2 Chronicles 19

2 Chronicles 19:9

Then he charged them saying, "Thus you shall do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully and wholeheartedly.

This is what Jehoshaphat said to those he had appointed as judges in Jerusalem.  Personally, I think this would be a good thing to add to the charge given to public officials today.  The first thing that any official or leader should be concerned with is the will of God.  He should be careful that what he is doing is within God's will, and should fear straying from it.

He also should be faithful in the responsibility that God has given him.  He is but an appointee, with no true authority of his own.  The authority comes from God, and in God's service it must be used.  But once he is certain of the path being proper, he should pursue it with all he is.  There should be no hesitation in the pursuit of God's will.

2 Chronicles 18

2 Chronicles 18:15

Then the king said to him, "How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?"

If I'm reading context here correctly, the king is Ahab, not Jehoshaphat.  This makes it interesting to me that Ahab, first, knows that the prophet is lying/mocking with his previous good report.  He's complaining that the man never brings good news to him, but always bad.  So here he gets good news, but knows it's not true.  Did the prophet deliver it in a condescending voice or something?  Or was that just Ahab's fatalism showing through?

Also, it's interesting that he commands the prophet to always speak the truth.  He never hears what he wants to, but he knows the man still speaks the truth.  So when the prophet speaks, he wants to hear the truth, even if it's bad.  Better to know the bad news and it be true, than the good news and it's a lie.

2 Chronicles 17

2 Chronicles 17:10

Now the dread of the LORD was on all the kingdoms of the lands which were around Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.

Jehoshaphat has honored God, and followed His commands.  He has finished what his father Asa started, and cleansed the land of false gods.  As God promised in the previous couple chapters to Asa, He has now honored Jehoshaphat for his obedience, and strengthened Judah.

All the surrounding nations have at one time or another faced Israel/Judah when the nation was faithful to God.  They know how God can make the impossible happen, and know that Judah is with God again.  They therefore all choose not to fight Judah, and risk incurring the wrath of God against them.  Fear of God truly is the beginning of wisdom.

2 Chrnoicles 16

2 Chronicles 16:9

For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.  You have acted foolishly in this.  Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars."

For as much as twenty-five years, Asa did it all right.  He followed God, and God allowed him to prosper  But somewhere along the line, Asa got complacent.  He stopped remembering how God had enriched him.  When a crisis occurred, he turned to another king for help, instead of seeking God again.  This was the end of peace in his time.

I wonder, where did he make that turn from God to men?  I doubt it was when Israel prepared to attack.  Rather, I think it was probably some time before.  Asa had turned from God, and therefore God used Israel to try and remind him of who was in control.  However, Asa did not make the right choice, and therefore had to pay the price for his pride.

2 Chronicles 15

2 Chronicles 15:2

and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin:  the LORD is with you when you are with Him.  And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

An important truth is contained in this verse, but it's one that most people miss.  Many people think God is with them.  They think that they are doing God's will, and therefore He is assisting them in their work.  However, that's not what this verse says.  It says that God is with us when we are with Him.  That doesn't mean He is supporting our work.  It means we must support His.  We must look to what He would have us do, and do it.

We cannot shape God's will to ours.  We must instead allow God to shape our wills to His.  There is no promise of prosperity implied in this, either.  God didn't say He would make us rich or famous.  In fact, those things can easily interfere with God's plans, and therefore take us away from Him.

2 Chronicles 14

2 Chronicles 14:11

Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude.  O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You."

Asa has an interesting prayer here.  First, he proclaims God's power.  He says God is all that can help the powerless against the powerful.  The powerless can't do anything to help themselves.  He then implies that Judah is powerless, for he calls upon God to help them.

He then gives the "reasons" why God should help them.  He states how faithful Judah has been to God, and that they are here to fight in His name.  He then affirms that they are loyal and obedient to God, but again states how they will be defeated without His help.  He entreats God not to let these men beat them, and by implication beat Him.

2 Chronicles 13

2 Chronicles 13:15

Then the men of Judah raised a war cry, and when the men of Judah raised the war cry, then it was that God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.

What was this war cry?  Was it the coordinated shout that happened when the walls fell at Jericho?  Was is something more like today's war cry you see in movies, when the soldiers leave the trenches for a charge?  Or was it at actual, specific cry out to God for relief?

Also, why did God wait for the war cry before helping Judah?  Abijah had just given a passionate speech to both sides or the battle line, proclaiming how God was with them, even though they were outnumbered 2:1.  Yet God waited to "show up" until they were losing and cried out.  Why not simply give them the victory from the beginning?  Maybe it was because while Abijah believed, not everyone on his side did?  Maybe God was proving that Abijah's words were true, and victory can only come through God.

2 Chronicles 12

2 Chronicles 12:8

But they will become his slaves so that they may learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries."

God has delivered Judah from destruction, but there is still a lesson to be learned.  God isn't going to protect them from all their past sins, even though they came back to Him.  Instead, they will suffer the loss of all they have, to remind them what the cost of not following God can be.

In the same way, God does not promise to spare us from the consequences of our actions.  He will save us in the end, but we must still reap the result of our actions.  Those who believe that God will always reward good behavior, and preserve them from anything bad happening are still wrong, but God does still hold to the reverse (at least to an extent).

2 Chronicles 11

2 Chronicles 11:4

'Thus says the LORD, "You shall not go up or fight against your relatives; return every man to his house, for this thing is from Me."'"  So they listened to the words of the LORD and returned from going against Jeroboam.

God's counsel here came unbidden.  Rehoboam and the people of Judah didn't ask God if they should go, they were just going to go.  However, God has set these events in motion, due to the failures of Solomon and Rehoboam, and He will not permit them to be overturned.  So he sends a prophet to the people, and tells them to go home and forget the whole idea.

What is somewhat surprising is that the people listen.  They don't go off half-cocked anyhow, and get pounded by Israel.  They listen to God, realize they are in the wrong, and quietly slink home.  Even Rehoboam doesn't seem to dispute God in this pronouncement, despite him being the one who's been affronted.  He takes the hit to his pride, and carries on.

2 Chronicles 10

2 Chronicles 10:8

But he forsook the counsel of the elders which they had given him, and consulted with the young men who grew up with him and served him.

This verse shows the true folly of Rehoboam.  His error was made long before he decided to follow the young men's advice over that of Solomon's counselors.  Here, we see that his mistake was made before he even asked the young men's advice.  Instead, it was made when he spurned the counselors before he'd even heard the alternative.

If he had been wiser, he would have at least heard both groups' advice before deciding on one or the other.  But he didn't even get that far.  Instead, he did what the king should do, and talked to the king's counselors.  However, he immediately decided that he didn't like their answer, and so he went looking for an answer he did like.  He didn't weigh both sides, or even hear both sides out.  Instead, he already truly knew what his answer was going to be, and only was looking for someone to support it.

2 Chronicles 9

2 Chronicles 9:8

Blessed be the LORD your God who delighted in you, setting you on His throne as king for the LORD your God; because your God loved Israel establishing them forever, therefore He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness."

Here, the queen of Sheba is honoring God for His gifting Solomon with the wisdom to rule his people well.  She acknowledges that God made him king of Israel because He wanted the nation to last long and strong, and gave them the leader necessary to make that happen.

However, while she honors God, she does not follow God herself.  She refers to Him as "your God", not "the God" or "our God."  There's nothing here to suggest that she agrees with monotheism, much less that God is the only god.  She appears to think that He is indeed powerful, but doesn't change her opinion of there being other options.

2 Chronicles 8

2 Chronicles 8:3

Then Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and captured it.

This short verse changes my picture of Solomon.  When David wanted to build the Temple, God said no, because David was a warrior and had spilled blood.  Therefore, his son Solomon would (and now has) build the Temple instead.  I always assumed that meant that Solomon did not fight, and that the nation had peace during his reign.

It appears from this verse that I was mistaken in that assumption, at least somewhat.  Solomon did at least once take (or send) the nation to fight.  We don't know the reason for the fight, whether it was aggressive or a counter-attack.  We don't know if Solomon went with them to battle, or whether he just sent the army and stayed home himself.  But it appears that God's prohibition on David did not mean that Solomon would be entirely peaceful.

2 Chronicles 7

2 Chronicles 7:13

If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,

This verse precedes another verse, which has become very popular.  Many modern-day Christians use it as a justification for the belief that God is going to restore America to its previous, more reverent state.  They think that if Christians pray, God will then fix everything that's wrong with the country, and bring Americans back to Him.

