Welcome to the club and the book of Second Kings.

I wish that our listeners could hear you pray for them before every episode.

Well, just so that you know, faithful listeners, we pray for you every single time that we record this

podcast. And so we hope that you feel that and you receive that today. But as we get into

this episode, let's recap last time. Chapters 15 through 17 of Second Kings, we covered nine

kings. That's a lot. It was a lot. So just to summarize for you, we had Azariah, also known as Uzziah, King of

Judah. He got a lukewarm rating. Zechariah, King of Israel, did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Shalom, King of Israel, did even more evil. Manahem, King of Israel, did much more evil, killing innocent women and children.

Pecaya, King of Israel, did evil. Pecca, King of Israel, did evil. Jotham, King of Judah. He was lukewarm,

just like his father, Azariah. Ahaz, king of Judah, did evil.

He sacrificed his own son in the fire,

formed an alliance with Assyria,

and renovated the temple in his own design and worship,

all things that were evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Hoshiah, the last king of Israel, did evil.

Well, when Israel's sin could be tolerated no more, they were

taken into captivity by Assyria. Deported and dispersed, all 10 tribes of the northern kingdom

were lost, never to recover or return to the promised land. And then the king of Assyria

unsuccessfully tried to repopulate Samaria with foreigners.

Samaria was the capital of Israel, so he's just transplanting people in.

Okay, in this episode with Israel out of the picture, the rest of the book of Second Kings,

which is chapters 18 to 25, will focus on the history of Judah until the fall of Jerusalem. Scene 1, Hezekiah is

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