2Ki 21:13-26, 2Ki 22:1-2  “The Line and the Plummet”

[Study Aired March 30, 2023]

[We start with the last verse from last week’ study:  2Ki 21:12  Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.] 

2Ki 21:13  And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. 
2Ki 21:14  And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; 
2Ki 21:15  Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. 
2Ki 21:16  Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. 
2Ki 21:17  Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 
2Ki 21:18  And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. 
2Ki 21:19  Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 
2Ki 21:20  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did. 
2Ki 21:21  And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them: 
2Ki 21:22  And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD. 
2Ki 21:23  And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house. 
2Ki 21:24  And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.
2Ki 21:25  Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
2Ki 21:26  And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.
2Ki 22:1  Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.

The book of kings is a long, stretched out experience of good and evil events throughout history that remind us what the vanity of flesh is capable of and how God works all things according to the counsel of His own will; a work that will in time humble all of His creation (Eph 1:11-13).

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

Being those “who first trusted in Christ” is the blessing and honor bestowed upon those who are being first judged in this life (1Pe 4:17), and given the power and boldness to put off our flesh as Christ did (1Jn 4:17). There is a definite correlation with learning to trust God as a result of our judgment as these verses make very clear in 2 Corinthians 1:9-10.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 

2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 
2Co 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

In this second part of chapter twenty-one, there is a more detailed account of those judgments upon Jerusalem which represent the people of God who are up against all the various characters God uses to accomplish His judgment [in our lives] which He does via “the line of Samaria” and “the plummet of the house of Ahab.” It is the experience of “evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it” that we are looking at again, learning more deeply what these words mean for us today in Isaiah 45:7 via events that were written for our admonition (1Th 5:20) upon whom the ends of the ages are come (1Pe 1:12, 1Co 10:11)

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, (2Co 4:15) which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, (2Co 4:15) upon whom the ends of the world are come.

2Ki 21:13  And I [the LORD God of Israel] will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.
2Ki 21:14  And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; 
2Ki 21:15  Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. 

The two other times we see the word “plummet” used in the bible are found in Isaiah 28:16-17 and Zechariah 4:10. Both verses express how God will judge His people through Christ who is typified by “the hand of Zerubbabel” in Zechariah 4:10 and “a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste” speaking of Christ in Isaiah 28:16-17. His function as our high priest is described as one who knows how to destroy the hidden sin of our life using that plummet which represents God’s word he will lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet so that “the hail [God’s word] shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place” (Psa 19:12-14).

Zec 4:10  For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; [the body of Christ] they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth [Jer 22:29] .

Isa 28:16  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

Psa 19:12  Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. [“the hiding place“ of Isa 28:17]
Psa 19:13  Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. [Heb 6:4-6, Heb 10:26]
Psa 19:14  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. 

In these verses (2Ki 21:13-15) it sounds like God is simply done with ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘the remnant of mine inheritance’ and cut it off completely as He did with “the house of Ahab” [2Ki 9:8], but it is the necessary experience of evil we must go through that separates us from God so we are brought to our wits’ end and cry out to him for deliverance. It is the flesh and bones of Christ’s body, the church (Eph 5:30), that “despised the day of small things” having to go where we don’t want to go by God’s hand, experiencing His correction which is never pleasant when you’re going through it (Psa 22:1, Mat 27:46, Joh 21:18, Heb 12:11), but it must happen (Heb 12:8) so that the desired effect will be achieved by our LORD who will “stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down” which will lead to our rejoicing in Him for these wonderful works to the children of men (Psa 107:31). Wiping a dish and turning it upside down are symbols of the actions that God must take against our sinful flesh in order for us to come to our senses and see our need for God’s continual cleansing through “the righteous judgment of God” (Rom 2:5). He turns our world upside down as often as He needs to (Rom 2:4) and uses our own iniquities represented by “the line of Samaria” and “the house of Ahab” to accomplish this (Jer 2:19).

Psa 22:1  To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? 

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

God will not forsake His remnant, but He will forsake the first man Adam part of our existence that cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50, Mal 4:1), so when we read “I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies“, it is speaking again of God giving us over to our own sinful condition for an appointed time until we are delivered and are no longer “a prey and a spoil to all their enemies.” That does not sound logical to the law of sin in our members (Rom 7:23) that contends with the way God does things, causing us to err (Isa 63:17) and bringing us to our wits’ end so that we cry out, and yet it is through the trials and the storms of this life that we begin to cease from sinning (1Pe 4:1-2) and eventually stop asking God why did you form me this way? God delivers us, and a new spirit is given to us so that in the end we rejoice in how our Creator does things, as He brings us to our safe haven, Jesus Christ. “Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven” (Rom 9:19-21, Psa 51:1-3, Psa 107:28-30, Psa 62:7-8).

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 

Psa 51:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Psa 51:2  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Psa 51:3  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

Psa 62:7  In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 
Psa 62:8  Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Why does God chasten and scourge us? “Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.” He does so because He loves us and receives us through this process if we are His sons in this age (Heb 12:6). Enduring His wrath upon our old man is a miracle in itself that requires the life and strength and faith of Christ within us to do so (Gal 2:20, Php 4:13), and it is that suffering we go through which makes it possible for us to be of service to God, both now and Lord willing, if we endure to the end as the bride of Christ who will be made ready (2Ti 2:12-14, Rev 19:7-8).

