God Has A Very Long Memory

     We're reminded that God has an exceedingly long memory...here we are reminded that all of this comes, because of the lynch-pin actions of Manasseh in bringing the judgment prophesied for so long crashing down on Judah's head. The Northern Kingdom is long gone now - to the Assyrians 117 years ago. They'll not be heard from again - ever - at least not until the time of the end when all of Israel is regathered.
     Now God is moving against His cherished Judah - long the object of His patience and mercy. But that patience has finally run out. He is using the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar to do so. Here in 605 (when Daniel et. al. is taken). He will again in 597 and will finally crush them 586 as Judah struggles against the bit.
     The point of all of this is to direct us to the Law, and ultimately to the mercy and grace of God. We cannot escape the memory of God. He remembers our sin, and thus our failing and we must account for our offense to He and to His holiness. There is no way out - but for one single opportunity. He has provided a way of mercy in His Son.
     This is the testimony of all three of the major prophets and the song of all twelve of the minor prophets. God is sending a Messiah and that Messiah will rescue, will provide a means of escaping the wrath, the judgment of God and will enable a means of entry into the Kingdom, the land God has promised His people.

Why Do We Never Learn?
     Time and again we read that the Kings of Israel and Judah both "do evil" in the sight of the Lord, following in the footsteps of their fathers. One would think that, simply from a practical point of view, they would learn from their example that "crime doesn't pay"!! You would think that they would observe that God, and they would surely see that the God of Israel as watching and was calling them to account, would hold them to the standard that was present and proclaimed in the Scriptures? But obviously, they managed to deceive themselves into believing that they were different than all of those who went before them, by whatever rationalizations they, or their pagan priest counselors foisted upon them.
     There is a danger in bad counsel isn't there? One needs to sure that they are receiving counsel that is solid and reliable. Counsel that will not result in destruction, but that, rather will lead to blessing. One way to do so is to take a look at where that counsel has led others. One of the great lessons of the Kings of Israel and Judah is their failure to see and learn that lesson (or their blundering on in spite of it!).
     One might also observe that this is a great demonstration of the doctrine of human depravity. It is an entirely Biblical argument that Jehoiachin did what was in his heart, it was out of his heart that his "mouth" spoke here. This is not to relieve him of any responsibility for his actions, God certainly did not, but only to say that his nature was corrupt and he only acted according to his nature, and God, because He was at the end of His patience, allowed his so to do. He did not interfere and draw him to godliness, as He did with Hezekiah and, most recently, with Josiah. It is clear in the Scripture that it is God Who initiates the process of godliness in an individual and it is God Who moves that process along to fruition. It is clear here that, because of the ungodliness in Israel and in these terribly ungodly people, God chose to allow them to reap the results of their sin.
     What it is important to remember is that it is not as if they had no witness and it is not as if they had no warning. They had the example of the Kings who went before them. They had the prophets, minor and major standing before them - men like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and the several of the minor prophets who were active at this time. What these kings did, they did in spite of these examples and in spite of all else that argued for the opposite behavior. They followed their natures because that was what they wished to do in rebellion against the God who had freed them from bondage in Egypt. In rebellion against they God Who had given them a land flowing with milk and honey and blessed them beyond measure. But none of that was good enough because that same God asked them to acknowledge that He was sovereign and not they! The nerve!
     And this they could not abide! Yet they would bow their knee to all manner of other, invisible gods of their own making because they were of their own CHOICE....the true god in all of this is the god that has reigned in man since Cain first erected an alter beside that of Abel...the god of human choice. Until we are willing to surrender ourselves and acknowledge that there is but One true and Living God and that He rules over all...there will be no peace, no matter how loudly men cry out that it is so.

A Godly Father Is No Guarantee
     We noticed earlier that godly son can follow on the heels of an ungodly father and saw it illustrated in the case of Hezekiah. Now we see the opposite in the case of Manasseh, perhaps the most ungodly king in Judah's history, following on the heels of one for the four godly kings, that same Hezekiah.
     We must note, however, that Hezekiah, though a godly man, and greatly blessed and used by God, was not the man that Josiah or Joash was; and he was certainly no David.
     This simply underscores the point that we were making; that God often intervenes and takes a hand in these matters and directs these affairs according to His own plan and purpose.