“THE KINGS – NO MORE”
Season 4: Kings
Episode 8: “The Kings – No More”
Today’s Bible Bite: 2 Kings 23-25
Video Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrmTw0WroQ8 (The Jerusalem Watch – for adults and older children)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-4mQPfFoZM (0871Kings)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj0Lj356zzU (Children’s Bible Talk)
“This is what the LORD says: ‘You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.’” (Jeremiah 29:10)
God had given the people of Israel the land of Canaan and had promised to help them live well if they promised to serve him. But time and again, they made big mistakes—worshiping idols, trusting foreign nations, turning their back on God. The people of Israel and Judah’s kings were no better. Sometimes a good king would come to power like Joash or Hezekiah or Josiah, but most of them were very bad examples to follow. In 722BCE, God let the Assyrians conquer the northern kingdom of Israel and the people were scattered. In 586BCE, it was the Babylonians turn to end the southern kingdom of Judah’s self-rule.
After good King Josiah’s death, the Egyptians took charge of Judah; but soon, the Babylonians moved in. They surrounded the city and eventually overthrew it. Various kings were put in place to help rule Judah—Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah—but they weren’t good kinds and each one rebelled. Eventually, the Babylonians decided to completely destroy the city—they set it on fire, then tore down the Temple and the city walls. God didn’t stop the Babylonians because he had a different plan. He told his prophet Jeremiah to let the people know that they should obey the Babylonians and after 70 years he would bring them back to Jerusalem. God wasn’t done with his chosen people, but he knew that they needed a timeout…and so allowed them to be captured and taken to Babylon.
Think about it...
• The people of Israel had wanted a king, but most of their kings turned out bad. Why do you think that was?
• God had promised to help the people if they stayed loyal to him. The people did not stay loyal, so what did God do?
• Even though our parents sometimes have to punish us, that doesn’t mean they don’t love us. Why did God allow the people of Israel and Judah to be punished? What did he promise to do for them?
Prayer: Thank you, God, that you care about us and will at times intervene when we’re making really bad choices that you know will hurt us. Help us to be able to make good choices. And when we make mistakes, help us to get back on track.