2 Chronicles

Even though I loved learning the history of Israel and how God worked in the grand scheme of things, let me just say that I am very excited to move on to the smaller books that are more focused on one piece of that history. I feel like they will be a lot easier to understand. But here are a few notes on differences found in 2 Chronicles.

Chapter 6 is not new; I just hadn't noticed some of the stuff in it before. It is Solomon's prayer to the Lord after the Ark was brought into the temple. (That was my favorite part of David's reign too, his prayer after the Ark was brought into the temple. I wonder if the presence of Yahweh is something to get excited about.) In this prayer, Solomon prays for all these situations that might come about, and he prays that when they do happen, the Lord will hear the prayers of His people and forgive them. Make sure you catch the reason though. Verse 32 captures it, "for the sake of your great name." That's the reason God will forgive His people. Like He reminded them in Deuteronomy 9, it's not because of their righteousness, but for the sake of His name. "In order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you (2 Chr. 6:33)."

Chapter 14 is kind of weird and I didn't really know how to take it, so I'm just going to tell you what happens. Asa is at battle and cries out to the Lord. In this cry, he praises God and asks that He helps them in the battle. So God defeats their enemies for them. While that will never lose its awesomeness, it is pretty clear cut and basic for these last few books. Verse 14 is what is weird. "And they (this is the army of Judah) attacked all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them." Doesn't that seem weird? Because they feared the Lord, they attacked all these cities and plundered them. I don't know what it means. I just thought it was interesting. This next part is interesting as well. When the army returns to Jerusalem, Asa and all of Judah enter into a covenant with the Lord, that they will seek Him with all their heart and kill anyone among them who doesn't. So their reaction is "all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sought Him with their whole desire." That is cool.

Chapter 20 is a story during the reign of Jehoshaphat in Judah. I don't know how this could be left out of Kings, but I'll just sum it up so you get the gist of it. All the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites come up against Judah. So Jehoshaphat cries out this awesome, God-glorifying prayer to the Lord and asks Him to fight for them. So Judah stands on this hill singing praises to the Lord, and they watch as God makes all their enemies turn on each other and kill each other until none are left alive. Wow!

Everything else was pretty much the same. I still love reading about Hezekiah and Josiah. Now onto the smaller books.

All for His glory,

Mitchell