However, these people are completely ignoring the context of this verse.  It has nothing to do with America being restored, or the trials of today's world being eased.  It is speaking only to the Israelites.  It says that if they mess up, and God calls down famine or disease upon them because of their turning from Him, then if they come back and ask forgiveness, he will forgive them and heal the land.  It has nothing to do with modern times, and nothing to do with America (or any other place in the modern world).  This promise died, at best, with the nation of Judah.

2 Chronicles 6

2 Chronicles 6:32

"Also concerning the foreigner who is not from Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Your great name's sake and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house,

As one who would be considered a foreigner, I find it very heartening that Solomon included "us" in his supplication to God.  He's just created the Temple for God's glory to dwell in.  He could have kept it all to the Israelites.  They were God's chosen people, after all, to the exclusion of all other nations.

Yet here Solomon recognizes that some outsiders would see the truth, and come to worship God.  He therefore makes provision for them, and includes them in his request for God's blessing.  He wants all to be blessed by God, who recognize him as the only true God.

2 Chronicles 5

2 Chronicles 5:14

so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.

I'm not quite sure what caused the priests to be unable to work.  Is it because the cloud was so thick that they couldn't see anything?  Might there have been some kind of physical reaction to the cloud (like they started coughing)?  Or was it just that God's presence was so amazing that they couldn't concentrate on their duties?

No matter what the answer to my question, how amazing would it be to see God's glory filling the place where you were?  We talk about feeling God's presence, but what would it be like to see it, for it to be something tangible?  For God to come in any sort of physical form, no matter how unapproachable, would be amazing to me.

2 Chronicles 4

2 Chronicles 4:6

He also made ten basins in which to wash, and he set five on the right side and five on the left to rinse things for the burnt offering; but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

I can understand the need for ceremonial washing stations at the Temple.  They're servicing a whole nation, so that makes sense.  Ten doesn't seem like a very high number, given the volume of sacrifice that will come through the place.

However, why such a large washing item for the priests?  The previous verse says it's 3,000 baths.  I looked it up, and that's over 17,000 gallons.  For that size, are the priests taking actual baths in it?  Or is this the place they must go to purify themselves between each sacrifice, and therefore it much cleanse a huge amount of bodies?

2 Chronicles 3

2 Chronicles 3:17

He erected the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right and the other on the left, and named the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz.

Why name the pillars?  In the entire description of the temple, nothing else has a specific name.  So what's so significant about these pillars, that they get names?  For that matter, why are they even there?  It doesn't sound like they are supporting anything.  The description suggests they're free-standing.

Also, what is the significance of the names?  Boaz we know, from Ruth's story.  But why is Jachin significant?  What is the reference in the name?  The only Jachin I recall was a minor figure, someone who was really only mentioned, not known for doing anything.  So why name the pillars at all, and why those names?

2 Chronicles 2

2 Chronicles 2:12

Then Huram continued, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, who will build a house for the LORD and a royal palace for himself.

Does Huram believe in the blessing he's saying here?  I can't recall any reference to the king of Tyre being a believer in God previously.  I know the future king would become downright hostile to Israel and had no respect for God.  So is this serious?

Certainly, he could have known about the many things that happened in Israel under Saul and David, how many times they won battles when the odds were so vastly against them.  He certainly would have known of God, just as we today know of Buddah or Allah.  He ruled a neighboring nation, so he certainly would have been briefed on their belief system.  But there's no evidence that he believed that God was supreme, or that he himself worshiped Him.  So I'm guessing that this is all diplomatic curlicue, rather than true veneration. 

2 Chronicles 1

2 Chronicles 1:4

However, David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath-Jearim to the place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.

Why did David separate the Ark from the Tent?  He moved the Ark to Jerusalem, but then put it in a different tent than the one that was made for it.  Why not move both, and have everything in one place?  Why put the vessel of God in the city, but leave the Tent, empty, on a hill elsewhere?

The Tent's purpose was to be the place of sacrifice, and to house the Ark so that it was separated from the people and they were not exposed to God's glory.  Why would you leave the Tent sitting hollow, with nothing but the altar?  What's the point?

I guess I should actually ask who did this, rather than assume it was David.  Maybe it was something that happened when Saul was king, or even before that.  Still, the question remains, why separate the two in the first place?

1 Chronicles 29

1 Chronicles 29:14

"But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this?  For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You.

Being unemployed right now, and because of what holiday is coming up, this caught my attention.  I'm not exactly suffering in my unemployment right now.  I have good savings, to last a while, thanks to God's prior gifts to me, and his thwacking me with enough wisdom to save.  So while I don't have much, what I do have is enough to keep me comfortable.

But it might not have been so.  God could have put me in very tight straits, where I had nothing when I was laid off.  I could be at my parents' home right now, having had no other option besides to crawl back under their roof.  God has allowed me to not resort to that, for which I'm grateful.  But if He had, would I still be grateful?  Would I be thankful that I had parents able and willing to take me in?  Or would I have been resentful about what I'd been forced to do?

I just accepted a temporary job, doing something that's far below my skill level, and I've been hating myself for it.  I'm embarrassed to be forced to go back to such meager work, and at such poor pay.  Yet I keep telling myself (and anyone else) that at least it's something to keep the lights on, rather than having to drain my savings.  But I wonder how much am I blaming God right now for being stuck in this position, rather than being grateful for having something at all?

1 Chronicles 28

1 Chronicles 28:7

I will establish his kingdom forever if he resolutely performs My commandments and My ordinances, as is done now.'

I'm going to slip into geek parlance here:  I'm always fascinated by "do-if" statements like this. Here God says that if Solomon followed Him faithfully, He would make His kingdom forever.  So, first question:  did Solomon fulfill this enough for God to follow through?  Was the forever referring to physical or eternal?  Is Christ the fulfillment of this promise?  Or did Solomon mess up, and therefore God didn't give his earthly kingdom lasting rule?

If Solomon messed up, what would things have been like if he hadn't?  Would Israel and Judah have split?  Would the Babylonians and Assyrians not have conquered the kingdom?  Would Israel have remained an independent nation even with the rise of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans?  Would there have been a 2-millenia break in Israel's rule?  Would Christ have come yet, or would the apostles' tasks have been different?  So much may have changed because of this promise.

1 Chronicles 27

1 Chronicles 27:24

Joab the son of Zeruiah had begun to count them, but did not finish; and because of this, wrath came upon Israel, and the number was not included in the account of the chronicles of King David.

What do you mean, the number was not included?  It was given in Chapter 21:  1.1 million.  And what do you mean that Joab didn't finish?  If he didn't finish, how did they give the number, that you say they didn't give?

I only have one guess on what this means:  that the "number" wasn't a number.  Rather, perhaps what hadn't been finished was the compilation of all the data, breaking it down by tribes and families and such.  That may have been interrupted by God's condemnation and the plague before it was completed.  But the census was taken, and we have the rough results.

1 Chronicles 26

1 Chronicles 26:30

As for the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his relatives, 1,700 capable men, had charge of the affairs of Israel west of the Jordan, for all the work of the LORD and the service of the king.

I find this interesting.  These are Levites, dedicated to the service of God.  Yet in this resuffling as the Temple is built, things are getting changed some.  Here David is taking some of the Levites and making them into other types of leaders.  In effect, he's mixing the duties to God and to him.

I can understand the Levites being in charge of all the work of God.  After all, they are set apart to be God's servants in ministry.  So them being in charge or things like collection of taxes for the Temple, or more local support of Levite cities, makes sense.  But here it sounds like they're simultaneously being put in charge of more "secular" concerns.  Basically, they're becoming David's representatives.  While David is king by God's decision, are the king and the Temple supposed to be so closely interwoven?

My view may be colored by America's "separation of church and state," which was not an issue for their monarchical theocracy.  However, it seems that David is taking from God what is due him, or his own benefit.

1 Chronicles 25

1 Chronicles 25:5

All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer to exalt him according to the words of God, for God gave fourteen sons and three daughters to Heman.

The construction here is a bit confusing to me.  First, who's being exalted?  Is it the king, Heman, or God?  If it's the king, why is he the one being exalted instead of God?  If it's Heman, why would he be exalted?  Is it because God gave him so many children?  Or is it God, and Heman is simply the overseer of those doing the exalting?

For that matter, who is doing the exalting?  I'd like to think that this God has exalted Heman by giving him so many children that they can handle all worship, but I'm far from confident on that.  And why did God give him so many children?  Was is for this purpose?  Or did Heman do something else that marked him as worthy to God?

