah remaining.

Jeremiah 34:1-7

2 Kings 25:1-7 ~ The siege of Jerusalem

Early in his reign, Zedekiah was called to Babylon, probably to assure Nebuchadnezzar of his loyalty (Jer 51:59). Unfortunately, his loyalty was short lived for in 588 Zedekiah withheld the tribute. Nebuchadnezzar, who faced two revolts from vassal kings, consulted his gods on whether to attack Judah or the Ammonites. The answer was Judah (Ez 21:21-29). Twenty-one ostraca (pottery shards used to write messages) were found in a gate room at Lachish and give testimony of the tensions within the Judean army concerning the approaching Babylonian army. Jeremiah 34:7 refers to the attacks of Nebuchadnezzar's armies on the cities of Judah and mentions that besides Jerusalem only Lachish and Azekah were still holding out against the enemy.

Question: What did God send Jeremiah to tell King Zedekiah? See Jer 27; 34:2-7).

Answer: God sent His prophet to tell the king that Babylonia was acting out God's divine will. He told the king to surrender to save lives and to save his own family, but the king could not bring himself to act on Jeremiah's advice.

The siege of Jerusalem came to an end in June-July of 587 BC (see Jer 52:6). The city had been under siege approximately 18 months. The king, his sons, and his royal guard escaped from the city and made their way towards the Araba, the desolate valley of the Jordan River, probably planning to ford the river near the city of Jericho. He was captured on the Plains of Jericho and taken to Riblah in Syria to face King Nebuchadnezzar. He was found guilty of treason against his overlord and had to witness the deaths of his sons before he was blinded and sent to Babylon.

2 Kings 25:8-12 ~ The sack of Jerusalem and the third deportation
 It is still the eleventh year of Zechariah in the month of Ab = July/August 587 BC, and it is the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign. The city was set on fire. Solomon's Temple and the royal palace were destroyed, and thousands of Jews were deported to Babylon. This was the third large deportation of the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah into Babylonian lands.

Question: When Jeremiah realized that the city and the Temple were going to be destroyed, what did Jeremiah do? See 2 Mac 2:1-8.
Answer: Jeremiah took the Ark of the Covenant and the remains of the ancient tent Sanctuary and hid it in a cave on Mount Nebo. He also saved the Book of the Law (probably the first five books of Moses) and took some embers that he had saved from Yahweh's sacred altar and gave them to some of the priests who were about to be deported to Babylon.

Nebo was the same mountain where Moses had viewed the Promised Land before he died (Dt 34:1-4). According to Leviticus 6:5-6/12-13, the altar fire was never to be allowed to go out. God had lit the altar fire from heaven in the first liturgical worship service in the desert Sanctuary at Mt. Sinai, and He lit the altar fire again at the dedication of Solomon's Temple (Lev 9:22-24; 2 Chr 7:1). The purpose of taking the sacred flame is that it was a visible promise that the Temple and God's altar of sacrifice will be rebuilt.

Question: But what prophecy did Jeremiah make about the Ark of the Covenant where God's presence dwelled among His people in the future after the return from exile when God reclaimed His people? See Jer 3:16-17 and 31:21-22, 31-34; also see Heb 9:4. Note: the literal translation of Jer 31:22b is: "For Yahweh is creating something new on earth: the Woman shall encompass a man." It is a reversal of the birth of the virgin Eve from Adam's body in a new birth of a man who was encompassed in the body of another virgin.
Answer: A time will come when the Ark is no longer important. At that time the Virgin Mary, will carry in her womb the new Adam who is the Son of God, Jesus. In a New Covenant that will be established, the Virgin Mary will become the Ark of the New Covenant as her womb held the Living Word of God, the Living Bread come down from Heaven, and He who will die but return to life like Aaron's staff. Jesus will be God's Divine Presence dwelling among His covenant people.

2 Kings 25:13-17 ~ The destruction of Solomon's Temple

The inspired writer describes in detail the destruction of Solomon's Temple. Each of the two magnificent bronze pillars that stood at the entrance to the Temple's Holy Place was 27 feet high and the bronze capitals were four and a half feet high (1 Kng 7:15-22). The bronze sea was 15 feet wide and 7.5 feet high (1 Kng 7:23-25) and the the bronze water stands were each 6 feet x 4.5 feet. Think of the immense quantity of bronze the Babylonians were acquiring not to mention the gold and sliver.

2 Kings 25:18-21 ~ The third deportation

Question: What three groups of the king's advisors were executed for sharing responsibility for advising the king to rebel against Babylon?
Answer:

1. The religious leadership: the high priest and his chief priests
2. The king's friends = personal advisors
3. The king's army commander and chief officers

2 Kings 25:22-26 ~ Gedaliah appointed the governor of Judah

Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam and grandson Shaphan, a royal officer and court secretary/scribe of King Josiah's court (2 Kng 22:8-14). He was appointed the governor of the Babylonian province of Judah. He established an administrative center at Mizpah, about 7.5 miles north of Jerusalem. A number of army commanders rallied around him, including Jaazaniah (verse 23).

Gedaliah was warned of a plot to take his life; however he dismissed their concerns (Jer 40:13-14). A group of 4 military officers and their men who had avoided capture came to him at the stronghold at Mizpah. Gedaliah assured them of fair treatment, but in the seventh month after the fall of Jerusalem, in the early spring, a group of men led by a Davidic descendant named Ishmael and his men assassinated Gedaliah and his garrison. A high quality onyx seal bearing the inscription "Belonging to Jaazaniah, servant of the king" was discovered in a 6^th century tomb near what is believed to be the site of Mizpah. It appears that Jaazaniah was killed along with the governor and was buried at the site.

