Rehoboam King of Judah (1st Kgs. 14:21-31)
After the split, Solomon’s son Rehoboam continued to reign for 17 years over Judah from Jerusalem, and the people continued to be evil during his reign.
“By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than those who were before them had done. They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.”
-- 1st Kings 14:22-24
In Rehoboam’s fifth year, Judah was attacked by Shishak king of Egypt.
The Egyptians took the treasures of the royal palace and the Temple.
Throughout Rehoboam’s reign, he was at war with Jeroboam in the north.
The Kings of Judah…according to puppets…
Abijah (15:1-8)
He reigned in Jerusalem for 3 years
He was bad.
He was Absalom’s grandson.
Warred against Jeroboam throughout his reign.
Asa (15:9-24)
He reigned in Jerusalem 41 years
He was good.
He got rid of the idols.
He even deposed the wicked Queen Mother.
Baasha of Israel started a war with him during his reign.
He had diseased feet in his old age.
Jehoshaphat (22:41-50)
He reigned over Judah for 25 years.
He was a good king…but kind of dummy, too.
He forbade worshiping idols, but failed to destroy them…
He built ships, but they never set sail…
Jehoram (2nd Kgs. 8:16-24)
He reigned in Jerusalem for 8 years.
He was evil.
He married one of Ahab’s daughters.
Edom rebelled during his reign.
Ahaziah (8:25-29)
He reigned for one year.
He was bad, too.
He teamed up with Israel and went to war against Hazael of Aram, but he died in battle.
Athaliah and Joash (11:1-21)
Joash was the only boy left alive from the house of David.
His aunt Jehosheba hid him in the Temple for six years from his crazy grandma Athaliah.
Priests proclaim Joash king on his seventh birthday.
Revealed to the worshipers
Crown placed on head, given copy of The Law
Athaliah came to the Temple and tried to make a scene, but the Temple guards arrested her and put her to death outside of the Temple.
High Priest Jehoiada made a covenant between the king and the people and between the king and God.
The people then destroyed Baal’s temple, and the land had peace.
Joash Repairs the Temple (12:1-21)
Joash reigned in Jerusalem for 40 years.
He did what was right in God’s sight.
Joash set up a fund for Temple repairs.
When he turned 30, he saw that the priests had not done a good job in repairing damages at the Temple, so he told the priests to use the money to hire workers who knew what they were doing, and in this way the Temple was finally repaired.
Hazael King of Aram attacked Jerusalem, and Joash emptied the Temple treasury and the royal treasury and gave it all to Hazael to make him go away.
One day, as Joash was walking down the road, some of his own officials attacked him and killed him.
Joash’s son Amaziah succeeded him as king, and the Davidic Dynasty continued.
More Kings
Amaziah King of Judah (14:1-22)
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| 29 year reign. He was pretty good at first. |
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He defeated Edom in battle and got cocky.
Picked an unwanted fight with Israel.
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King of Israel captured Amaziah and put him in jail.
King of Israel raided Jerusalem and the Temple. |
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Amaziah’s own people came and assassinated him.
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Became king at age 16.
52 year reign. He was good, but
his subjects worshiped idols.
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Azariah was a leper and became co-regent with his son Jotham
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16 year official reign. He was good.
He rebuilt the Temple's Upper Gate.
Israel and the Assyrians
began to struggle against Judah.
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Ahaz King of Judah (16:1-20)
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16 year reign. He was bad.
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He sacrificed his own son in the fire.
War with Israel and Aram.
Allied himself with the Assyrians.
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Dismantled large sections of Temple
and gave all Temple gold to Assyrians.
Assyrians sacked Damascus and deported Arameans.
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The prophet Isaiah spoke against a number of things that Ahaz did.
When Ahaz died, Hezekiah became king of Judah.
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2 Kgs 18:1–23:30 – Judah’s disobedience and reform
2 Kgs 23:31–25:30 – Destruction and exile
Hezekiah King of Judah (18:1-16)
One of Judah’s greatest kings.
