Jeremiah–part 2, Jer 11-19

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem by Rembrandt, 1630 https://www.rembrandtpaintings.com/jeremiah-lamenting-the-destruction-of-jerusalem.jsp

Jer 11—God offers a renewal of His covenant under the Law of Moses
     The Lord tells Jeremiah to go to the men (people) of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and offer/proclaim/remind them of His covenant to obey Him/His commandments—which if they did, they would be His people, He would be their God, and they would be given a land flowing with milk and honey:  symbolizing a prosperous land, producing abundant agriculture (animals & crops, the basis of any nation’s prosperity).  Otherwise, they will be cursed.  It is a reiteration of the Exodus covenant, which included a blessing and a cursing—the natural consequences of obeying the Law of God given through Moses, or the disobedience/rejection of God’s laws.  For what reason does God give commandments?  Because in His wisdom/intelligence and compassion, He knows and tells us what will bring us happiness, peace, and prosperity, and what will bring our downfall/destruction/misery.
     A couple notes:  Jeremiah is to speak to the men, because they had charge/responsibility of/for the nation and its people (including their families, wives and children).  In our culture we are more likely to speak of consequences rather than of curses, it’s a difference in our way of understanding life, the world, and even of God.  
     The people not only didn’t obey, didn’t listen, went after their own disparate goals, they conspired/agreed to do so.  They were the ones who broke the covenant/sacred contract, so God is not obligated to fulfill His promises to them.  He will allow bad/”evil” things to come, which they will not be able to escape (in olden times people considered anything bad as “evil”).  Where is God’s mercy?  God has worked with His people, been merciful to them, for hundreds of years—enough is enough.  It is not Merciful not to be Just.  A parent who is endlessly giving “2nd chances” (and 3rd, 4th, etc) is essentially an enabler, and isn’t doing his/her child any favors.  A good parent must set boundaries and stick by them.  Of course, mistakes can be made and repented of, if it is true repentance.  But to pretend to repent merely to get a reprieve isn’t really repentance.  Repentance means a change of heart, a change of behavior.  Of course, we are imperfect beings, and God has offered means to make atonement for those imperfections, as much then as now.  
     When God doesn’t help the people of Judah they will go to their false gods, who can’t help them.  Every city has had its favorite god, and Jerusalem has had altars to different gods in every street, and worse yet, to the particularly evil Baal (Jezebel’s god).  
     Again, God tells Jeremiah not to pray for the people.  He’s not going to listen to their false pleas.  He likens them to an adulterous wife with many lovers, who rejoices in them.  He likens the nation to an olive tree that will be broken down and burned.  He was the one that planted the tree, and He will be the one who will take it out, because of their worship of Baal.
     Jeremiah speaks of his personal experience, in that God showed Him all this, and because he has spoken God’s word, they conspire to “sacrifice” him to their own devices (leading him like a lamb or bull to the slaughter).  They intend to cut him down like a tree, so that he will not be remembered (perhaps that he will have no descendants).  Jeremiah prays that God, who judges righteously, and tests every person’s heart (intentions, character, what one values and desires, as well as faithfulness to Him), will hear his cause, which he has laid out, and punish his adversaries for their wickedness—who tell him not to prophesy in the name of the Lord, or they will kill him.   God answers Jeremiah that He will indeed punish them, in particular the men of Anathoth.  Their young men will be killed in war, and their children will die from famine.  The men of Anathoth (Jeremiah’s hometown) will have no descendants.  
https://bibleatlas.org/anathoth.htm about Anathoth

Jer 12—God will punish Jeremiah’s kin for betraying him
     Jeremiah acknowledges God’s righteousness, and yet, he wonders why wicked people prosper, and treacherous ones are happy.  Perhaps we have all wondered, or felt that frustration.  Jeremiah says, You know me, you know my heart . . . “How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, [God isn’t going to punish us, in the end].”  It sounds like they were suffering a dearth/drought, and God was not revoking it.
     Jeremiah uses figurative words that perhaps would have been proverbial in his time, that if someone is weary from running along with footmen carrying a VIP’s litter how can they keep up with a horse-drawn carriage?  Likewise, if one trusts in the peace of the river (Jordan), what will one do during the season of flooding?  This seems to have some reference to the betrayal of Jeremiah by his kin, “though they speak fair words” they harbor ill for him.
     Jeremiah, and/or God, has turned his back on his people/kin.  They are like a lion roaring after him with threats of devouring him, so he renounces his inheritance (see the end of the previous chapter).  He likens his inheritance to a speckled bird, referring either to a small songbird (or possibly an imperfect specimen not suitable for a sacrifice unto the Lord, but the next sentence seems to make it about the former).  Other, presumably larger, birds fly about her menacingly.  Wild beasts come to devour her.
     Many pastors (who should be tending the flock or fields) have destroyed them, or have oppressed the people (pastors and flocks used as a metaphor, like today, for the religious leaders and their congregations).  These leaders don’t take it to heart when they despoil the people.  In consequence, the whole land from one end to the other will be spoiled/destroyed by conquest.  In another figure the Lord speaks of the leaders of the people sowing wheat (as they suppose to get rich thereby), but will reap thorns.  All their efforts will go for nought (nothing), and their revenues will be embarrassing.  This because the Lord is angry at them.  God will pluck His people out of their land, but He will again have compassion on them, and return them to their heritage/inheritance.  He is speaking, in particular, of the leaders/pastors of the people, who instead of teaching the people of God, have taught them of Baal.  If those leaders would turn to God, and turn the people to God, they will be prospered among the people.  If not, God will destroy the entire nation (God will allow the conquest of the nation, but it’s actually the people and their leaders who have destroyed the nation morally, which causes the material destruction of the nation.)
   
Jer 13—Can a leopard change its spots?
     Prophets anciently often used theatrics to make their message powerful in the minds of the people.  The Lord instructs Jeremiah to dramatize the relationship between Himself and Israel by taking a piece of intimate clothing and burying it in the bank of the Euphrates River, later digging it up again, and showing how it has become worthless.  Likewise, Israel was close to the Lord:  “This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.”  'Girdle' is a term that could mean something like a loincloth.
     Using wine as a metaphor, Jeremiah speaks of Jerusalem as being so drunken that even fathers & sons will be slammed together in destruction.  Next is the warning that Israel should turn to God, rather than stumble around in the darkness looking for light, but finding the shadow of death.  “But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.” [God weeps for our suffering, even (or moreso) when it is the consequence of our own bad behavior/choices.  He pleads with the king & queen to humble themselves before they are forcefully humbled, when armies from the north come and carry away their people captive like stolen flocks.  They’ll be hurting like a woman giving birth.  When you ask, Why? You can know that the greatness of your iniquities has uncovered you to shame.  
     Famous saying:  Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?   If so, then even you that are accustomed to behaving badly can become good.   Jeremiah uses the metaphor of the stubble of a harvested field blown away in the wind to the wilderness, and the visualization of a person caught with their skirts up in an adulterous act.  Remember that in those days even men wore robes/skirts.

Jer 14—Jeremiah pleads to God vs a serious drought
     A description of famine due to drought:  
--the people mourn
--the wealthy send their young ones out of town into the countryside for water, but they find none
--the ground is parched for lack of rain
--farmers are embarrassed/ashamed by the failure of their crops
--domesticated animals leave their newborns to die in the field because there is no grass/feed for the females to produce milk to nourish their young
--donkeys sniff for water/grass from upon the hills, but there is none
     Jeremiah prays/pleads for mercy, though Israel has sinned.  “O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble . . .”, don’t just be a visitor or a sojourner that only stays for a night!  We are called by Your name, don’t leave us!   The Lord answers that the people have loved to stray from Him, and He will recompense them for their sins.  He tells Jeremiah once again not to pray for them.  He will not listen to their cries, nor take notice of their fasts and offerings.  They’ll be devastated by war, famine, and disease.
     Jeremiah replies that the prophets are promising the people peace and no famine.  The Lord disavows those prophets who speak lies in His name.   He denies that He has sent them; they are deceivers.  The Lord says that those who say there will be no war and famine will be consumed by war and famine.   Those that listen to them (eg rulers/leaders) will be tossed (dead) into the streets, and no one will bury them, not even their families.  The Lord enjoins Jeremiah to tell them, “Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach [as in the wall of a city breached/broken through in a siege], with a very grievous blow.”  If he goes into the country, he sees those killed in fighting, if he comes back into the city he sees people dying of famine.  The prophets and priests are to be carried away to a foreign land.  [A nation weakened by drought/famine would be easy prey for a marauding army, if they have their own supply line secure.]
     Jeremiah again pleads with the Lord:  Have You utterly rejected Judah?  Do you loathe Zion/Jerusalem?  Why have You hit us so hard that we can’t be healed?  We looked/hoped for peace, and there’s nothing good in sight.  We looked for healing and see only trouble.  “We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.  Do not abhor [hate] us, for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.”  Jeremiah is pleading with the Lord that for His own reputation He shouldn’t abandon His people.  Jeremiah continues, None of the foolish/false gods of the Gentiles can cause rain [remember the showdown between Elijah and wicked queen Jezebel’s priests].  Even nature is subject to the will of God in giving rain.  Jeremiah affirms “therefore we will wait upon thee . . .” for God is the Creator of all.  Jeremiah's we doesn't mean everyone.

Jer 15—the Lord to Jeremiah respecting the evils of King Manasseh and Jeremiah’s own cause
     The Lord says, Even if Moses or Samuel (the epitome of righteous leaders who had pull with God) pled for the nation, His mind wouldn’t change for the sake of the people.  If the people ask, Where shall we go?  Tell them those slated for death to death; those for the sword (death in battle) to the sword, those for famine to famine, those for captivity to captivity.  People will come to 4 ends:  death in battle (by the sword), or predators/scavengers—dogs, birds, or beasts (either from war or famine).  And they will be scattered to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of what king Manasseh did.  Jeremiah’s calling came during the reign of good King Josiah, who was after wicked King Manasseh.  But after Josiah the people returned to the wickedness of King Manasseh, led by their pastors/rulers.
     Who will have pity on Jerusalem, or bemoan her, or ask after her welfare?  The nation has forsaken the Lord, and He is weary of their pretenses to repentance.  God will destroy them and take away their posterity because they haven’t really changed their ways.  He will fan them in the gates of the land, perhaps a reference to the fan of a metallurgist getting the fire superheated to melting temperatures.  There will be more widows than the sand of the sea, and even women with as many as 7 sons will lose them all to the sword (warfare).  
     Jeremiah speaks of his anguish in being born as a controversial person.  Though he has neither lent nor borrowed, it seems like everyone curses him.  (Perhaps one reason God forbad Israelites to lend with interest to their fellow Israelites was because of the bad feelings that tend to ensue between borrowers and lenders—each cursing the other as being dishonest/robbers).  But the Lord promises good things for Jeremiah’s posterity, and that even his enemies will come to him in time of affliction.  
    Then the Lord returns to bad news for the nation of Judah, that it will be conquered, and its riches be despoiled, because of sin.  The people will be taken captive to a land they haven’t heard of.  He returns to the analogy of fire, as a symbol of His anger.
     Jeremiah pleads again for himself.  In that the Lord knows him, would He remember him, avenge him of his persecutors?  He pleads for the Lord’s longsuffering/mercy, that he be not carried away captive, because he has suffered reproaches for God’s sake.  Jeremiah internalized God’s word, “and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.”  Jeremiah reminds the Lord that he did not join those who mocked Him or His ways/commandments, and was alone because of it.  He was indignant with those mockers.  He cries out, Why must I be wounded and in perpetual pain, without healing?  God, wilt Thou be a liar and like a dried up spring?
     The Lord responds, If you’ll come back to me, I will bring you back again [perhaps out of their clutches] to stand before me.  If you separate the good from the bad, you will be able to speak for me.  They can come to you, but don’t you go to them [perhaps God is speaking of the king’s court].  I will make you like a brass fence/wall, and though they fight against you, they will not prevail, “for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord…I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.”
     Possibly Jeremiah, in his efforts to persuade the powerful of his day, got caught up in their life.  Perhaps God was telling him to bring those who would listen into his circle, and not to return to those who would not listen.  They might come to him, but he was not to return to their company.  Eventually, when the end did come, Jeremiah was indeed saved from captivity, because he was known for his opposition to those in positions of power in the nation of Judah (Jer 39:11-18).

Jer 16—the Lord tells Jeremiah not to have a family in the wicked land, that is to be destroyed
     The Lord tells Jeremiah not to marry and have a family where he was, for they would die terrible deaths, unlamented and unburied.  They would be like excrement, killed by sword and famine, their bodies food for birds and beasts (scavengers).  The Lord tells Jeremiah not to mourn for the dead:  “for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, even lovingkindness and mercies.”  The Lord lists the cultural ways of mourning at the time, indicating there would be none left to do so.  The Lord tells Jeremiah not to go to feasts, including weddings, “For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth [merriment], and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.”
     The Lord lets Jeremiah know ahead of time what people will say when he passes on what He tells him:  Why is the Lord pronouncing all this terrible stuff on us?  What have we done that’s so bad?  Jeremiah is to say, Because your forebearers have forsaken me for other gods, and not kept my law, and you have done worse than them.  Therefore, I [God] will throw you out of this land [the Land of Promise], to a land neither you nor your ancestors knew, and there you will have to serve their gods, and I won’t do you any favors.  
     One day, instead of saying, The God who brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt still lives, they’ll say “The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.  Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” 
     The Lord sees all the people’s wicked ways, and He promises to requite them double for their sins, because they have defiled the Promised Land, and filled it with “the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.”  No doubt the evidence of idol worship, including child sacrifice.
     Jeremiah replies, “O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction,” the Gentiles from the ends of the earth will say it’s because they inherited lies and foolishness [a false faith/religion].  But God counters rhetorically, Should a person make his own false gods?  They will know my power and what I do, and that I am [the True God].

Jer 17—Jeremiah’s teaching and prayer, particularly a re-emphasis on the Sabbath
     This chapter continues regarding the sins of the kingdom of Judah, and its consequences, as well as Jeremiah’s prayer for God’s help and grace, and God’s call for Jeremiah to stand at the gates of the city and reteach them about keeping the Sabbath holy.  But here are some other gems/highlights:

5 ¶ Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.  [deep roots provide water to the tree even through drought]
10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.  [The Lord tests our mettle, not that He needs to know what we are made of, but that we need to know.]
11 As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.  [presumably a partridge caught for food]
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

Jer 18—God is like a potter, totally in charge, but He will change His intentions according to behavior
     The Lord sends Jeremiah to a potter’s shop, and likens Himself to the potter, in that He has total power over the pot.  And yet, even after He has pronounced bad things for a wicked nation, if they repent, He will change how He treats them.  Likewise, if He has promised good things to a nation, but that nation go bad, He will refuse to bless them.
     The Lord appeals to Judah & Jerusalem (and to every person) to return from their wicked ways.  They say, Our lot is hopeless, so we’re going to rely on our own devices.  Rhetorically the Lord asks whether it would make sense for a person to forsake a fresh spring in the mountain, implying that God’s people have forsaken the living waters that spring from Him.   Because they have turned from Him, causing people to whistle and shake their heads at His inheritance, the Lord will blow them away.  [As in previous instances, the Lord intends to wipe out the old inhabitants and start rebuilding afresh.  Examples:  the Flood, Abraham, Sodom & Gomorrah, the Canaanites, the Children of Israel wandering for 40 years in the desert until all the older generation had passed away . . . ] 
     Jeremiah recounts the opposition he has been facing, then prays to the Lord to witness what his enemies say and to remember that he prayed for them, that the Lord would turn away His anger from them [compare Matt 5:11 & 44].  Now he prays that as God has foretold, His will be done, in recompense for the way they have treated His prophet [not merely as a man, but as the mouthpiece of God].

