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.

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 priest Jehoiada engineered a coup to place Joash, the great grandson of Jehoshaphat, on the throne in place of his (Joash’s) grandmother, the daughter of Ahab. Jehoiada had raised Joash from infancy and served as his regent until he reached majority. Jehoiada used his influence over Joash to bring about spiritual renewal in the land. As long as Jehoiada lived, Joash worshiped and served the Lord. Joash was even more enthusiastic about worshiping God than Jehoiada, chiding Jehoiada for failing to restore the Temple. Joash instituted a system to collect money for the restoration of the Temple and saw to it being used for that purpose. However, after Jehoiada’s death, Joash fell under the influence of less godly men and turned away from God to worship idols. He even went so far as to kill Jehoiada’s son, who would have been raised as his brother. The account here of Joash, and his son Amaziah, serve as a warning that youthful enthusiasm for the Lord does not necessarily last.

    In many ways the account of King Amaziah is sadder than the story of Joash. When King Amaziah had established himself as king, he went to war against Edom. As part of his preparations he hired 100,000 warriors from the Northern Kingdom. These men made up one quarter of his army. When he receive instructions from God to dismiss these warriors Amaziah did so on the basis of God’s promise of victory without them. However, despite gaining the victory which God had promised him, Amaziah promptly set up the idols he had plundered from Edom and began worshiping them. We get a hint of what was going on here with Amaziah’s next act, which was to declare war on the Northern Kingdom. Rather than give God credit for his victory over Edom, Amaziah chose to believe it resulted from his own skill as a war leader.

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.

    When King Jehoshaphat returned from his ill-fated war aiding King Ahab, he proved himself different from his father. Upon his return, a prophet chided Jehoshaphat for his friendship with King Ahab. Rather than respond by imprisoning the prophet, as his father had done when similarly chided, King Jehoshaphat renewed his efforts to encourage his people to worship the Lord. Earlier, Jehoshaphat had sent his officials out among the people. Now, he himself went among them to encourage them to worship the Lord faithfully. As a result of this exposure to the needs of his people, King Jehoshaphat appointed judges, whom he strictly instructed to judge with integrity. He gave them a mandate to pass judgments which pleased God, not which pleased wither the crowds or the powerful.

    One result of Jehoshaphat’s going to war to aid King Ahab was that some of the surrounding nations lost their fear of him. Three of the neighboring kingdoms formed an alliance against Jehoshaphat and launched an invasion. Again, King Jehoshaphat demonstrates that he was different from his father. Rather than seeking the aid of other kings, Jehoshaphat turned to God. He called on all of the people to fast and pray for God’s aid. Then, as he marched the army out to fight the invaders, he turned the march into a procession of worship. I want to note that Jehoshaphat did not impose this idea of a worship procession by the army on the people. He did so in consultation with the people. King Jehoshaphat and his people were in accord to trust the Lord in the face of this threat of foreign invaders. While Jehoshaphat’s army marched to meet the enemy armies, praising the Lord the entire time, the enemy alliance fell apart. The three enemy armies turned on each other, leaving behind the plunder they had taken from the raids they had already conducted (the passage does not tell us where this plunder came from in the first place). I want to point out a difference in results between Jehoshaphat and Asa. When Asa chose to rely on another king, it cost him much treasure. When Jehoshaphat chose to rely on God, it gained him much treasure. It may not always work out that way, but one thing is sure: when we rely on God the results are always better than when we rely on men.

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.

    In the early years of his reign, King Asa was receptive to the words of God delivered to him through prophets. Later, he imprisoned a prophet who gave him a message from God. Of course, there was a major difference between the messages those prophets gave him. The first praised him for his trust in God, the second berated him for not doing so. The key here was that when the Southern Kingdom was attacked by the Ethiopian (Cushite) army, King Asa could see no choices but to rely on God. When he was later attacked by the Northern Kingdom, he thought he could deal with it without God. Rather than trusting in God, King Asa took treasures dedicated to God and used them to bribe a foreign king to attack the Northern Kingdom.

    I am not sure what happened to King Asa. Early in his reign he trusted in the Lord and his enthusiasm led the people of his kingdom to do the same. He caused the people to enter into a renewed covenant with God. One of the consequences of his enthusiastic faith was that people migrated from the Northern Kingdom to his kingdom to join in the worship of the Lord. It was this migration which probably led to King Baasha of the Northern Kingdom attacking him (we are told that King Baasha attacked in order to close the border). In other words, King Asa did not trust God to protect him when he was attacked for worshiping the Lord.