The Judeans who remained in the land were so fearful of what the Babylonians would do in reprisal for the murder of their royal governor and the Babylonian garrison that they fled to Egypt.

2 Kings 25:27-30 ~ King Jehoiachin is pardoned in 562 BC

Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 and was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach (562-560 BC). It was common for kings in the first year of their reigns to offer clemency to certain prisoners in their custody, and so in February/March of 562 BC the new king pardons Jehoiachin, grandson of Josiah and former king of Judah.

Archaeologists have confirmed Jehoiachin's presence in ancient Babylon in the 6^th century BC. They discovered a Babylonian tablet from the royal archive listing provisions for the household of the state prisoner King Jehoiachin of Judah.

The Length of Judgment for Judah in Exile and the Prophecy of Return

Until the country had paid off its Sabbaths, it will lie fallow for all the days of its desolation, until the seventy years are complete.
Jeremiah 36:21

Divine judgment within temporal time is not God's final word for His people. He does not want His people to perish; judgment is meant to be redemptive in causing His people, in their suffering, to turn again to Him. Even when His people repeatedly betray Him, God still does not forget His covenant promises. A holy "remnant" will be allowed to survive (Is 4:3; 40:1-11; Zeph 3:11-20). The concept of a "holy remnant" is first introduced by the prophet Amos in 5:15 and is developed in the writings of the prophets who came after him. Down through salvation history, judgment succeeds judgment as crisis succeeds crisis, and the survivors are the "remnant" with whom God's covenant promises will continue and with whom is kept safe the "promised seed" of the future Davidic Messiah (Jer 33:14-18). It is the Davidic Messiah who will redeem Israel and the world and will bring forth from the redeemed "new Israel" the nucleus of the sacred kingdom He is promised to establish that will rule all nations (Is 11:10; 37:31; Ez 37:12-14; Dan 7:13-14; Mic 4:7; 5:6-7; Zec 8:11-13).

Yahweh will bring judgment on the Babylonians for their crimes and a Persian named Cyrus will conquer Babylon. He will be God's instrument for the return of the covenant people to their homeland as prophesied two centuries earlier by the prophet Isaiah.

In the judgment against Judah, Jeremiah gave both the reason for their judgment, which was the failure to keep their covenant with Yahweh and their accumulated sins (Jer 16:10-15; 25:8-9), and the length of time set for the punishment to be completed before the "faithful remnant" would be allowed to return.

The seventy years are probably counted from the destruction of Solomon's Temple and Jerusalem in c. 587 BC to the rebuilding of the new Temple in c. 517 BC (see Zec 1:12, 16). 

Cyrus the Great 

The Prophecy Fulfilled

As Daniel, the member of the royal family who was taken captive by the Babylonians in 605 BC, was studying the scriptures and counting over the number of years as revealed by God to Jeremiah, he saw that the seventy years were almost up (Dan 9:1-2). He began to pray to the Lord God, confessing his sins and the sins of his people and pleading with God to remember His promise and to redeem His people (Dan 9:3-19). God did remember. He placed Cyrus the Persian on the throne of a new empire and in 539 BC he wrote an edict commanding that all exiled peoples be allowed to return to their homelands.

Then, at the end of the seventy years of judgment, Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled when King Cyrus of Persia issued an edict for the return of the Judean exiles to their homeland.

The Books of Kings and the New Testament

Had God abandoned the children of Israel and His promise of an eternal covenant to David? He had not! The Books of Kings demonstrate God's great patience and mercy to His covenant people despite their repeated sins, but finally divine judgment could not be withheld. As is always the case in salvation history, judgment is tempered with mercy and the promise of salvation. A remnant of the covenant people was preserved in exile in Babylon where they atoned for the sins of their ancestors and waited for their redemption as promised by God's holy prophets. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah record their return. And it is in the New Testament that we realize God had not forgotten His eternal covenant with David. St. Matthew's genealogy gives the information that Jehoiachin, also known as Jechoniah, grandson of Josiah, who spent the rest of his life in exile in Babylon, fathered children. Jesus' legal claim to the throne of David is through Jechoniah's descendant Joseph, the foster father of Jesus of Nazareth. David's eternal covenant is fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth and in Mary His mother who was also a Davidic descendant (Lk 126-33). 

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A Daily Defense

DAY 191 When Life Begins

CHALLENGE: “Catholics shouldn’t oppose abortion. Nobody really knows when life begins.”

DEFENSE: We know exactly when life begins, but this isn’t the real question.

First, if it were ambiguous whether the unborn are alive, that would not make it permissible to kill them. You can’t kill something just because you don’t know it is a living human being. If a hunter sees something moving in the woods, he can’t shoot it unless he is sure it is not a human.

He must err on the side of caution, and the same principle would apply if the status of the unborn were unclear.

Second, their status isn’t unclear. Scientifically speaking, there is no question that unborn children are alive from conception onward. At no point in their development are unborn children dead. If they ever become dead then a miscarriage has occurred.

There is no point in pregnancy at which inanimate matter suddenly becomes animate. Even the sperm and the egg that unite to give the child his genetic code are already alive, with cellular, biological processes going on inside them. From the moment of conception, therefore, life is present. Even at the single-cell stage, unborn children have metabolisms that consume energy, maintain cellular function, and enable them to grow.

