Tag Archives: 2 Chronicles 26-28

Daily Bible Study

May 25, 2023 Bible Study — Each Generation Chooses For Themselves Whether To Follow God

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

In yesterday’s passage we saw Joash and Amaziah, who faithfully served the Lord for most of their lives, but turned from him late in life and were assassinated.  Today we first look at Uzziah, who sought the Lord until he became powerful, at which point he became prideful and began acting as if he would never be held accountable.  As a result, he contracted leprosy and lived out the final years of his life in relative isolation.  His son Jotham also served the Lord and did what was right.  As a result, Jotham became powerful.  Unfortunately, he failed to turn the people from idolatry and his son chose to act wickedly.  Rather than follow the example of his father (and grandfather, great grandfather, and even great great grandfather), Ahaz chose to chase after idols which promised him pleasure.  Ahaz’s actions resulted in Judah becoming weak and being overrun by invaders.  Even then Ahaz did not turn to the Lord, instead choosing to chase after even more idols.  Fortunately for the kingdom of Judah, Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah did learn from his father’s mistakes, and, as we shall see in tomorrow’s passage, sought the Lord.   Today’s three kings give us two lessons.  First, no matter how faithful to God our parents were, we need to choose for ourselves to serve Him.  Second, no matter how faithful we are to God in our youth when we are struggling to get established, we need to remember Him later in life, or we will pay a price we would rather not.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 25, 2022 Bible Study — Rulers Who Failed To Accept Limits To Their Authority

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

Yesterday we read about Joash and Amaziah who were faithful to God for much of their reigns.  Today we read about Uzziah, Jotham, and Ahaz.  Uzziah and Jotham did right in the eyes of God, although Uzziah attempted to take the role of priest by burning incense before God later in his reign.  As I understand the story (from the account here and also in 2 Kings), Uzziah’s sin was about his failure to recognize a limit to what he could do more than just burning incense in a manner reserved for the priests.  His sin appears to me to have been the rejection of the idea that there were those who could hold him to account for his actions.  In many ways, his sin was a lesser form of that of his father, Amaziah, and his grandfather, Joash.  The difference being that when Uzziah was confronted about his overreaching, he backed down.

 

Uzziah’s son, Jotham, either learned the lesson from witnessing his father’s comeuppance, or did not live long enough to fall into the sin of his immediate ancestors.  Over their reigns, Uzziah and Jotham strengthened Judah through their dedication to following God and leading the people to do likewise.  Unfortunately, Jotham’s son, Ahaz, did not follow in his father’s footsteps.  Ahaz indulged in many different types of idolatry.  He did as he pleased with no concern for who might be hurt, even if those who might be hurt were his own children.  The writer tells us that Ahaz sacrificed his own children on the altar of gods whom he pursued out of selfish interest.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 25, 2021 Bible Study

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

Uzziah and his son Jotham had great success as kings of Judah because they did what was right in God’s eyes.  However, Uzziah’s pride led him to attempt to usurp the authority of the priests.  The passage is pretty straight forward, but it seems to me that there was a little more going on than stated.  It seems to me that the incident with Uzziah attempting to burn incense before God was not the first time he rejected counsel to not do that which he desired to do.  However, his son Jotham reigned as a good king. As a result of their faithfulness, Judah was strong under both of these kings.  Unfortunately, Jotham’s son, Ahaz, did not follow in his father’s footsteps.  Instead, he followed the example of the kings of Israel (the Northern Kingdom).  In fact, he went so far as to sacrifice his own children to the idols he worshiped.  This led to Judah becoming weak and suffering at the hands of other nations.  Ahaz did not learn from his defeats and turn to God, rather he committed even greater idolatry.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 25, 2020 Bible Study True Worship of God Leads Us to Look Out for the Interests of Others

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 26-28.

Today’s passage describes two kings, father and son, who served God faithfully for most of their reigns (the son for his entire reign).  They strengthened the army and fortified the towns of Judah.  In addition, they defeated the neighboring nations.  However, when the grandson took the throne, he turned from God and instituted Baal worship in Jerusalem once more.  As a result, he was attacked and defeated successively by Aram and Israel.  Instead of turning back to God, he committed himself further to idolatry by closing the Temple.  He sent to Assyria for aid against his enemies.  However, instead of aiding him, the Assyrians saw his weakness and demanded tribute of him.

The successes of Uzziah and Jotham, the father and son who were faithful, is attributed to their devotion to God.  While the disasters which befell Uzziah’s grandson, Ahaz, is attributed to his idolatry.  The faithfulness of Uzziah and Jotham unified their people and led them to follow values which promoted working for the interests of their fellows.  Ahaz divided the people by introducing new gods, whose worship promoted pursuing one’s own pleasure over the interests of others.  Uzziah and Jotham promoted worshiped God, whose covenant called for Him to protect and empower the descendants of Jacob who faithfully worshiped Him.  Ahaz worshiped gods who he thought would give him power, with no concern for others (not even his own sons).

Daily Bible Study

May 25, 2019 Bible Study — We Do Not Always Follow The Example Which Our Leaders Set For Us

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 26-28.

I was trying to figure out what to write about Uzziah’s reign.  Uzziah did what was pleasing in God’s site.  However, late in his reign he became arrogant and entered the sanctuary of the Temple and made an incense offering there.  His son Jotham ruled after him and also did what was pleasing in God’s sight.  Both of these kings were powerful and wealthy as a result.  However, what struck me was a phrase in chapter 27 verse 4: “But the people continued in their corrupt ways.”  Jotham was the fourth king in succession who did what was pleasing to God for most of his reign (and unlike the previous three, he did not depart from doing so as he became older).  Nevertheless, the people were not faithful to the Lord.  All too often we blame our leaders for the shortcomings of the groups of which we are a part.  However, in the long run, the leaders will be no better than the people they lead.   If we have good leaders, but do not accept that we must be good as well, or are only good because they inspire us to be good, either they or their successor will fall away from the Lord.  A good leader may inspire people to become better, but if the people do not internalize that and take responsibility to be better without the leader’s guidance, they will lose the improvements when the leader is gone.

Which leads us to Jotham’s son, Ahaz.  Ahaz followed the lead of his people and did not do what was pleasing in God’s sight.  When his enemies attacked and defeated him, rather than look to what had worked for his father and grandfather, he adopted the worship practices of those who had defeated him.  Not only that, but he went further than any of the previous kings and shut up the Temple so that no one could worship God there.  Throughout history this has been a common theme: those who reject God often try to prevent anyone else from worshiping him.

Daily Bible Study

May 25, 2018 Bible Study

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 26-28.

    As I wrote earlier this year, until I started writing this blog I was under the impression that the kings of Judah after Solomon were mostly evil, with the occasional godly king thrown in. However, since I have been reading through the books of Kings and Chronicles every year I have come to realize that most of the kings of Judah were men who strove imperfectly to serve God. In today’s passage we have two kings, father and son, who were mostly godly. Really, the only failing between them was that Uzziah. the father, became arrogant and tried to claim priestly duties for himself. It is not clear to me how what Uzziah did was different from when Solomon burned incense to the Lord. The only clue the passage gives us is that it tells us that Uzziah’s pride led to his downfall. The best I can come up with is that Solomon offered sacrifices and burned incense to the Lord on his own behalf while Uzziah was attempting to act as an intermediary between the people and God. Certainly the latter is a temptation to which many leaders fall prey.

    Unfortunately, after four more or less godly kings in a row (in yesterday’s passage we saw that Uzziah’s father and grandfather had done what was pleasing to God for most of their reigns), the Southern Kingdom had a truly evil king. King Ahaz sought out false gods to worship and encouraged the people to worship them as well. But what made him truly evil was that he actively prevented those who wished to do so from worshiping God.

Daily Bible Study

May 25, 2017 Bible Study –Politics And Religion

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 26-28.

    For most of my life my perception of the kings of the Divided Kingdoms (Israel and Judah) was that they were mostly wicked kings punctuated by the occasional righteous king (Joash, Hezekiah, Josiah). I have realized that while the kings of Israel in this period were universally men who “did not do what was pleasing in the sight of God”, a large number of the kings of Judah “did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight.” In fact, it was probably the majority. Of course, in today’s passage we have an example of something which was not uncommon. Uzziah did what was pleasing to God for most of his reign, but when he became powerful he became proud and took the prerogative of burning incense on the incense altar in the Temple. When Uzziah was confronted by a large number of priests (the number noted was probably to ensure that he could not do to them what Joash did to the son of the priest who had raised him) he became enraged. In the middle of his confrontation with the priests, symptoms of a contagious skin disease broke out on his forehead. King Uzziah lived in quarantine for the rest of his life.