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: [Php 2:12-13] and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 
Gal 2:21  I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law [Rom 7:23], then Christ is dead in vain.

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer (Gal 2:20), we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself [he cannot deny his own body (Eph 5:30, Mar 14:72, Rom 7:24-25, Php 2:12-13)].

Mar 14:72  And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept [the twice and thrice add up to 5, reminding us how Christ will not deny Himself of this work of grace through faith toward those who are bound to the altar (Psa 118:27)].

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

2Ki 21:16  Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. 
2Ki 21:17  Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 
2Ki 21:18  And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza^H5798: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

“Till he had” is telling us that degree to which we have been in bondage to the powers and principalities in our heavens without Christ, being overcome and held in bondage by the man of sin represented by Manasseh who is revealed in our life at the appointed time (2Th 2:5-7). That man of sin within us “fill[s] Jerusalem from one end to another; (Luk 11:50-51). It speaks to how sin has to come to that place of being filled up in our lives (Gen 15:16) until we are brought to our wits’ end and fed up with sin, like the prodigal son who was brought to see his need for our Father’s provision found only through Christ (Luk 15:17). Only then can we fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ through a lifetime of laying down our lives as servants of righteousness in our Father’s home (Luk 15:17-18) being no longer servants to sin (Col 1:24, Rom 6:18-20, Rom 6:14).

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

Rom 6:18  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 
Rom 6:19  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:20  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 

“The rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?” was written as a witness to the depths of what our flesh is capable of doing without Christ staying the hand of the devil and our not being given to be strengthened through Christ.

The place where our old man ends up is expressed with this verse “And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza^H5798: and Amon his son reigned in his stead”. There is no inheritance found in Christ for those who are only given to operate in their own strength, “in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza^H5798” (Php 3:9), where what we grow in this life comes from our own strength and is not the blessed treasure that is laid up in heaven by God through Christ in the life of His kind of first fruits who are given that increase by God (Mat 6:20, 1Co 3:6). Amon is the heritage of Manasseh, who represents the next generation of sinful behaviour that is going to continue to wax on as long as we continue to rely on our own strength and not rest in the Lord Jesus Christ (Lev 25:4).

H5798‛ûzzâ’    ‛ûzzâh ooz-zaw’, ooz-zaw’

Feminine of H5797; strength; Uzza or Uzzah, the name of five Israelites: – Uzza, Uzzah.

Total KJV occurrences: 14

Lev 25:4  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, (Eph 2:8, Heb 4:11) a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. 

2Ki 21:19  Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 
2Ki 21:20  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did. 
2Ki 21:21  And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them: 
2Ki 21:22  And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD. 

The next king of Judah is Amon, who is very much like Manasseh. His reign began at “twenty and two years old” and “he reigned two years in Jerusalem“. He did “evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did” and so the witness [2] of beginning his reign at 22 and ruling for that short two-year reign is a witness of the evil and corrupt pattern that had been established through Manasseh’s reign and passed on to his son who (1Co 15:33-34) “did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did. And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them: And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD.“

1Co 15:33  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
1Co 15:34  Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

2Ki 21:23  And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house. 
2Ki 21:24  And the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

The death of Amon coming from his own servants who slew the king in his own house, reminds us how evil this anointed king was, whose own iniquities would chasten him to the point of death, iniquities symbolized by his own servants who slew him in his own house, his own temple (1Co 3:16) where that iniquity abided (Jer 2:19). 

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

There is change coming, however, as the people of the land know how egregious it is before God to touch His anointed king, and so they do the right thing by taking vengeance on all those who conspired against Amon (1Ch 16:22, Psa 105:15). These actions made way for “the people of the land”  to make “Josiah his son king in his stead” who would be a just king.

1Ch 16:22  Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. 

Psa 105:15  Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. 

2Ki 21:25  Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
2Ki 21:26  And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.

2Ki 22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. 
2Ki 22:2  And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. 

As mentioned earlier “Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza^H5798: and Amon his son reigned in his stead”. Amon’s fate was no different than that of his dad Manasseh who was “buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead“. 

It takes the final destruction of these two evil kings [Manasseh and Amon] witnessing to the sin in our own members, to bring about the new king Josiah who would walk “in all the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” (2Ki 22:2).

Josiah’s reign was for thirty-one years in Jerusalem, and he was eight years old when he began to reign. The eight year old commencement date symbolizes the typical new man [8] who was going to be on display with this just king, and his reigning thirty-one years in Jerusalem can be seen as a positive number as well if we consider that the number 3 is connected to the process of judgment that must be upon anyone who is going to be a good ruler, and the [1] which reminds us that it is the Lord alone who can change our stony hearts and make it possible for us to become His servants who are “sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” through that process of judgment (2Ti 2:21). 

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

That process is painful, as the title of this study “The line and the plummet“, reveals. It requires judgment and much tribulation through this life (Act 14:22, Heb 11:26), and yet the fruit that will be borne out of that suffering and the ultimate joyous liberty (Rom 8:21) of being changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, will far outweigh anything we have to go through in this life (Rom 8:18, 1Co 15:52, Joh 16:21).

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ [“A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow“] greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 

Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Joh 16:21  A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.