Jer 19—with a pot as a teaching device/visual aid, Jeremiah is sent to prophesy destruction
     Jeremiah is to get a pot from the potter, take it and the elders of the people and priests, and go to the valley of the son of Hinnom.  There he is to prophesy desolation because of “the blood of innocents; They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal … Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.”   The famine in the siege to come will be so bad that people will eat their own children and friends.  Then to punctuate the point, Jeremiah is to break the earthenware bottle in front of his audience.  Refer back to Jeremiah 7.

The Books of Jonah, Amos, & Hosea

Jonás predicando al pueblo de Nínive by the Spanish artist Andrea Vaccaro  (1604–1670), Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

I should have created this post before Hezekiah, the previous post. These prophets shed light on the period of time before the Assyrian invasion & capture of the Northern Kingdom. Note how similar to our contemporary culture were their sins. Likewise, God will yet extend His mercy and blessings for us if we turn to Him. If not, we destroy ourselves.

     Three prophets mentioned as prophesying during the reign of Jeroboam II, king of Israel, have their own books in the Old Testament:  Jonah, Amos, and Hosea.  Jonah is only mentioned in the reign of Jeroboam II, and it makes sense that he was sent to Nineveh before the height of the Assyrian glory, as they were still humble enough to repent. There’s an interesting reference to an earthquake while Amos was prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II, and Amos also prophesied during the reign of Uzziah/Azariah, king of Judah.   The longest living of the three was Hosea who, like Isaiah, was active during the reigns of the Jewish kings Uzziah/Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.   They would see the northern kingdom of Israel taken captive and carried away by the Assyrian Empire, probably only a little over 100 years after the prophet Elisha died during the reign of king Joash of Israel (see 2 Kings 13)—not to be confused with his contemporary king Joash of Judah.

The Book of Jonah (see reference to Jonah under King Jeroboam II in 2 Kings 14:25)
     Most of us are pretty familiar with the story of Jonah.  The Lord calls him to go call Ninevah (the Assyrian capital) to repentance.  Jonah heads instead to the Israeli seaport of Joppa (35 mi northwest of Jerusalem), to take ship to the Phoenician seaport of Tarshish (on the Spanish coast).  There are more interesting sites about Nineveh if you contribute or disable your ad blocker.
•	https://www.britannica.com/place/Nineveh-ancient-city-Iraq 
•	https://www.science20.com/the_conversation/nineveh_when_the_capital_of_assyria_was_the_most_dazzling_city_in_the_world-256377 
•	https://www.bibleplaces.com/joppa/
•	https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Joppa
•	https://bibleatlas.org/tarshish.htm
•	https://www.gotquestions.org/Jonah-Tarshish-Nineveh.html
     A terrible storm comes up on the Mediterranean Sea as they are sailing toward Tarshish, threatening shipwreck.  All the sailors take to calling on their various gods for help.  They toss the cargo, hoping to lighten the ship.  Meanwhile, Jonah is fast asleep below deck.  The shipmaster comes and says, “What do you think you’re doing?!  Start calling on your God (just one of many, to them) to save us! 
     The crew decide to cast lots to find out who is responsible for the calamity.  Remember that anciently people believed the gods responded to queries through the casting of lots, and that’s not to say that God didn’t answer them in a way they could relate to.  The lot falls on Jonah.  They start questioning Jonah about his occupation and roots, and who is to blame for their bad fortune.  Jonah replies that he is a Hebrew, and his God is Ruler over Heaven and is the Creator.  He explains that he’s on the run from God.  The men are scared stiff.  They ask him what to do.  He tells them to toss him overboard.  They try to row the ship to land, but at last they cry for forgiveness from God for what they are about to do, and toss him into the sea.  The storm calms, and they all sacrifice in thanks and make vows.
     “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”  This fish is usually depicted as a whale, and the writers of the text may not have differentiated between whales and fish as we do.  But apparently there are some possible candidates.  Remember that the Lord had prepared the creature, so it wasn’t necessarily  just any ordinary species or specimen thereof, and some sort of air supply might also have be swallowed.
•	https://armstronginstitute.org/315-what-was-the-great-fish-that-swallowed-jonah 
     Jonah prays to be released from his unpleasant prison (perhaps when he comes to).  A poetic version of the plea is recorded in chapter 2.  
     The Lord reminds Jonah of his mission, and Jonah goes.  Nineveh is so huge it apparently takes 3 days to get through it.  Probably big traffic troubles, beside the size of the city.  Jonah gets a third of the way into the city and predicts its overthrow in 40 days.  In a time of various nations vying for predominance, that seems plausible to the inhabitants.  They proclaim a fast, put on sackcloth (a sign of great sorrow, humility, or humiliation—likely worn for mourning and/or slavery).  The rulers don’t exclude themselves from their edicts.  Even the king is in sackcloth & ashes, while he and the nobles proclaim the fast for humans and animals, likewise in sackcloth & ashes, repenting, crying to God—just in case God is willing to grant them mercy.
     We have already discussed whether God repents in the way that humans must . . . It is obvious that He changed His decree.  To repent is to change.
     Jonah is thinking about his own rep (what he said didn’t happen), and no doubt his own feelings toward this superpower potential enemy or threat to his own nation.  He complains/explains that this was the reason he headed for Tarshish.  He wants to die.
     God says, Is this a good thing to be angry about?
     Jonah goes out of the city and builds a little shelter to see what will happen.  God’s going to teach him something, and causes a gourd vine to grow up and shade him.  Jonah’s glad for that.  But then God has a worm invade the gourd vine, and then a strong [hot from the desert] east wind to wither the vine.  Jonah faints from the sun [or sunstroke?] and wishes to die.
     God says, Is this a good reason to be angry?  Jonah says, It’s a good enough reason to be angry to death [probably expecting God to strike him down].  God says, You’re feeling sorry about the gourd, which you did nothing to cause to grow, but shouldn’t I feel sorrow over the loss of Nineveh, with more than 120,000 innocents, beside animals? 

The Book of Amos—a shepherd called to be a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel
Amos 1:1 “The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.”
     Such an intriguing mention!  It appears that the reigns of Uzziah & Jeroboam (the second) overlapped for 27 years.  Sometime during those years was an earthquake of note, it would seem.   Here’s an interesting article about evidence of an earthquake in that time with a cross reference to Zech 14:5 “ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah . . .”
•	https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-find-evidence-8th-century-bc-earthquake-described-old-testament-180978385/ 
Amos 1
   Punishments for Damascus (Syrians), and Gaza (Philistines), Tyre (“a major Phoenician seaport from about 2000 BCE through the Roman period” https://www.britannica.com/place/Tyre ), Edom (descendants of Esau, Jacob/Israel’s brother), and Ammon (descendants of Lot).  Each of them had transgressed against Judah.  The “brotherly covenant” (alliance) between Tyre and Judah was enacted by David & Solomon with Hyrum of Tyre.  Edom’s fault in barbarity is noted in that they ripped up pregnant women in Gilead just to enlarge their holdings.
•	https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/ammonites-moabites-edomites-in-the-bible/ 

Amos 2
     Punishments are in store for Moab (descendants of Lot), Judah (“because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked”), and Israel (“because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name . . .” as well as worshipping false gods).   After God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt and cared for them 40 years in the wilderness, gave them the land of the Amorites (giants like the cedars), they have become so wicked the Lord is angry and leaves them to be conquered.  He complains, I’ve raised up prophets (to teach you, warn you, bless you).  But you’ve given wine to the Nazarites (vs their vow of abstinence), and tried to silence the prophets.  You’ve treated me like a cart under a heavy load.  So things will get so bad that even the strong & courageous will flee, taking nothing.

Amos 3
     The Lord continues His complaint against the House of Israel:  you were my chosen people out of all the families of the earth!  And I will punish you for your wickedness.  We can’t walk together because we don’t agree.  Lions don’t roar for nothing (implying that God has reason for roaring against the Children of Israel).  Birds aren’t snared if no snare is set (implying that God has set a snare against the Israelites).  Trumpets (of war) will blow, city residents will be afraid.  When bad things happen to a city, the Lord is behind it.  But surely, “the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”  That is, He warns of His punishments.  He has roared out His complaints, and shouldn’t everyone pay attention?  He has spoken, all I can do is to prophesy as He speaks, Amos says.
     Tell the rulers of the Philistines and Egypt to come to Samaria (the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel), and witness the violence and robbery even in the palace.  As a shepherd saves whatever he can from the mouth of the lion (even just the legs of the sheep or a piece of an ear), only a small remnant of the people will be saved from the conquerors.  The altars (golden calves Jeroboam set up) of Bethel will be destroyed, the winter & summer palaces, the ivory palaces will be destroyed.

Amos 4
     Continuing His complaint of the oppression of the poor in Samaria (capitol of the northern kingdom of Israel) the Lord says they’ll be like fish caught on hooks.  Their city walls will be breached.  They have brought their sacrifices and offerings to the false worship in Gilgal (where Jeroboam had set up a golden calf, beside that at Bethel).  
     Clean teeth are an indication of having no food to eat. 
     Despite warnings of famine and drought, city by city (people of one city had to go to another to find food and water), the Israelites still didn’t return to God.   Despite blights and diseases, pestilences like Egypt suffered (during the Exodus), wars that killed the young men and horses, the destruction of cities (as Sodom & Gomorrah were destroyed), the Israelites still didn’t return to God.  So, prepare to meet your God (at the bar of Judgment), the Creator and Ruler of the earth, who has an army of angels at His command.  Yet He deigns to let mankind know what He’s thinking.

Amos 5
     The Lord pleads with the House of Israel to return to Him, to quit worshipping false gods at Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba, lest destruction break out like a fire and cities of 1000 are left 100, and cities of 100 are left with 10.  (The house of Joseph refers to the rival kingdom of Israel that Jeroboam set up, vs the kingdom of Judah).   God is ruler over the stars above and the earth & sea beneath.  He can strengthen even the conquered to attack a fortress.
     The Israelites hate those that call them to repentance, and who speak Truth and Righteousness.  They walk all over the poor, taking all they have.  The oppressors have built expensive homes and planted vineyards, but they won’t be able to enjoy them.  They have persecuted the just, taken bribes, ignored the rights of the poor.  The “prudent” keep their lips shut, lest they suffer as well.  The Lord implores, “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.  Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph [leader of the northern kingdom of Israel].”
     But because they refuse to repent, there will be wailing and mourning.  They that yearn for the coming of the Lord will find that a day of darkness, not light.  It’s like a man running from a lion and is met by a bear, or when he reaches the safety of his home he’s bit by a snake (like Jonah, you can't escape God).  God hates their religious observances because of their hypocrisy.  Rather He wants righteous judgments.  They have worshipped false gods, and they will be taken captive, God promises.

Amos 6
“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion . . . ! [the kingdom of Judah]”  And those “that trust in the mountain of Samaria . . .” [the northern kingdom of Israel].  

Calneh—one of 4 cities founded by Nimrod (Gen 10:10), along with  Babel, Erech, and Accad, that is, Babylonia
Hamath—a Syrian city straddling the Orontes River, surrounded by hills
Gath—a major Philistine city

     Take a look at these impressive cities, Amos says.  Are they any better than you?  (Implying they have been conquered, and so will you be). You sit around ignoring the dangerous situation, while you practice violence on others.  You lie on ivory beds, eat lambs and calves, chant to the music, drink bowls of wine, anoint yourselves as the rich, but don’t care about the troubles in your land [the land of Joseph, that is, the northern kingdom of Israel].
     As a result, you’ll be first to go into captivity.  The Lord hates all your [self-centered, corrupted] palaces.  The houses of both the rich and poor will be destroyed, not defended by their own relatives.  You’ve boasted in yourself, and you are nothing.  You’ve taken justice away from judging and turned it to bitterness.  God will raise up a nation to conquer you.

Amos 7
     The Lord showed me a vision of a plague of grasshoppers eating up the fields of grain, and I pled for the sake of Jacob/Israel.  He said that wouldn’t happen.
     The Lord showed me a vision of fire consuming the land, and I pled for Jacob/Israel—how would the nation recover such a thing?  He relented that possibility.
     The Lord showed me a vision of Him standing on a wall with a plumbline [an instrument for measuring].  He said that would be the limit of His protection from the sword.  The descendants of Isaac (of Jacob/Israel and Esau/Edom), the holy places of Israel, the kingdom of Jeroboam (the norther kngdom of Israel) will fall.
     Bethel was the rival place of worship Jeroboam I had set up to keep his people from going to Jerusalem of Judah to worship, and maybe be drawn back into the kingdom of Judah.  It was still the place of that idol worship (of a calf), along with Gilgal, in the time of Jeroboam II.  The priest of Bethel, named Amaziah, sends word to Jeroboam II accusing Amos of conspiracy and speaking against his own country.  Amaziah says Amos prophesies your death by the sword and that your kingdom will be carried away captive.
     Amaziah tells Amos he’d better flee to the land of Judah, and not prophesy against Bethel any more (the king’s chapel and court).  Amos replies, I wasn’t a prophet nor the son of a prophet.  I was merely a shepherd when God called me to prophesy to His people Israel.  So listen to what God says to you:  You say not to prophesy against Israel and the descendants of Isaac (Edom & Israel).  Here’s what will happen to you:  your wife will be a harlot in the city, your children will fall by the sword, your land will be divided among others, and you will die in a desecrated land, while Israel is carried away captive.

Amos 8
   The Lord showed me in vision a basket of summer fruit.  It was a symbol of the consumption of Israel.  God is done with protecting them.  The songs of worship in the temple will become the howling of misery and death.  Then the dead will be removed in silence.
     Listen, you that oppress the poor and needy . . . You can hardly wait for the holy days to be over so you can get back to commerce, with corrupted measuring apparatus.  You take advantage of the poor and take all they have in return for the worst of the wheat.  God has sworn that He will not forget your evil, and your land will be conquered like a flood in Egypt overtakes all the land.  The sun will go down at noon and darkness will take over the clear day.  

10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

     Those that swear by the false gods of Samaria (at Bethel, Gilgal/Dan, and Beersheba) will fall and never rise again.

Amos 9
     Amos says, I saw in vision the Lord standing on the altar.  He told me to hit the doorway hard enough to shake it, and cut them all.  He said he would kill them all [presumably the worshippers], even those that try to escape.  Those that try to dig their way to safety, or climb to the heights, will all be taken.  Those that try to hide at the top of Mt Carmel, or even if they could hide at the bottom of the sea—the Lord would send a monster to eat them.  Though they go into captivity of their enemies, they will still be killed by the sword.  The Lord will see that they suffer bad things, not good.
     It is the Lord that makes the land melt as if by fire.  Sorrows will rise like an Egyptian flood drowning all in its path.  The Lord has power over all the earth and sea.  Israel is like the Ethiopians . . . He brought Israel out of Egypt,  the Philistines from Caphtor (Crete), and the Syrians from Kir (an Assyrian city—see also 2 Kings 16:9, Amos 1:5, Isa 22:6).  “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.”  The house of Israel will be scattered throughout all nations.  The sinners who think nothing bad will happen will die by the sword.
     The Lord promises, One day I will bring back my people, and bless their land with abundance, and rebuilding of the cities and ruins.  They will never be taken from their land again.  [Though the Jews returned under Cyrus and following, they were yet carried away captive again, under the Romans.  So this had yet to be fulfilled after the completion of the Biblical texts.]

The Book of Hosea—written before the Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel
Hosea 1:1 The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
     Hosea’s calling from God began with the command to take a whore as a wife, and her children, as a strong statement that Israel had behaved as a whore in her relationship to God.  His calling began under the king Jeroboam II of the northern kingdom of Israel.
     Hosea’s whorish wife bears him a son the Lord says to name Jezreel, a sign that the Lord would avenge Jezreel upon the house of Jehu (king of Israel).  Next a daughter is born, the Lord says to name Lo-ruhamah “for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.  But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.”  The kingdom of Israel would be carried away captive by Assyria, and though Assyria threatened even the capital city Jerusalem, the Lord saved the kingdom of Judah under Hezekiah.
     Hosea’s wife bears a second son, “Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.”  But the Lord offers a promise for the future, “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”  The kingdoms of Judah and Israel would be united under one ruler.  After the Assyrian captivity this was essentially true, and this prophecy would, like others, be fulfilled more than once.  (Note Jesus’ self-defense when accused of blasphemy in John 10:24-42; see also Psalm 82:6, and  https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Believers-As-Sons-Of-God ).