    It is worth noting that according to the Law, Uzziah would have needed a priest to declare that he was no longer infected with the infectious skin disease. Uzziah’s son Jotham was made regent for Uzziah and succeeded him upon his death. The passage tells us that Jotham also did what was pleasing in the sight of God. Both Uzziah and Jotham were powerful kings who were able to expand the borders of their kingdom. However, when Jotham’s son Ahaz took the throne he did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord. From a purely secular standpoint, it is clear that Ahaz decided from when he first took the throne to break the power which the priests and Levites had exercised over his father and grandfather. The result was that he was weak and repeatedly defeated in battle. In his efforts to weaken the priests and Levites, Ahaz established the worship of other gods. This created division among the people of his kingdom which resulted in the weakness which he experienced in foreign affairs.
    This passage is one where the connection between politics and religion in the Old Testament is made clear. David and Solomon had blurred the lines between the priesthood and the kingship, but they had done so in a manner which strengthened the priesthood by lending some of their power to the priesthood. On the other hand, when Uzziah attempted to blur the lines, he was seeking to weaken the priesthood and gather some of its power to himself. Later Ahaz attempted to break the power of the priesthood by encouraging the people to worship other gods…gods whose priests owed their authority to him. It is interesting to note that Ahaz did not stick with just one set of gods. When he first became king he set up idols and worshiped the gods which had been worshiped by the people who had lived in the land when the Israelites first arrived there. Later, after his defeat by the king of Aram and betrayal by the king of Assyria Ahaz turned to the gods of Damascus, but he never considered returning to the Lord. Ahaz never learned that his failures as a king resulted from his abandonment of God. Fortunately, his son Hezekiah did learn from his father’s mistakes.

Daily Bible Study

May 25, 2016 Bible Study

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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

    I find the contrast between Uzziah and his grandson Ahaz instructive. For much of his reign Uzziah sought God’s guidance. As a result he was successful in what he did. He had a carefully disciplined army which defeated his enemies. His grandson Ahaz, on the other hand, turned away from God and sought out other gods. Ahaz began his reign by sacrificing to pagan gods, going so far as to offer his own sons as sacrifices. When he suffered terrible defeat, he did not turn to God. Instead he turned to yet other pagan gods. Like so many others, Ahaz took the suffering he received for his sins as evidence of God’s lack of power. He did not look at his grandfather and father to see that they had success where he had failure and notice that their success was the result of their obedience to God, while his failures were the result of his rebellion against God.

Daily Bible Study

July 30, 2015 Bible Study — Submit To Governing Authorities

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 20:11

    We start judging children by their attitudes towards others at a young age. How much more will others judge us by our attitudes towards those around us?

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Psalm 23

    I always struggle with this psalm because I want to write something which doesn’t feel to me like I am just repeating what I heard someone else say. I am going to review what the psalmist’s imagery means to me. Jesus is my shepherd, He guides me and directs me. Sometimes that guidance is gentle and friendly, sometimes it is harsh and scary. However, that guidance leads me to places so that all of my needs are provided. One place I find sustenance, another I find rest. Sometimes that guidance sends me through dangerous territory, but I can travel that path without fear because I know that God is right beside me to protect me. The image that comes to me is a father leading his child through the forest with a weapon in his hand. The child does not fear, even when wild predators come forth because he knows his father will not allow the animal to threaten him. The predator may growl and snarl, but all I need to do is huddle close to God and they will not dare attack.
    The image changes for me in the next verse. Here I imagine a person of consequence honoring me in the face of those who have belittled and humiliated me in the past. God will honor us in the presence of those who told us we were worthless. God’s goodness will be with us for all of our lives. We will be surrounded by God’s love for as long as we live, and after that we will be in His Presence for eternity.

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Romans 13

    Paul writes that we should submit to the governing authorities (it is worth noting that Paul says “submit”, not “obey”. We are to submit to governing authorities, but to obey only God). Those authorities only have that authority because God has given it to them. Rebelling against government authorities is rebelling against God, because God gave them authority in order to punish wrongdoers. When a government stops punishing wrongdoers and begins punishing those who do right it has lost its legitimacy. However, even in that case it is not our job to overthrow that government. God will overthrow a government which has lost its legitimacy in His own time. We should remain in submission to government authorities for as long as they remain in authority. Let us give what we owe to whoever we owe it, taxes to those whom taxes are due, revenue to those whom revenue is due, and respect to those whom respect is due.

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2 Chronicles 26-28

    For whatever reason, I tend to think that the kings of Judah after Joash were all progressively more evil. However, this is not the case. While Joash’s son, Amaziah, turned to idol worship, the next two kings in line served the Lord. As a result of their faithfulness, they became strong and mighty rulers. Unfortunately, the third king in today’s passage turned from God as well, with the resultant decay in the position of the kingdom of Judah. The lesson we learn from this passage is that when a people and their leaders are faithful to God the wealth and power of the nation increases. When they turn from God they suffer defeat and economic hardship.