Third, “When does life begin?” is the wrong question. Just because something is alive does not mean that it can’t be killed. We kill living things all the time. We cannot eat without other living things dying. Even vegetarians must consume and digest the cells of plants. There is simply no other way for us to survive.

The question is not whether the unborn are alive. They are. The question is not whether abortion kills them. It does. The question is whether they are the kind of thing that it is okay to kill.

The pro-life claim is that unborn children are innocent human beings, and the logic of the pro-life position is straightforward:

1. Deliberately killing an innocent human being is wrong.

2. Abortion deliberately kills an innocent human being.

3. Therefore, abortion is wrong.

The argument is so simple that even a child can understand it. If the two premises are true then the conclusion that follows from them is also true (see Days 185 and 202).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist

Bible In One Year Day 190 (2 Kings 24, 2 Chronicles 35, Proverbs 8:22-36)

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Day 190: Judah is Overrun 

Agape Bible Study 
2 Kings 2 

2 Kings 23:36-24:6 ~ The reign of Jehoiakim in Judah (c. 609-598 BC) and the taking of royal prisoners

Without King Josiah's godly influence, the Kingdom of Judah was again caught up in pagan worship and Jeremiah, who found himself without political support, began to be persecuted by his own people (Jer 26:1-8). Nevertheless, he continued to speak against the evil practices of both the king and the people, even though such speech brought about the death of a fellow prophet (Jer 26:20-24). But Jeremiah remembered God's promise of His divine protection (Jer 1:18-19). He was, however, not alone. The ministry of the prophet Habakkuk is dated within the reign of King Jehoiakim.

Question: What is the significance of the innocent blood and Yahweh's resolve not to forgive such an offense? See Gen 4:10.
Answer: The blood of the innocent cries out to God for justice from the ground upon which it has been spilt and God, in His justice, will answer the cry until justice is satisfied.

It was in the third year of the reign of Josiah's son Jehoiakim that the Babylonians sent their army into the region and made Judah a vassal state. Jehoiakim raised taxes and made use of forced labor to raise the tribute the Babylonians demanded and to further his own interests, which Jeremiah criticized (Jer 22:13-19). It was the Babylonian incursion into territory that the Egyptians believed belonged to them that led the Egyptians to challenge the Babylonians at Carchemish in 605 BC. The Egyptians only maintained their control of Judah until their defeat by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. Jeremiah provided political commentary to the event in Jeremiah chapter 46:1-12.

Woodcut depicting Nebuchadnezzar II by 16th-century German engraver, painter and printmaker Georg Pencz, from a series of woodcuts titled Tyrants of the Old Testament

Nebuchadnezzar was the son of Nabopolassar, the dynasty founder who ruled Babylon from 626-605 BC. Dynasty XI of Babylon (Neo-Babylonian):

• Nabopolassar (dynasty founder) ruler 626-605 BC
• Nebuchadnezzar II ruler 605-562 BC
• Evil->Merodach ruled 562-560 BC
• Neriglissar ruled 560-556 BC
• Labasi-Merodach, a boy king who was placed on the throne in 556 BC and was murdered and replaced by Nabonidus who ruled 556-539 BC (the prophet Daniel served all these kings as a royal minister from Nebuchadnezzar to the new dynasty founder, Nabonidus).

Jehoiakim was forced to become a vassal for the Babylonians led by King Nebuchadnezzar II.

2 Kings 24:7 ~ The Ascendance of Babylon over the entire Near East

The defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish in the late spring of 605 made Nebuchadnezzar the master of Syria and the entire Levant down to the border with Egypt. A capable leader, Nebuchadnezzar II, conducted successful military campaigns in Syria and Phoenicia, forcing tribute from the Aramaeans at Damascus and the Phoenicians at Tyre and Sidon. He also conducted numerous campaigns in Asia Minor. Like the Assyrians, the Babylonians had to campaign yearly in order to control their colonies and vassal states.

2 Kings 24:8-9 ~ The Reign of Jehoiachin in Judah (c. 598-579 BC)

In 601 BC Nebuchadnezzar's army invaded Egypt. His failed attempt to conquer Egypt was probably the reason Jehoiakim unwisely stopped paying to tribute to Babylon (24:1b-2). At first local Babylonian garrisons and vassal troops harassed Judah, but later the Babylonian army was sent to punish Judah and Jerusalem came under siege. It was at this point that Jehoiakim died and his son Jehoiachin took the throne in time to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar three months later.

2 Kings 24:10-17 ~ Another Babylonian deportation

In 599 BC, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Arabia and defeated the Arab kings at Qedar. In 598 BC, he invaded Judah and captured Jerusalem, deposing king Jehoiachin and replacing him with his uncle. Jeremiah wrote a scathing rebuke of Jehoiachin, prophesizing his death and his mother's death in Babylon (Jer 22:20-30). There was also another great deportation in 597 BC. Note that Jehoiachin is called Jechoniah in 1 Chronicles 3:16. It is by that name that he will be identified in Matthew's genealogy in 1:11.

2 Kings 24:18-20 ~ Introduction to the reign of Zedekiah in Judah (c. 598-587 BC)

Egyptian and Babylonian armies fought each other for control of the Near East throughout much of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, and this may have encouraged king Zedekiah to revolt. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt in 568-567 BC during the reign of Pharaoh Amasis. The prophecy of the invasion was made by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 43:8-13 and his commentary is in 46:13-28. The Book of Jeremiah lists three deportations out of Judah.

