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 29-30.

    When Hezekiah took the throne upon his father’s death, his first act as king was to reopen and begin repair on the Temple. He then gathered the priests and Levites and ordered them to purify both themselves and the Temple. Once the purification was completed, Hezekiah gathered all of the city officials of Jerusalem for a day of consecration and worship. It is interesting that the passage tells us that the Levites were more conscientious about purifying themselves than the priests. Hezekiah led a revival. The revival under Joash was led by the priests and Levites. This revival was led by the secular leadership. King Hezekiah and his officials recognized that the kingdom needed to return to God. Repeatedly in this passage the secular leadership is recounted as ordering the priests and Levites to take the next step, purifying themselves, offering the sacrifices, praising the Lord with psalms. However, this was a genuine revival. When the people saw what was happening they rejoiced and joined in to worship the Lord. As evidence of this, when Hezekiah summoned the people to celebrate the Passover, they not only gathered for the Passover, but they spontaneously removed from Jerusalem all of the incense altars for worshiping other gods.

    Hezekiah took the throne shortly after the fall of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria. As part of his religious reform, he invited the people remaining in the land of the Northern Kingdom to come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. An unspoken part of this invitation was the rejection of Assyrian gods and sovereignty. By coming the Jerusalem and taking part in the Passover, with its purification before God, the people of the Northern Kingdom would be putting themselves under Hezekiah’s authority. Initially, the bulk of the people in the area of the Northern Kingdom rejected Hezekiah’s overture. We will see that over time Hezekiah was able to extend his sovereignty over some of the land of the Northern Kingdom. Those who did come from the North for Hezekiah’s Passover celebration had failed to properly purify themselves, probably because they had forgotten how in the many years since God was truly worshiped there. In regards to these people Hezekiah made a statement that we should follow to these days. Those who chose to follow the Lord should be commended and encouraged to start from where they are, not told they have to wait until they get to where we think they should be. In addition to those from the Northern Kingdom who had forgotten the proper ways to prepare to worship the Lord there were many foreigners, who had never known how, who were welcomed to join in the celebration of Passover by Hezekiah.

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.

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 23-25.

    Athaliah, King Ahab of Israel’s daughter and King Jehoshaphat’s daughter-in-law, took over the throne of Judah when her son was killed. She attempted to ensure her power by killing all of the males of the Judean royal family. However, her daughter, or step-daughter (we are told that she was Ahaziah’s sister) took Athaliah’s grandson from the nursery and hid him in the Temple. When the boy Joash turned seven, the priest under whose care he was raised staged a coup to overthrow Athaliah and place him on the throne. This story reveals a lot about the politics in Jerusalem at this time, and probably throughout the period of the Divided Kingdom. The priests and Levites were a separate power base from the secular leadership.

    In many ways we see this even more clearly in Joash’s later years, after the death of Jehoiada, and in Amaziah’s reign. As long as Joash’s stepfather Jehoida was alive, Joash enthusiastically served God. However, after Jehoiada’s death the secular nobles were able to convince Joash that he needed to stand up to the priests and the Levites. When Jehoida’s son, who was in effect Joash’s stepbrother, dared to confront Joash for worshiping idols, Joash had him killed. After Joash was killed his son Amaziah took the throe. When Amaziah first took the throne the passage tells us that he was faithful to God, but unenthusiastically. This suggests that Amaziah “learned” from his father’s assassination that he needed to placate the priesthood. I would even say that Amaziah set up the worship of the gods of Edom after he conquered Edom as a competing religion to the worship of God to weaken the political power of the priests and Levites. Time and again we see various people attempt to use religion for political ends. It usually ends badly for them. Our religion should serve God, not our political agenda.

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 19-22.

    It has long bothered me that Jehoshaphat, a king who “did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight”, was a friend of King Ahab. I am not sure that I ever noticed before the prophet who confronted Jehoshaphat when he returned from the battle where Ahab died. Marrying his son to Ahab’s daughter was probably the worst thing he did as king, something which contributed to his son not being a godly king. Despite the prophet condemning Jehoshaphat’s friendship with Ahab, the prophet commended him for his commitment to seeking the Lord.

    What makes Jehoshaphat remarkable for a political leader of any time in history is that even though he lived in the capitol, Jerusalem, he spent time traveling throughout the land interacting with the common people. He encouraged them to seek the Lord. It is in the context of doing so that he appointed judges throughout the land, whom he charged to judge cases with integrity. He instructed the judges to seek to please God rather than any man or group of men. Jehoshaphat showed that he understood the need for government officials to understand the common people and to be responsive to their needs. He did so here through his own actions and the appointment of judges. He also did so through his actions where he sent government officials out to the towns and cities of Judah to teach people as recounted in 2 Chronicles 17:7-9. The principle which Jehoshaphat followed here is one which any leader would do well to heed. In order to be a good leader a leader must listen to their followers and know what motivates them. Then the leader must empower and motivate those followers to seek God.

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 15-18.