Hosea 2
   Using the names of Hosea’s children, Ammi (that is, “my people”) and Ruhamah (“having obtained mercy’) the Lord pleads with Israel (symbolized by Hosea’s whorish wife), to put away their whoredoms & adulteries (that is, their worship of idols/false gods), or they will suffer being stripped of resources and rain.  They will appeal to these false gods/idols (whom they credit with their prosperity), but they don’t save Israel.  Then they decide to go back to the Lord for help (whom they had not recognized as the Giver of their blessings), but He will leave them to their embarrassment and their hollow religious holidays & observances.  
     Yet He holds out hope for a future time of blessings.   Israel (symbolized as a wife) will yet call the Lord Ishi (“my husband”) instead of Baali (“my master”).  Note the root of the word Baal (false god) and Baalim (false gods).  Instead of worshipping Baalim, they will return to the Lord.  And when they do, the Lord will bless (increase) the animals of the land, and take away wars.  “And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.”  The Lord will listen to the prayers of Israel, and Israel will listen to the Lord.  The Lord will once again call Israel His people, and Israel will once again call the Lord their God.

Hosea 3
     The Lord tells Hosea to take an adulteress as a wife as a symbol of the Lord making a covenant with Israel (who love other gods for the drunken parties involved in their worship).  Hosea pays a bride price of 15 pieces of silver and about ¾ bushel (or about 45 lbs) of barley.   He tells her she must be faithful to him, and he will be faithful to her.  Israel will go a long time without rulers and statehood, but will in the end return to the Lord and the Davidic lineage of kings (the kingdom of Judah).  Again, after the Assyrian captivity the remnant of Israel were left to Jewish leadership.

Hosea 4
1 Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
6 ¶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.

     Beside all the corruption and crime, Israel worships idols.  Consequently, their wives will commit adultery, their daughters fornication, because the men are committing such in the worship of idols (which involved engaging with harlots).  The Lord warns Judah not to join in that worship (centered in Gilgal and Bethel).  Ephraim is another name for the northern kingdom of Israel, because their first king (Jeroboam) was from the tribe of Ephraim.  They will one day be ashamed of their sacrifices to false gods.  

Hosea 5
     Hosea decries the wickedness of both the kingdoms of Israel & Judah, and foretells their punishment/consequences.  Mizpeh (“watchtower” or “lookout”) was the place at which Laban & Jacob agreed not to cross the line against each other (Gen 31:49).  Tabor was a mountain in the Jezreel valley (6 mi east of Nazareth, 11 mi sw of the Sea of Galilee.  It’s only 2000’ above sea level, but looks taller because the valley of Jezreel is flat.  https://www.gotquestions.org/Mount-Tabor.html   The kings of Israel have not kept the truce of Mizpeh, and have entrapped/exploited the bounty of the harvest of Jezreel.  They have been bloody rulers, despite the Lord’s rebuke.  They refuse to limit their actions, nor turn to the Lord.  They are proud of what they’ve done.  They will fall in their wickedness, and so will the kingdom of Judah.  When they seek the Lord, they won’t find Him.  Their children are strangers to the Lord (haven’t been taught about Him).  The cornet and trumpet announce battle.  The possessions of both Israel & Judah will be spoiled, as if a moth got in the closet, or rottenness in the pantry (frig in modern terms).  Israel sent to Assyria for help, but Assyria couldn’t fix the problems.  Note the reference to lions, symbols of Assyrian kings.  

“I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.”

Hosea 6
     Hosea pleads for Israel to return to the Lord.  “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.”  In other words, whatever good they do is fleeting.  

“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”  Compare what Samuel said to King Saul (“to obey is better than sacrifice” 1 Sam 15:22 ) and Jesus in Mat 9:13 & 12:7.  

     The Lord likens the behavior of Israel to treachery/betrayal/treason . . . as in violating the covenants made in Moses’ time between God and the Children of Israel.  Robbers ambush people for gain, and the priests murder the faith of people by committing lewdness.  The kingdom of Israel is defiled, and Judah will benefit from an increase in population when the Lord brings His people out of captivity.

About Gilead:
https://www.gotquestions.org/land-of-Gilead.html 
https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/gilead/ 
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Gilead 

Hosea 7
     Hosea uses an oven metaphor to talk about the corrupt princes of the kingdom of Israel.  They have degraded their king with lies, ill-gotten gains, wine, scorning righteousness, evil plans & preparations . . . a cake/bread not turned would burn on one side and not be done on the other.  The kingdom of Israel doesn’t see itself for what it is.  They foolishly turn to Egypt and Assyria, instead of the Lord.  They behave like a silly dove, and they’ll be caught in the Lord’s net for it.

“Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.”  They howl in misery for their troubles from their beds rather than turn their hearts to the Lord; they gather to eat and drink and (encourage one another to) rebel against the Lord.  Despite the help the Lord has given them in battle, they think up ways to foment insurrection against Him.  Egypt (whom they had sought for help) will just ridicule them.

Hosea 8
     The Lord, through Hosea complains of Israel/Ephraim’s worship of idols, and the calves set up by Jeroboam.  He proclaims the consequential Assyrian captivity.  A trumpet signals the battle, an eagle swoops in and seizes its prey.  

“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind”

Hosea 9
     Because of Israel’s infidelity with other gods, and their other sins, their feast days will be full of sorrow rather than joy.  Either symbolically or actually, they will return to their Egyptian bondage.  The corruption of Gibeah refers to the incident In Judges 19-21 when the men of the town not only behaved like the men of Sodom (Gen 19: instead of offering the culturally expected hospitality, demanded to be given the traveler for their sexual pleasure), they brutalized the man’s concubine all night to death.  The kingdom of Israel will pay for their sins.  
     The prophet (symbolized as a watchman) and the spiritual man are considered fools or madmen, and hated for catching Israel in their sins.  The Lord had cherished Israel like grapes found in the wilderness, or a newly producing fig tree.  But Israel went after the worship of the Moabite god (Baal) worshipped at Peor (reference to what happened as the Israelites were about to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land under Joshua).  As a result, Israel’s glory will abandon her.  When the Lord ceases to be a Protector of Israel their children will be destroyed.  Like Tyre, Israel was planted in an advantageous place, but Israel’s children will be murdered.  Instead of reproductive fertility, they’ll have miscarriages and lack of lactating breasts.  Gilgal was one of the locations for the worship of the calves that Jeroboam set up.  
     “My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.”

Hosea 10
     The more Israel prospered the more idols were set up.  The Lord will destroy all those.  They figured if their king was removed because of their unbelief (they had lost the Lord’s protection, so the king was removed by foreign powers), what could any king do to them?  They have made contracts they didn’t intend to honor.  Judgment will come upon them.  Weeds growing up in the field are pesky, but a hemlock having taken root in a field could become indestructible.  Such would be their fate. 
     The calves of Beth-aven refers to one of the places of false (calf-god) worship set up by Jeroboam.  Whereas it was prosperous, it will be impoverished, shamed, destroyed.  Samaria, as the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, will  see her king disappear as easily as foam on water.   The place of calf-worship will be destroyed such that thorny weeds will overtake it.  The destruction will be so bad the people will wish they could be buried under mountains.
     Once again Gibeah is referenced (see Hosea 9), when the tribes of Israel all came and destroyed the city of Gibeah for the wickedness of its men.  
     Hosea invokes the metaphor of cattle obediently/dutifully working the land and in the harvest to implore “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”  Instead of that, Israel has cultivated wickedness.  Israel has trusted her own judgment and her armies rather than God.  
     About Shalman, see https://biblehub.com/topical/s/shalman.htm 

Hosea 11
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
     The Lord rescued the Children of Israel from bondage in Israel.  He brought the child Jesus back from a sojourn in Egypt when his family fled Herod’s murderous rampage against anyone who might be a competitor to him or his family.  God calls/rescues us, His children, from bondage to modern idolatries.
      But the Children of Israel turned to idol (Baalim) worship.  The Lord had a prophet anoint a king (Jeroboam) from the tribe of Ephraim to lead the northern kingdom of Israel, but they (led by king Jeroboam) didn’t acknowledge His help.  God was like the owner of a horse or other beast of burden leading his animal lovingly, and releasing it from its bridle to feed (“The word ‘meat,’ when our English version was made, meant food in general; or if any particular kind was designated, it referred to meal, flour or grain.”  https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/smiths-bible-dictionary/meat.html ).
     Israel won’t return to bondage in Egypt, but be captive of Assyria, because they would not return to the Lord.  War will continue on Israel’s cities and consume them, devour them, because of their unrighteous decisions.  They were called to come to the most High, but they were unwilling to praise Him or consider Him as exalted.
     As a loving Father, the Lord laments, “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.”  Admah & Zeboiim were 2 cities near Sodom & Gomorrah, and were destroyed with them.  But, “I am God, and not man”, He says.  He feels sorrow, but doesn’t have to repent in the same way that humans do.  In these verses He says He won’t punish Israel (as He has already said He would), but in context, that would be if Israel returned to Him.  If they would return to Him, He would be in their midst (not enter the cities, implying in battle).  If they would walk in the ways of the Lord, He would protect them like a lion against enemies from the west (or anywhere).  Israel’s enemies would tremble like birds in Egypt and Assyria.  He would settle them in their homes in safety.  But in contradiction to that vision of what could be, Ephraim/Israel is full of lies and deceits.  As of yet, Judah is ruled by the God-fearing and faithful as the holy men/women of old.

Hosea 12
     Ephraim/Israel, instead of seeking things substantial, gulps the wind.  Everyday he increases lies and destruction (of the truth, or his own land).  They try to make alliances with Assyria and Egypt, implying that these alliances will be as insubstantial as wind, or will lead to the destruction of their land.
     The Lord is not satisfied with behavior of the Jews either, and will punish all of Jacob/Israel in recompense of their choices.  He refers to the birth of Jacob & Esau, when Jacob took Esau by the heel.  Jacob was strengthened by God.  Jacob struggled with an angel and won.  Jacob sought and found the Lord in Bethel.  The Lord spoke to Israel (the nation through the man).  The Lord keeps Israel in His memory.  So, Hosea implores Israel, “Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and [righteous] judgment, and wait on thy God continually.”
     But the Israelites are like a deceitful merchant with false balances (means of measure), who loves oppressing/stepping on others to succeed.  Ephraim/Israel boasts that he’s become wealthy with all he’s done, and no one calls him out or holds him to judgment/accountability for his crimes.  The Lord reminds them that He brought them out of Israel.  That the Lord will make the Israelites live in booths might be either that their houses are destroyed, or that they will begin to celebrate the feasts/Holy Days that the Lord called for.  The Lord has spoken to Israel through prophets, visions, and symbolisms.  Yet the people sacrifice vainly everywhere—as ubiquitously as piles of rocks in a field (anyone who has farmed in a rocky region will recognize this picture).  About Gilead, see https://www.compellingtruth.org/land-of-Gilead.html
     Hosea returns to references of Jacob’s life, when Jacob fled to his uncle Laban (who lived in land ruled by Syria), and worked as a shepherd for him to earn the bride price of a wife.  Remember that the Lord had covenanted to be with Jacob.  By the prophet Moses the Lord brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt, and took care of them.  But Ephraim/Israel provoked the Lord “most bitterly”, and will receive the consequences of that.

Hosea 13
     When Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, was yet insecure, he managed to become king.  But he offended the Lord by turning the people to idols.  An now the Israelites worship more and more idols, which are made by craftsmen.  Jeroboam set up the worship of calves, wherein either physically or metaphorically people would kiss them.  Therefore, Israel will disperse like a morning cloud, or the early dew.  They’ll be like chaff blowing in the wind or whirlwind, or as ephemeral as smoke.
     But eventually Israel will recognize that the Lord is the only God, the only savior.  He took care of them in the wilderness, the desert.  He gave them pasture (see Psalm 23), fed them, lifted up their hearts.  And yet they have forgotten all He did for them.  Like a lion or a leopard watches its prey, the Lord has His eye on Israel, and will attack them as furiously as a mother bear whose cubs have been killed or taken away.  
     “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.”  
     The Lord offers to be Israel’s king.  Can anyone else save them?  He gave them a king when they asked (under Samuel the prophet, and later Jeroboam was anointed king over the northern tribes), and took away the king(s) when he was angry with them (eg Saul and other kings through their history).  He offers to bind up (as a wound) their iniquities and cover their sins.  But because of their rebellion against the Lord, they will be hurting as a woman in birth.  The Israelites are like a foolish son, who hangs around in the birthing room.  
     The Lord offers to pay off their debt (in that they are worthy of destruction), and save them from destruction (death & the grave).  The Lord will not change His mind, if they will just return to Him.
     But despite such a bounteous land they have enjoyed, it will be as if an east wind (off the desert) brings drought & famine, dries up the springs, and the crops are all spoiled.  In this case, that the wind comes from the east can be metaphorical as well as physical, the “wind” from the east meaning also Assyria.  All the beautiful containers full of treasures (agricultural or financial wealth) will be spoiled/despoiled.  Samaria (the capital city, representing the northern kingdom of Israel), will be ruined, because she rebelled against God.  They will fall by the sword, their children dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped up.  (Such barbarity causes us to shudder for them even to this day).

Hosea 14—a plea and promises for Israel to return to the Lord
1 O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
2 Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. [Remember the promises of Moses if they repent.]
3 Asshur [Assyria]  shall not save us; we will not ride [in pride] upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee [God] the fatherless findeth mercy.
4 ¶ I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon [known for its cedars].
6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
7 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn [grain], and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I [God] have heard him [Israel], and observed him: I am like a green fir tree [which offers great shade and wood products, symbolizes strength and wealth]. From me is thy fruit [or nuts]  found.
9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

Elisha and his Contemporaries

Elisha Raising the Son of the Shunamite by Frederic Leighton (drawing of the painting)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_life,_letters_and_work_of_Frederic_Leighton_(1906)_(14594884999).jpg

Elisha (background:  1 Kings 19-2 Kings 13)  
     Elisha was anointed Elijah’s companion after Elijah’s extreme despondency over the wickedness of Israel, and his cave experience where God taught him through the still small voice.  (1 Kings 19)  Elisha succeeded Elijah in 2 Kings 2.
 
2 Kings 2
     After Elisha returns to Jericho, the men of the city say, This city is in a pleasant location, but the waters are bad, so the ground is a waste.  Elisha says, Bring me a container of salt.  He tosses the salt into the local spring and promises there won’t be any more death or barren land.  The waters were healed ever after.
     As Elisha went from there to Beth-el, some kids came out of a town and were making fun of him for his baldness.  He turns to look at them, and curses them in the name of God.  Two female bears come from the wood and mangle 42 of them.
     From there Elisha went to Mt Carmel (where Elijah had rebuilt God’s altar and had the showdown with the priests of Baal), then he back to Samaria, capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel.
 
