Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Chronicles 34-36.

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I find it interesting that the kings of Judah who took the throne as children all seem to have gone in the opposite direction to their father.  That is, Manasseh took the throne at the age of twelve and was the son of Hezekiah.  Hezekiah had been a king who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  Manasseh did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.  Josiah was the son of Amon and the grandson of Manasseh.  Amon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, but Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  Amon had taken the throne was he was twenty-two.  I could go back through the accounts of the kings of Judah to see if that holds to all such kings, but my recollection says that it does.  I am not sure any of that tells us anything, but it was the first thought that came to me about this passage.  I wrote that because I was having trouble getting my brain to engage with something more meaningful to write.

Here is the part which should inspire us.  When Josiah was sixteen, which was the eighth year of his rein, he began to seek the God of David.  The passage tells us that he was still a boy when he began seeking God.  I believe the writer intends to tell us that he was still under a regent at this point and to imply that he began to purge Jerusalem and Judah of idolatry as soon as he was no longer under a regent and could issue commands fully under his own authority.  I find it interesting that he spent six years focusing on destroying idol worship before he turned to repairing the temple.  Hezekiah had begun his reforms by repairing the temple and the people were inspired to go out and destroy all of the places of idol worship.  Each king appears to have inspired their generation to worship God.  Yet, the generation which succeeded each king turned from God.  The most important lesson we learn from both Hezekiah and Josiah is that each generation must choose for themselves whether they will follow God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Chronicles 31-33.

I have a Youtube video of me reading the Scripture passage and my comments. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts.

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The first thing I want to note is how the people of Judah and Israel responded after the Passover held under Hezekiah.  They went out and destroyed the places where idols had been worshiped throughout all of Judah and Benjamin, but not just in Judah and Benjamin, which was territory controlled by Hezekiah.  They also destroyed these places of idol worship throughout Ephraim and Manasseh.  I want to make the point that the people responded to Hezekiah’s religious reformed enthusiastically.  We see this again in the response of the people to Hezekiah’s command to give the priests and Levites the portions which the law of Moses commanded be given to them.  Hezekiah’s command only went out to the people in Jerusalem.  Yet, the people brought so much that the priests and Levites ate all that they wished and there was still so much left over that they had to make plans to distribute it to those priests and Levites who did not live in Jerusalem.  We should be similarly enthusiastic about giving to God’s ministry in our local congregation.  We should give so much that there are resources which must be distributed beyond our local body.

I am going to skip over the account here of Sennacherib’s aborted invasion and go to Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh.  Manasseh took the throne when he was twelve and actively turned to idolatry.  In fact, it reads as if he did so aggressively.  God sent prophets to Manasseh and his people in an attempt to bring them back to Him, but they did not listen.  Finally, God allowed Manasseh to be taken into captivity.  There Manasseh turned to God and humbled himself.  God brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem where Manasseh attempted to undo all of the evil he had done.  If we have done evil, we can humble ourselves and turn to God. We need to humble ourselves and turn to God

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Chronicles 29-30.

I have a Youtube video of me reading the Scripture passage and my comments. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts.

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When the passage says that Hezekiah repaired the doors of the temple in the first month of his reign, I do not believe it is saying that he did so in the first month of his reign.  Rather, I am thinking that he did so in the first month at the beginning of the first year after he took the throne (e.g. if they had used our calendar, it would have meant that he did so in the first January after he took the throne).  Even so, Hezekiah moved fast to get the temple reconsecrated, and so did the Levites who did the work for him.  As I first read this I was not sure if we were supposed to understand that they celebrated Passover in the second month of the same year as Hezekiah began having the temple cleansed, but as I composed my thoughts to write this I am convinced that they did.

Which brings me to another point we can learn from this passage.  A casual reading of this makes it seem like all of the credit for the revival goes to Hezekiah.  However, the people, especially the Levites, enthusiastically supported Hezekiah’s reforms, and that enthusiasm was contagious.  We even see something about doing evangelism here.  When the messengers went out to announce the Passover celebration they were laughed at and mocked.  Nevertheless, many people came to Jerusalem for the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  In fact, a good many of them apparently did so because of the enthusiasm of others. The passage tells us that many of those who assembled had not consecrated themselves.  Yet, they were welcomed and God saw fit to accept all who set their hearts to seek God.  In the same way, we should enthusiastically invite others to join us in worshiping God, and accept into our worship services those who have not properly consecrated themselves.  However, just because God will accept those who seek Him who have not properly consecrated themselves, and that we should do likewise, does not mean that we should not properly consecrate ourselves before Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Chronicles 26-28.

