#586 2 Summation of the Chronicles Part 3

A lot of Chronicles is devoted to Hezekiah and his is not a reign without it's test. He does more to reform the government and the priesthood then many kings. He has looked to the provision of Levi according to the law, but has also had a mind towards stewardship. Sometimes we think this must surely be it, time to swipe the clock and rest beside the river, but then the Assyrians show up. We weren't prepared for this, this wasn't on the list for the day, but Hezekiah is learning to trust in God. This is the point where we have done all we can to stand, that those who deny our God would also try to explain our faith, but all we can do is take the letter before the Lord. Find a friend like Isaiah, someone you know and have witnessed giving everything to God, not to an ideal but to the honor and glory of God. You need someone sound and sober, that will pray for you and with you, and when the answer comes back, it may defy local custom and practice. You may be mocked, and what you see may seem to vast too overcome, but trust in the words of God and compare what you see to eternity. There are no big things here, but the test of that can pull at the strings of your heart, the frailty of our human reason and patience, but take it to the Lord. 

Manasseh's encouraging life

For those being saved, it is from sin, and not to sin. Manasseh is passionate about his life, idolatries, and God is kind in His warnings, but we hate the messengers. He is credited with the blood of Isaiah by Jewish scholars and it says he was guilty of much innocent blood, seeking a "better word" from those who commune with demons. I have sadly seen many who say they are God's people, say they love Jesus and go to church, have a thing they call faith that does not come from hearing God's word. They actually talk down the role of study and doctrine that was presented to Timothy, and prefer unity at the cost of truth, which is a price that does not belong to us to bargain, a rite of God not of men. It lacks faith immediately, because true faith is not a crystal ball, it goes into the furnace for the truth, defies kings and cultures. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We see some of the situation, the problem, but while we may see the end, we believe God to be sovereign and that the outcome belongs to Him. We lift Him up in all these things, pray where we don't understand, and pray lest we think we understand more than we do. Though You slay me, yet will I praise You. 

Josiah was prophesied some 300 years before he took the throne, and he did not come from a good father, for Amon was worse than his father and taken early in his reign. He was a king of great reforms, and the people lamented his death. I would say in part for what it represented, the end and yet they themselves were not described as this tender heart. We miss our covering, but do not share in the humility of his life, only fearing our own death. But I think there is also the lament like the past tense of Isaiah 53, where the people here are looking back to the integrity of Josiah's reign, the people of Isaiah's gospel are looking back to Jesus, the suffering servant of God. 

The last of the kings bring us back full circle, all the way back to the land that Abraham first left, Ur of the Chaldees. Not even the best of the kings was able to keep the reform in the land, sometimes not so long in their own hearts and not that of their people either. Lord, give us tender hearts like Josiah, don't let us profane the name of Your Son, to You be all glory, honor and praise. Thank you for speaking to us, for letting us have any part, breath, and the wonder of Your word. 

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#585 2 Summtion of the Chronicles Part 2

Continuing now with Jehoshaphat and his lack of discernment concerning Ahab. Those things which separate us, if worthy of such, must continue to separate us if they have not been corrected. If the bridge be made of human dignity and truth, then the lie will only serve towards disaster. Do you return a woman to the husband that still beats her, a child to their abuser, no, and so the bridge is worthy of being torn down, and only an act of God upon the heart can repair it. Jehoshaphat responds well to correction from God, and we continue to see through Judah and the north, a pattern, that they embrace relationships that make them stink before God.

To Govern and Judge

Jehoshaphat seems to measure the success of a plan by the reward of alliance, business, money, strength. I wonder if he thought this somehow different since the leader had changed, but God is merciful in correcting His children, and that while a man may choose his way, the Lord will direct his path. He destroys the business venture between the two, brings it to not, and if you are wise then this is mercy untold. The influence of the apostate north has been married into Judah, and it is destined for doom everywhere that God does not intervene.

Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat comes to power and looking around at his brother, at "better men" then himself, he decides to kill them all. He is the sacrificial union between the north and south, married to the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. This is a screaming letter of Elijah to the church in every age, that spirit of Jezebel, that voice of the emotions and feeling, that pretends at reason. This is the voice of the Moabites, instructed by Balaam to the tearing down of Israel from within. She is beautiful to behold, stately, confident and instructed in the ways of men, the wisdom of this world. This is the influence to Jehoram, and the kryptonite of every man, she is powerful and persuasive, but the end is death. 

Athaliah murders her own relatives in order to destroy the line of David after the death of her son. she maintained power over the kingdom through influence over her husband, then her son, and now she will not soon give up that authority. She gets drunk on power, the blood of others, and is a vile, godless creature. So many model themselves after this manner in our age, but they would never see it. 

A woman doth ride upon this beast that has lost its identity, but a priest has hidden away hope. He has protected the arm of the Lord, like the mother who wove a basket in Egypt, the angel who warned the Wise men, and the messenger who held back the knife of Abraham. Traitors, she screams, renting her clothes as if some great wrong, some injustice had been committed. It was my turn to rule, it's all mine, I paid my dues, and it has been me all along. My husband and my son were all steps for me to ascend, I have set up my own church, offering up the blood of every child that could contend, but you have tricked me. You have preserved life, held it back from my grasp, I hate you, that is out of my body, my relative, under my authority, I stole it fair and square. Take her outside, she does not deserve the honor of dying in here. What a lovely creature, but now Athaliah is gone and Joash reigns.

“There was a want of principle in Joash, and it is of that I want to warn all our friends. Do not, I pray you, be satisfied with the practice of piety without the principles of piety. It is not enough to have a correct creed; you must have a renewed heart. It is not sufficient to have an ornate ritual; you must have a holy life, and to be holy you must be renewed by the Holy Spirit. If this change is not wrought in you by the Holy Ghost, you who yield so readily to good will yield just as quickly to evil.” (Spurgeon)

Joash, unlike his father and grandfather, was not taught or led by Athaliah, and while this made a great difference, he was still led. When Jehoiadah died, Joash fell off, he needed a Godly leader in order to lead well, for it was not always in his own heart. In the end, he would not humble himself before the prophet, the son of the Jehoiadah, Jehoiadah who spared his life. He killed the priest's son. 

It will cost you everything you think you have here, your wife, your children, your kingdom, your money, your glory and honor amongst those other thieves. But now lay that thread, that piece of your hair, that single strand, across the line of eternity, now back up to the edge of the universe and with your naked eyes, look back to where you left that thread, "well I think it was that way, but I'm not sure, I can't see it." At my work they will make fun of me, who cares, you should love them more than their approval. I stand to lose a lot of money if I do what's right now, who cares, what if you had all the money in the world and lived a hundred years here, how would that measure against eternity?

Above is a part of the sadness of Amaziah, and all who start at a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof. He honors a statute of the Scriptures which brings him to behave differently then those around him, he does not kill his enemy's children though that is the culture. Here he steps away from the culture, and at first he listens to the prophet even at great personal cost, he does what is right in God's eyes, and it creates enmity between him and Israel, but God gives him the battle without the help of those who have defiled the worship of God. But then he falters, he takes the idols of the defeated, his heart is shown to be incomplete, and his pride lifts up even against the words that would save him. He tells the prophet to leave or suffer the consequences. He is now strong in his own mind and might, and so he appeals to the hope that God is still against Israel, but God is against sin, and he has become that himself, an idolater, so when he goes up against them he is like the bull before the cedar. Pride is the equivalent of gouging your own eyes out and smashing your ear drums. 

Uzziah starts well, but tries to lift himself up as a priest, forsaking the command of God, not trying to know God's design. He finds himself in the end unclean, outside the gate.

Uzziah

It is said of Jotham, that he ordered his ways before the Lord, oh that my epitaph could remain so sweet and short, "He honored God." 

Rage of Ahaz

Hezekiah gave back the years that his father had taken away, restored the true religion of the temple, that which the government of his father had locked away. The doors had been shut to the people and rather than reminding men that God is above all, those that govern will often remove such light so that they are all that remains. The dead leading the dying, but Hezekiah recognizes that this has led to much grief, a sickly priesthood and a disobedient nation. We suffer at our own hands so many times, modeling little images of ourselves and heroes, pride taking us too close to the sun, finding our wax melting and our wings falling apart. Hezekiah comes back to the Passover, late but not shut out, humbly begging for God's grace, and acknowledging the foundation that is the family.

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#584 Second Summation of The Chronicles Part 1

Solomon reminds me of my youth, that happy day whence first I heard, like that old song, Gloria in excelsis deo. The temple had not yet been built, but the wonder of it all lay before me, and I had no other choice, for it was marvelous beyond my comprehension, I had to ask for wisdom. I found that it was not natural to me, and that I could not do every task, not right or fit for every work, I had to ask for help. Solomon, when given the choice of anything, wisely ask for the thing he cannot make or buy, the wisdom of God. He also finds himself insufficient to the task of the temple and trades in things that benefit his work and another kingdom. Some of his business dealings later will be wanting for their disobedience to God's law, and where it is always right is where we do good, if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst give him drink. If my enemy wants weapons so he calls me his friend then I should shrewdly as a serpent realize that we are unequally yoked to this, if I am to find myself in Christ and he not. Yet like a dove I should offer him know harm and trade in the things that are just and fair. I do not want another to starve, but I would rather not arm them against someone else and then later myself. 

It is in the very nature of man to worship, but in a fallen nature, he will worship things, God incorrectly, money, intellect, violence, the stars and even angels. It is good to build the temple, to make everything point to the mercy seat, to know that even the angels worship and refuse to be worshiped. Only the fallen will accept what does not belong to them, only the perverted will worship the things that were made. It is important for Solomon to build this temple, to make the word of the Lord be heard again. The site of the temple was long ago decided upon, from eternity, but this is the threshing floor that his father bought, this is Mt. Moriah, where Isaac was replaced by a ram. God has put His name here. They dedicate the temple and the Shekinah fills it, God's fire accept the sacrifice. I am attaching this link because this holds the prayer of the king who asked for wisdom and it can teach us how or what to pray. Always remembering not my will but Yours be done. How freeing is that, how independent of the expectations and desires of this world and it's systems, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in prosperity or in suffering, the same want, to thine be the glory and the honor. 

Solomon's temple prayer

Unfortunately Solomon's story does not end there, nor flow forth in the embodiment of such a prayer, the whole of his grand life is not a sweet smelling savor. What is it to know but not do? Read the law of kings, and you will see a pattern prevalent as much today as then. 

• He was unequally yoked in marriages, and the law of kings spoke against the acquiring of many wives.
• He was unequally yoked in alliances, which did not cause so much influence to the good as much as his own demise. Moses wrote against returning to Egypt long before, yet Solomon worked with them to deal arms to the Syrians. 
• He was not to acquire much gold or silver to himself, but he appears to trust his own self better in these questions. Solomon did not lack in learning, ignorance could not be claimed. He saw the ways of Egypt and embraced them as good method, forced labor and ill dealings, but like all false religions and politics, the end doth justify for them the means. 
• He amassed more chariots and horses then needed and though he was blessed with peace and prosperity, he sold the next generations to war. He raised the tax most heavily for all these things and for the vanities of his many princes. 

In the end, he discounted the words of God, and traded the covenant of his father for a half hearted reign. He separated a world to himself and a world to the religion of God, having access to the temple, but so split in his ways, his desires, that in the end, as he said, "all is vanity." He leaves us in the state of compromise.

Solomon passes away and then Rehoboam takes over, with the desire to rule by force and entitlement. He threatens a load that will make his pinky look like his father's thigh. He threatens slave labor at the end of more than whips, but even scorpions. This fulfills the words of Moses and also the prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 8.

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[c] 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,[d] 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20: 25-28

This is also the time of Jeroboam, the rise of a northern kingdom, split off from Judah. It is in "rebellion" to the Davidic rule, but God does not allow Rehoboam to draw it back together. He is not fit for such a task, and no matter how difficult the road has been made by Jeroboam to the temple, those who worship in truth, leave the apostasy of Jeroboam. No matter where we are, where we came from, Jesus insists that He is the way. Jeroboam puts up an idol in place of true religion. The stand off between him and Abijah is a beautiful picture of the stand that we, who have been called from sin, must make while crying out to God. 

Abijah

Asa is mentioned in 1 Kings 15. He was more like David than the others up until this point. Going out into battle his father was apt to carry the name of the Lord, but at home there was a great need of reform. He tore down the foreign altars and high places, in the books of the kings it says he also removed the state sanctioned male prostitutes. He not only stands up for God publicly, but also addresses the religious infidelity of his own house, standing up to his mother, who has lead the people in ways like a Jezebel. Asa truly starts out strong but then goes to the world rather than God, and it could be an error of omission, but the greater error, the grotesque sin, is that he sees himself above correction. He jails the one who warns him, refuses to seek God in his sickness, and has not tried to reconcile with his brother privately. Sad end to a promising start.

Suppose one of you wants to bring a charge against another believer. Should you take it to ungodly people to be judged? Why not take it to the Lord’s people? 2 Or don’t you know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? Since this is true, aren’t you able to judge small cases? 3 Don’t you know that we will judge angels? Then we should be able to judge the things of this life even more! 4 So suppose you disagree with one another in matters like this. Who do you ask to decide which of you is right? Do you ask people who live in a way the church disapproves of? Of course not! 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that no one among you is wise enough to judge matters between believers? 6 Instead, one believer goes to court against another. And this happens in front of unbelievers! 1 Corinthians 6: 1-6

Jehoshaphat comes out against the idolatries in the land, fortifies himself against those outside the gate, but strengthens the people within the gate, arming them with their history and the word of God. He has done so well, but now he will reach north, and the hand of grace, of peace should ever be extended, we should meet at the White Horse Inn, but never to be married. This is leaven in the dough, and how can you remove it, it must be thrown away. Rather than implore his cousins to the mercies of God, begging them, convincing them away from God's wrath, he invites the yeast into his own lump. They marry into a most evil line.

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