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 31-33.

After the Passover which Hezekiah had called the people to celebrate, the people enthusiastically followed the Lord.  They destroyed the various pagan worship sites throughout the land, both that under King Hezekiah’s rule and the land of the northern tribes which he did not control.  This same enthusiasm carried over into bringing offerings to the Temple.  Hezekiah made personal contributions of animals for the required sacrifices and required the people of Jerusalem to offer the sacrifices described in the Law of Moses.  When the people who lived outside of Jerusalem heard what was going on in Jerusalem, they too brought sacrifices to the Temple.  In fact, they brought so much that the priests and Levites in Jerusalem could not make use of it all.  So, Hezekiah organized the distribution of these goods to the priests and Levites living in the towns and villages throughout the land.  The result being that they could dedicate their time to teaching the people the Law of Moses.  Reading between the lines, I believe that the priests and Levites were tasked not just with teaching the Law of Moses, but with teaching the people other things as well (in particular, reading so that they could read the Law for themselves).

Sometime after this, Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, invaded Judah and began conquering the fortified towns.  In response, King Hezekiah worked with his advisers to devise and execute a plan to improve the fortifications of Jerusalem.  This included repairing the section of wall which had been torn down when his father was king, building a second wall around the city, and fortifying the city’s water supply.  Again in reading this I came across something I had not noticed before.  In his preparation to defend the city, Hezekiah organized all of the people into its defense.  He gathered all of the people and told them that they need not fear the Assyrians because as mighty as the Assyrian army was, God is more powerful yet.  Perhaps Sennacherib received reports of Hezekiah’s speech, or perhaps he knew the sorts of things which a king like Hezekiah would say to encourage his people.  In either case, Sennacherib and his messengers dismissed the idea that God could rescue the people of Jerusalem from his power.  I am sure that Sennacherib never came to realize his mistake, even though he was forced to withdraw from Judah without ever laying siege to Jerusalem.  However, Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem knew to whom to give credit for their salvation, as should we.  I am sure that Sennacherib remained convinced that he could have taken Jerusalem any time he wished even though a plague in his camp forced him to withdraw.

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.

Essentially the first thing which Hezekiah did when he became king was to reopen the Temple, which his father had shut.  As part of that he summoned the priests and Levites.  He commanded them to purify themselves and the Temple so as to be prepared to properly worship and present sacrifices to God.  It would be easy to reach the conclusion that this just involved cleaning the Temple and conducting the appropriate rituals, but I think that Hezekiah meant, and his listeners understood, conducting the rituals, re-familiarizing themselves with God’s Laws, and changing their behaviors. 

It took the Levites 16 days to cleanse and purify the Temple (note that it specifies that the Levites did this work, not “the priests and Levites”).  As soon as the Temple was purified, Hezekiah gathered the city officials of Jerusalem and had the priests offer a sin offering for all of Israel.  It would be easy to overlook that he did not just ask them to offer a sin offering for the nation as commanded in the Law of Moses.  That could have been interpreted as either being for all of Israel, or just for the kingdom over which Hezekiah ruled.  No, Hezekiah called for a sin offering for all of Israel, for all of the descendants of Jacob, even those who had been taken into exile (both from the northern tribes and from his own territory while his father was king).  As part of this process, he had the priests and Levites conduct a festival-style worship service.  This drew the people of the city, not just the officials whom Hezekiah had summoned.

Once the re-dedication and sin offerings had been offered Hezekiah called on the people who so desired to bring their own offerings to the Lord.  This is where we see the significance of my note about who purified the Temple because not enough priests had purified themselves to offer all of the sacrifices the people brought.  The passage tells us that the Levites had to help the priests offer the sacrifices.  I believe that the problem was that what revealed that not enough priests had purified themselves was that many of them did not know how to offer the sacrifices.  Which indicated that they had not studied the Law of Moses, but the Levites had and thus knew what needed to be done.  The people responded enthusiastically to Hezekiah’s restoration of God’s worship, as did the Levites.  The priests, and I am going to guess other high officials, responded less enthusiastically.

