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Today we begin a new book, the first book of the Chronicles. The first few chapters are largely genealogies and fragments of genealogies. You might be excused from reading every syllable, since many of the names are unfamiliar tongue-twisters. There are a couple of interesting tidbits of information embedded in these four chapters like the famous prayer of Jabez and some Simeonites (you hardly ever hear about those guys) who ended up settling in Edom (Mt. Seir) and taking out the remnant of the Amalekites (finally!).

So, I thought what I might do in the blog today is provide a brief introduction to the book itself to set up the remainder of our time in 1 and 2 Chronicles.

The Chronicles are considered in the Hebrew Bible as being part of the “Hagiographa”. The Jewish Bible is divided into three groups: the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa. Into the Hagiographa goes what we might call the poetic and wisdom literature, but also Ruth, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra/Nehemiah, and the Chronicles.

The outline of the two books looks something like this…

1. Genealogy (1 Chron. 1-9)
2. The reign of David (1 Chron. 10-29)
3. The reign of Solomon (2 Chron. 1-9)
4. The history of Judah to its fall (2 Chron. 10:1–36:23)

Ezra is traditionally understood to be the author of the Chronicles, and the books do take us down to the times of Ezra and the return of the exiles. This would place the time of writing at about 520-515BC (more or less). 

Although the books of Kings and the books of Chronicles cover roughly the same era of history, they are different in their focuses (or foci, if you wish) and purposes. Chronicles (I’m assuming that 1 & 2 Kings is still fresh on your mind) focuses on the throne of David, mentioning the nation and kings of Israel (northern kingdom) only as necessary to tell the story of the kings of Judah. Certain stories are missing from the Chronicles like 1) David’s 7-yr reign in Hebron, 2) David’s interaction with the rival Ishbosheth (Saul’s son), 3) adultery with Bathsheba, 4) the rape of Tamar, murder of Amnon, and treason of Absalom — and much more.

The purpose of the author seems to be to showcase how the faithful practice of the true religion of the LORD, following the pattern given, was key to the prosperity and strength of the nation as a whole. This theme would have certainly resonated with the returning exiles who may have been desperately discouraged at having to build their nation and Temple from scratch with nothing but a handful of workers — and who would have been very familiar indeed with the reason they had been exiled in the first place.

Wouldn’t this be good for us to meditate on, too?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Today’s reading concludes the history of the kingdom of Judah. Since the days of Moses God had warned Israel where unfaithfulness would land them — out of the Promised Land. But Satan continued his lie to the people and their leaders — just like the lie he told Adam and Eve — that God didn’t really mean it. Israel and her leaders believed Satan’s lie that service to other gods, that becoming like other nations, and that trusting in their military rather than God would insure prosperity and security. And the more they believed it, the farther away from God they drifted.

God continued to work with them. He punished them bring them back around and he forgave them when repented. But after Manasseh’s terrible reign of evil, God and His just nature could no longer relent. And God chose to use Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to be His rod of punishment.

In 24:1,2 we find Babylon conquering Judah and taking the cream of Judean society off to exile. Daniel and his three friends were among those who were taken (see Daniel 1:1). But it wasn’t long until Judah rebelled against Babylon (24:11ff), and Nebuchadnezzar came up against the city again and set up a puppet government (24:17). But Judah rebelled yet again (24:20) and this time Nebuchadnezzar razed Jerusalem to the ground (25:9,10) and thoroughly plundered everything of value, while taking the vast majority of the people off into exile — just as God had promised. Nebuchadnezzar appointed a governor, but even the remnant of Judah rebelled and killed the governor — then fled to Egypt (25:25,26).

Hmmm. You’ve got to wonder at what point the Jews would have finally figured out that God was determined to punish them and there was going to be no way around it. I suppose no one wanted to believe it could be true. They were the chosen people, and God had always been forgiving before. So they squirmed and rebelled and wriggled to escape the punishment — all to no avail.

