When Tradition Helps… and When It Hurts. (2 Kings 15: 1-38)

The Bible Project Daily Podcast is an in-depth, daily study of the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. 

Episode Notes:  When Tradition Helps… and When It Hurts.  (2 Kings 15: 1-38)

We all have traditions.

 Some are personal.

You celebrate birthdays. You mark wedding anniversaries. You gather the family, blow out candles, cut the cake, and take the photos.... And that’s a good thing.

 We pause, reflect, and give thanks.

Traditions can be beautiful.

They can create belonging and reinforce values.

They give us memories that warm the heart.

 But — and here’s the tension —

Traditions can also lose their meaning.

 Because the bottom line — the three‑word application at the end of this episode — is something every believer can agree on.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

My friends, welcome to the Bible Project Daily Podcast, and today we're going to look at 2 Kings chapter 15, verses 1 to 38. It's a very long passage of scripture today, so I'll take a slightly different approach, which I'll explain as I go along. But just by way of positioning this, I'd just like to say something about tradition. We all have traditions. Some are personal. We celebrate birthdays, don't we? We mark weddings and anniversaries. You gather families together, you blow out candles, you maybe cut a cake and you take photographs, and they're all good things. But traditions like birthdays and anniversaries are of course good because they remind us of God's goodness and the goodness of the people we love, his faithfulness and those people he's placed in our lives. But there are also national traditions. We remember fallen soldiers here in the UK on a day called Remembrance Sunday, and people wear a poppy. And we pause on that day, and most church services pause at eleven o'clock to remember the point when the armistice of the First World War was agreed, and we just reflect and give thanks for those who have sacrificed. And that again is a good thing. But there are also religious traditions. We celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas across most Christian denominations, and we rejoice in the resurrection at Easter. We gather, we worship, and we remember particularly those things at those times. And traditions can be beautiful things. They can create belonging and they can reinforce values and they can give us memories that warm the heart. But there's a tension here. Traditions can lose their meaning. They can become more about the tradition than the thing they're meant to be memorializing. Christmas is the obvious example. It has become so commercialized that many people barely know what it's even about these days. In fact, in some places in the UK, institutions and councils are not meant to even use the word Christmas anymore. Just things like seasonal greetings or happy winterfell, whatever that is. I'm also told that in the USA that Memorial Day has now morphed into becoming a sort of unofficial start of the summer, and Labour Day has become the unofficial end of summer, and the meaning gets lost between these two long weekends. And that's what can happen when tradition loses its significance and gets disconnected from that which it is meant to remember. But there's something even more serious, the fact that tradition can sometimes even become detrimental. Now, a dictionary definition defies tradition as a belief or custom passed down from generation to generation. But interestingly, if you go into a theological dictionary, you'll notice most add an extra little interesting bit of information to this. They say it is also a doctrine believed to have divine authority, though not found in Scripture. Now that's interesting, because it means religious people, including Christians, can develop traditions that are not in Scripture, or even worse, they can develop traditions that are contrary to Scripture, and that's exactly what Jesus warned against. In Matthew 15 we hear him say, You make the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. And Paul says, Beware this is according to the tradition of man and not according to Christ. So the Bible is clear, beloved. Tradition can help you, but tradition can also harm you. And that brings us to two Kings chapter 15. This chapter will mention seven kings, and every single one of them violated Scripture. Not because they didn't know the truth, but because they followed a tradition that had become normal, accepted, and unquestioned. A tradition that had replaced the Word of God. But before we dive in, I need to give you a little warning. Every now and then a TV program flashes a message, doesn't it, and says viewer discretion advised. Well, I'm not being quite as dramatic as this, but I'm going to say some things today that some of you may not agree with. And you know what? That's okay. Some of what I say may be swaying close to my opinion, and you're free to disagree. All I ask is that you stay with me until the very end, because the bottom line, the summary, and the three-word application at the day, at the end of today's episode, is something that every believer can agree