SHALLUM, and MENAHEM KING OF ISRAEL.

SHALLUM,

Shallum the son of Jabesh assassinated Zechariah and became king in his stead. His reign marked the end of the Jehu dynasty. Which lasted 4 generations as promised by God. Shallum reigned for only one month before he was also assassinated by Manehem, son of Gadi.

LESSONS

a)     Whatever you sow, you shall reap, shallum killed to get to the throne and he was also eliminated sonner than imagined. We may ride on others to get to a leadership position but others will ride on us to get there also.

MENAHEM, KING OF ISRAEL.

Menahem staged a bloody coup to take over the throne of Israel, he smoke Tiphsah and all the coasts killing even pregnant women in the towns where he was resisted. He reigned for 10 years and did evil in the sight of god. He continued in the false worship instituted by Jeroboam, son of Nebat, he also taxed the people heavily to pay off Pul the king of Syria who came to attack Israel.

LESSONS

a)     When the leader and the subject forsake God, evil proliferates/ multiplies and the people pay for it. Righteousness exalts a nation, sin is a reproach. There is no need to always pray for good leaders.

ZECHARIAH, KING OF ISRAEL

Zechariah, son of Jeroboam reigned for 6 months in Israel. He continued in the evil of his fathers. He was assassinated by Shallum, son of Jabesh.

LESSON

a)     The Lord will always keep his promise. He fulfilled his promise to Jehu by allowing 4 generations after him to rule over Israel.

b)    If Jehu and his descendants have been faithful probably their reign would have been extended, unfortunately, they misused the opportunity given to them. How are you as a leader using your opportunity and authority. Whatever your choice it may consequences over your descendants and generations to come.

AZARIAH OR UZZIAH KING OF JUDAH.

Azariah, the son of Amaziah was 16 years when he became king.  He ruled for 52 years. He did what was right before God but he did not abolish idolatry. He sought after God throughout the days of Zechariah, and as long as he sought God, God prospered him. He fought against the philistines, the Arabians and he succeeded. Even the ammonites brought tributes to him, he was famous and powerful. He had a great army, armoury and great inventions. However he became proud and took up the duty of the priest. When Azariah and the other priests tried to stop him, he became angry and was adamant and he became a leper and his son Jotham managed the kingdom on his behalf.

LESSONS

a)     As leaders, whatever needs to be done to cleanse our organization should be done. We should not allow evil to continue. Azariah must have been aware of the continuous idolatry among his people but he did nothing drastic to arrest it. God will hold us accountable for evil happening under our nose if we are in position to stop it and we fail to do so.

b)    Leaders can do exploits for God if they will totally follow him and rely on him. The successes recorded by Uziah were because of his devotion to God. Eyes have not seen what can do through ordinary people who rely on him.

c)     Pride goes before a fall, leaders should be aware of presumptuous sins. They should always remember that their success comes from God, they should never allow success to get in to their heads by claiming glory for it or acting beyond their God given mandate. Uziah though powerful and famous went above board and he fell flat. This is an area where every leader must be extra careful. People will hail you and flatter you when you are making progress, but when it is allowed to get into the head of a leader, it becomes a snare that can cause the downfall. The antidote is to keep the eye of Jesus always. Do not be deceived by flattery or discouraged by censure.  

JEROBOAM, KING OF ISRAEL

Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel succeeded his father and reigned for 41 years in Israel. He did evil in the sight of God, following after Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Inspite of this the Lord was still merciful to Israel. He delivered hem form the enemies through the hands of king Jeroboam who recovered back the land of Damascus and Hamath to Israel.

LESSONS

a)     The Lord is merciful and compassionate, he never treats us according to our iniquities. Leaders have every reason to serve him and walk in his ways.