Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Chronicles 11-14.

We often overlook Asa, Rehoboam’s grandson.  The passage tells us that “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.”  Most of the time for good kings it will tell us that he what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but here it seems to speak more highly of Asa than that.  The passage even tells us why it gives him this high praise.  He destroyed all idol worship in Judah and the places where people practiced non-sanctioned worship of God.  Some might think that last bit a bad thing, but God commanded in the laws He gave to Israel through Moses that they practice their sacrifices at a central location (with certain very specific exceptions).  I will not claim to know all of the reasons God gave that command, but a few seem obvious to me.  First, by practicing their primary worship at one central location, the Israelites would remain unified, seeing themselves as one people.  Second, and closely related to the first, if they practiced their worship at various places, those who worshiped at different locations might develop different, conflicting, understandings of what God asked of His people.  Finally, if they practiced their worship at different locations, they might begin to see the God worshiped in Jerusalem as being different from the God worshiped in Gibeah, and perhaps view those different gods as being limited by geography.  Asa prevented these things from happening during his reign.  So, when Zerah the Cushite marched against Judah with an overwhelmingly large army, the army of Judah was united in its faith in 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 11-14.

In today’s passage we have three successive kings of Judah and four wars (sort of).  After Jeroboam led the northern tribes in rebellion against him, Rehoboam mustered the fighting men of Judah and Benjamin to force an end to the rebellion.  However, God sent the prophet Shemaiah to tell them not to fight against their fellow Israelites.  When the army heard Shemaiah’s words, they went home.  (as a side note: this always reads to me like Rehoboam did not have a choice about whether to contest the rebellion after this because his army refused to fight to reclaim the northern territory).  Initially after this, most of those who lived in the northern territory who rejected Jeroboam’s idol worship moved south to Judah.  In Rehoboam’s fifth year, Judah was invaded by Egypt.  Once again, the prophet Shemaiah delivered God’s word to Rehoboam and the people of Judah.  Shemaiah told them that God had abandoned them to the Egyptians because they had abandoned Him. In response, Rehoboam and his officials humbled themselves.  Since they humbled themselves, God turned aside from His anger.   After Rehoboam died his son, Abijah ruled in Jerusalem.  During Abijah’s reign he was at war with Jeroboam.  In one battle, the army of Judah was vastly outnumbered by Jeroboam’s army.  Abijah appealed to God, and his army cried out to God, and they routed Jeroboam’s army.  The final battle in today’s passage occurred when Asa, Abijah’s son was king.  The king of Cush marched against Judah with a massive army.  Asa called out to God, and God struck down the Cushite army.

There are two lessons to learn from this.  First, we need to listen to God when we choose which battles to fight.  Second, we need to learn to call on God and trust Him when we do fight battles.  And, actually there is a third lesson: if we do not listen to God, we may end up having to fight battles we would have been better off avoiding.

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 11-14.

I am not sure where I am going with this today.  I want to start by talking about how the people and leaders of Judah responded to the prophet Shemaiah.  When Rehoboam rallied the troops to suppress Jeroboam’s rebellion, Shemaiah told the fighting force of Judah and Benjamin not to fight against their fellow Israelites.  While it is not clear from the passage, it appears to me that the army of Judah and Benjamin did not give Rehoboam a choice as to whether he would listen to Shemaiah.  Then, later in Rehoboam’s reign, Shemaiah again prophesied against the rulers of Judah.  Shemaiah told them that God had abandoned them to Shishak of Egypt because they had abandoned His worship.  In response, the leaders of Judah, including Rehoboam, humbled themselves and accepted God’s judgement.  Then we have the account of Abijah, Rehoboam’s son, warring against Jeroboam of the Northern Kingdom.  Elsewhere we are told that Abijah did evil in the sight of the Lord.  However, on this occasion, when he was both badly outnumbered and outmaneuvered, Abijah called on God and was victorious.  I will note that the reliance on God seems to have more been on the part of his army than Abijah himself.  Finally, we have the account of Asa against the Cushite army.  The writer here tells us that Asa was good and right in the sight of the Lord.  Asa was greatly outnumbered, but, when he called upon God, he was victorious.

As I said, I am not quite sure where this is going.  When Rehoboam went to suppress Jeroboam’s rebellion, Shemaiah told his army that God did not support their actions, and the army went home.  When Shishak invaded Judah, Shemaiah told the people of Jerusalem that God was with Shishak, and they surrendered to him.  When Abijah fought Jeroboam and the army of the Northern Kingdom, Abijah told the Israelites of the North that God was not with them, and they lost heart and went down to defeat.  When Asa went up against the Cushite army, he knew that victory could only come if God was on his side.  God was indeed on Asa’s side and Asa was victorious.  Do not go into battle, or any other endeavor, unless it is one which God desires you to fight.  If God is with you, you will be victorious.  If He is not, you will fail.

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 11-14.

When Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem after his disastrous trip to Shechem, where the Northern Tribes rebelled against his rule, we see that he initially obeyed God’s commands.  As a result, the priests, Levites, and those who wished to follow the Lord migrated from the territory controlled by Jeroboam into Judah.  This migration set the stage for Rehoboam’s grandson to rule as a faithful follower of the Lord.  Further, we have three incidents in this passage where the people of Judah turned to God when facing overwhelming odds.  In all three incidents God provided deliverance.

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

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Chronicles 11-14.

After the disastrous decision which Rehoboam made at what was supposed to be his coronation, he made a wise decision of listening to the prophet Shemaiah and not making war on the rest of Israel in an attempt to assert his authority over them.  He followed that up by continuing to promote faithfully worshiping God while he consolidated his authority as king.  This led the priests and Levites, and others who wished to faithfully worship God, to  migrate from the Northern Kingdom to the territory controlled by Rehoboam.  Unfortunately, once he had fully consolidated his authority, he no longer felt it necessary to remain faithful.  However, when once again he was confronted by the prophet Shemaiah, he repented.

When war broke out between Abijah, Rehoboam’s son, and Jeroboam, Abijah used the fact that the priests and Levites had moved to his territory to break the moral of the Northern Army.  Abijah’s son, Asa, learned a lesson from what happened in this battle and started his reign dedicated to eliminating idol worship in his kingdom.  The result being that he was able to completely defeat a much larger army when it invaded.  It seems likely that in the process of removing pagan shrines from all of the towns and villages where his writ ran, Asa and his generals learned the layout of the land in detail.  Which allowed them to pick the right location to face their enemy.  The above is not to downplay the significance God played in delivering a victory to Asa’s army. Rather, I am pointing out how faithfully following God often gives us the tools to face unforeseen challenges which arise later.