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A Daily Defense

DAY 190 The Whore of Babylon

CHALLENGE: “The Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon.”

DEFENSE: The whore of Babylon is described in detail in Revelation 16:19–19:4.

Babylon was a city in ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), but scholars recognize the use of “Babylon” in Revelation as a symbolic designation of another city (cf. 11:8; also cf. 1 Peter 5:13, where Peter, who is known to have been in Rome, refers to being in “Babylon”):

• The whore is depicted persecuting Christians (cf. 17:6, 14).

• She is seated on a beast with seven heads, which are identified as seven hills (17:9) and seven kings (17:10).

• The beast also has ten horns, which hate the whore, attack her, and burn her with fire (17:16).

• The whore is said to be “the great city which has dominion over the kings of the earth” (17:18).

Most scholars see these as pointing to the ancient, pagan city of Rome, which persecuted Christians, which was built on seven hills, which had a line of emperors plausibly identified with the beast (see Day 203), and which was the capital of the major empire of the day.

Some scholars have seen the clues as pointing to another city—Jerusalem—which also persecuted Christians in the first century, whose authorities were allied with and supported by the Roman empire (and thus “seated” on the beast), and which was attacked and burned by an alliance of Roman and other troops in A.D. 70, as Jesus predicted (Mark 13). Further, Revelation 11:8 speaks of “the great city” where the “Lord was crucified,” the Old Testament speaks of Jerusalem as a whore (Isa. 1:21; Ezek. 16:1, 15–35), and the whore is the antithesis of the bride of Christ, the “New Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:2–22:5), suggesting the old Jerusalem.

Both identifications are possible, but neither fits the Catholic Church. Indeed, according to the standard anti-Catholic theory, the Catholic Church did not exist in the first century and thus could not persecute the apostles, as the whore did (Rev. 18:20).

More fundamentally, Revelation was meant to be understood by the original audience as describing what would happen soon (Rev. 1:1). The audience would have no way of understanding the whore as a future Church rather than one of the persecuting cities of their own day.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist

Bible In One Year Day 189 (2 Kings 23, 2 Chronicles 34, Proverbs 8:1-21)

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Day 189: Follow The Lord

Agape Bible Study 
2 Kings  23

Chapter 23: The Renewal of the Covenant

About two years after Josiah began his religious reforms and one year after Jeremiah was called to his prophetic ministry, the Assyrian Empire began to fall apart. In 626 BC the seminomadic Scythians from the region of the central Eurasian steppes swept into the western provinces of the empire. The Scythians stormed across Syria and the Galilee, and their raids brought about a sudden and final end to the Assyrian hold on the lands west of the Euphrates River. That same year a Chaldean named Nabopolassar conquered Babylon and declared southern Mesopotamia no longer under Assyrian control. Within a year the Assyrians had lost control of both ends of their empire. This is why King Josiah was able to end his vassal status, to discontinue paying tribute to Assyria, and was able to institute his religious reforms in Samaria. Judah was able to have one final period of freedom from foreign control.

2 Kings 23:1-3 ~ The reading of the Law and renewal of the covenant

King Josiah made all those present in Jerusalem and the elders of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin listen to a reading of the Book of the Covenant and to renew the people's pledge of their alliance to Yahweh and His covenant with Israel (2 Chr 35:32a). The people completely embraced his reforms: The citizens of Jerusalem took action in keeping with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors, while Josiah removed all the abominations throughout the territories belonging to the Israelites and required all inhabitants of Israel to serve Yahweh their god; throughout his lifetime they did not deviate from following Yahweh, God of their ancestors (2 Chr 34:32b-33).

The Book of the Covenant can be understood to be the same as the Book of the Law, or it might refer to a portion of the entire Law that Moses wrote down at the ratification of the Sinai Covenant (Ex 24:4) and read to the people that is called the "Book of the Covenant".

2 Kings 23:4-14 ~ Religious reform in Judah

Question: List Josiah's reforms. Were his actions according to the Law of the Covenant? See Ex 20:3-5; 34:13; Lev 18:21-22; 19:4; 20:2-5; 26:1, 30; Num 33:53; Dt 7:5; 12:3-9, 11-12; 13:2-19; 16:21-22; 17:2-5; Dt 23:18-19; 29:17-20/18-21.
Answer: Yes, everything he did was according to the Law.

1. All the altars and cult objects relating to pagan gods that could be found were smashed and burned to ashes (Ex 20:3-5; 34:13; Lev 19:4; 26:1; Dt 7:5; 12:3).
2. In obedience to the law he executed any Judeans/Israelites who had become pagan priests (Dt 5:7-8; 13:2, 6-12; 16:21-22; 17:2-5).
3. He destroyed the place of male cult prostitution within the Temple precincts (Lev 18:22; Dt 23:18-19).
4. He destroyed the ritual cemetery of children sacrificed in the Valley of Hinnom (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5).
5. He destroyed the "high places" where illicit worship of Yahweh and pagan worship had taken place (Lev 26:30; Num 33:53; Dt 12:4-9, 11-12).

It is amazing to read that the shrines Solomon erected for his pagan wives still existed on the Mount of Olives, including those shrines to gods who accepted human sacrifice and promoted ritual male and female prostitution; these are the "abominations" listed in verse 13. To cover those places with burnt and smashed human bones, probably of the pagan worshippers who were buried near the shrines, would render those sites forever unclean.