2 Kings 3
     Jehoram the son of Ahab began his reign over the kingdom of Israel in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.  Jehoram’s reign lasted 12 years.  He was a bad guy, but not as bad as his parents, Ahab & Jezebel.  He gets rid of the image of Baal his father had put up.  Still, Jehoram follows in the sins of Jeroboam (worshipping a golden calf set up in 2 places).
     Once Ahab has died, the Moabite king Mesha rebels from Israel’s subjection (which has costed 100,000 lambs, 100,000 rams, and the wool thereof).  Jehoram sends to Jehoshaphat requesting a joint operation.  Jehoshaphat says, I’m all in.  
   They pass through Edom, and gather that army, but after 7 days’ journey they have no access to water.  The king of Israel laments that they’ll all perish.  The king of Judah says let’s inquire of a prophet of God.  One of Jehoram’s servants says, Here’s Elisha, who was Elijah’s caretaker.  They go to him.
     Elisha responds to Jehoram, What do you want?  Go ask your parents’ prophets.  Jehoram says, This is God’s doing, to bring we three kings to defeat by the hand of Moab.  Elisha replies, If it weren’t for Jehoshaphat I’d ignore you.  Bring a musician here.  As the musician performs, Elisha is inspired to give them instructions to fill the valley with ditches.  He tells them, You won’t see any wind or rain, and yet the valley will be filled with water for yourselves and animals.  And that’s nothing to the Lord, he will make you victorious over the Moabites, cutting down every fenced/walled city, every good tree, blocking up all their wells, and ruining every good piece of land with stones.  Next morning during the meat offering/sacrifice water comes from Edom and fills the area.  
     The Moabites come to the fight with all that could wear armor.  When they rise with the morning, they see the water red as blood from the reflection of the sun.  They figure their adversaries have fallen out amongst themselves and wiped each other out, so they head for the booty.  When the Moabites reach the Israelite camp, the Israelites rise up and come off victors, chasing them through their land, beating down the cities, ruining the good land (every man tossing a stone on it), blocking the wells, cutting down the good trees.
   The king of Moab sees he’s hopelessly lost and he takes 700 of his men to try to get to the king of Edom, but can’t manage it.  He takes his eldest son and heir, and offers him as a sacrifice on the city wall.  Israel’s allies are disgusted and return home.

Chapter 4
     A widow of one of the sons of the prophets comes to Elisha saying, My husband is dead, and you know he was a good man.  But the creditor is come to take our 2 sons and sell them into slavery to pay the debt.
     Elisha says, What do you want me to do?  What do you have left in the house?  She replies, I haven’t got anything but a pot of oil.  Elisha then tells her to go to her neighbors and borrow a bunch of empty pots.  When she gets home she is to close the doors and pour the oil she has into all of them.  She does as told, and when the last vessel/container is full, that’s the end of the oil.  She goes to Elisha and tells him, and he tells her to sell the oil, pay her debts, and live with her sons on the rest of the income.
     One day when Elisha passes through Shunem (near Jezreel), a woman of some worth insists that he stop and eat.  So whenever he passes that way, he eats at her home.  She tells her husband that this guy who keeps coming by is a holy man of God, and they should make up a room for him.  That way he’ll always have a place to stop.  (No doubt she is thinking that he will be a blessing to them).  
     Elisha has a servant named Gehazi, and he tells him one time as they are staying there, to go to the woman.  As she stands before him, he asks her what she’d like as a return for her kindnesses.  A good word to the king or his top military man?  She replies that she’s living with her own people.  But Gehazi tells Elisha that she has no children, and her husband is old.
     Elisha has her come to his door and promises that in about a year she will have a son.  She says, Please, O man of God, don’t give me false hope,   But it happens just as Elisha had promised.
     One day the boy goes out to his father while the reapers are at work.  The text doesn’t give the details, but for some reason the child cries out to his father about his head—whether he got cut with the tools of reaping or what.  The father has the servants carry him home to his mother.  She holds him on her lap ‘til noon, when he dies.  She takes him up to Elisha’s room and lays the child on Elisha’s bed, goes out and shuts the door.  
     The woman goes to her husband asking for a young man and an ass to go see the man of God, then she’ll return.  Her husband asks, Why today?  It’s not a holy day.  She says, All is going to be ok.
     She gets on the saddled ass and tells the servant to drive the animal as fast as possible, not slacking up for her sake unless she says so.  They go to Mt Carmel, and when Elisha sees her afar off, he sends Gehazi to meet her quickly and ask if all is well with herself, her husband, and her son.  She responds to Gehazi that everything is fine, but when she reaches Elisha she catches him by the feet.  Gehazi is about to push her away, but Elisha says to leave her alone, because she is so upset, and “the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.”
     When she can speak, the woman says, Did I ask you for a son?  Didn’t I say not to deceive me?  Elisha sends Gehazi with his staff, tells him not to stop to greet or be greeted by anyone, and lay the staff on the child’s face.  The mother says to Elisha with a vow, I won’t leave you.
     So Elisha goes with her, Gehazi going on ahead and laying the staff on the child’s face.  The child doesn’t seem to respond, and Gehazi goes back to tell Elisha so.  When Elisha arrives he shuts the door on himself and the child and prays.  He lays on the child, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands.  The child’s flesh warms.  He goes down into the main house and walks to and fro, then goes back up to check on the child.  Elisha repeats his efforts, the child sneezes 7 times (was it the field dust that had afflicted the child?), then opens his eyes.
     Elisha sends Gehazi to call for the woman, and Elisha tells her to take her son.  She falls at Elisha’s feet in thanks, then takes back her son.
    Elisha comes to Gilgal, and there’s a famine.  The sons of the prophets are sitting before him.  He has his servant Gehazi set on a great pot to make pottage for them.   One goes to gather herbs (or vegetables) and finds a wild gourd vine.  He brings a lap full of the gourds, which are shredded into the pot unbeknownst to the others.
     When the sons of the prophets are served, they cry out that the pot of pottage is deadly, they can’t eat it.  Elisha asks for some meal (milled grain), which he tosses into the pot.  He then has the people served, and there is no longer any problem in it.  
     A man comes bringing bread from his firstfruits/harvest:  20 barley loaves, and full ears of grain still in the husk.  Elisha says to set it before the people.  The man says, What, can this feed 100 men?  Elisha reiterates his instruction with the promise that God has said they would all eat and there would be leftovers. (Reminds one of Jesus feeding the 5000).
  
2 Kings 5
     This is the well-known story of Naaman, the Syrian general who was a leper, but a good and honorable man, a valiant man.  His wife’s little captive Israelite servant girl was a believer in God, as well as the goodness of her master.  She wishes her master could go to the prophet in Samaria and be healed.
     The general is told of her words, and he gets permission from the Syrian king to go, carrying a letter to give to the Israelite king.  Naaman takes 10 talents of silver, 6000 pieces of gold, and 10 sets of clothes.  He brings the letter to the king of Israel, who is distraught.  He figures the Syrian king is just seeking a quarrel as a pretext to invade--and maybe the Syrian king is hoping for that.
     Elisha hears about the king tearing his clothes in dismay.  He sends the king a message that he should send Naaman to him, and he will know there is a prophet in Israel.
     Naaman comes with all his retinue to Elisha’s door.  Elisha sends a message to him to wash in the Jordan river 7 times, and he’ll be made clean.  Naaman leaves angrily.  He reasons, The guy should have come out to me, called on his God, hit his hand on the leprosy.  Aren’t the 2 rivers of Damascus (capital of Syria) better than all the waters of Israel?  Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be clean?
     But Naaman’s servants come to him respectfully, saying, If he had asked you to do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it?  How much rather then, if you do this simple thing?  Naaman is humble enough, or wise enough to listen to them, follows Elisha’s instructions, and comes out with skin clean as a little child.  He takes all his retinue back to Elisha, saying,
     “Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel:  now therefore I pray thee, take a blessing [gratuity] of thy servant.”  Elisha refuses to take any gift.  Naaman asks then for 2 mule-loads of Israelite soil to take back home on which he will sacrifice to God alone.  Yet he asks pardon that when he is required to attend his king in worship of the Syrian god of wind, rain, and storm, God will not be angry.  Elisha sends him away in peace.
     When Naaman is gone just a little way, Elisha’s servant Gehazi is determined to get something from the rich guy.  When Naaman sees Gehazi running after him, he gets down out of his chariot and asks if everything is ok.  Gehazi lies and says that 2 sons of the prophets have just shown up, and would Naaman give a silver talent and two sets of clothes for them.  Naaman generously gives 2 talents along with the changes of clothes.  He sends them with 2 of his servants to carry them.  When they come to the tower (of the town?), Gehazi takes the gifts from them and puts them away in the house, then lets the servants go.
     Elisha asks Gehazi where he’s been.  Gehazi again lies, saying he hasn’t gone anywhere.  Elisha reproves him for taking gifts:  “Is it a time to receive . . .?  The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed fore ever.”  Gehazi leaves as a leper.
 
2 Kings 6
     The sons of the prophets come to Elisha saying, This dwelling is too small for us.  Let us go to the Jordan (a source of wood) and each bring home a beam to make a bigger place to live.  Elisha says, Go ahead.  One of them asks that Elisha accompany them, and he agrees to go with them.
     But while they are cutting down wood, one of the axe heads falls into the water.  Oh no!  The man cries out, it was borrowed!  An axe head would be rather expensive in those days, and these men are poor.
     Elisha asks to be shown where it fell.  He cuts down a stick and tosses it in the spot, “and the iron did swim.”  The man retrieves it.
     The king of Syria decides to make a war with Israel after all.  He proposes a plan and place from which to attack.  Elisha sends a message to the king about where the Syrians will come.  Three times, it seems, Elisha thus saves his nation.  The Syrian king deduces that he’s got a leak, a traitor, amongst his top military command or counselors.  One of his servants says that Elisha the prophet must be telling the Israelite king, even things that he speaks in the privacy of his own bedroom.
     So the Syrian king sends someone to spy out where Elisha is.  They find out he’s in Dothan (where hundreds of years earlier Joseph’s brothers were grazing their flocks, and when he came to check on them they tossed him in a pit, threatening to kill him, but then sell him into slavery instead—about Dothan, see https://www.gotquestions.org/Dothan-in-the-Bible.html ).  A  Syrian army, including chariots, is sent to Dothan, and encircles the city by night. 
     When Elisha’s servant rises early next morning he sees the situation and asks Elisha, What shall we do?  Elisha’s classic answer is “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.”   Elisha prays that God will open the young man’s eyes.  The servant sees the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire to protect Elisha.  Elisha then prays that the opposing army be smitten with blindness, and it is done.  Possibly their blindness was in not being able to recognize Elisha.
     Elisha tells his opponents that he will lead them to the guy they are seeking, but he takes them to Samaria (Israelite capital).  When they are inside the city Elisha prays God that their eyes be opened, which He does.  The Israelite king asks Elisha if he should kill them.  Elisha says, No, would you do that if you had captured them in battle?  Sit them down to bread and water, and send them home.  One wonders if Naaman is among them.  Israel’s king provides well for his captives and sends them home.  Perhaps it was only the officers, because how could thousands fit in the city and be fed?  But maybe . . .
     After that, the Syrians leave Israel alone.  
     Yet, king Ben-hadad in the next breath gathers all his armies and besieges Samaria such that the famine was so bad that the head of an ass is selling for 80 pieces of silver, and even a quarter of a cab (bulb?) of “dove’s dung” sells for 5 pieces of silver.  Explanations/commentary at 
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Doves-Dung 
And https://biblehub.com/commentaries/2_kings/6-25.htm
And https://www.bibliaplus.org/en/dictionaries/4/american-tract-society-bible-dictionary/doves-dung
     The king of Israel, walking along the wall, is accosted by a woman asking for help.  He says to her, “If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee?”  He sarcastically asks if she wants help out of the barnfloor or the winepress (this during a famine).  Then he asks what’s her problem.  She explains that she and another woman had agreed that they would kill and eat her son first, then the other woman’s son.  They boiled and ate her son, but the other woman hid her son.
     When the king hears that, he tears his clothes, and it is seen that he wears sackcloth against his skin, rough underwear!  He vows to take Elisha’s head (obviously blaming Elisha for the whole trouble).  He sends a messenger for him.
     Elisha is sitting with the elders in his house, and before the messenger arrives he announces, “See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head?”  He bids them shut the door and not let the messenger nor his master behind him in.  While he’s still talking the messenger arrives, and Elisha says, “Behold, this evil is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?”
 
2 Kings 7
     Elisha then speaks, “Hear ye the word of the Lord . . .” by this time tomorrow a measure of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and 2 measures of barley for shekel at the gate of Samaria.  This is astounding, considering the exorbitant price for the worst food today.  One of the nobles that the king leans on replies sarcastically, How could such a thing happen, even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven?  Elisha affirms, you will see it with your eyes, but won’t get to eat it.
     One could chuckle at how this occurred (since we are far from the desperation of the situation).  Four lepers sit at the city gate.  They reason, Why should we sit here ‘til we die?  If we go into the city, we’ll die of the famine there.  If we stay here we’ll die.  Let’s go to the Syrian army, and if they don’t kill us, we’ll live.  If they kill us, we’ll die just as we would here anyway.  At twilight they go to the edge of the Syrian camp, but no one is there!  God had made the Syrian army hear a noise that sounded like a huge army with chariots and horses.  They assumed the king of Israel had hired mercenaries from the Hittites and Egyptians, so they left everything and skidaddled! 
     The lepers help themselves to eat and drink and hide a bunch of booty.  But then they consider, “We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.”  They call the city porter and let him know.  Word gets to the king’s house.
     The king thinks it’s a trick the Syrians have played to draw them out of the city so they can ambush them and get into the city.  One of his servants suggests sending the 5 last horses left in the city to go see.  The king sends 2 chariot horses to check out the situation.  They follow the fleeing army all the way to the Jordan River, and all along the way are clothes and vessels the Syrian army has left in their hurry to get away.  The messengers return, the people go out and spoil the Syrian encampment, and the prophecy is fulfilled.
     The king had put the doubting/sarcastic noble in charge of keeping order at the gate, but he was trampled by the people desperate to get food.

2 Kings 8
     Elisha warns the woman whose son he had healed of an impending 7 year famine.  She goes to live amongst the Philistines for those 7 years.  When she returns, she has to petition the king for her house & land to be restored to her.  It happens that the king was just then listening to Gehazi, who was servant to Elisha, retell (at the king’s request) some of the things Elisha has done, including raising the woman’s dead son.  The king orders her lands, and even the income of them while she was gone, to be restored to her.
     Elisha comes to Damascus, the Syrian capital.  King Ben-hadad is sick, and when he hears of Elisha being in town, he sends Hazael with a gift requiring 40 camels to carry it all—the best of Syria—asking if he will live.  Elisha tells him to tell the king he will recover, and yet he will die.  He prophecies that Hazael will reign in his place and commit horrendous atrocities.  Hazael denies that he’s that kind of guy.
     Hazael returns to Ben-hadad and gives him the news that he’ll recover, but then next day he soaks a thick cloth with water and uses it to smother Ben-hadad, becoming his successor.
     Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram begins his reign in Judah in the 5th year of Ahaz’s son Jehoram in Israel.  He is 32, and reigns 8 years.  His wife is Ahab’s (or Omri’s) daughter Athaliah, and he carries on just like his wife’s family.
     Edom revolts from the rule of Judah, and sets up their own king.  Jehoram gives them battle, but is unsuccessful.  Libnah likewise revolts.
      When Jehoram of Judah dies, his son 22 year old Ahaziah is made king of Judah, in the 12th year of the Israelite king Jehoram, son of Ahab.  Ahaziah, son of Athaliah, only lasts a year.  Ahaziah had allied with the Israelite king Jehoram against Hazael king of Syria.  Jehoram is wounded and returns to Jezreel to heal, Ahaziah goes to see him.
2 Chron 22
     Ahaziah age 42 (note discrepancy of his age), last remaining son of Jehoram is made king in Judah.  His mother was Athaliah, daughter of Omri.  She influences him to follow the example of wicked king Ahab of Israel.  He only lasts 1 year.  He joins   Jehoram, son of Ahab, king of Israel in a war against  Hazael, king of Syria.  Jehoram is wounded and returns to Jezreel to heal.  Ahaziah  goes to see him, and he and his ministers are killed, along with Jehoram of Israel and all the house of Ahab, by Jehu.

