Have you ever looked at the brokenness in the world—or even within your own family—and wondered, "God, when will You make this right?"

In today's reading through 2 Kings 7–11, we encounter famine, miraculous provision, fulfilled prophecy, the downfall of wicked rulers, and God's perfect justice unfolding exactly as He promised. While these chapters contain difficult and violent events, they also reveal a comforting truth for Christian moms: God sees every injustice, remembers every promise, and acts in His perfect timing.

If you've been carrying burdens for your children, waiting for God to work, or struggling to trust Him when life feels confusing, this episode offers biblical hope that the King on heaven's throne has never lost control.

In This Episode

• Elisha's prophecy during Israel's devastating famine
• The four lepers who became unexpected messengers of good news
• God's providential care for the faithful Shunammite woman
• Why Elisha traveled into Syria and wept over Hazael's future
• Jehu's anointing and God's judgment on Ahab's family
• The dramatic fulfillment of God's prophecy against Jezebel
• Why God's justice may seem delayed—but is never forgotten
• Lessons for raising children who trust God instead of seeking revenge
• Encouragement for moms navigating unfair situations with faith and self-control

Key Bible Passages

• 2 Kings 7–11
• Romans 12:19
• Deuteronomy 32:35
• Psalm 37
• 2 Chronicles 16:9

What You'll Learn

• Why God's promises always come to pass—even when years have passed.
• How God often uses ordinary people to deliver extraordinary hope.
• The difference between taking vengeance ourselves and trusting God's justice.
• What Jehu's life teaches about partial obedience and wholehearted devotion.
• How parents can model meekness, forgiveness, and trust before their children.

A Word for Moms

One of the strongest parenting lessons in these chapters is learning not to carry the weight of justice ourselves.

Whether someone has hurt your child, misunderstood your family, or treated you unfairly, our instinct is often to defend, argue, or seek vindication. Yet throughout Scripture we see that God is the righteous Judge.

As we raise our children, we want them to know that courage isn't always loud. Sometimes courage looks like trusting the Lord to fight battles we cannot.

When our children watch us respond with humility instead of bitterness, and with prayer instead of revenge, they see the character of Christ on display.

Encouragement for Your Faith

These chapters may seem filled with judgment, but underneath every fulfilled prophecy is the faithfulness of God.

He remembers every promise.

He sees every injustice.

He protects His covenant.

And even when the world feels chaotic, the King of Heaven is still seated on His throne.

That same God invites us to rest in His wisdom as we parent, trusting Him to care for our children far better than we ever could.

Join the Journey

The Dwelling Place is the daily Bible podcast from Entrusted Ministries, helping Christian moms read through the entire Bible while growing in biblical confidence, faithful parenting, and a deeper love for Jesus.

If today's episode encouraged you, be sure to follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with another mom who is longing to study God's Word and raise her family on the truth of Scripture.

Together, let's learn to dwell with God—one chapter at a time.

Resources Mentioned

• Entrusted With a Child's Heart
• The Again Podcast

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary, Spurgeon's Treasury of David

This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

2

I'm Stephanie Hickox, and today we'll

look at Second Kings seven through 11.

3

I confidently assert that the Bible is

not boring, but I will acknowledge that

4

sometimes it can be confusing, and keeping

track of all the events and foreign

5

nations and the different kingdoms,

it does get a little bit complex.

6

But through it all, we can see that God's

Word will come to pass, that He brings

7

justice when His people are wronged,

and that He continues to use imperfect

8

people to accomplish His purposes.

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This episode does speak of a lot of

violence, so if you think that might be

10

sensitive for your kids, You can listen

to this alone To set the stage for today,

11

let's go back to chapter six for a moment

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When Elisha's servant was overwhelmed

because Syria was coming to attack

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Israel, surrounding the city with horses

and chariots, Elisha told him, 'Do not

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be afraid, for those that are with us

are more than those that are with them.'

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Then Elisha prayed and said, ' O Lord,

please open his eyes that he may see.'

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So the Lord opened the eyes

of the young man, and he saw.

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And behold, the mountain was full of

horses and chariots of fire all around

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Elisha When we're overwhelmed by the

battle before us, we can rely on the God

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who strongly supports those whose hearts

are His, after that, there was such a

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severe famine in the land that people

were shamelessly eating their children.

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And this is where chapter seven begins.

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Elisha issues a prophecy saying that

tomorrow they'll have plenty to eat.