    Despite the fact that King Asa failed to put his trust in God in his later years, Jehoshaphat, his son, was faithful when he succeeded him. The one thing which can be held against King Jehoshaphat was his friendship with King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom. Even there, he really only made one mistake. King Jehoshaphat tried to be a good influence on King Ahab. He pointed out that prophets of Baal were not prophets of God. Then, He chided him for being petty and un-kingly because he did not want to listen to the one prophet of God because that prophet did not tell King Ahab what he wanted to hear. However, despite being aware of King Ahab’s flaws and idolatry, King Jehoshaphat arranged for his son, and heir, to marry King Ahab’s daughter. The end result being that King Jehoshaphat’s son was not faithful to God as his father had been.

    I really did not intend to spend that much time on that. What I really want to bring attention to is the fact that Jehoshaphat sent his officials throughout the kingdom to teach the people. While they took the Book of the Law with them, I do not believe that they limited themselves to teaching God’s commands. I believe that King Jehoshaphat’s officials taught the people to, at the very least, read and write so that they could read, and make copies of, the Book of the Law for themselves. The fact that his people were educated and faithful to God led the rulers of the surrounding lands to be afraid of King Jehoshaphat.

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.

    There are several things in today’s passage which strike me as noteworthy. However, I am unsure how many of them I will touch on. It will depend on how much I have to say about each of them and whether or not I can find a way to transition between them.

    When Jeroboam took control of the Northern Tribes the first thing he did was replace the Levitical priesthood with priests loyal to himself. It is not quite clear what the Levites, aside from the descendants of Aaron, did outside of Jerusalem (and Gibeon before that), but they clearly provided religious leadership. Jeroboam removed that role from the Levites and gave it to others of his own choosing. As a result all of the Levites, both priests and non-priests, moved to the area under the control of Rehoboam. This had further results, all of those from the Northern Tribes who wished to follow the Law of Moses migrated from the territory controlled by Jeroboam to the territory controlled by Rehoboam. From this we discover that not all of the members of the “Ten Lost Tribes” lived in the Northern Kingdom when it later fell to the Assyrians and its people were taken into exile. (This, by the way, is why I usually refer to the “Northern Kingdom” and the “Southern Kingdom” rather than the “Kingdom of Israel” and the “Kingdom of Judah” when referring to the divided kingdoms).

    We know from both the account of his reign in Kings and from the description of his son’s reign here that Abijah was not a godly king. Abijah allowed pagan shrines and Asherah poles, even supported worship at them, during his reign. Yet, when he found himself at war with Jeroboam and the Northern Kingdom, he pointed out the continued worship of God among the people of the Southern Kingdom as a reason why the Northern Kingdom would not be victorious. Jeroboam outmaneuvered Abijah by outflanking Abijah’s army. However, Abijah’s troops, outflanked and outnumbered, put their trust in God and were victorious. Later, when Abijah’s son, Asa, was king, we have a similar story. The Southern Kingdom was attacked by an army for Ethiopia (Cush) which greatly out numbered the army which Asa was able to muster. Asa, who unlike his father was faithful to God, called on the Lord for aid and was overwhelmingly victorious. Ordinarily, one would have expected a war between two such armies to take more than one battle. However, Asa found himself on the borders of the land he controlled and the army which he had come to fight completely defeated. So, he took the opportunity to extend his control beyond its previous borders. By putting their trust in God, the people of the Southern Kingdom were able to thrive.

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.

    In addition to building the Temple and his own palace Solomon conducted other building projects throughout the kingdom. This was done with a conscripted labor force of non-Israelites living in the kingdom. He did however apparently maintain a large army of Israelites conscripted for that purpose. This passage tells us that Solomon spent his reign consolidating control over the territory which his father, King David, had conquered In addition, Solomon built a trading empire rather than extending his military and political control over the surrounding areas. For several years now I have believed that David’s conquests were mostly about protecting the merchants who used the trade routes which ran through Israel focusing on overthrowing rulers who supported banditry and ensuring that their replacements did not resume such support. Solomon took the next step of sending out his own merchant caravans. The visit from the Queen of Sheba shows that Solomon developed quite a widespread reputation. I would suggest that that reputation was likely as a sharp negotiator who entered into mutually beneficial agreements.

    However, it seems that the wealth which Solomon’s trade generated did not spread to those outside of the area around Jerusalem. It seems that while the entire kingdom bore the burden of maintaining Solomon’s trade empire, the benefits accrued only to those who lived in the area controlled by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. So that when Solomon died, the rest of the kingdom demanded that Rehoboam reduce the burden on them. As I had noted when reading the description of how David became king, David became king over Israel as the various groups which composed the nation of Israel chose him as their king. Rehoboam thought that he had the ability to impose himself as king over them against their wishes. He discovered that while it is possible to rule by force, you need to have people willing to impose that force in order to do so. The army of Judah, as shown in Kings, was unwilling to impose that force on their fellow Israelites.

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.