We do the same things. We sin, we trust in the wrong things, and then we try to escape the consequences. But the outcome is always the same: the punishment comes anyway “… according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken through His servants the prophets.” 2 Kings 24:2, NAS95. We must be careful in our lives, as the writer of Hebrews warned, “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.” Hebrews 2:1-4, NAS95.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Hey good to see you’re back again! Today’s reading tells us about the last glorious days of Josiah and his grand restoration efforts.

How thorough was Josiah’s restoration? — One of the things that separated Josiah’s “restoration movement” from those of other kings was his thoroughness. How many times have we read about a good king who restored many things, but left the high places, or left some remnant of idolatry or immorality. They restored some but not all. Maybe they were afraid of the popular backlash from the people. Maybe some things had become so integral in their culture, that the king never even considered changing it, never even saw it as being wrong. Maybe they were unwilling to commit the resources to scrubbing the nation completely clean of every polluting altar, influence, or institution. Who knows? But somehow, after Josiah had read the Law, he understood the thoroughness of the cleansing needed and he followed through. He cleansed things from Jerusalem like horses and chariots that had been dedicated to other gods by Solomon (which not even Hezekiah had destroyed), he invaded what used to be the northern kingdom of Israel to clean-up the the “sins of Jeroboam”, and he eradicated the occultists from the land (those who practiced withcraft, necromancing, being a medium, etc.). He left no stone unturned to return back to the Lord. Makes you think about things doesn’t it?

It makes you wonder about the restoration of the church. Some have “reformed” Christianity. Some have done and taught some things that brought Christian teachings a long way back from the errors of Catholicism — but were too cautious to thoroughly restore New Testament Christianity. It is thorough restoration, like Josiah’s, that would please the Lord — a restoration of the pattern of the church, a restoration of the pattern of worship, a restoration of daily discipleship, a restoration of brotherly love, a restoration of evangelistic zeal, a restoration of apostolic doctrine, a restoration of Gospel emphasis, a restoration of compelling love for the Lord, and a restoration of spirit and truth.

And it makes you wonder about the restoration of… ourselves to the Lord. What parts of you have been “reformed” and what parts still need attention — still need restoration? Sometimes we’re content to simply “stand pat” with the changes that we’ve already made, and we settle for partial discipleship — good enough. When the Father offered Jesus on the cross, He wasn’t thinking “good enough”; He was thinking “the best”. Shall we offer less?

A first-class Passover — One example of the thoroughness of the restoration of Josiah is the Passover. It’s an amazing statement that’s made here, that the Passover that was celebrated had never been celebrated that well since the days of the judges! Not even the Passovers of David’s time, the glory days of Israel, had anything on this celebration! This suggests that God pays attention to such things. And since the Lord’s Supper is sort of the Christian Passover remembrance, what might this say to us? Does God pay attention to the Lord’s Supper celebrations? And what does He look for — not just individually, but as a church? Would it not be wonderful for the Lord to consider your congregation’s next Lord’s Supper to be considered the best celebration since the days of the apostles? What would you need to do to make it so? What would your congregation need to do? And what would that do FOR your congregation? For your individual discipleship?

Some consequences can’t be stopped — Lastly, in the case of Josiah’s restoration, even as dramatic and thorough as it was, it would not be enough to stop the consequences of the terrible things that had been done over the centuries from Solomon to Manasseh. And in a similar way sometimes we still suffer the consequences of our actions, despite the restoration we may have done. Some marriages will still break-up. Some jail sentences will still need to be paid. Some regrets will still remain on our hearts. This is no commentary on whether God has forgiven or not or whether God is with you or not. Our part is to “take the high road through the valley, if you want to reach the Promised Land”.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

I’m so glad you’ve joined me again. I appreciate the effort that you show to both read the Scriptures (the most important part of this discipline) and then read my humble blog. As I’m sure you’ve noticed this is interesting territory we’re in now: Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, and Josiah. Today’s reading starts with Hezekiah getting sick. Let’s see what we have hear to think about.

