Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Chronicles 11-14.

We often overlook Asa, Rehoboam’s grandson.  The passage tells us that “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.”  Most of the time for good kings it will tell us that he what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but here it seems to speak more highly of Asa than that.  The passage even tells us why it gives him this high praise.  He destroyed all idol worship in Judah and the places where people practiced non-sanctioned worship of God.  Some might think that last bit a bad thing, but God commanded in the laws He gave to Israel through Moses that they practice their sacrifices at a central location (with certain very specific exceptions).  I will not claim to know all of the reasons God gave that command, but a few seem obvious to me.  First, by practicing their primary worship at one central location, the Israelites would remain unified, seeing themselves as one people.  Second, and closely related to the first, if they practiced their worship at various places, those who worshiped at different locations might develop different, conflicting, understandings of what God asked of His people.  Finally, if they practiced their worship at different locations, they might begin to see the God worshiped in Jerusalem as being different from the God worshiped in Gibeah, and perhaps view those different gods as being limited by geography.  Asa prevented these things from happening during his reign.  So, when Zerah the Cushite marched against Judah with an overwhelmingly large army, the army of Judah was united in its faith in 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 8-10.

I find it interesting that the leaders of Israel gathered at Shechem to make Rehoboam king after the death of Solomon.  I also find it interesting that they sent for Jeroboam, who had fled to Egypt to avoid Solomon’s wrath.  The passages do not give us a clear idea about how Jeroboam incurred Solomon’s anger, but the fact that Solomon had put Jeroboam in charge of his forced labor and that Jeroboam was the one who led the Israelites to request Rehoboam lower the taxes Solomon had imposed suggests that Jeroboam had previously campaigned for Solomon to lower taxes.  Which brings me to Rehoboam’s response to the people’s demand.  The different advice he received from his father’s advisers versus what he received from his companions indicates the two different approaches a government can take.  The first recognizes that a government’s job is to serve the needs of the people.  The second believes that people are to serve the government.  If Rehoboam had chosen to use his kingship to serve his people, the Northern Tribes would not have split off from the Southern Tribes.  Instead he chose to believe that his people existed to serve him.  By taking that approach Rehoboam attempted to put himself in the place of God.  Those of us who are called to positions of leadership need to remember that the job of a leader is to serve those whom he leads by showing them how they can better serve 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 5-7.

My title today is a paraphrase of what God said to Solomon about what would happen when God sent disasters upon the land in response to the people’s sin.  The full quote is, “ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  When God says, “my people”, He clarifies who He means by that by telling us that His people are those who are called by His name.  So, God’s people can be interpreted as either those who serve Jesus Christ and are called by His name, or those who identify as descendants of Abraham.  I believe that any of those who are part of the second group who truly follow what God says here, they will become part of the first group.

So, I am going to write the rest of this blog to the first group (and if you are reading this blog I suspect that you are part of that group).  If you look at our land, at our world, it sure looks to me like most of it is experiencing some form of judgement from God (wars, extreme civil disorder, severe weather, plague).  Therefore, we, who are called by God’s name, must humble ourselves and pray.    We must seek God’s face, and root out the wickedness which inhabits our hearts.   Notice that God does not say that we need to turn others from their wicked ways; we must turn from our wicked ways.  If we humbly admit that we have failed to faithfully follow all of God’s commands, God promises that He will heal the land.  And at this point I want to go back to Solomon’s prayer of dedication in chapter six verse thirty-six where he reminds us, “for there is no one who does not sin.”   I want to emphasize that God makes this promise based on those who are called by His name doing as He commands here.  Healing the land does not depend on those who deny His existence, or rebel against Him, turning to Him.  No, if we want our land to be healed than we, who are called by His name, must humble ourselves and pray.  That is all it will take.  So, what are we waiting for?

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 1-4.

I have touched on this before, but I want to make note of it again.  Even though David had brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, he had not brought the tent of the tabernacle, nor the altar which was built during the time in the wilderness with it.  Those two things were still in Gibeon.  It is not clear to me why the ark was not reunited with them after it was returned from the Philistines, but it was not.  Earlier we had been told that David did not go to the tabernacle and its altar to consult God after the plague.  So, it would have been a fairly noteworthy event when Solomon went there after his coronation.  Of course the most interesting thing about that scene is the vision which Solomon had the night after offering sacrifices there.  God appeared to Solomon and told him to ask Him for whatever he wanted God to give him.  Solomon’s request and God’s response reminds me of what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount when He instructed us not to worry.  Solomon asked God to give him the wisdom and knowledge he would need to lead God’s people.  God was pleased with Solomon’s request and told Solomon that He would grant his request, and because Solomon had asked for things in order to serve others and to serve God, God would also grant him the things which most people would have asked for in that situation: wealth, fame, and honor.  This is similar to what Jesus tells us will happen if we first seek the Kingdom of God.  If we seek God’s Kingdom as our first priority, God will provide for our other needs.  So, God rewarded Solomon because his heart’s desire was to serve the people whom he was chosen to lead.  In the same way, God will reward us if we seek to serve others.  While God will not necessarily reward us in the way in which He rewarded Solomon by giving him wealth, fame, and honor, if our greatest desire is to serve others, I can promise that God will reward us with the ability to do so in ever increasing amounts.

I use 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.

