sermon: The Nature of God: Elohim

The God Family
John W. Ritenbaugh
Given 03-Jun-95; Tape #185; 76 minutes






For almost sixty years the church of God has sailed along with very little controversy about the nature of God. There were always times during that sixty-year period that the world took potshots at us because of our stand on the nature of God, that God is not a trinity, but there was never any serious problem from within. Then about mid-1993 came the "God Is ..." doctrinal papers in which over a period of about a year the Worlwide Church of God changed its doctrinal position in regard to the nature of God from being a family to a Trinity.

I do not know how much you are aware of what a bombshell this was, but it created a bombshell out in the world at least, and was the single step that was most significant in turning the world's attitude from being antagonistic toward the Worldwide Church of God to one that was looking forward to making the Worldwide as part of them.

Now no less authority than the Catholic Encyclopedia calls the Trinity the central doctrine of the Christian Church. What they are saying is that the Trinity doctrine is the doctrine around which all other doctrines revolve, and it is the concept to which all others owe their existence. They say all other doctrines hang on, lead to, and exist to support this one doctrine.

For the past two years I have been gathering papers from church of God sources in order to distill from them truth on this very important subject. There is no way that I can give you an extremely detailed account in two sermons on this weekend, but this weekend is going to be devoted to this subject. I have gathered papers from the Worldwide Church of God both before and after the change, from the Christian Biblical Church, from individuals such as Keith Hunt, Ernest Martin, and also from the Philadelphia Church of God, the Church of God International, the Church of God Seventh Day, and from quite a number of groups as well, many of them quite small.

These sermons are going to be more like two Bible studies rather than sermons. Like I said, there is no way I can cover everything in detail, so what I have decided to do is to concentrate on two very closely related areas of this subject that I think are essential for us to understand, and are essential to understanding the doctrine.

In Part Two I am going to be quoting at the beginning fairly extensively from a couple of papers that come from the world, but in this sermon almost the entirety of this (95%) is going to be taken from the Bible. We will not be delving into the esoteric writings of some of the world's scholars. I want us to see very clearly what the Bible has to say on this subject. Today we are going to focus on Elohim, because it is central to the Trinity issue. This is not going to be a technical expounding of words.

Since I have been somehow or other put into this position, more and more I am beginning to appreciate Mr. Herbert Armstrong's scorn for biblical scholars, not that he was against scholarship at all, but he meant the scholars of this world who tangle people around on studies of words. The apostle Paul warned Timothy two different times—once in I Timothy and once in II Timothy—not to allow himself, as a minister, to get bound up in arguments about words. He said that they are not profitable to godliness, and he called them to be nothing more than vain jangling.

Understanding Elohim teaches us a great deal about the nature of the Godhead, and this is essential to the direction of our lives. We must be well-grounded if indeed this is the foundational doctrine of the Church of God. Let us turn to Exodus 32.

Exodus 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said to him, Up, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.

Exodus 32:4 And he [Aaron] received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Exodus 32:7-10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get you down; for your people which you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be your gods, O Israel, which have brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of you a great nation.

God was not faking His anger. To say He was mad is, I think, to underestimate the intensity of His anger. I think He meant exactly what He said. God does not mislead people and fake something. He was upset by what these people had done. This occurred pretty early in their journey, and it is important because it shows the concept of the nature of God that the Israelites brought with them out of Egypt. To them, God's nature—His very being—was conceived to be something no greater than an uncomprehending, non-communicating beast that had nothing in common with them, except that it was a mammal, and that it was alive.

Now what or who a nation worships is very important to the quality of life within that nation. It is going to pretty much determine the nation's morality, its kind of government, and the way that government is operated, its educational system, and its economics. It will determine much of its entertainment, music, literature, architecture, art, clothing fashion, and its vision of the future.

In our western cultures we tend to look upon God in a very narrow way. I am telling you right up front here that this way is different from the Bible's approach on this perhaps the most important of all subjects. I say most important, because what an individual worships is going to pretty much determine what he is going to do with his life, how it is going to be lived, and what is going to be big and important to him.

To understand what I mean, we are going to look right at this example. I will give you an illustration of what I am talking about, because as soon as they once again gave their mind over to the Egyptian bull-god, called in history "Apis," look what they did with their lives.

Exodus 32:6a And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings.

What happened to the God that brought them out of Egypt? Burnt offerings and peace offerings are symbols of worship. They started worshipping it. They started giving it honor, reverence, and respect.

Exodus 32:6b And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

That is not put in there with a clean connotation to it. "They sat down to eat." This indicates gluttony. "They sat down to drink." This indicates over-imbibing and drunkenness. "And they rose up to play." This indicates fornication, sexual things that are beyond the pale of marriage.

Exodus 32:25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked: (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies.)

Here the word "naked" does not mean that they were without clothing, but rather that their spiritual condition had been exposed. It is very similar to "naked" as it is used in Revelation 3 in reference to a Laodicean. "They're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." They did not have the righteousness of God clothing them.

Do you see what they did? They gave their mind to a different god, and immediately things began to take place in their life. That is the principle that is involved here. You do that on a nationwide scale, and it is going to determine the direction, the morality, the government, the art, the literature, the education, the economics of the entire nation.

You already know about the record of the Israelites throughout the journey. There was a constant repetition of murmuring, of fornication, and a political and religious rebellion. That was the way of the bull-god, and that was what was driving them.

I am not kidding when I say to you that all one has to do is look at a person and see their style of clothing, and you are pretty well on your way to understanding what might be important in that person's life. The reason is that there is a very powerful drive within us to conform to what we respect. Why do you think all the little groupies, let us say, of rock stars, try to imitate and be like the one that they respect? "Birds of a feather flock together."

There are people who are always concerned about having the latest fashions in terms of dress. They always have to have the latest things. Those people have a problem with lust and with the respecting of a vanity. Where does the god tend to lie? Do you understand what I am driving at?

God is very concerned about the image that His children project, and this is called in the Bible "our witness." If we really are worshipping Him, we will be strongly motivated to be like Him, because we love Him, because we respect Him, and we want to, just like the rock star groupies, imitate, to live like, to dress like, to entertain like, to speak like, to act like, to do everything in the image of this one that we admire and respect. In this case that is exactly what our God wants. This is why He wants us to study His word so deeply and so often. He wants us to get as much an impression in our mind of what He is like as we possibly can, because it is going to profoundly affect what we do with our life; if we believe Him, that is.

Now here is a question that you can answer yourself. Are you a monotheist or a polytheist? Do you worship many gods, or do you worship one God? This is important in regard to Elohim.

Let us go to I Corinthians 8:5. Maybe you have never thought of this verse in respect of this particular subject. Notice the admission.

I Corinthians 8:5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many.)

An interesting thought, and from an apostle yet. I do not think that we would call Paul a liar. He said, "There are gods many, and lords many." In verse 6 he says, "But to us there is but one God." It looks to me like Paul is saying that God has some competition, that He is not alone among the gods.

Let us go back to the Old Testament toPsalm 86.

Psalm 86:8 Among the gods there is none like unto you, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto your works.

Now it begins to look like the Lord, the God of creation, is one God among many gods.

Psalm 135:5 For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.

You begin looking this up, and you are going to find this appears all over the Bible.

Psalm 97:9 For you, LORD, are high above all the earth: you are exalted far above all gods.

Just so you do not think that this is something that is confined to the Psalms, let us turn to Deuteronomy 10.

Deuteronomy 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regards not persons, nor takes reward.

This is a concept that is shown throughout the Bible because it is true. There is a plurality within Elohim, and Elohim is consistently described as "the Lord of hosts." "Hosts" means armies. A little bit broader and clearer definition is, "He is Lord of many things."

We also caution throughout the Bible not to let any of these lesser gods take the place of Elohim, who is revealed to us in the very first chapter of His book. The reason our culture has such a narrow view of this is because a false Christianity has dominated its religious thinking, and that false Christianity, for the past 1600 years, has taught a false god who is non-biblical and inexplicable "three-in-one" Trinity. The reason that it is inexplicable is because they are trying to make the explanation fit into biblical context, and it does not fit, and so the final outcome is that it is a mystery that one has to accept on faith.

The following is a quote from A Handbook of Christian Truth by Harold Lindsell and Charles Woodbridge, Pages 51 and 52.

The mind of man cannot fully understand the mystery of the Trinity. He who has tried to understand the mystery fully will lose his mind; but he who would deny the Trinity will lose his soul.

Now wait a minute here! Did not Jesus say in both Mark 4 and Matthew 13 that it was given to the apostles to understand the mysteries of God? I am going to read to you exactly what He said to them in Matthew 13:11.

Matthew 13:11, 16 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given....But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Did not the apostle Paul write in I Corinthians 2 that we were given the spirit of God in order that we might understand the things of God, and yet these people try to tell us that the Trinity is a mystery, that we will go crazy trying to understand? No. You see, their concept of the Godhead is what is not able to be fit into the Scriptures, and so they have to go into the convoluted argument in order to try to convince others who are looking to the Bible that their explanation is correct, and yet they themselves admit that nobody will ever understand the Trinity. What they are trying to palm off on us is not truth at all. It is an error, and it is beyond them, because they do not have the spirit of God, and because they do not believe what the Bible says.

But really, the nature of God is not hard to understand at all. He gives His children the ability to understand it. If I can say it, it is so simple. You see, the world has a pattern of taking simple biblical truth and making it into a complicated and confusing false teaching. That is why Paul said do not get involved in these arguments over words.

That same Catholic Encyclopedia that I referred to before, very early in their discussion of the Trinity, admitted that the Old Testament has no teaching on the Trinity at all, (I have to hand it to them for being honest) and that the New Testament had no clear statement affirming it. They admitted that the doctrine of the Trinity is developed by what they called "Christological speculation."

Speculation means we are guessing. When you speculate that something is going to happen, you are guessing. You may have a basis in fact in that, but you are still guessing. Now we will give them the benefit of the doubt and say that this central doctrine of the Christian church has been arrived at by deduction. We will change the word "speculation" into "deduction," but it is plain and simple human reason, and not clear scriptures in God's Word.

I will tell you something. It did not come easy into the church. It came in through very much disputing. It was first introduced at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. This is that famous Council that was presided over by the Roman Emperor Constantine, but it did not become firmly entrenched within the church until the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. I am not talking here about the true church. I am talking about the false church.

I want you to compare that just briefly with the Council that was held in Acts 15, where appears to have taken God only a couple of days to get a true teaching into the true church, as compared to 125 years for the false church to pick up a false teaching. You can see how confusing it was to them. It was not until, I guess, a majority of the people were finally argued into believing it that they were able to force it into the doctrines of that false church.

