I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 15-16.

    For the longest time my perception was that Judah had one or two good kings followed by one or two evil kings. I had a similar perception of the kings of Israel, except that the ratio was tilted towards evil kings. However, I realized reading today’s passage that this was not true. In actuality, most of the kings of Judah did what was pleasing to God. The only shortcoming of those kings was that they failed to convince the people to give up their worship at pagan shrines. On the other hand, the kings of Israel continued to encourage the people to worship the gold calves commissioned by Jeroboam and likely various pagan gods as well. We get this last from the account of King Ahaz of Judah. King Ahaz followed the example of the kings of Israel, going so far as to sacrifice his own son. That last bit suggests that when the kings of Israel encouraged their people to worship Jeroboam’s gold calves, they also encouraged them to adopt the worship practices of the surrounding peoples. When Jehu took the throne of Israel, the sect which worshiped the gold calves was similar in belief and practice to the one which worshiped in the Temple in Jerusalem. Over time it appears to have become more like the Baal worship which Jehu wiped out.