I SAMUEL CHAPTER ONE

[JLG]

1 Kings 17

There is no rain. Elijah asks a widow to give him a bit of water and a piece of bread. But she says she has no bread, just a bit of flour and a bit of oil. And she doesn’t have enough to eat for her and her son. Elijah tells her not to worry and prepare some bread for him and then she will be able to prepare something for her and her son. He tells her that God will give her enough flour and oil to make bread till it rains. But then her son dies. So Elijah asks God to bring the child back to life and he does.

 

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1 Kings 18

God wants to bring back rain in Israel when the famine is severe in Samaria. Elijah goes to Ahab; He tells Ahab to bring all the prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel. Elijah will face the 450 prophets of Baal and they will offer sacrifices to God and to Baal but without putting fire. The god that will answer by fire will be the true God. Baal doesn’t answer. Finally Elijah tells to put a lot of water on God’s sacrifices. Then he prays God to answer Israel and show them who the true God is by putting fire on his sacrifices and he does it. Then Elijah tells the people to kill Baal’s prophets. After rain comes.

 

[JLG]

1 Kings 19

Jezebel wants to kill Elijah. So he goes away. Then he goes to Horeb, the mountain of the true God. And God tells Elijah to anoint Hazael king of Syria and Jehu king of Israel and Elisha as prophet instead of Elijah.

 

[JLG]

1 Kings 20

The king of Syria goes against Samaria. He wants everything that belongs to Ahab: silver, gold, wives and sons. Finally God gives the victory against the King of Syria. At the beginning of the year, the king of Syria goes again against Ahab and Israel. But then again god gives the king of Syria in the hand of Israel. But Ahab doesn’t kill the king of Syria so God tells Ahab that he will die.

 

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1 Kings 21

Ahab wants the vineyard which close to his palace so he proposes to buy it or give another one instead. But Naboth refuses because it belongs to his forefathers. So Jezebel gets rid of him by falsely accusing him and having him stone to death. Then God sends Elijah to Ahab to tell him that the dogs will lick up his blood at the same place where they licked Naboth’s blood. And his house will be destroyed and the dogs will eat up Jezebel his wife.

 

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1 Kings 22

Syria and Israel are in peace for 3 years. Then Jehoshaphat the king of Judah goes to Ahab the king of Israel who want Jehoshaphat to fight the king of Syria to get back Ramothgilead. But Jehoshaphat tells him to ask god about it. God answers to go and fight. Jehoshaphat wants to ask God another time through another prophet so Ahab thinks about Micaiah but he hates him because he always prophesies bad things about him. All the prophets repeat again that they will win against the king of Syria. But he says that it was a trick from God but in fact they will lose against Syria. So Micaiah is put to prison till Ahab comes back. Ahab says he will disguise himself during the battle but he tells Jehoshaphat to put his royal attire. Ahab is killed during the battle and the dogs lick his blood and ther prostitutes bathe there as God had said. Jehoshaphat acts according to God except for the high places he didn’t remove and he keeps peace with Israel’s kings. Ahaziah becomes king of Israel and he acts against God like his father Ahab. And Jehoram, Jehoshaphat’s son, becomes king of Judah.

 

[JLG]

Well, Israel wanted human kings, they got them but they only brought troubles and troubles and troubles and Israel went away from God and paid the consequences!

 

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2 Kings 1

Ahaziah has an accident so he sends his messengers to ask Baalzebub if he recovers. But God’s angel tells Elijah to go and meet these messengers that because he doesn’t ask God Ahaziah will stay in bed and die. Then Ahaziah sends a group of men to Elijah to come to Ahaziah but Elijah answers that a fire will come down the sky and consume them. So Ahaziah sends another group of people but another fire comes from the sky and consumes them. So he sends another group of people but this time their chief bows down Elijah and asks him to save their lives. So God’s angel tells Elijah to go with them to Ahaziah and the king dies; He is replaced by Jehoram.

 

[JLG]

2 Kings 2

Elijah and Elisha are together and the second one doesn’t want to leave the first one because he knows that he won’t see him again as God will call him. They arrive at the Jordan, Elijah takes his official garment and rolls it and strikes the waters so they both can cross the Jordan on dry land. And Elijah asks Elisha what he wants from him before he leaves; And Elisha asks for a double portion of his spirit. He will get what he asks if he sees Elijah taken away. Then Elijah is taken away in a windstorm and Elisha can see him disappearing. In fact, he sees a chariot with horses ascending. Then Elisha takes Elijah’s garment and strikes the rivers and goes back to the other bank. In Jericho, Elisha purifies the waters of the source. When he is in Bethel, he meets 42 youngsters who mock him. Then he curses them in God’s name and then two bears kill them. It reminds us that we can’t play with God. Faithful also means being respectful!

 

[JLG]

With the book of Kings, we are not told about kings' youth but we are told about their fathers who mainly act badly; As a consequence, their children act badly. It also freminds me of Lot when he is in Sodom and Gomorrah: when the two angles come to get him out of the city, the inhabitants surround lot's house because they want to have sexual intercourse and it says both old and young or lad meaning young boy!

