Monday, April 18, 2011

Day 109 2 Kings 1-3


            Ahaziah injured himself and sent some men to inquire of Baal whether he would live.  Elijah intercepted them though and sent back word basically that, because Ahazian had snubbed the God of Israel and not even bothered to ask him,  he would die.  Then he died.

            Elijah is finally ready to die himself.  He asked God to let him die earlier when Ahab and Jezebel were hunting him down, but now he’s done everything he needs to so I guess he’s done.  He’s carried directly to heaven in a tornado without having to actually experience death, but only after his apprentice Elisha asks for a double helping of Elijah’s faith.  This is a big request, but it seems to work out okay.  After Elijah leaves, Elisha heals a well that was poisoning the area and then summons some bears to eat a bunch of kids who were making fun of him so he’s clearly got no shortage of magic powers.

            King Joram of Israel and King Joshaphat  of Judah team up and attack the king of Moab after he refuses to pay a big tribute to Joram.  The Moabite king feels safe ignoring Israel on account of Ahab no longer being around to enforce their agreement.  They ask Elisha about how the battle’s going to go and he kind of leads them on, asking are they sure they don’t want to ask some other prophets?  When they insist on hearing what Elisha has to say, they win the battle easily.
            The theme I see here is that, yes, even foreign prophets may be able to predict what’s going to happen once in a while, I mean, honestly, I can predict what’s going to happen once in a while if I know enough about what’s going on, but when God gets involved, He can actually change what’s going to happen.  Knowing the future is great and all, but it’s not quite as powerful as controlling the future.

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