    Early in his reign, Asa was very faithful to God and led the people of Judah in religious reform. In addition, many from the northern tribes moved south to Judah because of Asa’s religious reforms. All of them enthusiastically embraced the worship of God. However, late in Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel, the northern kingdom, invaded Judah and fortified the border to prevent back and forth over the border. This suggests that as time went on more and more people were leaving Israel to move to Judah. Further, because King Baasha also worked to stop people from Judah coming to Israel it suggests that people living in Judah went north to encourage those living there to worship and follow God (leading those who listened to move south). Unfortunately, rather than depending on God, as he had early in his reign, King Asa chose to bribe the king of Aram to attack Israel in order to remove the pressure on his northern border from Israel. When confronted by a prophet for his unfaithfulness, Asa, rather than repent, had the prophet imprisoned.
    When he was young, Asa enthusiastically worshiped and followed the Lord. This led him to have a good and peaceful life for most of his reign. However, after many years of peace and prosperity, when trouble once more troubled him, he forgot the faith of his youth and instead of relying on God, he relied on human strategies and skills. Let us not make the same mistake.

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.

    When Jeroboam went to war against Rehoboam’s son, Abijah, he was able to field a much larger army than Abijah. The Bible accounts are unclear as to how this war started, but the timing suggests that Jeroboam sought to take advantage of an inexperienced, young king (although the location suggests that Abijah may have been the aggressor). At the start of the battle, Abijah reminded both sides that God had promised David that his descendants would hold the throne forever. Furthermore, he reminded them that Jeroboam had driven the priests and Levites out of Israel. While Abijah was speechifying, Jeroboam outmaneuvered his army and attacked them from the rear while engaging them on the front. Tactically, this was a great move which should have given Jeroboam a great advantage. However, the army of Judah (and perhaps that of Israel as well) had listened to Abijah’s speech and called out to God for help before engaging the enemy. Abijah won a great victory that day, leaving Jeroboam weakened for the rest of his reign. Abijah and his army won that day because they trusted God despite being outnumbered and outflanked. Let us remember to do the same when we face opposition to carrying out God’s will.

     When Asa, Abijah’s son, took the throne he ruled with an eye on serving God faithfully. King Asa destroyed the various pagan shrines put up by his predecessors AND he destroyed those throughout the entire land. He led the people of Judah to serve the Lord in all that they did. As a result, Judah had ten years of peace. At some point in his reign, Judah was attacked by an army of around 1 million from Ethiopia. When Asa with his army of 680,000 faced them he called on God for aid. The passage tells us that God defeated the Ethiopian army in the presence of Asa and the army of Judah. This suggests that the enemy army broke before battle was entered. Asa had been a good king, doing God’s will and leading his people to follow God. Yet he faced this overwhelming army. However, he did not throw up his hands and say, “Why did God allow this to happen?” No, he cried out to God, acknowledging that only God could save him and his nation against these overwhelming odds.

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 8-10.

    David had risen to power and consolidated the unity of Israel by defending the trade routes. He conquered the surrounding nations which either supported banditry or failed to control it within their territories (I am doing a bit of reading between the lines here, but that is what it reads like to me). Solomon took this one step further and built a merchant empire by entering into trade himself (this is clearly spelled out here and in the 1 Kings description of Solomon’s reign). The account of the Queen of Sheba suggests that Solomon’s merchants credited his, and their, success to worshiping God. The Queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem to find out if Solomon was as wise, wealthy, and powerful as rumor painted him. My pragmatic understanding of politics suggests to me that her visit was also intended to gain advantage. When her negotiations and questioning revealed that his wisdom and faith left him prepared to match all of her machinations, she entered into a mutually profitable agreement with him. The key here was that Solomon lived according to his reputation. When nonbelievers come to investigate us, we should live so that they will see that we live our lives according to what we claim to believe.

    When Rehoboam succeeded his father Solomon on the throne of Israel, the people of Israel demanded that he reduce their tax burden (I am oversimplifying into today’s terms). Rehoboam wisely chose to delay giving them an answer so that he could consult with his advisers. First he consulted with those who had been his father’s advisers (who were older men). They advised him to be conciliatory and yield to the people’s demands. There is a hint in their wording to suggest that they believed the people’s demands to be justified, but they also suggest that if Rehoboam yields to their demands now, he can make demands on them later. Rehoboam did not like their advice, so he turned to those he had grown up with. They told him to tell the people that he was boss and not only would he not reduce the demands his father had made of the people, he would increase those demands. When the people of Israel heard Rehoboam’s response, they rejected his rule. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal. When Rehoboam sent out his subordinate to enforce his rule on those who had rejected it the subordinate was killed. It was then that Rehoboam realized that his power to rule over the people of Israel came from the willingness of some portion of them to uphold his rule. Rehoboam failed because he did not listen to the advice of those with greater experience, who had explained why their course of action was the one to take. Rather he followed the advice of those who played to his ego.

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 5-7.

    This passage describes the ceremony which took place when Solomon had the Ark of the Covenant brought into the Temple and the dedication of the Temple which took place at the same time. It is really two separate descriptions of that ceremony. The first is a description of the process of bringing the Ark into the Temple and it ends with the following:

At that moment a thick cloud filled the Temple of the Lord. The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of God.