Maybe there was a reason — Hezekiah is sick with a boil and is afraid he’ll die — in fact, he was going to die. We might find that a little odd. “Boils hurt, but they don’t really kill do they?” You’re thinking like a 21^st century person. But in a world without aspirin or antibiotics such wounds and their infections often were fatal. So anyway, Hezekiah asks Isaiah about his fate. Isaiah tells him that he would do well to “get his house in order”, because this sickness would be fatal. Hezekiah was devastated; after all, he’d been a good guy, he’d gotten rid of the remnants of idolatry and all the high places. How could this be happening? He pleads with God to change His mind — and God does! Isaiah returns to Hezekiah to tell him that God had granted to him 15 years. Great news, right? Maybe less than you think. It’s interesting that when Hezekiah dies some 15 years later that his son Manasseh was a mere 12 years old, which is to say that Manasseh was conceived shortly after Hezekiah was granted the extra time. This strongly insinuates that the reason God had for shortening a good king’s reign, is that He knew what kind of trouble for Judah that Manasseh would bring.

And this has significant implications for the various answers that God gives to our prayers even today. Things are not always as simple and straightforward as we humans might think. God, who knows the future, who knows the hearts of all men, who can calculate the incalculable, knows what’s best. “Why would God allow my innocent child to die?” “Why can’t we have children?” “Why can’t I get that job?” Would there be another Manasseh around the corner? Or some great spiritual disaster for you or those you love? It’s one of those things that we need to trust God about. Now, this is not to say that we would do well never to ask God for anything — just trust His “A” plan. God wants and invites us to ask. Sometimes, we can imagine, our requests don’t quite change history like Hezekiah’s did. I’m just saying that sometimes, when God says, “No,” there might be a really good reason.

Bragging comes with a price — After Hezekiah was healed, he had a visitor from Babylon. Hezekiah was flattered that a king and nation from so far away would care about his health, and he never guessed that the visit might turn out to be a case of “casing the joint” to discover Judah’s wealth. Isaiah rebuked him for disclosing to the foreigner all the treasures of Judah — and promised him that a day would come when these far away Babylonians would come and take every bit of what Hezekiah had shown him and take his sons. Hezekiah’s response is a little odd, upon first hearing it, however; “Well, at least it won’t happen in my days!” But it’s sometimes not unlike us about things like debt and other things — even church. We are often too concerned about our “right now” and too unconcerned about the future. Do we want our children to be strong Christians? You have to bring them to church, provide a strong example, teach them God’s will, answer their questions, etc. Do you want the church where you are to grow and be around for another 100 years? You have to do your part in terms of evangelism to the community, service, teaching God’s word, work, encouragement of others, and faithfulness.

Worse than the Canaanites — Did you get that part about Manasseh? He was worse than the people that God had dispossessed centuries earlier. Our text (21:10-15) indicates that the Babylonian exile was precipitated by Manasseh. The world into which Christianity appeared on the scene was pretty awful, too. I certainly don’t have the time detail the depravity of the world at that time, but Paul does a pretty good summary of it in Romans 1:18ff. In view of how quickly modern society seems to have descended into immorality of the worst sort, will the same be said of this generation or one in the near future? And if it is, will God’s reckoning be far behind?

Light when things were getting so dark — Despite how dark things looked, there was a bright spot in an 8-year-old named Josiah. Manasseh’s son Amon was just as evil as his father, but his grandson was a radical departure from idolatry and rebellion. And one of the bright spots in this era of bright spots was the rediscovery of the book of the law. Can you imagine having lost the Bible? Things had gotten that bad. To Josiah’s great credit, when he read the Law, he was blown away by the promises of punishment and offered deep repentance and contrition. God was impressed and promised that the destruction that He had promised against Judah wouldn’t happen in Josiah’s lifetime. Repentance has that kind of persuasive power with the Lord — too bad that it always seems to be in such short supply in our lives. Try it and see what kinds of changes for the better emerge.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Have you been keeping track of the kings in your reading? In today’s scriptures we have a couple of kings named Jehoash, one ruled Judah and the other ruled Israel, reigning contemporaneously. And then we have another Jeroboam, not the son of Nebat (Jeroboam the son of Nebat is the one who changed the worship of Israel). A score card isn’t required, but it can be helpful. 🙂