1 Chronicles 24

1 Chronicles 24:5

Thus they were divided by lot, the one as the other; for they were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God, both from the descendants of Eleazar and the descendants of Ithamar.

All right, I'm confused again.  Here we've just had a listing of all the families, and who was given what post, and there is absolutely no indication of what the posts are.  It just said that so-and-so's family was drawn first, and such-and-such was drawn second.  What are they doing with the lots?

Is it an assignment for which family will be doing a specific duty?  Is it a specification of what order they will rotate through duties in?  Is it a designation of who will serve in the Temple, and who will serve in the other Levite communities throughout Israel?  There is far too little information given here, and that confuses (and therefore annoys) me.

1 Chronicles 23

1 Chronicles 23:26

Also, the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its utensils for its service."

This was a significant change in how the Levites duties were allocated.  Previously, some families of Levites were specifically charged with carrying the articles of the Tabernacle.  Since the time of Moses, when the Tabernacle was constructed, the Levites were divided up into who did what, and some families were to carry specific items.

Now, with the Temple about to be constructed, and the Ark residing permanently in Jerusalem, David is changing the rules.  It makes sense, because their old duties won't be needed any more.  However, it's still a significant step.  For the first time, God's commands of who does what are being changed.  I'm sure it had His blessing, either indirectly or through a prophet, but it likely caused some consternation among the Levites.

1 Chronicles 22

1 Chronicles 22:7

David said to Solomon, "My son, I had intended to build a house to the name of the LORD my God.

I want to focus here on one word.  When David has made all his preparations for the construction of the Temple, he charges Solomon with the task.  However, there's one word here that makes me wonder if David already knew that trouble might be coming.  When David refers to God, he uses the term "my."

This one word seems minor.  Maybe it's just how God is always referred to in this context.  However, it worries me that he says "my," not "our."  David honors God, but does Solomon?  Is he giving his son a task to build a house and place of worship for a god that Solomon doesn't really believe in?  We know that in time he would abandon God, only to come back late in life.  Was this reference a symptom that maybe David already is concerned about the path Solomon is taking?

1 Chronicles 21

1 Chronicles 21:29

For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were in the high place at Gibeon at that time.

I'm confused.  There seems to be a discontinuity here.  Earlier in the book, David brought up the Tabernacle to Jerusalem.  There was never any indication that it moved from that site until the Temple is built.  So how did it get to Gideon?

I suppose one of two possibilities exist.  First, it could be that the Tabernacle is separate from the Ark for some reason.  I thought the two always traveled together, since the Tabernacle was where the Ark was supposed to be housed, to contain God's Glory within its tent walls.  Maybe that's wrong.  Second, it could be that the Tabernacle (and Ark) were sent on a sort of roving circuit of Israel for some reason.  I don't know why this would be, but it sounds more likely of the two possibilities.  But why would they have it moving around?

1 Chronicles 20

1 Chronicles 20:5

And there was war with the Philistines again, and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

Goliath was not the only giant among Israel's enemies.  Apparently Goliath's family was also like him.  He wasn't some anomaly like it appeared in the original story against David.  Here we see that his brother is of similar size and ability, as are others.

However, David is not the only mighty warrior for Israel, either.  Here we see another man defeat one of these Philistine giants.  Later in the chapter, it says one of David's nephews also beats a giant.  The enemies of Israel are neither small nor quelled, but God has raised up champions to fight them still.

1 Chronicles 19

1 Chronicles 19:13

Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight."

Joab here shows that his motives were right at the time.  He's urging his brother to be courageous not for the acclaim, or the honor of their victory.  Instead, he's saying to be courageous for the sake of the people, though I'm not sure if he means the troops under their command, or the rest of the nation that is looking to them for victory.  The fact that he mentions the cities may mean the latter, but again that may just be the fact that they need to win to protect the rest of the nation.

Also, he shows that he is in submission to God through all this.  He says God will do what He wants to, and they must submit.  This is similar to "Thy will be done" that Jesus would pray at Gethsemane.  He wants to win, but if God would have them lose, so be it.  Also, if God would have them win in a manner different from how they plan, that's OK too.  The outcome is in God's hand, and He will do what is right.

1 Chronicles 18

1 Chronicles 18:8

Also from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a very large amount of bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze sea and the pillars and the bronze utensils.

David's been on the warpath, and thanks to God's blessings, he's been very successful.  He has defeated several enemies, and greatly enlarged Israel's territory in the process. As he has conquered, he's gained the riches of the vanquished.

However, he isn't keeping that spoil for himself.  He is making use of it, not just making trophies.  Here, he has taken the bronze that has been captured, and is reserving it for use in the future Temple.  For the rest of his life, it will simply sit in storage somewhere, waiting for the day when his son is ready to build.  That patience, just waiting for God's timing, is something I've wished I had.

1 Chronicles 17

1 Chronicles 17:13

I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it away from him who was before you.

God here makes a promise to David that He will note move the royal line to another, for his son will inherit the kingdom.  Also interesting is that God says He will be as a father to Solomon.  I don't recall that description being used anywhere else.  He says He will protect the lineage, to keep it on the throne, but never that He would be a father.  It's unfortunate that Solomon wandered away from his Father, and followed the ways of his many wives.  Had he kept close, the future generations might have behaved differently.

Also, I'm surprised that God does not refer to Saul by name.  He's only mentioned as the one who came before.  Why the indirectness?  There's no doubt who He's referring to, since David is only the second king.  Was this God's way of subtly blotting Saul from the history, because of his evil deeds?  Or is it for some other reason?

1 Chronicles 16

1 Chronicles 16:23

Sing to the LORD, all the earth;
Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.

I always find it interesting when the Jews from the Old Testament talk about salvation.  Are they using the term differently than Christians do today?  When I think of the Jews referring to salvation, I think in temporal terms.  He chose them from all the peoples of the world.  He gave them a homeland which he took from others.  He protected them from mighty enemies.

Did the Jews of the time think just in these terms?  Or did they think of salvation in spiritual terms, like Christians do today?  Or maybe both?  God did give them a way to cover their sins, through sacrifice.  It was an imperfect method, since you had to atone for every sin, but it was a valid method.  So was it temporal, or spiritual, or both?

Also, what are the good tidings?  Today we would say good news, and we think of that phrase from the Christmas story.  But what was their good news of salvation?  Was it only for the Jews, to proclaim among their own?  Or was it something greater, for everyone?

1 Chronicles 15

1 Chronicles 15:13

Because you did not carry it at the first, the LORD our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance."

Interesting phrasing here.  First, what happened is termed an outburst.  They had the Ark on a cart instead of being carried.  When they hit a bump in the road, it almost knocked the Ark off.  One of the men on the cart reached back to steady it, and God struck him dead.  I suppose that could be called an outburst.

Also, it's interesting how David terms moving the Ark to Jerusalem as seeking God.  That's not a way of thinking that I've heard before.  They're moving the object that God indwells, for lack of a better word, to their capitol.  This way it is close to the seat of government, and easier for the people to see and remember.  This nearness being thought of as seeking God is a perspective that hadn't occurred to me before.  In modern Christianity, since God is omnipresent, we tend not to think much more about one place than another, except maybe church.  If we looked at going to church as seeking God, would it change our behavior any?

1 Chronicles 14

1 Chronicles 14:14

David inquired again of God, and God said to him, "You shall not go up after them; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees.

David is showing his difference from Saul already, in his first campaign as king.  First, he is asking God if his battle plans are good.  Saul didn't normally check with God.  Samuel sometimes came to him, but he didn't go to God normally.  He was sometimes given God's spirit and went out into battle and won, but it was God upon him, not him humbly asking God.

The first time David went into battle, God said they were fine, he should go for it.  Here, the second time, God says no.  Instead, God offers up a different strategy, one which He has planned out to show that He is the one in control.  David's battle plan might have worked, as it had the first time.  We don't know what the numbers or terrain were, so we can't be sure, but it's possible.  However, the way God plans it, there will be no doubt of David's success.

1 Chronicles 13

1 Chronicles 13:3

and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul."

First off, how are they bringing the ark back?  Where was it that they did not have it?  As I remember it, they had lost the ark to the Philistines in battle.  God had cursed them for it, so they sent it back.  It had been at one of their border towns for several months.  So I guess they were bringing it back into the heart of the nation, namely Jerusalem.