    I like Solomon’s prayer dedicating the Temple. I just noticed that it is similarly constructed to Jesus’ prayer which we call the Lord’s Prayer (I am not going to go over those similarities). It starts out praising God and thanking Him for keeping His promises. It reaffirms our need to follow God’s commands. Solomon went on to admit that the Temple, or any other structure, is incapable of containing God. He then lists a series of things that he asks God to listen to our prayers if we pray in the direction of the Temple. So, in addition to praying towards the Temple are the conditions which Solomon acknowledges must be part of these prayers?

• humble and ernest
• turn back to God
• acknowledge God’s name
• turn from our sins
• pray about our troubles or sorrow

There are a couple of other types of prayer which Solomon asks God to honor, but the essence of Solomon’s prayer is a request to God that if we do these things He will forgive our sins and uphold our cause.

    Sometime later God replied to Solomon’s request. God’s reply was that if people humble themselves, pray and seek God, and turn from their sins He will forgive their sins and answer their prayers. The way that reads to me is that God told Solomon (and us) that He would grant Solomon’s request to hear prayers, but would not require people to pray towards the Temple. But God added one more thing to His reply. If God’s people served other gods and disobeyed God, God would turn the Temple into an example for the whole world of the results of doing so.

    In some ways, modern Israel shows the fruition of Solomon’s prayer and God’s reply. The Jewish people sinned and went into exile. There, many of them turned back to God and prayed for His deliverance. God heard their prayers and brought them back to the land which He had promised to Abraham’s descendants. Yet, the Temple still lies in ruins, standing as an example for us of what happens when God’s people turn their backs on Him.

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.

    Today’s passage contains a slightly different account of Solomon’s visit to Gibeon to sacrifice to God that was mentioned in Kings. This account contains a somewhat clearer explanation as to why Solomon went there to sacrifice. While David had moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, the Tabernacle, including the altar which was built at the same time the Tabernacle was first made, was still in Gibeon. So, there would have still been people who considered Gibeon the correct place to worship God.

    So, while Solomon was at Gibeon God appeared to him in a vision and told him that He would give him whatever he asked for at this time. Now traditionally we have focused on the fact that Solomon asked for wisdom. Preachers and teachers have waxed long about how pleased God was that Solomon chose wisdom over wealth, or fame, or long life. However, I noticed today that that is NOT what pleased God about Solomon’s request. What pleased God was that Solomon’s desire was to help God’s people. Solomon did not request wisdom for wisdom’s sake. He requested wisdom so that he could better lead God’s people. So, when offered the opportunity to ask God for whatever he desired, Solomon requested the ability to better serve others. It reminds me of the “game” we sometimes played as children: If granted 3 wishes, what would you wish for? The question for us today is, if given one wish would we use it on ourselves, or on serving others? Solomon chose serving others and was rewarded with wealth and fame, but others chose serving others and were rewarded with suffering. The interesting thing is, if we look at what Solomon wrote later in life and what some of those others wrote, perhaps the suffering was the greater reward.

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.

    The passage continues on from yesterday’s listing of the duties assigned to priests and Levites to list David’s other officers and officials. We see that David carefully delegated his authority in order to efficiently administer his kingdom. David also managed to balance the advantages of a trained army ready to fight at a moments notice with the liabilities of keeping a professional army by having units which served for 1 month out of the year. This allowed him to have enough men on hand to deal with any sudden military necessities without the expense, and other problems, of keeping an army of warriors busy year round. In addition, it left him with a pool of trained men to call upon when a larger force was needed..

    Considering the way in which Solomon was crowned, I am unsure how much of the address this passage says King David gave at Solomon’s coronation reflects what David actually said. However, there are still important words in it for us. There is a promise contained within which God will honor. Those who obey God’s commands wholly and completely will be secure in their land. God knows all of our thoughts and plans, no matter how cleverly hidden they may be, even if we have hidden them from ourselves. If we seek Him, we will find Him. If we seek to do His will, we will learn it and find the strength to do so. But there is an important codicil to this, if we reject God, He will reject 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 1 Chronicles 24-26.

    There are two aspects of today’s passage which I find interesting. David was careful to make sure that the priests and Levites were assigned tasks in a way that precluded the appearance of favoritism. In the Church today we need to follow a similar practice. Church leaders should work to make sure that they do not choose just their friends for the choice tasks, but give everyone an opportunity at them. More interesting was the fact that musicians were chosen for services by lot with no preference for experience or skill. All of those who played musical instruments to praise God were given equal opportunities to do so. I think that we should strive to follow this example as well. Those who wish to use their musical abilities to praise God should be given opportunities to do so, even if the rest of us are of the opinion that God gave them no talent in that area. Not only should they be given the opportunity to do so, but we should encourage them to do so.