Emily: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 300 and 44
Jo Ash was seven years old when he became king, and he
reigned in Jerusalem 40 years.
His mother was Zaya from Biba.
Jo Ash did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight throughout the lifetime of Jehoiada
the priest, Shoah chose two wives for Jo Ash and he had sons and daughters.
At one point, Josh decided to repair and restore the temple of the Lord.
He summoned the priests, send Levites and gave them these instructions, go
to all the towns of Judah and collect the required annual offerings so that
we can repair the temple of your God.
Do not delay.
But the Levites did not act immediately.
So the king called for je hollah, the high priest, and asked him, why haven't
you demanded that the Levites go out and collect the temple taxes from the
towns of Judah and from Jerusalem?
Moses, the servant of the Lord levied this tax on the community of Israel in order to
maintain the tabernacle of the covenant.
Over the years, the followers of wicked athaliah had broken into the temple
of God, and they had used all the dedicated things from the temple of
the Lord to worship the images of Baal.
So now the king ordered a chest to be made and set outside the gate
leading to the temple of the Lord.
Then a proclamation was sent throughout Judah and Jerusalem, telling the people
to bring to the Lord the tax that Moses, the servant of God, had required
of the Israelites in the wilderness, displeased all the leaders and the
people, and they gladly brought their money and filled the chest with it.
Whenever the chest became full, the Levites would carry
it to the King's officials.
Then the court secretary and an officer of the high priest would
come and empty the chest and take it back to the temple again.
This went on day after day and a large amount of money was collected.
The King and Jehoiada gave the money to the construction supervisors
who hired Masons and carpenters to restore the temple of the Lord.
They also hired metal workers who made articles of iron and
bronze for the Lord's temple.
The men in charge of the renovation worked hard and made steady progress.
They restored the temple of God according to its original design and strengthened
it when all the repairs were finished.
They brought the remaining money to the King and je joah.
It was used to make various articles for the Temple of the Lord, articles
for worship services, and for burnt offerings, including ladles and other
articles made of gold and silver.
And the burnt offerings were sacrificed continually in the temple of the Lord.
During the lifetime of Je Hollah, the priest, Jehoiada lived to a
very old age, finally dying at 130.
He was buried among the kings in the city of David because he had done so much
good in Israel for God and his temple.
But after Jo Hoya's death, the leaders of Judah came and bowed before King Joash and
persuaded him to listen to their advice.
They decided to abandon the temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and
they worshiped as Shira poles and idols in instead, because of this sin, divine anger
fell on Judah and Jerusalem, yet the Lord sent prophets to bring them back to him.
The prophets warned them, but still the people would not listen.
Then the spirit of God came upon Zachariah, son of Jehoiada, the priest.
He stood before the people and said, this is what God says.
Why do you disobey the Lord's commands and keep yourselves from prospering?
You have abandoned the Lord and now he has abandoned you.
Then the leaders plotted to kill Zachariah and King Joash ordered
that they stone him to death in the courtyard of the Lord's temple.
That was how King Joash repaid Jehoiada for his loyalty by killing his son.
Zachariah's.
Last words as he died were, may the Lord see what they
are doing and avenge my death.
In the spring of the year, the Ian Army marched against Joash.
They invaded Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders of the nation.
Then they sent all the plunder back to their king in Damascus.
Although the Ians attacked with only a small army, the Lord helped them
conquer the much larger army of Judah.
The people of Judah had abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
So judgment was carried out against Jo Ash.
The Ians withdrew leaving Jo Ash severely wounded, but his own officials
plotted to kill him for murdering the son of Jehoiada, the priest.
They assassinated him as he lay in bed.
Then he was buried in the city of David, but not in the Royal Cemetery.
The assassins were Jose Car, the son of an Amite woman named Shimmy and Jeba,
the son of a Moabite woman named Schumer, the accounts of the Sons of Joash.
The prophecies about him and the record of his restoration of the
Temple of God are written in the commentary on the Book of the Kings.
His son, Amiah, became the next king.
Amiah was 25 years old when he became King, and he
reigned in Jerusalem 29 years.
His mother was Jehu Aden from Jerusalem.
Amiah did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight, but not wholeheartedly.
When Amiah was well established as king, he executed the officials
who had assassinated his father.
However, he did not kill the children of the assassins, for he
obeyed the command of the Lord.
As written by Moses in the book of the law, parents must not be put to death
for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents.
Those deserving to die must be put to death for their own crimes.
Then Messiah organized the army, assigning generals and captains
for all Judah and Benjamin.
He took a census and found that he had an army of 300,000 select troops,
20 years old and older, all trained in the use of spear and shield.
He also paid about 7,500 pounds of silver to hire 100,000 experienced
fighting men from Israel.
But a man of God came to him and said, your majesty, do
not hire troops from Israel.
For the Lord is not with Israel.
He will not help those people of raim.
If you let them go with your troops into battle, you will be defeated by the enemy.
No matter how well you fight, God will overthrow you for he has the
power to help you or to trip you up.
Messiah asked the man of God, but what about all that silver?
I paid to hire the army of Israel?
The man of God replied, the Lord is able to give you much more than this.
So Amiah discharged the hired troops and sent them back to Raim.
This made them very angry with Judah, and they returned home in a great rage.
Then Amiah summoned his courage and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where they
killed 10,000 Hamite troops from Seer.
