Southern Israeli Kings: A Lesson in Finishing Well

Israel's kings, years after King David and King Solomon, were some of the most dismal in their history. The Northern Kingdom, an idolatry haven, saw Israel's morality on a steady decline. The Southern Kingdom wasn't much of an improvement over its neighboring kingdom, but they did sport a few kings who led godly lives and walked in the ways of the Lord all of their lives. There were five exceptional kings, specifically, and each with a colorful background of their dealings in war and peace times. Though each king was considered "good" in God's eyes, finishing well is the name of the game, and these five all found ways to end somewhat anticlimactically. We will take an in-depth examination of each king, determining how God found them faithful and how their less fruitful efforts affected the Davidic dynasty.

The Southern Kingdom's first extraordinary ruler proved to be God's choice to clean house. King Asa's most redeeming feature as Israel's leader was shown in his dealings with idolatry. The godly kings before him had abhorred idol worship, but failed to take any proactive steps towards dealing with the people's sin. Contrary to this pattern, Asa went right to work taking away the altars of strange gods, removing most of the high places, destroying the carved images, and cutting down the groves. Each of these terms might sound strange to our ears, since they are from the King James Version Bible, but it's not difficult to grasp what these mean. The high places and groves were specific worshiping places, sometimes on mountains, where the people would go to worship and offer forbidden sacrifices. This practice was difficult to continue once Asa removed and destroyed them, an objective that was long overdue for Israel. But as we will see later, Asa's conduct wasn't commendable throughout his entire reign.

Asa apparently took good care of his children in raising them in the way of the Lord, as is evidenced in the life of his son, Jehoshaphat, who became the subsequent leader of the kingdom of Judah. By the time Asa died and Jehoshaphat took the throne to reign, the children of Israel had set up more groves and high places, most likely where Asa had failed to remove all traces of idols. But Jehoshaphat, who prepared his heart for the Lord as we are told, took it upon himself to remove these groves and worship places, this time removing all of them instead of leaving some as a disgrace. Chronicles 17 explains how Jehoshaphat walked in the way of God, refusing to worship Baal, the popular god of the day. However, he was a fighting king, and even though his heart was in the right place, his alliances were not, as we shall soon see.

Three rulers would reign in Judah before another righteous king was found in the land. Joash, the great-grandson of Jehoshaphat, boasts a reign unique to very few other kings. Chronicles does not mention the necessity to destroy the groves and high places during his reign before the death of the high priest, although considering the three evil rulers precedent to Joash, one would presume there would be some about the kingdom. However, God had different plans for Joash than simply razing and demolishing idols. God placed it in Joash's heart to repair His house, which had been neglected during previous monarchies. However, when the time came to collect money from Israel to fund the repairs, the Levites refused to make the project a top priority. At this point, Joash consulted with the chief priest, Jehoida, to spearhead the project instead, whereupon the Levites had no choice but to hasten in their dealings with the temple money. After plans were made to collect the offerings from the people, the Israelites found it in their hearts to give generously to the temple's refurbish fund chest. Because of Joash's persistence in the temple matter, God blessed him with peace in the land.

Four kings would rule the throne before the next most righteous king, Hezekiah, ascended it. These kings subsequent to Joash, save for Ahaz, Hezekiah's father, were considered righteous, but not to the extent Hezekiah was. For it was Hezekiah who restored true worship to the kingdom again, and is most noted for his inclusion of the evil Northern Kingdom of Israel in the his rejuvenation. Hezekiah came to the throne two weeks before Passover, a mandatory but begrudgingly celebrated Jewish holiday. It had been ignored during the years of his father, so Hezekiah wanted to ensure his kingdom celebrated it with all they were worth. However, two weeks was too little time for preparation, but a Jewish law mandated that someone who could not celebrate Passover on time could do so later. Hezekiah took advantage of this law, and invited not only his kingdom, but also the Northern Kingdom, to come celebrate with him. Of course, he was mocked for his efforts, but some of the tribes of Manasseh, Zebulun, and Asher journeyed down to observe the holiday, and thus a sense of greater respect and true worship was espoused during Hezekiah's reign.

Israel's final notable king is one dear to the hearts of many. King Josiah came to the throne under the tumult of his predecessors' evil rule at the tender age of eight. He sought out the Lord at a young age as well, and purposed in his heart to tear down the groves and high places, which had "mysteriously" sprung up yet again. The temple was also in need of another refurbishing, as many years had transpired since the last remodeling. As this was taking place, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law in the temple and brought it to the king. King Josiah wept when it was read to him, as he realized the previous kings had not followed the law, and thus doom was to come upon Israel. However, because of Josiah's faithfulness to the Lord and his remorse over an unruly kingdom, the Lord granted him that he would not have to endure the punishment imminent to Israel. Nevertheless, his end was rather tragic, as he consulted not with God about going into the fiercest battle of his rule.

