Sunday, February 19, 2017

[Matt's Messages] “You Alone, O LORD, Are God.”

“You Alone, O LORD, Are God.”
The King of Kings in the Books of Kings
February 19, 2017 :: 2 Kings 18:1-20:21  

It’s been a few weeks since were in our study of the Books of Kings which we have been calling “The King of Kings in the Books of Kings.” And since it’s been 3 or 4 weeks, you might have forgotten where we are in the story.

We’re almost to the very end of the Books of Kings. We have, including today, no more than 4 messages left to go to work our way through each one of the Kings of Israel and Judah. Only eight chapters to go. And we’ll have done the whole thing in  just 31 sermons.

Now, I know that we’re starting to get tired of these kings. They have been, with very few exceptions, a broken record of boring badness. (Try saying that three times fast.)

But hang with me. Because there are some really good stories left to tell, and this morning’s is one of the best of them.

It’s about King Hezekiah of Judah.

Last time we were in 2 Kings, we read about the last king of the northern kingdom of Israel, Hoshea. He was a pretty good king for an Israelite king. Two thumbs down, but not nearly as bad as most of his predecessors.

But regardless, the northern kingdom of Israel had been invaded and conquered and sent into exile by the great world power of Assyria.

Because of their unfaithfulness, Israel is no more.

It’s a sad sad story.

But now our attention, our focus, shifts to the southern kingdom of Judah.

Judah has been slipping, but they have not yet slipped as Israel had.

And now they get a new king. King Hezekiah.

Before we begin reading chapter 18, I want to tell you the name of this sermon. I didn’t have it when Marilynn sent the bulletins to print. I knew that we were going to do chapters 18, 19, and 20, but I didn’t know what to call it.

Here’s the title. It’s a quote taken from chapter 19 where Hezekiah prays. He says, “You Alone, O LORD, Are God.”

And he says something like that twice in chapter 19, and I was really surprised to see that it’s one of the only times in the Bible when that exact phrase is used of God. In fact, there are just handful of passages like it that say that the LORD is God alone.

Such an important lesson to learn! And it’s at the very center of the story.

So, we’ll see that more clearly when we get to that dramatic part of the story.

Are you ready? 2 Kings 18, verse 1.

“In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.”

And you know the next thing.

Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Hezekiah is two (count them) two thumbs up! V.3

“He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.”

[That is huge, by the way, that is said of no other king of Judah. “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.’ Tell me about it.]

He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)

[Isn’t that interesting? Remember that old snake on a pole from Numbers 21? They had kept it around, and it had turned into an idol. Hezekiah got right of it.]

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.

And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.”

Point number one.

“You Alone, O Lord, Are God:”

#1. WHO DESIRES OUR FAITHFULNESS.

Here he is! He’s finally here.

This is the king that we’ve been waiting for.

This guy is two thumbs up.

He seems like a second David.

There are only two kings who the Bible tells us defeated the Philistines like this. David and Hezekiah.

How many times have we said that these kings had “just one job.”

Well, Hezekiah got it. And he did it faithfully.

There was never a king like him among all the kings of Judah since the split, either before or after him.

And here was his secret. V.5

“Hezekiah trusted in the LORD.”

Verse 6, “He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him.”

That’s trust and obey.

That word “held fast” in verse 6 is the same word as what we call “cleaving” when  a man and woman get married. They leave and then they cleave. They stick to one another.

They grab and hold on.

“He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him.”

And that’s there to remind us what God has been looking for all along.

Faithfulness.

What a breath of fresh air, huh?!

And see the blessing that goes with it? V.7

“And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. [Like the fruitful tree of Psalm 1.] He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him [like his foolish daddy Ahaz had done]. From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.”

God greatly desires our faithfulness.

But author reminds us that the northern kingdom had done just the opposite. V.9

“In King Hezekiah's fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. [This is what we learned about last time.] At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah's sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes. This happened because they had not obeyed the LORD their God, but had violated his covenant [unfaithfulness]–all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out.”

They were unfaithful.

And the LORD is on the lookout for faithfulness.

When He looks at you, does He see it?

I’m not asking if you are perfect. I know you are not.

(And, spoilers, neither is Hezekiah.)

But I am asking if you trust and obey the LORD.

Because that’s the way to be happy in Jesus.

That’s what the Lord is seeking–hearts that are whole towards Him.

Now, just because you are holy doesn’t mean you will escape suffering.

In fact, the often the opposite. Just because Hezekiah was a faithful king, doesn’t mean that his kingdom would get off without trials.

They had plenty. And the biggest one had the name of Sennacherib the newest king of Assyria. V.13

“In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. [Uh oh.] So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: ‘I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.’ The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace. At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the LORD, and gave it to the king of Assyria.”

So he’s not perfect. Just because you’re two thumbs-up doesn’t mean that you’re perfect.

Here, Hezekiah goes back on his previous approach of rebelling against Assyria and tries, like his father did, to appease Assyria. He tries to pay them off.

But that trick never works. At least for long. V.17

“The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field.”