And what is this about not seeking God or the ark during Saul's reign?  I seem to recall that Saul was condemned by Samuel because he brought the offering before his arrival.  Plus, he took the ark into battle because he thought it would bring God's favor on them.  He may have been seeking it wrongly, but they did seek it.  They just were seeking it wrongly, and David didn't improve upon that much in this time.

1 Chronicles 12

1 Chronicles 12:32

Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their kinsmen were at their command.

This is the only tribe where their numbers are not given.  Instead, it says the entire tribe was with them.  There's no indication of how many men that might be, though it was doubtless a large number.  Maybe they were unable to come personally, due to some threat near their territory, and instead sent their captains as representatives.

However, what really got my attention here was the description of these men.  It says they understood the times, and knew what should be done.  That's high praise, given the strife in recent history.  What I wonder about is whether their knowledge was from God giving them wisdom, or just a more human "knowing which way the wind was blowing."  It's not clear from this, but the result was correct either way, at least.

1 Chronicles 11

1 Chronicles 11:6

Now David had said, "Whoever striked down a jebusite first shall be chief and commander."  Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became chief.

Rarely do spur-of-the-moment decisions to reward someone lavishly based upon a short-term goal come out well.  I can think of many occasions in history where someone said, "do this, and I'll give you that."  In military affairs, those rarely end well.

In this case, Joab is given command of the army because he's the first to fight.  That doesn't end well for David in the end.  Joab is disobedient to David's commands multiple times, and is also complicit in the death of Uriah.  He has one of David's sons killed, and ultimately is killed by David for his transgressions.  How much of that could have been avoided if David had not made this hasty promise here?

1 Chronicles 10

1 Chronicles 10:13

So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the LORD, because of the word of the LORD which he did no keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it,

Finally, back into the history instead of genealogies!

Saul had messed up in several ways.  First, he did not follow God's instructions.  The final straw was when he made sacrifice, rather than wait for Samuel as he had been instructed to do.  At that point, Saumel told him that he would lose the kingdom.

After that, shortly before he died, he consulted a medium, and had him call up Samuel, of all people!  This just compounded his error, and while I don't recall if that mistake had been cited against him before when this story was told, we see here that he paid for that, as well.

1 Chronicles 9

1 Chronicles 9:25

Their relatives in their villages were to come in every seven days from time to time to be with them;

I always did wonder as a teenager how the Levites decided who worked in the Temple.  I knew from the Christmas story that there was some way that Levites not living in Jerusalem would have to come in, because that's what Zacharias was doing when he was spoken to by the angel.  But how did they determine who was to come in when, or how often they had to serve in the Temple?

From what's said here, it's not clear what the arrangement was, but there definitely was one.  If I'm reading this right, their service would consist of one week, presumably plus travel time.  How often they had to come in isn't clear, though.  I guess you could think of it as the Priestly Reserve, similar to how here in the US reservists have to serve for two weeks a year.

Of course, that makes me also wonder what they did the rest of the year, back home?

1 Chronicles 8

1 Chronicles 8:34

The son of Jonathan was Merib-baal, and Merib-baal became the father of Micah.

After David became king, he searched for any surviving descendants of Saul or Jonathan, so he could show them kindness.  He found only one, a crippled son of Jonathan.  Yet here we see another son of Jonathan, which in the following verses goes on to become an entire lineage.

Where was this man when David went searching?  Did he just find one who was handy, and stop looking after that?  Were they in hiding for fear of David's wrath?  Where did this "new" line come from?

1 Chronicles 7

1 Chronicles 7:15

Machir took a wife for Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister's name was Maacah.  And the name of the second was Zelophehad, and Zelophehad had daughters.

Why did they not give the name of the first wife?  Why only name the sister of that woman?  Was there some kind of disgrace or shame?  I can't recall anything in the previous books mentioning these people.  Was there a problem of some kind, where they didn't know the woman's name?  I find that hard to believe, given the meticulous records we have of these lineages.

Also, why mention that Zelophehad only had daughters?  That, at least, I have an answer for.  I had to look it up to make sure I was remembering correctly, and this woman's daughters were mentioned in Numbers.  Their father died, and he had no male heir.  So these daughters petitioned Moses to be given an inheritance, so that their family line would not be lost.  Moses inquired of God, and He instructed him to grant their request.

I realize I'm grasping at straws here in terms of significance, but there's only so much you can do in with lines of genealogy.

1 Chronicles 6

1 Chronicles 6:49

But Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.

This again appears to be summarizing history.  I speculated in a previous chapter that this book was written at least after the Babylonian captivity, and perhaps after the return.  We also know from earlier in this chapter that the genealogies here were not exhaustive, because there's a jump from Levi's son straight to Moses and Aaron, some 400 years later.

From this verse, it appears that those reading this may not know their own people's history.  Any Israelite should know that Aaron was the high priest, and what those duties were.  So why mention it again here?  Either the writer was trying to make clear whose genealogy was about to be given, or else he was explaining/reminding the reader that this is what that lineage did.  Either way, it suggests the readers might not be familiar with Israelite history or customs.

1 Chronicles 5

1 Chronicles 5:25

But they acted treacherously against the God of their fathers and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

In the previous verses, there was stories of times and people who had been great warriors and leaders, men who had trusted in God, and had won victories because of their faith in Him.  These were valiant men of Israel, who knew where their strength came from, and were faithful.

Somewhere along the line, all that changed.  They turned away from God, as did the rest of Israel.  They turned to the false gods of their neighbors, despite everything that had happened, all their victories.  They turned away, and paid the price with the rest of Israel.

1 Chronicles 4

1 Chronicles 4:9

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, "Because I bore him with pain."

When I was in college, a small book called The Prayer of Jabez came out.  It was all the rage, a bestseller, etc.  I heard about this prayer everywhere I went, and got rather sick of it.  As I found more mature teachers to learn from, I also heard how dangerous this prayer was, in that it had been linked to the prosperity gospel school of thought.  I therefore came to greatly distrust this prayer.

This is the first time in years that I've read this passage, and I find myself focusing on this verse, which introduces Jabez, rather than the prayer in the next verse.  I look at this verse because it shows something very important about the person behind the prayer.  Right off the bat, it says that Jabez was honorable, more than any of his family.  There was something different about Jabez from the beginning, which made him more suited to the rewards God would later grant him.  I believe that this is the key to the prayer:  we must be suited to be honored by God before He might reward us, no matter what we ask for or how we ask for it.

1 Chronicles 3

1 Chronicles 3:21

The sons of Hananiah were Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, the sons of Rephaiah, the sons of Arnan, the sons of Obadiah, the sons of Shecaniah.

The latter half of this chapter, and especially this verse, gives us a glimpse into when at least this part of 1 Chronicles was written.  This chapter covers the descendants of David, the first part of which we know from Kings, for it traces the royal line.

However, the second part of the chapter lists the descendants after the fall of Judah, so this part is new.  It covers each generation's children, then the children of one of that generation.  Then it gets to this verse.  I'm not sure if it's jumping multiple generations, or only covering two.  If it's multiple generations, then this verse alone appears to progress through over a century.  Either way, the chapter in total makes it appear that Chronicles was written centuries after the fall of Israel and Judah, and also well after the return of a remnant from the Diaspora.

1 Chronicles 2

1 Chronicles 2:7

The son of Carmi was Achar, the troubler of Israel, who violated the ban.

It appears this Achar is who we know in Joshua as Achan, the man who kept some of the spoil from the fall of Jericho, and caused Israel to lose their next battle.  I don't know why he's called Achar here, but the Achan of Joshua was a son of Carmi, so I'm assuming it's the same person.  Also, that is the only "ban" that I can recall.

But where does this come from?  They're going through the genealogies, when all of the sudden this is dropped in.  There's no other reference to Carmi or Achar/Achan in the genealogy to this point, so what connection are we supposed to make?  I can understand mentioning the one who broke the ban, since it was a key moment of disobedience in Israel's history, and had consequences for the entire nation, but why here?  Was he and Carmi a descendent of the last person mentioned, or at least of that family?  It doesn't say, they're just dropped in out of nowhere.

1 Chronicles 1

1 Chronicles 1:43

Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king of the sons of Israel reigned.  Bela was the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

The chapter starts with going through the lineage of the Israelites.  From Adam, it lists everyone, including many branches, up through Abraham and his children.  Then, all of the sudden, in this verse it drops the Israelites, and starts talking about the Edomites.  Why the sudden shift?

Without reading ahead, and I don't recall anything from reading it in the past, my only guess is that this is to show how long a history the Edomites had in the region.  They were here long before the Israelites came back, yet God would not deal well with them.  They were about to go away, and God was placing Israel in their position as the greatest nation of the area.  Their history meant exactly nothing once God became directly involved.