In today’s passage, as he gave Solomon his plans for building the temple, David told Solomon that if he sought God, he would find Him, but that if he forsook Him, He would forsake him as well (this is one of those sentences where I am so happy that we capitalize the pronoun when applying it to God).  That is an important point to which we should all pay close attention.  Those who genuinely seek God, will indeed find Him, no matter where they choose to begin their search.  However, those who forsake God will be forsaken.  But David had more to say to Solomon which also applies to each of us, “God has chosen you to…  Be strong and do the work.”  Now, not all of us, not even many of us, have been chosen to build a house for the Lord, but all of us have been chosen by God to do something for God.  Let each and every one of us be strong and do the work.  The best part of that instruction is what David says about it a little later.  As we strive to be strong and do the work for which God has chosen us, God will always be with us and will not fail us.  If we strive to be strong and to do God’s work, God will make us strong enough to accomplish whatever task He has chosen for us.  With God by our side, or, perhaps, with us by God’s side, there is nothing for us to fear, or for us to be discouraged by.

I use 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.

Today provides another example of why writing this blog helps me study the Bible.  As I was reading today’s passage with its list of priests and Levites who were assigned different roles and who was the son of who looking for something to write about I came across the mention of Asaph.  First, I thought I was reading a genealogy of Levites and how they were assigned roles in temple administration, Asaph is brought up without any mention of how he descended from Levi.  This lead me to realize that I had misunderstood the previous list of Levi’s descendants.  Once I was thinking about Asaph and the appointment of some men for the ministry of prophesying, I found it interesting that the commanders of David’s army played a role in choosing those men.  Another thing which I saw was the connection between the ministry of prophesying and music which was made here.  It strikes me that perhaps we today put too little thought into what sort of connection there is between prophesying and music.  Finally, I realized that the Asaph mentioned here is the same as the Asaph credited with the psalms of Asaph we have in the Book of Psalms.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 20-23.

Today’s passage discusses the plague which descended upon Israel following David’s census.  I struggle with how to express my thoughts about the ending of the plague because the wording the writer uses to describe what happened is less than completely clear.  There was some kind of event which happened at the threshing floor of Araunah.  This event led David and his advisors to build an altar there and begin offering sacrifices.  What is not clear to me is whether we are to understand that the plague stopped there before or after David made an offering there.  One way of reading this passage is that David bought the threshing floor, built an altar upon it, and began making offerings there because the plague stopped there.  Another way of reading this is that God directed David to buy the threshing floor, build an altar upon it, and began making sacrifices there and that the plague stopped when David followed those instructions.  Whichever way we are supposed to understand these events, something clearly happened at the threshing floor because the passage tells us that David was unwilling to go past it to go to Gibeon, where the tabernacle and the altar which travelled through the wilderness with it were set up.  The passage says that David and his advisors saw an angel with a drawn sword extended over Jerusalem.  The passage also tells us that Araunah and his four sons saw the angel as well.  Perhaps the reason the passage seems to indicate both that the plague stopped before David offered sacrifices at the threshing floor and that the plague stopped because David sacrificed at the threshing floor is because the writer realized in hindsight that the plague had stopped before the sacrifices were made but that David and those around him did not know that when they made those sacrifices.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 17-19.

I am torn about whether to write about what God tells David about his idea for building a temple along with David’s prayer of response, or about the timeline of David’s conquests.  I am going to start with what God told David through Nathan and see where this goes.  First, God tells David that He will provide a place for His people so that they have a home where wicked people will not oppress them.  As I read that I think both of modern Israel, which is a home for the descendants of Jacob, and the new Heaven and new Earth which God has promised to those who follow His Son.  The latter is very definitely a fulfillment of this prophecy.  Modern Israel as a home for the Jewish people of today represents a foreshadowing of that much greater home which the new Heaven and Earth will be for all of God’s people.  God shows us again and again throughout history that until all people bow to His son, wicked people will arise again and again to oppress His people.

God goes on to tell David through Nathan that He will raise up one of David’s sons who will build a house for God.  God says that He will establish this son’s kingdom and will set this son of David over God’s house and God’s kingdom forever.  Now most would interpret this as referring to Solomon, and I think we are to understand this prophecy as being fulfilled by Solomon.  But we are also to understand that it was not truly fulfilled by Solomon.  For Solomon only lived for a normal lifespan, and upon his death, the kingdom of Israel was divided.  So, clearly this prophecy also applied to another descendant of David, who would be able to forever  rule over God’s house and God’s kingdom.  That prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus Christ who built a different house for God, a house composed of those who accepted Him into their hearts, and allowed His Spirit to transform them into God’s likeness, as God had intended from the beginning.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 13-16.

The first thing which struck me in today’s passage was that David left the Ark of the Covenant in the house of Obed-Edom for a mere three months.  Yet, that was long enough for people to note the way in which Obed-Edom and his family were blessed.  It took just three months for people to notice the difference which having the Ark of the Covenant made for Obed-Edom and his family.  The thing I am noting is not that the Ark of the Covenant was magical.  No, what I am noting is that being in the presence of God transforms us in a positive way.  So, when we turn to God, it does not take long for us to begin experiencing the blessings that come from being in His presence.

The other thing I took note of is that David’s two primary priests were Zadok and Abiathar.  At the end of David’s life, Abiathar supported Adonijah when he tried to make himself king when David could no longer govern, while Zadok opposed Adonijah and supported Solomon.  Now, very little of that is in today’s passage, but what is in today’s passage is that, after bringing the Ark into Jerusalem, David assigned Zadok to continue making offerings at Gibeon, where the tabernacle was set up.  So, Adonijah administered to the Lord in Jerusalem, the capital of David’s kingdom, while Zadok did the same in Gibeon.  By being in Gibeon, Zadok was away from the court intrigue which is prevalent in any capital.  I don’t know how much this had to do with Zadok and Abiathar being on opposite sides when Adonijah attempted to make himself king, since it appears that Zadok had moved to Jerusalem by the time Absalom tried to overthrow David.

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