It is very important for the worshipper—the one who is seeking God—to identify God as accurately as possible. When we look to the Bible to identify God, to find out much about what God is like, we are confronted with a difficulty. It is a language difficulty, and it is a cultural difficulty. The cultural difficulty I mentioned before—how that for all these centuries the western world has been under the domination of a false church teaching a false concept of God.

This has a way of picking up steam until it becomes like a tidal wave, and it is just something that is accepted, and you grow up with it from your earliest years of getting teaching on the nature of God. It had basically been on a trinitarian God, so the cultural difficulty is there.

The language difficulty is something that exists not just with those who speak the English language, but also for people who speak other languages than Hebrew as well. This has inadvertently played a part in the Trinity doctrine becoming a part of the fabric of this world's Christianity.

The English language translation consistently teaches us to identify God as a singular personality. It does this by referring to Elohim as "He" or "Him," or in the case of the Holy Spirit as a "He" or a "Him." We are monotheist, are we not, and so a monotheist would look to the Godhead and look for one personality, Supreme and unique, someone singularly different from everyone else. We would look for someone who would look like us, because right in the first chapter of His book He tells us that we are made in His image, and so we look for someone who is singular and unique. Nobody compares to Him in holiness or in power or intelligence.

Turn now to Genesis 1, and we will begin to get a handle on Elohim.

Genesis 1:1, 26 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth....And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

If we are studying with any depth at all, even before we leave the first verse we are confronted with a problem of some difficulty unless one is willing to believe what the Bible consistently shows from the beginning to the end. The fourth word in the Bible, in English translation, is "God." Do you believe that? No, it is not. That forth word is Elohim. Elohim is Gods—plural. "In the beginning Gods created the heaven and the earth." That is confirmed, for an English-speaking person, in verse 26, where the translators finally used plural pronouns to conform to the plural noun antecedent, Elohim.

Perhaps they were forced to do that, because they recognized that Elohim—God—was speaking to somebody, and He was speaking to someone who was just like Him—"Us"! They were forced into using a plural pronoun. "Let Us make man in our image." In fact Elohim is used 66 times in a row at the beginning of the Bible before any other Hebrew word is translated into the English "God." That occurs in Genesis 6:5 when finally another word is used for God.

If you were reading that in the Hebrew, I think that you would have to be impressed that the author of this book was trying to get something across to the reader that "Gods" (plural) did everything; not a singular individual, but at least two. Are you getting my drift? In fact, brethren, Elohim is used in the Old Testament 2,570 times, every one plural—"Gods."

Whoever, or whatever, this God is, or I think it would be better still to say "Godhead," consists of more than one being, or more than one person, or we might say, more than one personality.

When Jesus preached, He clearly identified one in the Godhead as being Father. Let us go back to the New Testament to the book of Matthew. Toward the end of the first chapter in the Sermon on the Mount He makes this statement about loving your enemies. The reason that we are to do this is:

Matthew 5:45 That you may be the children of your Father.

Now hang onto this term "your Father," because it is going to mean something in just a bit. Now to whom is He speaking? He is speaking to His disciples, and we are His disciples today.

Matthew 5:48 Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Matthew 6:1 Take heed that you do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

Now who is in heaven? God is.

Matthew 6:4 That your alms may be in secret: and your Father which sees in secret himself shall reward you openly.

Matthew 6:6 Pray to your Father [Do you pray to God? Sure.] which is in secret: and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.

Matthew 6:9 After this manner therefore pray you: Our Father which art in heaven, . . .

Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

With that thought in mind, turn to John 5:17. The discussion here is in regard to Jesus' use of the Sabbath.

John 5:17-18 But Jesus answered them, My Father, [now instead of being your father, it is My Father] works hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because [according to them] He not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

You do not have to go any further than that and two of the Godhead are identified. And now they have titles: the Father, and the Son. They understood what He was driving at, because He was saying in a fact, "I am God," and He was placing Himself within Elohim. They understood it. They knew, and they were ready to jump on Him for blasphemy. Now Jesus came right back with an answer:

John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do.

That's pretty clear. Where would He see the Father do it? He would have had to have been with the Father.

John 5:20-23 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that Himself does. For as the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them: even so the Son quickens whom He will. [Now He is asserting Himself as having the powers that go with the Godhead: to raise the dead.] For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honor the Son, [in the same manner, with the same reverence, with the same respect] even as they honour the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father which has sent Him.

That is pretty clear. He is clearly asserting, affirming to those people that He is one of the Godhead. One is called the Father. The other is called the Son. Now the plural "Elohim" is beginning to become much easier to understand.

John 14:6-13 Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by Me. If you had known Me, you should have known My Father also and from henceforth you know Him, and have seen Him. Philip said unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father: and how say you then, Show us the Father? Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in Me, he does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto My Father. And whatsoever you shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Now I am going to show you something else that is in some ways rather shocking. Turn to Romans 8 and we will read a series of verses here.

Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.

We are talking about human beings in whom the Spirit of God dwells.

Romans 8:11, 14 But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal body by His Spirit that dwells in you....For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Are you with me? Are you beginning to follow the drift? If Jesus, as a human being, having the Spirit of God without measure, was still considered to be part of the Godhead, (and that's very clear), now what if God begins to give His Spirit to others, and they become the sons of God? Let us chase this out a little bit. Turn to I John 3. This is another very familiar scripture. You ought to be able to see what I am heading for here.

I John 3:1-2 Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him: for we shall see him as he is.

Let us put a cap on this principle. Go to Ephesians 3:14.

Ephesians 3:14-15 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.

Now we see that the family of God is located both in heaven and on earth. In heaven we know that there are two who are spirit who are part of the Godhead. This flies right in the face of monotheism. But even more startling brethren, is that God considers you and me right now to be part of the Godhead already!

Mr. Armstrong used to say that we are the Kingdom of God in embryo. Does that begin to make some sense? Now we have two who are spirit, but if you are with me, you can begin to see what is occurring from the beginning of the Book right till now. He said, "Let us create man in our image," and what we see from the beginning of the Bible all the way to the end is that Elohim is expanding! God is increasing what Elohim is. God is increasing the number who are in the Godhead. That is not hard to understand. We are already children of Elohim. We are in His family.

To us monotheism indicates that one is worshipping one distinct and unique almighty personality, and if anyone claims anything more than that, that person is considered to be a polytheist—worshipping many gods. This is very hard for us to accept here in this western world, and I think that the resistance to accepting what the Bible clearly reveals about the Godhead has in large measure led to the introduction of the "Trinity" because people just cannot accept the simple truth that is in the Bible—that God is expanding. He is increasing His number. We are going to be a part of that Godhead.

So powerful has the belief in the Trinity become that it is the litmus test for whether or not a person is considered to be Orthodox. I do not know how many of you have heard any of those broadcasts by The Watchmen Foundation, or have read any of their material. That is at the head of their list as to what they consider to be a cult. If a group does not believe in the Trinity, they consider them to be a cult.

It is also true that there were ancient pagan trinities, and that those things were undoubtedly drawn upon by those who forced this doctrine upon the church. However, these people still had to deal with the Bible, and so ways had to be devised to make this pagan doctrine appear to agree with it.

What they have done with the Trinity is that the Holy Spirit has been elevated to divine status as a personality, just like the Father and the Son. In fact "co-equal" is what they say—"co-equal and eternal with them"—and yet at the same time they make the "three" also to be "one." The result is this incomprehensible mixture—"a mystery"—that a true child of God—one who believes the Bible—cannot accept.

We are going to read the scripture, that along with Judaism, forced these people to do this. Let us go back to Deuteronomy 6:4.

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.

The word "God" there is "Elohim." It says, "The LORD our Elohim is one LORD." What we have here is a phrase that is not normally grammatically correct—a plural noun (Elohim) with a singular verb, "is." Elohim is the plural of both "El" and "Eloah." El and Eloah mean "mighty one." It means "strong one" or "powerful one" according to Brown, Driver, and Briggs. Now Elohim, being those two words plural, therefore means "strong ones" (plural);" "mighty ones" or "powerful ones."

Just from the definition of the word, it means then that Elohim consists of at least two powerful beings. But as we are beginning to see, Elohim is not limited to two. It can actually signify an unlimited number, and so what it means then is a group or assembly of powerful beings.

It may sound jarring to your ears to say "Gods is," where you have the plural noun and a singular verb, but I am going to give you several words in the English language, some of which you may use everyday of your life. You may use at least one of these words several times a day. If you are paying any attention to world news, if you are paying any attention at all to things that are happening in America, and you use this, it does not sound grammatically difficult or unusual to you at all. You have just grown accustomed to it.

Do you know what that word is? It is the "United States of America." States is plural. Now use United States in a sentence. "The United States are going to do this." You do not say that! You say, "The United States is." Singular. You are using a singular verb with a plural noun. You say, "The United Nations is going to do this or that." That is exactly what Elohim is. It is plurality in one, and because the sense is singular, it calls for a singular verb; but everybody using it knows that it is plural, and represents many in unity. Is that not simple? But you see, our culture forces us to look for a singular being, and Elohim is not singular.

In the New Testament it becomes very clear that Elohim is a kingdom, consisting of many, many, many! Did I not tell you this is so simple? But let me tell you this. Elohim never acts in anything but in a singular way. That is how in agreement Elohim is. There is never any divisiveness.

The analogy kind of breaks down, because the United States is fifty states going in the opposite direction it seems, and we have a hard time doing anything in a singular way. We think of the United States as a singular institution consisting of over 260 million people. There are multitudes of towns, cities, counties, 50 states, each with its own government. There is a Federal government over them with its three branches. There is an infra-structure within it in order to support life. There is an army to act as defender, and an economy to produce income, and so forth and so on, and yet we always speak of it in the singular.

We have no problem at all saying or hearing that "The United States is bordered on the north by Canada," or "The United States is bordered on the south by the Caribbean and by Mexico," or that "The United States is in the northern hemisphere," or "The United States is in the western hemisphere," or "The United States delivered a sharp memo to the Japanese today." We always speak of the United States in the singular. We speak of it as an institution rather than a singular individual.

When Moses wrote what he did, it was no more discordant to a Hebrew-speaking person, no more grammatically wrong than it is for us to say, "The United States is." Elohim, "the powerful One," is a family of at least two divine beings, and besides that we are beginning to see many sons and daughters being prepared to be born, and the family, whether human or divine, is both joined in one. It is an institution created by the institution itself—Elohim.

The Bible gives us a very clear revelation that a nation is nothing more than a family grown great. That is why we have the table of nations there in Genesis showing the forebears. They began with one man and one woman, and they grew great; and so it is that Elohim is one institution—the family—growing ever larger and more complex until it becomes a nation—the Kingdom of God. We see then that this is what Elohim is developing.