2 Kings 9
     Elisha  calls one of the children of the prophets to go secretly anoint Jehu (son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi) next king of Israel, then to quickly flee.  Jehu is sitting in counsel with other military leaders, and excuses himself.  He is not only anointed next king, but tasked with destroying all the posterity of Ahab, as well as Jezebel.  When the man flees, Jehu returns to his fellow officers.  They ask him what’s up.  He says he’s been anointed king of Israel and they all immediately proclaim Jehu king, but keep word from reaching Jehoram of Israel recovering in Jezreel.
     The watchman on the tower of Jezreel sends word of the coming army of Jehu to Jehoram the king of Israel.  The king sends a messenger out to ask  if they come in peace.  Jehu says, You’d better get in line and join us.  The watchman sends word that the messenger hasn’t returned.  The king sends another, and the same happens.  And the watchman says, “… the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.”
     So the kings of Israel and Judah (who was visiting the king of Israel) meet Jehu and his men in the old field of Naboth (whose land Jezebel conspired to get for her husband Ahab).  Jehoram asks Jehu if he comes in peace, and Jehu replies there will be no peace because of the whoredoms and witchcrafts of Jezebel.  
     Jehoram flees with a warning to Ahaziah.  Jehu draws a bow and shoots Jehoram so that it exits through his heart.  He orders the king tossed off into Naboth’s field, as had been prophesied.
     Ahaziah also tries to flee, but he is wounded on his way and dies in Megiddo.  His body is taken back to Jerusalem for burial.
     Jezebel hears tidings of all this, and paints her face and has her hair done up.  She sees Jehu entering the gate and calls to him, “Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?”  In other words, Zimri killed his king and didn’t die in peace, do you expect any different?  Jehu looks up and asks who is on his side.  Two or three of Jezebel’s eunuch servants toss her out the window at the behest of Jehu.  Her blood splatters on the wall and on the horses, and Jehu rides his horse over her corpse.
     While Jehu is eating and drinking inside afterward, he says, Despite herself, she was, after all, a king’s daughter.  Go bury her.  But they only found her skull and the feet and palms of her hands.  Jehu rehearses Elijah’s prophetic words that her carcass would be eaten by the dogs.  Thus she could never have a burial spot by which to be remembered.

2 Kings 10
     Jehu sends to the guardians of Ahab’s 70 sons, and the rulers and elders of Samaria & Jezreel that they enthrone the most likely of candidates as next king and defend him with their horses, chariots, armor, and the city defenses.  But they are all in fear, knowing he has just bested 2 kings (Israel and Judah).  They all surrender to Jehu.  He sends them a second letter asking for the sons’ heads.  They send them to him in baskets.  He has them put in heaps at the city gate.
     Next morn, Jehu says, Yes, I conspired against my master, but who killed all these?  They know of course that they are complicit.  Jehu cites the prophecies of the Lord through Elijah about the house of Ahab.  Then he kills all the relatives, counselors, and priests of Ahab.
     On his way back to Samaria, capital city of Israel, he meets the brethren (either blood brothers, or the elders of Judah) of Ahaziah, king of Judah.  They are going to greet the children of the king and queen (Ahab & Jezebel’s posterity, I suppose, thinking among them is the heir to the throne of Israel, with whom they intend to renew an alliance).  Jehu says to take them alive, and then he has them all killed—42 men.
     Jehu consolidates his power, then says “Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu shall serve him much.”  He calls together all the prophets of Baal for a grand sacrifice.  Any who don’t come are to be executed.  A proclamation is sent throughout Israel, and the house of Baal is full to the brim.  He has the priestly clothing brought out for them.  He has a search made that only prophets of Baal are there, none of God’s.  It’s all been a ruse, for now he sets 80 men on guard around the house, and orders them to kill every one of them when the offerings are over.  They bring out the images of Baal and burn them, break down the house of Baal, and destroyed it all.  “Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.”
     But Jehu yet worships the golden calves Jeroboam had set up in Beth-el and Dan.  
     God rewards Jehu’s destruction of Baal worship allowing his lineage on the Israelite throne for 4 generations.  “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.”  I suppose, like Jeroboam, he felt it politically expedient to keep his people from any loyalty to the worship of God in Jerusalem.
     
32 ¶ In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel . . .”
	
   Jehu is succeeded after 28 years by his son Jehoahaz

2 Kings 13
     It was in the 23rd year of Joash, son of Azariah, king of Judah, that Jehu began to reign in Samaria, capitol of Israel.  He reigns 17 years.  “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, all their days.”  Apparently this Ben-hadad was the grandson of Ben-hadad, the father of Hazael.  (Something seems off here, didn't Jehu begin his reign when Athaliah did?  Maybe he wasn't able to consolidate his power until some years later?)

2 Chron 22
     When Athaliah, mother of Ahaziah, hears of his death, she kills all the royals and takes power.  But one of the daughters of Ahaziah saves Joash from “among the king’s sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber.  So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah . . . And he was with them hid in the house of God six years:  and Athaliah reigned over the land.

2 Chron 23
     Jehoiada the priest strengthens his position, gets the military behind him, and the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the elders of the people, and before all the people announces Joash age 7 as king.  He arms the Levites and makes them constant guards of Joash, whom he keeps in the Temple—allowing only the Levites & priests into the Temple. 

2 Kings 11
     In the 7th year the priest Jehoida brings about the overthrow of  Athaliah, and has Joash, the son of Ahaziah, crowned king.  Athaliah hears all the noise, and comes to the Temple to see what’s going on, as the trumpets blare and the people clap for joy.  She tears her clothes and cries, Treason!
     Jehoida has her taken out of the Temple and killed (not to profane the sacred ground).  

17 ¶ And Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord’s people; between the king also and the people.
18 And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the Lord.

     Jehoida has the military bring Joash/Jehoash, age 7, brought to the king’s house, and “all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet”.

2 Chron 23
     The people destroy the house of Baal and his altars and images, kill the priest of Baal.  Jehoiada reinstitutes the priestly offices that King David had set for the Temple worship, as written in the Law of Moses “with rejoicing and with singing, as it was ordained by David.”
     Jehoiada has all the military, nobles, governors, and the people accompany Joash to the throne.  “And all the people of the land rejoiced:  and the city was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword.”

2 Kings 12
     “And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.  But the high places were not taken away: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.”
     Joash/Jehoash orders a collection be made for repairing the Temple, but after 3 years the Temple has not been repaired.  Joash confronts Jehoida, and they set a chest with a hole  at the door of the Temple (perhaps the previous effort wasn’t successful).  When much had been collected in this way the king’s scribe and the high priest count the money and hire the work to be done:  carpenters, builders, masons, stone hewers, stone and timber.  The construction workers are so honest and faithful that they are not audited.
     The Syrian King Hazael has conquered Gath and is headed for Jerusalem.  But Joash/Jehoash buys him off with the sacred treasures 3 generations of his ancestors had dedicated to the Temple, as well as the treasures of his own house.

2 Chron 24
     “And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.”  He reigned from age 7, for 40 years.  He decides to repair the Temple, so orders the Levites & priests to go out among all the cities of Judah to gather funds.  They delay, so he confronts Jehoiada, and they set up a chest at the gate of the Temple with a proclamation for all to bring funds required by the Law of Moses.  The people joyfully respond, and work gets done.
     But when Jehoiada dies at age 130 years old, The princes come and convince Joash to let them return to serving other gods.  God sends prophets to warn them, but they ignore them.  Jehoiada’s son rebukes them, but they stone him by order of the king in the Temple.  
     God sends Syria against Jerusalem, and with a small force they defeat Judah’s great army.  
     Joash is killed by conspiracy in his sickbed.  He is buried in Jerusalem, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

2 Kings 13
     Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, beseeches God for his kingdom’s sake, and God helps them out, but only 10 chariots, 50 horsemen, and 10,000 foot soldiers are left.  And Israel continues “the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove also in Samaria.”
     Jehoahaz of Israel is succeeded by his son Joash in the 37th year of Joash king of Judah.  He reigns 16 years.  .  It’s no wonder that the names of kings become confusing . . . The kings of Israel and Judah are all interrelated and named after each other, beside differences in spelling the same man’s name.
     Joash/Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, is a mere side note in this chapter, only that he continued the worship of the golden calves, and that he warred against Amaziah, king of Judah.

2 Chron 25
     Amaziah age 25, son of Joash, succeeds him.  He reigns in Judah 29 years.  “And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.”
     Amaziah puts the conspirators who had killed his father to death, but not their children, as written in the Law of Moses:  “The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.”
     Amaziah gathers an army of 300,000 good men of war from Judah, and then hires 100,000 mercenaries from Israel/Ephraim for 100 silver talents.  A man of God comes to him and encourages him to battle, but not to include the mercenaries.  The king says, But I’ve already paid!  The man of God says, Don’t worry, “The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.”
     So Amaziah sends the mercenaries home, and they are angry about it.  Amaziah is victorious against Edom (killing 20,000 in total), but the mercenaries hit several cities of Judah, kill 3000, and take “much spoil.”
     Unfortunately, Amaziah brings back the gods of Edom and worships them.  God is not happy about this, and sends a prophet, who says, Why would you worship these gods who couldn’t even save their own people from you?   The king says, Hold your peace, why should you be killed?  The prophet leaves him with one last word, “I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.”
     Under advisement, Amaziah decides to make war with Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel.  He sends an invitation to the Israelite king, who replies with a metaphor that the thistle said to the cedar, Give your daughter to my son as wife, but a wild beast stomped the thistle to nothing.  You think you’re so great for your victory over Edom, but let that suffice.  Why stir up your own trouble?  
     Amaziah disregards the warning, and he and the king of Israel meet for battle.  Judah is defeated, the Israelite king brings Amaziah back to Jerusalem, breaks a great breach in the wall, takes all the treasures out of the Temple and the king’s house, as well as hostages, and returns to Samaria, his capital.
     Amaziah outlives the Israelite king 15 years, but a conspiracy had developed from the time he turned away from God, and at last he has to flee to Lachish.  He was followed and killed, brought back to Jerusalem to be buried.
 
2 Kings 13
     Elisha falls sick.  Joash, king of Israel comes to see him, weeping for him.  How different from Ahab & Jezebel vs Elijah, Elisha’s predecessor!  Elisha tells the king to take a bow and put Elisha’s hands on the king’s hands (as a blessing).  Then Elisha has the king shoot an arrow out the window, and prophecies the deliverance of Israel from Syria.  Elisha says to take the other arrows and hit the ground with them.  The king hits the ground 3 times, but Elisha angrily rebukes him for not doing it 5-6 times, wherein Syria would have been destroyed.  Since it was only 3, Israel will only be victorious 3 times against Syria.  Joash/Jehoash would be able to recover the Israelite cities that the Syrians had taken.
     Elisha dies of his sickness and is buried.  
     At the beginning of a new year the Moabites invade.  A little anecdote is told of a man being buried when they see the invading force.  They toss his body into Elisha’s sepulchre (and run, no doubt), whereupon the man is revived.

Ahab & Jezebel, Elijah, and Jehoshaphat

ahab-jezebel-elijah-jehoshaphat-and-their-heirs-1Download

     Ahab & Jezebel, Elijah, and Jehoshaphat lived contemporaneously.  Jehoshaphat became king of Judah in the 4th year of Ahab’s reign over Israel.  Jehoshaphat was 35 and reigned 25 years.  Ahab was killed before Jehoshaphat died, so part of Jehoshaphat’s reign was during Ahab’s sons’ reigns.  Elijah outlived them both.  The link below is a chronology of the Old Testament, but Old Testament dates are by no means without differences of opinion.
https://biblehub.com/timeline/old.htm
     
1 Kings 17—Elijah vs Ahab & the drought/famine
     Elijah the Tishbite (of Gilead, east of the Jordan River) comes to Ahab and makes a serious pronouncement to Ahab, invoking God’s authority:  there will be no rain, nor even dew, until Elijah says so.  This is not going to endear him to Ahab.
     God tells Elijah to hide out at the brook Cherith, on the east side of the Jordan River valley.  There he will have water from the brook and be fed by ravens.  A documentary I saw years ago showed that ravens would drop the bones of an animal that has been killed from high in flight so that on hitting the ground they would be broken open and reveal the nutrition inside.  
     But eventually that brook dries up, and God sends Elijah to Zarephath, belonging to Zidon/Sidon (a Phoenician city on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea).  We don’t have any background on this woman, except that she is a widow, had a son & household (of which she was mistress), and Elijah encountered her at the gate of the city gathering sticks for her kitchen fire.  We might speculate whether or not she was an Israelite living in exile during the famine (as Naomi had done), whether she was some relative of Elijah’s, or whether she might have been a type of innkeeper (if her house was at the city gate, though we don’t know if that was the case, that’s just where Elijah met her).  We find in this chapter that Elijah lived in her loft.
     God has told Elijah that He has commanded that widow to take care of him.  That doesn’t mean necessarily that God spoke to her (though He may have), she may have got the message from Elijah, and in fact the command may have been God’s decree spoken or ordained in heaven. 
     Elijah, by whatever means, recognizes who to call to.  He asks her for a drink.  No doubt he’s very thirsty from the road/travel.  As she’s going for that he calls to her again and asks for a little bread.  She protests that she doesn’t have any (bread was made in a flat shape similar to a modern pancake—though not with the same leavening agent).  She’s got only a handful of flour and a little oil, for which she is gathering 2 sticks to make a fire for their last meal before starving to death.  It may be that she was exaggerating a bit (surely she’d need more than 2 sticks for a fire to cook on) to excuse herself from taking on another mouth to feed, but because she had been willing to get him a drink, and after all agrees to Elijah’s request (believing his promise), we are inclined to believe that she and her son/household really were in dire straights due to the famine/drought.  
     Elijah tells her not to fear, and tests her faith with the request to feed him first.  This would not go over well in today’s society, and probably wouldn’t have been popular then either.  But Elijah makes a promise in God’s name that she’ll never run out of flour/meal or oil until God sends rain.  She does as he says, and is rewarded in that her whole household never runs out of food.  Now this could mean that a miracle similar to turning water to wine or feeding 5000 with a few fish and loaves of bread occurred, or nearly as miraculous in that they were perhaps always able to procure what they needed to live during such destitute, desperate times.
     But another test comes, in that the widow’s son becomes so desperately ill that he stops breathing.  She’s not shy in her reproach of both Elijah and herself.  Whatever her sin was, small or great, she’s afraid she’s being punished for it.  Elijah says, Give me the boy.  He carries him up to his own loft room, puts him on his own bed and prays for him, and for her.  Three times he stretches out on the boy, pleading for God to restore him.  He may have felt that the warmth of his body, or the weight of it, would bring back the boy’s breath—God willing.  And God was willing.  Now the woman is sure that Elijah really is a man of God, who speaks God’s word.

1 Kings 18—Elijah vs Ahab & the priests of Baal, a showdown
   Many days later (the 3rd year of drought—no small emergency at any time, but especially in an agrarian society), God sends Elijah to Ahab, with the promise of rain to come.  Elijah was a man of extraordinary courage/faith.  He would be persona non grata with Ahab, who was not known for gentleness.
     Ahab has a steward over his house named Obadiah, a God-fearing man.  He had ventured his own position and life to save 100 prophets of God from Queen Jezebel, hiding them in a couple caves and feeding them.  Ahab sends this steward out searching everywhere for some place that has enough water to grow feed for Ahab’s horses & mules.  Ahab goes one way, Obadiah goes the other way.
     Elijah meets Obadiah, who guesses who he is.  Elijah confirms his identity, and Obadiah pays him respect.  But then Elijah asks an hard thing of Obadiah.  It’s one thing to do something secretly, but Elijah is asking him to go face to face with Ahab.  Is Elijah setting him up to be put to death?  Ahab has been searching high and low for Elijah, making every kingdom/nation swear that Elijah is not among them (and the implication is that if they found him they had better turn him over).  You can almost hear the man’s anxious answer:  And now you’re asking me to go tell Ahab where you are?  As soon as I do, the Spirit of the Lord will whisk you away somewhere, so that when I bring Ahab he’ll kill me.  And yet I have been true to God since I was young!  Haven’t you heard that I saved 100 of God’s prophets from Jezebel and took care of them?  
     Elijah promises with an oath on God that he will show himself to Ahab the very day, and Obadiah goes to get the king.  “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?”  Elijah answers, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house…”  Because they have led Israel astray to worship Baalim.
     Elijah tells Ahab to bring the 450 prophets of Baal as well as the 400 prophets of the groves (places of worship in the woods) to Mt Carmel.  All these eat at Jezebel’s table (a hefty tax burden on the people).  So they all come for a showdown.