God always finds a way — It is always helpful to my faith to be reminded again of 1) God’s providence and 2) the amazing continuance of the biblical storyline, despite Satan’s attempts stop it — in this case, an attempt to put an end to David’s line by Athalia, the queen-mother. How demonically power maniacal do you need to be to kill all your grandchildren to gain the throne? But God, through the sister of the dead king (Ahaziah), hid one of Ahaziah’s sons, an infant, Jehoash. When the priest Jehoiada, discovers it, he waits for the right time, organizes a coup against the usurper (Athalia, the queen-mother), and establishes the rule of the rightful king, Jehoash (also known as Joash). God found a way, His scheme of redemption was maintained, through an otherwise unknown aunt, Jehosheba. Have you ever wondered whether or not your life is making any difference in the larger picture? Here’s an example of how doing right made a big difference. Winning a soul for Christ; teaching a child in Bible school, serving food to a needy family, giving some a hug and some encouragement at the right time — sometimes those sorts of things can make a huge difference in the larger picture.

In the movie The Bucket List one of the characters lists on his list of things to do before he dies “Kiss the prettiest girl in the world”. The other main character asks him how he hoped to accomplish that one. “Volume,” was the reply, delivered with a grin. How can you hope to make a real difference through doing small deeds of kindness, being compassionate, or acting rightly? In the end, it all depends on the Lord, of course. But to increase your chances: Volume! 🙂

The importance of having the Testimony — When Jehoiada anointed and crowned the 7 year old Jehoash, he made sure to give “the testimony” (11:12). This was a requirement set down by God Himself: ““Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.” Deuteronomy 17:18, NAS95. Although it was true that Jehoiada was a prime reason for Jehoash being one of the better kings of Judah (12:2), having access to the testimony (the law) must have been quite important, too.

the Jehoash Inscriptrion

By the way, this is the same Jehoash whose inscription was found in 2003, which reads:

[I am Yeho’ash, son of
A]hazyahu, k[ing over Ju]dah,
and I executed the re[pai]rs.
When men’s hearts became
replete with generosity in
the (densely populated) land and in the (sparsely
populated) steppe, and in all the cities of Judah, to
donate money for the sacred
contributions abundantly,
in order to purchase quarry
stone and juniper wood and
Edomite copper/copper from (the city of) ’Adam,
(and) in order to perform
the work faithfully—
(Then) I renovated the
breach(es) of the Temple
and of the surrounding
walls, and the storied structure,
and the meshwork, and the winding stairs,
and the recesses, and the doors.
May (this inscribed stone) become this day
a witness that the work has succeeded,
(and) may God (thus) ordain his people with a
blessing.

This inscription, of course, corresponds with what we’ve read today in chapter 12.

Zeal matters — As Elisha is on his death bed, Jehoash of Israel comes in apparent fear and distress over Elisha’s impending death. And why not? Jehoash was losing his best intel source and connection to the Lord (see chapter 6). In response, Elisha tells Jehoram to take a bow and shoot it out the window toward the east, which he does. “Then he said, ‘Take the arrows,’ and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, ‘Strike the ground,’ and he struck it three times and stopped.” 2 Kings 13:18, NAS95. Elisha was displeased, because had Jehoash struck the arrows 5 or 6 times (a little more zeal, please) Israel would have beaten back the Arameans permanently. As it was, they would only defeat them thrice. Had only Jehoash known that a little more zeal would’ve made a big difference, certainly he would have been more vigorous, perhaps beaten the ground 100 times. But he didn’t know. He just gave it a mediocre effort to what may have seemed like kind of a silly thing to be doing. So it is with us.

How we do even small things, things that we may think are unrelated to the big things, can make a big difference in ways we may not realize. Whether we are friendly or not to the store clerk may determine whether or not we’ll ever have the chance to share the Gospel with him or her. Whether we greet the visitor at church, may determine whether or not he comes back and finds salvation. Whether we demonstrate the right attitude toward the Bible or the church or the brethren, may help determine whether our children will be faithful once they’ve left home.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.