Descendants of Aaron and the Levitical lesser ministers who had participated in illicit worship of Yahweh outside of the Temple where de-sanctified and not allowed to participate in liturgical worship at the Temple, but they were allowed to continue to receive their portion of support under the law (Num 18:25-32; Dt 18:3).

How could all these abuses and abominations still exist after Manasseh's reforms? Either his son Amon reinstituted them or Manasseh was not able to remove all of the abuses. Once sin is established and people have accepted the practice of certain sins as a norm, it is very hard to turn a generation raised in those sins away from them. Consider for example, the abomination of abortion or the glorification of the homosexual lifestyle and the impact of acceptance of these sins upon the present generation.

Josiah Hearing The Book of The Lord

2 Kings 23:15-20 ~ Josiah's reform is extended into Samaria

The collapse of the Assyrian Empire allowed Josiah to invade the former Northern Kingdom of Israel then occupied by the ancestors of the five groups of pagan peoples who had been imported by the Assyrians into the region almost a century earlier in c. 722/20 BC. As far as Josiah and his people were concerned, this land still belonged to Yahweh and the covenant people.

Bethel was an important site in the history of the covenant people. Bethel, a place name meaning "place/house of God," was an Ephraimite town about fourteen miles north of Jerusalem (Josh 16:1; 1 Chr 7:28). There was no Israelite presence at Jerusalem until David conquered the city in c. 1000 BC. The Israelite tradition associated with Bethel was far more ancient:

• Jacob had a vision there, declared it was the "gate of heaven," and named the place "beth-el," place/house of God. He consecrated it twice, setting up a memorial pillar and a sacrificial altar to commemorate the experience of God speaking to him there (Gen 28:10-22; 35:6-15).
• The desert Sanctuary was at Bethel for a time during the age of the Judges (Judg 20:26-27).
• The Judge Deborah lived near Bethel (Judg 4:5).
• The prophet Samuel judged the people there on a yearly rotation (1 Sam 7:16).

Unfortunately, the Northern Kingdom's first king, Jeroboam, probably chose Bethel to become the site of illicit worship of a golden calf because it had a longer historical tradition for the Israelites than Jerusalem. Jeroboam set up two major shrines: one at Bethel in central Israel and the other at Dan on the northern (1 Kng 12:29, 30, 32 twice, 33 twice; 13:1, 4, and 10). This former "place of grace" and "place of God" became a place of divine judgment when it was condemned by God's prophet in 1 Kings 13:1-5.

2 Kings 23:21-23 ~ The Passover Celebration

See the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 35:1-19. The celebration of the feast of Passover and the week-long feast of Unleavened Bread was an occasion of great celebration for the people of Judah who had renewed their covenant with Yahweh.

While Josiah was busy with his religious reforms, the Empire of Assyria continued to disintegrate and a great struggle between the major powers of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon began to take shape. Once a vassal of the Assyrians, the Egyptians were now recognized as independent allies of the Assyrians against the growing ambitions of the 

2 Kings 23:28-30 ~ The end of Josiah's reign
28 The rest of the history of Josiah, his entire career, is this not recorded in the Book of the annals of the Kings of Judah? 29 In his times, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt was advancing to meet the king of Assyria at the River Euphrates, and King Josiah went to intercept him; but Necho killed him at Megiddo in the first encounter. 30 His retainers carried his body from Megiddo by chariot; they brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the country then took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him, proclaiming him king in succession to his father.

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A Daily Defense 

Day 189 Jesus and the Herd of Pigs

CHALLENGE: “Jesus purposelessly destroyed another man’s property by allowing demons to enter a herd of pigs, causing it to drown in the Sea of Galilee.”

DEFENSE: Jesus had reasons for this act; it was not a purposeless destruction of property. First, Jesus did not destroy the pigs. In freeing a man from demonic possession, he allowed the demons to enter a herd of pigs. These demons had caused self-destructive behavior in the possessed man (Mark 5:5), and they apparently began tormenting the pigs, which tried to flee and unintentionally stampeded downhill into the sea (Mark 5:13).

This may have been a foreseeable result, but foreseeing something is not the same as causing it. Jesus granted the demons’ request to enter the pigs, and the demons thwarted their own plan to live in the pigs by tormenting them so that they stampeded and died, revealing the self destructive nature of evil.

Second, foreseeable events that have negative consequences can be morally justified for an adequate reason. That was the case here, because the event taught multiple valuable lessons.

The owners of the pigs, and the people in the region where this occurred, were Gentiles.

Although the pigs’ owners suffered economic loss, they stood to gain vastly more in terms of spiritual wealth. The death of the pigs provided a vivid demonstration of Jesus’ spiritual authority and his role in God’s plan. By allowing the demons to go into the pigs, the exorcism was accompanied by a forceful and memorable demonstration of God’s power and of his compassion for the demoniac. The fact that the demons seized control of a herd of 2,000 pigs showed just what kind of spiritual oppression the man was suffering, and yet Jesus was able to free him. 

This revealed the power and love of the true God to the Gentile natives. It showed them that the true God could free them from even the most powerful manifestations of evil. It also showed them that the God of the Jews loves and has compassion for Gentiles.