The final element of Hezekiah’s restoration was the first Passover he celebrated.  They celebrated this Passover a month late because not enough priests could be purified in time.  As part of his preparations Hezekiah sent messengers throughout the entire land of Israel, not just the part over which he had authority, inviting people to prepare themselves and come celebrate the Passover.  This was after the fall of Samaria, so we learn that not all of the Northern Tribes were taken into exile by the Assyrians.  Most of the people in the northern regions laughed at King Hezekiah’s messengers, but large numbers still responded and came to Jerusalem for the Passover.  Many of those who came from the northern regions no longer knew how to properly worship God and so failed to properly purify themselves for the Passover.  King Hezekiah ruled that they should be allowed to take part anyway and prayed to God that He accept their desire to serve Him.  We should follow Hezekiah’s example and welcome all who genuinely wish to worship God, especially those whose enthusiasm exceeds their understanding.  I will note that they did not just allow those who were unprepared to conduct their Passover sacrifices however they saw fit.  No, they had the Levites prepare their sacrifices for them, showing them the correct way to do it.

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.

The account given here of Jehoiada overthrowing Athaliah and installing her grandson Joash on the throne goes into much more detail than that given in Kings.  This account shows just how much risk Jehoiada took to execute his plot.  I just realized that the leaders whom Jehoiada relied upon to overthrow Athaliah and put Joash on the throne were a different group from those who convinced Joash to turn away from God after Jehoiada’s death.  That may seem obvious because most of those who helped put Joash on the throne would have died by the time Jehoiada died.  But not only were those who placed Joash on the throne different men than those who later advised him, they came from a different category of men.  This account tells us that Jehoiada summoned Levites and clan leaders from the towns to Jerusalem.  These were not the government leaders who resided in Jerusalem.  They were men from the countryside who spent their time among the common man.  Later, after Jehoiada’s death, the men who convinced Joash to turn away from God were government officials who resided in Jerusalem.  This passage illustrates a lesson which repeats itself throughout history: the leaders of a nation who reside in the capital do not have the same interests as the people who live elsewhere, not even the leaders of those people living elsewhere.

When Joash’s son Amaziah ascended to the throne, he appears to have learned some of this lesson.  Perhaps I am reading to much into it, but I read the description of the way in which Amaziah organized the army as reflective of how he governed.  He chose leaders to lead the army from throughout the land.  He took advice, at least early in his reign, from those outside the “Jerusalem insiders club”.  However, we also see that he tried to weaken the power of the priests and Levites by adopting the gods of the Edomites.  The same arrogance which had led Amaziah to abandon God, led him to make war against Israel.  This ended badly for Amaziah.  All of the wealth, goodwill, and power he had accumulated with his victory over Edom, and more, was lost with his defeat by Israel.  Initially, Amaziah took advice and ruled according to God’s Law, but once he felt secure upon his throne he abandoned God and stopped taking advice.

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.

Again today I read something I do not think I ever noticed before.  A prophet of the Lord confronted Jehoshaphat for his friendship with King Ahab of Israel.  Jehoshaphat allied with and helped Ahab in his wars despite Ahab’s idolatry and sin. I believe that God’s anger with Jehoshaphat had as much, or more ,to do with Jehoshaphat arranging for his son to marry Ahab’s daughter than with Jehoshaphat aiding Ahab in his war(s).  Despite his alliance with Ahab, Jehoshaphat was a good king in many ways.  In yesterday’s passage, it tells us that Jehoshaphat sent officials out to all of the towns under his control to teach the people.  It does not specify what they taught the people, except to mention that they took copies of the Book of the Law with them.  I believe that he had them teach the people to read and write so that they could read the Book of the Law for themselves.   In today’s passage we learn that not only did Jehoshaphat send officials out from Jerusalem among the people, he went among them himself.  This puts his instructions to the judges he appointed in a clear light.  He told the judges to rule so as to please God rather than people.  Jehoshaphat instructed them to judge with integrity because God does not tolerate perverted justice, partiality, or the taking of bribes.  These are instructions to which many judges and other government officials today should pay more careful heed.  For that matter, any of us in positions of authority within any organization should pay heed to these instructions. 