Now, stop there for just a second because I want to say these cool words. The Hebrew that is translated “supreme commander, chief officer, and field commander” is literally, “Tartan, Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh.” And I always loved those words, especially Rabshakeh.

If you’re looking for a good wifi password, I think Rabshakeh would be a good one.

John, can we change the wifi password here at church to Rabshakeh?

I don’t know, maybe we shouldn’t have an Assyrian field commander as our wifi password.

But we’re not exactly sure what these words mean. They are obviously the top dogs of the Assyrian army. And they are here to deal directly with the king and talk him into surrender. V.18

“They called for the king; and Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to them. The field commander [Rabshakeh] said to them, ‘Tell Hezekiah: ‘'This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have strategy and military strength–but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? [Give up!] Look now, you are depending on Egypt [I’ll bet], that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. [Give up!] And if you say to me, ‘We are depending on the LORD our God’–isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? [I think he’s got the story a little mixed up.]

‘'Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses–if you can put riders on them! [Your little paltry army hiding there behind the walls!] How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? [Give up!]

Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the LORD? The LORD himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.'’ [Which isn’t true, but it sure sounds strong.]

Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, ‘Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don't speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.’”

But the commander replied [even louder I’ll bet], ‘Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the men sitting on the wall–who, like you, will have to eat their own filth and drink their own urine?’ [Give up! He’s trying to demoralize the troops. Or even start a mutiny.]

Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew: ‘Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, 'The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.' ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah.

This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Choose life and not death! ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, 'The LORD will deliver us.' [Give up!]

...And then he goes too far...

Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”

He sounds like a politician, doesn’t he? Promising them the moon (don’t read the fine print about having to move to another land. We have a word for that. It’s called “exile”).

But he goes too far when he says that the LORD would be unable to deliver Jerusalem.

Hezekiah may not be able to deliver them.

But I doubt that the LORD is going to let that one go by for very long! V.36

“But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, ‘Do not answer him.’ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said. [Chapter 19]

When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. [Where he should have been before instead of raiding the silver, he should have been praying.]

He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

[Yes, THAT Isaiah. This whole story is also told, by the way, in the book of Isaiah, as well. V.3]

They told him, ‘This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. It may be that the LORD your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.’

When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, ‘Tell your master, 'This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard–those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.'’ [God has got this one.]

When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word [“Last chance, man.”]

‘Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, 'Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered?

[He’s just digging his grave, isn’t he?]

Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them: the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?’

Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: ‘O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, [here it is] you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by men's hands.

Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.’”

This is why Hezekiah is two thumbs up.

He doesn’t always get it right, but when he gets it right, he’s like David or Solomon.

Remember what Solomon said that the king should do if the kingdom got attacked?

This very thing right here. Lay that out before the LORD.

And remind the LORD that He alone is God.

And that our eyes are on Him.

“You alone, O LORD, are God.”

#2. WHO BROOKS NO RIVALS.

Those other gods who failed weren’t gods at all.

You alone are God.

And we are looking at you.

We are praying to you.

We are trusting you.

And the LORD was listening. V.20

“Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘'The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you. The Daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.

[See, two can play at this game of taunting the enemy. And the last to speak is the one who will win.]

Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!

By your messengers you have heaped insults on the Lord. And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines. I have reached its remotest parts, the finest of its forests. I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’”

You think you’re God!

But you couldn’t have done even any of that without me. It’s actually a part of my plan. V.25

‘'Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone. Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up.

[But you won’t be doing that to me.]

‘'But I know where you stay and when you come and go and how you rage against me. Because you rage against me and your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.'

[You will be my slave, O Sennacherib.]

‘This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah: ‘This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. [In a few years, this will all be just a bad memory.] Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above.

For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the LORD. I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”

It sure didn’t seem like it.

I mean there were hundreds of thousands of soldiers camp outside of the walls of Jerusalem.

If you had been there, this promise would have seemed impossible.

But you can hear in Isaiah’s words what God was thinking.

He was thinking, “I am God alone.”

Isaiah 42:8, “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

Or foreign rulers who think they are god.

Why does God want our faithfulness?

Because He is worthy of it.

He’s not insecure. Some people think that God is insecure, that’s why he keeps demanding faithfulness and praise.

But it’s really because God is that worthy. That trustworthy. That unique and wonderful that anything else than supreme worship is so far beneath Him that it’s a failure.

The LORD brooks no rivals.

He wants to be first in our hearts.

And why shouldn’t He be?

Look at who Hezekiah said He is. He is over all the kingdoms of the earth. He MADE heaven and earth!

Think about that.

The LORD made heaven and earth.

Everything you see is from His mind. His design. His power in bringing into existence.

You and I are His creation.

That’s why it’s sin to worship the creation rather than the Creator.

Because He made all of this.

And He deserves the glory.

One of the chief applications of this entire story is to call our hearts to worship God alone because He alone is worthy of our worship.

He is zealous for His glory.

It didn’t seem like there was any possibility of Hezekiah and Jerusalem getting out of this bind.