21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

     The challenge is set:  the 450 prophets of Baal will have a bull to sacrifice, and Elijah will have a bull to sacrifice.  Each bull will be cut in pieces and laid on the wood without fire.  Each will call on their deities, and whichever answers with fire will be proof of who is the true God.  Everybody says, Fair enough.

     Elijah sits by while the prophets of Baal call on him all morning.  No response.  They leap on the altar, cut themselves “till the blood gushed out”.  Elijah makes fun of them . . . “And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.”

     Evening comes.  Elijah calls the people over.  He repairs God’s altar that has been broken down, either on purpose or through neglect.  He takes 12 stones, for the 12 tribes of Israel, and builds an altar in God’s name.  He digs (or has dug) a trench around the altar large enough to hold 2 measures of seed (what measure is not explained).  He puts the wood on the altar, and the cut up beef.  He has them pour 4 barrels of water over the meat and the wood.  A 2nd and a third time he has them drench the meat and fuel.  The trench is full of the run-off.    Elijah prays that God will hear his plea, show the people that He is God, and that Elijah speaks for him.  He prays that the people’s hearts will be brought back to worship the true God.
     Fire falls and consumes not only the meat sacrifice, but the wood, the stones, the dust, and the trench full of water.  The people fall on their faces in worship and acknowledgement that “The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God,” perhaps a well-known phrase they recite.
     Elijah has the people take the prophets of Baal, nor let any escape.  Elijah takes them down to the brook Kishon, and kills them (or has them killed).
     Elijah tells Ahab to start feasting/celebrating because it’s going to rain in abundance.  Ahab does so, and Elijah climbs to the top of Mt Carmel.  He drops to the ground with his face between his knees.  He sends his servant to look for clouds toward the Mediterranean, only a few miles away.  Nothing.  Seven times he sends him, and at last a little cloud rises from the sea, the size of a man’s hand.  Elijah tells him to go tell Ahab to get down off the mountain before he is stopped by the rain.  Meanwhile the sky becomes black with clouds, wind, and rain.  Ahab goes to Jezreel.  Elijah beats him there and meets him at the entrance.

1 Kings 19—Elijah vs Ahab & Jezebel, Elijah flees for his life, despondent in a cave
     Ahab tells the whole story to Jezebel, who had not made the effort to go.  Jezebel is incensed for the killing of her prophets, and sends a threat to Elijah that she means to do the same to him by the same time the next day.  Elijah flees for his life all the way down to Beer-sheba, south in Judah.
     Elijah is discouraged to death.  He leaves his servant in Beer-sheba, and travels a day’s journey into the wilderness.  He sits under a juniper tree and asks God to take his life.  He says he’s no better than his ancestors.  He falls asleep, and an angel wakes him with a touch, saying, “Arise and eat.”  There is a cake/bread on the coals and a cruse of water.  He eats and drinks and lies down again.
     Again, the angel of God wakes him, saying, “Arise and eat; because the journey is too great [arduous] for thee.”  Elijah gets up and eats, and it gives him enough strength for 40 days and nights until he gets to Mt Horeb, “the Mountain of God”.  Forty days and nights may be an idiom meaning many, but to travel from Beer-sheba to Mt Horeb was still a considerable trek.  (Mt Horeb/Sinai was where the 10 commandments were given, exact location uncertain).
https://bibleatlas.org/mount_horeb.htm
     Elijah finds a cave on the mountain in which to stay.  God asks, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  Elijah replies sorrowfully, “I have been so anxious for Thee, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and killed thy prophets . . . I’m the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well."  God tells Elijah to stand on the mount before Him . . .
     “And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:  And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”
     When Elijah hears God’s voice, he wraps his face in his cloak (lest he see God and be destroyed) and goes to the cave entrance.  The Voice again asks him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
     Elijah repeats himself . . . he’s done all he can, and the people just won’t listen, and they are after his life.  God sends him back up to the wilderness of Damascus, where he is to anoint Hazael king over Syria, Jehu king over Israel, and Elisha as his own successor (Elijah would serve as mentor to Elisha for some while before succeeding him).  God says that whoever escapes death by Hazael, will be killed by Jehu, and whoever escapes Jehu will be killed by Elisha (presumably He speaks of the heirs/armies of Ahab).  
     And yet, says God, I have still 7000 men in Israel who are still true to me:  they have not bowed the knee, nor kissed the image of Baal.  Have the people forgotten the showdown so soon?  Are they so stubborn?  Or are they merely trying to get along in the world, and choose the most politically correct actions/expediencies?
     Elijah leaves and finds Elisha plowing with 12 pair of oxen—others are each plowing with a team, and he is plowing with the 12th.   It appears that Elisha is from a wealthy family.  Elijah tosses his cloak on Elisha.  Elisha runs to catch up with him and asks leave to say goodbye to his parents.  Elijah replies indifferently, “Go back, what have I done to you?”  Elisha goes back and makes a sacrifice of his team of oxen, feeding the people as would be culturally correct.  Then he gets up and follows Elijah, and becomes his servant/caregiver.

1 Kings 20—Ahab vs Ben-hadad of Syria
     King Ben-hadad of Syria and 32 allied kings (perhaps city-states) besiege Samaria, the capital of Ahab’s Israelite kingdom.  The Syrian king sends a message to Ahab boasting/demanding that all Ahab’s silver, gold, wives, children, and all his best goods are his.  Ahab acquiesces.  Hadad sends messengers again saying the next day his people will come and search Ahab’s residence and take away whatever they like.  Ahab feels pushed too far, and calls the elders of Israel, saying that Hadad is looking for any excuse to keep expanding his demands.  The elders tell him not to consent to Hadad’s demands.  So Ahab replies that he will comply with the first demands, but no more.
     Ben-hadad vows that he will beat Samaria to dust.  Ahab replies, “ Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.”  In other words, don’t boast as if you have already accomplished the deed.  Hadad gets the message while drinking, and orders the armies to set for battle.
     An unnamed prophet comes to Ahab and says that despite the huge armies set for battle against him, God will give Ahab the victory, and he will know who is truly God.  Obviously Ahab is greatly influenced by his pagan wife Jezebel.  Ahab inquires about how to meet the attack.  He’s got 232 princes leading 7000 warriors, with himself at the head.  They go out to battle at noon.  Ben-hadad and his allied leaders have been drinking themselves drunk in their pavilion/tent, operational command.  Word comes of the little army come out of the city for its defense.  He says to take them alive (presumably the princes), whether they’ve come out as a peace embassage or for war.  
     Amazingly, the little Israelite army puts the Syrians to flight.  Ben-hadad escapes, but it’s a great slaughter.  
     A prophet, probably the same unnamed man, tells Ahab to ready his forces for the next season of war, expecting Ben-hadad will return.  Hadad’s counsellors say, Our defeat came because their gods are gods of the hills.  We should fight them on the plain, and we’ll best them.  Replace the army you’ve lost man for man, horse for horse, chariot for chariot—which would require no paltry sum.
     So when the season of fighting returns, Ben-hadad numbers his men and comes against Israel again.  The Israelites look like 2 little flocks of kid goats or sheep, while the Syrian army fills the country.
     An unnamed man of God (perhaps the same unnamed prophet?) tells Ahab that because the Syrians think God is only a God of the hills and not of the valleys, God will deliver the Syrians to Ahab, and again, he will know that God is God of all.  
     For 7 days the armies face one another, and on the 7th day they meet in battle.  The Israelites again beat the Syrians:  100,000 footmen killed in one day.  The Syrians flee to the city of Aphek where a wall falls upon 27,000 more.  Ben-hadad escapes into the inner city.  His counsellors suggest that he humble himself (the king and his cabinet put on sackcloth and a rope around their heads/necks—symbolizing the submission/slavery of the vanquished) and throw themselves on the mercy of the Israelite king.
     Ahab accepts Ben-hadad into his chariot, calls him a brother.  Ben-hadad says he’ll return the cities his father took from Ahab’s father, and allow privileges in his capital (Damascus), as his father had done in Samaria.  Ahab agrees and sends him away.  As ever, wealthy and powerful leaders feel more kinship with one another than with their people—no matter what price the people have to pay for their rulers to be buddies.
     One of the sons of the prophet tells his compatriot to hit him, which he refuses.  So the man says that because he refused to obey the voice of the Lord, he will be killed by a lion as soon as he leaves.  So it happens.  The son of the prophet approaches another with the same request that he hit him.  His request is granted, and he is wounded.  The wounded man (disguised with ashes on his face) meets Ahab.  He tells the king a little story about dereliction of duty, and Ahab quickly passes judgment.  The prophet cleans his face from the ashes and Ahab recognizes that he is one of the prophets.  The prophet tells Ahab that because he let Ben-hadad go, his own life and people are set for destruction.  Ahab returns to Samaria “heavy and displeased”.
     A note about Ben-hadad.  It seems he was the same king of Syria that Jehoshaphat’s father Asa had enticed to break alliance with Israel against Judah.  Ben-hadad would die during Elisha’s calling as prophet to Israel  (see 2 Kings 8:7-15).  Remember that in the previous chapter (1 Kings 19), God had sent Elijah to anoint Hazael king over Syria, Jehu king over Israel, and Elisha as his own successor.  Just as it had been when David was anointed successor to Saul by Samuel, it didn’t happen right away, but it happened.

1 Kings 21—Ahab & Jezebel take what they want
     King Ahab covets his neighbor Naboth’s vineyard in Jezreel.  This must be another royal residence, as it is north of Samaria, the capital city of the kings of Israel after they split from Judah under Jereboam.  Ahab offers a trade or to buy it.  But Naboth doesn’t want to sell his ancestral home.  Ahab is despondent.  Jezebel sees his distress (he’s not eating).  She says, Are you king or not?  Hang tight, I’ll get it for you.  She writes letters in Ahab’s name and seals them with his seal, to the elders & nobles of the city demanding a fast and a charge of blasphemy against Naboth.  She hires false witnesses, Naboth is found guilty of blasphemy against God and the king, and is executed (stoned).  Now whether the judges didn’t know about the suborned testimonies, or whether they found it politically expedient not to know, the injustice is carried through.  Jezebel tells Ahab to take Naboth’s vineyard (no heirs, or were they too afraid to object?).  
https://bibleatlas.org/jezreel.htm  atlas entry about Jezreel
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/22/bb/c9/22bbc9ff89c166b9a2f80c0907b0bcfc.jpg map    
     God sends Elijah to Ahab with this tidy message, “Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? . . . Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.”  Ahab’s reply:    “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?”  Elijah shoots back, “I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord,” and gives him the consequences of his badness:  Ahab’s posterity will be wiped out (those that die in the city will be eaten by the dogs, those outside the city will be eaten by the birds; both carrion eaters), and Jezebel’s carcass will be eaten by the dogs of Jezreel.

25 ¶ But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
26 And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
27 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
28 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
29 Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.

1 Kings 22—Ahab & Jehoshaphat vs the Syrians
     Three years of peace pass between Syria & Israel.  But in the 3rd year King Jehoshaphat of Judah has come to visit Ahab, obviously to effect an alliance.  Ahab wants Jehoshaphat to help him recover Ramoth in Gilead from Syria.  Jehoshaphat says ok, but he is not certain whether they’ll have God’s blessing in the endeavor (we will see next the kind of man/king he is).   Ahab gathers 400 prophets to inquire, and they all give the go-ahead.  Jehoshaphat is still uncertain, and asks if there’s not another prophet, one of God’s prophets.  Perhaps he detects the character of those 400.  

8 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
9 Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah.

     The messenger warns Micaiah about political expediency:  you’d better agree with the others.  Micaiah replies that he’ll only say what God tells him.  He goes with the messenger to Ahab, and says the words Ahab wants to hear, but Ahab knows he’s just saying the words . . .

16 And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord?
17 And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.
18 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?
 
     Micaiah says God has sent a lying spirit to Ahab’s prophets to convince him to go to Ramoth-gilead in battle where he’ll be killed.  One of the false prophets, a man named Zedekiah, walks up and slaps Micaiah on the cheek, saying with a sneer, “Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?”  To which Micaiah replies that on the day he tries to hide (from the enemy), he’ll find the answer to his mocking question.  
     Ahab has Micaiah tossed in prison on a measly diet of bread and water until he returns alive.  Micaiah says, if you come back alive, God hasn’t spoken by me.  Where was Elijah at this time?  Obviously Ahab & Jezebel would be making his life a misery, and God didn’t call on him to take the heat this time.
     Ahab & Jehoshaphat decide to go to battle.  Ahab disguises himself, but has Jeshoshaphat wear his royal apparel—a decoy.  Syria’s king tells his 32 chariot captains not to bother with anyone but Ahab.  They go after the regally dressed Jehoshaphat, who calls out, so they know he’s not Ahab.  They turn away.  Just by chance an arrow hits Ahab.  He barely lasts the day of battle, and dies in the evening, his blood running out of his chariot.  At sundown the battle is called for the night, and Ahab is taken back to his capital city Samaria and buried.  When his chariot is washed out, true to the prophecy, dogs lick up his blood.  For the fulfillment of Elijah’s prophecies about Ahab’s wife & posterity (1 Kings 21) see 2 Kings 9-10. 

39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
40 So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

     The rest of this chapter tells briefly about Jehoshaphat, as well as Ahab’s wicked son and successor (who only lasted 2 years), but Chronicles gives a more complete story about Jehoshaphat.

2 Chron 17-20  Jehoshaphat (cross reference 1 Kings 22:41-50)

2 Chron 17—Jehoshaphat succeeds his father Asa as king of Judah
     Jehoshaphat succeeds his father, good/mostly good King Asa.  He fortifies his land against Ahab, king of Israel.  

3 And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim [plural of Baal];
4 But sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.
5 Therefore the Lord stablished the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honour in abundance.
6 And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.

     Not only Jehoshaphat honors God, he sends out teachers with “the law of the Lord” (the Torah, the Law of Moses) to teach all the people.  God honors Jehoshaphat, and gives him peace (“the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat”) and prosperity (tribute & gifts).  Jehoshaphat builds castles (military defenses) and cities of store (strategic reserves of food and such).  It may seem that Judah alone (plus the tribe of Benjamin, and others who had fled as refugees of Israel) was at a major disadvantage against the 10 tribes of the kingdom of Israel.  But this chapter says Jehoshaphat had 1.16 million fighting men in his various walled cities (including 200,000 bowmen from the tribe of Benjamin).  

2 Chron 18—reiteration of the battle in which Ahab was killed
     “Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance,” but he decides to make an unholy alliance with wicked King Ahab of Israel.  This chapter recounts the fatal (for Ahab) battle at Ramoth-gilead, told in 1 Kings 22 (see above).
  
2 Chron 19—Jehoshaphat’s righteous ways (but one fault)
     When Jehoshaphat returns in peace to Jerusalem, the seer Jehu rebukes him for allying himself with Ahab, “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.”  But he also acknowledges Jehoshaphat’s goodness:  “Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.”  As mentioned above, he has also sought to bring his people back to God, by sending teachers of the Law throughout his land.  He sets up judges in the cities, and admonishes them to be honest and God-fearing, not accepting bribes or favoring the powerful, but judging as God would.  In Jerusalem he sets up the Levites & priests, and the tribal leaders as judges in all controversies, not only for his people, but for any religious pilgrims (for Jewish holy days):  “Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, and with a perfect heart . . . Deal courageously, and the Lord shall be with the good.”  