2 Kings 25

2 Kings 25:27

Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison;

Judah has fallen.  Jehoiachin the king has seen his family slaughtered, then he is blinded, and taken away to a Babylonian jail.  He spends almost forty years there, and then is released.  The new king of Babylon takes pity on him, and gives him some dignity back.

In this I see that even when God has condemned you, He may still choose to show some mercy.  He could have had Nebuchadnezzar kill Jehoiachin when he was first captured. He could have let him rot in jail until his death.  But God allowed him to be given a reprieve.  He didn't restore the kingdom to him, but he was allowed to live out what remained of his life in relative comfort.

2 Kings 24

2 Kings 24:4

and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the LORD would not forgive.

Manasseh, a previous king of Judah, had flagrantly ignored God's commands, and had practiced all the abominable customs of the false gods.  God had had enough, and had finally condemned Judah for that previous king's misdeeds.  Apparenly, Manasseh had also killed a lot of people.  I don't recall if this was some kind of purge or punishment, or if they were killed for sacrifices to the false gods.

God had finally had enough, and was destroying Judah.  I find it interesting that it says here that God would not forgive.  He had before, if not forgiven, at least not acted upon Judah's transgressions.  From what had been said before, I didn't think God had forgiven them, but he didn't immediately condemn them either.  Had God previously forgiven them for at least some of their sins?

2 Kings 23

2 Kings 23:22

Surely such a Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this verse.  From what I read, there are two possible meanings for it.  The first is that this Passover, after Josiah has cleaned up the nation, was of some special significance that had never been seen before.  I'm not sure how you make a ceremony with such specific requirements of what must be served and how it must be prepared special, but maybe they made it like the inverse of Fat Tuesday, where they had the Passover, and then a big part or something.

The other reading is much bleaker.  It may mean that since the days of the judges, the people had not observed the Passover.  If I'm remembering properly, in a couple chapters we learn that they had not taken the Sabbath year since coming to the land; did the same happen with the Passover?  After winning the land, did they just forget about what God had done for them and go back to their normal lives?  If so, how often do we do the same?  How much do we simply forget about what God has done for us, and go on as if He never happened?

2 Kings 22

2 Kings 22:10

Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book."  And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king.

Obviously, the Law had been forgotten long ago.  The book had apparently been misplaced or hidden away and forgotten some time before, probably many generations.  Now it has been found again, and the king is made aware of it for the first time.

This make me wonder, what has the king been doing until now, that he believed in God and followed His commands?  And what have the priests been doing?  It seems that for generations, they have all been acting on oral tradition, which was obviously incomplete.  The Law in its entirety had been lost, and now is suddenly re-found, so how far off-track had the priests' memory or other sources taken them?  How much did they suddenly have to fix?

2 Kings 21

2 Kings 21:9

But they did not listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do evil more than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Manasseh was obviously one of the worst kings Judah had.  He did everything bad that his predecessors had done, and then some.  God had destroyed the previous inhabitants of the land, in part because of their wicked acts, and now Manasseh is doing worse.  It's no surprise that he's about to be condemned.

However, that's not what caught my attention here.  What I noticed is what Manasseh did to get the people to follow his wicked actions.  He "seduced" them.  He didn't order them, or just put up the idols and they came flocking to them.  He had to attract them somehow.  He did something that enticed them, some kind of blatant or implied reward.  This is always the most dangerous path, to be tempted because there's some kind of perceived benefit.  I know that's how I normally mess up, because I see a benefit that in my mind outweighs the danger.

2 Kings 20

2 Kings 20:19

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good."  For he thought, "Is it not so, if there will be peace and truth in my days?"

Hezekiah has just messed up, and welcomes emissaries from Babylon, and given them the grand tour.  Isaiah comes and says that Babylon will have everything the emissaries have been shown.  However, because of God's promise to Hezekiah, it will not happen in his time, but in that of his descendants.

Hezekiah says that this is fine by him.  After all, it won't affect him any.  His reign is guaranteed for another fifteen years, so who cares if the nation falls after he's dead?  I know I can have this feeling, to a lesser extent.  Who cares what happens to someone else?  It's got nothing to do with me.  Let God sort them out as per His will.  However, I know this attitude is wrong, and I want to change.

2 Kings 19

2 Kings 19:20

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, "Thus says the LORD the God of Israel, 'Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.'

Assyria is still threatening Judah, continued from the last chapter.  Now, however, Hezekiah has run out of money to try and buy them off.  He has now come to the only place he has left, the Temple and God.  He has received a threat from the king of Assyria, brought the letter to the Temple, and laid it out before God.

Here Hezekiah does what he should have done all along:  asks God for help.  And as he promises He would, God answers.  He recognizes that Hezekiah has done what is right, and now gives the promise of relief.

I know my prayer life isn't what it should be, and I wonder if I'd be unemployed right now if it were better.  I know there's no "magic formula" for this, and God isn't a vending machine.  But if I had been more in tune with God a few months ago, would I have done something different that would have kept my job?  Or is God now moving me to somewhere different, and this is the instrument He planned to use along?  Given I'm uncertain, I obviously need more time in prayer.

2 Kings 18

2 Kings 18:16

At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Once again, the king panics, and does not trust in God to rescue the nation.  Instead, he raids his treasury, and the Temple, to bribe the king into remitting.  This time, though, it doesn't work, which makes the lack of faith even more tragic.

However, one thing of interest here is that Hezekiah had apparently made renovations to the Temple.  He had the doorposts overlaid with gold, and then has to remove it to pay the ransom.  This is even more tragic, for this was a good king, who had trusted in God and removed the idols.  He'd been blessed enough to improve upon the temple, and then has to take it all back.

2 Kings 17

2 Kings 17:13

Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which i sent to you through My servants the prophets."

Israel has fallen to the Assyrians.  The inheritance of Abraham has been taken.  Judah is deteriorating, and doesn't have that much longer to exist.  All of this has happened because the people rejected God and His promises.  They turned from him, and He has now fulfilled the promised curses that He warned them of when He first gave them the Law.

However, He didn't just let them go without any reminders of the consequences.  He sent many prophets to them, to tell them what was going to happen, and how they could prevent it.  He did this for decades and centuries, and sometimes they listened.  But it never lasted, and they would eventually ignore them altogether.  At that point, God acted, and Israel paid the price for its disobedience.

2 Kings 16

2 Kings 16:8

Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria.

Again, a wicked king gets himself into trouble, and gets out of it by doing more wicked.  The last time I remember this happening, the king raided the Temple and his treasury and gave it to the besieging army as tribute.  This time, however, he doesn't even to that.  He instead goes to another king, and uses it to hire that king to attack the first.

Like last time, I wonder what would have happened if Ahaz had done the right thing, and gone to God?  I believe the last time, it was a good king who messed up.  This time, Ahaz wasn't good.  He was one of the worst, in fact.  But still, he was presented with a choice.  He could either turn back to God, repent and beseech His help, or continue down the path he had always taken before.  He chose the latter, and bankrupted himself to do it.

2 Kings 15

2 Kings 15:12

This is the word of the LORD which He spoke to Jehu, saying, "Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel."  And so it was.

God kept His promise to Jehu, and left his descendent on the throne to that fourth generation.  However, because the generations after Jehu did not follow God, He kept the last generation's reign to very short six months.  God kept His promise, but he sure was quick the finish it off.

However, that was not the shortest reign in this chapter.  Zechariah's overthrow was the first of three assassinations in this chapter for Israel.  They went through three different royal lines by the time this chapter is over.  Clearly, the evil ways of Israel were starting to catch up with them, and God was not so gracious to these other would-be dynasties.

2 Kings 14

2 Kings 14:10

You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud.  Enjoy your glory and stay at home; for why should you provoke trouble so that you, even you, would fall, and Judah with you?"

Amaziah, the king of Judah, was on a streak.  He had defeated the Edomites, their long-time enemies.  He had become very powerful, and apparently was spoiling for a fight.  So he challenges Jehoash, king of Israel, to come out and fight him.  Jehoash, knowing that Judah was not ready for this fight, and not wanting it, told Amaziah to get smart.

Pride is shown here as the base problem.  Amaziah had beaten the bad guys, and was feeling mighty good about it.  But because of his pride, he didn't take proper stock of the situation.  He went looking for trouble, and unfortunately found it.  It's like Amaziah had beaten the neighborhood bully, and then decided to become the bully himself.  But Jehoash, even though he was not righteous, recognized what was going on, and called Amaziah on it.  Would that we each have someone who will also correct us when we are wrong, even if that person is not a believer.