Hezekiah is tearing his robes. He is saying that life is like stillbirth.

It’s that bad.

But Yahweh say (v.34) that for His own sake (His glory) and for the sake of David His servant (and His covenant promises to him), he will defend and deliver this city.

Are you ready for it? Last point. Number three.

“You Alone, O LORD, Are God”

#3. WHO RESCUES HIS PEOPLE. V.35

“That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning–there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.”

The LORD brooks no rivals, keeps all of His promises and threats and in the process rescues His people.

Can you imagine what it must have been like to wake up that morning and see all of the corpses?

185,000 men.

In one night.

It’s like a second Passover, isn’t it?

The angel of the LORD passing through and killing all of those men.

And in the process, saving His people.

You know that’s amazing, and it shows God’s heart for rescuing His people.

But we know of a greater rescue that God has enacted.

At the Cross!

There was a greater enemy there. Sin was a greater enemy than Assyria ever was.

But God dealt with it in a powerful way by putting sin on the shoulders of Jesus Christ.

The Bibles says at the Cross, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

How powerful He was to kill those enemies.

How powerful He was to raise Jesus from the dead for our justification.

The LORD delights to rescue His people.

In chapter 20, he rescues King Hezekiah from an illness. Chapter 20, verse 1.

“In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. [If I’m reading it right, thi is actually flashback to right around when Sennacherib attacks.] The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, ‘This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.’

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, ‘Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.’ [I’ve been faithful. I’m a two-thumbs up king. Please remember that as you decide what to do with me.] And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: [With mercy.] ‘Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD.

I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.'’

That’s the same thing He said in verse 34 of the last chapter.

He loves to rescue His people. V.7

“Then Isaiah said, ‘Prepare a poultice of figs.’ They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered. Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, ‘What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the LORD on the third day from now?’ [When I’m ceremonially clean again.] Isaiah answered, ‘This is the LORD's sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?’

[It’s a test. It’s like the test that was given Jehoash with the three arrows? Hezekiah pass the test. He asks God to do something big.]

‘It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,’ said Hezekiah. ‘Rather, have it go back ten steps.’ Then the prophet Isaiah called upon the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.”

The LORD delights to deliver His people.

If they will trust Him.

However. This story doesn’t end as happily as it began.

Hezekiah has been two thumbs up. But he still did something really stupid.

And his nation was still really on the decline. V.12

“At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah's illness. Hezekiah received the messengers and showed them all that was in his storehouses–the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil– his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. [This was a mistake.]

Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, ‘What did those men say, and where did they come from?’ ‘From a distant land,’ Hezekiah replied. ‘They came from [a little place called, uh...] Babylon.’

The prophet asked, ‘What did they see in your palace?’ ‘They saw everything in my palace,’ Hezekiah said. ‘There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.’

[I was real proud of them. It was kind of like when Solomon showed his splendor to the queen of Sheba. Though, probably not really. I was impressed that this bigger kingdom was interested in my little kingdom. That’s different, isn’t it. Sorry.]

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the LORD: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’

[Assyria will soon pass away. And they will not take you into captivity. But Babylon will. V.19]

‘The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,’ Hezekiah replied. For he thought, ‘Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?’ As for the other events of Hezekiah's reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?  Hezekiah rested with his fathers. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.”

It turns out that Hezekiah was not the second coming of David after all.

He might have been two thumbs-up. Maybe one of those thumbs kind of turned a little half-way down there at this point.

I think he’s happy that the LORD is going to be merciful for his lifetime.

It’s not that he’s unhappy that later on it’ll be bad for them.

But at least, the LORD is showing him and Judah some mercy.

But he’s pretty short-sighted, isn’t he?

“At least it’ll be okay during my lifetime.”

When the kings of Judah are at their best, they remind us of Jesus.
Faithful to the end.

But when the kings of Judah are at their worst, they remind us of why we need Jesus.

Great David’s greater Son.

Who never failed.
Who never flubbed.
Who never fumbled or fouled out.

A God who rescues His people.


***

Messages in this Series:

01. Who Will Be King?
02. The Wisdom of the King
03. The Temple of the King
04. The Incomparable King of the Temple
05. A Breathtaking King
06. The Turned King and the Torn Kingdom
07. The Two Kings and the Tearing of the Kingdom
08. The Word of the LORD
09. In the Eyes of the LORD
10. The LORD Lives
11. The LORD Is God!
12. The LORD Is Still God.
13. “You Will Know that I am the LORD”
14. "Thus Saith the LORD!"
15. What the LORD Says
16. Is There No God in Israel?
17. Where Is the God of Elijah?
18. How NOT To Relate to God
19. God of Wonders
20. No God in the All the World Except in Israel
21. LORD, Open Our Eyes!
22. "If the LORD Should Open the Floodgates of Heaven"
23. "I Will Avenge the Blood of My Servants"
24. "Long Live the King!"
25. God Is Good Even When the King Is Bad
26. “Good Kings, Bad Kings, Good Things, Bad Things”
27. The Last King of Israel

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