<\/p>
During the reign of Jehoahaz of Israel, the northern kingdom experienced an exodus (2 Kings 13:1-6): <\/p>\n
1) Israel had sinned and therefore the Lord became angry and gave them into the hand of Aram, as often happened during the times of the Judges. <\/p>\n
2) Jehoahaz \u201cbecame ill.\u201d The word is translated in the NASB as \u201centreated the favor\u201d but it is the normal word in Kings for illness (cf. 2 Kings 1:2; 13:14). The text says that Yahweh \u201cheard\u201d Jehoahaz, even though the text never says that Jehoahaz said anything. Apparently, Yahweh is responding to Jehoahaz\u2019s illness itself, and perhaps to the pain caused by it. <\/p>\n
3) Yahweh not only \u201cheard\u201d the sickness of the king, but \u201csaw\u201d the oppression of the nation (v. 4b). So also, the Lord saw that Egypt was oppressing Israel (Exodus 3:9). The combination of \u201chearing\u201d and \u201cseeing\u201d also connects with the temple dedication passage in 1 Kings 8. <\/p>\n
4) Yahweh sent Israel a \u201csavior,\u201d as he had sent the judges (v. 5). The word for \u201csavior\u201d is a substantive participle of YSHA, and this form puns with the name \u201cMoses\u201d (Heb. \u201csavior\u201d is MOSHIA). <\/p>\n
5) The savior delivers Israel from the hand of her enemies, and Israel returns to dwell in \u201ctents\u201d (v. 5) as they had in the wilderness following the exodus. (The word translated as \u201cformerly\u201d in the NASB is connected with the root for \u201cthree\u201d and means \u201cthree days ago\u201d \u2013 thus introducing the third-day resurrection idea.) <\/p>\n
6) Yet, in spite of this great Exodus, Israel continued in idolatry. <\/p>\n
These few verses are the history of Israel in a nutshell, not only of the northern kingdom but of Israel as a whole. The shocking thing about this is that Yahweh intervenes to save Israel without any show of repentance from the king or the people. Jehoahaz is an evil king (v. 2), and the people continue to worship golden calves. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During the reign of Jehoahaz of Israel, the northern kingdom experienced an exodus (2 Kings 13:1-6): 1) Israel had sinned and therefore the Lord became angry and gave them into the hand of Aram, as often happened during the times of the Judges. 2) Jehoahaz \u201cbecame ill.\u201d The word is translated in the NASB as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-ot-kings"],"yoast_head":"\n