2 Kings 17:1-24
For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation.
Heb. 2:2, 3.
I HAVE told you a great deal about Elisha. You have heard how many wonders he did. Did the people of Israel obey what he said? or did they still go on in wickedness? They went on in their wickedness.
At last Elisha died. God did not take him up to heaven in a chariot of fire. He died in his bed, and his spirit went to heaven, but his body was buried in the ground. After Elisha was dead, the people of Israel grew still more wicked. King Ahab had been a wicked king, and Ahaziah his son had been wicked, and the next king was wicked: and there were a great many kings of Israel, one after the other, and they were all wicked. At last God determined to send a great punishment to all the people of Israel.
You shall hear what it was.
There was a king, who lived a long way off, in a country called Assyria, and the king was called the king of Assyria. He was a heathen king, and was very rich, and he had a great many soldiers who could fight well. The king of Assyria came with his soldiers into the land of Canaan, and fought against the people, and conquered them; they got into all their towns, and took away their things, and they took the people away to be their slaves. How unhappy the people of Israel were when they were taken away from their houses and gardens, and obliged to go a long way off, and work very hard!
This was the punishment God sent them at last, because they would worship idols, and do many wicked things. They never came into their own country again, but heathen people came and lived in it.
I hope, my dear children, that you will not be like the people of Israel, for if you are God will send you some great punishment at last. If He does not punish you while you live, He will punish you afterward.
Questions on Lesson 35
Did the people of Israel listen to what Elisha said, and leave off doing wicked things?
Was Elisha taken up to heaven without dying?
What king came at last to fight against the people of Israel?
What did the king of Assyria do with the people of Israel, when he had conquered them?
Why did God let them be taken away from their land?