2 Kings 18-Isaiah 17: The wars out there and the war in us

According to a New York Times book review article dated July 6, 2003 titled What Every Person Should Know About War - "What is a war? War is defined as an active conflict that has claimed more than 1,000 lives. Has the world ever been at peace? Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history." That means 92% of the time, we human beings have been at war with each other, one way or another!

In this week's reading of 2 Kings 18 to Isaiah 17, we have the closing of chapters of Kings followed by the opening chapters of Isaiah - both marked with episodes of war presently and prophetically. In reading through these chapters, the cry of my heart is, "When will all this end?", "When will we ever have lasting peace?" The latter half of Isaiah offers leading clues.

Connecting the dots
In the original Jewish ordering of Old Testament books, Kings is categorized under "Former Prophets" together with Joshua, Judges, and Samuel while Chronicles is the last book of the Old Testament. Hence, in the Jewish reading of Scripture Kings has a prophetic theme in its rendition while Chronicles is more of a historical summation (focusing only on the southern kings, with an emphasis on religious history rather than political history). That is why in the Read Scripture bible reading program, we proceed to Isaiah after Kings as we go through the writings concerning the prophets before the exile. 

With last week's reading focusing on the downfall of the northern kingdom of Israel, we have in 2 Kings 18 to 25, the eventual destruction of the southern kingdom, Judah. The key prophetic emphasis is in 2 Kings 24:3-4, "Surely at the command of the Lord it came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the Lord would not forgive." Despite the presence of two good kings, Hezekiah and Josiah, their reign and repentance would forestall the judgement on Judah but not eliminate it (2 Kings 22:18-20). 2 Kings 23:26-27 indicates the same conclusion, that God's wrath was now set against Judah. 

Moving on to Isaiah - he was a prophet who lived during the last years of Israel and during the reigns of four kings of Judah: Uzziah (Azariah), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He was also a contemporary of Amos, Hosea, and Micah. It is interesting that as you go through Isaiah, there is a traditional two-fold division of the book: Chapters 1-39 and 40-66. The first 39 chapters mirror the themes in the 39 books of the Old Testament, while the next 27 chapters reflect the themes of the New Testament. Part 1 deals primarily with themes of rebelliousness and judgment while Part 2 brings about comfort and salvation especially how Israel's future is contingent on the ministry of the faithful servant of the Lord (Isaiah 49-55). Instead of focusing on the future of the Davidic dynasty (Isaiah 1-39), Isaiah turns his attention to the future of Zion (Isaiah 40-66). 

Activity idea
Can there be peace without war? James 4:1-3, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."

It appears that the pursuit of individual pleasure minus godly motives will eventually lead to conflicts resulting in wars. How is the level of peace in your heart today? Perhaps it could be an indication of the intensity of your life pursuits and priorities. Jesus said, "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matt 6:21). How does the treasure box of your life look like today? It could indicate either the source of war or peace in your heart.

Christ in Scripture
Luke 6:16-19 - "And He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."

Note that Jesus did not read the following line in Isaiah 61:2, "and the day of vengeance of our God." Jesus Christ in his first advent, comes bringing God's favor - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." (Lk 2:14). The war that is raging in the world today is primarily a war that has been raging in the hearts of men because of the wretchedness of sin. "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom 7:24-25). For while were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly...having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." (Rom 5:6,9). Lasting peace is only possible when we submit to reign of the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6).

We welcome your comments, feedback and questions - please post them in the comments below.





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