The spiritual value of these lessons—which could bring souls to God—greatly exceeded the economic value of the pigs. Had Jesus not granted the demons’ request, the lessons would not be underlined in the unforgettable way they are.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist

Bible In One Year Day 188 (2 Kings 22, 2 Chronicles 33, Proverbs 7)

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Day 188:  The Book of the Law 

Agape Bible Study 
2 Kings  22

2 Kings 22:1-2 ~ Introduction to the Reign of Josiah (c. 640-609)

See the parallel passage concerning the reign of Josiah in 2 Chronicles 34:1-16. The prophet Isaiah has been martyred and Jeremiah (born c. 646), son of the priest Hilkiah (Jer 1:1) who may be the high priest during the reign of Josiah (2 Kng 22:4) is born about the same time as Josiah. Jeremiah family lived in the Levitical village of Anathoth, approximately three miles northeast of Jerusalem. Jeremiah will begin his prophetic ministry in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Josiah (Jer 1:1-2). His ministry will continue through the reign of Josiah's son King Jehoiakim and continue until the end of the reign of the last Davidic king, King Zedekiah, at the time of the deportation of Jerusalem into exile. Jeremiah was a contemporary of the prophet Zephaniah who also had his prophetic ministry during the reign of Josiah (Zeph 1:1) but probably during the minority of Josiah, between 640-630 BC, and before the beginning of Jeremiah's ministry.

2 Kings 22:3-10 ~ Rediscovery of the Book of the Law

In the 8^th year of his reign, when Josiah was 15 or 16, he began to seek to know Yahweh (2 Chr 34:3). In the 18^th year of his reign, when Josiah would have been about 25 or 26, he began repairing the Temple under the same plan that had been put in place by his ancestor Joash/Jehoash of Judah (2 Kng 12:5-16). It was at that time that the High Priest Hilkiah discovered the Book of the Law. Perhaps it was during the years of Manasseh's abuse of the Temple or even earlier during the years of Ahaz, when a former high priest had hidden the ancient book for fear it would be destroyed. Biblical scholars debate exactly what was the Book of the Law: was it the entire Torah (the first five books of the Bible), or was it only the Book of Deuteronomy? Whatever it was, after having it read to him, Josiah decided his religious reforms had not gone far enough.

King Josiah by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

2 Kings 22:11-20 ~ Josiah's ministers go to the prophetess Hulda

Scripture mentions 11 Prophetesses — 10 true and 1 false

Prophetess	Scripture Reference
Old Testament Prophetesses
Miriam, sister of Moses	Exodus 15:20
Deborah Judge & Prophetess	Judges 4:4
Huldah	2 Kings 22:14; 2 Chronicles 34:22
Isaiah's wife	Isaiah 8:3
Noadiah	Nehemiah 6:14
New Testament Prophetesses
Anna	Luke 2:36
Philip's four daughters	Acts 21:9
"Jezebel" the False Prophetess	Revelation 2:20
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2015 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.

Question: Why did Josiah tear his clothes after the Book of the Law was read to him?
Answer: For the first time he realized how badly the people had strayed from their covenant with Yahweh and how badly they were in violation of their covenant vows.

Between verses 18 and 19 some words of the text have been lost. There is a problem with Huldah's prophesy in verse 20. Josiah did not die in peace but was tragically killed in battle (2 Kng 23:29-30; 2 Chr 35:23-25). An explanation might be that it was God's plan that Josiah should die in peace, but his refusal to heed the word of Yahweh not to go to war against the Egyptians at the Battle of Megiddo cost him his life (2 Chr 35:20-22).

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 188 Biblical Evidence for Mary’s Perpetual Virginity

CHALLENGE: “We don’t have evidence Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus.” 

DEFENSE: The New Testament indicates that Mary did remain a virgin.

One passage that suggests this occurs during the Crucifixion, where we read, “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (John 19:26–27). 

If Mary had other children, then Jesus would never have entrusted her care to an outsider. It would have been insulting to her children. Jesus’ action is best explained by Mary remaining a virgin and having no other children.

Even more strikingly, when the Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will give birth, she asks a very significant question: “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” (Luke 1:34, NABRE).

The passage can also be literally translated from Greek as “How will this be, for I know not man.” This relies on the biblical idiom of “knowing” as being sexually intimate with (as in, “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain”; Gen. 4:1).

The fact that Mary asks the question indicates that she knows that, in the ordinary course of nature, sexual intercourse is required for a woman to have a baby. Yet she asks the angel how she will become pregnant in spite of this.

Further, Luke has already established that Mary was a virgin betrothed to Joseph (Luke 1:27). If Mary were planning a normal marriage with Joseph, it would have been immediately clear how she would become pregnant: After they began cohabiting, they would have marital relations, and she would become pregnant with the son the angel spoke of. The fact that she asks this question suggests that she is not planning on a normal marriage. Instead, she is planning a marriage that does not involve sexual intercourse.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist

Bible In One Year Day 186 (2 Kings 20, 2 Chronicles 31, Psalm 144)

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Day 186: Struggles With Self-Interest

Agape Bible Study 
2 Kings  20

Chapter 20: The End of King Hezekiah's Reign

2 Kings 20:1-11 ~ The illness and cure of King Hezekiah

See the parallel passages in 2 Chronicles 32:24 and Isaiah 38-39. Hezekiah was ill and Isaiah brought him Yahweh's message that he was not going to recover and was going to die.

Question: Instead of begging that his life be spared, what did Hezekiah do?  What was the result and why?
Answer: He prayed that God would remember his faithfulness and then submitted himself to God's will.  God sent word to Hezekiah that his life will be spared for 15 years for the sake of God's covenant with David and in three days he will be well enough to attend the Temple liturgy.

