Second Kings 15:23-26 describe yet another king that rose to the throne during the long 52 years reign of King Uzziah. He was none other than Pekahiah, the son of Menahem. He ascended the throne of Israel in the 50th year of Uzziah’s reign and ruled over Israel for two years. His reign was only about one-fifth of his father’s, who ruled for ten years and then died of a natural cause.
In
verse 24, we again see the sad refrain that says, “He did evil in the sight of
the LORD; he did not depart
from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin.” Here is yet
another king who was no different from all the rest of the kings of Israel. No
spiritual reform. No return to the way of the Lord.
Verse
25 reveals how he died. His officer, a guy by the name of Pekah conspired
against him. Together with Argob and Arieh and a gang of 50 men of the
Gileadites, Pekah struck and killed the Pekahiah and became king in his place.
Sadly nothing good could be said of Pekahiah except three sad facts. Firstly,
he had a short two-year reign. Secondly, he was evil like his father in the
sight of God for he perpetrated the continual worship of the golden calves
introduced by Jeroboam I. And thirdly, he was
murdered. Verse 26 tells us that the rest of his deeds were written
in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
Perhaps
the only lesson we can learn from Pekahiah is the meaning of his name. It means
Yahweh the one who opens eyes or the One who enables one to see. It is sad to
be reminded that it is the LORD who enables one to
see and yet remained so spiritually blind. It is good to know that God will
enable us to see the truth but more importantly, to want to act on obediently
on what he has revealed. May our prayer always be that He will not only open
our eyes and enable us to see but that He will also enable our hearts to be willing to obey Him. That He will enable us to live a life pleasing to Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment