If this is true, then Jonah prophesied that which did not come to pass, good favor from the Lord to Jeroboam. Then Amos 6:13-14 reverses this word of favor upon the evil king. So does this give us some insight to Jonah's character or is this another Jonah?

I've found two verses which seem to be contradictory, so I'm hoping someone can explain how they can be reconciled. > No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. *(John 3:13, NIV)* > > As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. *(2 Kings 2:11, NIV)* Jesus was well-versed in the Old Testament, so why would he say what he did in John 3:13? Is it possible that this was just a nasty tornado and Elijah was just not to be found (or elaborate metaphor for a "whirlwind" of an attack, ripping up dust like fire, from enemies and he was killed or kidnapped and killed)? Note that the NLT adds "and returned": > No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. *(John 3:13, NLT)* But I don't know warranted this addition is, as [no other translations have it](http://biblehub.com/john/3-13.htm) .

How did Elijah know that he was about to be taken by God? How did Elisha know this was going to happen? I could not find anything prior to 2 Kings 2:1 when Scripture states that Elijah was going to be taken up, and 2:9 when Elijah asks what he can do for Elisha before he is taken.

In Exodus 34:13, Deuteronomy 7:5, Deuteronomy 12:3, God states laws against idolatry, and God says to cut down or burn groves: > **Exodus 34:13 KJV** > But ye shall destroy their altars, break their > images, and **cut down their groves**: > **Deuteronomy 7:5 KJV** > But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall > destroy their altars, and break down their images, and **cut down their > groves**, and burn their graven images with fire. > **Deuteronomy 12:3 KJV** > And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break > their pillars, and **burn their groves** with fire; and ye shall hew down > the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of > that place. Some kings, fighting against idolatry, accomplished that commandment, like Hezekiah : > **2 Kings 18:4 KJV** > He removed the high places, and brake the images, > and **cut down the groves**, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that > Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn > incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. In my native language (portuguese), "grove" is translated as a "forest". So I thought: What's the problem with some trees? What's related to idolatry on groves? Using **strong**, the "grove" word is **H842** (happy; asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddess; also an image of the same). God was fighting the idolatry about that goddess?

> **2 Kings 22 (NIV)** > > 8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found > the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, > who read it. > > 11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his > robes. From the reaction of King Josiah, it looked like he had never read the Book of the Law. Verse 8 also sounds like the book was lost for a long time. 1. Was the Book of the Law lost for a long time that King Josiah never saw it before? 2. Does this discovery of the Book of the Law mean that the location of the book was not known before? 3. Which copy of the Book of the Law was it? Was it the copy for the King or from the Levitical priests? (Deuteronomy 17:18) 4. Did their ignorance of the presence of Book of the Law mean that nobody at that time cared to go inside the Temple to read from the Book of the Law? 5. How may we refute people who say that someone forged the book and put it there?

> **[2 Kings 2:23-24 (KJV)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+2%3A23-24&version=KJV)**
> 23 And he [Elisha] went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going > up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and > mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald > head. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in > the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the > wood, and tare forty and two children of them. What do these verses mean? What was the purpose of this? The only reason I can think of is to teach the severity of mocking God's anointed.

2 Kings 3:27 says: > Then the king of Moab took his oldest son, who would have been the next king, and sacrificed him as a burnt offering on the wall. So there was great anger against Israel, and the Israelites withdrew and returned to their own land. My question is did God honour this sacrifice or there is another principle at work?

> **[2 Kings 8:1–6](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+8&version=ESV)** (ESV) > 1 Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, and depart with your household, and sojourn wherever you can, for the Lord has called for a famine, and it will come upon the land for seven years.” 2 So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. 3 And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to appeal to the king for her house and her land. 4 Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, “Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done.” 5 And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” 6 And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed an official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now.” In the story of **The Shunammite's Land Restored**, we see a king who asks Gehazi to tell great things that Elisha has done. Who is this king? Where else in the Bible he is mentioned? Was he a king of Israel?

>[2 Kings 5:18–19](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+5:18-19&version=NIV) (NIV) > >18 But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.” > >19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said. Naaman's actions go seriously against the laws given by God. Within the Ten Commandments, for example, idolatry is the most serious sin to commit. And yet, surprisingly, Elisha does not seem concerned, and he tells Naaman to go in peace! It is the act of idolatry, not the thought of idolatry, that the Bible explicitly condemns. Based on my studies of law, I feel we must not bow down to an idol and then say we did not mean to do so. The mere act of bowing down is sinful. How, then, are Naaman's actions justified in this case?

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus said the son of man must be lifted up like the bronze serpent which Moses made in the wilderness: > And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up *(John 3:14, NKJV)* > > So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. *(Numbers 21:9, NKJV)* Over time, the serpent came to be worshipped and given offerings to. So King Hezekiah destroyed the serpent: > He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan. *(II Kings 18:4, NKJV)* This strongly seems to suggest the bronze serpent was only to be looked upon, not worshipped. It seems that what Moses made was good in what was intended by God, but later on the Israelites worshipped it like an idol and was therefore destroyed by King Hezekiah. Following the logic of Jesus referring to himself as Nehushtan, according to the Gospel of John, it seems to suggest that Jesus was to be looked upon and not worshipped. What is the Christian logical continuation of Numbers to II Kings in relation to Jesus as Nehushtan? What does this mean for Christianity today?