He reigned in Jerusalem 29 years.
“He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD.”
He destroyed the peoples’ idols.
Even destroyed bronze snake of Moses.
The prophet Isaiah
Warns Hezekiah not to ally himself with Egypt and Philistia when they rebel against Assyria.
Hezekiah listens at first, but later rebels.
Hezekiah’s struggles
He wipes out the Philistines
Assyrians destroy northern kingdom of Israel during his reign
Later, Assyrians capture all of Judah’s fortified cities
Hezekiah bribes the Assyrian king Sennacherib with gold and silver from the royal and Temple treasuries to keep him out of Jerusalem for awhile
Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem (18:17-37)
Later, Sennacherib’s troops surrounded Jerusalem again.
The field commander called out to the people of Jerusalem.
On what are you basing this confidence of yours?
Pharaoh will not be able to save you from us.
We will give you a good new land to live in if you surrender to us.
Will Yahweh really protect you?
Haven’t you been unfaithful to Yahweh?
None of the gods of the other nations of the world were able to save their people from our might.
Yahweh himself told us to march against Jerusalem and destroy it!
Surely you will all “eat your own dung” and “drink your own piss”!
The people remained silent as Hezekiah had commanded them.
Hezekiah puts on sackcloth and goes to the Temple.
He sent for the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz.
Hezekiah hoped that God would “rebuke” the Assyrians for their blasphemy and save Jerusalem.
Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold (19:1-13)
Isaiah gave this message to King Hezekiah:
“This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.”
The Assyrians retreated because of threats of a Cushite invasion from the African continent.
As they left, they sent a letter to King Hezekiah threatening that they would eventually come back and conquer Jerusalem and no one would be able to stop them.
Hezekiah’s Prayer (19:14-19)
“It is true that the Assyrians have destroyed the gods of other nations…because they were not really gods at all…”
“Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”
Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib’s Fall (19:20-37)
Isaiah’s message about Sennacherib, condensed:
“‘Virgin Daughter Zion
despises you and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
tosses her head as you flee.
Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
despises you and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
tosses her head as you flee.
Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
“Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:
“‘He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,
declares the Lord.I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,
declares the Lord.I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”
Sennacherib returns to his capital at Nineveh.
His two sons assassinate him.
Esarhaddon becomes king of Assyria.
Hezekiah’s Illness (20:1-11)
Hezekiah becomes deathly ill.
Isaiah’s message:
Get your house in order because you are going to die.
Hezekiah’s plea
Faces the wall and cries
Asks God to remember his faithfulness
Isaiah leaves, God stops him, sends him back.
Isaiah’s new message:
God has heard you
God will heal you
God will protect this city from the Assyrians
Hezekiah asks for a sign from God.
The sign was the shadow moving backwards up the steps instead of following its normal course down the steps during the day.
Envoys From Babylon (20:12-21)
The Babylonians
King Marduk-Baladan is pleased that Hezekiah has recovered
Sends envoys with gifts for him
Hezekiah’s poor decision
He shows off all of Jerusalem’s wealth to the envoys
Isaiah scolds him, predicts the King of Babylon will one day come to plunder Jerusalem’s wealth
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| Entrance to Hezekiah's Tunnel |
Hezekiah doesn’t care, figures he’ll be long gone by then
Hezekiah’s tunnel
Hezekiah is famous for building an extensive tunnel and water system under the city in order to make sure the city would never run out of water in the event of a long siege.
More Kings
Manasseh King of Judah (21:1-18)
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He was 12 when he became king.
55 year reign. He was bad.
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He worshiped other gods.
He rebuilt the idols and shrines
his father Hezekiah had torn down.
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He sacrificed his own son.
He built new altars inside the Temple
of the LORD for worshiping the stars.
He put an Asherah pole
inside the Temple of the LORD.
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He practiced divination, sought omens,
and consulted mediums and spiritists.
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“Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood
that he filled Jerusalem from end to end…”
The people followed Manasseh in his evil ways.
The text says that the people of Jerusalem
had become worse than the pagans
who had lived in the land before them.
