We learned yesterday that King Jehoash of Israel died during the reign of King Amaziah of Judah. Jehoash's son, Jeroboam, ascends to the throne upon his father's death. He is known as Jeroboam II because the first king of Israel (after the ten northern tribes split from the two southern tribes) was named Jeroboam. "In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years." (2 Kings 14:23)
The author of 2 Kings does not go into much detail about Jeroboam II and the author of 2 Chronicles doesn't discuss him at all. He is mentioned in the books of two of the men known as the "minor prophets": Hosea and Amos. His reign was a time of military and financial prosperity but not a time of spiritual revival. "He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit." (2 Kings 14:24) Like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather before him, Jeroboam eschewed the worship of Baal (which was introduced to Israel during the time of the Ahab Dynasty) and instead clung to the religious system put in place by the first king of the northern kingdom. This means Jeroboam II uses the golden calf sites of worship in Israel rather than worshiping the Lord at His temple in Jerusalem. It means he is not worshiping the Lord in the right way or in the right place. Humans must approach the Lord in the way the Lord deems acceptable, not in the way that seems right to mankind or in the way that seems most convenient to mankind.
The kings of the Jehu Dynasty have not conducted their spiritual lives exactly as commanded by the Lord but they have not renounced Him like the kings of the Ahab Dynasty did. Therefore, the Lord gives Israel some relief from her enemies during the Jehu Dynasty. The Arameans greatly plagued the nation during the reigns of Jeroboam's forefathers but the Lord enables Jeroboam to push the Arameans back out of some of the territories in Israel that they had previously conquered and were occupying. "He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher." (2 Kings 14:24-25)
The Jonah mentioned in the passage above is believed to be the same prophet of the book of Jonah. It appears that he predicted the military victories of Jeroboam II and they came to pass just as he said. Two other prophets, Hosea and Amos, make mention of Jeroboam II. Jeroboam is only given a brief mention in the book of Hosea, when the author states that Hosea was a prophet in Israel during the time Jeroboam sat on the throne. But Hosea was called by the Lord to speak out against the unfaithfulness of the people who were not worshiping Him in the manner they were commanded to worship Him, so we know that it was not just the king whose spiritual life wasn't all that it should be. A large number of the people were sinning against the Lord in the same manner as the king. The prophet Amos mentions King Jeroboam several times and we will study those portions of Scripture tomorrow.
But for now we will look back at a passage from Chapter 13 in which Jeroboam's grandfather, Jehoahaz, called out to the Lord for relief from the Arameans. "Then Jehoahaz sought the Lord's favor, and the Lord listened to him, for He saw how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel. The Lord provided a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram. So the Israelites lived in their own homes as they had before." (2 Kings 13:4-5) Many scholars believe the "deliverer" of Chapter 13 is Jeroboam II who, here in Chapter 14, "restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea". He fought against the Arameans and took back some of the land that was being occupied and controlled by them. This is why the Israelites of these areas could live "in their own homes as they had before".
The Lord heard King Jehoahaz's prayer and answered it during the reign of Jeroboam II. By the time Jeroboam came to the throne, the Arameans had reached the limit the Lord set for them. The Lord never allows any trial to last longer than it needs to last to accomplish His purpose. He chastised the people for their wayward religious practices but He did not intend to allow the Arameans to destroy them. There is a cutoff point and that cutoff point arrives after Jeroboam II ascends to the throne. "The Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them. And since the Lord had not said He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash." (2 Kings 14:26-27) In the Bible we find the Lord vowing to wipe out the names of particular dynasties in Israel and we find Him vowing to wipe out certain ancient nations. But we never find the Lord saying He's going to completely wipe Israel from the face of the earth. At times in the Bible the Lord uses the oppression of other nations to discipline His people when they get off track but He always calls a halt to this form of chastisement before any other nation can destroy Israel.
In your life and in my life the Lord only allows troubles and trials to last long enough to accomplish what He wants to accomplish. Hardships are sometimes the result of our waywardness, sometimes a form of training to help us build spiritual muscle, sometimes a method of building our faith. We may not know the reason for everything that's happened to us until we get to heaven. But we can be certain that the Lord won't allow any difficult season to last one second longer than it needs to last.
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