Day 28 ~ Teasing bald men can be deadly

• Chapter 1 - Moab attacks - there is an enemy who was waiting for an opportunity - Ahab's death
• The Lord reminds the king of Israel that there is still a God over the land through his prophet Elijah. It costs Ahaziah 100 men and his own life
• Chapter 2 - Elijah seems like he is trying to get rid of Elisha - he tries to get him to stay behind three times, but Elisha won't leave his side.
• The third and fourth time that the Lord parts water so people can cross on dry land occurs in 2:8 through Elijah, and vs 14 by Elisha. The mantle is passed to Elisha. Literally
• Elijah is taken with a chariot of fire in a whirlwind to heaven. He is the second prophet to not die - Enoch was the first (Genesis 5:24)
• It isn't clear to me - did Elisha get the double portion of spirit?
• Elisha was a bit touchy about his bald head - 42 youths who teased him were mauled by bears (2:24)
• Chapter 3 - Jehoram is a bad king, but not super bad like his father. I guess that's a compliment of sorts. And he isn't as bad as Ahab's other son, Ahaziah, who king Jehoshaphat of Judah would not work with, but this replacement is good enough that the two kingdoms unite together with the king of Edom in battle agains the Moabites.
• The three kings realize they are in a weaked situation and send for a prophet of God (should have done that before you went marching into the desert for 7 days). Elisha won't deal with the evil king of Israel, but will prophesy for the king of Judah.
• Chapter 4 - the widow and the blessing from Elisha to fill the oil jars. Don't be short-sighted! When the jars ran out, so did the oil.
• The Shunammite woman was so hospitable to Elisha when he traveled his circuit, that she prepared a room for him to use whenever he was in town. Her blessing was a son, who was later injured on his head and died. The woman goes to Elisha at Mt. Carmel to get Elisha because she knows he can perform miracles in God's name. Elisha was able to perform the miracle of raising the boy.
• Chapter 5 - why does Naaman want two loads of earth (5:17). He wants to follow God after being healed, but if pressured, he will bow to the false gods and is asking forgiveness in advance (5:18). Reminds me of the Left Behind books when people refuse to deny Christ - they don't deny him and are killed. Naaman's commitment is only skin deep.
• Gehazi - a hanger-on to Elisha, gets greedy and gets leprosy.
• Chapter 6 - what is the point of the floating ax head?
• It would have been pretty cool to see the army of the Lord revealed as described in vs. 17. This again reminds me of the Left Behind books.
• Why does the king call Elisha "father" (6:21)
• A famine so severe comes on the land that the price is given for a donkey's head - I'm assuming that the people were so desperate that they would actually sell a donkey's head to eat for a large sum. Only 5 horses are left in all the city (7:13) It gets worse: in verse 6:29, the people are resorting to cannibalism.
• The raider warfare wasn't working, so Syria besieged Samaria, and this only compounds the famine. The king thinks that killing God's prophet will help?
• Chapter 7 - God again plays with one of the senses to fool the Syrians - in chapter 6 he made them blind then restored their sight in the presence of their enemy; here their hearing makes them think they are surrounded by a great army and they leave Samaria. The plunder from the abandoned camp ends the famine as Elisha prophesied.
• Chapter 8 - It would seem that chapter 8 backtracks a bit - Elisha must have told the woman to leave before the famine described in chapters 6 & 7. For one, the king is talking to the hanger-on of Elisha, Gerhazi, and we know that he has leprosy (chapter 5) and would no way have audience with the king.
• The kingdom of Syria gets a wicked king - Hazael, sent by Syria's king Ben-Hadad, was sent with gifts to Elisha to see if the king would be healed of his sickness. Elisha prophesies that he will not die of his sickness, but he won't live. He says that Hazael will take over the throne and will be a terribly violent leader. Hazael doesn't waste any time - he goes back with the news that Ben won't die of his sickness, then kills the king in his sleep and takes the throne.
• Judah breaks it's string of okay (as opposed to really bad) leaders when Jehoshaphat's son marries a daughter of evil king Ahab (northern kingdom) and rules after his father. Downhill from there.
• Two bad kings of Judah and Israel unite to fight against the killer Hazael of Syria. Both Hebrew kings return home injured or sick.
• Chapter 9 - some more blood for the dogs to lick up in the stolen field of Naboth. Jehu, anointed as king by word of Elisha, kills both the king of the northern and the southern kingdoms. Which kingdom will he rule over? The prophecy about Jezebel's death comes true at the hands of Jehu as well.
• There should be a rule about unique names in the Bible. To make this ruling power timeline more complicated, there is an Ahaziah in both the northern and southern kingdom. And similar names: Joash/Jehoash/Jehoahaz - I'm tired and I can't keep these straight!
• Chapter 10 - another prophecy comes true at the hands of Jehu - the family lines of Ahab (north) and Ahaziah (south) are wiped out (well, except for Joash, who was hidden for several years and then later rules in the southern kingdom - see chapter 11). Jehu cleans house by killing Baal worshippers, but he doesn't clear out the golden calves of Jeroboam. God rewards the good work that he did by promising that Jehu's family would rule in the northern Israel for four generations.
• 10:32 - important to note that the Lord was cutting off parts of the land given to the tribes - all the land of Gilead given to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh is lost. This is the land outside of the promised land to the east of the Jordan. I don't think it will ever be regained.
• Chapter 11 - hey, a devilish queen for a little while in the southern kingdom (Athaliah). She kills her own kids to ascend the throne (misses one!) A new priest, Jehoiada, comes on the scene in Judah, and he goes behind the back of Athaliah under heavy guard and crowns the seven-year-old boy Joash as king. Athaliah is killed.
• Chapter 12 - Jehoiada must have been a puppet master for awhile to the young king, but he cleans the place up a bit, and Joash (there are descrepancies in the spelling) tries to be a good king, but he's a sissy. He has the temple repaired, only to turn around and give up all the stuff to the king Hazael of Syria who threatens to attack Jerusalem. Why attack when a threat delivers the booty?
• Another killing of a king by inside men. Joash is history.
• What happened with Elisha? He's been off the scene since appointing Jehu king in early chapter 9.
• Chapter 13 - oh, there is Elisha, but he's sick and gonna die. Joash calls him "father" too. I'm too tired to try to decipher the last few paragraphs...but I did read them!