They captured another 10,000 and took them to the top of a cliff and threw them off,
dashing them to pieces on the rocks below.
Meanwhile, the hired troops that Amiah had sent home raided several of the towns
of Judah between Samaria and Beth Horan.
They killed 3000 people and carried off great quantities of plunder.
When King Amiah returned from slaughtering, the Edam mights,
he brought with him, idols taken from the people of Seer.
He set them up as his own.
Gods bowed down in front of them and offered sacrifices to them.
This made the Lord very angry and he sent a prophet to ask, why do
you turn to Gods who could not even save their own people from you?
But the king interrupted him and said, since when have I
made you the king's counselor?
Be quiet now before I have you killed.
So the prophet stopped with this warning.
I know that God has determined to destroy you because you have done this
and have refused to accept my counsel.
After consulting with his advisors, king Amiah of Judah sent this
challenge to Israel's king.
Je Joash, the son of Jehova has and grandson of jhu,
come and meet me in battle.
But King Jehovah of is Israel, replied to King Amiah of Judah.
With this story out in the Lebanon mountains, a thistle sent a
message to a mighty cedar tree.
Give your daughter in marriage to my son.
Just then a wild animal of Lebanon came by and stepped on the thistle, crushing it.
You are saying, I have defeated Edam and you are very proud of it.
But my advice is to stay at home.
Why stir up trouble that will only bring disaster on you and the people
of Judah, but Messiah refused to listen for God was determined to destroy
him for turning to the gods of Edam.
So King Jaho of Israel mobilized his army against King Amiah of Judah.
The two armies drew up their battle lines at Beth Sheesh in Judah.
Judah was routed by the army of Israel and its army scattered and fled for home.
King Jaho of Israel captured Judah's King Amiah son of Joash, and
grandson of a Isaiah at Beth Shees.
Then he brought him to Jerusalem where he demolished 600 feet of Jerusalem's wall.
From the Raam gate to the corner gate, he carried off all the gold and silver and
all the articles from the Temple of God that had been in the care of Obed Edam.
He also seized the treasures of the Royal Palace along with hostages,
and then returned to Samaria.
King Amiah of Judah lived for 15 years after the death
of King Je Joash of Israel.
The rest of the events in am Isaiah's reign from beginning to
end are recorded in the book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
After Amiah turned away from the Lord, there was a conspiracy against
his life in Jerusalem, and he fled to Laish, but his enemies sent assassins
after him and they killed him there.
They brought his body back on a horse and he was buried with his
ancestors in the city of David.
All the people of Judah had crowned Amaya's, 16 year old son, a Isaiah
as king in place of his father.
After his father's death, a Isaiah rebuilt the town of El
Lath and restored it to Judah.
Isaiah was 16 years old when he became King, and he
reigned in Jerusalem 52 years.
His mother was JE from Jerusalem.
He did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight just as his father Amiah had done.
Isaiah sought God during the days of Zechariah who taught him to fear God,
and as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success.
Isaiah declared war on the Philistines and broke down the walls of Ga jab and Ashdod.
Then he built new towns in the Ashdod area and in other parts
of Philistia, God helped him in his wars against the Philistines.
His battles with the Arabs of Gerr and his wars with the me unites.
The MEU Unites paid annual tribute to him and his fame spread even to Egypt.
For he had become very powerful.
Isaiah built fortified towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, at the valley
gate, and at the angle in the wall.
He also constructed forts in the wilderness and dug many water
cisterns because he kept great herds of livestock in the foothills
of Judah and on the planes.
He was also a man who loved the soil.
He had many workers who cared for his farms and vineyards, both on the
hillsides and in the fertile valleys.
Isaiah had an army of well-trained warriors ready to
march into battle unit by unit.
This army had been mustered and organized by Ja, the Secretary of
the Army and his assistant Maia.
They were under the direction of Hanania, one of the King's officials.
These regiments of mighty warriors were commanded by 2,600 clan leaders.
The army consisted of 307,500 men, all elite troops.
They were prepared to assist the king against any enemy.
Asiah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail,
bows and sling stones, and he built structures on the walls of Jerusalem.
Designed by experts to protect those who shot arrows and hurled large stones from
the towers and the corners of the wall.
His fame spread far and wide for the Lord.
Gave him marvelous help and he became very powerful.
But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall.
He sinned against the Lord his God, by entering the sanctuary of
the Lord's temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar.
Azariah, the high priest went in after him with 80 other priests
of the Lord, all brave men.
They confronted King a Isaiah and said, it is not for you, Isaiah
to burn incense to the Lord.
That is the work of the priests alone, the descendants of Aaron
who are set apart for this work.
Get out of the sanctuary for you, have sinned.
The Lord God will not honor you for this.
Isaiah who was holding an incense burner became furious, but as he
was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar
in the Lord's temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead.
When Azariah, the high priest, and all the other priests saw
the leprosy, they rushed him out.
The king himself was eager to get out because the Lord had struck him.
So King, a Isaiah had leprosy until the day he died.
He lived in isolation in a separate house for he was excluded
from the temple of the Lord.
His son, Jotham was put in charge of the royal palace and he
governed the people of the land.
The rest of the events of Isaiah's reign from beginning to end are recorded
by the prophet Isaiah son of AMAs.
When Isaiah died, he was buried with his ancestors.
His grave was in a nearby burial field, belonging to the kings for the people.
Said he had leprosy and his son Jotham became the next king.