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God spoke through many prophets
condemning Manasseh’s ways.
God said that Judah would eventually be
judged as the rest of Israel had been judged.
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Amon King of Judah (21:19-26)
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2 year reign. He was bad.
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His own officials assassinated him.
His son Josiah became king after him.
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The Book of the Law Found (22:1-20)
Josiah becomes king.
He is only 8 years old
He reigns for 31 years.
Josiah arranged to have the Temple of the LORD cleaned and repaired.
High Priest Hilkiah finds “The Book of the Law” while cleaning the Temple.
Josiah’s secretary reads him The Law.
Josiah tears his robes and weeps because he now knows how far from God Judah has strayed.
Orders priests to inquire of the LORD so they might somehow avoid the curses of The Covenant.
The prophetess Huldah’s message:
The land is indeed under the curse
God is pleased with Josiah
Jerusalem will be safe during his lifetime
Josiah reads the Law to the people.
The people pledge to be faithful to the Covenant with God.
Josiah’s Reforms (23:1-30)
Josiah’s reforms
Josiah destroys all of the idols of his ancestors, including the idols Solomon made for his wives, and the “Tophit” used for child sacrifice in the valley.
He piles up the skeletons of all the false priests and prophets of the golden calves of Jeroboam on top of the place where the golden calf at Bethel once stood, fulfilling Ahijah’s prophecy.
He gets rid of the mediums and spiritists.
He has the people celebrate Passover again.
“Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.”
As a part of the Deuteronomistic History, Joshua and Josiah book end each other, with Joshua at the beginning and Josiah at the end. They are both king-like figures, both copy the Law, both read it to the assembly, and both celebrate the Passover. Not to mention the obvious similarities in both of their names.
Death of Josiah
The Egyptians make an alliance with the Assyrians, and Josiah fights against Pharaoh’s army, but is killed in battle.
Even More Kings
Even More Kings
Jehoahaz King of Judah (23:31-35)
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3 month reign. He was bad.
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Pharaoh Necho captured him and dragged
him in chains to Egypt where he died.
Necho made Judah his vassal
and made them pay tribute to him.
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He appointed Josiah’s son Eliakim
to replace Jehoahaz as king.
He changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim.
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Jehoiakim King of Judah (23:36–24:7)
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11 year reign. He was bad.
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During his reign, King Nebuchadnezzar
of Babylon invaded the land, and Judah
became Babylon’s vassal for three years.
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Jehoiachin King of Judah (24:8-17)
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3 month reign. He was bad.
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During his reign, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege
to Jerusalem again and took away
all the gold from the Temple of the LORD
and the royal palace as Isaiah had predicted.
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Nebuchadnezzar took 10,000 people
from Jerusalem and exiled them to Babylon,
including the entire army and the royal family.
He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle,
king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.
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Zedekiah King of Judah (24:18-20)
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Nebuchadnezzar’s puppet-king for 11 years.
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The Fall of Jerusalem (24:20–25:26)
Zedekiah rebels
Against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
Babylonian army besieges Jerusalem for two years.
Final destruction
Extreme famine in the city.
Babylonians finally break through walls
Jerusalem’s army flees towards the Arabah, but is captured.
Zedekiah captured, his sons executed in front of him, Zedekiah’s eyes poked out, dragged away in chains to Babylon
Almost all of Jerusalem’s people captured, exiled to Babylon
Destruction of the Temple of the LORD
Babylonians remove treasures and holy items, destroy what is left
Priests taken to Babylon, executed in front of Nebuchadnezzar.
Governor Gedaliah
Appointed over Judah by Nebuchadnezzar
Ruled over “the poorest of the poor”
Gedaliah assassinated, people flee to Egypt in fear
Jehoiachin Released (25:27-30)
Meanwhile, former king Jehoiachin had spent 37 years in prison, and was finally released when Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon.
The king of Babylon honored him and allowed him to eat at the king’s table.
Babylonian cuneiform records have even confirmed Jehoiachin’s regular food ration from the royal table.
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