The last several years of the Northern Kingdom were a chain of disasters. (Remember, it is only after the fall of the Northern Kingdom that we refer to the whole nation as Israel. Up until now, only the Northern Kingdom is called Israel while the Southern Kingdom is called Judah.) Here is the list of kings of Israel in those final days: Zechariah reigned six months and was assassinated. Shallum reigned for six months and was assassinated. Menachem reigned ten years but what is recorded as a summary of his time is that he attacked a city and ripped open all the pregnant women. He is also the first to…

It is 413 years from the death of Solomon to the fall of Jerusalem and our text for today is just around 120 years after Solomon’s death. While many of the kings are direct descendants of previous kings, the history of Judah is filled with assassinations, coups, attempted coups, insurrections and illegitimate rulers. It’s a mess. From Solomon to the fall of Jerusalem there are only a handful of kings about which Scripture says they followed the ways of David instead of the ways of Jeroboam. The story we are in this morning is no exception. It is complicated and tragic. There are two accounts. One is in 2 Kings…