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there was a captain who said,

"Even if God opened the windows

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in heaven, could this thing be?"

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And Elisha tells him, "You'll see

it with your own eyes, but you

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won't be allowed to eat of it."

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And then we're taken to four lepers

starving at the entrance of the city gate

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They're wondering if perhaps they'll be

allowed to take refuge in the Syrian camp

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but when they approach it, it's empty

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Because verse six tells us, "For the

Lord had made the army of the Syrians

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hear the sound of chariots and of

horses, the sound of a great army."

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They thought that there were armies

coming against them, and they abandoned

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everything they had These lepers come

finding a tent full of food and silver

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and gold, and they begin plundering it.

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But I love how they're rightly

convicted in verse nine.

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" We are not doing right.

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This day is a day of good news.

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If we are silent and wait

until the morning light,

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punishment will overtake us.

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Now therefore come, let us go

and tell the king's household."

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I appreciate this example of how they

helped each other to stop doing what was

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wrong and start doing what was right.

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They approached the king to give

him the news, and he has a hard

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time believing how miraculously

the Lord moved in their favor.

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They go and discover it's just as the

four lepers said and this fulfills

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the prophecy that Elisha gave.

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But the man who doubted earlier in the

chapter gets trampled in the gate and dies

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What's really neat to notice about

the history of Kings and how it was

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recorded, is that it doesn't just

share with us God's sovereignty

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and provision for the nation.

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Frequently interwoven are these

testimonies where God saw individual

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people and provided for them.

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In chapter eight, we once again

encounter the Shunammite woman who put

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that addition on her home for Elisha

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Elisha knew that the famine was coming,

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And he let the Shunammite woman know.

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She sought refuge in the

land of the Philistines.

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When she returns home, she goes before

the king because she needs to get her

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house and her land back And in the Lord's

perfect timing, at this moment, Gehazi is

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meeting with the king, telling him all the

acts and miracles that Elisha has done.

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At the very moment that he's

sharing the powerful testimony of

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Elisha raising the Shunammite's

son, the Shunammite woman enters.

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And because of this timing, the

king grants her request and restores

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her home and her land to her.

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Not just that, but says she

should be repaid for what the land

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produced the last seven years.

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It's been a great famine, so I

don't know how much that was.

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But the point is that God

providentially blessed her

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Next, Elisha travels to Damascus,

which is a city in Syria.

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It's not incredibly common for a prophet

to travel to a foreign nation, but

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he's doing this to fulfill the command

that God gave Elijah, his predecessor.

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Do you remember when the Lord

spoke to Elijah in a whisper and

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told him to anoint three people.

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These three men were the ones that

would put an end to Ahab's line.

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It seems God chose to take Elijah

up to heaven before he had a chance

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to complete all of those, and

Elisha is going to finish the job.

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in Second Kings eight we read,

" Now Elisha came to Damascus.

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Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, was sick.

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And when it was told him, 'The man of

God has come here,' the king said to

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Hazael, ' Take a present with you and

go meet the man of God, and inquire

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of the Lord through him, saying,

"Shall I recover from this sickness?"'

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So Hazael went to meet him and

took a present with him, all

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kinds of goods of Damascus."

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Elisha responds to Hazael, "Go say to

him, 'You shall certainly recover.'

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But the Lord has shown me

that he shall certainly die."

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And he fixed his gaze and stared

at him until he was embarrassed.

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Okay, this is a little

confusing, I realize.

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Elisha is not lying.

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Because the sickness is not

what ends Ben-Hadad's life

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And Elisha stares Hazael down until he's

ashamed And then Elisha begins to weep.

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Hazael asks, "Why does my lord weep?"

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And Elisha responds, "Because

I know the evil that you will

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do to the people of Israel.

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You will set on fire their fortresses,

and you will kill their young men with

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the sword, and dash in pieces their little

ones, and rip open their pregnant women."

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God has shown me that you are to

be king over Israel Hazael departs

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and goes back to his master,

telling him, " " Elish-Elisha

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said you would certainly recover."

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But the next day, he took the bedcloth,

dipped it in water, and spread it

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over his face till he died, and

Hazael became king in his place It's

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complicated to understand why the

Lord would anoint this man to be king

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when he was going to commit so much

evil, but we can use other scriptures

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to understand that God's judgment is

often carried out by unrighteous people

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Next, we're taken back to Israel to be

reminded about another wicked ruler who

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was negatively impacted by his wife.

