Day 182 & 183—We are NOW in the seventh month of Bible reading and HALF WAY through the year!  Hopefully, we have established a good habit that will continue to December 31st and beyond!

(Note: SUNDAY’s and MONDAY’s readings are combined.)

    Day 182 – Obadiah, Psalm 82 – 83. (Judgment on the enemies of God and Judah)

Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament. The prophet speaks against Edom (the people of Esau, twin brother of Jacob) for attacking what is basically their family.

Jehoshaphat successfully defeated one attack when God told him to go to battle against Edom with singers!!  Edom rebelled under Jehoram’s reign but was conquered again in Amaziah’s reign.

Their part in Judah’s exile to Babylon was most grievous. The Edomites caught any runaways and gave them to their captors.  Obadiah prophesies against the nation.

“Will I not on that day, declares the LORD, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau? And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.  Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.”

And in the future kingdom age, “The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble, they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the LORD has spoken.”    

Both Psalms 82 and 83 speak about God’s judgment on behalf of the weak and needy and on those who oppress them. “They say, Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!  For they conspire with one accord; against You, they make a covenant – the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites…”   “Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, that they may know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.”

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    Day 183 – 2 Kings 1 – 4 (Northern kings, Elijah/Elisha)

Chapter 1. King Ahaziah, Ahab’s son, is now reigning in Israel, and he was evil in God’s sight like his father, Ahab.  One day, he fell through the lattice of his upper chamber and lay ill.  And, being raised in a house where 400 evil prophets were fed by his mother, he immediately sent someone to ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron (Philistines), whether he would recover or not. 

But Elijah met the messengers and asked in astonishment, “IS IT BECAUSE THERE IS NOT GOD IN ISRAEL THAT YOU INQUIRE OF BAAL-ZEBUB??? Tell the king he will not get well but DIE.”

King Ahaziah did not like this and asked about the man. Sure enough, he knew Elijah from all his mother and father’s tales and sent men to bring him back.  But the captain and 50 men received fire from heaven after they demanded Elijah to come to the king. Another set was sent with the same results. When the third captain arrived with his 50 men, he knelt before Elijah and humbly begged the prophet to go to the king.  Elijah did – with the same message – and soon after, Ahaziah died.  

And Ahaziah’s brother Jehoram reigned. (Ahaziah had no sons. This was another son of Ahab.) (Don’t be confused. Jehoram was the name of both the king of Israel and the king of Judah after Jehoshaphat died. Some Bible translations call this northern king “Joram.”)

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Chapter 2. Now that Elijah had finished the tasks God had given him, it was time for the LORD to “take him up to heaven by a whirlwind.” Elisha sensed this and refused to leave his mentor, desiring the “double portion” of the Spirit he was promised. Elijah tested his resolve three times, but Elisha stayed close by. 

At one point, Elijah crossed the Jordan River by rolling up his cloak and striking the water to make it part.  Soon, “chariots of fire and horses” separated them, and Elijah went up in a whirlwind. “My father!” Elisha cried twice and saw him no more. Then he picked up the cloak that fell from Elijah and returned to the Jordan River. When he struck it, the water parted for him.

The group of prophets who had been following him saw this happen and knew that the spirit of Elijah was now on Elisha. The men of a nearby city also learned this truth, for when they told Elisha that the water was bad, Elisha took a bowl of salt, threw it into the water, and healed it. 

On his way to Bethel next, some little boys of the city mocked him. As a prophet, Elisha should have been a Nazarite and not have cut his hair. But it seems that Elisha was bald. (Hair loss, not a razor). “Hey, bald head!” the jeered.  Elisha turned around and cursed them (for mocking a prophet, not just him).  And a couple of mama bears came out of the woods and ate those 42 rude boys. WOW!!

Elisha then visited Mt. Carmel – perhaps to see the site of the great contest between his mentor’s God and the priests of Baal.  Then he went down to Samaria, where the kings of Israel lived.

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Chapter 3. Moab had been paying tribute to Israel after their last big defeat. But after King Ahab died, he rebelled. King Jehoram with his army went to King Jehoshaphat and said fight Moab with me. They also went to Edom and got that king to join them around the bottom of the dead sea. By the time they got to Moab, they were dying of thirst.

How to solve this problem: Ask a prophet. A servant of Jehoram suggested Elisha, so the three kings went to him. However, Elisha was not willing to help them until he saw the godly King Jehoshaphat with them.

After a musician played, the spirit of the LORD came on Elisha and he told them that the LORD would make streams and pools of fresh water for them and their livestock. He would also help them beat Moab and take all their cities. The next morning, water came up from the south (how weird!) and filled every the country.

The Moabites heard this, suited up for war, youngest to oldest, and went out at dawn. The morning sun shining on the massive lake of water looked like blood to them, and they thought the three kings had massacred each other, so they charged. But, when they came to the camp, Israel struck them till they fled.

They chased them, taking cities as they went. When King Mesha saw this, he took his crown prince and sacrificed him as a burnt offering on the wall for luck. He then took 700 of his best soldiers and charged.

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Chapter 4 describes a few more instances of God using Elisha. The first concerns the widow of one of the prophets who was being hounded by creditors. A loan shark was coming to take her two children; she only had a single jar of oil. Elisha told her to borrow as many jars and vessels as she could. Then she was to close the door and began filling all of them from her one jar. She did, and the oil never ran out until ALL the borrowed vessels were full. She used that oil to pay her debts and to live on the rest.

The second instance was when Elisha visited a wealthy woman of Shunem. She fed him, and her husband prepared a spare room for him to stay when he passed. He was so pleased that he asked her what he could pray about her. She desired a son. Elisha prophesied she would have a son the following year. One day, many years afterward, word came to Elisha that the woman’s son was dead. She hurried to him and begged him to return to her house. He did and prayed for the young man. He returned to life!

The third instance was when Elisha stayed with some prophets during a famine. Some poison herbs were accidentally cooked into the stew, and they got sick. “There’s death in that pot!” they cried. But when Elisha threw a little flour into the pot, it became harmless.

Lastly, a man came and donated twenty small loaves of barley bread and some grain to the prophets. But they asked how this little could feed 100 men. Elisha, foreshadowing an incident with Jesus, said to give it to them to eat and there would be some left. He did; they ate, and there were leftovers, according to the word of the Lord.