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.

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.

The beginning of today’s passage really gives us an insight into the downfall of many a man, or woman, of God.  Jehu the prophet condemned Jehoshaphat for his friendship and support of King Ahab.  Yet, Jehu also praised Jehoshaphat for his commitment to seeking God.  In the description of Jehoshaphat’s reign we can see how many otherwise good leaders sow the crop of disaster for the organization they lead while leading it to new heights.  Jehoshaphat went out among the people over whom he ruled so that he understood their needs and desires.  He instructed the judges he appointed to judge so as to please God, not people.  When faced with armies attacking in overwhelming numbers, he turned to God.  He led the people to have faith in God and not fear those coming to destroy them.  As a result of their faith in God, the army of Judah was unified and confident.  Their enemies on the other hand fell to division and bickering.  If we follow this example and unify in pursuit of God’s will, we will succeed.  But, if we instead selfishly pursue our own interests we will fail.

There is another lesson to be learned here as well.  Because of Jehoshaphat’s alliance with King Ahab, his heir, Jehoram, killed all of his brothers, Jehoshaphat’s other sons.  Then, after the death of Jehoram and his son, Jehoram’s widow, Athaliah, attempted to kill all of the rest of Jehoshaphat’s male descendants.  It was only through the actions of Jehoram’s granddaughter (who was possibly Athaliah’s daughter) that Joash was saved.  It seems likely, considering the history of Ahab’s family, that it was Athaliah who convinced Jehoram to kill his brothers.

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.

After the disastrous decision which Rehoboam made at what was supposed to be his coronation, he made a wise decision of listening to the prophet Shemaiah and not making war on the rest of Israel in an attempt to assert his authority over them.  He followed that up by continuing to promote faithfully worshiping God while he consolidated his authority as king.  This led the priests and Levites, and others who wished to faithfully worship God, to  migrate from the Northern Kingdom to the territory controlled by Rehoboam.  Unfortunately, once he had fully consolidated his authority, he no longer felt it necessary to remain faithful.  However, when once again he was confronted by the prophet Shemaiah, he repented.

When war broke out between Abijah, Rehoboam’s son, and Jeroboam, Abijah used the fact that the priests and Levites had moved to his territory to break the moral of the Northern Army.  Abijah’s son, Asa, learned a lesson from what happened in this battle and started his reign dedicated to eliminating idol worship in his kingdom.  The result being that he was able to completely defeat a much larger army when it invaded.  It seems likely that in the process of removing pagan shrines from all of the towns and villages where his writ ran, Asa and his generals learned the layout of the land in detail.  Which allowed them to pick the right location to face their enemy.  The above is not to downplay the significance God played in delivering a victory to Asa’s army. Rather, I am pointing out how faithfully following God often gives us the tools to face unforeseen challenges which arise later.

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.

The story about Rehoboam’s reaction to the challenge to his rule from the Northern Tribes contains multiple examples in what not to do when seeking power.  He did one thing right when he sought the advice of his father’s experienced counselors.  However, he completely defeated the point of such a wise act by ignoring their advice and taking that of his friends who told him what he wanted to hear.  The advice given to Rehoboam by his father’s advisers was good advice and that given by his friends was bad advice.  The elder advisers advised him to show humility while the younger ones advised arrogance.  So, we really have two mistakes in one.  He rejected advice from his elders in favor of that from his peers.  And he rejected advice to be humble in favor of advice to be arrogant.  Rarely is it a good idea to favor the advice of youth over that of experience, but it is never wise to choose arrogance over humility.

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.

At two separate points in today’s passage it tells us that the Lord’s presence filled the Temple.  The way the passage is written one might conclude that these were two different events.  However, it looks to me that the first time it mentions God’s presence entering the Temple was the end of an abbreviated description of the dedication of the Temple which described the priestly activity connected with bringing the Ark into the Temple while the second time was the end of a longer description of the event from the perspective of the general populace.  The other interpretation of these two clouds of God’s presence filling the Temple is that the first time it filled the parts of the Temple where only the priests went and the second time God’s presence spread out and filled the entire Temple including the Temple courtyard. I tend towards the first interpretation, but see valid understandings of God that can come from the second.

I like looking at Solomon’s prayer asking God to watch over the Temple and God’s answer at the same time. Solomon asks God to put His name on the Temple and to watch over it.  He also asks that God answer prayers directed towards the Temple and to God.  There is one specific request Solomon makes to which I think we should pay special attention.  Solomon asks God to hear and answer the prayers of those who are not part of His people so that all people may have the opportunity to become God’s people (my simplification of Solomon’s request).  God’s answer to Solomon was that He had chosen the Temple to be set apart as holy.  However, God rejected Solomon’s request to put the condition of praying towards the Temple on people’s prayer.  God’s answer to that part of Solomon’s prayer was, “if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. ”  God promised it to the people of Israel in Solomon’s time and He promises it to us today.  Let us humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways.  That is what it will take for God to restore our land.

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.

This passage lays out how David laid out his government of the Kingdom of Israel.  It lists those who commanded the forces he kept prepared against an unexpected attack (and probably sent out to deal with bandits who raided caravans on the trade routes) and those who he appointed to administer the various aspects of his government.  Perhaps the most interesting thing is how he included the leaders of each of the tribes into his government.  Certainly, that contributed to the division of the Kingdom when his grandson took the throne, but it also helped to make the people think of themselves as part of the Kingdom rather than just as part of the various tribes.

However, I want to spend a little time about something it relays from David’s instructions to Solomon.  Up until this point, most of what was written in this book was there to show how the Returned Exiles were connected to the Kingdom of David.  This was included as instruction on how they, and we, should live.  It includes a series of points which we should meditate on frequently:

• Learn to know God intimately
• Worship and serve Him with your whole heart and a willing mind
• God sees every heart and knows every thought and plan
• If you seek Him, you will find Him
• If you forsake Him, He will reject you.

Part of me wants to expound on that, but everything I think to write seems to dilute the above.

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.

I have written previously that I find passages containing genealogies difficult to read and make a blog entry about.  Today’s passage is one such passage as it is a combination of genealogies and who was assigned what task in rituals we no longer follow.  However, there is one element of this passage that is worth taking careful note of.  When priests and Levites were assigned tasks in the Temple, great care was taken to make sure that not only was no preference shown, but that everyone could see that no preference was shown.  We should make an effort to follow this example when selecting leaders today.  There are tasks where it is appropriate to select people based on their relationship with the decision-makers.  There are others where it is important that those chosen not be selected on that basis.  In those latter circumstances, we need to make sure that everyone can see that no one received preferential treatment.  In those circumstances avoiding the appearance of impropriety is almost as important as avoiding impropriety.