on. No matter what background or tradition we may come from. So let's begin today's episode of the Bible Project Daily Podcast. His mother's name was Jakoliai of Jerusalem, and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all his father had done, except that the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places. Then the Lord struck the king so that he was a leper until the day of his death. So he dwelt in an isolated house, and Jotham, the king's son, was over the royal house, judging the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of Chronicles of the King of Judah? So Azariah rested with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. Then Jotham his son reigned in his place. Okay, so 2 Kings chapter 15 opens up with this king named Azariah, also actually known as Uzziah, in some translations and alliterations of this. And he's ruling in the southern kingdom, and he becomes king at 16, and he reigns for 52 years, one of the longest reigns in Judah's history. And verse 3 tells us he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but then verse 4 adds a little, except that he did not remove the high places. So there it is. He did what was right, except he obeyed, except, he followed the Lord, except, and that except was tradition, a long-standing practice that had been passed down for decades, a tradition that directly violated the word of God. And God called that tradition evil. And that's where our journey begins. Now it's a very long chapter today, and I worked out it would add 10 minutes to our time together today. So I'm going to survey very quickly through it without reading it verse by verse, which is not something I normally do, but a link to the text is being put into the episode notes. You can click and open that up if you want to follow along. So what we're going to survey through is the rest of these kings. Zechariah reigning in Israel, that's verses 8 to 12, Shalom reigning in Israel, verses 13 to 16. Minhaiham reigning from in verses 17 to 23. Pekaiah reigning in verses 23 to 26. 27 to 31 covers Becha's reign. And then 32 to 38, the close of the chapter, follows Jotham's reign in Judah, not Israel that time. So we've just looked at Isaiah, the first king, a king who did many things, right, but allowed a long-standing tradition to override the clear command of God. That set the template and the pattern of this chapter. And then the chapter moves quickly through this series of further kings in the northern kingdom, every one of them reinforcing the same theme. That being tradition, once established, becomes incredibly hard to break, even when it contradicts scripture. So let's walk through the rest of these kings. So then we have Zechariah, six months of tradition, but not in obedience. Verse 8 picks up the text and introduces to King Zechariah. Now this is not the prophet, this is a king in the northern kingdom, and he reigns for six months. And in verse 9, we're given us we're given his evaluation. It says he did evil in the eyes of the Lord as his fathers had done, and he did not depart from the sins of Jerobam. So there it is again, it's those sins of Jerobim. And this is crucial because Jerobam was the one who, after Solomon died and the kingdom split, Jerobam became the first king of the northern kingdom, and it was he who introduced the high places and the golden calves as alternate worship sites to stopping people travelling down to the south and worshipping at the proper place, Jerusalem. Now these dates are 930 to 909 BC, but Zechariah, when that happened, Jerobam, but Zechariah's dates of reigning are 753 to 752 BC, a six-month period spanning the end of one year and the beginning of the other. But what that means, friends, is that for 150 years the Northern Kingdom had now been practicing that tradition, worshiping in the high places, offering sacrifices in unauthorized locations, and mixing true worship with idolatry. A century and a half, long enough for a practice to become normalized, long enough for a violation to feel acceptable, and long enough for disobedience to feel like obedience, because that is what tradition can do. Zachariah simply continued what everyone before him had done, and God calls it evil. And he's assassinated in verse 10. So his short reign fulfills a prophecy that Jerobam's dynasty, that prophecy that said Jerobim's dynasty would not last more than four generations, and then it would end. And this is its end. And Zechariah is another example of a man, a king, who let tradition replace the word of God and allowed it to continue as established. Then we have King Shalom, and he's just one month on the throne, and he's introduced in verse 13. This is the shortest reign in the book. He is assassinated by Menahim, who believes he should have succeeded Zechariah, not him. And verse 15 tells us that Menahim's brutality was extreme in the indeed, including a very troubling description of a murdering a young woman with an unborn child. The Bible doesn't sanitize history, you know, it tells the truth, even when it's ugly. But just because it records something terrible and violent doesn't mean it's approving of it. Anyway, I move on. Now, although the text doesn't explicitly say Shalom follow Jeroboam's tradition like it does in the others, we know from the timeline that the practice had been entrenched for 150 years, and we know it continues long after this point. So that tells us that the traditions, the non-biblical traditions, the sacrificing to false idols stayed in place and that they don't die easily. But then next we have King Menahim, ten years now of evil and compromise. And he's introduced in verse 17. And verse 18 again gives us that evaluation. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and he did not depart all his days from those sins of Jerubam. So there it is again. Tradition over scripture, false practices over obedience, comfort over conviction, just allowing things to continue. And we also find out that Menahim is someone who paid who taxed the wealthy in the nation in order to pay off the king of Assyria. Thirty-seven tons of silver paid out from the nation of Israel to a pagan rival king to stop him buying him off from attacking. So he compromises politically, morally, as well as spiritually. So it's another king, another life, and another example of tradition replacing truth and continuing in that way. And when those traditions replace Scripture, the declared word of God, that's when they become dangerous. Okay, King Pekahiah is next. Another king, another one who sticks with the false traditions. Verse 23 he's introduced, and the next verse says he reigns for two years, and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam. It's sounding familiar now. It's like a clanging bell. It's meant to be familiar, that's its point, because every king in this chapter, both north and south, as we'll see at the end, is going to be evaluated by the same standard. Did they obey the word of God or did they follow false tradition? And every one of them in that regard failed. So as we continue through this chapter, the pattern has now become unmistakable. A king rises, a king falls. Another king rises, another king falls. And the same phrase keeps reappearing. He did not depart from the sins of Jerobam. In other words, he did not turn away from allowing false religious practices and sacrifices to take place. And that phrase is reviewed, repeated for us at the end of each king's description, verse 4, verse 9, verse 18, verse 24, and now again here in verse 28. Five times so far in this one chapter. Why? Because the Holy Spirit wants us to see something that's unmistakable. That being tradition, once established, may become invisible. We may become blinded to it, and it becomes normalized, it becomes unquestioned in our society or in the local expression of our faith. It almost becomes like the air everyone breathes, and that's exactly what's happening here in Israel. So then we have King Pekka, another king, sadly the same pattern. He's introduced in verse 27, and he reigns for 28 years. And then verse 28, his evaluation, yep, you've got it again. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not depart from the sins of Jerobam. And that's the point. We're now in 732 BC, and that's just ten years before the northern kingdom will completely fall under Assyria in 722. And the text tells us that the Assyrian people are beginning to take people into captivity, first the tribes in the east of the Jordan, and then the whole region of Galilee. So this is the point at which it is the beginning of the end. And what causes this collapse and the people being taken off into captivity? What caused it? Not politics, not economics, not even a war or military weakness, but a spiritual drift. A drift represented by a tradition that replaces obedience practices and have become so embedded that it's been going on for 150 plus years now. In other words, everyone's doing it. And the kings don't stop it, and the people don't even question it anymore, which eventually means the nation collapses under the weight of its own compromise. That, my friends, is what tradition can do when it replaces Scripture. Now let me try and bring this a little closer to home. Hopefully, gently, graciously, and ultimately, everything I'm wanting to say today, I want to say with a pastor's heart. Because I know every branch of the Christian family tree has traditions. Catholics have their traditions, Orthodox believers have their traditions, Protestants have their traditions, Baptists have their traditions. I was a Baptist minister, after all. Methodists have their tradition. I grew up in the Methodist tradition. Pentecostals have their traditions, and even those free denominant non-denominational churches, they have their traditions also. And let me say that many of those traditions are beautiful things. They help us worship, they help us remember, and they help us stay rooted. When they're good, rooted in the Word of God and in the community of faith built up around them. But some traditions in every of one of these groups can sometimes drift from Scripture. And often we don't even realize it. Why? Because tradition, by its nature, feels normal, it feels familiar, it feels safe even. It feels like, well, this is the way it's always been done. Just like those high