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

When we look at King Josiah, we tend to focus on the discovery of the Book of the Law and his reaction to it.  We tend to over look that most of his reforms happened BEFORE the Book of the Law was discovered in the Temple.  At age 16, Josiah began to seek God.  This probably corresponded to the time when his regents began to let him begin to exercise some authority as king.  At age 20, he began to purge the kingdom of idols and places of idol worship, not just breaking down the places of idol worship, but desecrating them.  This probably corresponded to the time when he came into his full authority as king.  When he finished in Judah, he continued cleansing the land of idols and places of idol worship into the territory of the Northern Kingdom.  It was only after he had cleansed the land of idol worship that he ordered the repair of the Temple, during which the Book of the Law was found.  Until today I had never really thought about how when Josiah sought God, one thing just followed after another for good.  The same thing will happen for us.  If we seek God with all of our hearts, souls, and minds, God will reveal the next step we should take in order to further His will for us. Don’t worry about what you do not know of God’s will, just do what you know.

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.

Mannasseh, Hezekiah’s son, represents a counter lesson to those kings who did good in the eyes of the Lord, but did evil in their later years.  Mannasseh did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but after being taken prisoner by the Assyrians, he turned to God.  After his conversion he removed the idols and the altars to other gods which he had installed and worshiped only God for the remainder of his life (the passage does not tell us how long that was).  The writer makes it clear that the evil Mannasseh did was extreme.  That he actively undid much of the good which his father had done and paid a price for it.  Yet, when he cried out to God in distress, God heard him and rescued him from his suffering.  So, we learn that even those who are desperately evil can turn to God and receive forgiveness.

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.

When we think of King Hezekiah we generally think of the Assyrian threats against Jerusalem during his reign, but today’s passage sets the stage for that event.  Hezekiah ordered the consecration and reopening of the Temple as his first act as king.  In doing this Hezekiah had the full support of the priests and Levites.  Less than two months after Hezekiah took the throne after his father’s death, the Temple was ready once again for sacrifices, offerings, and worship of the Lord.  The part I like the most out of this is the special Passover celebration which Hezekiah promoted.  Since there was not enough time from beginning to cleanse the Temple and the normal date for the Passover for enough priests to be consecrated, someone among the initial assembly suggested that they hold it a month later than usual (the inspiration for this would have come from the instructions given to those who were unclean through no fault of their own at the time of the second Passover).

All of Israel was to be invited, not just those living in the Kingdom of Judah.  So, Hezekiah sent messengers throughout both Judah and the Northern Kingdom.  Those messengers sent to the Northern Kingdom were met with scorn and ridicule.  Yet even so, a number of people from the Northern Kingdom chose to come to this Passover celebration in order to resume worshiping God.  This whole episode tells us a lot about how we should worship God.  The people of Judah sought to celebrate the worship of God with all of those to whom His promise had been given.  Those from the Northern Kingdom were willing to be ridiculed in order to worship God.  On whichever side of such a divide we find ourselves, let us emulate the people of Hezekiah’s time.  If we are within the group celebrating the worship of God, let us invite those outside who wish to worship Him to join us.  If we are among those who ridicule the worship of God, let us stand up to worship God and be ridiculed.

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.

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.

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

Both Joash and his son Amaziah started out their reigns honoring God, but both turned away from God in their later years.  Joash, in particular, started out enthusiastically serving God.  He went beyond the efforts of his stepfather, Jehoiada the priest, in repairing the Temple and refurnishing it, but once Jehoiada died he fell under the influence of advisors who encouraged him to commit idolatry.  Joash’s son, Amaziah, started out faithfully following the words of God’s prophets, but once he had success he turned to worshiping the idols of those he had defeated.  In both cases, these kings began to think they need not listen to God’s prophets as they got older.  Let us not follow their example and turn from following 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 19-22.

In yesterday’s passage we were told that Jehoshaphat sent people throughout his land to teach people from the Book of the Law.  Then in today’s passage, the writer tells us that he set up judges throughout the land and instructed them to judge fairly and impartially before God.  As a result of the way in which Jehoshaphat, and his father before him, ruled, when Judah was attacked by an army larger than their army could face, the people responded to Jehoshaphat’s call to prayer by turning to God.  Then, in response to the word of God given to them by a prophet, the men of Judah marched forth praising God to face the invaders.  And, as prophesied, the invaders turned on each other and completely destroyed themselves before they ever faced the army of Judah.  Yet for all of the good which Jehoshaphat did during his reign, his alliance with King Ahaz of Israel by marrying his son to Ahab’s daughter led to the death of all of his sons and grandsons, with only his great grandson surviving to eventually take the throne.

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.

We generally overlook Asa because the Bible tells us much more about his son Jehoshaphat.  Yet, here we learn that King Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord for all of his life.  His religious reforms encouraged more people to migrate from the Northern Kingdom into Judah.  King Asa called the people to assemble for a festival to worship God and rededicate themselves to Him.  For all of the great things which he did in the service of God, late in his reign when Baasha, King of Israel, attacked him, rather than trusting in God to deliver victory, King Asa sent a bribe to the king of Aram.  At the same time he became intolerant of those who criticized him.  So, we learn that even one whose heart is fully committed to the Lord can make mistakes.

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.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Chronicles 8-10.

The story of the Queen of Sheba coming to visit King Solomon has caught the imagination of people over the centuries.  Yet, it is overall a rather minor story.  Much of the legend which has risen about it suggests that King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba were lovers.  However, there is nothing in the account of her visit to suggest that was the case.  Reading the account here today makes more sense out of her visit than any to which I had previously come.  In the account here, the Queen of Sheba’s visit follows immediately after Solomon had started sending ships out in to the Red Sea and from there to the Gulf of Persia.  Up until that point most of the trade from India, and points east going to the Mediterranean would have gone overland, or through places such as Sheba and overland to the Mediterranean.  Here was Solomon capturing both sides of that sea trade with ports on both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.  The Queen of Sheba went to Jerusalem to figure out how she could keep her country from getting completely cut out of this trade.  To me, the story suggests that Solomon had both the wisdom to set up sea trading from ports on the Red Sea and to cut a deal with the established players in that trade (as he previously had done with Hiram of Tyre on the Mediterranean side).

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