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.

Today’s passage describes two kings, father and son, who served God faithfully for most of their reigns (the son for his entire reign).  They strengthened the army and fortified the towns of Judah.  In addition, they defeated the neighboring nations.  However, when the grandson took the throne, he turned from God and instituted Baal worship in Jerusalem once more.  As a result, he was attacked and defeated successively by Aram and Israel.  Instead of turning back to God, he committed himself further to idolatry by closing the Temple.  He sent to Assyria for aid against his enemies.  However, instead of aiding him, the Assyrians saw his weakness and demanded tribute of him.

The successes of Uzziah and Jotham, the father and son who were faithful, is attributed to their devotion to God.  While the disasters which befell Uzziah’s grandson, Ahaz, is attributed to his idolatry.  The faithfulness of Uzziah and Jotham unified their people and led them to follow values which promoted working for the interests of their fellows.  Ahaz divided the people by introducing new gods, whose worship promoted pursuing one’s own pleasure over the interests of others.  Uzziah and Jotham promoted worshiped God, whose covenant called for Him to protect and empower the descendants of Jacob who faithfully worshiped Him.  Ahaz worshiped gods who he thought would give him power, with no concern for others (not even his own sons).

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.

There are elements of the story of King Joash which make me wonder what else was going on.  Of course, those same elements also convince me that the story is true, since no one who was making up a story would make it up that way.  First we must understand the story.  The high priest, Jehoiada, was Joash’s stepfather and was married to the woman who had saved Joash’s life from his grandmother.  When Joash was seven years old, Jehoiada led the revolt in Joash’s name to overthrow his grandmother who had usurped the throne.  As part of that, and following it, Jehoaida led a religious reform resulting in a revival of worship of God and a turning away from idols.  Yet, it took Joash to order the repair of the Temple when he reached his majority.  We know from the parallel passage in Kings that Joash had to issue a second such order a few years later to get the repairs to actually happen.  Why didn’t Jehoiada immediately implement the Temple repairs when Joash first ordered them?

Which brings us to another element in this story.  After Jehoiada’s death, King Joash turned away from God to worship idols.  Perhaps King Joash was a weak king who followed the lead of the strongest personality around him.  The passage suggests as much when it tells us that it was some of his advisors who convinced him to turn to idol worship.  Further, it appears that it was those same advisors who convinced him to order the stoning of his step-brother after his step-brother confronted him about his unfaithfulness to God.

Finally, we have the account of Joash’s son Amaziah.  Early in his reign, Amaziah turned from idol worship, although the passage suggests that this was not wholehearted.  This leads me to wonder if Amaziah did so because of the fact that zealots for God had assassinated his father.  Initially, Amaziah organized the army and followed the advice of men of God. (Side note: the description of how Amaziah organized the army suggests that Joash had allowed the army to be poorly run).  As a result, he had a great victory.  But instead of giving credit to God and becoming more committed to God, he adopted the idols of those he defeated as his own gods.  So, we see that Amaziah’s reign followed a similar trajectory to that of his father.  He started out serving God, but when he came fully into his power he turned from Him.  We should recognize that many people follow a similar trajectory and ward against making the same mistake.