Let us begin to expand out from this. Jesus very clearly established that there is government within Elohim.

John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify You Me with Your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

The first thing that Christ does in this prayer is establish that He was with the Father. In this case the word "with" means "beside" or "along side of." This is in agreement with John 1:1 where it says, "In the beginning was the word [Christ], and the word was with [alongside of] God, and the word was God."

So the first thing that He does in this prayer is establish that He was with the Father. Let's begin to watch how this expands out.

John 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these [His disciples] are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father, keep through Your own name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as We are.

Remember, "The Lord our God, Elohim, is one Lord." In verse 5 He established that there was a time when He was along side the Father, but now He says that He is with, He is alongside of His disciples—His apostles. He is not alongside of the Father, and in this context He asks the Father "that they [the apostles] may be one as we are." What kind of oneness is this if it is not being "alongside of"? We will see.

John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word.

We are reading right now their word; that is, the word that the apostles wrote. And so Jesus' prayer is that those of us who now believe through the writings of the apostles, that we may be one with the Father and the Son, and that oneness may come through the reading of the word that the apostles have written.

John 17:21-23 That they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, [We are beginning to see this is not "alongside of," but "inside."] and I in you, that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

They most assuredly were not in the same location, alongside of, beside of, and so the request that Christ made has to be a oneness in unity, a oneness as a unit. The oneness that He is asking for consists of agreement. There ought to be a verse that may come to your mind in reference to this. It is not directly on this subject, but the principle applies to this subject. This is in Philippians 2:5 where it says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."—to be one in mind, one in heart, one in spirit.

Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.

Again, it is the principle that is involved here. The way we become one with Elohim is to learn of Christ until we have the knowledge of Christ. That is what Peter said there in II Peter 3:18, that we "grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ." It means "Christ's knowledge." It does not mean knowledge about Christ. It means "the knowledge of Christ.

The entire purpose of this is that we become in the image of Elohim, and the primary example is Jesus Christ, and the primary teachings are those of Christ.

Let us go now to John 11:52. We will continue to develop this thought here. This was actually a prophecy that was uttered by Caiaphas. He, of course, was used by God to utter this, but it is very interesting in light of this.

John 11:51-52 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. [Now why?] And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

Why did Christ die for our sins? It is for the same reason that we are talking about, that the children of God can be gathered in one. One what? One Family. One Kingdom. It begins with the one church; that we all have one spirit, that we are in one body that becomes the Kingdom of God that is "Elohim"—the Godhead.

Let us go back to that scripture in Ephesians 3, and we will complete Paul's thought where he mentioned the family of God, because that thought was a prayer. In order to really fully understand this, it actually has to be connected with the very end thought of chapter 2 where he is talking about the body of Christ.

Ephesians 2:20-22 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;In whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto an holy temple in the Lord; [It's one temple.] In whom you also are builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit.

Ephesians 3:1a, 14-19 For this cause, [for this very cause, that we are being built together] . . . I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

That is mind-boggling! That blows your mind! The whole purpose of everything that God is working out is that YOU, (Put your name in there!) might be filled with all the fullness of Elohim! BOOM! That blows your mind to think of that!

Is Elohim one? Yes! It is one institution. It is one family. It is one kingdom in which everybody agrees. It acts as one, and because it acts as one, even though it consists of many, it takes a singular verb. We have to change our thinking so that we understand that "Elohim" consists of more than one, even though individual members of Elohim acting in the name of our God, because they are part of the Godhead.

Jesus tried His hardest to help us to understand this by using family terminology: father, son, children, brothers, sisters. Brethren, is a family one, even though it has many members? Of course it is, and Elohim is that family.

Even in the Old Testament, brethren, there are two Jehovahs identified. Does that astound you? There is one verse that you are so familiar with. David said, "The Lord said to my Lord," clearly showing that there are two in Elohim. But that is not the only place it appears. In Daniel 7 you will find, "One like the son of man was brought before the Ancient of Days." There are other places as well where two Jehovahs—Yahwehs—are clearly shown.

I think most important of all for us right now is to get our minds straightened out to be in harmony with the Father and the Son. He tells us in this section right here that Christ may dwell—live, abide—in our heart. It means to settle down, as if in a house. Even there is a family inference, because that is where families live. They live in a house. He is telling us that we might be strong, to grasp, and to know by experience the vastness of Christ's love. This is something that cannot be adequately explained, and Paul never really attempted it. Of course, the purpose of all of Paul's request there is that we might be filled with the fullness of God.

Colossians 1:13-19 Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated [transferred] us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: [Now listen to this description in verse 16. We are going to be brought to this kind of fullness.] For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, [certainly showing that there are going to be more coming. And what was He born into? He was born into that which He left—the family—Elohim.] that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.

We are being brought to the fullness of God. I am not saying that as soon as we are born into the Kingdom of God that we are going to be like that, because I am sure we have a lot of growing to do afterward.

Colossians 2:8-9 Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

The enmity against God is so powerful that people would rather devise a scripturally non-supportable doctrine than accept what the Bible clearly reveals the Godhead is.

What we have seen today is that if one allows the Bible to interpret itself, it clearly shows that Elohim is an institution consisting of more than one person. We did not look at the Old Testament, but it, like the New Testament, also shows that Elohim consists of two divine beings. The New Testament adds that we are being drawn into that same institution to be one with those who are already there.

It is true that Elohim is also used in many places to indicate a singular divine being. This is because Elohim always acts as one. They are in perfect harmony, in perfect agreement. We did not examine that because of a lack of time, but it is so easy to determine I think that just about any son of God can figure that out.

We also did not examine whether the Holy Spirit is God, co-equal with the others, forming a triune Godhead. But the elements are already in place to show the fallacy of that. When one considers that almost everybody on earth is going to be part of the same Godhead that now consists of two, how could there only be three?

Hebrew questions

In Strong's concordance the words are mishmereth, mitsvah,
chuqqah,torah torah..noticed did not come out good in original
post..tony


Question

Below says mismarti,miswotay, huqqotay, wetorotay. strong says mishmereth, mitsvâh, chûqqâh,tôrâh tôrâh. What am I missing?Are there 2 different hebrew translations? Could not find much on the internet. Can someone shed some light for me..thanks.. tony


Most religious teachers say that God's commands given through Moses applied only to ancient Israel and are not for us today. But in drawing that conclusion, most of them overlook the full significance of what God said about Abraham's obedience in Genesis 26:5, hundreds of years before God spoke to Moses and Israel at Mt. Sinai: "Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws" (NIV).
The Hebrew words God uses here are especially important. As The Expositor's Bible Commentary explains regarding this verse: "The Lord then added a remarkable note: Abraham 'kept my requirements [mismarti], my commands [miswotay], my decrees [huqqotay] and my laws [wetorotay]' (v. 5).
"It is remarkable that this is precisely the way in which obedience to the Sinai Covenant is expressed in Deuteronomy 11:1: 'Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements [mismarto], his decrees [huqqotayw], his laws [mispatayw] and his commands [miswotayw]'





Tony ,

This is what you are looking at: Ekev asher shama Avraham bekoli, vayishmor mishmarti, mitzvotei, chukotei vetorotei.

Thats the whole sentence there as it is in hebrew. It means, All of this is because Avraham obeyed my voice(kol... is the root word inside bekoli..see it there?)kept my charges(such as killing animals in the kosher way etc.) kept my laws(mitvah. . mitzvotei means with my laws)my decrees(chuk. . the root of chukotei meaning MY decrees which are laws like the schechting of the para eduma..laws we might not readily get without contemplation) and my teaching(torah. . inside the word ve(and)torotei. .and my torahs.. this is plural. There is more than one torah.. written and spoken. The word tells us so . Torah means teachings)

Mishmeros or mishmerot means additions to the law.. this is the mishna and oral law. Mitzvah is the next word a mitzvah is a commandment

a chok or hok is also a law but it is a supernatural law that is not easily understood on the surface of it. See?

Mishmarti means my requirements and this refers also to oral law. For instance. Torah (torah meaning teaching) says that God said to Moses.."And you shall kill it as I have commanded you".

Well there is no where in all of Torah or Tanakh that you will find out how to shecht or kill an animal. It was told to Moses face to face. It is part of our history and oral traditions and law. You have to schecht and animal properly so as to kill painlessly , quickly and drain every bit of blood. So its not enough to eat beef and think its *clean* because if its not killed properly its not clean at all! So this is additional oral laws that are necessary in order to keep the written law.

So here: Torah means teaching. Mitzvah means commandment. Chuk or Hok is a law that has no readily discernable sense to it(Like our dietary laws , the law of shatznes or not combining linen and wool and other things like that)

The words you find will not make sense to you unless you remember the rules of Hebrew.

Hebrew is made up of shoreshim(roots) which are root words. They are rarely used in that way.

In hebrew you must add a prefix and/or a suffix to the word for it to make sense and have meaning.

I think this is why you are confused here.

Hope I helped some.

Ben Stein on CBS

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning
Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too... But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of events like ... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein

God's law statement

Imposter or False Prophet which article

When God's law is rejected or assumed to be "done away," there remains no standard for good and evil. Every person is left to decide for himself or herself what is right or wrong. But only God can define sin, and He does so through His law. Sin is the transgression of the law" (1John 3:4,King James).

1 Jn.2:4 "He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him".

Ezekiel 22:26

Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

Kings of Israel and Judah




Below is a list of the rulers of Israel and Judah. Israel became a divided kingdom in about 929 BC. The northern part continued to be called Israel. The southern part was called Judah. Kings Saul, David and Solomon ruled over Israel before it became a divided kingdom.

Kings of (undivided) Israel in order of reign:
• Saul
• David
• Solomon

Kings of Judah in order of reign:
• Rehoboam
Rehoboam, or Roboam, King of Judah
Rehoboam, son of Solomon and Naamah the Ammonitess, became the first ruler of the Southern Kingdom of Judah at age 41. Rehoboam refused to alleviate the burdens of taxation and forced labor, which Solomon had laid upon them, and the northern tribes seceded from the state, proclaiming Jeroboam as their king.

Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained under Rehoboam's rule. Rehoboam tried to force the northern tribes to acknowledge him as their king, but God sent the prophet Shemaiah to stop the war before it started. Rehoboam, at the height of his power, abandoned the lord.

As a result, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign. The Egyptians conquered Jerusalem and took away all of the treasures of the Temple and palace, including Solomon's gold shields, and Judah was forced to pay annual tribute to Shishak. But the economy of Judah remained strong even after the invasion.

