2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chron 36

What a great way to end both 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles (I love checking things off the list…I feel accomplished).  We end with an awesome review of what we sifted through all summer.  We started the Chronicles in April…wow!  So as we read this,  think about how you would explain all this History to someone who has never read the Old Testament.  We don’t need to get caught up on the names and dates and order as much as we keep God’s patience, Love as well as what angers Him and the punishment we must receive for countless ignoring and disobedience.

So today’s reading flashes back all the way to 612 bc.  Remember a while ago I told you 3 nations were trying to be the World Power, Assyria, Babylon and Egypt.  Well, Babylonian first took Assyria then the Egyptians at the battle of Carchemish.  After that the Babylonians went after Judah, controlling them.  This was attack 1 of 3 on God’s people.  With each invasion captives were taken. (When we read Daniel, we will come back to this first invasion since I think this is when Daniel was taken).

SO to put a few names in that paragraph,

• Nebuchadnezzar was the King of Babylon
• Pharaoh Neco was from Egypt
• King Jejoiakim was from Judah (then his son)

The second and third invasion occured and the temple was raided and most of the leaders, including the king,  were taken captive.  Nebuchadnezzar placed Zedekiah on the throne of Judah, but because the king was in captivity and not dead, the Jews did not respond or recognize Zedekiah as their king.  The Babylonians did however leave a remnant of people behind and did not take all of them into captivity.  Nebuchadnezzar left the poor and the weak  in their land, assuming they would be under his authority.  All in God’s big plan.

Sadly, after Zediahiah had to see his sons killed they gauged out his eyes and took him captive, so Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah as a govonor over the land since he was faithful to Babylon…but he didn’t last too long, assassinated.

Finally we Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Evil-Merodach (nice name) became king in Babylon in 562, 24 years after the captivity began.  He was actually a nice king, even allowing officials to dine with him, but his brother in law killed him and succeeded the throne. 

Notice God’s patience here.  Judah was attacked 3 times, each time with years of warnings for repentance.  Israel too was not taken in a single swipe, they too were invaded  3 times, God gives the ones He loves so many opportunities to repent before he has no other choice but to exile us in order to get our attention (take it from me, it works)

When we read Lamentations we are going to read about what it must have been like for Jeremiah to see all this happening. 

In Summary, we started with the prophet Elijah and we end with captivity.The next 40 days will be the ending to the Old Testament.  May I encourage you to dig deep in them as they surly will speak personally to you as a message form God.  Be obedient as to what he is telling you.  As we see, sin ignored will have its consequences.

2King 22-23; 2Chron 34-35

 Great Read.  Some of what we just read is the background for Jeremiah so I may refer back to it.  SO as we ma remember from a past reading king Josiah, who was 8 when he became king.  When he was 16 he began to seek the Lord and began his reform at the age of 20.  We read in the past about him reopening the temple, and hiring people to fix it up from the neglect for all those years.  He re instituted  the offering plate the God had originally intended for the temple.  In using the money to pay the workers, the High Priest, Hilkiah (possibly Jeremiah’s father), found the Book of the Law.  I am not sure if the Book of the Law was more that Deuteronomy but for certain it was included.   You can tell from the repeat reference to following the Lord with your Heart, Soul and Mind.

The death of Josiah was very sad, however Judgement on Judah at this point was already in motion.  When we read the book of Jeremiah 3 big events will occur during it.  They will refer back to today’s readings.

1. The battle of Megiddo (609 B.C.) between Judah and the Pharaoh of Egypt, Necho.  This is when Josaih was killed.
2. Battle of Carchemish (605 B.C.) 4 years later, during Jehoiakim’s reign they were being used by Egypt.  In this battle, the Egyptians were defeated by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, this causing the first deportation of the Jews.
3. (in 20 years) We will see the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.  They will capture the city and the temple and exile the greater part of those who were left to Babylon.

I am not sure HOW this reading spoke to you.  I was given 2 BIG messages today.  First, it took reading the Book form the Lord to see how disobedient they were being.  Immediately after seeing what God’s law was Josiah and the priests repented from their ways, humbled themselves and reformed, not just their deeds but their hearts.  We have been reading this book for 7 months.  I pray everyday that each reading change us to be closer to God.  We have all been taught wrong doctrine, rituals, theology.  It is everywhere, from Hollywood to our own churches.  As we see it always has been corrupt, and always will be.  It is SOOOO important to read the Bible, take it exactly as it is, (He leaves no room for interpretation or lifestyle application)  we are without excuse to say “Well……that’s what I thing, or that’s what I have been taught”).  SO READ these chapters, especially since we are about to embark on the New Testament, and leave CHANGED from the inside out.  Obey Him, but not just in deed but have a changed Heart.  Offer Him yourself as a living sacrifice, tell him to change in you what He does not like and put more of what He does like in you.  But I warn you, do that and you will open your eyes a new creation.

Second, Josiah was one of the greatest kings yet his own son fell right into step with all the pagan teachings.  I have been completely reminded that teaching our children is a huge part of our life.  This summer I have spent a great deal of time with children, who’s parents are some of the wisest and most dedicated Christians I know.  I was shocked when talking to their children how little they knew of the Bible.  It was almost as if their parents were so busy trying to DO God’s work that they themselves forgot one of the most important things he asks of us.  And Josiah should have known this, it was in the Book of the Law.

 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Our reading is now going to switch to almost a 2 week read into Jeremiah (after Zephaniah), and we will pick up right here.  I will try to remember to do a summary of where we are in History.

Day 214 2Chron 32-33

I know reading Chronologically is great but it can have its challenges becasue we zig zag back and forth a lot.  Sorry about that.  So to help you out,  grab a spare piece if paper to tuck into your Bible.    We did this once before but it might help to glance at lately.  These are the Judah Kings in order.  Jot them down. 

• Rehoboam
• Abijah
• Asa
• Jehoshaphat
• Jehoram
• Ahaziah
• Joash
• Amaziah
• Uzzuiah
• Jotham 1
• Ahaz
• Hezekiah
• Manasseh
• Amon
• Josiah
• Jehoahaz
• Jehoiakim 2
• Jehoiachin
• Zedekiah 3

1. The Fall of Israel to the Assyrians is in 722 BC (between the names Jotham and Ahaz)
2. First Exile of Jews
3. The Fall of Judah is to Babylon is in 586 ( during Zedekiah)  Temple and Jerusalem are destroyred

2King 18:1-8; 2Chron 29-31; Ps 48

AS we read in Isaiah there would be a remnant of people that would be left behind during the exile.  Hezekiah is the King in Judah.  His father was Ahaz, the awful King that locked up the temple doors.  Hezekiah begins with breaking down pagan started idols but also has enough wisdom to break down His own peoples started idols. 

DO you remember the Bronze Snake that was created back in Numbers 21?  Great Story to reread!  God had told Moses to make a Bronze Snake and raise it up, and all who believed would be healed.  The snake was just a piece of metal, it was their Faith in God that healed them (also a HUGE foreshadows of the Messiah, for those who believe…) anyway, the Hebrews had even made an idol out of that snake.  Modern day application would be anything religiously superstitions, like a cross or a rosary or a picture of Jesus that we feel might “protect us” of “bring us luck” just because it looks religious doesn’t excuse it from being an idol.  We must really keep checking our self on this.

2 Chronicles.  Hezekiah.  I know we have read many Kings names that they all get swooshed together but we need to let this one stand out right now.  Think of how hard it is to talk to friends or family in the worst time of their life about “how Great God is”, “How God loves us and our purposes is to Worship Him”.  These people have not celebrated the Lord in over 200 years, and Hezekiah brings back the original law that God had commanded after they were freed from slavery. 

“People of Israel RETURN to the Lord”.  The word RETURN always stands out to me.  I am always thinking it should be “come” to the Lord but we forget that He created us and that we were His from the beginning.

I wish I could talk about this topic but this blog is long enough, Chapter 30 verse 9 says paraphrased that that messengers were “scorned and ridiculed”.  Listen, God always knew that talking about Him or encouraging people to Worship the ONE true God would be an unwelcoming conversations but look what happened even though they did it…

Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God—the LORD, the God of his fathers—even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.  2 Chron 30:18-20

Isn’t that awesome!  SO as we watch the news at night and think “Good Golly what is the world coming to” we can know that the only way to have a perfect world is His way.

2 Chronicles 28; 2 Kings 16-17

Ahaz, the King in Judah, oye! What awful King.  He has adopted so many Canaanites rituals.(If only Israel had listened and killed them when they entered the Promise Land, lesson: to be in the Lord’s Promise Land today we must rid the sin in our lives)  Ahaz changes the whole temple scene, and used it to benefit his own kingdom. Good golly another lesson: do we come to God for His purpose or do we use Him for our Purpose, for benefits)

 So what we are reading is the last days.  God has begun the process of making His people captive in the enemies hands.  First He uses them as an instrument for the exile, then He punishes then enemy himself.  When God began t0  press into King Ahaz he had two choices to make: turn towards the Lord or Turn further away.  Unfortunately he chose the latter in verse 22.

2 Kings 17 Israel is exiled to Assyria!  This was the third and final invasion on Israel.  The first two were  read in Chapter 15, and after each one the Lord was telling them to Turn towards Him, but the sin was getting worse and worse (like today).

If any of this makes you scratch you r head you need to skip back to Deuteronomy 28.  God always does what He says He is going to do.  He gave the people 2 scenarios.  Living according to my Word or Don’t.  He also spelled out the consequences pretty clearly.

In 28:17 we see the destruction of the Edomites which we read about in Obadiah.  It is all happening as the Lord promised.

Chapter 17. ummm what do I say.  WOW.  God never leaves us guessing.  He let’s us know exactly why all this is happening.   Note that there is a great difference between the fall of Israel and the fall of Judah.  Israel is scattered throughout the nations forever as the Lord said He would do.  Judah however, God kept in captivity for 70 years and then return to Jerusalem, which they do.  Why? The Messiah was coming through the line of David, Judah.

Extra paragraph, you don’t have to read this if you are following the History well.  Recap:The southern kingdom tried to conquer the Northern Kingdom for eighty years, there was a continuous war between Judah and Israel.  Both failed.  Then there was another 80 years of Peace when the son of Jehoshaphat married the daughter of Ahab.  The there was another 50 years where they started fighting with each other again.  Finally Israel Falls into captivity and 136 years later Judah will by Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon. (this is a forward to what we will be reading now)

Maybe it was just me but Chapter 17 read like the first few Chapters of this book, I saw Deuteronomy, Joshua, the 10 commandments.  I loved the reading.

2 Chron 27; Isaiah 9-12

2 Chron 27: I enjoy reading this in Chronological order because in 2 Chrons when it talks about the Ammonites being conquered it’s like Well no duh, God said it through Amos.  SO we knew it was going to happen!

Joatham was generally a good king, but like I think Deanna was pointing out the other day, sometimes kids won’t always follow their fathers’ no matter how hard we try.  Jotham was more about the ‘outward appearance’ of the temple than his actual relationship with the Lord. (Hmmm God, are you talking to me?)

Isaiah 9:  A Prophecy of the coming Messiah!  I try not to tell personal stories on the blog but let me tell you God used this Chapter 9 to open my mom’s eyes of the power of God.  We sat in a Church in Nashville and He wanted Momma Ro to know He was very present! He put words in my mouth about 60 seconds before the pastor said them.  Not just a few.  I think we both almost fell over!  I just wanted to fall on my face and say to him “Yes Lord, we underestimate the personal connection with you! Thank you for reminding us that you are by our side EVERY moment”. 

So ‘to us a CHild is Born’.  In Chpter 9

• Zebulun and the land of Naphtali is the area Jesus grew up
• He will honor Galiliee of the Gentiles (us)
• The LIGHT.  In the NT Jesus is referred to often as the LIGHT. (verse the darkness)

^{Matthew 4:15}  When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: 
 ”Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
      the way to the sea, along the Jordan,
      Galilee of the Gentiles— 
 the people living in darkness
      have seen a great light;
   on those living in the land of the shadow of death
      a light has dawned.” From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

If there was ever a verse to memorize (besides 3:16) Isaiah 9:6-7

 For to us a child is born,
       to us a son is given,
       and the government will be on his shoulders.
       And he will be called
       Wonderful Counselor,  Mighty God,
       Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 Of the increase of his government and peace
       there will be no end.
       He will reign on David’s throne
       and over his kingdom,
       establishing and upholding it
       with justice and righteousness
       from that time on and forever.
       The zeal of the LORD Almighty
       will accomplish this.

The blog is too long already so I will wrap it up.  The Lord’s anger towards Israel was very specific.  You can see why they call Isaiah THE PROPHET. God’s Judgment on Assyria, you can tell from this chapter (10) that God is using Assyria as an instrument to punish His Chosen people but this doesn’t make him happy to do it.  It was not what he intended.  God will use the Assyrians and then conquer them for their past sins. And this does occur (of course) in 612 B.C. When the town of Nineveh is destroyed (tuck that away because I am sure it will be prophesied)

 Arrgggg Why can’t Chapter 11 be a stand alone read! I would love to break it down verse by verse with everyone.  A Branch from the stump of Jesse.    Remember Jesse when we did the genealogy recap in Ruth!  Jesse from the Line Of David.  Even though God cuts down Judah to a stump God’s faithful to bring the Messiah from that line.  SO out of a stump a branch will grow.

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.

Finally Chapter 12.  When I read this I pictures all our voices saying it in unison (like a catholic church).  I can hear us all reading it and our heart beatings because God is our Strength!

 

Day 189 2 Kings 15; 2 Chron 26

On Monday I kind of gave a little recap of what we are all reading here.  Don’t get concerned if your head is spinning with names and deaths, look at the big picture.   God gave us the laws because He loves us and wants to protect us.  God gave us these laws not as boundaries in our life but as a way to live a wonderful peaceful life.  Live inside these boundaries and you will…..live outside these boundaries and this will happen.  Simple Enough? Well, what is the first commandment?

“You shall have no other gods before  me.

Let me give you something to think about this week.  Fill in the blank. “The one thing I don’t want to live without is_________ in my life”.  Anything that you put in that blank that was on your list before the Lordwas put there is a god in our life.  Something else we worship.  You may have put children, husband, money, football (oh yeah, Todd’s not on the blog any more) family, money, TV, sunshine, my pets, my retirement plan, friends, boat, good times, my home….ANYTHING that came to your mind before the Lord is a god!  And you are worshipping that god in the high places, and we need to take it down, before He takes it down for us.  He will take away the things of our life that we put between us and Him.  It is because He loves us that much.

Back to the Bible.  As if these names where not crazy enough some people are referred to as 2 names.  Azariah is also Uzziah.  Note that because we will read about him again. Tiglath-Pileser is also called Pul.  And just a quick note, I saw the name Hoshea.  Jot down that Hoshea is Israel’s last King.  SO you know we are near Israel’s destruction.

When I read today I felt like I was reading the New York Times, political section.  We could replace these leaders names from B.C. of the names of today.  While this country is replacing leader after leader after leader, none of them is instituting the ways God intended for the world.  And while we are self destructing, nations around us that are evil and pagan are rising up in power all around us.  I was reminded today of Chris Leggert.  His family deeply in my prayers.

The Chronicles reading was a self application that needs to interpretation.  If you didn’t get it, then you need to reread the Proverbs,  The Lord hates Pride.  Everything we have is from the Lord.  Everything.  Maybe we should start living that way.

Sorry, weird mood today.

2 Kings 14, 2 Chron 25

Well I am glad the reading was short because I got really confused so I am going to go back and reread it I think.

Jehoash (good) had a son Amaziah, king of Judah.  Did good but STILL did not take down the places of worship outside the Temple. (By the way I have a friend that always says to me “you don’t have to go to church, you can worship God from your home” and it now really bothers me ).

Amaziah, even kills the men that killed his Dad, but stays in God’s law and does not kill their sons.  But then he acts a bit cocky and picks a fight with Israel calling them a small thistle.  Why is Amaziah acting like this? Because He is prideful because he conquered the Edomites.  The Edomites were conquered,  but as we read in Obadiah, that was all the Lord’s doing.  It was His wrath and judgment.

So cocky Amaziah gets captured by Jehoash and they ram-sack all their goods (we will read about this again in Prophecy books).

SO what EXACTLY are we reading about? As I said earlier we saw the nation divide, we are now reading about he nation’s fall.  This is the Fall of the Northern Kingdom, Israel.  The Northern Kingdom came into existence in 931 B.C., In spite all that Elijah and Elisha did for them they never turned from their sinful ways as a nation.  While all this stupid stuff is going on no one is noticing that Assyria is growing to be a huge, strong nation and eventually will conquer Israel in 733 BC. (so you can get an idea of where we are in between).  Some of Israel’s greatest years are in this era, Jeroboam had little devotion to God’s law and the rich got richer and the poor got poorer (Hello USA).  Israel is  getting cocky and self-centered.  Jeroboam dies in this chapter, so it is about 747 BC and in that one year Israel had 4 kings (the beginning of the decline) Jeroboam  Jr, Zechariah, Shallum and Menaham (who will reign 10 years)

In 2 days we will begin the end last years of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, while Assyria reaches its peak power power under the reign of Tiglath-Pileser, terrible name,  so sometimes he is referred to as Pul.

You may have picked up on the name Jonah!  SO look tonight for your Overview.  Very exciting read for me. 

2 Kings 12-13; 2 Chronicles 24

Joash repairs the Temple.  That was a big statement since the days of David and Solomon how much God has been ignored.  In Exodus 30 a tax was assigned for such preparations and they were ignored.  This young Joash sees to it that the Temple is brought back to the proper appearance. 

Unfortunately, just because he was doing God’s word, he didn’t cut out some other stuff in his life, like removing other things to worship in 12:2. (what a personal message)  The reason this is important is because when you don’t eliminate that stuff in our lives completely, i.e. friends, t.v., books, relationships, drinking…it will come back into our lives.  I remember reading for months and months about “killing” the sin.  Unfortunately, this does come back to haunt Joash, he does stray far from the Lord and he does worship idols.  When Joash turns away from the Lord his life unravels.

Jehoahaz, the king of Israel. (By now if you see the name attached to the King of Israel you can write BAD KING next to it.  BUT one thing he did do was soughtthe Lord’s favor against Aram.  God listened. And provideda Deliverer,  and after that happened the very next scripture was BUT THEY DID NOT TURN AWAY FROM THE SINS IN THE HOUSE.    How many times has God come to our rescue in life and how do we repay him? by not changing how we live at all!  Or if we do, how temporary is it?  He wants forever change! Forever Faith.  He is committed to us, we need to COMMIT back.

By the way,  while I am on a life lesson kick, if you didn’t really get the whole hit the ground…you only hit it 3 times’ verse at the end of the reading it was because Joash only hit the ground with a halfhearted attempt.  If he hit the ground with all his might it would have gone up and down at least 5 or 6 times.  If we want the full benefits of being with God then we have to give him a full attempt at obedience.

Day 181 2Chron 19-23

4 Chapters today: I am taking them one at a time.

Chapter 19: Yeah Baby! JJ (short for Jehoshaphat from Judah, him and I just are close like that)  JJ is setting it up the way the Lord instructed.  I like what I am hearing…Judges, Levites, Law,  Fairness…. AHhhh the way of the Lord.

Chapter 20: Moab and Ammon (the children of Lot and his daughter) WOW, now we are flash backing to Genesis 14!  and a vast Army is coming at you from Edom.  Let’s stop and take a look at this visually.Click here to see a map of the 3 territores coming at them .  These 3 nations are barbaric and evil and never miss an opportunity to attack God’s people.  JJ is in Jerusalem (where he should be) at the Temple of the Lord worshipping and tells the Lord WE ARE YOURS AND OUR EYES ARE ONLY ON YOU (paraphrased).  Even the Koharthites are mentioned (Levites from the MOSES family) and the Lord responds “The battle is not yours it is God’s”

I stopped right here.  I am not a betting woman but if I were I would bet they are going to win this battle.  I just know it.

I read on and yes not only were they victorious but God’s provisions flowith over! The End of JJ’s reign I noticed 2 things.  First, this was like the 4th time I heard him introduced as  ‘his mother was Azubah and he walked in the ways of his father Asa’  Why did this catch my eye? Because this is the ultimate prayer I have over myself when it comes to my children.  I want to be such a follower of the Lord that when God introduces my children He sees them as a product of me and my husband.

Chapter 21: Wow.  JJ’s son married the daughter of the Israel king. (that must have been some wild reception party) and again we see marrying outside our faith always has a bad consequence.  Thank goodness  God Covenant is permanent and a promise that will never be broken.  Through this line we will still see the birth of our Savior King. But in the meantime God gets rid of many Kings through various ways, falling on his own sword, woman, battles, this is the first I think of a King Dying this way :(  pooping to death.

Chapter 22: The first sentence said it all “The PEOPLE of Jerusalem made Ahaziah King”.  The PEOPLE? I didn’t need to finish the chapter.  I can guess from that statement his reign will be short and his ways will be evil.

Chapter 23: Was that a Fairy Tale?  My Word that was a great read! I so badly want to say “And they lived happily ever after” and just shut the Bible right here! But wait do I? No. Everything we are reading points to one thing and one thing only.  Jesus.