2 Kings 13-14

Chapter 13: Jehoahaz Reigns in Wickedness

In the 23rd year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, his reign lasted 17 years. While Jehoahaz reigned in did so in wickedness. Because of this wickedness, the Lord was angry and caused that all of Israel fell into the hands of Hazael the king of Syria. Jehoahaz  hearkened unto the Lord and because of this the Lord caused a savior to arise among the Israelites and lead them out from underneath the Syrians. Because of their past wickedness Jehoahaz was left with a very small army of men.

Jehoahaz dies and is buried with his fathers. Elisha falls sick and is on his death bed. Joash comes to visit him and cries over him. Elisha tells him to grab a bow and some arrows and point to the window and tells Joash to shoot out the window, and he does. Elisha tells him that the arrow he shot symbolizes the deliverance of the Lord and that he would have victory over the Syrians. So Elisha tells him to shoot into the ground some more… so Joash shoots three times and then stops, but before Elisha dies he tells him that he should have shot 6 or more times, because that is how many times he would have victory over the Syrians.

One of the more bizarre things of the Bible happens in verse 21, where they lower another dead man into Elisha’s tomb and when the man touches the bones of Elisha he revives and stands up! The verse does not give any more details, and the reader is left to wonder why Elisha’s bones would make some re-live? Maybe it is to honor this great prophet?

Hazael, the king of Syria oppresses Israel… but the Lord was gracious unto them because of the covenant that He had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and would not destroy them. Hazael the king of Syria died and his son, Ben-hadad reigned in his place.

Chapter 14: Jeroboam Reigns in Wickedness

In the second year of the reign of Joash, reined Amaziah in Judah. Amaziah was only 25 years old when he began to reign and he reigned for a total of 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan.

Amaziah did what was right in the sight of the Lord. Once, however he came to power he slew the servants who had killed his father. But he did not kill the children of the murderers. The reason he did not do this, is because it was written in the “Book of the Law of Moses” that

“…The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” (2 Kings 14:6)

There are a few things that I can say about this…

First; “The book of the Law of Moses” could very well be referring to one of the five books of Moses that we know of today as the first 5 books of the Bible. However, more likely than not this verse is referring to a book that we do not know about currently TODAY. The Bible is not complete, because there were at least 10 times as many books that should have or could have been part of the Bible and 10 times is a LOW number. We know that the Bible is not complete, because the Bible refers often to books that DO NOT EXIST today. So we must accept that the Bible (while very important book, and I personally believe to be the WORD of God) is not a complete WORD of God, but not doubt words from God.

Second; it mentions that we are not responsible for the sin of our parents. So if we are to assume that Adam and Eve are our first parents (which all human life according to the Bible stems from) then why would we be held accountable for their sin? What exactly am I talking about? I am talking about the “Original Sin”. I know that there might be other religions that believe in this, but I know for a fact that the Catholic Church does believe this. Now, I am not going to tell anyone how to worship… we are all free and we all were given agency to do as we please. I believe that everyone has a right to worship God in any way that they see fit. However, I do not understand why a baby (whose life has just begun) could possibly be a sinner!  This is why babies are baptized. But in my personal opinion it is a great abomination before the Lord. We are not responsible for our parent’s sins… so why are we being held accountable for something that Adam and Eve did? We must be baptized when we gain faith in Jesus Christ and want to change our lives to follow him… which means we have to repent of our sins. How can a baby possibly repent? A baby cannot. Therefore should not be baptized. This is a doctrine that is unique to the LDS church (the Mormons) that a person should not be baptized until the age of accountability (which we know, through modern revelation is 8 years old.)

Amaziah with his new found power as king goes and kills ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela and renamed is Joktheel. Amaziah with his cocky winning streak decided to send a letter to Jehoash the king of Israel and told him to battle against him. But Jehoash writes back and tells Amaziah to glory in his victory, but to stay home and not come up to battle against him, because he would essentially destroy him. But Amaziah does not listen and goes to battle anyways… and just like Jehoash said, Judah was defeated and the men ran back to their tents. As a result of their defeat the king of Israel takes Amaziah as prisoner and also takes all his gold and silver along with the gold and silver of the treasuries of God. He had lost not only personal belongings, but that which also belonged to the children of the Lord.

Jehoash dies and his sons Jeroboam reigns in his place. Amaziah lived for 15 more years after the death of Jehoash before he too passed away. The people arise and form a conspiracy against Jehoash and end up killing him and burying him in the City of David and put Azariah the son of Amaziah in charge.

Jeroboam the second, the son of Joash became king in Samaria and reigned for 41 years. But did so wickedly. Jeroboam recaptured many parts of Israel. He died and his son Zechariah reigned in his place.