The second is a description of the dedication of the Temple, which occurred at the same time as the Ark being brought into the Temple, but continued beyond. In the middle of this second is the following:

When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple. The priests could not enter the Temple of the Lord because the glorious presence of the Lord filled it.

I am convinced that this second quote is meant to be another description of the event which happened in the first quote. It seems to me that the thick cloud which filled the Temple was a result of the burning of the massive number of sacrifices which were made as part of this dedication. I am tempted to say that the description of fire falling from heaven to burn the burned offerings was hyperbole, but clearly something amazing happened which caused all of the witnesses to fall face down and the ground and worship God. We must remember that a dispassionate observer will often see something different when a miracle happens. Of course, we must also remember that very few of those who witness a miracle will still be a dispassionate observer after the miracle has happened. There is a reason for this: miracles are designed by God to overcome our ennui, they are designed to arouse our enthusiasm.

    In today’s passage there is a record of Solomon’s prayer of dedication and God’s response to that prayer. These are very similar to that recorded in 1 Kings 8 and 9. However, there is a difference in what is recorded of God’s response. Solomon asked that when people turned from their sins, turned to God, AND prayed towards the Temple that God would hear and answer their prayers. In Kings it tells us that God heard Solomon’s prayer and had set the Temple apart to be Holy. In this passage, God responds that He had heard Solomon’s prayer and chosen the Temple as the place for sacrifices. Then the passage records that God further responded that when people are suffering because of their sin, if they humble themselves, pray, seek God, and turn from their wicked ways, He will hear their prayer and rescue them. There is no mention in either place about facing the Temple when making this prayer of repentance in God’s answer (but this one makes that absence more clear than the one in Kings).
    The important thing about this is that God has promised that when we humble ourselves, pray and seek Him, and turn from our sins, He will answer our prayers. As in the passage in Kings, Solomon asked that foreigners who have heard of God’s name and glory and turn to God be counted among those whom God will hear when they turn to Him. Solomon sought for all people to come to know, fear, and worship God. Let us do the same. As a follower of Christ, it is my deepest desire, not that sinners, no matter how wicked, receive punishment for their sin, but that they come to know, fear, and then love God.

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 1-4.

    When King David moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, he left the Tabernacle, and its altar, in Gibeon. We learn from today’s passage (and the account of the same event in Kings) that worship of God continued in Gibeon even after the Ark was in Jerusalem and worship took place there. I wonder if the existence of these dual places of worship (Jerusalem and Gibeon) were what inspired Jeroboam to set up two golden calves at either end of his kingdom rather than just one?

    Solomon’s first official act after taking the throne was to hold a national worship service at the Tabernacle in Gibeon. While there God appeared to Solomon and told him that He would give him whatever he asked for. Solomon asked for two things. We normally do not pay much attention to the first, for good reason. The first thing Solomon asked for was that God would continue to keep the promise He had made to King David. Solomon’s second request is the more important of his requests. It was a two part request, but those two parts were (and are) dependent on each other. Solomon asked for the wisdom and knowledge to lead the people of Israel properly. These two things go hand in hand. While wisdom is the more important of the two, it is impossible to make a wise decision if you completely lack knowledge of the situation. Perhaps the most important part of Solomon’s request was the fact that he acknowledged that he needed God’s knowledge and wisdom. Human knowledge and wisdom were insufficient for the task to which he had been called. The same is true for us, whatever task God has called us to is going to require us to depend on His wisdom and knowledge. We need to recognize that we cannot possible be wise enough, or knowledgeable enough to make the decision which God desires of us. We need to call upon God for Him to give us the wisdom and knowledge which we need to do His will.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Chronicles 27-29.

    As he was turning over his kingdom and the task of building a temple for God to his son Solomon, David gave Solomon some instructions. At the core of those instructions was the statement that if we seek God, we will find Him. This is a theme which is all throughout the Bible: those who truly seek God will find Him. Before David got to that statement he said some things which give us an understanding of what it means to seek God. David told Solomon to worship and serve God with a whole heart and a willing mind. There are those who claim that they are seeking God, but they are unwilling to truly serve Him, or in other cases their hearts are divided and they have other loyalties. If we are such people we will not truly find God. If we forsake God for other loyalties, He will let us go. God will not force His love on anyone.

    When David finished giving Solomon and the leaders of Israel instructions he prayed a prayer of praise. In that prayer he made a point which goes closely with his instruction about seeking God. We cannot truly give anything to God because everything is already His. We only have the things which we have because God has chosen to loan them to us. If we truly recognize this as true we will realize that having divided loyalties is pointless, because those things which we put ahead of God are subservient to God. Everything of value which we can have, whether it be physical, spiritual, or emotional, comes from God. Therefore we should be willing and eager to give it back to God for His use. We have nothing which did not first belong to God and if we willingly return it to Him, He will replace it with something of even greater value. This is where we face one of those great paradoxes of the Christian faith. If we give to God because He will replace what we give with something of greater value, we are not truly willingly giving…and we will have missed part of the value which God is offering us. It is only by recognizing in our hearts and not just in our minds that all we have belongs to God that we can fully experience the joy and value which God wishes to give to us.