2 Kings 13

2 Kings 13:21

As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha.  And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.

This is an odd story.  Elisha is dead and long gone, and in a panic situation another body gets thrown onto his.  That body comes back to life.  It appears that God so empowered Elisha that he wanted to show that He was still able to give power after death.

I've never been one to believe that certain objects are imbued with power of their own.  I've always considered such things to be the domain of fantasy games and novels.  However, in this case, it appears that God specifically left a power on Elisha's dead body, to show that He was in control of all things.  I wonder if anyone else later tried this, since the story obviously got out, and if it failed or succeeded.  I would assume that it failed, and God had made a special change for this particular person.

2 Kings 12

2 Kings 12:18

Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things and all the gold that was found among the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent them to Hazael king of Aram.  Then he went away from Jerusalem.

Jehoash has done well.  He ruled rightly, even to repairing the Temple.  But now, the nation has been invaded.  The army of Aram is besieging Jerusalem.  Jehoash doesn't appear to have an army strong enough to fight them, so he comes up with another solution.  He bribes the king or Aram to leave, by giving him all the gold he can get his hands on, including the dedicated items in the Temple.

We've seen in other situations that God will provide a solution when asked.  If Jehoash had gone to the priests and to God and prayed for deliverance, God surely would have provided one.  But instead, he took matters into his own hands, and robbed from God.  To be fair, he also took all his own gold, not just that in the Temple, but he still took from God.  I guess the modern-day equivalent would be us taking our tithe and using it to pay a bill for an emergency.  I can't condone it, for God will provide a way if we are faithful.

2 Kings 11

2 Kings 11:18

All the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.  And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD.

The usurper queen has just been overthrown, and the true king of Judah restored.  He had been hidden since he was a baby in the temple.  Now that he has been restored to the throne, the next thing the priest does is bring the people back to God.  He makes a covenant with them to serve God, and they respond immediately.  They go and destroy the temple to Baal.

In Israel, the king tricked the followers of Baal into coming to be destroyed.  Here, the people simply rise up and take the temple down.  No one is killed except Baal's priest, it appears.  Last chapter, I was asking why Jehu had to use deceit to destroy Baal's followers.  What would have happened if he had done something like this instead?  Would the people have followed?

2 Kings 10

2 Kings 10:19

Now, summon all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all his priests; let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal; whoever is missing shall not live."  But Jehu did it in cunning, so that he might destroy the worshipers of Baal.

Once again, treachery is used to destroy God's enemies.  In this case, Jehu is planning a massacre, luring all worshipers of Baal into his temple, where they can be isolated and slaughtered.  He tells them that any who do not show up will be killed, when the opposite is true.  And later in the chapter, God seems to express his approval of Jehu's actions.

I've never been comfortable with the way it seems to keep repeating in the Old Testament the pattern that a follower of God uses lies and deception to further His goals.  If Jehu had not lied, would this blasphemy have been impossible to uproot?  Could not God have stirred the hearts of the people if Jehu had declared that any who worship Baal should be put to death?  Why did he have to lie?

2 Kings 9

2 Kings 9:27

When Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house.  And Jehu pursued him and said, "Shoot him too, in the chariot."  So they shot him at the ascent of Gur, which is at Ibleam.  But he fled to Megiddo and died there.

Why did Jehu kill Ahaziah, as well?  I understand him killing Joram, because Joram was the king of Israel, and he'd just been anointed king of Israel by the prophet.  But Ahaziah was king of Judah, a completely separate nation.  So why kill him as well, when he was running away?  He didn't appear to be any threat, and killing him could only antagonize Judah against Israel.

I only have a guess as to why this occurred, but it's all I have.  I'm guessing that the answer is two-fold.  First, Ahaziah was a wicked king, of the line of Ahab due to intermarriage.  The prophet had commanded that all males of Ahab's line be killed, so Jehu was carrying out what he at least thought was God's word (I say thought because Elisha's instructions didn't include that command).  Second, Judah was allied with Israel at the time, and the kings were together when Jehu came.  He may have considered Ahaziah to be a threat, because he could quickly summon the army of both nations to reclaim the throne for Joram's heir.

2 Kings 8

2 Kings 8:10

Then Elisha said to him, "Go, say to him, 'You will surely recover,' but the LORD has shown me that he will certainly die."

The king had sent a messenger to Elisha, to see if he would recover from his illness.  God showed Elisha two things.  First, that the illness was not fatal, and therefore he should recover.  Second, that he would not die from the illness, but that he would die while he was still sick.

Both were true, but the way this is written, it appears that Elisha is telling the messenger to lie.  God has shown Elisha that the king will die, but Elisha tells the messenger to say he will recover.  As it turns out later, the messenger kills the king, so Elisha was telling the truth.  But where did the two messages come from?  Was God saying to lie to the king, or was that Elisha's doing?

2 Kings 7

2 Kings 7:7

Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents and their horses and their donkeys, even the camp just as it was, and fled for their life.

Their behavior here confuses me a bit.  Here the army is, besieging an enemy city, and they hear the sound of an approaching army.  They think they're about to be attacked, so they run.  But they leave everything behind.  I can understand not waiting to break down camp completely, but they didn't even take their mounts.  Why would they not take along the animals that would allow them to flee faster?

I have to put this down to God's provision.  He scared them so much that they weren't thinking, they just ran.  Because they weren't thinking, they were limited in how fast they could run.  By doing this foolish thing, they supplied the Israelites with everything they needed to restore Samaria from the siege shortages.  God supplied them through an enemy's provisions, despite their unbelief.

2 Kings 6

2 Kings 6:22

He answered, "You shall not kill them.  Would you kill those you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow?  Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master."

This shows a very different picture of ancient warfare than what I've always imagined.  In my mind, I always thought that anyone captured was probably executed.  Mercy was not a common quality in this time.  If they weren't executed after the battle, then I always thought it was only because they were being held for a victory celebration at the end of the war, or to be kept as slaves, or perhaps as sacrifice to some barbaric god.

However, this suggests that being captured was not effectively the end of their lives.  Apparently, if they were captured, they would be held for some amount of time, but were well treated as captives.  When the king decided, or perhaps merely at the end of the campaign, they would be returned to their people.  It's not clear if there was some kind of parole system like we have today, where they couldn't fight against the same enemy, or return to the same unit, but it definitely shows a more...civilized, for lack of a better word...rule of combat than I'd thought existed.

2 Kings 5

2 Kings 5:18

In this matter may the LORD pardon your servant:  when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this matter."

I guess that as the leader of the army, he was required to accompany the king into the temple to this false god.  From the description, I wonder if the king is old, and he has to help the king get around in the temple.  Either this, or he is merely prompted by the king when to bow.

However, Naaman now knows that the only real God is God, and all others are false.  Therefore, he asks God's pardon for this action he is required to take.  To not go with the king would apparently be a betrayal of his oath, which he cannot do.  But he knows that this is not right worship, so he is doing everything he can to minimize his actions, in good conscience.  While today Christians tend to at least say that we should simply refuse, this alternative appears to be an acceptable compromise to God, at least in this circumstance.

2 Kings 4

2 Kings 4:1

Now a certain widow of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves."

Being very finance-conscious, if not finance-savvy, myself, I wonder what had occurred to put the family into such debt.  One would think a prophet of God would not be spending to the point of having to mortgage his own children.  The prophets, by all accounts lived very meager lives.  Even in their day, they were considered to be poor.

I'm not certain from the relation of the woman, however, whether her husband was a prophet, or the son of a prophet.  I suppose it's possible that if it is a son, he did not follow in his father's footsteps.  Perhaps that was the problem, that he was not a prophet, and lived a more "normal" life.  I still wonder what happened to put the family into such poverty, but it does show how important it is to prepare for loss if you are able.

2 Kings 3

2 Kings 3:18

This is but a slight thing in the sight of the LORD; He will also give the Moabites into your hand.

God has just promised them a miracle, water from dry ground, filling all the trenches they were commanded to dig in a valley.  And then God calls this a small thing, because he's also going to give them victory over their enemies.  God even uses those trenches and the water He puts in them as part of the method for their victory.

It's always interesting to see what God considers to be minor, and what He considers major or important.  We would consider giving three armies water in a desert to be miraculous, because without that water they could not fight.  But God then uses that water to trick the Moabites into leaving their defensive positions and exposing themselves to the armies, where they're wiped out.  So the miracle God calls minor directly results in the major miracle, and only by obeying God in the first place was either possible.