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Yesterday I looked at how Joash and Amaziah started their reigns by being faithful to God but then ended them by turning to idolatry.  Which brings us to Uzziah in today’s passage.  He also began his reign doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father, Amaziah, had done.  The writer tells us that Uzziah prospered as a result and became strong.  Unfortunately, along with becoming strong Uzziah became proud.  In his pride Uzziah tried to usurp the role of priest in order to burn incense before the Lord.  In response to Uzziah’s prideful actions God struck him with leprosy in his final years and his son Jotham ruled as his regent until his death.  When Uzziah died Jotham went from being regent for his father to reigning as king.  The writer tells us that Jotham also did what was right in the eyes of the Lord just as his father had done, but did not fall into the sin of pride like his father.  The people, however, did not follow the example of their kings, instead following corrupt practices.

Which brings us to Ahaz.  For most of my life I read the accounts of the kings of Israel and Judah as telling us that wicked rulers lead their people to wickedness.  However, as I have read through the Bible again and again I have come to realize that the stories told about ancient Israel are summed up by  Psalm 125:3, which says that the wicked will not rule over the righteous lest the righteous do wrong.  So, I conclude that the people of Judah’s wickedness under a righteous king, Jotham, led them to have a wicked ruler in Ahaz.  When we look at our rulers today, if we think they are wicked that reflects on us.  Before Ahaz, the people of Judah had four kings in a row who did what was right in the eyes of God for most of their reigns, yet the people followed corrupt practices under the last of those four kings.  So, it was not the kings who led the people of Judah to sin.  Rather it was the sin of the people of Judah which corrupted their kings.  So, while a good ruler may lead his people to obey God, a corrupt people will eventually have corrupt rulers.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Chronicles 23-25.

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I always feel bad for Joash.  When he was an infant all of his male relatives were killed by his grandmother.  Then at age seven the man who had raised him to that point, Jehoiada, staged a coup and put him on the throne.  Joash had no real childhood and probably few, if any, playmates before he became king (and likely none after he became king).  If Joash had playmates before he became king they were likely the sons of Jehoiada, which makes his command to stone Jehoiada’s son Zechariah to death so much worse.  This Zechariah was a close to a brother as Joash had.   Even if Zechariah had not been a playmate for Joash when he was a boy, Zechariah joined with his father in anointing Joash as king.

Having written that I want to point out that Joash and his son Amaziah had similar story arcs.  Both served God at the beginning of their reins, but later turned to idolatry.  Both were killed by plotters from within their court.  One key difference is that Amaziah did not have the prophet who spoke out against his idolatry killed (although, he threatened to do so).  So, we should use both as reminders that we need to maintain the faith of our youth as we get older.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Chronicles 19-22.

I have a Youtube video of me reading the Scripture passage and my comments. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts.

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Yesterday, I skipped over how Jehoshaphat sent officials from his court out to the people to teach them. They had the Book of the Law of the Lord with them.  In today’s passage it tells us that after being reprimanded by the prophet Jehu for allying with Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat went out among the people and brought them back to God.  As part of that process he appointed judges, telling the judges to let their judgements be formed by fear of the Lord, and to hold themselves accountable before God.  The way the writer tells us this says that the writer believed this to have been more than just lip service on the part of Jehoshaphat, that he really meant it and used his power as king to enforce it.

Next we come to the account of how the kings of Ammon, Moab, and Edom joined forces to attack Judah.  Jehoshaphat responded to this threat by having the people of Judah fast.  Jehoshaphat himself sought the Lord and asked the people to assemble to join him in seeking the Lord.  Jehoshaphat cried out to the Lord, acknowledging that he and the people of Judah could not overcome this threat.  God sent word through a prophet that He would fight against their enemies.  Those who had gathered to fight against God’s people would be defeated, but God’s people would not need to fight.  So, they praised God and went forth for battle singing.  When they met their enemies, the enemy armies had turned on each other.

I almost titled today’s blog what the army of Judah sang as they marched out against the overwhelming foe: “Give thanks to the Lord, for His steadfast love endures forever.”  As we go through life we will often face overwhelming foes and obstacles.  Let us give thanks to the Lord and follow His commands.  But let us never forget that the battle is God’s to fight, not ours.  All of this came about because of years of preparation and training in knowing God’s will.  Let us spend our time teaching ourselves, and those around us, God’s will.  Learn from those who know God’s word and teach what you know about God to those who do not know it.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.