There were constant battles between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, and after 17 years of reign Rehoboam died. He was buried in Jerusalem and his son, Abijah, became the new king. Rehoboam had 18 wives and 60 concubines, who together bore him 28 sons and 60 daughters.

His story is found in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. The name Rehoboam means "may the people be enlarged."

• Abijah
Abijah, King of Judah, also known as Abia or Abijam
Abijah was the second King of Judah (911-908 BC). He was the son of King Rehoboam and Maacah, the grand-daughter of Absalom.

He was a sinner as was his father, and his heart was not right with God. However, in a battle with Israel, he defies Jeroboam's powerful army and tells the people of Israel "do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you will not succeed." God used Abijah and the men of Judah to turn the tide of the battle against King Jeroboam and the army of Israel, defeating Israel and capturing the cities of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron.

Abijah's reign lasted three years, he had 14 wives, and 22 sons and 16 daughters. When Abijah died, he was buried in Jerusalem, and his son, Asa, became the new king of Judah.

The story of Abijah is found in 1 Kings 15:1-8 and in 2 Chronicles, chapter 13.

• Asa
Asa, King of Judah
Asa was the third king of Judah (reigned 908-867 BC). He was the son and successor of Abijah. His mother was Maachah. Asa became King of Judah in the 20th year of the reign of Israel's King Jeroboam, and reigned 41 years.

Asa was a loyal adherent of the worship of God and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He instituted reforms to rid the land of heathen deities and practices. He banished the perverted persons from the land, and removed all the idols that his father had made. He also demoted Maachah from her position as Queen Mother because of her paganism.

There was a 10-year period of peace at the beginning of Asa's reign, during which he fortified cities on his frontiers and raised an army of 580,000 men. He was attacked by an army of 1,000,000 troops from Ethiopia under the leadership of General Zerah. Asa cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord defeated the Ethiopians, and Asa and the army of Judah triumphed as the Ethiopians fled. Asa then cleared the land of Judah and Benjamin of all idols. Then the people entered into a contract to worship only the Lord God of their fathers.

King Baasha of Israel then declared war on Asa. Asa paid King Ben-hadad of Syria to help him defeat King Baasha. The Israelites were defeated, but God, through the prophet Hanani, let Asa know that he had made a mistake by going to Syria for help, instead of God. Asa died in the 41st year of his reign and was buried in Jerusalem. His son, Jehoshaphat, became king.

Asa's story is found in 1 Kings 15:8-24, and in 2 Chronicles, chapters 14-16.

• Jehoshaphat
Jehoshaphat, or Josaphat, King of Judah
Jehoshaphat, the son of King Asa and Azubah, became the fourth King of Judah (873-849 BC) at the age of 35, and reigned for 25 years. During his reign he eradicated the pagan cults and sent priests and Levites all over the country to teach the Law of God.

Jehoshaphat became strong, wealthy and popular, and built fortresses and supply centers throughout Judah. He made a marriage alliance for his son, with the daughter of King Ahab of Israel.

Later he went to Samaria and allied himself with king Ahab of Israel, at Ahab's request, to fight the armies of Syria. King Ahab was killed by a stray arrow during the battle and Jehoshaphat returned to Judah. The prophet Jehu met Jehoshaphat and told him not to help the wicked and not to love those who hate the Lord.

Jehoshaphat made no more trips to Israel after that, but traveled through Judah to encourage the people to worship God. He set up courts in the larger cities, with the Levites, priests, and clan leaders as judges. Later on, the armies of Moab, Ammon and the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat. He prayed to the Lord for help.

The Lord gave him help by causing the opposing armies to fight amongst themselves and to destroy each other. When Jehoshaphat died, he was buried in Jerusalem, and his son Jehoram became the new ruler of Judah.

The story of Jehoshaphat is found in 2 Chronicles, chapters 17-20. The name Jehoshaphat means "Yah has judged."

• Jehoram
Jehoram, or Joram
There are two kings named Jehoram in the Bible and both of their profiles are included below:

• Jehoram, or Joram, King of Judah
• Jehoram, or Joram, King of Israel
Jehoram, King of Judah
Jehoram, son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, was 32 years old when he became King of Judah, and he reigned for 8 years (851-843 BC). He married Athaliah the daughter of King Ahab of Israel, and renewed pagan worship in Judah. Jehoram was an evil king. After becoming king, he killed all of his brothers, and many other leaders of Israel.

The nation of Edom, which had been subjugated by Israel, revolted against Jehoram, and after a battle, Edom maintained its independence and appointed its own king. Jehoram constructed idol shrines in Judah, and compelled his people to worship them. Then Elijah the prophet wrote him a letter describing Jehoram's sins and explaining the punishment that would befall him.

Then the Lord stirred up the Philistines and Arabs to attack Jehoram, and they carried away everything of value in the king's palace, including his sons and his wives. Only his youngest son, Jehoahaz, (Ahaziah), escaped. Then Jehoram was struck down with the incurable bowel disease. He was dead in two years, and was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal cemetery.

Then the people chose Ahaziah, his youngest son, as their new king. Jehoram's story is found in 2 Kings 8:16-23, and in 2 Chronicles, chapter 21. The name Jehoram means "Yah is high."
Jehoram, King of Israel
Jehoram was the son of Ahab and Jezebel. He was the ninth King of the northern kingdom of Israel. (There was also another man named Jehoram who became king of Judah. In fact, the Jehoram of Judah married the sister, Athaliah, of Jehoram of Israel). Jehoram succeeded his brother, Ahaziah, and reigned for twelve years.

He allied himself with King Jehoshaphat of Judah to put down the Moabite rebellion. With a miracle as predicted by Elisha the prophet, the Moabites were defeated. Jehoram continued the long conflict between Israel and the nation of Aram.

After he was wounded at Ramoth Gilead, he went to the town of Jezreel to recover. While recovering, Jehu, who was anointed to be the next King of Israel, tracked down and killed Jehoram, and became the next King of Israel. The story of Jehoram is found in 2 Kings.

The name Jehoram means "Yah is high."

• Ahaziah (Jehoahaz)
Ahaziah
There are two people named Ahaziah in the Bible, and both were kings. One was king of the northern kingdom of Israel and the other was king of the southern kingdom of Judah. Both profiles are included below:

• Ahaziah, king of Judah
• Ahaziah, king of Israel
Ahaziah, king of Judah
Ahaziah reigned for one year (843-842 BC) as the king of Judah when he was 22 years old. He was the son of Jehoram. His mother, Athaliah, was King Ahab's daughter. He had many of the same failings as did King Ahab, and his mother encouraged him in doing wrong.

He made an alliance with King Jehoram of Israel (son of Ahab). Jehoram (not to be confused with King Jehoram of Judah) was wounded in a battle with Syria, and returned to Jezreel to recover. Ahaziah went to visit him, but this was a fatal mistake, for God had decided to punish Ahaziah for his alliance with Jehoram. Jehu, who was earlier anointed by one of Elisha's young prophets, as the man to wipe out the family of Ahab, was hunting down and killing the family and friends of Ahab. When he found Ahaziah hiding in Samaria, he killed him.

When Ahaziah's mother, Athaliah, found out that her son was dead, she killed her grandsons, except for Joash. Joash was rescued and hidden in a storage room of the Temple by his Aunt Jehoshabeath, who was King Ahaziah's sister. Athaliah then became queen and reigned for six years. Ahaziah was given a royal burial, because he was the grandson of King Jehoshaphat. The story of Ahaziah is found in 2 Chronicles, chapter 22. The name Ahaziah means "Yah holds firm."
Ahaziah, king of Israel
Ahaziah, King of Israel, was the uncle of Ahaziah, King of Judah. Israel's Ahaziah was the eighth king of the northern kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Ahab and Jezebel. He reigned for two years (852-851 BC).

After Ahab's death, the country of Moab, which had earlier been subjugated by Israel, declared its independence, and refused to continue paying tribute to Israel. Ahaziah suffered other losses, including his health. He fell off the balcony of his palace in Samaria and was seriously injured. Instead of turning to the Lord, he sent messages to the temple of a pagan god, Baalzebub, at Ekron, to ask whether he would recover from his injuries.

But the prophet Elijah intercepted the messengers and told that them that because Ahaziah had chosen to inquire of a pagan god, rather than the Lord, that he would not leave the bed that he was lying on and that he would die. Ahaziah did die, just as Elijah had said. Ahaziah's brother, Jehoram, became the new king, because Ahaziah did not have a son to succeed him. The name Ahaziah means "Yah holds firm." The story of Ahaziah is found in 1 Kings 22:40-53 and in 2 Kings, chapter 1.

• Athaliah (Queen)
Athaliah, Queen of Judah
Athaliah was Queen of Judah from 842-836 BC. She was the daughter of Israel's King Ahab and of Jezebel, who was the wife of Jehoram King of Judah, and the mother of King Ahaziah. Following Ahaziah's death at the hands of Jehu, Athaliah seized power and killed all members of the royal family who were possible rivals for the throne, except for Joash, the infant son of Ahaziah, who had been rescued by his Aunt Jehosheba.

When Joash was seven years old, Jehoiada the priest conspired to have the young boy crowned in the Temple as king. When Queen Athaliah heard the commotion, she rushed to the Temple to see what was going on, and found the new king surrounded by army officers and people from all over the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets.

Athaliah ripped her clothes in distress and yelled "Treason! Treason!" Jehoida the priest told the army officers to take her out of the Temple and to kill her. She was killed at the Palace stables. Then, Jehoiada and others destroyed a pagan temple of Baal and destroyed pagan idols. Athaliah's story is found in 2 Chronicles 22:10-12, and in chapter 23.

• Joash (Jehoash)
Joash, or Jehoash, King of Judah
Joash ("God has bestowed/donated") was King of Judah from 836 BC to 798 BC. He was the son of King Ahaziah. His mother's name was Zibiah. He became king at the age of seven, after Jehoiada the priest rebelled against Athaliah, and proclaimed Joash the rightful ruler.

Joash tried hard to please the Lord during the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest. Jehoiada arranged two marriages for him, and he had sons and daughters. Under the influence of Jehoiada, Joash repaired the Temple and destroyed the cult of Baal. However, after Jehoiada's death, at age 130, the leaders of Judah induced King Joash to abandon the Temple of God, and to worship pagan idols instead.

Jehoiada's son, Zechariah, resisted the cult of Baal, and for this he was killed by orders from King Joash (2 Chronicles 24:22). A few months later, the Syrian army successfully attacked Judah and Jerusalem. In 2 Chronicles 24:24, the Bible explains that the tiny Syrian army was allowed to defeat Judah because people had foresaken the Lord. Joash was severely wounded by the Syrians, and after they left, his own officials assassinated him as he lay in bed.

