2 Chronicles 32

2 Chronicles 32:19

They spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of men's hands.

This shows one of the major flaws of the Assyrian king's perception.  He apparently saw all gods as equal, just that some were more powerful than others.  He had a god he worshiped, and he believed that god gave him more power than the gods of the peoples he fought with.  This is why he thought he won.

However, he was mistaken greatly.  He won because he had the better army, and because God allowed him to win.  This was a time of testing for Judah, though I'm not sure whether it was testing from God or Satan.  The test was to see whether Hezekiah or the people of Judah would turn from God in time of distress, or if they would cry out to him to save them.  Fortunately, they did the latter.

2 Chronicles 31

2 Chronicles 31:10

Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok said to him, "Since the contributions began to be brought into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat with plenty left over, for the LORD has blessed His people, and this great quantity is left over."

The tithe for the Temple has just been re-instated.  Life is good in Judah, and the people have given generously.  Therefore, the gifts to God at the Temple have exceeded anything they could need.  They have more than enough, and have piled the excess in the Temple courts.

There were two elements to this bounty.  First, God has blessed the people with much more than needed, given the amount they brought.  Second, they were generous to God.  They fulfilled the tithe, but then brought more.  They apparently had more then enough already, and gave from their excess.  I don't think this was sacrificial giving, it was giving back what bounty God had given them.  This doesn't diminish the giving in the least, however.

2 Chronicles 30

2 Chronicles 30:18

For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than prescribed.  For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the good LORD pardon

The Passover hasn't been observed for years, we don't know how long exactly.  Now Hezekiah has reinstated it, and they're doing it at a special time because they couldn't make the proper one, but don't want to wait another year.  He has called the faithful throughout both Judah and Israel, and they have come.  However, many don't know what they're doing.  They haven't been purified properly, and don't follow the ceremony properly.  Their hearts are in the right place, but their heads are lacking.

However, Hezekiah recognizes this, and prays to God.  The rest of the prayer is in the next verse, but we see here enough to understand what's going on.  Hezekiah is asking for God's forgiveness as they go though this procedure for the first time.  It has not been taught, but they want to honor God, and he asks Him to overlook any discrepancies.  He asks that their hearts be given weight over their improper actions.

2 Chronicles 29

2 Chronicles 29:34

But the priests were too few, so that they were unable to skin all the burnt offerings; therefore their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was completed and until the other priests had consecrated themselves.  For the Levites were more conscientious to consecrate themselves than the priests.

 The entire nation of Judah has brought sacrifices, for the first time in years.  The Temple has just been sanctified after desecration and neglect, and sacrifices are starting again.  With the entire people bringing sacrifices, the priests can't keep up.  So the Levites are brought in to assist in duties they would otherwise not perform.  The Levites have been careful to purity themselves, so they are ready when this call comes.

But one thing confuses me:  why are the priests and Levites treated as separate groups here?  Aren't the priests just a subset of the Levites?  There are different roles that Levites might serve in, and priest is one of them.  So why the separation?  Are some of these priests not Levites?  If so, why are they here at all? Or have the priests decided they're too good for the Levites, only to find that the Levites have been more faithful than they?

2 Chronicles 28

2 Chronicles 28:19

For the LORD humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was very unfaithful to the LORD.

In the previous chapter, we saw that the king had not led the people to God.  It appears he didn't even lead his own son.  He son has forsaken God, and gone to the gods of his enemies looking for safety.  As a result, God had allowed those enemies to invade the land.

Ahaz, however, has been a more successful leader than his father was.  Not to say he's been better, but he has been more successful.  He's led them to all kinds of evils, and they followed him.  The text says "he had brought about a lack of restraint."  This wasn't the people going away and Ahaz following them into depravity.  This was them going away, and Ahaz then running to the head of the column to guide them further.

2 Chronicles 27

2 Chronicles 27:2

He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done; however he did not enter the temple of the LORD.  But the people continued acting corruptly.

Jotham did just about everything right.  He learned from his father what was good, and also avoided the wrong.  He did not sin as his father had by going into the Temple, for which Uzziah had been struck with leprosy.  He didn't therefore lose communication with God, and it shows later in how he prospered.

However, while the king was upright, the people were not.  They continued to sin, and did not (or was not able to) lead them back.  I see an important lesson in leadership here.  No matter how good you are, you can't make others also be good.  They have to choose what path they will walk, and you can't decide it for them.

2 Chronicles 26

2 Chronicles 26:17

Then Azariah the priest entered after him and with him eighty priests of the LORD, valiant men.

When I think of people being described as valiant, we tend to think of warriors, heroes who have done great deeds.  Today it might be extended to first responders, those people who show up in news bites running into a burning building to save someone trapped within.  But have you ever thought of a priest as valiant?

To put this in modern context, who do you think of to match with the term "courageous pastor?"  Maybe someone preaching in an underground church in China or the Middle East.  Perhaps a missionary who leaves a comfortable life in the US to go to an undeveloped area and share the Gospel.  But if you count off everyone you know in those kinds of work, could you get to 80?  And here they're all in one place, at one time.

