1 Kings & 2 Kings, Oil may fall to USD$48 if it falls breaks below USD$58

Hi, 1 Kings and 2 Kings I have finished reading 1 Kings and 2 Kings. This is the summary of these two books. Please note that I am focusing the summary on the kings mentioned on these two books. I will omit the part where Elijah and Elisha showed their skills and prophesied certain things. Almost all the kings in these two books did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They have built a lot of idols for the Isrealites and the people in Judah to worship. These kings were not fully devoted to the Lord. They also worship the gods of other religions such as Baal, Asthoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians and Molech, the detestable God of Ammonites. (1 Kings 11:5). These are found in:

1. Golden Calves at Bethel & Dan (1 Kings 13:28)
2. Shrines on high places (1 Kings 13:31)
3. Jehoboam set up high places, sacred stones & Asherah poles, Male shrine prostitutes (1 Kings 15:23-24, 16:26, 16:31)
4. Baal (1 Kings 16:32)
5. Asherah Pole (1 Kings 16:33, 22:53)

Frequently Appeared Phrases

For Baal & Asherah poles, it is mentioned again and again in 2 Kings. We can know this by looking at these phrases which frequently appear in both 1 Kings and 2 Kings:

• He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he has caused Istarel to commit
• He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father(s) had done
• He did evil in the eyes of the Lord

Good Kings

However, there are some kings who followed the ways of the Lord but most of them did not really destroy everything completely.

King Solomon

A lot of us have heard of King Solomon. He was a good King and he was very intelligent. He has a lot of wisdom. He was very rich as well.  There were plenty of merchants and traders in the City of David. It generated a lot of revenues. In 2 Kings 10:23, the Bible says King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom thanl all the other kings of the earth. In 2 Kings 10:24, the Bible stated that the whole world sought audience with King Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put into his heart.

However, King Soloman loved many foreign woman and he has 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. (2 Kings 11:1-3) . He married the women whom God has told him 'You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods' (2 Kings 11:2b).  These women were from Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites , Sidonians and Hitties. King Solomon did turn away from God. He followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians and Molech, the detestable God of the Ammonites. (2 Kings 11:5). God then punishes King Solomon by tearing King Solomon all of his kingdom except one.

Other Kings Who Did Good

Most of the kings in 2 Kings who did good in the eyes of the Lord but they did not remove the high places that were built to worship idols. These kings include:

1. King Asa
2. King Jehosaphat
3. King Joash
4. King Amaziah
5. King Azariah (but God afflicted him with leprosy until he died)
6. Jotham

King Hezekiah

King Hezekiah did everything good in the eyes of the Lord. When Sennacherib was trying to attack Jerusalem, King Hezekiah prayed to the Lord praising him and asking if God could deliver him from the Assyrians led by Sennacherib. (2 Kings 19:14). Isaiah then replied that God would surely deliver him from the Assyrians and he did. (2 Kings 19:20-37) He also fell ill during his reign. This time, King Hezekiah prayed to God and ask if he could heal him. God then responded that he will live an extra 15 years. (2 Kings 20:1-11) However, at that time as well, Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah some letters and a gift, because he has heard of Hezekiah's illness. Hezekiah then showed them all the treasures that he had and everything in his storehouses. King Hezekiah fell and committed a sin here. (2 Kings: 20-14). After this incident, God then punished King Hezekiah by saying that '17 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. 18And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, that will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon' (Biblegateway.com, 2 Kings 20:17-18, NIV).

King Josiah

King Josiah is the best of all. He did everything which were right in God's eyes. During his reign, he found the Book of the Law (2 Kings 22:8-9 ) , realised that the previous kings has sinned (2 Kings 22:13-20). Later, he renewed the Lord's covenant (2 Kings 23:1-2) and proceed to destroy all the altars and high places, articles made for Baal and Asherah and burnt all to ashes. He also slaughtered all the preists of high places. At the same time, he got rid of all the mediums, spiritists, the household gods, idols and all detestable things in his country.  (2 Kings 23:4-15, 19-24). However, he did not destroy the tombstone which marked the man of God who come from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it. (2 Kings 23:16-18)

God was so pleased with King Josiah that it is written that '25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.' (Biblegateway.com, 2 Kings 23:25, NIV)

All the bible verses stated are taken the NIV version of the Bible.

We can see that the kings have committed a lot of sins. They worshipped idols and other gods and did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Jesus Christ, on our behalf, has died for our sins and transgressions and he rose again on the third day after his death. This event symbolises victory our sin and death. He has died once and for all. So, let us change our mindsets that everything that we do or we say, it is for God's glory. Let us try our best not to sin. I pray that we will be able to worship God, doing things which glorifies him regardless of who we are, and praise him. How Great Is Our God.

Oil may fall to USD$48 if it falls breaks below USD$58

This is a news that I have seen from CNBC Top News and Analysis through RSS feeds. Oil price may go as low as USD$48 a barrel. It is a video. Please click on the title to watch the video.

That's all for now.