He was buried in the City of David, but not in the cemetery of the Kings. His son, Amaziah, became the next king. The story of Joash is found in 2 Kings, chapters 11 and 12, and 2 Chronicles, chapters 23 and 24.

• Amaziah
Amaziah, King of Judah
Amaziah ("Yah is strong") was King of Judah (798-769), the son of King Joash, and mother Jehoaddin, became king at age 25, and reigned 29 years. After becoming king, he killed the men who had assassinated his father. Amaziah assembled an army from Judah and Benjamin, and re-conquered Edom, which had gained its independence from Judah about 50 year's earlier.

Amaziah also had hired 100,000 men from Israel to participate in the battle, but gave up the idea in view of the opposition it aroused. He dismissed the men, but the soldiers were displeased and on their way home, raided several cities of Judah, killing 3000 people.

When King Amaziah returned from defeating the Edomites, he brought with him idols from Seir, set them up as gods, and bowed before them. This made the Lord angry and the Lord sent a prophet to warn him, Amaziah rebuked the prophet. He then declared war on King Joash of Israel. The Israelites defeated Judah, and King Amaziah was captured.

King Joash took many hostages, and all the gold and silver from the Temple and palace, and returned to Samaria. However Amaziah lived 15 years longer than Joash. Amaziah was assassinated by his enemies in Lachish. His body was returned to Jerusalem and buried in the Royal cemetery. His son Uzziah (also known as Azariah) became king. The story of Amaziah is found in 2 Kings 14:1-20 and 2 Chronicles, chapter 25.

• Uzziah (Azariah)
Uzziah, or Ozias, also known as Azariah, King of Judah
Uzziah, also known as Azariah ("Yah is my strength") became King of Judah at age 16 and reigned 52 years. He was generally a good king. While Zechariah was alive, Uzziah was always eager to please God, and he prospered, for God blessed him (2 Chronicles 26:5). God helped him in wars against the Philistines, against the Arabs of Gurbaal, and the Meunites. His fame spread to Egypt and he was very powerful.

He built numerous fortifications in and around Jerusalem, and extended his domain in all directions. He made water reservoirs for the great herds of cattle in the valleys, and had many farms and vineyards. He organized a draft system and an army of 307,500 men. He produced war machines, invented to shoot arrows and huge stones.

But he also became proud and corrupt. He sinned against the Lord by personally burning incense upon the altar of the Temple. The High Priest went in after him and demanded that he get out. Uzziah refused to set down the incense burner that he was holding, and suddenly - leprosy appeared on his forehead. King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death, and lived in isolation.

His son, Jotham, became vice-regent in charge of the king's affairs, and became king after his father's death. Uzziah was buried in the Royal cemetery, even though he was a leper. The story of Uzziah is found in 2 Kings 15:1-7, and 2 Chronicles, chapter 26. Talmudic references report that because of his leprosy, Uzziah's remains were later removed from their original grave and reburied. A tablet was found on Mount Olives that has the inscription: "Hither were brought the bones of Uzziah, King of Judah. Do not open."

• Jotham
Jotham, or Joatham, King of Judah
There are at least two people in the Bible named Jotham. One was the son of Gideon. The other was a king.

King Jotham assumed the throne of Judah when he was 25 years old. He reigned for 16 years, although some of these years might overlap with the reign of his father, Uzziah, while Uzziah was isolated with leprosy.

Jotham's mother was Jerusha, who was the daughter of Zadok. Jotham followed the generally good example of his father. He built the upper gate of the Temple and did extensive rebuilding of the walls on the hill where the Temple was located. He also built cities in the hill country of Judah.

He had a successful war against the Ammonites and received annual tribute from them for three years. King Jotham became powerful because he was careful to follow the path of the Lord (2 Chronicles 27:6). When he died, he was buried in Jerusalem, and his son, Ahaz, became the new king.

The story of Jotham is found in 2 Kings 15:32-38, and 2 Chronicles, chapter 27.

The name Jotham means "may Yah (a name for God) complete."

The other Jotham was Gideon's youngest son. Jotham's brother, Abimelech, tried to seize power by killing all of his own brothers. Jotham escaped and was the sole survivor. Jotham pronounced judgment on Abimelech and the Shechemites by telling a parable of the trees, while standing on Mount Gerizim (Judges 9:7-20). In fear of his life Jotham fled to Beer. Jotham disappears from the Bible, and no more is recorded of him. But the judgment he placed on Abimelech and the Shechemites was fulfilled three years later.

• Ahaz
Ahaz, or Achaz, King of Judah
Ahaz, King of Judah, was 20 years old when he became king. He reigned 16 years. His father was King Jotham. Ahaz was one of the most evil kings of Judah. He not only burned incense as offerings to false gods, he even sacrificed his own children in fire. This is why the Lord allowed the king of Syria to defeat Ahaz and to deport large numbers of his people to Damascus (2 Chronicles 28:5). He also lost large numbers of men who were slaughtered by the army of the northern kingdom of Israel. In one battle, Judah lost 120,000 troops to Pekah, king of Israel, and 200,000 women and children were captured.

But Oded, a prophet of God told Israel to return the Judah captives because the anger of God was now upon them (2 Chronicles 28:11). Israel returned the captives to their families. Later, Edom and the Philistines invaded Judah. Ahaz asked the King of Assyria for help, and gave the king all of the Temple gold and the treasures of the palace. But when Tilgath-Pilneser, King of Assyria arrived, he caused more trouble for King Ahaz instead of helping him.

During this difficult time, King Ahaz collapsed spiritually. He sacrificed to the false gods of the people of Damascus, because he had thought that the false gods had helped the Syrians defeat him and that maybe they would now help him if he too offered sacrifices to the false gods. But instead, as is written in 2 Chronicles 28:22-23, the false gods were the ruin of Ahaz and his people.

When King Ahaz died, he was buried in Jerusalem but not in the royal tombs, and Hezekiah became the new king (2 Chronicles 28:27). The story of Ahaz is found in 2 Kings 26, and 2 Chronicles 28. The name Ahaz means "he held fast."

• Hezekiah
Hezekiah, or Ezekias, King of Judah
Hezekiah, son of King Ahaz, and mother Abijah, became king at age 25. He reigned 29 years. According to 2 Chronicles 29:2, his reign was a good one. He took the throne during a crucial time in Judah's history. Assyria had recently conquered Aram. And during the early part of his reign, the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel. And, Judah itself had to pay an annual tribute to Assyria.

With the encouragement of the prophet Isaiah, Hezekiah undertook a religious reform, in removing idolatrous elements from worship, cleansing and sanctifying the Temple, and restoring the Levites to their Temple duties. He sent letters across Judah and Israel to have the people attend a Passover celebration. The celebration was a huge success. In fact, 2 Chronicles 30:26 says that Jerusalem hadn't seen a celebration like that since the days of King Solomon.

Hezekiah strengthened Judah politically, expanded its borders, and had the people tithe their crops. He built an underground tunnel to bring water into Jerusalem, in case of a siege. Later, King Sennacherib invaded Judah, surrounded Jerusalem, and sent Hezekiah a letter, stating, basically, that Judah should surrender, claiming that the Assyrian gods were stronger than the Lord God.

Hezekiah and Isaiah prayed to the Lord. God answered Hezekiah and Isaiah by saying that He would defend and save the city. That night, 185,000 Assyrian troops mysteriously died and their bodies were seen all across the landscape in the morning (2 Kings 19:34-35).

Later, the Lord healed Hezekiah of a deathly sickness, after Hezekiah had prayed, and added 15 years to his life. When he died, his son Manasseh became the new king. The story of Hezekiah is found in 2 Kings, chapters 18-20, and 2 Chronicles, chapters 29-32.

The tunnel Hezekiah built is still in existence today. A stone inscription was found describing how King Hezekiah's tunnel was dug by 2 teams of miners, starting at opposite ends, and meeting in the middle. There is also a clay Hebrew seal impression found, with Hezekiah's name on it, now in the Israel museum. The name Hezekiah means "Yah is my strength."

• Manasseh
Manasseh, or Manasses
There are two prominent people named kings named Manasseh in the Bible and both of their profiles are included below:

• Manasseh (also spelled as Manasses), King of Judah
• Manasseh (also spelled as Manasses), son of Joseph
Manasseh, king of Judah
Manasseh, son of King Hezekiah, and mother Hephzibah, began his reign at age 12. He reigned 55 years, the longest of any Hebrew King, but it was an evil reign. He rebuilt the heathen altars that his father Hezekiah had destroyed - the altars of Baal. He even built pagan altars in both courts of the Temple of the Lord, for worshiping the sun, moon and stars.

And Manasseh sacrificed his own children as burnt offerings in the valley of Hinnom. He consulted spirit mediums, fortune tellers and sorcerers. He angered the Lord by encouraging every sort of evil (2 Chronicles 33:4-6). He also murdered large numbers of innocent people (2 Kings 21:16).

Warnings by the Lord were ignored by both Manasseh and his people, so God sent the Assyrian armies, who captured him and took him into exile. It was in captivity that he came to his senses and cried out to God for help. As recorded in 2 Chronicles 33:13, The Lord answered his prayers by returning him to Jerusalem. At that point Manasseh realized that the Lord was really God.

Manasseh removed the foreign idols from the hills and the Temple and tore down the pagan altars. He then rebuilt the altar of the Lord, and offered sacrifices upon it. When Manasseh died, he was buried beneath his own palace, and his son Amon became the new king. The story of Manasseh is found in 2 Kings 21:1-17, and 2 Chronicles 33:1-20.

Interesting fact: The Lord had told Manasseh's father, Hezekiah, who was deathly sick, to prepare to die (2 kings 20:1). When Hezekiah broke down, cried and prayed to God, The Lord added 15 years to Hezekiah's life. Three years later his son, Manasseh, was born. If Hezekiah had accepted death when first told by the Lord, then his son Manesseh, the most evil of kings, would have never been born.
Manasseh, son of Joseph
Manasseh was the older son of Joseph and Asenath, daughter of Potiphera (priest of the sun god Re of heliopolis). Manasseh is the ancestor of the Tribe of Manasseh. According to 1 Chronicles 7:14, Manasseh had an Aramean concubine who bore Machir, the father of Gilead.

When Jacob blessed his grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim, he gave the preferential treatment to Ephraim, instead of the older brother Manasseh, explaining that Ephraim would become greater than Manasseh. Before his death Jacob adopted his grandchildren Manasseh and Ephraim to be equal with his own sons (Genesis 48:5). The tribe of Manassah is the only tribe that settled on both sides of the Jordan River.

