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| "Heh heh heh heh, Cool!" |
| Part V |
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The books of Second Kings and Second Chronicles carry on with biographies of Kings ruling over Israel and Judah as well as accounts of the miracles God performed through Elijah's successor, the prophet Elisha. God had many other prophets who spoke for Him during this time telling Israel & Judah to repent of their sins and come back to God and a right relationship with Him.
| Report Card | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Nation | Grade |
| Ahaziah continued | Israel | F |
| Jehoram | Judah | F |
| Ahaziah | Judah | F |
| Jehu | Israel | B |
| Joash | Judah | B+ |
| Jehoahaz | Israel | |
| Jehoash | Israel | D- |
| Amaziah | Judah | B |
| Jereboam II | Israel | F |
| Azariah (alias Uzziah) | Judah | B |
| Zechariah | Israel | F |
| Shallum | Israel | Incomplete |
| Menahem | Israel | F |
| Pekahiah | Israel | F |
| Pekah | Israel | F |
| Jotham | Judah | B |
| Ahaz | Judah | F- |
| Hoshea | Israel | D- |
| Israel is removed from the classroom for disobeying God | ||
| Hezekiah | Judah | |
| Manasseh | Judah | F- |
| Amon | Judah | F |
| Josiah | Judah | A++ |
| Jehoahaz | Judah | D- |
| Jehoiakim | Judah | F |
| Jehoiachin | Judah | F |
| Judah | F | |
| Judah is removed from the classroom for disobeying God | ||
| Biblical Prophecy |
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| Course Syllabus |
| Pre-requisites: Quantum Physics 301 Grand Unification Theory 101 God-hood |
Prophets were also sent to almost every other nation that had any contact with Judah and Israel. Some of these prophets wrote books that bear their names in the Bible. Their writings are occasionally hard to understand because they were sometimes writing about events so far in the future it would be like us living 500 years ago and trying to explain a space shuttle to that generation.
The prophets who wrote during this period of Israel's history were the following:
Obadiah, the shortest of the prophets. Actually, it's the book that is short.
The prophet Joel compared the destructive force of a locust invasion to the coming judgement of God.
| JERUSALEM ENQUIRER LOCUST SWARM AGNES TO HIT LAND SOON | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Thousands to be caught in its path | |||
| Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, she said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. | Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, she said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. | Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, she said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. | Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, she said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. Blah blah, blah, blah, blahty blah, blah, he said. |
The prophet Jonah was called by God to warn Nineveh of God's coming punishment for their wickedness. Jonah, however, was not too keen to warn this capital city of Assyria since the Assyrians had done great harm to his people. He rather fancied the idea of God destroying them so he ran away.
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| "Heh heh heh heh, Cool!" |
God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, causing him to rethink. After the fish vomited Jonah onto shore he preached to the city of Nineveh.
They repented and God had compassion on them and Jonah pouted about it.
The prophet Amos was a shepherd when God called him to prophesy.
| I, Israel, take thee God, to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honor and 'til death do us part. |
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The prophet Hosea had an unfaithful wife that was used to illustrate Israel's unfaithfulness to God.
The prophet Isaiah gave a lot of detail about the coming Savior, prophesying about his unique birth, sinless life, sin-bearing death and even his resurrection from the dead.
The prophet Micah wrote that the Savior would come out of Bethlehem.
Although there were some bright spots in Israel's history during this period, the overall spiritual life of the nation declined until God had them swept away into exile by the Assyrian army in the year 722 B.C.
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| Israel |
And then, about 150 years after Jonah preached to the city of Nineveh, God sent the prophet Nahum to preach once again to this capital city of the Assyrians. They had renewed their wickedness but this time without repentance.
The prophets Zephaniah and Joel wrote during this time and the prophet Jeremiah warned Judah to learn a lesson from Israel's exile and repent.
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| Israel | Judah |
He prophesied that the same fate would befall her but also foretold Judah's restoration after 70 years in exile.
| 70 Year Exile | |
|---|---|---|
| Judah | Judah |
The prophet Habakkuk complained to God that Judah wasn't being punished for her sin. God told Habakkuk that He was preparing the Babylonians for just that purpose. Then Habakkuk complained that Babylon was even more sinful than Judah. God reassures him that Babylon's turn at tasting God's wrath was coming.
The prophet Daniel and 3 other young men were taken captive during the first wave of Babylon's deportment of Judah which encompassed only Judah's royal family and nobility. They were selected to serve the Babylonian king. God gave Daniel the ability not only to understand the dreams of the Babylonian King but to know what the dream was in the first place. He protected Daniel and his 3 compatriots from plots against their lives by jealous officials over whom they had been promoted for their exceptional abilities and service.
There were several changes in world leadership during Daniel's lifetime but each time, Daniel and his friends rose to the top.
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God was taking good care of Judah during this time by keeping Daniel and his friends in such high positions of influence and authority. As for the dreams that Daniel interpreted and his own visions, much of the future history of the world powers were revealed through them. Some of this history is still future today.
The prophet Ezekiel had some awesome visions regarding the glory of God and the future of the Jewish nation and no, he didn't inhale.
Like Israel before her, the nation of Judah experienced some bright times, most notably under young King Josiah, but like her sister nation before her, she declined morally until God had her swept away into exile by the Babylonian army in the year 586 B.C.
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| Judah |
The temple was destroyed. The prophet Jeremiah wrote a very sad song to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem, the book of Lamentations, aptly named. It is almost depressing enough to be a hit Country / Western song.
Hot Country Singles and Tracks
- Lamentations, Jeremiah
- How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?, Dana Harver
- I Keep Forgettin' I Forgot About You, Jerry Jenson
- I'm Just A Bug On The Windshield Of Life, Reta MacEntire
- If You Don't Leave Me Alone, I'll Go And Find Someone Else Who Will, Patsy Lovely
- My Every Day Silver Is Plastic, Trina Adkins
- If The Phone Don't Ring, Baby, You'll Know It's Me, Silver Rio
- Velcro Arms, Teflon Heart, Claymor Talker
- When You Leave Walk Out Backwards, So I'll Think You're Walking In, Tracy Tridt
- You Done Tore Out My Heart And Stomped That Sucker Flat, Ann Times
The book of Second Chronicles extends its historical account through the captivity of Judah until permission was given by King Cyrus for Judah to return and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. The book of Ezra continues where Second Kings and Second Chronicles left off. The nation of Persia came into power over Babylon where Judah had been exiled.
Persian King Cyrus gave the proclamation that the temple was to be rebuilt in Jerusalem.
| Hear ye! Hear ye! |
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The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you--may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem. |
| - King Cyrus |
After the 70 year exile, God spoke through the prophet Haggai telling the remnant of Judah who had returned to continue work rebuilding the temple of God. The prophet Zechariah likewise encouraged the people to continue the work. He received visions relating to the coming Savior and prophesied of a second coming of this Savior when Israel will look on the one they pierced and weep.
Zerubbabel led one group of exiles back but rebuilding was delayed by politics until later when Ezra led another group to restart the work. Then the temple was rebuilt.
The book of Nehemiah recounts the return to Jerusalem of Nehemiah and his work in rebuilding the protective walls around the city.
The book of Esther is the account of how an Israelite woman became a Queen of Persia through a beauty contest and used her position to save her people from massacre.
God spoke one last time during this era through the prophet Malachi.
Don't say I didn't warn you! |
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Judah's affection for God had grown cold and Malachi called for them to renew their love. He also prophesied about one who would prepare the way before the Savior would come.
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