2 Chron 20 and 2 Kings 3—Jehoshaphat relies on God, leads his people to trust in God
     An alliance of Moabites, Ammonites, and others come to attack Jehoshaphat’s kingdom.  “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.”  (Wouldn’t it be interesting if our leaders called a fast before engaging in any wars?!)  The people gather in Jerusalem from all the cities of the kingdom to seek God and His help.  Jehoshaphat comes to the Temple and offers a public prayer (wouldn’t this also be interesting, if our leaders led us in prayer asking for God’s help?!)  His prayer is worth reading, 2 Chron 20:6-12.  “And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.”
     The Spirit of the Lord comes upon one of the Levites, and he speaks for God, saying, “Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”  He gives them the strategy, but says they will not even have to fight—God will make them victorious.  The king and all his people bow to worship God, and the Levite singers stand up to praise God “with a loud voice on high.”
     Next day King Jehoshaphat encourages his men with “Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.”  He sets up singers to go ahead of the army, praising God.  God causes the foes to ambush one another.  Jehoshaphat and his men take the booty off the dead . . . it seems at least the officers/commanders liked to dress richly for battle.  There’s so much it takes 3 days to gather it all.
     Jehoshaphat and his men return to Jerusalem joyous, victorious, praising God with psalteries, harps, and trumpets all the way to the Temple.  All the neighboring kingdoms are in the fear of God, and Jehoshaphat’s kingdom is in peace.  The king had reigned since he was 35, and reigned 25 years.  
     2 Chron 20:35-37 says that Jehoshaphat allied with Ahab’s son/successor Ahaziah on a trading mission to Tarshish (remember where Paul of the New Testament was from?), but God caused the ships to be wrecked.  1 Kings 22:48-49 sounds like Jehoshaphat refused the joint venture with Ahab’s son.  Some accounts don’t seem to match, but differences in detail don't destroy the truths of the Bible.
     2 Kings 3 also records that Jehoshaphat agreed to ally himself/his kingdom to Ahab’s other son Jehoram (who succeed his brother Ahaziah to the throne of Israel) as he tries to reclaim the vassalage of Moab.  When they run out of water after 7 days, Jehoshaphat asks that they inquire of a prophet of God.  They find Elisha (Elijah’s successor), and he says if it wasn’t for Jehoshaphat, he would ignore them.  Elisha asks for a minstrel/musician, and then he is inspired to tell them to fill the valley with ditches, and without wind or rain, the ditches will be filled with water for their animals.  He also promises them victory over the Moabites.  The Moabites see the water and think it’s blood, so they come to grab the booty.  The armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom rise up and win the battle, pursue them, destroy their cities, wells, and trees.  When the king of Moab sees it’s useless, he offers his son as a burnt offering on the city wall, which disgusts Israel’s allies, and they all leave.
     Jehoshaphat’s fault in allying with the wicked kings of Israel brought their wickedness to take over his kingdom, as his eldest son, heir to the throne, marries the wicked daughter of Ahab & Jezebel.  More about that next post.

2 Kings 1—Elijah vs Ahab’s son/successor
     Elijah has outlived both Ahab and Jehoshaphat.  Ahab’s son/heir Ahaziah falls through the lattice of his upper room and is injured.  Perhaps a disease sets in (like infection).  He sends for word from the false god of Ekron, Baal-zebub (those familiar with the New Testament will recognize this name as becoming synonymous with the Devil) whether he will live or die.  God sends Elijah to intercept the messengers and reprove the king for inquiring of the false god, and telling him he’ll never leave his bed alive.
     And here we have a picture of Elijah.  He is described as “an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins.”  
     The king recognizes Elijah from the description.  He sends a captain with 50 men to get Elijah.  The Captain calls to Elijah, “Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.”  Elijah smartly replies, “If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.”  The king sends another captain with 50, who calls on Elijah to come down quickly.  He and his men suffer the same.  A third captain, goes up the hill and falls to his knees before Elijah and pleads with him not to let the same fate befall him and his men.
     God sends an angel to tell Elijah not to be afraid of the captain, but to go with him to the king.  Elijah goes and delivers his message directly to the king, which happened.
     Now a certain Jehoram becomes king in Israel, because Ahab’s son/heir didn’t have a son.  Jehoshaphat’s son & heir is also named Jehoram.  Jehoram of Israel begins his reign in the 2nd year of Jehoram of Judah.  

2 Kings 2—the mantle of Elijah passes to Elisha
     Elijah and Elisha go to Gilgal, and Elijah tells Elisha to wait there, as God has called him to go to Beth-el.  Elisha insists on accompanying him.  The sons of the prophets there ask Elisha if he realizes the Elijah will be taken from him that day.  He says, Yes, let it be.
     Elijah again tells Elisha to wait for him while he has been sent by God to Jericho.  Elisha again insists on going with him.  The sons of the prophet in Jericho likewise ask Elisha if he realizes Elijah will be taken from him.  And Elisha answers as he did before.
     Elijah says God has sent him to Jordan, and bids Elisha to wait for him.  But again, Elisha continues with him.  50 of the sons of the prophets go to watch from afar.  Elijah hits the water with his cloak, and it divides so the 2 men walk across on dry ground (an important motif for the children of Israel, proving the calling of these 2 prophets).  Elijah then asks Elisha what favor he’d like before he leaves him.  Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit to be on him.  Elijah says that’s a hard thing to promise, but if Elisha sees him when he is taken away, it will be so.  They walk on, talking as they go.  A chariot and horses of fire appear between them, and Elijah is taken up into heaven in a whirlwind.

12 ¶ And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.
15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

     The sons of the prophets offer 50 strong men to go with Elisha to see if God has dropped Elijah off somewhere.  He tells them not to bother, but they keep bothering him, so at last he says, OK, go ahead.  They search for Elijah 3 days and return.  Elisha says, What did I tell you?

Samuel, Righteous Judge, Powerful Force for God

    Samuel is an interesting contrast to Samson.  Samuel was the last of the Judges, reluctantly ushering in the reign of the kings of Israel/Judah.  He was a man of integrity and conviction.  

1 Sam 1-8 Samuel’s beginnings, reign as Judge
1 Sam 9-31 Saul, the first king of Israel
1 Sam 16-1 Kings 2, David (becomes 2nd king of Israel)
1 Sam 25 Samuel dies

     This post is intended to focus on Samuel, later ones for Saul and David.

1 Sam 1-2
     One of the striking issues of the Old Testament is infertility.  Several women of importance in the chosen line were infertile.  I think this is a point God was trying to make in the cultures of the day, for whom female infertility was a great shame and cause of prejudice, condemnation.  Again and again God caused or allowed good women to suffer infertility:  Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, now Hannah, Samuel’s mother.  Hannah is beloved of her husband, but she still suffers the stigma of infertility.  I’m quite sure that her longing for children was more than just the public and private embarrassment (her husband’s other wife bore him children), but her private pain was no doubt greatly increased by the attitudes of her husband’s other wife and people in general in her society.  “And her adversary [her husband’s other wife] also provoked her sore, for to make her fret.”  In the interest of presenting more than one perspective, no doubt the other wife had some resentment at knowing she was 2nd best in her husband’s affections.
     Every year the family go to worship and sacrifice to God in Shiloh, where the portable Tabernacle and  the priests were.  Hannah’s husband gives his other wife and children things to offer, but he gives more to Hannah to offer.  He tries to comfort her with, “Hannah, why weepest thou?  And why eatest thou not?  And why is thy heart grieved?  Am not I better to thee than ten sons?”  
     The text says that God had shut up Hannah’s womb.  God had a purpose in that.  She could not have known what the future held: not only for her, but for all the House of Israel.  If she had not felt desperate for a son, she would not have made the vow that gave Samuel to God, and Samuel would not have had the influence he had on the nation and its history, and even for all of us.  After the sacrificial feast Hannah goes into the temple/tabernacle “in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.”  She vows that if God will give her a son she will give him to God, and he will be a Nazarite (like Samson, was never to have a haircut).  
    Eli, the priest, sees her lips moving and accuses her of being drunk.  Hannah explains that she is grief-stricken.  Then Eli blesses her, saying “Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou has asked of him.”  After that she is willing to eat, and no longer wears a sad face.
     Hannah bears Samuel.  She stays at home from the yearly sacrifice until he is weaned, then takes a substantial sacrifice and leaves her son.  Her husband allows her to fulfill her vow to give the child up, a sign of his respect for her.  Not all dads/husbands would do that.   Hannah praises God in 1 Sam 2:1-10.   Each year Hannah brings Samuel a little coat when the family brings their sacrifice.  God gives her 3 sons and 2 daughters more.     
     The priest Eli had a couple of no-good sons that took advantage of their position, and women.  Eli is an old man, and confronts his sons, but to no avail.  Eli was grateful to have the young Samuel as a helper.  “And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men.”
     God sends a messenger to Eli to rebuke him for not keeping his sons in line, and predicts that God will cut off Eli’s posterity.  In one day both his sons will die, and God will raise up “a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind:  and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.”  Eli’s posterity will be left begging for a priesthood position to keep from starving.
     
1 Sam 3  the calling of Samuel
     “And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.”
     One night young Samuel hears a call, runs to Eli to see what he wants.  Eli says he hasn’t called for him.  Twice more Samuel hears the voice and runs to Eli.  Eli finally realizes that it’s God calling to Samuel.  He tells Samuel that if he hears the voice again, he should say, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.”  Samuel does so.  God tells him that Eli’s house is going to be cursed, “because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.”
     Next morning Samuel is afraid to tell Eli, but Eli insists.  Samuel tells him, and to Eli’s credit, he doesn’t get angry and take it out on Samuel.  Instead, he says, “It is the Lord:  let him do what seemeth him good.”
     “And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD. And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.”

1 Sam 4-6  Eli’s sons are killed in battle with the Philistines, Eli’s death, the Ark is captured, but returned.
     The Israelites lose a battle to the Philistines, and decide they need the Ark of the Covenant with them.  Eli’s 2 sons come with the Ark.  The Israelite army shouts for joy when it arrives.  The Philistines are scared.  “Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.”  They encourage each other to fight all the harder, lest they become servants of the Israelites.  The Philistines kill/wound 30,000 Israelites, including Eli’s 2 sons, and capture the Ark.
     Eli is watching on the roadside anxious to hear about the battle, worried about the Ark, in particular.  He’s 98, can’t see well, and is heavy.  A man comes with the news, and Eli falls back and breaks his neck.  He had judged Israel 40 years.  His daughter in law dies in childbirth at the news of her husband’s and father in law’s death, and the loss of the Ark of God.  
     But when the Philistines bring the captured Ark to set it in triumph before their god Dagon, Dagon is found face down before the Ark, and his hands cut off on the threshold.  Beside that, a plague of boils or tumors runs through the Philistines.  They want to get rid of the Ark and send it to another city.  That city (Gath) gets a plague of such in the private parts of the men.  They send it on to yet another city, who don’t want it either.  After 7 months the Philistines call for their priests/diviners to know what to do.  The priests tell them to send the Ark back to Israel with a trespass offering, 5 golden boils/tumors and 5 gold mice, according to the number of Philistine Lords/cities.  This is a clue that mice were also a part of the plagues they suffered.  They don’t want to harden their hearts like the Egyptians did.  It wasn’t only the Israelites who remembered the Exodus story, hundreds of years later, other nations also remembered the stories.  
     So the Philistines make a new cart, yoke 2 milk cows who’ve never thus been yoked, set the Ark in the cart with the golden offerings, and set the cart off.  If it goes home to Israel, they’ll know it was God plaguing them.  If it doesn’t go to Israel, they’ll know the plagues were just a coincidence.  The cows head straight to a city of Israel, lowing as they go (their calves had been separated from them, so they had even more reason not to go to Israel:  the pain of the separation from their calves as well as the pain of not being milked).  The men of the Israelite city are overjoyed, break up the cart to make a fire to sacrifice the cows to God.  
     But God also plagues that Israelite city, because they had opened up the Ark.  50,070 men die.  They send a message to another city to come get it.  There it stays for 20 years under the charge of a Levite.  

1 Sam 7 Samuel calls the Israelites to repentance, held a circuit court, judges Israel all his life; the Philistines and Amorites are kept in check.
     “And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.”
      Samuel has the Israelites gather to Mizpeh, where he will pray for them, and they fast and confess their sins.  The Philistines figure this is a good time to attack.  The Israelites plead to Samuel to keep praying for them.  He sacrifices a burnt offering for them.  God sends a thunderstorm that discomfits the Philistines, which the Israelite army follows up on, “and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.  And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored . . . And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
     “And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.”  He made the rounds of a circuit court each year.

1 Sam 8-12 Israel wants a king, like the surrounding nations
     Unfortunately, a couple of Samuel’s sons become corrupt judges.  The elders of Israel gather and point this out to Samuel.  They want a king.  Samuel is unhappy about that, but he asks God about it.  God says, it’s me they are rejecting, not you.  Give them what they want with a solemn warning.  There's no follow-up to what Samuel did about his unworthy sons, but God doesn't seem to have condemned Samuel for their sakes, as He did Eli, which would indicate that Samuel did take action about them.
     Samuel tells them the draw-backs of having a king
1.	He’ll take your sons for his service
2.	He’ll set up a standing army
3.	He’ll take your daughters to serve his court
4.	He’ll take your crops to feed his standing army and servants
5.	He’ll take your servants and your animals for his own use
6.	He’ll take a tenth of your sheep, and you’ll end up just working for him
7.	When you’re sick of his abuses, you’ll cry to God, but He won’t listen
     But the people don’t listen to Samuel, but want to be like other nations, with a king to judge them and to lead them into battle.
     So God tells Samuel that He’s sending the future king to him.  Samuel anoints Saul king (more about that under the next post, about Saul).  Saul leads the Israelites successfully in battle, and his kingship is settled.  Samuel speaks up for his own character:

1 Sam 12
1 And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you.
2 And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.
3 Behold, here I am: witness against me before the Lord, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.
4 And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man’s hand.
5 And he said unto them, The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found ought in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.

      Samuel then rehearses their history to the people, the promises/consequences of being faithful to God, or not.  “If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God:  But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it was against your fathers.

23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:
24 Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.
25 But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.
 
1 Sam 13-14
     At first Saul is humble (even afraid to be made king), but eventually proves wishy-washy at best, disobedient (lacking trust/faith in God and His prophet Samuel) at worst.  
     Saul is waiting for Samuel to offer a sacrifice before a battle, but Samuel doesn’t get there when expected, and the army is falling away.  Saul decides he’s got to go ahead with the sacrifice.  Just then Samuel shows up.  

13 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.
14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.

     Samuel leaves.
     “And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul:  and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him [conscripted him] unto him.”


1 Sam 15
     Samuel sends Saul against the Amalekites for past offense.  He is to utterly destroy men, women, children, and animals.  “But Saul and the people spared [king] Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.”
     God sadly tells Samuel that Saul is not working out, “for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments.  And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.”  Next morning Samuel confronts Saul.  Saul claims to have done what he was told.  Samuel replies with one of the most unforgettable questions, “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
     Saul claims they saved all the best for a sacrifice to God.  Samuel reminds Saul that when he was chosen he felt himself totally small.  But now he’s getting full of himself.  Saul then tries to blame it on the people, who took the spoils, as a sacrifice.  Samuel replies with another memorable question and answer:  “And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
     Saul realizes he needs Samuel to give his reign legitimacy, so when Samuel is leaving, he grabs him by his mantle and it rips (indicating the force he used).  Right then and there Samuel tells Saul he’s going to lose his kingdom.  The “Strength of Israel [God] will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.”
     In verse 11 God says “it repenteth me”, and now in verse 29 Samuel says that God doesn’t lie or repent.  It is apparent that the repentance of God has to do with feeling sorrow and making a change, not of being guilty and needing to repent in the sense that humans do.  God gives people a chance to do what’s right.  If they forfeit their opportunity, they lose God’s favor.  Words often have several meanings/connotations.  See https://biblehub.com/1_samuel/15-11.htm scroll down to the bottom.
     Saul begs Samuel to come with him to show support before the elders, and Samuel does so.  He calls for king Agag of the Amalekites, and cuts him to pieces.  
     “Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.”