In the census taken in Numbers 26, Manasseh had 52,700 men who were twenty-years old or older, and Ephraim had 32,500. When added together, the sons of Joseph totaled 85,200, which was more than any other of Jacob's sons. In Revelation 7:6, Manasseh is mentioned as one of the tribes receiving the Seal of God for 12,000 of its members. The name Manasseh means "to forget."

• Amon
Amon, King of Judah
Amon, son of King Manasseh, and mother Meshullemeth, became king of Judah at age 22. His reign lasted 2 years. Amon's reign was an evil one, as was the early years of the reign of his father, Manasseh. Amon sacrificed to pagan idols just as his father did.

But, unlike his father, Amon didn't change, instead he sinned more and more. Finally, his own officers assassinated him in his palace. Then, some citizens killed all those who assassinated him, and declared his son Josiah to be the new king (2 Chronicles 33:22-25). Amon was buried in a crypt in the garden of Uzza. The story of Amon is found in 2 Kings 21:18-26, and 2 Chronicles 33:20-25.

• Josiah
Josiah, or Josias, King of Judah
Josiah, son of King Amon, and mother Jedidah, became King of Judah at age 8, and reigned 31 years (639-609 BC). The Bible passage at 2 Kings 22:2 says that the character of Josiah's reign was good, and that he followed in the steps of his ancestor, King David, and was obedient to the Lord.

His reign was the last surge of political independence and religious revival before the disintegration of the Kingdom of Judah, which ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. When Josiah was 20 years old, he began to clean up Judah and Jerusalem, destroying the heathen altars and the shameful idols on the hills, according to 2 Chronicles 34:3.

He did the same thing in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and Naphtali. Later on, he set up a collection system for gifts for the Temple, and paid carpenters and masons to repair the Temple, from the damage and neglect by the earlier Kings of Judah.

A scroll was found in the Temple by Hilkiah the High Priest. The scroll, containing the Laws of God, was read to King Josiah. When Josiah found out that the reason for the Lord's great anger on Judah and Israel was that the ancestors had not obeyed the laws written in the scriptures, he ripped his clothing in despair (2 Chronicles 34:21).

Josiah then gathered the elders and all the people to the Temple, read the scroll to them, and required everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin to make a pledge to the Lord, to follow His Commandments. So, Josiah removed all of the idols from the areas occupied by Jews, and required all of them to worship God (2 Chronicles 34:33).

Josiah held a great Passover celebration that was not seen in Jerusalem since the days of Samuel the prophet. Later, King Neco of Egypt led his army against the Assyrians, and warned King Josiah not to interfere while his army passed through Judah (2 Chronicles 35:21). But Josiah refused to turn back, and led his army into battle at the valley of Megiddo. The enemy archers struck King Josiah with their arrows and fatally wounded him. He died in Jerusalem, and was buried there.

All of Judah mourned for him, including Jeremiah the prophet. Josiah's son, Jehoahaz, was selected as the new king. The story of Josiah is found in 2 Kings, chapters 22 and 23, and 2 Chronicles, chapters 34 and 35. The name Josiah means "May Yah give."

• Jehoahaz
Jehoahaz
There are two kings named Jehoahaz in the Bible and both of their profiles are included below:

• Jehoahaz, king of Judah
• Jehoahaz, king of Israel
Jehoahaz, king of Judah
Jehoahaz, fourth son and successor of Josiah (609-608 BC). His mother's name was Hamutal. He became King at age 23, and only reigned three months.

Pharoah Neco removed Jehoahaz from the throne and sent him to Egypt, where he later died. The Pharoah demanded an annual tribute from Judah, and appointed Eliakim as the new King of Judah. Eliakim's name was changed to Jehoikim. The story of Jehoahaz is found in 2 Kings 23:31-34, and 2 Chronicles 36:1-4.

The name Jehoahaz means "God has held firmly."
Jehoahaz, king of Israel
Jehoahaz was the eleventh King of the northern kingdom of Israel. He was the son of King Jehu. He reigned for 17 years (814-798 BC) in Samaria, and followed the same path as Jeroboam, leading the people of Israel to sin.

The Syrian army under King Hazael and his son Ben-Hadad invaded Israel, but Jehoahaz prayed for the Lord's help, and the Lord raised up leaders within Israel and defeated the Syrians. Israel lived in peace for awhile, but as the people continued to worship the false goddess Asherah at Samaria, the Lord reduced Jehoahaz's army to 50 mounted troops, 10 chariots, and 10,000 infantry. The Syrians had destroyed the others.

When Jehoahaz died, his son Joash became king. The story of Jehoahaz is found in 2 Kings 13:1-10. The name Jehoahaz means "God has held firmly." There is a jasper seal in the Israel Museum, inscribed "Belonging to Jehoahaz son of the King."

• Jehoiakim
Jehoiakim, King of Judah
Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah and Zebidah. At age 25, he was made king by Pharoah Neco in place of his brother Jehoahaz, who was exiled to Egypt. Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years (608-598 BC) but his reign was an evil one. During his reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem. Jehoiakim surrendered and paid him tribute for three years, but then rebelled.

And the Lord sent bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites against Judah in order to destroy the nation, just as the Lord had warned through His prophets that He would, because of the disobedience of the people at that time (2 Kings 24:1-2). When Jehoiakim died, his son, Jehoiachin, became the new king. The story of Jehoaikim is found in 2 Kings 23:34-37, 2 Kings 24:1-5, and 2 Chronicles 36:4-8. The name Jehoiakim means "God will arise."

• Jehoiachin
Jehoiachin, King of Judah, also known as Jeconiah, Coniah, or Jechonias
Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim and Nehushta, was also called Jeconiah, and Coniah, became king at age 18, but only reigned for three months. During his reign the armies, of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon besieged the city of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar himself arrived during the siege, and king Jehoiachin, all of his officials, and the queen mother surrendered to him. The surrender was accepted, and Jehoiachin was imprisoned in Babylon during the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign (2 Kings 24:10-12).

Then the king of Babylon appointed Jehoiachin's uncle, Mattaniah, to be the next king, and changed his name to Zedekiah. While in exile throughout the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiachin remained in prison, but after Nebuchadnezzar's death, he was brought to the royal palace by the new King Evil-Merodach (2 Kings 25:27-30), and he was treated as a royal hostage receiving daily rations from the king at whose table he dined.

The story of Jehoiachin is found in 2 Kings 24:6-15. The name Jehoiachin means "God will establish."

• Zedekiah
Zedekiah, King of Judah
There are at least two people named Zedekiah in the Bible. One was king of Judah and the other was a false prophet.

Zedekiah - the king of Judah - was a son of King Josiah and Hamutal, and uncle to King Jehoiachin. He was appointed King of Judah, after King Jehoiachin was exiled by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He reigned eleven years, but it was an evil reign (596-586 BC). The idea of a king appointed by a foreign ruler was not accepted by the people who continued to regard Jehoiachin as their legitimate king (Jeremiah 37:1).

King Zedekiah refused to accept the counsel of Jeremiah the prophet, who gave him messages of the Lord. He rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, even though he had taken an oath of loyality. (2 Chronicles 36:12-13). King Nebuchadnezzar then laid siege to Jerusalem in the ninth year of the reign of King Zedekiah, and continued to the eleventh year. The food had run out, and Zedekiah tried to escape, but was captured in the plains of Jericho.

He was then taken to Riblah, where he was tried and sentenced before the King of Babylon. He was forced to watch as his sons were killed before his eyes, then his eyes were put out and he was taken to Babylon (2 Kings 25:6-7). General Nebuzaradan of Babylon then burned down the Temple and the palace, and tore down the walls of Jerusalem. The story of Zedekiah is found in 2 Kings 24:17-20, 25, and 2 Chronicles 36:11-13. The name Zedekiah means "Yah is my righteousness."

The other Zedekiah - the false prophet - advised King Ahab of Israel to attack the Syrian army at Ramoth Gilead (1 Kings 22:11). This Zedekiah, who was the son of Chenaanah, made himself horns of iron and said, "The Lord says, 'With these you shall gore Aram until you have destroyed them.'"

Ahab's other false prophets all said the same thing. When Micaiah, a true prophet of God, was called on, he gave a disasterous prediction to the outcome of the battle for King Ahab and Israel. When Zedekiah heard this he slapped Micaiah on the cheek, saying, "Has the Spirit of the Lord, then, left me to speak with you?" (1 Kings 22:24). The battle, in which King Ahab was mortaly wounded, ended up as Micaiah predicted. The fate of Zedekiah is not written in the Bible after his false prophecy.









Kings of Israel in order of reign:
• Jeroboam 1
Jeroboam 1, King of Israel
Jeroboam 1 was the son of Nebat. He became the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel, after Israel had split away from Judah, which included the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. The prophet Ahijah prophesied that upon Solomon's death, Jeroboam would become king over ten tribes. After Solomon heard of the prophecy, he ordered Jeroboam killed, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt.

After Solomon's death, his son, Rehoboam, angered the ten tribes in the northern part of Israel with heavy taxes. This encouraged the people in the northern part of Israel to break away from Judah (the southern part of Israel) and to form a separate kingdom. Jeroboam returned from Egypt and was crowned king of the northern kingdom of Israel, which was home to ten of the tribes of Israel. Wars were continuous between Israel and Judah during Jeroboam's reign.

Jeroboam followed pagan ways. He placed golden calves in the towns of Bethel and Dan in the hopes of getting people to worship without going to the Temple in Jerusalem, which was in Judah. Jeroboam dismissed the priestly tribe of Levi and appointed his own priests. This caused many Levites to defect to Jerusalem.

The Lord sent a prophet to warn Jeroboam to turn away from his evil ways. Jeroboam's refusal eventually resulted in the destruction of his kingdom and his family.

Ahijah the prophet told Jeroboam's wife of the oncoming death of their son, and also of a king over Israel who will destroy the family of Jeroboam, and how the people of Israel will be uprooted and scattered beyond the Euphrates, because they angered the Lord by worshiping idols. All this later happened.

Jeroboam 1 reigned 22 years. When he died, his son Nadab became king. The story of Jeroboam 1 is found in 1 Kings, chapters 11-14. The name Jeroboam means " may the people grow numerous."

• Nadab
Nadab
There are at least two people in the Bible named Nadab. One was a son of Aaron and the other was a king.

King Nadab was the son of King Jeroboam and became the second king of the northern kingdom of Israel.

King Nadab reigned for two years. Like his father, he worshiped false idols and led the people of Israel into sin. He was assassinated by Baasha while he was with Israel's army during its attack on the Philistine city of Gibbethon. Baasha then became the next king.