places in Israel probably felt to those people in that day. So the point here is not to attack any group of denomination. The point is not even to win an argument. It's certainly not to try and stir controversy. My point is simply this: every Christian in every tradition must continually bring their beliefs and practices back to Scripture to examine them. Not to shame anyone, not to divide anyone from anyone else, but to help us all grow. Because the moment we stop examining our own traditions, we risk repeating the very same pattern we've seen here in 2 Kings chapter 15. And that is really important. There are, of course, denominational traditions, which is what I've mostly focused on today, but there are also what are called theological systems. You may have heard of some of them, Calvinism, Arminianism, and others. It's from where we get that term systematic theology. And these systems also can be helpful. They can give us structure, they can help us think deeply about scripture and have a way of interpreting it, but they also can become traditions themselves, labels that we just inherit, positions that we assume, frameworks we adopt without ever personally wrestling with them with the text. And Paul warns us about this in 1 Corinthians very specifically when he says, some are saying, I follow Paul, or saying, I follow me, and others are saying, I follow this other guy, Apollos. But what people should really be saying is I follow Christ. Now his point wasn't to condemn theology and having a perspective. His point was to remind them that don't follow any man or woman by name more closely than you follow the Lord's word. And that's a gentle reminder for all of us, no matter what tradition we come from. The point of all I have said today is to encourage all of us, from whatever background we come from, the encouragement being to let Scripture shape our beliefs more than any tradition does. Even if we feel that tradition is good and valuable. Now the final king is introduced in verse 32, and he's Jotham, and he's a good king, but one with a blind spot. He actually does many things that are right. He strengthens the kingdom and he walks in the way of his father Isaiah, it says. But then verse 35 says, the high places were not removed. So there it is again. Even though he's said to be overall a good king, a faithful man, and a sincere believer, he also kept tradition alive, a tradition that God had forbidden. And that's the lesson. You can do many, many things good and right, and still let tradition blind you to one area of your life. That's why this chapter repeats that warning again and again, six times, about falling into the sins of tradition. Because God really wants us to see the potential for this. So let me say there are two great lessons that I feel are emerging from this chapter that are absolutely vital we grasp hold of. That being believers should never follow the tradition of men or any man when they contradict scripture. Now, of course, tradition can be helpful, tradition can even be beautiful and meaningful, but tradition is not infallible. That's the key thing here. Only scripture is. And the second thing is we should examine every belief, every religious custom by the Word of God. Not to do it to win arguments. Not to do it to criticize others as our primary motivation, not to elevate ourselves, but simply to grow and to mature and help us stay faithful in our Christian walk and to keep our hearts aligned with God's heart. Because the best traditions are the ones that lead us closer to Christ, not those ones that quietly replace his word. So let me try and summarise everything I've said today. We've walked together through a chapter filled with kings, seven of them, and each one of them teaches not a different lesson this time, but the same lesson. The repetition is for emphasis, I believe. That being that traditions, if they're held on to, will and can quietly, gently pull you away consistently from the Word of God. Not all traditions, obviously, not even most traditions, but some traditions, especially the ones we never think to question. So how do we respond to this fact if it's true? How do we guard our hearts? How do we stay anchored? How do we keep Scripture in the driving street? Well, let me get finish today by giving you those three words that can keep you anchored, my friends. Not my own, but three words that Paul gives us as an answer to this very issue, and that is test all things. They're the three words that protect your faith. If you turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, Paul there is writing about what's happening in the gathered church, the assembly of believers in Thessalonica. And in the first century, spiritual gifts were being freely expressed there. Prophecy was active, teaching was spontaneous, and people were sharing what God had placed on their hearts. And it's wonderful to be part of a church where that is saying. And Paul says, do not quench that spirit, and do not despise prophecies. In other words, don't shut down what God may be doing, and don't close your heart to what God may be saying amongst us. But then he adds the safeguard, the anchor, the filler, the filler, test all things and hold fast to what is good. That's 1 Thessalonians 5.21. There it is, those three words. They're there as a gift for us to help us, and they are test all things. Not test some things, not test the things you already disagree with, not test the things that are just outside your own tradition, but test all things, everything, every teaching, every sermon, every spiritual claim, every prophecy, every tradition, every idea, every influence, and every voice. And John says the exact same thing. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits. Why? Well, the bottom line is, friends, not every voice is from God that's out there. Not every idea is biblical, and not every tradition is healthy, and sadly, not every preacher or Bible teacher is trustworthy. So here's the heart of the message. Test all things and test it by the word of God. That's your safeguard, that's your anchor, and that's your compass to guide you through your journey of faith. So let's make this practical. Four ways in which you can absolutely make this part of your everyday life when the rubber hits the road. First of all, as citizens, you should test what you hear. Not because we're being political, but because as Christians we're meant to be biblical in how we approach civic matters. Are there political ideas that contradict scriptures floating around today? Of course they are. I can say that with authority, and I don't even know what country you're listening in. But as citizens, we are called to test all things. Not along party political lines, not along personality lines, but by the word of God. Secondly, students, younger people, should test what they're taught. Yes, indeed, I am saying that, especially in our modern secular universities. Ideas presented there are not always truth. They sometimes directly contradict scripture, particularly these days around the ideas of philosophy, identity, and morality. Students, my call to you is to test all things. Then, as church members, thirdly, as church members, we should test what we hear from the pulpit, any pulpit, and yes, that includes what I say as well. You don't believe something because a preacher just says it. You believe it because you can see it in the Word of God. And if I can't show you it in Scripture, then it's just my opinion, and opinions don't carry eternal weight. And finally, every believer should test every tradition. Like I said, not to be argumentative, not to be suspicious, not to be decisive, but to stay anchored. Because tradition can be like a riptide. I'm sure you know what a riptide is, it's a powerful undercurrent that pulls you away from the safety of shore. You don't see it, you don't feel it, but once you're in it, it drags you further and further from safety. I personally myself nearly fell foul of one over 20 years ago while swimming in a place called Cornwall here in the UK. A lifeguard actually had to come out in a bodyboard and I hitched a lift back to shore. I'm told that you can even be dragged away in shallow water and pulled out to sea. And that, my friend, is what condition can do. You can feel safe, but you're in peril. Now, of course, some traditions are wonderful, some traditions are meaningful, and some are spiritually rich, but when a tradition contradicts scripture, it becomes a riptide. Its whole direction of travel is to pull you away from the safe shore of God's word. And the only safeguard to protect this is those three words from Paul: test all things. Test them by scripture, test them with humility, test them also with prayer, and test them with discernment. Because the safest place that you can be in our world is to be standing on the solid ground of God's word. Thanks for being with me today. So as we close, I hope you can remember those three little words, and thereby keep your heart anchored in what is a drifting world. Test all things. Test every teaching, test every influence, test every tradition, test every voice, including mine, by the word of God. Because scripture alone is both our shore and our safe harbour. Tradition can be a riptide that turns the safest place you'll ever stand into a place of danger and pull you away from the solid ground of God's truth. Now, in our next episode, we're stepping into one of the most sobering chapters in this entire book of two kings, chapter 16. My working title at the moment for it is The Depths to Which Some People Can Fall. It's a story of a king who doesn't just drift from God's word, but he literally runs from it. He doesn't just follow tradition, he invents whole new ways to rebel, and his life is there to be a warning for us. A warning and a reminder of how desperately we need God's grace. Now it's a heavy-going chapter, but it's going to be an important one, and I think it speaks directly, particularly, into the world and how we're living in it today. So I'll hope you'll join me again tomorrow for the continue of that conversation. But until then, all I can say is stay rooted in Scripture, stay discerning, test everything, and stay close to the Lord, the one who loves and leads you always into all truth. Thanks for being with me today. Bye bye for now.