For most of Jehoshaphat’s reign the surrounding countries  refrained from making war against Judah.  However, late in Jehoshaphat’s reign several of the neighboring nations joined together to make war against Judah.  Jehoshaphat did what all of us should do when faced with a problem. especially great danger.  He turned to God for guidance.  And since this was a problem for the whole nation, he called on all of the people to fast and pray.  God’s answer to Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah is one for all of us who seek His Name.  The battle is God’s not ours.  We should be prepared to fight against those who oppose God’s will, but remember that victory will not come through our efforts but through God’s action.   The army of Judah marched out to face the enemy singing and praising God, knowing that the enemy army was more than they could defeat.  Yet they were confident that God would give them the victory.  Before they were able to engage their enemies, their enemies turned on each other and destroyed themselves.  As we watch the forces which seek to destroy God’s presence in our society today, let us turn to god and pray.  If we do so and fully seek to do God’s will ourselves, we will witness them turn on and destroy each other.

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 Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem after the rebellion of the Northern Tribes, he mustered the warriors of Judah and Benjamin to attempt to take put down the rebellion.   However a prophet named Shemaiah prophesied that they should not make war against their fellow Israelites.  The passage here, and the equivalent in 1 Kings, is somewhat ambiguous about who responded to Shemaiah’s prophecy, but it reads to me like the warriors declined to fight against their fellow Israelites and Rehoboam was forced to allow the Northern Tribes to go their own way.  In response to this Rehoboam initially emphasized following God’s commands as laid out in the Law of Moses and welcomed the priests and Levites who migrated from the territory of the Northern Tribes.  The wording of the passage suggests that the Levites left the Northern Kingdom voluntarily because they felt unwelcome there.  Once Rehoboam felt secure on the throne of the Southern Kingdom he stopped doing more than paying lip service to doing God’s will.  However, when the Pharaoh of Egypt invaded, he had a renewal of faith.

Fortunately, both Rehoboam’s son and grandson learned from his shortcomings and were faithful to God.  When Rehoboam’s son Abijah was king, Jeroboam attempted to conquer at least part of the Southern Kingdom.  Jeroboam’s army outnumbered the southern army by two to one.  The account of the battle between the two armies is interesting.  While Abjiah was practicing psychological warfare against the northern army, Jeroboam was outflanking him..  In the end, the faith which the men of the southern army placed in God was rewarded and they slaughtered much of the northern army. We have a similar story when Abijah’s son Asa became king.  This time the opposing army was not that of the Northern Kingdom, but one from Ethiopia.  Asa was able to muster a larger army than his father had, but the Ehtiopian army was even larger and once again they were outnumbered by approximately two to one.  King Asa recognized that he could not defeat such a large army directly and called on God’s aid.  God provided that aid and Asa defeated the enemy army.

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.

King Solomon had married Pharaoh’s daughter.  Then rather than insist that she give up her idolatry, he built her a palace because he understood it would be wrong to have her live in the same palace where the Ark of the Covenant was housed for a period of time.  (Side note: nowhere does the Bible mention that the Ark was in David’s palace except here, I would interpret this to mean that it was kept on the grounds of David’s palace. )   Reading between the lines, this suggests to me that the writer is telling us that Pharoah’s daughter was practicing her idolatrous religious practices in the palace where she lived, and rather than make her stop, Solomon relocated her away from the center of Jerusalame.  This is the only hint of the idolatry which 1 Kings says led to the Northern Tribes revolting against Solomon’s son, Rehoboam.  The passage tells us that after doing so Solomon offered sacrifices on the altar he had built in front of the entrance to the Temple.  To a degree, Solomon was trying to have it both ways, worshiping God while taking part, even if only passively, in his wife’s religious practices.  Something we can take as a warning against marrying someone who does not share our religious convictions (although I do not believe that is any part of the writer’s intention).

From time to time I see people write about the Queen of Sheba’s visit to King Solomon as a romantic liaison.  There is nothing in the passage to lead us to that conclusion.  The only biblical basis for reaching such a conclusion is the fact that elsewhere we are told that King Solomon was a prolific womanizer (in 1 Kings we are told that he had 700 wives and 300 concubines, which pretty much sounds like a womanizer to me).  However, I read the Queen of Sheba’s visit as a diplomatic/trade mission.  The account of the Queen of Sheba comes after the writer describes the trade routes King Solomon setup and before describing the great wealth he accumulated from that trade.  Sheba was a trade kingdom.  To me this seems as if the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon to figure out how he had developed such a large trade network in such a short time.