What can we learn from Pekah's actions about leadership and obedience to God? Setting the Scene – Pekah in a Sentence 2 Kings 15:28: “He did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit.” In twenty words: Pekah reigned for twenty years, clung to idolatry, ignored God’s clear commands, and ultimately set the nation on a course to judgment. The Hallmarks of Pekah’s Leadership • Power gained through rebellion (2 Kings 15:25) – leadership launched in violence rarely ends well. • Persistence in idolatry – he “did not turn away.” No halfway repentance, no course correction. • Political maneuvering without God – allied with Rezin of Aram against Judah (Isaiah 7:1-2), provoking Assyria’s wrath. • Short-term success, long-term ruin – Assyria invaded, seized territory, and Hoshea assassinated him (2 Kings 15:29-30). God’s Plumb Line for Leaders Compare Pekah to the divine standard: • Deuteronomy 17:18-20 – a king must “read it all the days of his life… so that he may learn to fear the LORD.” Pekah never opened the scroll. • Proverbs 16:12 – “Kings detest wrongdoing, for a throne is established through righteousness.” Pekah’s throne was built on wrongdoing and collapsed accordingly. • 1 Samuel 15:22-23 – “To obey is better than sacrifice… rebellion is like the sin of divination.” Pekah’s continual rebellion equaled idolatry. Consequences That Followed • National loss – Tiglath-Pileser III captured Galilee and Gilead (2 Kings 15:29). • Personal downfall – Pekah died by conspiracy (15:30). • Spiritual vacuum – generations after Jeroboam’s sin still controlling Israel shows how leader’s choices outlive them (15:28). • Imminent exile – seeds sown in Pekah’s reign bloom in 2 Kings 17:6-23 when the Northern Kingdom falls. Contrasts That Clarify Look at leaders who did the opposite: • Hezekiah – “He did what was right… he trusted in the LORD” (2 Kings 18:3-6). Obedience brought deliverance from Assyria. • Josiah – “Neither before nor after… was there a king like him who turned to the LORD with all his heart” (2 Kings 23:25). Faithful leadership sparks revival. • Ultimately, Christ – the perfect King who “learned obedience” (Hebrews 5:8) and reigns forever (Revelation 19:16). Timeless Takeaways • Leadership begins with the heart; an idolatrous heart produces destructive decisions. • Disobedience tolerated today becomes stronghold tomorrow—personal sin spreads nationally. • God’s patience has limits; continued rebellion invites decisive intervention. • A leader can choose the Jeroboam-Pekah path of stubbornness or the Hezekiah-Josiah path of surrender—there is no neutral ground. In One Glance Pekah teaches that leadership divorced from obedience to God will always: 1. Ignore Scripture. 2. Repeat inherited sins. 3. Seek human alliances over divine help. 4. Lead followers into deeper bondage. 5. End in judgment and loss. |
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