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But in the mercy and faithfulness

of God, 2 Kings 8:19 tells us, "Yet

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the Lord was not willing to destroy

Judah, for the sake of David His

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servant, since He promised to give a

lamp to him and to his sons forever."

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In chapter nine, Elisha continues

with that next anointing of

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the future king of Israel.

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But he has to be careful because

there's already a king in Israel,

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and it was a very dangerous

operation to anoint a new king.

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He sent a messenger so that this

mission would be more covert.

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I'm noticing throughout that

Elisha is very good at delegating.

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There have been multiple times that

it seems he can rest in the Lord,

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giving important jobs to others, and

that's certainly convicting for me

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His messenger finds Jehu,

commander of the military.

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He's the son of Jehoshaphat, and

this really stands out to me because

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Jehoshaphat was king in the southern

kingdom of Judah, but his son Jehu

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will reign in the northern kingdom.

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and unfortunately

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You're probably reminded, you're probably

realizing that he's going to be a bad

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king if he reigns in the northern kingdom

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Got Questions is a fantastic

website, and I often look there

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when I don't have clarity in my

commentaries or in my reading.

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They explain that God used

Jehu as a reformer to clean

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up the mess Ahab had made.

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Since Ahab did more evil in the eyes of

the Lord than any who were before him

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God promised that there would be judgment

upon Ahab and his whole family line.

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God chose Jehu as one of the

three men who would enact this

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judgment upon Ahab's family

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And I just want to point out that

sometimes scripture will say that

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Jehu was the son of Nimshi, and that's

because his grandfather may have

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been more well-known at that time.

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But still he is the son of Jehoshaphat

back to that moment of his anointing

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Elisha's messenger pours oil on his

head, saying to him, " Thus says the

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Lord, the God of Israel, 'I anoint you

king over the people of the Lord over

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Israel, and you shall strike down the

house of Ahab your master, so that I

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may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my

servants the prophets, and the blood

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of all the servants of the Lord.'"

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For the whole house of Ahab shall

perish, and I will cut off from Ahab

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every male, bond or free in Israel.

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And I will make the house of Ahab

like the house of Jeroboam the

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son of Nebat, and like the house

of Baasha the son of Ahijah.

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And the dogs shall eat Jezebel

in the territory of Jezreel,

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and none shall bury her.

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God faithfully executes justice

for those that have been wronged.

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And the reason I think this is so

important for parenting is because,

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especially for me as I'm raising three

sons, there are often times where they

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wanna rise up and correct the injustices

of the world, whether it's defending

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their little sister when someone's unkind

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Or justifying themselves, even at

times defending me, but throughout

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the Bible, God says vengeance is His.

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There are times to rise up and act,

but our default should be like Christ,

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Being meek and ruled by self-control

It's our job to submit ourselves

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and what would be natural in the

flesh in defending ourselves, unless

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the Lord calls us to do otherwise

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we can tell that Jehu was a pretty

intense person, and it makes sense why

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God called him to be the one to zealously

carry out his purposes in Israel.

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In 920, we even read that he

drove his chariot That it was

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recognizable from very far away.

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When Jehu comes out from his

private anointing, the men around

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him blow the trumpet and proclaim

him as the new king of Israel.

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He gathers some men to go

confront the current king.

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The watchman sees them coming and Joram,

king of Israel, is trying to figure out

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if this is a peaceful approach or not.

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he comes out to meet Jehu

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And Jehu tells him, "How can

there be peace when you are so

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wickedly leading this nation?"

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And at that moment, Jehu

kills Joram, the son of Ahab.

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But what I think is so powerful

is that the location that they

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met on was the plot of land that

belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite.

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Do you remember this innocent man

that Jezebel plotted to take the

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land from and had wrongfully killed?

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God held Ahab accountable for his wrongful

death, and it's on this land that the

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Lord begins to avenge, that the Lord

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begins to fulfill his prophecy against

Ahab's line So now Ahab is dead and

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Joram his son is dead, but Jezebel,

Ahab's wicked wife, is still alive.

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When she hears that Jehu is approaching,

like any woman who knows her life

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is in danger, she puts on makeup.

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She paints her eyes and adorned her

head and looks out the window She yells

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down to Jehu and says, "Is it peace,

you Zimri, murderer of your master?"

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And he lifted up his face to the

window and said, " Who is on my side?

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Who?"

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Two or three eunuchs looked out at

him, and he said, 'Throw her down.'