Isaiah was either returning to the Temple and had only reached the middle Court of the Women or the middle court of the palace when God sent him back to the king.  After giving the king the news of his recovery, Isaiah asked for the materials to make a poultice for the king.  It appears that Isaiah was applying a folk remedy to the king's ulcer and not performing a miracle.

Hezekiah wanted confirmation of his healing and asked for a "sign."  He asked that the sun reverse in its path by "ten "steps." What is being referred to is apparently some kind of a sundial from the time of King Ahaz that displays the passing of time in a series of steps set into a wall: ten on the left side to show the shadow of the ascending sun and ten on the right side for the descending sun.  A similar device has been discovered in Egypt. 

Question: Why did he ask for this sign and what did the miracle represent?
Answer: It is easy for a shadow to incline down then steps since it would be the natural course of the shadow in the progression of the sun in its path across the sky; therefore, Hezekiah chooses the miraculous reversal of the progress of the shadow that becomes a symbol for the reversal of his imminent death.

The miracle is a reminder that God is the Master of Creation and all of Creation is subject to Him.

Hezekiah showing off his wealth to envoys of the Babylonian king, oil on canvas by Vicente López Portaña, 1789

2 Kings 20:12-19 ~ The Babylonian Embassy

See the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 32:23-29.  Hezekiah is flattered by the attention of the Babylonians and foolishly shows them his accumulation of wealth.  This also suggests the event took place before Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem since after the capture of Lachish, and prior to the siege of Jerusalem, Hezekiah stripped all the wealth from the palace and the Temple in an attempt to appease the Assyrian king (2 Kng 18:13-16).

Question: Why was Hezekiah's display of wealth to the Babylonians foolish?  What prophecy did Isaiah give concerning the Babylonians and what was Hezekiah's response?
Answer: Such a display of his great wealth was more likely to inspire envy than admiration in a foreign delegation.  Isaiah foretold an attack on Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the deportation of the nobility.  Hezekiah's response can be seen either as a selfish expression of relief that all of the prophecy will take place after his lifetime or as resignation and submission to God's divine will.

Isaiah's prophecy will come true in 609 BC with the first deportation of exiles out of Judah (see 2 Kng 24:10-16).  It will be in this deportation that the prophet Daniel will be taken into exile to Babylon where he will become a minister to the Babylonian king.

2 Kings 20:20-21 ~ The end of the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah

The history of Hezekiah ends with the typical formula statement and mention of his great accomplishment in bringing water into the city of Jerusalem from the Gihon Spring (also see Sir 48:17).

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 186 Peter and the Church’s Foundations

CHALLENGE: “Peter isn’t the rock because Paul says, ‘For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 3:11).”

DEFENSE: Scripture describes the Church’s foundation in at least five ways. You can’t pick one and ignore the others.

Paul was not speaking of the universal Church’s foundation. He was referring to how he started the local church at Corinth, of which Christ is the irreplaceable foundation. One can extend this concept to the universal Church, but not without taking into account other things the New Testament has to say. 

In 1 Peter 2:6, Isaiah 28:16 is applied to Christ: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame.” Here the word for “stone” isn’t petros (the name Jesus gave Peter) but lithos. Further, 1 Peter 2:6 says Jesus is the Church’s “cornerstone” (Greek, akrogōniaios). A cornerstone is only one part of a foundation—the corner part of it.

Ephesians 2:20 says the household of God is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” The prophets here are likely prophets of the New Testament age, as made clear by the other two references to them in the epistle (Eph. 3:5, 4:11). Together with the apostles, they form the Church’s foundation in this passage, with Christ as the cornerstone. The fact that Paul wrote this passage and 1 Corinthians, shows there is no contradiction in his mind between Christ being the foundation in one sense and others being the foundation in another.

In Revelation 21:14, the New Jerusalem is said to have twelve foundations with the names of the twelve apostles written on them. Note that the Twelve were a select group who had followed Jesus during his ministry (Acts 1:21–26); not even Paul and Barnabas, who also were apostles (Acts 14:14), were members of the Twelve.

Finally, in Matthew 16:18 Jesus says: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it.”

We thus see that Scripture does not depict the foundation of the Church just one way, and what Jesus says to Peter must be given its due.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist

Bible In One Year Day 185 (2 Kings 19, 2 Chronicles 30, Psalm 143)

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Day 185: Hezekiah's Prayer 

Agape Bible Study 
2 Kings 19 

Chapter 19: Hezekiah Consults the Prophet Isaiah

2 Kings 19:1-7 ~ Hezekiah sends his ministers to the prophet Isaiah

Tearing one's clothing and wearing sackcloth was a sign of grief and mourning.  The king went to the Temple to pray while his ministers and the most senior chief priests were sent to consult Isaiah.  The ministry of the prophet Isaiah began in c. 740 at the end of the reign of King Uzziah, Hezekiah's great-grandfather.  His name meant "the Lord is salvation."  He is considered the first of the four Major Prophets and the Book of Isaiah is attributed to him.  His ministry lasted over a 40 year period during the reigns of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah (Is 1:1).  He must have belonged to a leading family in Jerusalem and he might have been related to the aristocracy since he held the position of royal advisor to the kings of Judah (see Is 3:1-17, 24; 4:1; 8:2; 31:16). He was married to a "prophetess" and had two sons (Is 8:3-4).  Isaiah was a contemporary of the Prophet Micah.  His mission was to proclaim the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and to preach repentance to Judah.

