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 8-10.

In today’s passage, chapters 8 and 9 are written to highlight Solomon’s wealth, power, and wisdom.   In particular, chapter 8 discusses how he used the wealth he acquired to strengthen Israel by building fortified cities and settling Israelites into border territories.  Chapter 9 illustrates how word of his knowledge and wisdom spread far and wide, with the Queen of Sheba coming to see for herself that the rumors were true.  Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but in the account here, and in the one in 1 Kings, the Queen of Sheba comes to Jerusalem after Solomon had partnered with Hiram of Tyre to send a trading fleet into the Arabian Sea.  This is significant because the best sources I can find place the kingdom of Sheba as being on the Arabian Peninsula in the area where Yemen is today.  With such a location, Sheba would have traded with the east coast of Africa and with India.  Reading the descriptions of Solomon’s trade fleets suggests that they also traded with the east coast of Africa (perhaps as far south as modern South Africa) and with India.   It is likely that Solomon was taking goods obtained from the lands along the western Mediterranean, transporting them overland the short distance to the Red Sea, then carrying them by boat to lands to the east.  The Queen of Sheba traveled to Jerusalem to determine what kind of threat this new trading empire was to her own country’s prosperity.  I believe her comments about Solomon’s wisdom indicate that she found Solomon intent on making mutually beneficial trades with all his subordinates encountered (after all, Solomon and his father before him had a mutually beneficial relationship with Tyre).

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 5-7.

I want to start today’s blog by noting more about the compilation of this book.   A few days ago I had noted that the genealogies at the beginning suggested that this book was compiled after the return from exile.  I still believe that to be true.  However, today’s passage was originally written before the Exile.  We know this because Solomon’s temple was destroyed at the time of Exile, but this passage tells us that the carrying poles for the ark of the covenant could still be seen from in front of the inner sanctuary at the time of writing.  This tells us that the genealogies, and perhaps other notes, were added on to copies being made of a source document which predated the Exile.  It would not surprise me to someday learn that parts of multiple source documents were combined into this one document.

I have always thought of the temple which Solomon had built as a temple of God or a temple for God.  However, as I was reading the passage today, I noticed that while Solomon was addressing the people during the dedication of the temple he referred to it as “temple for the Name of the Lord.”  So, Solomon did not perceive himself to have built a temple for the Lord, he only considered it as being for the Name of the Lord.  I take two things from this.  On the one hand it indicates, as Solomon noted in his prayer of dedication, no building, or even city or nation, can contain God.  So, we do not need to go to a specific location in order to call on God.  God can hear us and come to our aid, no matter where we are on earth.  On the other hand, the Name of God is no small thing to be used without care or thought.  We must be careful to give God’s Name the honor it is due.   And I just realized there is a third thing that I take from this.  Solomon built the temple for the Name of the Lord rather than for the Lord in an attempt to keep people from starting to worship the temple itself.

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 1-4.

As part of consolidating his hold on the throne, King Solomon called all of Israel to a worship assembly at Gibeon, where the tent of the tabernacle and its altar still resided.  David had not  gone there to worship at least since the plague which followed his ill-advised census.  The writer tells us that while at Gibeon Solomon asked God for the wisdom and knowledge that he would need to lead the God’s people.  The writer also tells us that God granted Solomon his request, and said that He would give him wealth and honor.  However, the writer follows this up by telling us that King Solomon acquired many horses and chariots, and much wealth.  Further, we are told that Solomon imported horses from Egypt.  All of this is contrary to what God had explicitly told the Israelites through Moses about how their kings should behave.  Now, it seems to me that the writer told us about the horses and wealth which King Solomon accumulated in order to show us how God had fulfilled His promise to Solomon to give him great wealth since he had only asked for wisdom and knowledge.  And as we read a little further we see that initially, Solomon used that wealth to bring honor and glory to God by building a magnificent temple for Him.  However, once he completed that temple, rather than using the wisdom and knowledge which God gave him to find other ways to use his wealth to serve God, Solomon used that wealth to please himself.

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 34-36.

Why did King Josiah march out to intercept Pharaoh Necho? (as an aside, whenever I read about Pharaoh Necho, I cannot help but think of the candy, Necco Wafers).  I mean, we know that King Josiah had joined the alliance against the Assyrians led by the Babylonians and that Pharaoh Necho was going to the assistance of the Assyrians, but why did King Josiah march out without God’s blessing?  In all other ways, Josiah acted according to God’s will, and even in this case he was acting in God’s will because God was bringing judgement against Judah for the sins of the people generation after generation.  Yet we also know that God had promised not to bring that judgement until after Josiah’s death.   This question has bothered me for many years.  I have chosen not to write about it because there are so many other things of value in this passage we can talk about.  Nevertheless we need to look at this decision made by Josiah.  We do not know that Josiah made a mistake in going against Pharaoh Necho.  We can think about the “what-ifs” if he had not, but we do know that God had had determined that Judah needed to face judgement for the sins of its people.  We do not know what would have happened had Josiah not chosen to join that war.  Perhaps he would have turned power over to his son peacefully and his son would have followed in his footsteps.  Or perhaps, his son would have done evil in the eyes of the Lord and things would have gone as they did anyway.

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.

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.

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

Early in his reign, Joash was fervent in his devotion to God.  However, when his stepfather died, he fell under the influence of wicked men and began worshiping idols.  When Joash was confronted about this by his stepbrother, Joash had him put to death.   Then we have his son, Amaziah, who also did right in the eyes of God early in his reign, only to take the gods of Edom as his own after conquering that kingdom.  Both Joash and Amaziah stand as warnings to anyone who enthusiastically obeys God in their youth.  Our faith must endure for our entire lives.  While both Amaziah and Joash did good, in the end they faltered and fell short of what they could have been.

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 15-18.

I want to expound on the prophesy which Azariah spoke to King Asa after the latter’s victory over the mighty Cushite army.  King Asa was inspired by that prophecy to seek the Lord, and to assemble the people who looked to him for leadership for them to enter into a covenant to seek the Lord.  Here is Azariah’s prophecy:

The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.

This prophecy is not very long, but it says a lot.  When we do the Lord’s will, He will be with us.  And if we seek God, He will be found by us.  If anyone seeks God, He will be found by them.   When the people do not know the true God, their land will be in distress.  Isn’t that what we see in the world today?  It is not safe to travel and people everywhere are in great turmoil.  One nation is being crushed by another.  And why is this?  Because God is troubling the people of the world with great distress because they do not know Him.  Perhaps in their distress they will turn to Him.  Then He will be found by them.  As for us who already know Him, let us be strong and not give up.  We have work to do, let us be about it.  If we do the work which God has given us we will be rewarded…by seeing that God’s work has been done.  And let’s not forget the negative side of Azariah’s prophecy:

If we forsake God, He will forsake us. 

I do not want to be forsaken by God, that may be my greatest fear.

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.