Category: Chronicles

Did God actually send out a lying spirit to do His work, or was Micaiah’s vision just one of those prophetic visions of something that didn’t really happen? I’d be interested in knowing that myself, but I can only form an opinion. What do you think? Based on the whole counsel of Scripture, my opinion is that it didn’t really happen as Micaiah envisioned it.

Isn’t it incredible how God protected Jehoshaphat in battle, while Ahab suffered a random fatal wound? If God can see His will done in these circumstances, can His power over circumstances in your life be believed?

Observe that when Jehoshaphat sought God and “walked in His commands,” God “established the kingdom in his hand.” Seeking and walking in God’s commands resulted in his being established. Do you want to be established, to last? The example of Jehoshaphat’s life teaches that you should seek God and conduct yourself according to His commands and not according to the culture surrounding you.

Contrast that with Ahab, who did more evil than all who were before him. That’s how sin works: it doesn’t get better or maintain a status quo, but it grows worse and worse. Decay is a facet of corruption. You aren’t allowing corruption to be part of your life, are you? Because the reality of knowing Jesus as Savior gives you a choice in that matter, since He frees us from sin.

Jehoshaphat didn’t just remove the high places associated with idol worship; he attempted to re-direct the hearts of the people by sending officials, priests and Levites to teach the people the Law of God. Removing sin doesn’t just mean getting rid of something; the resulting void needs to be filled with something else. Recall Jereboam’s efforts to direct his people’s hearts away from Jerusalem: he presented a new religion complete with new observances and holidays. He certainly tried harder to lead his people away from God than Asa tried to lead them back. Our enemy is passionate about luring souls away from God; his passion must be matched and exceeded by a desire to win souls back to God. God has demonstrated that passion by coming to earth, suffering and dying for lost souls. Do we share His passion? That is our calling.

Were those high places removed from Judah by King Asa or weren’t they? Apparently he removed them, but they didn’t stay removed, much like a weed pulled off at the ground is removed but not rooted out, and grows back again. What could a king have done to accomplish the removal effectively? Tomorrow we’ll read about the more effectual efforts of Asa’s son.

II Chronicles said that “Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life,” but what about at the end when he failed to seek God’s help against Israel and instead removed from the Temple the valuables that had been dedicated to God, in order to purchase an alliance with the king of Aram? The Law didn’t allow one to use for another purpose what had been dedicated to God. It would seem that Asa’s heart was not fully committed to the Lord in his later years. What does that reveal to you about the capability of your own heart?

Asa’s life and leadership offer object lessons to us about the persistent nature of sin. It calls for persistence in our efforts to eradicate it from our lives. The job needs to be done thoroughly, and it needs to be tended to as long as we live. Are you prepared for that? Will you renew that commitment to God today?

These other accomplishments of Solomon may be impressive in the eyes of man: the expansion, the wisdom and learning, the cultural advancements, the capable administration all would qualify Solomon to be labeled a “Great” of history. Yet he isn’t known to history as Solomon the Great. Compare him to his father David, who is seen as a “Great” in history. He didn’t seek to make his name great, but to do all God commanded and observe His decrees and laws, according to God in II Chronicles 7:17.

Solomon’s accomplishments didn’t mask the fact that he turned away and forsook the decrees and commands that God had given him (verse 7:19). God had promised to give Him the wisdom he asked for and other desirable things he didn’t ask for that were dear to the heart of man and would make him great in the eyes of man. Why did God do that? He seemed delighted in Solomon and wanted to delight him in return. God knows how to delight the human heart. Doesn’t that warn us of the danger of seeking after our own human desires instead of the higher ways of God?

Note that Solomon’s alliances made the building, the gold stockpiles, and the security possible. Yet he wasn’t able to oust the remaining former inhabitants of the land with those alliances. Further, he had a wife for whom he had to build a separate palace because the land on which his palace sat was too holy for her presence. What kind of a marital relationship did that promote, do you suppose? We’re going to see that despite that harem and having such a prestigious woman for a wife, Solomon didn’t have a high opinion of women.

We’re also going to see that Solomon’s choices had a huge impact on the nation, leading to division, institutionalization of his sinful practices, and ultimately its destruction. That is not an impressive accomplishment.

It seems rather funny to me that Solomon’s blessing on the people basically told of how blessed they were that God had fulfilled His promise to David in establishing Solomon his son as their king. That looks like a blessing for Solomon himself. However, in our land blessed with a stable government and a peaceful means for transferring power from one President to another, we have the luxury of taking firm leadership and a stable government for granted. Israel’s monarchy didn’t get the best start, and David’s dynasty was barely established at that point; they did not enjoy the luxury of taking a stable government for granted. This reminder offers us an opportunity to thank God for the blessings He has given us through our government, and even go a step further to pray for our leaders.

The Temple also felt more stable than the Tabernacle as a dwelling place for God in their midst. The building made of stone, cedar and gold was definitely more permanent than a tent made of animal skins. When God’s glory filled the Temple, He obviously approved of the place as He had the Tabernacle. He was good to give them the visible confirmation of His acceptance of the Temple and Jerusalem as the city where He would place His name, and of His presence in their midst. This would have cemented the relationship with God in the people’s eyes.

Notice that Solomon refers to the covenant between God and His chosen people as a covenant of love. The terms of the covenant are documented in the Law, but those rules are not the covenant. Rather, the covenant is about relationship, specifically a love relationship between God and His chosen people. Is that how you see your relationship with God?

If the relationship is a love relationship, why did Solomon have to pray the prayer he prayed, asking God to remember His people and respond to them in a loving way when they appealed to Him in the future? He didn’t presume upon God’s promises. He knew God was faithful beyond what the Covenant required Him to be, but he didn’t presume upon God’s faithfulness. He knew God loved His people and sought a love relationship with them, but he didn’t presume upon God’s love. He appealed to Him because He is a faithful and loving God. We also cannot presume upon God’s love and faithfulness. Are you presuming upon God because you have entered into relationship with Him by accepting His salvation? This is a great opportunity to speak to Him today about your relationship, and seek His input about it. If anything needs to be made right, now is a great time for confession and commitment. He wants to give each of us all the help we need to enjoy the intimacy with Him that He created us for and redeemed us for. We can always go deeper in our intimacy with Him; why not use this as an opportunity to seek that? If we neglect to do so, we risk stepping back from Him as Solomon did.

Why the detail about the construction of the Temple? These are not details that teach us about worship like the details about the Tabernacle do, so why would they be preserved for us to review not once, but twice? They certainly reveal the splendor of the place. The craftsmanship also reveals that Israel was no longer a nation of squatters living in homes they had taken over from previous inhabitants, but a distinct people who had developed an impressive culture of their own. That actually is an important detail about the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham and Jacob, that He would build their descendants into a great nation. Their greatness wasn’t just evidenced in their numbers and victories in battle, but also in the culture they developed. Considering that Israel ceased to be a nation until relatively recently, that realization would have been an important reminder to readers through the centuries of the faithfulness of God to His promises – not only His promises for good, but His promises for bad as well.

The Temple was completed in about 960 B.C., about 450 years after the Israelites entered the Promised Land. II Chronicles tells us that it was built on Mount Moriah, which was the place where Abraham had intended to sacrifice Isaac. It was also the place where David built an altar and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings in I Chronicles 21:18-22:1, to appease God when He sent a plague against Israel in punishment for David’s sin in taking a census. Recall that this was to be the place where the people would congregate three times a year for holy days as required in the Law. This made Jerusalem the city in which God would place His name, almost 500 years after first mentioning that that place would be designated by Him. In the meantime, the Tabernacle made by Moses had housed the articles of worship. This would be quite a change to the look and feel of worship. Consider all of these tidbits about the Temple; do they reveal to you anything about the worship that took place in the Temple, and thus, about your own worship?

Do you wonder, as I do, why God preserved the correspondence between Solomon and Hiram – not in one place, but two? Recall that Hiram was king of Tyre and Sidon, which would have made him the ruler of the most powerful kingdom in the known world in his day. It was powerful because it was the only source of those famous, precious cedar trees, and because they shipped goods all over the known world. Thus, Hiram was the wealthiest and most powerful ruler in the world in his day. Association with Hiram such as Solomon had, would have given Solomon and the nation of Israel prestige. The correspondence would have told the original readers of these books that Solomon was impressive and important. Again, isn’t it interesting that Hiram is such an unknown today that I feel the need to explain who he is and why his letter to Solomon was important, while Solomon needs no introduction today? The people of that day would not have believed it. Consider that, and marvel at God’s amazing works.