The story of King Nadab is found in 1 Kings, chapter 15.

The other Nadab was the first son of Aaron. He was consecrated a priest along with his three brothers, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar to minister at the Tabernacle (Ex. 28:1). Later, though, Nadab and Abihu were guilty of offering "profane fire before the Lord, such as He had not authorized", in the Sinai desert. Both Nadab and Abihu died when "Fire came forth from the Lord's presence and consumed them." (Lev. 10:1-2).

• Baasha
Baasha, King of Israel
Baasha was the son of Ahijah, of the tribe of Issachar. He was the third King of the northern kingdom of Israel and he reigned for 24 years at Tirzah. He became king after assassinating King Nadab, who was the son of King Jeroboam. He then tried to strengthen his hold on the throne by killing all of the descendents of Jeroboam, so that none of the royal family remained.

This fulfilled a prophecy of Ahijah. During Baasha's reign, there was continuous warfare between Israel and Judah (the two kingdoms of the Jews after Israel split into two about 2900 years ago). Baasha worshiped idols. He was told, by the Lord, through a prophet, that because of his sins, he and his family would be destroyed (1 Kings 16:2-3). When Baasha died, his son Elah became king. The story of Baasha is found in 1 Kings, chapters 15 and 16.

• Elah
Elah, King of Israel
Elah, the son of King Baasha, became the fourth king of the northern kingdom of Israel. He reigned for two years. His reign ended suddenly. He was drunk at the home of Arza, the superintendent of the King's palace in Tirzah, when General Zimri walked up to Elah and killed him. Then, Zimri, who was in charge of half of the royal chariot troops, declared himself King of Israel (1 Kings 16:8-10).



• Zimri
Zimri, King of Israel
There are at least two people in the Bible named Zimri. One was the son of Salu, a Simeonite prince, in Numbers 25:14.

The other was the fifth king of the northern kingdom of Israel. He killed Elah, the son of Baasha, and declared himself king. He tried to protect his hold on the throne by killing the male heirs of Elah.

This fulfilled a prophecy of Jehu about the destruction of the family of Baasha (1 Kings 16:3). King Zimri reigned for only seven days. When members of the army had learned of what had Zimri had done, they appointed Omri as their commander. After a successful attack by Omri and the army, Zimri went into the palace and set fire to it. He died in the flames.

The name Zimri is featured in 2 Kings 9:31 as an example of someone who has killed his master.

The story of King Zimri is found in 1 kings 16:8-20.

The other Zimri, the son of Salu, brought a Midianite woman named Cozbi into camp while Israel was repenting for having worshiped Baal. When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, saw Zimri take her to his tent, he was enraged, took a javelin in his hand, went into Zimri's tent, and thrust both of them through.


• Tibni
Tibni
After King Zimri died, the people of Israel were divided. Some wanted Omri to be the new king and others wanted Tibni. A civil war broke out and Omri won. Omri became the successor to Zimri. (We've included Tibni because some historical references will include Tibni in the list of kings of Israel).

• Omri
Omri, King of Israel
After King Zimri died, the people of Israel were divided. Some wanted Omri to be the new king and others wanted Tibni. A civil war broke out and Omri won. He became Israel's sixth king and reigned 12 years (882-871 BC). Omri bought land and built a palace on it. He called the land Samaria, in honor of the former owner, Shemer. Omri worshiped idols and encouraged the people of Israel to do the same.

1 Kings 16:25 says that Omri was worse than any of the kings who had ruled Israel before his reign. Micah 6:16 also alludes to the evilness of Omri. An ancient record, called the Moabite Stone, says that Omri subjugated the nation of Moab and conquered Medeba. (The Moabite Stone is now in the Louvre museum). Omri also strengthened Israel's alliance with Phoenicia, by arranging the marriage of his son, Ahab, to Jezebel, the daughter of the King of Sidon. When Omri died, his son Ahab became the next king.

Omri's story is found in 1 Kings, chapter 16.

• Ahab
Ahab, King of Israel
Ahab was the seventh King of Israel. He reigned for 22 years (871-852 BC). He was the son of Omri. He married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the Sidonians. Ahab, under Jezebel's influence, built a pagan temple, and allowed idols into Samaria. Elijah the prophet warned Ahab that the country would suffer from drought if the cult of Baal was not removed from the land of Israel.

After three years of drought, Elijah challenged Ahab and his pagan priests on Mount Carmel. God sent down fire to ignite a sacrifice, but the priests of Baal could not summon Baal to do the same. Then the people realized that God was the only true God. (1 Kings 18:18-39). Then, rains came and ended the drought.

Elijah denounced Ahab as a murderer because of the stoning of Naboth, which Jezebel, had instigated. Elijah told Ahab that dogs would lick his blood outside of the city, just as they had licked the blood of Naboth. He also told Ahab that none of his male heirs would survive and that Jezebel would be torn apart by the dogs of Jezreel (1 Kings 21:17-24).

After that, Ahab went into deep repentance, and the fulfillment of the prophecy was postponed. Ahab fought Ben-Hadad the King of Damascus in several wars, and then allied himself with Jehoshaphat, King of Judah to liberate Ramoth Gilead from the Arameans.

Ahab was warned by the prophet Micaiah that he would die in the battle. But Ahab went to battle anyway, disguised as a soldier, and was killed by a stray arrow. When the blood on his chariot was washed off at a pool in Samaria, the dogs licked up his blood as Elijah said. Jezebel, and eventually all of Ahab's male heirs died as the prophet said.

The Bible lists Ahab as the most evil of all the kings before him (1 Kings 16:30). Ahab's son Ahaziah became the new king. The story of Ahab is found in 1 Kings, chapters 16-22.

Archaeological note: Carved ivory plaques were found at the site of Ahab's palace in Samaria. Ahab was known to live in a ivory palace (1 Kings 22:39).

• Ahaziah
Ahaziah
There are two people named Ahaziah in the Bible, and both were kings. One was king of the northern kingdom of Israel and the other was king of the southern kingdom of Judah. Both profiles are included below:

• Ahaziah, king of Israel
• Ahaziah, king of Judah
Ahaziah, king of Israel
Ahaziah, King of Israel, was the uncle of Ahaziah, King of Judah. Israel's Ahaziah was the eighth king of the northern kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Ahab and Jezebel. He reigned for two years (852-851 BC).

After Ahab's death, the country of Moab, which had earlier been subjugated by Israel, declared its independence, and refused to continue paying tribute to Israel. Ahaziah suffered other losses, including his health. He fell off the balcony of his palace in Samaria and was seriously injured. Instead of turning to the Lord, he sent messages to the temple of a pagan god, Baalzebub, at Ekron, to ask whether he would recover from his injuries.

But the prophet Elijah intercepted the messengers and told that them that because Ahaziah had chosen to inquire of a pagan god, rather than the Lord, that he would not leave the bed that he was lying on and that he would die. Ahaziah did die, just as Elijah had said. Ahaziah's brother, Jehoram, became the new king, because Ahaziah did not have a son to succeed him. The name Ahaziah means "Yah holds firm." The story of Ahaziah is found in 1 Kings 22:40-53 and in 2 Kings, chapter 1.
Ahaziah, king of Judah
Ahaziah reigned for one year (843-842 BC) as the king of Judah when he was 22 years old. He was the son of Jehoram. His mother, Athaliah, was King Ahab's daughter. He had many of the same failings as did King Ahab, and his mother encouraged him in doing wrong.

He made an alliance with King Jehoram of Israel (son of Ahab). Jehoram (not to be confused with King Jehoram of Judah) was wounded in a battle with Syria, and returned to Jezreel to recover. Ahaziah went to visit him, but this was a fatal mistake, for God had decided to punish Ahaziah for his alliance with Jehoram. Jehu, who was earlier anointed by one of Elisha's young prophets, as the man to wipe out the family of Ahab, was hunting down and killing the family and friends of Ahab. When he found Ahaziah hiding in Samaria, he killed him.

When Ahaziah's mother, Athaliah, found out that her son was dead, she killed her grandsons, except for Joash. Joash was rescued and hidden in a storage room of the Temple by his Aunt Jehoshabeath, who was King Ahaziah's sister. Athaliah then became queen and reigned for six years. Ahaziah was given a royal burial, because he was the grandson of King Jehoshaphat. The story of Ahaziah is found in 2 Chronicles, chapter 22. The name Ahaziah means "Yah holds firm."

• Jehoram (Joram)
Jehoram
There are two kings named Jehoram in the Bible and both of their profiles are included below:

• Jehoram, or Joram, king of Israel
• Jehoram, or Joram, king of Judah
Jehoram, or Joram, King of Israel
Jehoram was the son of Ahab and Jezebel. He was the ninth King of the northern kingdom of Israel. (There was also another man named Jehoram who became king of Judah. In fact, the Jehoram of Judah married the sister, Athaliah, of Jehoram of Israel). Jehoram succeeded his brother, Ahaziah, and reigned for twelve years.

He allied himself with King Jehoshaphat of Judah to put down the Moabite rebellion. With a miracle as predicted by Elisha the prophet, the Moabites were defeated. Jehoram continued the long conflict between Israel and the nation of Aram.

After he was wounded at Ramoth Gilead, he went to the town of Jezreel to recover. While recovering, Jehu, who was anointed to be the next King of Israel, tracked down and killed Jehoram, and became the next King of Israel. The story of Jehoram is found in 2 Kings.

The name Jehoram means "Yah is high."
Jehoram, or Joram, King of Judah
Jehoram, son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, was 32 years old when he became King of Judah, and he reigned for 8 years (851-843 BC). He married Athaliah the daughter of King Ahab of Israel, and renewed pagan worship in Judah. Jehoram was an evil king. After becoming king, he killed all of his brothers, and many other leaders of Israel.

The nation of Edom, which had been subjugated by Israel, revolted against Jehoram, and after a battle, Edom maintained its independence and appointed its own king. Jehoram constructed idol shrines in Judah, and compelled his people to worship them. Then Elijah the prophet wrote him a letter describing Jehoram's sins and explaining the punishment that would befall him.

Then the Lord stirred up the Philistines and Arabs to attack Jehoram, and they carried away everything of value in the king's palace, including his sons and his wives. Only his youngest son, Jehoahaz, (Ahaziah), escaped. Then Jehoram was struck down with the incurable bowel disease. He was dead in two years, and was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal cemetery.

Then the people chose Ahaziah, his youngest son, as their new king. Jehoram's story is found in 2 Kings 8:16-23, and in 2 Chronicles, chapter 21. The name Jehoram means "Yah is high."