 

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2 Kings 3

Jehoram, Ahab’s son, king of Israel acts badly but not like his parents because he removes the sacred pillar of Baal made by his father Ahab. In fact, badness is badness, you can’t be half good and half bad, it’s one way or the other. Of course, we make mistakes! But dealing with the kings of Israel and Judah, when they act badly against God, they keep acting badly! Sometimes they may change for a while but they usually keep the same direction! Moab revolts against Israel. So Jehoram goes to fight against Moab and he asks Jehoshaphat if he agrees coming with him against Moab. So they go with the king of Edom. After few days they run out of water. So they want to ask God through one of his prophets. So they go to meet Elisha. In fact, God only cares about Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. So they get water and win against Moab. But they must destroy everything from Moab: every fortified city, every choice city, every good tree, all the springs of water, every plot of land. In the morning when the sun shines on the water, the moabites think they see blood so they think the three armies have thought against each other so the moabites go to the camp of Israel and they lose and they flee and they are killed. Finally, Israel leaves.

 

[JLG]

2 Kings 4

One of the wives of the sons of the prophets tells Elisha that her husband is dead and a creditor wants to take her children as slaves. She only has a jar of oil. So Elisha tells her to bring as many empty containers as possible. She must fill all the containers. Then she can sell the oil and pay her debts and lives from what is left. Then Elisha goes to Shunem and there a prominent woman always invites him to eat a meal. To thank her, he asks her what he can do for her. She does not have a son and her husband is old. So Elisha tells the woman that within a year she will have a son. But she does not believe him. But she gets a son just like Elisha had told her. But one day the child dies. So his mother goes to Elisha. He tells his servant to to to the boy and put his staff on the boy’s face. But nothing happens. So Elisha goes to the boy. And he lays down on the child and the boy’s body starts to warm. Then the boy recovers. There is a famine in the land. A man brings loaves of bread to Elisha and he tells his servant to give it to the people. But it is not sufficient because they are 100. but as God says, there is enough for all and there is left.

 

[JLG]

2 Kings 5

Naaman is the army chief of the king of Syria is a leper. His wife has a little girl as servant. She tells Naaman’s wife that if Naaman would go to Samaria and meet God’s prophet, he would cure him. So Naaman goes to Elisha who tells him to wash seven times in the Jordan. He says that the rivers of his country are better. Then he goes away but his servants makes him think so he goes to the Jordan and gets clean. He wants to give Elisha a gift who refuses. Elisha’s servant goes to Naaman and asks for the gift. Because of what he did, Elisha tells him that he will get Naaman’s leprosy.

 

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2 Kings 6

There is a war between Syria and Israel. Elisha tells the king of Israel to avoid a place where the king of Syria is going. So the king of Syria is angry because the king of Israel avoid his army. So the king of Syria send soldiers to get Elisha and surround the city where he is. Elisha asks God to make them blind and he takes them to Samaria where the king of Israel is. After that they return to the king of Syria. Then he goes with his army to Samaria and besieges the city and there is a great famine. The king of Israel wants to kill Elisha because of the famine.

 

[JLG]

2 Kings 7

There are four lepers at the city gate and there is nothing to eat so they decide to go to the Syrians to see what’s going to happen. When they arrive at the Syrian camp nobody is there because God made the Syrians hear the sound of war chariots and horses and a big army so they fled. So the lepers enter a tent and eat and drink and take everything they can. Finally they decide to tell the Israelites. So it happens like what Elijah had said the day before.

 

[JLG]

2 Kings 8

Seven years of famine. Elisha goes to Damascus to the king of Syria who is sick and dies. Hazael becomes the new king and Elisha weeps because he he knows that Hazael will make Israel suffer. Jehoram becomes king of Judah and he acts badly against God. And edom revolts against Judah who won but Edom keeps revolting. And Ahaziah becomes king of Judah and he acts badly against God. And he goes with Jehoram to fight the king of Syria bur Jehoram is wounded.

 

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2 Kings 9

God chooses Jehu as king of Israel and Ahab must destroy the house of Ahab. So Jehu kills Jehoram and Ahaziah then jehu asks two men to throw Jezebel down and dogs eat her.

 

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2 Kings 10

Jehu asks the heads of the 70 sons of Ahab and he kills all the members of the house of Ahab and then he kills the brothers of Ahaziah the king of Judah. And Jehu organizes a ceremony for Baal to kill all the priests and worshippers and he destroys all the sacred pillars and the house of Baal so nothing is left but he doesn’t take away the golden calves. As a reward, God will permit four generations of Jehu’s descendants to be king of Israel. But Jehu doesn’t follow God with all his heart so God cuts off Israel piece by piece. And Jehoahaz becomes king of Israel.

 

[JLG]

2 Kings 11

Jehosheba, the daughter of king Jehoram, Ahaziah’s sister, takes Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah and steals him away from among the sons of the king who were to be put to death so Athaliah. Then Jehoash is made king and Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother is put to death. And the house of Baal is destroyed and baal’s priest is also killed.

 

[JLG]

2 Kings 12

So Jehoash is king of Judah for 40 years and he acts accordingly to God thanks to Jehoiada the priest who instructed him but he does not remove the high places where people make sacrifices. Jehoash wants the money which goes to the house of God to repair it. Hazael the king of Syria attacks Gath and then Jerusalem. So Jehoash sends all the money he finds and sends it to Hazael so he withdraws from Jerusalem. Then his servants kill him and makes his son Amaziah king of Judah.