2 Kings 2

2 Kings 2:24

When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD.  Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number.

It appears Elisha had a temper.  At least, he was the touchy sort.  Here it's only been a few days since Elijah was taken, and as he's walking along some local boys are insulting him.  Apparently, Elisha was bald, and they were making fun of him for it.  What we're taught today is to ignore such insults.  But Elisha didn't get that message.  Instead, he cursed the boys, and God sent bears to fulfill the curse.

Was this Elisha coming to grips with his newly-given power?  Did he not know what the consequences of a curse would be?  Or was this him fulfilling God's laws about disobedient youths, perhaps?  These boys had apparently not been raised right, or had ignored their instruction.  In the Law, God commands that such boys be stoned.  If Israel has not been following the Law, this is a reminder that they are still beholden to it.

2 Kings 1

2 Kings 1:16

Then he said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekrom - is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? - therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.'"

First off, I find the name of the god he was going to inquire of interesting:  Ball-zebub.  I can't see any way that isn't what the New Testament names Beelzebub.  So essentially, he was going to inquire of Satan himself.  That certainly explains why God was angered.

Then there are the consequences of the king's actions.  He is named a dead man, because he did not even try to ask God for his fate.  Would that mean he would have lived if he had called for Elijah or another prophet instead?  Or would God still have condemned him for his past sins?  I realize it's a rhetorical question, because it never would have happened.  But it's interesting to wonder if, had he sought God, he would have survived?

1 Kings 22

1 Kings 22:23

Now, therefore, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you."

I'm somewhat confused by this.  If I'm reading this right, God intentionally set out to see Ahab killed in battle.  So he asks for volunteers to get him to go fight, and lose.  An angel (they say spirit, but I'm guessing it's the same thing) volunteers, and says he will go cause Ahab's prophets to lie.  God likes this idea, and sends him off.

Now, I'm not understanding why God would use a lie to push his will.  He is the God of truth.  He's incapable of lying.  Yet one of His spirits does, with His blessing?  How can this be?  How does that work?  I know God has used the lies of man to His advantage before, but how does He go and specifically tell one of His creations to instigate lies, even against someone who's opposed to Him?  I feel like this messes with the character of God, but I know that can't be true.  I'm not certain how to reconcile this.

1 Kings 21

1 Kings 21:14

Then they sent word to Jezebel, saying, "Naboth has been stoned and is dead."

"They" refers to the leaders of Naboth's town.  When Jezebel conspired to kill Naboth, she didn't just hire a couple guys to lie about him.  She contacted the "city council," and told them to arrange everything.  They called for the feast.  They found the men to lie.  They saw to it he was stoned.

Jezebel wasn't the only one responsible for Naboth's murder.  The town leadership had to be just as corrupt to do all this.  If he had been guilty of some crime, she could have just told them so, and they would have seen to the rest.  But in going about it this way, they definitely knew this was underhanded.  They were willing to go along with it all.  This speaks to the importance of paying attention to who your local leaders are, as well as higher levels.  This is something I'm guilty of not being very attentive to.

1 Kings 20

1 Kings 20:28

Then a man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel and said, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because the Arameans have said, "The LORD is a god of the mountains, but He is not a god of the valleys," therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.'"

The Arameans had been defeated in a very lopsided battle, which they should have won easily.  Like most people, they tried to figure out what went wrong.  Obviously they didn't lose because of bad tactics or any such, so it must have been a spiritual defeat.  Since the fight happened in the mountains, it must be that the Israelites' God is more powerful than theirs in the mountains.

But under their system of thinking, gods were like people, having strengths and weaknesses.  Since God was strong in the mountains, he must not be strong in the lowlands.  So if they fight there, their gods should be superior, and they can win.  However, this is not the case.  God is supreme everywhere, He has no weaknesses or faults.  We make the mistake of thinking He is simply a more powerful version of one of us, when that has never been true.

1 Kings 19

1 Kings 19:12

After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing.

It's interesting how this is translated.  Growing up, I've always heard this termed as a still, small voice.  I'll admit that always bugged me, because of my ADD.  I've never been sure what voices in my head are just me talking to myself, and what could be God.  It's honestly always been one of my private fears, that I will get that wrong, and either ignore something I should pay attention to, or pay attention to myself instead of Him.

But the idea that it was a gentle blowing, that makes more sense to me.  That fits more with God nudging you in the right direction, not just whispering and waiting for you to figure it out.  It's not nearly as passive, not an unseen Jiminy Cricket reminding you what you should do.  There's action involved, something tangible for us to be paying attention for.  It may still just be a tug on the heart, but it's there, and it's not some big production for the world to see.

1 Kings 18

1 Kings 18:43

He said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea."  So he went up and looked and said, "There is nothing."  And he said, "Go back" seven times.

I wonder how long this took.  It doesn't say how far up the mountain Elijah was, but presumably he wasn't quite at the top.  Depending on how long the hike up was, this could have taken hours to go through this seven times.  After all that while, you wonder how sick of this the servant got?

This is a good reminder of how our timing is not always God's.  Even Elijah didn't get the exact time correct.  He had to wait as well, until his prophecy came to pass.  The servant had to wait, except while he was waiting he still had work to do:  checking to see if the prophecy had come true yet, and that didn't mean being passive.  Just because God has said something is going to happen, it doesn't mean we get to just sit around until it does.

1 Kings 17

1 Kings 17:20

He called to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?"

I'm not quite sure why this struck a chord with me.  I guess it's because of how Elijah questions God here.  He doesn't understand, and says so to God.  I hesitate to say it, and maybe it's just my own mindset recently, but this comes across to me as doubt.

Whether it's doubt, or just questioning, it does seem very human.  Something bad happened, and he doesn't understand why.  He can't see God's overall plan, to know why she would have to suffer the loss of her son.  I question God all the time, and definitely doubt him in some areas.  I struggle with those doubts, and they cause me to go places I shouldn't.  I pray for the clarity to not understand, not argue, but simply accept God's plan as the best possible, and to allow myself to be directed down it.

1 Kings 16

1 Kings 16:34

In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

Joshua spoke that curse, what, two or three centuries before this point?  All that time, and God still held that city to be condemned.  Here was someone who decided to rebuild Jericho, and God kept his promise.  He is always faithful, even when we really, really wish he wouldn't be.

However, one thing I do wonder is whether Hiel even knew about the curse?  Israel has pretty much turned its back on God, so might the curse have been lost?  (I guess I should have looked up first with country Bethel is in, but I assume from the placement in the text that it was Israel, not Judah.)  Could he have lost his sons to a curse he didn't even know existed?  If so, it is his people's fault, as well as his own, but that doesn't make the curse any less valid.

1 Kings 15

1 Kings 15:18

Then Asa took all the silver and the gold which were left in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the treasuries of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants.  And King Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying,

Asa was looking so promising.  He was obedient to God.  He had done what was right, removing the idols.  He removed his own mother as queen mother because of her idolatry.  He brought new items to the temple, to replace those his father had lost to Egypt.  He hadn't removed the high places, but he himself was good and following God's commands.

Why then, did he strip the temple of all those items he'd just added, and give them to another king?  He had come so far, why couldn't he have gone the one step further to calling upon God to assist him in this crisis?  Surely God could have spontaneously caused that king to decide to break his treaty, or raised up another for that would divert Israel.

Just as Asa failed to trust God here, how often do I fail to trust God to fix my problems?  I know it happens daily.  I even know what I fail most often on.  So why can't I make that next step, either?

1 Kings 14

1 Kings 14:13

All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam's family will come to the grave, because in him something good was found toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

Isn't it sad, that the best member of a family had to pay for the actions of all the others?  Jeroboam led his entire family astray, and God chose to punish him for it.  Yet there was one with at least some good in him, some reverence for God.  He obviously wasn't fully committed to God, but at least he acknowledged Him.  Still, the sins of the rest of the family were so great, that his only reward for at least some good deeds was to be buried, rather than left to rot and be eaten by animals.

I realize Christ's death was very similar, except on a global scale.  He was without any fault, but still had to die for our sins.  But he did it for a specific reason, so that we could be forgiven of those sins and have fellowship with God again.  Here, there is no happy ending, no hope in the end.  All that awaits this son is death itself, and no one was made better for it.

1 Kings 13

1 Kings 13:18

He said to him, "I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'"  But he lied to him.