2 Chronicles 25

2 Chronicles 25:2

He did right in the sight of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart.

This is the first time I recall this description being used.  Normally a king is described as either doing good or doing evil before God.  I don't recall any before being "pretty good, but...."  There were others who did good but later drifted away, and I don't recall them being left with qualifiers this way.

What does it mean, anyhow?  Did he do the right things, but with the wrong motives?  Or did he play-act, and do the right stuff because he was supposed to, not because he wants to?  I feel like that latter description covers me a lot of the time.  I do the good deeds I'm "supposed to," but I often am having to crush resentment, or fight boredom, or play-act while doing them.  Yet I fear this kind of description of my life, when all is looked back upon.

2 Chronicles 24

2 Chronicles 24:17

But after the death of Jehoiada the officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king, and the king listened to them.

The priest has guided the king ever since he was a toddler.  He protected the king from his wicked grandmother, and planned her downfall.  He put the king on the throne,  and brought the people to him.  He taught him what was right and wrong, and the king listened to him.  In many ways the priest was the king's father figure.

But now the priest is dead, and apparently he didn't instill the king with his own moral compass, or ability to discern and judge.  He shows now that he has been relying on the priest, and cannot hold himself alone.  His officials come to him with a blatantly unholy proposal, and he doesn't even put up a fight.  He turns to a new set of counselors, to replace the old ones.  He doesn't care what their advice is, just as long as he doesn't have to make the decisions.  By abdicating his authority, he also abdicates his faith.

2 Chronicles 23

2 Chronicles 23:9

Then Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields which had been King David's, which were in the house of God.

When Jehoiada summoned the captains, they appear to have come to the Temple without their gear.  I can understand why; going into the Temple with all your weapons would have probably been noticed by someone.  Maybe it was even forbidden, I don't know.  But for whatever reason, they're there, and they have to defend the new, young king, but don't have anything beyond their bare fists to do so with, when the queen mother has her guard to call upon.  Not a good tactical situation.

Fortunately, they have a cache to draw upon.  Apparently the gear David stored for the Temple was still there, untouched despite the time or two it had been pillaged by enemies of Judah.  So Jehoiada gives these dedicated weapons to the captains, much as David himself took the consecrated bread or his men when fleeing from Saul.  For this time, God had made sure that His people were provided for.

2 Chronicles 22

2 Chronicles 22:9

He also sought Ahaziah, and they caught him while he was hiding in Samaria; they brought him to Jehu, put him to death and buried him.  For they said, "He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart."  So there was no one of the house of Ahaziah to retain the power of the kingdom.

Why was this the reason to kill Ahaziah?  From what's said here, it's not clear whether they're killing him because he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who they dislike because he served God.  Or was it because Jehoshaphat served God well, and Ahaziah didn't?

I believe the second reason is correct, because this is from Jehu.  Jehu was chosen directly by God to destroy the line of Ahab and rule in their place.  This was a man who, at least at the time, was fervent for God and was tasked to destroy the unfaithful who had turned His people away from Him.

2 Chronicles 21

2 Chronicles 21:20

He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years; and he departed with no one's regret, and they buried him in the city of David, but no in the tombs of the kings.

Being thirty-two myself (for another few weeks), I can easily picture how Jehoram got messed up.  Anyone who tells you that in your early thirties is when the world make sense is lying.  Whether you have a family with young kids, or like me you're still single, early thirties is when you truly start to understand how much you don't understand about life and the world.  If someone were tomorrow come up to me and say, "Congratulations, Mr. Governor," (the highest office I'm eligible for) I know for a fact that I would mess it up pretty badly.

But still, Jehoram obviously already had problems that drew him in the wrong direction.  His wife was the daughter of Ahab, which from the start was a bad influence.  How much she shaped him is unknown, but it almost certainly didn't help.  There was also obviously some kind of family issues among Jehoshaphat's kids, bad enough that Jehoram had them all killed.  But he still had to have done worse things besides lose to invaders, for when he died, no one missed him.  I've said occasionally that I wonder who will really miss me if I were to die suddenly, and in some ways I've hoped the list would be short.  But my reasons for hoping that and the reasons that Jehoram wasn't missed are quite different.

2 Chronicles 20

2 Chronicles 20:35

After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel.  He acted wickedly in so doing.

Jehoshaphat had already allied himself with Israel once before.  It hadn't gone well.  Their combined army had been defeated, the king of Israel had died, and he had come very close to being killed himself.  After this, he returned to God.  He prospered and was protected by God after doing so.  So why, after all he has done and all that God has done for him, does he turn to a treaty with Israel once again?

The only thing mentioned about the treaty was that it is an economic alliance.  They're building a merchant fleet.  Is this a sign that Jehoshaphat has gotten greedy?  He has enormous wealth, but it's not enough for him.  He willing to work with those who have forsworn God to increase his wealth.  He's saying God's gifts are not enough for him, and he must have more.  It appears his sin here is that of greed.