1 Sam 16, 19—Samuel anoints David as next king
     “And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel . . .”  God tells Samuel to go to Jesse in Bethlehem, because one of his sons is to be anointed king.  Samuel says, “How can I go?  If Saul hear it, he will kill me.”  God says to take an animal for sacrifice, and call Jesse to the sacrifice.  I’ll show you what to do, God says.  Samuel obeys.  The elders of Bethlehem are trembling, “Comest thou peaceably?”  Samuel assures them he comes peaceably.  Obviously Samuel has a powerful rep, as God’s rep.
     Samuel sees the sons of Jesse.  One by one they pass before him, and they are big impressive guys.  (Saul was a big guy—people tend to think of stature as proof of leadership).  But God says, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature . . . for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”  Jesse has shown Samuel 7 sons.  But Samuel says God has not chosen any of them.  “Aren’t there any more?” he asks.  Well, the youngest is out keeping the sheep.  It turns out David, the youngest, is anointed king in front of his brothers.
     Later, when Saul was after David, trying to kill him, David flees to Samuel.  Saul sends men after David, who see Samuel’s group of prophets prophesying.  Saul’s messengers also start prophesying.  Saul follows up, and when he catches up, he ends up prophesying himself.  “And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?”  But Saul made no marked change in his long time attitudes and behaviors.  

1 Sam 25:1
“And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah.”

The Book of Judges–part 4, lesser known judges, including Jephthah

The sculpture Jephthah and his Daughter by Emil Wolff, Erbach in the Rheingau region, Hesse, Germany. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emil_Wolff_Jephta_und_seine_Tochter_Johanneskirche_Erbach_Deutschland_-_20110824.jpg

Judges 10-12
Judges/Defenders God raised: Tola,  Jair, Jephthah,  Ibzan,  Elon, & Abdon

Tola, from the tribe of Issachar judged Israel 23 years.

Jair, a Gileadite, judged Israel 22 years.
     Jair had 30 sons who rode on 30 ass colts, and had 30 cities.

from Judges 10:
6 ¶ And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him.
7 And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.
8 And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.
9 Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.
10 ¶ And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim.
11 And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines?
12 The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.
13 Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.
14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
15 ¶ And the children of Israel said unto the Lord, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day.
16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
17 Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpeh.
18 And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

Jephthah, son of an harlot, was denied inheritance by his legitimate half brothers
      Jephthah flees his half-brothers, and “there were gathered vain men to Jephthah”, and he led them.  When the Ammonites come against Israel, the elders of Gilead go to Jephthah to lead their defense.  Jephthah reminds them of how they treated him.  He bargains to be ruler if God makes him successful, “and Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh.”
     Jephthah sends messengers to the Ammonites asking why they are come.  The Ammonite king says Israel stole their land when they came from Egypt.  He wants the land back.  Jephthah rehearses the history of Israel asking leave of the Edomites (descendants of Esau, Jacob/Israel’s brother), and the Moabites to pass through their lands, promising not to cause trouble, but they refused, so Israel had to go around them.  They likewise petitioned the Amorites to pass through, but their king made war on Israel, and lost, so they took his land.  Jephthah says, why should we give you land God has given us?  You take whatever land your god gives you, and we’ll take whatever land God gives us.  It’s been 300 years, and after all this time you come after us?  You are wrong to bring war, and we’ll let God judge between us.
     Inspired by God’s spirit, Jephthah goes to meet the Ammonites.  He makes a rash vow that if God makes him victorious, upon his return he will sacrifice the first thing that comes to greet him from home as a burnt offering.  No doubt he was probably thinking it would be a favorite pet or something . . . surely, hopefully, he wasn’t thinking it would be a human!
     Jephthah is successful, and returns home.  His daughter, his only child, comes dancing out to greet him, honoring him for his victory.  He is devasted, blames her for trespassing his vow.  Did she know about it?  But he won’t go back on his word to God.  She bargains for 2 months to mourn her virginity, along with companions, in the mountains.  When she returns, he fulfills his vow.  It becomes a yearly 4-day event for the Israelite women to lament her.
     So now, can we blame God for this human sacrifice?  God gave the victory, when of course He knew of the vow.  It seems to me a sign of how far the Israelites have fallen.  Jephthah makes a rash vow, which he refuses to disavow, even if it means sacrificing his own daughter as a burnt offering!  What an unbelievable twist of “honor”!  What an absurdity!  The Law of Moses (The Law of God) said that all the firstborn males were the Lord's, and rather than be sacrificed, they were to be redeemed, that is, replaced by another offering.  I think this story shows us
1.	The Old Testament isn’t a whitewashed account of the history of the Israelites/Jews, an indication of its veracity.  
2.	The Old Testament is a down-to-earth record of real humans.  Sometimes the Old Testament tells more about the character of humans than of God.
3.	Be careful what you say, especially “under oath”, or as a vow/promise!
4.	Human flaws are not God’s flaws
     The men of Ephraim are upset with Jephthah for not calling them to go with him, and threaten to burn   down his house upon him.  They are acting like barbarians!  Jephthah says he did call for their help, and they didn’t come.  So he hazarded his own life against the Ammonites, and God gave him the victory.  A battle ensues.  A civil war, in a sense, as the people of Ephraim call the Gileadites a fugitive off-shoot.  The Gileadites win, and those that try to flee through a pass are tested with their pronunciation of “Shibboleth”, which gives them away.  42,000 men of Ephraim were killed.
     Jephthah judged/led Israel only 6 years.

Ibzan from Bethlehem had 30 sons, 30 daughters.  
     He married his daughters off “abroad”, and brought brides from “abroad” for his sons.  He judged/led Israel 7 years.

Elon from the tribe of Zebulon judged/led Israel 10 years.

Abdon, of Ephraim, had 40 sons and 30 nephews that rode on 70 ass colts 
     That they rode on ass colts seems to indicate they were given posts of authority under Abdon’s rule.    Abdon’s rule only lasted 8 years.  

The Book of Judges–part 3, Gideon

Public Domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Gideon#/media/File:Gideon_and_His_Three_Hundred_(Bible_Card).jpg

Gideon, Judges 6-9
     Israel has been under the thumb of Midianites for 7 years.  Israelites are even hiding in caves.  Midianites & Amalekites and their eastern allies came “as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number”, and “destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.”
     The text sounds like God has waited until the Israelites ask for His help, before He helps them.  God then sends a prophet who reminds Israel of what He has done for them, and His requirement (that they not worship Amorite gods).  
     Gideon is secretly threshing his wheat “to hide it from the Midianites.”  An angel appears to him with a complimentary salutation and a reassurance that God is with him.   Gideon asks plaintively, “If God is with us, why isn’t he helping us, as he did with our forefathers?”  God, speaking through the angel/messenger, tells Gideon that God is sending him to save Israel from the Midianites.
      Gideon is feeling overwhelmed at the call.  He feels like a nobody.  But God again reassures him.  Gideon asks for a sign that he’s not imagining this whole thing.  He says, “Wait while I go get a present.” And the messenger agrees to wait.  Gideon gets a kid goat, makes soup, and flour cakes (flatbread).   The angel has him put the food on a rock, and then with a staff causes fire to flare up and consume it.  He then leaves.  “And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.  And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.”  Gideon builds an altar there as a memorial of the event.
     God tells him that night to use a bull to pull down the altar of Baal and the grove used for Baal worship, replacing the altar with one to God, upon which he is to burn the ox with the wood from the grove.  Gideon takes 10 servants (so he’s not quite a destitute as he may have sounded above) and does the deed in the night, fearing for his life (the men of the city responding, as well as his father’s household).
     Next morning the men of the city inquire and find out who did it.  They come to Gideon’s father and tell him to hand over Gideon for death.  But to his credit, Gideon’s father says, Let Baal plead his own cause, if he really is a god.  In other words, let him put Gideon to death himself.
     The Midianites, Amalekites, and their eastern allies come.  Possibly a clue that the locals had felt obliged to worship Baal because of their over-rulers.  Prompted by the Spirit of God, Gideon blows a trumpet to call his extended family/tribe, as well as all the tribes of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali to war.  They come.
     Gideon, still feeling unsure, asks God for a sign that He is with him.  First he asks that dew will settle on the fleece, and nothing else.  Next morn he wrings out a bowlful of water.  Still unsure, he asks that next the dew settle on all but the fleece.  God obviously understood Gideon’s uncertainties, and rather than get angry or chastise him, He fulfills the signs.
     God wants the Israelites to recognize that He has given them the victory, rather than have them boast they did it themselves.  God has him send away any that are fearful.  22,000 leave, leaving 10,000.  Then God has him test them by whether they drink from hand to mouth, or bow down to drink.  The former could keep an eye on their surroundings, the latter would be more vulnerable.  Only 300 are left in Gideon’s army.  God promises He will save them against the Midianites.  The rest of the army take their food & trumpets and go back to their tents (not back home as yet, it appears).
     The Midianite army is in the valley.  God tells Gideon to go down and listen in to what the enemy troops are saying.  He can take his servant if he’s afraid of going alone.  The invading army with their camels seems numberless.  Gideon overhears a soldier telling his dream:  a barley bread tumbles amongst the Midianite army and knocks down a tent.  His listener says it’s got to be a sign of Gideon’s victory.  I surmise that God intended to send that dream, to have it told, and for Gideon to hear it told.  Once again to reassure Gideon, God has had the enemy (rather than someone from his own army, who might have had preferential ideas) bolster his faith.
    Gideon goes back to camp with confidence renewed.    He divides the 300 men into 3 companies.  Each man has a trumpet, and pitcher with a light in it.  They are to surround the enemy.  When Gideon blows his trumpet, everyone else is to blow their trumpet, yell, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!”, and break the pitchers so the lights shine out.  
     Utter confusion reigns among the invading army.  They are running, killing their own comrades.  The men from the other tribes pursue the invaders.  Gideon also calls on the men of Ephraim as well, and the enemy is vanquished.  The men of Ephraim are angry they were left out at first, but Gideon soothes them with praise that they were able to do more than he.
     When Gideon and his 300 come to Succoth asking for food to fortify themselves after the fight, the leaders of Succoth refuse, saying he hasn’t yet conquered all.   Likewise Penuel.  Gideon says he’ll be back, and destroy them.
     120,000 of the army of the east were killed, only 15,000 left.  Gideon vanquishes them.  He comes back to Succoth and punishes the 70 leaders, and at Penuel breaks down the tower and kills all the men of the city.  Gideon calls on his son to kill the 2 kings he has captured, but his son is just a kid, and afraid.  The kings tell Gideon he needs to set the example, so Gideon kills them.
     The men of Israel offer Gideon and his descendants the kingship over Israel.  But Gideon says that’s God’s job.  He does ask for a reward:  the ornaments from the conquered.  The men of Israel gladly give it.  “And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels’ necks.”  Gideon makes an ephod (an apron like a priest would wear) of the booty.  Unfortunately, people came to worship it, “which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.”  Gideon had many wives, and 70 sons.  
     The Israelites have peace for 40 years, but as soon as Gideon dies (at a good old age), Israel goes back to worshipping Baalim, and show no respect for Gideon’s people.
     Gideon had had a concubine in Shechem, and his son by that woman, Abimelech, convinces the men of Shechem to let him rule.  He hires “vain and light persons”, and has all his half brothers killed, except one that hid and escaped.  Abimelech is made king.  

Following is a simplified version of what followed:
     Jotham, the one son that had escaped, stands on a mountain top and yells out a parable:  the trees offered the olive tree the kingship to reign over them.  But the olive tree says, Men use my oil to honor God and men, why should I leave that calling?  So the trees offer the crown to the fig tree.  “But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?”  Next the trees offer the position to the grape vine, and he refuses the promotion.  So the trees go to the lowly bramble and offer him the job.  He takes it and threatens any who oppose.  Then Jotham says if you all want Abimelech as your king, and think you’ve done right by Gideon and his sons, you deserve him.  If not, may you be set at odds and destroy each other.  Jotham then flees for his life.
     After a 3 year reign, the men of Shechem have set up robbers in the mountains.  They also wine and dine a guy called Gaal, who boasts he’ll get rid of Abimelech.  Messengers from the ruler of Shechem, Zebul, come to Abimelech calling for him to come against the city.  Abimelech comes in the night and divides his army into 4 parts.  A battle ensues.  Zebul, kicks Gaal out of the city.  About 1000 men & women flee from Shechem to the house of the god Berith.  Abimelech has his men each cut a branch from a tree, and they set the place afire.  Next Abimelech attacks the city of Thebez, “and took it.”  But a woman tossed a piece of millstone from the burning tower, and it hits Abimelech on the head.  He calls his armorbearer to kill him with a sword so he won’t die of the mortification of being killed by a woman.  The armorbearer does so, and that’s the end of Abimelech.  His army disperses.  

The Book of Judges–part 1

Othniel by James Tissot. French painter, 1836-1902.

Judges 1-3  
     Some conquests continued after the death of Joshua, but not all the Canaanites were conquered.  The Israelites served God while all the elders under Joshua lived, but the rising generations kept falling for the gods of the Canaanites, and God discontinued His protecting, blessing, helping hand for them.  Still, He showed compassion on them and raised up certain “judges” (leaders) to give them respite from time to time—usually fairly short-lived, as the people returned to their foolish ways.  As Moses had warned, people were influenced by intermarriage to abandon their principles and beliefs.

Judges 1
     Joshua has died.  The Children of “Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them.  And the Lord said . . .”  How did Israel ask God, and how did God answer them?  Surely a collection of the leaders/elders of Israel asked the leading priest, who inquired of God, and received an answer which he passed along (as Joshua and Eleazar did, Num 27:21).
     The tribes of Judah & Simeon ally themselves against the Canaanites & Perizzites.  Judah had taken Jerusalem and burned it.  Judah conquered Hebron (previously known as Kirjath-arba) and other cities.   Caleb offers his daughter as prize for conquest of another city.  His daughter convinces Caleb to include some springs for water.  Judah took Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron.  Caleb inherits Hebron, as promised.  Jerusalem was part of Benjamin’s inheritance, but Benjamin wasn’t able to expel all the Jebusites from  there.
     “And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but [Judah] could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.”  Does this mean the Lord can’t/doesn’t help people against chariots of iron?  The writers give God the credit for their victories, but recognize that He doesn’t always choose to make us victorious in the way, means, or time we may think He ought.
     God was with the tribe of Joseph vs Bethel (known before as Luz), and the spies who were sent made a deal with a guy from the city to show them how to get into the city.  The man and his family were spared, and he went on to found another city he called Luz.
     But not all the Canaanites were driven out, and “when Israel was strong . . . they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.”  Financial benefits outweighed spiritual dangers.

Judges 2
     “And an angel of the Lord came up . . .” and reminded Israel that they were not to make any treaties with the Canaanites.   A better translation is “a messenger”, such as a prophet.  Scroll down to “Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers” at https://biblehub.com/judges/2-1.htm 
     “And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel . . . And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel . . . And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.” 
     God was not happy about being forsaken, in fact, “the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.”  In other words, God left them to their own devices, and that left them vulnerable indeed.  

15 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
16 ¶ Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.
18 And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.
20 ¶ And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;
21 I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:
22 That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.
23 Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.

     I have in previous posts about the character and nature of God discussed whether God has need to or does repent in the same way that humans do.  He does have compassion, and is willing to listen to the pleas of His people.  

Judges 3
5 ¶ And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:
6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.  [Baalim is plural, meaning various gods lumped with the worship of Baal.  Their worship was promiscuous, and as we shall see later, included child sacrifice.]

     Israel was ruled by the king of Mesopotamia for 8 years.  Then God sent Othniel, Caleb’s nephew, “And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war . . . And the land had rest forty years.  And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.”
     Israel was subject to the king of Moab 18 years.  Ehud, a left-handed Benjamite, brought a gift to the king, and pretended to have a secret errand, by which he got the king alone, and stabbed the fat old guy in a way that would be a movie maker today.  He escaped and blew a trumpet to call Israel to a victorious battle.  “And the land had rest fourscore [80] years.”
     There was also Shamgar, “which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad:  and he also delivered Israel.”