I don't understand exactly why the old prophet lied here, but this is my best guess.  This prophet lived in Israel, not Judah.  Israel has forsaken God's temple, and the old prophet hasn't done anything about it that we've seen.  He hasn't protested, hasn't been given prophecy against it, and he hasn't moved south to Judah so that he can still worship at the Temple.

Now comes a prophet from Judah, who goes and prophesies against the high place and its altar.  In his presence a miracle happens, and Jeroboam's arm withers.  He prays for the king, and the arm is healed.  Then he finds out the man is headed home, without so much as drinking on the way back to avoid contamination.  Could it be that he does all this specifically to get the prophet in trouble, as punishment for disrupting the status quo?  The old prophet apparently doesn't mind the new system, and here this out-of-towner, this near-foreigner, comes in a starts messing with things.  This might have been simple retribution.

I certainly hope I'm not guilty of this, sinning when God is revealing His will and plan, in a selfish attempt to thwart God's work.

1 Kings 12

1 Kings 12:24

'Thus says the LORD, "You must not go up and fight against your relatives the sons of Israel; return every man to his house, for this thing has come from Me."'"  So they listened to the word of the LORD, and returned and went their way according to the word of the LORD.

When I read this, I wanted to yell, "Now they listen?!"  The leaders have spent the last while ignoring God's instructions.  Solomon turned from God to idols, then Rehoboam doesn't even ask for God's advice before doing what he wants.  But now, when they're ready for war, God speaks to them, and they suddenly pay attention.

I wish I could say I was different, except for the fact of not hearing directly from God.  I frequently do what I want, rather than what God has instructed me to do in the Bible.  I almost wish God would speak to us directly, as this prophet did.  I think one of the prime reasons he doesn't is because he knows we'd ignore him, and he's almost certainly right.  Too many crackpots claim to speak from God today; we'd write a real prophet off as one of them.

1 Kings 11

1 Kings 11:13

However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen."

I find this an interesting situation.  God had promised David that one of his line would reign over Israel forever.  However, He also promised that if Solomon turned away from Him, He would destroy the kingdom.  How do you keep both commitments?

God almost splits the difference.  He leaves a nation for Solomon's line, but then gives most of Israel to another.  With this decree, He shows that while He will keep His promises, He doesn't always do it in the ways we think He will, especially if we fail Him.

1 Kings 10

1 Kings 10:5

the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her.

I'm not clear why these things were what impressed the queen.  She had come wondering about Solomon's wisdom.  She had found it more amazing than what she had heard, so what is it now that she finds so interesting?  Is it the wisdom in how he handled all these things and people around him?  Was it that they were all so very opulent, befitting a man of Solomon's wisdom and authority?

The food, seats and attire of the servants, and stairway all speak to great wealth and power, which the queen would recognize and appreciate.  However, does wealth buy attendance?  I guess it can, but I first think of it in terms of loyalty and obedience.  The same for the cupbearers, though no details of what impressed her about them is given.  I think she was amazed at his worldly abilities, and completely missed how all this was the blessing of God, and its spillover.

1 Kings 9

1 Kings 9:21

their descendants who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel were unable to destroy utterly, from them Solomon levied forced laborers, even to this day.

A couple chapters back, I asked where Solomon got his forced laborers from.  Now I have my answer.  They were the leftovers from when Joshua invaded the land.  They were the people that survived because Israel failed to follow God's command.

This can serve as yet another example of where God can use our failings.  These people shouldn't have existed.  They were supposed to have been wiped out to the last man, woman, and child.  But the Israelites disobeyed, for various reasons, and did not destroy all of them.  So God used them to make the labor force years later.  If they had not been here, God could have found some other way to make a labor force for Israel, obviously.  But since they didn't obey Him, we'll never know what He might have provided.

1 Kings 8

1 Kings 8:61

Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day."

I'm a cynic, by experience if not by nature.  This is the kind of verse that I'd really like to make my "life verse," except I know that it's not currently true.  I feel like if I were to make it my life verse, I'd be being hypocritical now, and would be continually discouraged later, because I'm so far from being able to achieve it.

How devoted to God am I now?  I know it's not fully; there's still way to much of my will acted upon.  I don't even know what his statues and commandments are, really.  How can I walk in them?  I wouldn't feel right making this my "life verse," but maybe it's one that I should keep handy, so that it can server as a constant challenge to strive toward, and further determine His commands.

1 Kings 7

1 Kings 7:1

Now Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

The last verse of the previous chapter says that Solomon built the temple in 7 years, but here we see his own house took 13.  Why the difference?  It sure sounds like Solomon made his house a lot fancier than God's house.

Was this one of the early signs of Solomon's decline?  Was his pride already getting in the way, trying to make himself bigger than God?  Or perhaps it was a side effect of his worshiping at the high places, and he didn't think God deserved the best of everything?

1 Kings 6

1 Kings 6:7

The house, while it was being built, was built of stone prepared at the quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built.

This verse got my attention, due to the the skill involved in this statement.  I've worked on construction sites, and been around plenty more.  They're noisy places, with saws and hammers and sprayers and everything else.  But here, it says there was no tool noises at the building of the temple.  To do that, everything had to be created to fit together perfectly, before it ever arrived at the site.  Stone blocks, wood beams, fitting together like jigsaw pieces, perfectly formed, virtually airtight.  When they arrived at the sight, all you had to do was slide them together.  No jostling, beating in a spot where the makers glitched.  It all had to be done perfectly.

I imagine this also gave the site a very appropriate reverential air.  Having such a relatively quiet location where such holy work was occurring, building the place where God would inhabit, would be a reverential process in itself for any believer.  If, on top of that, it was a fairly quiet workspace, is something I just can't picture.  The closest I can come would be a monastery being built by monks, all silent and dignified, or perhaps chanting or singing hymns to praise God in their work.

1 Kings 5

1 Kings 5:13

Now King Solomon levied forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered 30,000 men.

Who were these forced laborers?  We these Israelites, subjects of Solomon, who were basically drafted into a work army?  Were they slaves of the Israelites, either by debt or from their past conquests, who were tasked to work as the price of survival?

And how were they selected?  The only time I remember the term "levied" being used was for taxing.  Was it some sort of tax, where each family had to give someone up to be a laborer?  If so, does that mean richer families were either exempt or could give a servant?  Or was it some kind of lottery, where random people were selected and taken away?  Perhaps all were judged, and the strongest, healthiest 30,000 were selected?

1 Kings 4

1 Kings 4:32

He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.

I have to say, I'm impressed.  I know he wrote the book of Proverbs, and some of the Psalms, but I had not remembered that there was so much more.

However, this brings a question:  where's the rest gone?  Have we lost that much?  It appears the bulk of his wisdom is gone.  I have to trust that what's left is the best and most important parts.

1 Kings 3

1 Kings 3:3

Now Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

I'll admit I'm not quite clear on these high places.  A couple verses earlier it says that the people still sacrificed at the high places because the temple had not yet been built.  I would think that means that these sacrifices were to God, but not at the Tabernacle for whatever reason.

But here it says that Solomon failed to follow David in this area.  He sacrificed at the high places, which he shouldn't have done.  Does this mean that the high places were to other gods?  That he was denying God the worship he was due?  But then, why is it at a high place that God appears to Solomon?

One other theory that comes to mind is that the high places exist because people had gotten lazy, so they were still sacrificing to God, but weren't going to Jerusalem for sacrifices.  Maybe things had even been warped, and they'd taken on the practice of sacrificing to God, but in the style of the pagan gods' worship?  It's definitely not clear here, though I'm guessing they were other gods being sacrificed to.

1 Kings 2

1 Kings 2:2

"I am going the way of all the earth.  Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man.

What does it mean to be a man?  This is a question I've been trying to deal with for a long time, though I can't say I've come to many conclusions (except in what it is not).  In the following verses, however, David suggests two things.  The first is to obey God in everything.  There are some promises specifically applied to David here, but those don't exactly apply to us.  However, the command is universally applicable.  We are all to obey God in all that he has commanded.  I wish I could say I was better at this, but some things have happened recently to make me consider what I might change in order to improve.  I pray that I have the strength and will to carry those changes out.

The second thing is to take care of your family.  Here, David asks Solomon to handle some loose ends he either did not or could not complete.  But the universal application would be to care for your family properly.  For most people, that's stuff like loving your wife, and raising your kids properly.  Since I have neither, though, I am not certain what to do with this one.  Is there anything I am failing to do with/for my parents, or sister, or extended family?  Anything I need to make right?  Nothing comes to mind right now, but it's something worth pondering.