Israel’s Exile and Judah’s Reforms

2 Kings 15–20; 2 Chronicles 26–32

In order to grow up, we have to clean up. In this lecture talk, we're looking at the period of the kings right before Israel's exile into the Assyrian Empire, and King Hezekiah's dramatic spiritual reform in Judah during which God rescues them from a similar fate. We see bad kings who lead into bad worship or defiled worship of idols, falling eagerly into the pagan practices of the nations around them. Good kings were unwilling or unable to correct the people’s derelict and false notions of God. They continue to see God as a deity of power to be manipulated, persuaded by ritualistic sacrifices, rites, and hilltop mystical practices and not relate to Him as the only true God who made them purposefully for Himself - who insists on a real relationship that actually takes us somewhere progressively better and better, not a fake one that continues to mislead us into a pit of lies, damaging distortions, and spiritual traps..

Lies and distance from God destroys our sacred human identity and our worth. Let's see how God's plan for our regenerative growth in Him relies on knowing what true worship is as He has taught us in His Word.