I learn a couple of valuable things today. We don’t always get the whole story when we are reading….and today in 2 Kings that is obvious.
You wouldn’t want to read 2 Kings without reading 2 Chronicles to find out the rest of the story behind Uzziah’s reign. 2 Chronicles adds so much more detail…and even at that we only know a small fraction of what really happened. I wish we could know more, maybe there would be some examples in the additional insights that would help us stay closer to the Lord. As it is, we have enough…so maybe more wouldn’t change anything.
There is one glaring difference shown between the northern and southern kingdoms today, and that is the length of reign of each king. As Uzziah reigns for many years in Judah (south) there are up to six different kings reigning in Israel (north).
The one difference between the two is righteousness. Judah’s kings serve the Lord, even if they aren’t doing it “completely”, while Israel’s kings are ungodly and openly defiant toward God. Rebellion sends the northern kingdom into a downward spiral….this spiral began years ago when the kingdom first split from Judah and fashioned golden calves to worship. Over the years many different false religions have been made popular, and calf worship has become a part of their national identity. At the same time, there have been periods of military success and wealth, but they didn’t last.
This is significant, you don’t want to miss this point: In the north things aren’t dark and gloomy all the time, even though they are ungodly. Under Jeroboam II the people enjoy great wealth, peaceful trade and victory in battle. From a political standpoint things are great. If they had a “Wall Street” Financial sector the reports would have been glowing. The only people not cheering about the success of the kingdom are the prophets.
I find a disturbing parallel between Israel north and the United States. We are heavily reliant upon the stock market report and the GNP or the Jobs report to tell us how well the country is doing. I don’t mean to make light of any of those things…we need to have those indicators…but it does no good to have a glowing stock market report if you are being disobedient to the Lord at the same time. Disobedience guarantees that prosperity will not last. Obedience doesn’t always guarantee prosperity, but it does guarantee God’s blessing, which often includes prosperity, and peace with surrounding nations. I propose that we are missing one of the key indicators of financial, social and political success…and that is the spiritual indicator. We are fighting with half the globe, we are fighting amongst ourselves, our politicians are fighting, our citizens are taking up arms and attempting to kill each other, the politicians they don’t like and other innocent people. Something is wrong. We are missing something that the DOW indicator can’t predict. We’re missing our connection to the source of relationship, Jesus Christ.
In our effort to make sure that the nation is tolerant and accepting of all people we have discarded the very thing that made us successful in the first place. That’s what has happened in Israel north, and that’s exactly what happens in the later part of 2 Chronicles to king Uzziah. Pride led to rebellion, and taking tasks upon himself that God had forbid him to do.
In a few minutes (literally) I will perform a wedding for a lovely young couple who are deeply in love with each other, and Jesus. I can celebrate that. But when two people come to me and want to be married that don’t fit God’s definition of marriage (for instance, two people of the same sex) I cannot perform the ceremony. It isn’t because I’m closed minded (I may be) but that’s not the point. The point is that God has given specific direction and I am not willing to put myself at risk by violating it.
King Uzziah took it upon himself to do what he wanted to do. He probably thought it was okay. In his deceived way of thinking it probably made sense. I don’t know, and it isn’t important…but he should have repented quickly when confronted and done what the priests told him. Maybe then he wouldn’t have been punished with leprosy, and buried outside the royal graveyard.
Reading 2 Chronicles helps me understand why 2 Kings says that “the Lord caused the king of Israel to attack Judah” It was Uzziah’s rebellion that created the problem. When we are righteous, we can be confident that God will support us, when we are rebellious we can be sure that problems are on the horizon.
Pride goes before a fall. “Lord, I am listening. Keep me from becoming proud, self confident and making decisions on my own without your insight”.
Faithfully,
PR