Question: Why did Hezekiah describe the people of Jerusalem as a "remnant"?
Answer: They are only a portion of the original twelve tribes, consisting of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and even the tribes of Judah and Benjamin have been diminished by the Assyrian invasion and the destruction of so many Judean towns.

Question: What prophecy does Isaiah make concerning King Sennacherib?

Answer: He predicts the death of the Assyrian king.

2 Kings 19:8-13 ~ Sennacherib's message to Hezekiah

Sennacherib had moved from Lachish to attack Libnah, a Levitical city in Judah.  The citizens of the town of Libnah were devout and had revolted against King Jehoram of Judah when he had apostatized from the covenant (2 Kng 8:16-18, 22).  Sennacherib and his army left Libnah when he heard that Tirhakah king of Cush was on the way to attack him.  Tirhakah later became the Pharaoh of the XXVth Egyptian dynasty.  After receiving his ministers' report on Hezekiah's reply to their demands, Sennacherib sent another series of threats in a letter to Hezekiah similar to the first threats delivered by his ministers.

2 Kings 19:14-19 ~ Hezekiah's prayer to Yahweh

According to God's word to Moses, He resides among His covenant people above the cherubim on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 25:18-22; and see the same form of address in 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; Ps 80:1:99:1).  Hezekiah's prayer is a testimony to his complete faith and trust in Yahweh.  His statement in verse 15 is a direct rebuttal of the arrogant words in Sennacherib message in verse 12. 

2 Kings 19:20-34 ~ Yahweh's response to Hezekiah's prayer through Isaiah

Also see Isaiah 37:21-35.
Question: What are three prophecies are in the poem?
Answer:

1. God will send the Assyrian king back to his own lands (verse 28, 33b).
2. The remnant of Judah will survive and in the third year life will return to normal (verses 29-31).
3. Jerusalem will not be attacked because of God's covenant with David (verses 32-34)

The Judahites were the surviving remnant of the twelve tribes of Israel, but their numbers had also been diminished by the 200,150 Judahites that had been captured by the Assyrians and deported.  The population of Jerusalem is now the hope of the nation.

21 Here is the pronouncement which Yahweh has made about him:  "She despises you, she scorns you. The virgin daughter of Zion; she tosses her head at you, the daughter of Jerusalem! 
Question: Who is the "she" and who is the "you"?
Answer: The "she" is the "virgin daughter of Zion" who is "the daughter of Jerusalem" and the Church of the Sinai Covenant.  The "you" is Sennacherib. 

In verse 22 Sennacherib's insults and his boasts that he will destroy Jerusalem is seen by God as an assault on the God of heaven and earth.  In the Assyrian king's boasts, he thinks of himself as godlike in his accomplishments (verses 23-24)

But because of his personal attack on Yahweh, God will rein him in like a domestic ox with a nose ring or a donkey or horse with a bridle to make the king go back the way he came.

Remnants of the Broad Wall of biblical Jerusalem, built during Hezekiah's days against Sennacherib's siege

2 Kings 19:32-37 ~ Yahweh's judgment on Sennacherib and his army

Hezekiah now had Yahweh's promise that the city will not be taken nor even attacked.  That night the army of the Assyrians was silently struck by the Angel of Yahweh.  When the king and the surviving members of his army discovered the dead in the morning, they immediately abandoned the siege of the city of Jerusalem and returned to Assyria, just as Yahweh had promised.

Question: What other prophesy by Isaiah was fulfilled?  
Answer: Sennacherib died by the sword as Yahweh predicted.

Assyrian annals record that the king and his army gave up the siege of Jerusalem, but no reason is given for the sudden retreat in the Assyrian documents.  Sennacherib was indeed assassinated in the year c. 681 BC, and he was succeeded by his son Esarhaddon.

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 185 The Humanity of the Unborn

CHALLENGE: “There is no proof that the unborn are human beings.”

DEFENSE: There is proof, and it is obvious regardless of one’s faith perspective. 

Objectively speaking, a human being is a living human organism. For the unborn to qualify as human beings, they must meet three criteria:

1. They must be alive.

2. They must be human.

3. They must be organisms.

They meet the first criteria—life. We observed elsewhere that they are alive (see Day 191). This is illustrated by the fact that the unborn have biological processes occurring in their cells, which are multiplying and specializing throughout pregnancy. The simple truth is that dead embryos don’t grow, making it unmistakable that the unborn are alive.

They meet the second criteria—humanity—for each has a human genetic code, not that of a cow or a chimpanzee or a carrot. They belong to our species, not some other one, as their genetic codes make clear.

They also meet the third criteria—being organisms. An organism is an entity that is whole in and of itself. That is, it is not part of another, larger organism. 

Sometimes abortion advocates claim that the unborn are part of their mothers’ bodies, but this is false. The unborn have their own unique genetic code, which is distinct from the mother’s.

The fact that there is a stage in which the unborn are single cells also is not contrary to this. There are many single-celled organisms in the world, and at one point in their development, humans pass through this stage.

Fundamentally, the unborn are organisms because they are organic wholes with their own, in built principles of growth and development. Unless interfered with, they will mature and be born in just a few months, then continue their development toward adulthood.

Since the unborn are living human organisms, they are—objectively speaking—human beings. Any attempt to deny this is a rationalization that violates the known facts.

The unborn also are innocent human beings (see Day 202), and it follows that they must be accorded the same right to life as other innocent human beings. To claim otherwise is to adopt a fundamentally inhuman and immoral position.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist