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Day 174 — II Chronicles 10 – 12

Why would God preserve the same accounts for us in two separate books? Remember the provision in the Law that important matters couldn’t be decided on the testimony of a single witness? Isn’t God good to give us more than one witness about this history? He must value it as important for us to grasp. We can learn important lessons from God’s interactions with men through the lives of the kings.

Since the book of Chronicles recorded events in Judah alone, it will add information about Judah that Kings did not record. This offers another opportunity for doubters to claim that there are inconsistencies in Scripture. The truth is that the accounts in Chronicles, providing more detail than those in Kings, flesh out the accounts related by Kings; the two do not disagree.

Isn’t it interesting that the kingdom of Judah was strengthened by its preservation of God-honoring worship? Jereboam offered what in his mind was a freeing alternative to worship according to the Law. True worshippers rejected his accommodations, moving to Judah and thus strengthening it. Do we weaken the Church by accommodating interests that want to deviate from true worship of God, thus driving away true seekers of God as we attempt to attract people who just want to be entertained?

King Rehoboam was strongest when he was so weak in his own eyes that he was driven to depend humbly on God. When God’s anger was turned away with Rehoboam’s humbling himself, what did that mean for him and his kingdom? Deliverance, but not restoration. He was left in his reduced state, not only plundered of all the gold and apparently even the silver that was so worthless in Solomon’s day, but also forced to pay tribute to the king of Egypt. Isn’t it worth remembering that humble dependence of God is so much lovelier than reduction?

Note also the sad and telling verse, “He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.” His failure to set his heart on seeking the Lord didn’t lead him to do good or even to be neutral, but to do evil. Doesn’t that teach us the wisdom of seeking God? I encourage you to examine your heart to understand whether it has been set on seeking God. Do you need to make a choice today, or renew your choice, to set your heart on seeking God?

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Day 173 — I Kings 12 – 14

Note that Rehoboam’s choice of whose advice he heeded was brought about by God. If God intervenes in such a way in men’s affairs, does it give you some ideas about how to pray for the people and situations that burden you?

Israel is truly distinctive for the mindset revealed by the actions recorded in this account. They wanted the king to be accountable to the people. When he refused, they rebelled against him and made someone else their king. Do you realize how unique that is in a time period when all kings were sovereign over their subjects, and the people lived to serve their king? That mindset was so ingrained that it was never questioned. Israel was unique in considering a ruler a servant of the people. That is a value we take for granted today because of the God-given gift of our republican form of government, but it wasn’t always so. We are truly blessed to live under a government that offers “liberty and justice for all.”

So the nation of Israel was split into two nations: Israel in the north, and Judah in the south. Judah retained David’s dynasty of kings; the north had a number of different dynasties beginning with Jereboam. King Jereboam chose a city in the territory of Ephraim for his capital. This is significant because for that reason the northern tribes of Israel were often referred to as Ephraim in prophecy, much like people refer to “Washington” when referring to the U.S.

God offered the same promise to Jereboam that He offered to David and his descendants: if you will serve me, you will remain on the throne. Jereboam failed miserably in that regard because he feared losing his power. He didn’t have a father whose memory God wanted to honor like Solomon did. During his reign God decided that He would root Israel out of their land, scatter them in distant lands, and give them up. He patiently waited hundreds of years to do that, but they did not get better; rather, they continued in their sin and grew progressively worse in it. That’s what sin does.

Judah did little better, so God allowed the king of Egypt to prevail against them. The wealth Solomon had accumulated was all taken away. So much for all Solomon had built and the alliances he had made.

What can you learn about God from His interactions with these men? What lessons for your life can you glean from their lives?

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Day 172 — I Kings 10 – 11

Today’s reading gives us one more opportunity to be reminded from Solomon’s supreme example of man’s inability to remain faithful to God. Recall that Solomon had every advantage: the first-hand example of his father, whom God himself called faithful (although he certainly wasn’t without sin). The heritage of a father who so pleased God that God would show mercy to Solomon for the sake of his father David. God’s special love that showed in the name He gave to Solomon. The wisdom Solomon had requested. Wealth. Power over his enemies. Peacetime in which to build (which he also could have used to seek God). Solomon enjoyed every advantage a human being could enjoy, and represented man’s best hope for pleasing God – and he failed miserably. We would be foolish to think we can do any better than Solomon did. His failure reminds all of us of our desperate need for God’s help to be faithful to Him. Doesn’t that make you feel grateful for Messiah’s work and your great salvation?

We will read how Solomon’s extreme wealth lasted a single generation. It went to the enemy who gained power over the kingdom during the rule of Solomon’s son. That very wealth made Israel a target. The alliance he made with Egypt didn’t last; even in his lifetime, Solomon’s enemies found refuge in Egypt. So much of what Solomon built was destroyed in his son’s generation, except for the high places he had built for the worship of foreign gods. The Temple and worship of foreign gods were the legacy left by this man who had it all, and the former was perhaps more David’s legacy than Solomon’s. Solomon set the nation up for division – in politics, in geography and in heart. Isn’t that a sad legacy? It’s no worse than what any of us would leave, but for God’s grace. Today’s reading is an opportunity to consider the legacy you are building. Any wealth you leave behind may be gone in a generation; what will be left?

Why the reference to ten tribes and one, instead of a total of twelve tribes? We’ll see in tomorrow’s reading that Benjamin went with Judah. Also, the tribe of Simeon was surrounded by Judah; perhaps over time boundary lines were blurred and with them the distinctiveness of the tribes. Early on the tribe of Dan had relinquished its territory to the surrounding peoples who seemed to want it more than the descendants of Dan did; perhaps they were no longer counted as a tribe. Any of these could be the reason.

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Day 171 — Ecclesiastes 11-12 & II Chronicles 9

Were you impressed with much of what you heard in Ecclesiastes? “Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.” If you take that statement at face value, it’s ridiculous. (Pa Grape says in an observation more profound than “The Preacher’s”, “Why even bring it up?!”) If there is a deeper meaning to it, he could at least have given us a clue to what it is. That he didn’t, leaves us with nothing more than the face-value option. Even though he repeatedly mentioned how wise he was and called himself the Preacher, I’m not fooled into thinking that his meaning is so profound that I have failed to fathom it.

I believe that one of the reasons this book has been preserved as part of God’s word to us is that its conclusion refers to the best truth man can apprehend: revere God. Man can speak or write many words of his wisdom, even impressive words, but there is no wisdom that matters more than the wisdom that directs us to God. That may be ridiculously simple wisdom, so simple that it is rejected as wisdom, but wisdom doesn’t need to be more profound than that.

How do we reconcile the impressive credentials of Solomon with the mostly rather lame observations of Ecclesiastes? Until Solomon became corrupted by sin, his wisdom was impressive and established his reputation. Some of his insights likely continued to teach and impress others even as he grew more foolish. Likely also, seekers were so impressed with his reputation that they assumed his babblings had some deeper meaning that they couldn’t comprehend. The god of this age blinded the minds of unbelievers even then, and some probably were deceived into thinking that his wisdom was profound because he spoke it with such authority. He spoke truly that there is nothing new under the sun. People get deceived in the same way even today. Let this book be our lesson and reminder to seek God’s wisdom so that we are not foolish.

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Day 170 — Ecclesiastes 7 – 10

The pointless meanderings and parallel structures that connect totally unrelated ideas show the damage that sin does to wisdom, even God-given wisdom. The wisdom of “the Preacher” is foolish! I have asked the Holy Spirit to remind each of us of that truth when the world ridicules God’s wisdom and dismisses us as idiots for choosing to believe it. Why should we be deceived or bullied into choosing to believe man’s wisdom, knowing that it is corrupted by sin?

Recall that this book is about man’s foolishness, and don’t be fooled into accepting some of its conclusions as truth. For example, his allusion in verse 7:28 to “one in a thousand men” implies a reference to one who is worthy, virtuous; such a man is rare, but there is no such woman. That is not consistent with Scripture and should be seen for the bitter foolishness of a man who had such a huge harem as Solomon and suffered some unpleasant consequences for it. Another example would be his lack of understanding about what happens to men after death. Although these are stated in Scripture as truth, recall their context and don’t be stumped when someone who wants to discredit God’s word presents them in support of their viewpoint.

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Day 169 — Ecclesiastes 3 – 6

 

Do you hear regret in Solomon’s words? Wise as he was, he made poor choices and paid the price for it. Some people think Ecclesiastes is a book of wisdom so profound that we people of average intelligence can’t fathom its depths, when it is mostly a windbag spouting man’s foolishness-posing-as-wisdom. Again, the key to understanding the book is to see most of it for the foolishness it is. The wisest man in the world could not make man’s wisdom truly wise, and is exposed as a fool to exercise man’s wisdom instead of the wisdom of God. Just because the author hits the nail on the head with a few obvious observations doesn’t make his ideas wise. So why is this book part of God’s word? One reason is that it does remind us of man’s need for Messiah’s transforming power. We’ll cover more possible reasons in the next two days.

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Day 168 — Proverbs 31 & Ecclesiastes 1 – 2

Who is King Lemuel? We don’t know, but scholars generally agree that the writer is most likely Solomon, and he is referring to himself by another name as he did in his introduction to Ecclesiastes.

Proverbs 31 is generally remembered for its description of the characteristics of a desirable wife, but there are other profound ideas in this chapter. For example, when he advises the reader to speak up for the mute, we don’t have to take that as someone who is literally mute, but can include anyone who is unheard because they are devalued as so insignificant as to have no voice. Do you know of someone like that on whose behalf you should speak?

A lot of what made the wife of Solomon’s day an asset to her husband is not valued by husbands today. But think about what each statement said about the woman of that day, and how that could meaningfully translate into the activities of modern women. For example, the image of merchant ships conveys that she is enterprising in finding sources for what she needs. Her household doesn’t go without because something it needs isn’t readily available; rather, she finds a way to provide and perhaps add value to the family finances in doing so. The image of a lamp that doesn’t go out at night doesn’t mean that she works all night. Rather, in a day when lights weren’t turned on with a switch, they needed a source of ignition for the oil they burned in their lamps if the lamp went out. The most efficient and effective way to take care of that need was to keep a small lamp burning as an ignition source. So the image conveys one who takes care of the needs of her areas of responsibility and isn’t negligent.

Ecclesiastes is a book that requires much care in understanding. These ideas are the musings of the best wisdom man has to offer – but it is still man’s wisdom. What does the best of man’s wisdom offer? Meaninglessness. If you isolate the ideas in this book from their context, you will likely misunderstand them. People who want to discredit Scripture often quote passages from Ecclesiastes out of context.

Solomon had the resources to live at the peak of human experience in virtually every pleasure in which man can indulge. He indulged himself to the extreme and yet found nothing in his indulgences to satisfy. If any man could possibly find meaning and true satisfaction in anything this world has to offer, it would be Solomon with his endless resources. Yet he found no meaning, for sin and its effects have robbed human experience of satisfaction. Messiah is all over this book by His very absence. Without His redeeming work, nothing in this life has meaning or lasting satisfaction because the ultimate effect of sin has robbed our every effort of lasting value. How desperate our need for a rescuer from death is demonstrated in the writings of this man who was in a position to know.

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Day 167– I Kings 9 & II Chronicles 8

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.

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Day 166 — Psalms 134, 146 – 150

Verse 146:5 says “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” That’s the kind of relationship He wants to have with us, the kind of relationship with Him that He wants us to enjoy. He wants us to rely on Him for all the help we need. That implies that we need help, and need to recognize our need and go to Him for the help we need. Is it possible that the One who created everything by just His commands, who sustains everything, who owns all, and is sovereign over all, is unable to help me? He wants to help me. He can be trusted to give me good help because He is good, and to know what good help I need because He is all-knowing. Oh, He can definitely be a help to me.

He also wants us to hope in Him. Do we appreciate what a relief that is, to hope in Him and not in anyone or anything else that is fleeting? Romans 5:5 says, “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” The more we place our hope in God, the more we find ways to delight in Him.

These psalms praise God for who He is and what He has done, reminding us of all the reasons why we can rely on Him for help and place our hope in Him. What is needed in your life today? His help? Hope? Why not choose to make that more real today by seeking Him for what you need? These psalms offer a good place to start our assessments.

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Day 165 — II Chronicles 6 – 7 & Psalm 136

On this second run through Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple, make note of two things as you read:

  • The conditions upon which God’s response to His people’s prayers would be based. How can you apply these to your own life?
  • What Solomon asked God to do. What verbs did he use to describe the actions he wanted God to take on behalf of His people? How does this inform the way you pray for what you want God to do in your own life? How does it reveal how you can pray for others?

I hope you didn’t fail to notice that God held up David as a standard for future kings’ faithfulness to God, and an example of one who walked before God, did all that He commanded and observed His decrees and laws. We never fail to remember David as much for his sin with Bathsheba as for courageously killing Goliath, but his sin wasn’t fatal because he did the very thing God presented as a condition upon which He would “hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal….” He humbled himself, prayed, sought God’s face and turned from his wicked ways. God doesn’t count us total losses if we sin, either, as long as we respond to it by humbling ourselves, praying, seeking His face and turning from our wicked ways.

God’s promise to Solomon on the occasion of the dedication of the Temple reminds us of His faithfulness to His promises. It also reminds us of man’s unfaithfulness. David’s descendants weren’t faithful, and the people of Israel weren’t faithful. The nation was cast from their land in 70 A.D. when the Temple was flattened, never to be rebuilt. Israel ceased to be a nation from that time until it formed again in 1948. That is a lot of years for Israel to suffer the judgment for their sin – and they surely suffered in those years.  If God said that His eyes and His heart will always be in Jerusalem, His eyes and His heart are still there.