• Jehu
Jehu, King of Israel
Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, was the tenth King of the northern kingdom of Israel. Jehu killed a great number of people. He killed the king of Israel, Joram, who was the son of Ahab, with an arrow through the heart. He also killed the king of Judah, Ahaziah. Joram and Ahaziah were related to each other through Ahab and Jezebel. In time, Jehu executed Ahab's entire family, including Jezebel, and fulfilled a prophecy of Elijah (1 Kings 21:17-24). Jehu also killed Ahab's friends and officials.

Aside from killing members of Ahab's family, who had encouraged the people to worship false idols, Jehu ordered his men to kill the priests of the pagan god, Baal, in a temple. He then converted the pagan temple into a public toilet.

Jehu reigned as king of Israel for 28 years. When he died, he was buried in Samaria, and his son Jehoahaz became the new king. The story of Jehu is found in 2 Kings, chapters 9 and 10.

In the British Museum, there is a limestone monument called "the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser 3" (9th century BC). It depicts Jehu presenting tribute to the king of Assyria, and is the only likeness known of any King of Israel or Judah. In the Israel Museum there is a seal impression from Lacish with Jehu's name on it. The name Jehu means "Yahweh is He."

• Jehoahaz
Jehoahaz
There are two kings named Jehoahaz in the Bible and both of their profiles are included below:

• Jehoahaz, king of Israel
• Jehoahaz, king of Judah
Jehoahaz, king of Israel
Jehoahaz was the eleventh King of the northern kingdom of Israel. He was the son of King Jehu. He reigned for 17 years (814-798 BC) in Samaria, and followed the same path as Jeroboam, leading the people of Israel to sin.

The Syrian army under King Hazael and his son Ben-Hadad invaded Israel, but Jehoahaz prayed for the Lord's help, and the Lord raised up leaders within Israel and defeated the Syrians. Israel lived in peace for awhile, but as the people continued to worship the false goddess Asherah at Samaria, the Lord reduced Jehoahaz's army to 50 mounted troops, 10 chariots, and 10,000 infantry. The Syrians had destroyed the others.

When Jehoahaz died, his son Joash became king. The story of Jehoahaz is found in 2 Kings 13:1-10. The name Jehoahaz means "God has held firmly." There is a jasper seal in the Israel Museum, inscribed "Belonging to Jehoahaz son of the King."
Jehoahaz, king of Judah
Jehoahaz, fourth son and successor of Josiah (609-608 BC). His mother's name was Hamutal. He became King at age 23, and only reigned three months.

Pharoah Neco removed Jehoahaz from the throne and sent him to Egypt, where he later died. The Pharoah demanded an annual tribute from Judah, and appointed Eliakim as the new King of Judah. Eliakim's name was changed to Jehoikim. The story of Jehoahaz is found in 2 Kings 23:31-34, and 2 Chronicles 36:1-4.

The name Jehoahaz means "God has held firmly."

• Jehoash (Joash)
Jehoash, or Joash, King of Israel
Jehoash, also known as Joash, was the 12th King of Israel. He was the son of King Jehoahaz and he reigned 16 years. Elisha, the prophet, prophesied that Jehoash would have three victorious battles over the Syrians. Jehoash was successful in recapturing the cities that his father had lost to Syria. King Amaziah of Judah goaded King Jehoash into a war.

At first Jehoash resisted, but eventually he led his men into battle at Bethshemesh and defeated Amaziah. Jehoash's men marched into Jerusalem, captured King Amaziah, looted the Temple and palace, and took many people from Judah as hostages to Samaria. When Jehoash died, his son, Jeroboam 2, became king. The story of Jehoash is found in 2 Kings 13:9-19 and in 2 Chronicles 25:17-25. The name Jehoash means "God has bestowed/donated."

• Jeroboam 2
Jeroboam 2, King of Israel
Jeroboam 2 was the son of King Joash, and the great grandson of King Jehu. He reigned 41 years (789-748 BC). He was the 13th king of the northern kingdom of Israel. He was not related to Jeroboam 1. He fought and conquered Damascus and Hamath and expanded Israel's boundaries. There were peaceful relations between Israel and Judah during the reign of Jeroboam 2, and Israel became wealthy.

Although he reigned 41 years, there is not much written about him in the Bible, other than that he was as evil as Jeroboam 1, who had led Israel into the sin of worshiping idols (2 Kings 14:24). When Jeroboam 2 died, he was buried with the other Kings of Israel, and his son Zechariah became the new king. Jeroboam's story is found in 2 Kings, chapters 13-15.

• Zechariah
Zechariah
There are three prominent people in the Bible named Zechariah (or Zacharias), and their profiles are shown below:

• Zechariah, King of Israel
• Zechariah, the prophet
• Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist
Zechariah, King of Israel
Zechariah became the 14th King of Israel. He was the son of King Jeroboam II and he reigned for only 6 months around 746 BC. He was assassinated by Shallum, who then became king. Zechariah is described as an evil king in 2 Kings 15:9. He was the fourth and final king to be descended from Jehu. This fulfilled God's prophecy to Jehu of allowing Jehu's son, grandson, and great-grandson to reign as kings of Israel for destroying the dynasty of the evil King Ahab (2 Kings 10:30). Zechariah's story is found in 2 Kings 14:29 and in 2 Kings 15:8-12.
Zechariah, the prophet
Zechariah was a prophet from 520 BC to 518 BC in Jerusalem, about 2500 years ago. During that era, many Jews were returning from the Babylonian Captivity to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians.

Zechariah, the son of Iddo, was instrumental in inspiring his fellow Jews to rebuild the Temple (see Ezra 6:14).

Zechariah began prophesying during the same year as the prophet Haggai, in about 520 BC. Zechariah's prophecies came from visions that showed God's power, God's judgment of sin, the importance of spiritual strength, and the promise of things to come, including the promise of the Messiah.

Zechariah's prophecies often looked far into the future, a future in which the Jews would again be exiled from their homeland and scattered throughout the world. His prophecies said that Jews would be persecuted worldwide, that Jerusalem would become a battleground of nations, and that Jerusalem would become the religious center of the world.

Today, we can see with our own eyes that Zechariah's prophecies accurately described the worldwide dispersion of Jews that has taken place during the past 1900 years, as well as the fact that Jerusalem has become a focal point of the international community (the United States and Europe, and the United Nations) and a religious focal point among Jews, Christians and Moslems.

Zechariah, means "Yah has remembered". His book is the 11th book of the twelve minor prophets.
Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist
The father of John the Baptist, and husband of Elizabeth. He was a priest belonging to the order of Abijah. While he was offering incense in the Temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to him, and told him that his wife Elizabeth who had been barron for many years would give birth to a son, and the son's name would be John. Zechariah, who was an old man, did not believe the angel, and because of his disbelief, was struck dumb unable to speak, until the prophecy was fulfilled.

When the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, she did bear a son. On the eighth day when the child was circumcised, they were going to name him Zechariah, after his father, but Elizabeth said "No, he is going to be called John." This surprized everybody because none of their relatives had this name. They then asked Zechariah, who was still mute, what name he wanted to give his son. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." Immediately Zechariah's mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. (Luke 1:5-79). There is no further mention of Zechariah or Elizabeth in the New Testament.



• Shallum
Shallum, King of Israel
Shallum was the 15th king of Israel. He was the son of Jabesh and he reigned for only one month. He became king after he assassinated King Zechariah. His reign ended as it began - with an assassination. Shallum was killed by Menahem, who then became king. Shallum's assassination of King Zechariah ended the dynasty of Jehu and fulfilled the prophecy found in 2 Kings 10:30.

Shallum is mentioned in 2 Kings 15:10-15.


• Menahem
Menahem, King of Israel
Menahem, son of Gadi, became the 16th King of Israel after he assassinated King Shallum. He reigned 10 years in Samaria. He's listed as an evil king and worshiped idols, as did king Jeroboam I. After he assassinated Shallum, he destroyed the city of Tappuah and the surrounding communities, killing everyone there. He did this because the people there had refused to accept him as king. King Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria invaded Israel, but Menahem paid him off by raising 1,000 talents of silver by taxing wealthy Israelites.

The payment allowed Menahem to retain the throne, but the event marked the beginning of Israel's submission to foreign powers. When Menahem died, his son, Pekahiah, became king. Archaeological records involving Menahem include an Assyrian inscription recording the tribute payment. It includes the phrase, "Menahem of Samaria". There is also a quartz Hebrew seal in the Israel Museum inscribed with the words, "Belonging to Menahem". The name Menahem means "comforter." The story of Menahem is found in 2 Kings15:14-22.

• Pekahiah
Pekahiah, King of Israel
Pekahiah was the 17th king of Israel, and the 6th to be assassinated. His father was King Menahem. Pekahiah reigned two years. His reign ended when he was assassinated by Pekah, a general in his army.

Pekahiah is described as an evil king who continued the worship of false idols that had been started by Jeroboam 1. Pekah conspired with 50 men from Gilead to assassinate Pekahiah at the palace at Samaria. Pekah then became king.

His story is found in 2 Kings 15:22-26. The name means "The Lord opened his eyes."

• Pekah
Pekah, King of Israel
Pekah became the 18th King of Israel after he assassinated King Pekahiah. Pekah was the son of Ramaliah. The length of Pekah's reign is uncertain. He was described as an evil king, as he continued the worship of false idols that had been started by Jeroboam 1. Pekah was an army general.

It is believed he killed Pekahiah because the Israelites were angry that the Assyrians were dominating the kingdom of Israel. Pekah, as king, aligned himself with King Rezin of Damascus. He also encouraged the Edomites and Philistines to attack Jerusalem. King Ahaz of Judah turned to Assyria for help. The Assyrians then invaded Israel and took many people there as captives to Assyria.

The Assyrians eventually brought an end to the kingdom of Israel. Pekah was assassinated by Hoshea, who became the last king of the kingdom of Israel. The story of Pekah is found in 2 Kings 15:25-37.

• Hoshea
Hoshea, King of Israel
Hoshea was the 19th and final king of the ancient kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Elah and he became king after he assassinated King Pekah. He reigned nine years in Samaria (733-724 BC). King Hoshea's army was attacked and defeated in battle by King Shalmaneser of Assyria.

Assyria forced Israel to pay hefty annual taxes to Assyria. Hoshea, however, stopped paying the taxation and he asked King So of Egypt to help him break free of Assyria's power. The Assyrians responded by placing Hoshea in prison, and by besieging and conquering Samaria.

The Assyrians were brutal in their treatment of Israel. Many Israelites were killed or exiled out of the land of Israel. Many were placed in colonies in Halah, Gozan, and among the cities of the Medes. Hoshea's story is found in 2 Kings, chapters 15, 17 and 18.