Melachim Beis 16-21
16 – Israel and Aram go to war against Yehudah, and Ahaz King of Yehudah bribes Ashur to help. Ahaz starts worshipping Ashur’s deity. Ahaz is succeeded by Chikiyah.
17 – Ashur occupy Shomron and exile 10 tribes of Israel. The newcomers into Shomron are afraid to solely serve idols, so they serve idols and HaShem too!
18 – Chizkiyah’s righteousness and consequently his victories in battle. Ashur delivers an ultimatum to Chizkiyahu.
19 – Chizkiyah davens to HaShem via the prophet Yeshayahu, who promises success in war, and HaShem kills the army of Ashur overnight miraculously.
20 – Chizkiyah becomes ill, and is faulted for showing the king of babylonia all his wealth. Chizkiya dies, replaced by his son Menashe.
21 – Menashe takes over and is evil; we are told a list of his various grave sins. After his death, Amonon, his son takes over, and emulates his father’s evil ways. Amnon’s sevants kill him, and replace him with Yoshiyah.
DVAR TORAH ( v v v short!)
In perek 17 we are told of the newcomers into Shomron who served idols and served HaShem too. This sound very weird and incomprehensible?
But on a closer inspection, we might not be too different; idol worship has its roots in service of the self (that’s why most idols have human form), and we tend to worship many things which might not necessarily be bringing us closer to HaShem; whether sprorts, fashion, film, etc. The question is what do we care about in our real self; haShem or the foreign powers?