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So they threw her down, and some of

her blood splattered on the wall and on

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the horses, and they trampled on her.

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When they went to bury her, they found

no more of her than the skull and

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the feet and the palms of her hands.

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When they came back and told him, he said,

' This is the word of the Lord, Which he

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spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite.

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In the territory of Jezreel, the

dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel,

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and the corpse of Jezebel shall be

as dung in the face of the field in

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the territory of Jezreel, so that

no one can say, 'This is Jezebel.'

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This is indeed gruesome.

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But remember, Jezebel is the one

who had all the prophets of God

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killed in the land, and Elijah

was the only one that escaped.

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She was wicked through and through

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And she led the nation in following Baal.

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She finally reaches her righteous

judgment, makeup and all.

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In chapter ten, Jehu continues to work

to bring justice to the line of Ahab.

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And it's a big feat because

Ahab had seventy sons.

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And when those rulers of the city and the

elders carry out this slaughter of the

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seventy sons, they ensure that he knows

the deed has been done by putting their

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heads in baskets and sending them to Jehu.

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This is a little bit different

than your typical basket that might

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show up in your conference room.

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but I guess everyone wanted to be sure

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it had been accomplished.

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Continuing on this theme that God's

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tells us Know then that there shall

fall to the earth nothing of the word

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of the Lord, which the Lord spoke the

house of Ahab for the Lord has done

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what he said by his servant Elijah

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So Jehu struck down all who remained of

the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his

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great men and all his close friends and

his priests, until he left none remaining.

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Next, Jehu encounters

more relatives of Ahab.

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They're coming to visit family, apparently

not knowing what has become of their line.

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Jehu, Jehu kills all forty two of them.

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And next he tricks the worshipers and

priests of Baal, saying he's going

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to offer a great sacrifice to Baal,

but he does it to trap all of them

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and make sure that all who are still

loyal to this pagan god are defeated

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Not only does Jehu kill the worshipers

of Baal, he demolishes the altar

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and turns it into a bathroom, which

archaeologists have discovered.

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Chapter 10 concludes telling us that Jehu

wiped out Baal from Israel, but he didn't

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take away the golden calves that were

set up in Bethel and in Dan But the Lord

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still rewards him for his faithfulness.

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And the Lord said to Jehu, "Because

you have done well in carrying

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out what is right in my eyes, and

you have done to the house of Ahab

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according to all that was in my heart,

your sons of the fourth generation

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shall sit on the throne of Israel."

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But Jehu was not careful to walk in the

law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with

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all his heart Jehu was allowed to reign

twenty-eight years, but unfortunately

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he did not submit himself to the ways of

the Lord Did you know he is the only

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king of Israel that we have a picture of?

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Archeologists have discovered a black

obelisk, a stone from Assyria, and it

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shows Jehu bowing down to pay tribute

to the king of Assyria at that time.

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It brings much credibility to these

biblical accounts, we won't discuss

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Second Kings eleven much because

we already studied this story when

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we were walking through Chronicles.

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It's the one with Athaliah, that

worst grandmother in history,

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killing all of her grandchildren

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But God, in His faithfulness, protected

that baby boy Which was pivotal in

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continuing the Davidic Covenant.

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This was a lot of justice for one

episode, but I hope that you can still

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see the goodness and faithfulness of God.

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And certainly, we have another reminder

of why it's so important to fear God.

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He is just as faithful today

to avenge the innocent.

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And though we often need to be patient

for it, We can trust that the God who sees

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everything will act in His perfect timing

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you

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are the king who is seated on the throne.

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As we read about the failings of

so many, we take this opportunity

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to evaluate our own hearts, the

places where we're divided as well.

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We pray you would allow us to glorify you.

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We want to be more meek and to trust

you to bring justice and to right

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the wrongs that we see around us.

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And as women, we're convicted that the

way that we rise up is often in giving

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ourselves over to gossip or bitterness

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or nagging.

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We ask that you would purify our

hearts and our speech, and that we

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would set an example of trust even

when others act unrighteously toward

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us We pray that this deep peace and

trust in your purposes would reign in

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the hearts of our kids, and that they

would choose kindness as you did, Lord.

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We pray for their protection

and that those that are

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drivers would not be like Jehu.

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And we thank you, God, that

we can trust you to do what is

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right and good on this earth.

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Thank you that you are seated on

the throne interceding for us now.

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It's in your mighty name

that we pray, Jesus.

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Amen.