Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Kings 13

In the three and twentieth year of Joash the son of Ahaziah king of Judah Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom.

"Seventeen years" — that is a long time in which to do mischief.

Seventeen years of reigning over a people, influencing them all for mischief, turning them aside from God, and doing his utmost to erase the name of Jehovah from the hearts of the people. Remember, this Jehoahaz was the son of Jehu, who had been called to the front because of the sins of the house of Ahab. Though Jehu was brought forward to be a reformer, yet he and his race were as bad as those who were cast out.

What a sad thing this is, when those who are planted where the cumber-ground tree used to be become just as barren as the one that has been cut down, or are only fruitful in sour fruit! See here the force of evil example. It was many years since Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had set up the calves at Bethel and Dan; yet here is another king walking in his footsteps. You cannot tell, if you leave a bad example behind, how your children, and your grandchildren to distant generations, may follow your evil footsteps.

Bad examples are very vital; they live on age after age; and influence others long after the first transgressor is dead. The thought that we may be ruining those who are yet unborn, should keep us back from sin. Notice also, at the end of the second verse, He departed not therefrom. There is a final perseverance in sin; some men seem to prove it: He departed not therefrom. He was warned against it; he was chastened for it; but He departed not therefrom, If men hold on in sin, how much more ought the people of God to hold on in righteousness!

Whatever happens to you when you are once in the good old way, may it be said of you, He departed not therefrom. If all other men should turn aside, yet let that be said of you, He departed not therefrom. But, if you are in the wrong road, may the Lord cause you to turn from it, and to turn to himself at once! If you depart not from evil, you must depart from God.

God's people cannot sin without coming under chastisement.

Remember this word of the Lord, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." If you become church-members, and yet live unholy lives, you come under a special discipline, a discipline which I plainly see to be going on in the Church of God even to this day.

"For this cause," said Paul of the church in Corinth, "many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." No doubt God does send many rods to his rebellious family. He is not one of those fathers who "spare the rod, and spoil the child." Hazael and Benhadad were both wicked men; yet God used them as rods to chastise his sinning people.

And Jehoahaz besought the LORD, and the LORD hearkened unto him

Bad as he was, he knew the hand that struck him, and he implored Jehovah. What a wonder it is that God does hear the prayers of even wicked men!

I have heard it said, sometimes, that "the prayer of the wicked is an abomination to God." There is no such passage as that in Scripture. It is the sacrifice of the wicked that is abomination to the Lord.

Even when a wicked man cries to God, and even if his prayer is not a spiritual and acceptable prayer, yet God may hear it in a measure, as he did in this case. Sometimes that hearing of prayer leads men to repentance, and they then pray better prayers and receive greater blessings.

For he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.

God cannot bear to see the sorrows of his own people. Even when he himself is laying on the rod, if his child cries, it goes to his heart. Remember what he did to Pharaoh when he heard the sighing and crying of his people in Egypt. There is nothing more powerful with a father's heart than the tears of his child; and God heard the prayers of this bad man because He saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.

The Lord gave them deliverance from the cruel fetters of the Syrians. They had been so tormented, so plundered, so oppressed in every way, that God had pity upon them, and gave them peace.

Israel's repentance was only half-hearted; they repented because they suffered. They repented because of the suffering rather than because of the sin. They went back to the sin after they escaped from the sorrow.

Oh, do not be so, my hearer! If God has chastened you on account of sin, let yours be a thorough repentance. Go to God with hatred of your sin; for until you get rid of sin, your being rid of sorrow will be a small blessing.