THE FALL OF JUDAH
Bible study by Pat Gaines

LESSON 3

Scripture for this lesson is taken from 2 Kings (chapters 20-21).

In last week’s lesson King Hezekiah was visited by men from Babylon bearing letters and gifts from King Merodach-Baladan. Hezekiah received the messengers and proceeded to show them all the treasures of Judah. Isaiah came to Hezekiah and told him that the Lord had said the Babylonians would come and take all of Jerusalem’s treasures and would take his descendants as captive and make them eunuchs in the king’s palace, but not in Hezekiah’s lifetime.

[2 Kings 20:20-21] (20) As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? (21) Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.

Twenty years after the fall of the Northern Kingdom, Hezekiah walled up the Gihon Spring which was Jerusalem’s main water supply so that Assyria could not shut off water to the city. He had a tunnel built from the spring down to the Pool of Siloam, a distance of 1750 feet. He had two crews working, one from each end and they met in the middle. This was a good engineering job for 701 BC. Hezekiah died and was succeeded by his twelve year old son, Manasseh.

[2 Kings 21:1-6] (1) Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. (2) He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. (3) He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. (4) He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” (5) In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. (6) He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.

Manasseh rebuilt all the idols that his father, Hezekiah had destroyed. He made idols of the moon god lah, the sun god ra, the baal gods, male god, Baal, the female Asherah. He also built altars to Moloch who was a god of the Ammonites, the Canaanites and the Phoenicians. Moloch worship required child sacrifice. He went to fortune tellers and practiced some witchcraft. In the Ten Commandments, God said, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” When the Israelites came into the Promised Land God told them not to marry any pagan women and to destroy all the people who were living in the land of Canaan. These rules were to prevent them from worshiping the pagan idols. But they did not do what God commanded. Here are some of the gods worshiped by the people in Judah at that time.

There were other pagan gods worshiped by the people of Judah at this time. These are just a few that were mentioned in the scripture. [2 Kings 21:3-5]

[2 Kings 21:10-15] (10) The Lord said through his servants the prophets: (11) “Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. (12) Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. (13) I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. (14) I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hands of enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their enemies; (15) they have done evil in my eyes and have aroused my anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this day.”

God is clearly losing patience with His chosen people. God will not tolerate idol worship forever. He is going to judge Judah on the same grounds He judged Samaria (Northern Kingdom), and the family of Ahab (Ahab and Jezebel) who was king of Samaria.

[2 Kings 10:6-11] (6) Then Jehu wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel by this time tomorrow. ”Now the royal princes, seventy of them, were with the leading men of the city, who were rearing them. (7) When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. (8) When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, “They have brought the heads of the princes ”Then Jehu ordered, “Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning.” (9) The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and said, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? (10 Know, then, that not a word the Lord has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The Lord has done what he announced through his servant Elijah.” (11) So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor.

God allowed the Assyrians to bring His judgment upon Samaria (Northern Kingdom) and He used Jehu to bring judgment upon the family of Ahab. His is going to use the Babylonians to bring judgement upon the Kingdom of Judah. Will God bring judgment against America for idol worship? You decide.

[2 Kings 21: 17-18] (17) As for the other events of Manasseh’s reign, and all he did, including the sin he committed, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? (18) Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.

Amon did evil in the Lord’s eyes and he reigned only two years over Judah. He was assassinated in his palace by his own officials and his eight-year old son, Josiah reigned in his place.

In the next lesson we will study about good King Josiah, the boy king.

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