While these five kings were the most righteous of their day, they still had their faults. Every human does, but the sins that characterized the finale of each king's career were looked down upon by God as much as the sins of the wicked kings of Israel. As Dr. Chuck Missler likes to quip in his Bible commentaries, it's finishing well that matters, and each of these kings failed to finish well in the long run. We'll revisit Asa, one of Judah's first kings to cut down the groves and successfully keep the high places down throughout his reign. But towards the end of his career, during one of Israel's wars, Asa chose to rely on armies for his safety, and as a result, God let the army of Syria slip out of his hand. When a prophet of God brought the matter up to Asa, he was thrown in prison, and Asa afflicted the people of Israel until he contracted a disease. Again, instead of trusting in God for his wellbeing, he consulted with doctors and astrologers to heal him. He died in disgrace, but if he had followed in the way of the Lord, his future would likely have taken a different turn.

Asa's offspring, Jehoshaphat, stayed righteous throughout his life; however, his choices in armed alliances left much to be desired. His alliance with Ahab, notably one of the most wicked kings in Northern Israel, was an uncomfortable one in God's eyes, to say the least. He was forewarned of the dangers of aligning himself with a capricious king such as Ahab, but he did things his own way and merely half-heeded the advice of God's prophets. In the end, Ahab was killed in battle, and Jehoshaphat petitioned God to save his skin when he was unable to handle the fight on the field. One would be led to believe Jehoshaphat would've learned his lesson after such a scuffle, but no. A few years later, he participated in a trade venture to Tarshish with Amaziah, another wicked king of Northern Israel. This angered God, Who threw a wrench into Jehoshaphat's plans and caused the venture to fail. Jehoshaphat deceased in better graces, but was nonetheless remembered as failing to consult with God before making his plans.

The demise of King Joash is probably the most dismal of the five kings. After the death of Jehoida, the faithful priest, Joash became an apostate king and allowed occultic practices to pick up where they left off at the beginning of Joash's reign with Jehoida. He also appeased the Syrian king with treasures from God's holy temple in order to avoid a war, as opposed to seeking the Lord's help in a battle. Seeing that a trustworthy king had turned from Him, God sent Jehoida's son, Zechariah, to plead with the Joash and bring his heart back around. However, instead of remembering the kindness and noble leadership of Jehoida, Joash allowed conspirators of Zechariah to stone him to death. Upon this act God was greatly displeased, enough so to allow Joash to be badly wounded in battle and be killed by conspirators of his own while recovering. Joash was refused burial in the company of Israel's previous kings, and was instead buried as a peasant.

Arguably one of the best of the five kings, King Hezekiah was not without his faults, just as the other kings. However, his weren't quite as pronounced until the day he became distraught over his imminent death. After pleading with the Lord for an extended lifetime, he was granted fifteen more years to live. Though generous, this time period was relatively short in comparison to his reign, but long enough to cause havoc for future generations. During his fifteen-year extension, Hezekiah grew his wealth tremendously and prospered in all that he put his hand to. As a result of his great prosperity, Chronicles 32:25 tells us that Hezekiah "rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up..." Consequently, Hezekiah's pride escalated to the point where God's wrath was kindled. Shortly hereafter, Hezekiah did humble himself before any great calamity came upon Israel, but he still prospered and collected cities for himself as before. Perhaps the worst outcome stemming from his extended life was his son, Manasseh. Infamously described as one of the most horrible of Israel's kings, Manasseh's legacy stands as a reminder today that a longer life does not necessarily breed long-term happiness, as Israel would never have had to endure suffering under his rule had Hezekiah not been alive to give him birth.

Last, but not least, King Josiah made his negative mark during the very end of his reign. His was probably the least disgraceful, as he did not fall to apostasy, pride, or conspiracy. He fell to the same temptation many individuals do, which was to follow along with his own plans without asking the advice of God beforehand. Pharaoh Necho, who had no beans with Josiah, went to war with a neighboring country. However, Josiah decided to go into battle against Necho, who believed Josiah was actually impeding what God wanted Necho to accomplish in fighting Carchemish, pleaded with Josiah not to fight against him, as he meant no harm to Israel. Not surprisingly, Josiah did not heed his voice but suffered a fatality from an archer's arrow. He paid the ultimate price for not consulting God's advice on his plans.

We can learn immense life lessons from these five kings of Israel. They were considered the best of their time, yet they still practiced apostasy and conspiracy, gathered wealth and became prideful, and proceeded with their lives without God's insight. Each of these has application to the life of the individual believer. They also seem to follow along in a chain reaction. When we don't listen to the Lord in our daily lives, we are likely to slip into prideful and apostate deeds, which end up ultimately in a troubled death. But those who learn from these historical lessons will be better off both in their physical and spiritual lives.

WORKS CITED

Jewish Virtual Library. "Hezekiah." American Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Copyright 2007.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Hezekiah.html

Missler, Dr. Chuck. "Chronicles Commentary." Audio, Koinonia House Publishing, 2005.

Multiple Authors. The Holy Bible. New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc., 1982.

Various Authors. "King Hezekiah - Biography." Copyright 2007.

http://www.geocities.com/thekingsofisrael/biography_Hezekiah.html

Various Authors. "King Joash of Judah - Biography." Copyright 2007.

http://www.geocities.com/thekingsofisrael/biography_JoashOfJudah.html

Various Authors. "King Josiah - Biography." Copyright 2007.

http://www.geocities.com/thekingsofisrael/biography_Josiah.html