Recap

So far in 1-2 Chronicles we’ve read through the introductory genealogies, king David and Solomon’s reigns and started reigns of Judah's kings from Rehoboam to the exile. While separate books in our Bible 1-2 Chronicles tell one story, giving a recap of the Old Testament from Adam to the Jews' return from exile.

We read through the opening chapters of the book dedicated to the genealogies of God's people. These covered from Adam to David, focusing on Judah, the tribe of the royal family, Levi, the tribe of the priests, and Benjamin, the tribe of the first king Saul. There were also genealogies of the people who returned from exile.

As we moved into the section of the book focused on David, we saw the author use David as a model for what an ideal future king will look like. He was a shepherd, a ruler, a priest. He united the tribes, defeated their enemies, established peace. He served as a second Moses, designing the temple, gathering its resources, and organising the Levites and priests. David did everything he could to set Solomon up well. He then stepped back to allow Solomon to be king. 

Starting 2 Chronicles, Solomon immediately set himself apart from other kings, asking God not for wealth or power, but wisdom. Because of this, God granted Solomon the wisdom that he asked for, and the wealth and success that he hadn't. Solomon gathered the remaining resources for the temple and then had it built. He brought in the Ark of the Covenant and all the gold dedicated to God. Solomon prayed over the temple and the people and God's presence fell. God then warned Solomon that as long as his people remained humble and repented of their sin, God would forgive and rescue them. But if they don't, God will cast them from their land and destroy this temple.

Solomon went on to build more cities and establishing trade routes before passing on reign to his son Rehoboam. Rehoboam sort to oppress and subdue the people which lead to the ten northern tribes seceding and setting up Jeroboam as king of the new Israel in the north. The two southern tribes became known as just Judah. Rehoboam started off poorly but turned to God when Egypt came to sack Jerusalem.

After him came Abijah, who trusted in God when Israel attacked. Then there was Asa who spent his early reign wiping out foreign worship, but when Israel attacked again, he turned to Syria for help, not God. Jehoshaphat made some poor alliances but trusted in God and led the people right.

Then came a bloody era of kings. Jehoram murdered his family to secure his throne and led the people in foreign worship. God struck him down with disease and he was replaced with Ahaziah. Ahaziah was just as bad and was assassinated. He was replaced by his mother Athaliah who also killed all her family to secure the throne. Only little Joash survived, and many years later he was restored to the throne and Athaliah was executed. But after Joash's advisors died Joash started leading the people in foreign worship. He was then assassinated.

2 Chronicles 25-27

Next up is Amaziah, who is a weird one. Many of the kings we've seen have either started off good and ended up bad, or have been corrupt from the beginning. Amaziah, however, is consistently lukewarm. Sometimes he chooses to honour God, and other time he doesn't.

When he first takes the throne, he has all the people who murdered his father killed. But, to honour God, he doesn't have their children killed too. He then decides to go to war. After mustering the men of Judah together, he decides to hire the wicked men of Israel.

God sends a prophet to challenge Amaziah that he doesn't need to partner with these wicked men. God will help him win the victory. But Amaziah is more concerned about the money he has already paid to these men. The prophet points out God can provide him with much more than he has lost, and Amaziah finally gives in and sends the Israelites home. They are livid.

Amaziah turns to Edom and launches his attack, winning easily. But then he turns to excessive violence, capturing prisoners so he can throw them off cliffs. Meanwhile, as Amaziah is focused on playing with his captives, the angry Israelite soldiers came back and raid the cities of Judah, killing as they went.

Having defeated the Edomites, Amaziah decides he's going to claim their gods for himself and worship them. God sends a prophet to challenge Amaziah again, but this time Amaziah tells him to be quiet or he will be killed.

Finally, Amaziah tries to pick a fight with the king of Israel, Joash. Joash tries to dissuade him, but Amaziah is insistent. God has put this on his heart to destroy him. Israel won the battle easily, raiding much of the wealth in Jerusalem. Amaziah fled and hid in the city of Lachish until some of his people came, killed him, and brought his dead body back to Jerusalem.

Then we have Uzziah, who started strong. He was faithful to God, seeking him in everything he did. He went out and fought many battles that God helped him win. The Ammonites paid him tribute to keep the peace, and his fame and army grew. Uzziah fortified cities and built towers to defend the land. On all accounts, he was a great king.

But as we've become familiar, Uzziah soon turned away from God. He became proud in his own ability and entered the temple to offer an incense sacrifice himself. This was something only the priests were allowed to do. The priests tried to stop him, but he just got angry with them. God then strikes Uzziah with leprosy, preventing him from entering the temple again. He passed away and his son, Jotham, took the throne.

The passage on Jotham is much shorter than our previous kings, but that might be because he's the first king in a long while that didn't do anything stupid. He was faithful to God all his life. He lived right and won many battles, giving glory to God. The two complaints that are made against him are that he never entered the temple himself, and he didn't stop the people in their foreign worship. But in everything else, Jotham was faithful.

Psalm 75

The psalm’s title starts with an interesting phrase “To the choirmaster: according to do not destroy”. ‘Do Not Destroy’ was likely the name of another song at that time and this psalm was to be sung to the same tune as that song. The psalm is attributed to Asaph, one of David’s musicians.

Placing this psalm in a category is difficult. It can loosely fit into thanksgiving psalms, but sort of fits into its own category of prophetic psalm. The worship leader stands on behalf of the congregation and gives thanks, and then God speaks through them to the people. At first glance, it’s not always easy to see when it’s the worship leader, and when it’s God, that’s talking.

Psalm 75:1 - The worship leader gives thanks

Psalm 75:2-3 - God promises future judgement

Psalm 75:4-5 - The worship leader/God challenges the wicked not to boast

Psalm 75:6-9 - The worship leader declares God is judge

Psalm 75:10 - God promises future judgement

The psalmist begins with the worship leader give thanks to God for he has been close to them and has done incredible things. Then God takes over. He speaks of a time when he will judge those on earth. While it might seem to the people that God isn’t judging now, it will come. He is the God who keeps the earth and all in it in their place.

And then it’s not clear whether God continues, or the worship leader takes over again. Commentators argue both ways. Either way, whoever is speaking challenges the boastful and the wicked to not get too big for their boots. To not assume because everything is going alright for them now that they will go unpunished.

Then we definitely have the worship leader talking about God’s authority. You won’t find strength and restoration by travelling east or west or going into the desert. God is the one who judges, punishing some while upholding others.

God is holding a cup full of wine. This is a common image of God’s judgement ready to be poured out (see Isaiah 51:17, Jeremiah 25:15-17). He will pour it out on the wicked and make them drink every last drop. But the worship leader will sing God’s praises.

To end, God comes back in. He declares that he will defeat the wicked and lift up the righteous.

In this psalm, we get the declaration of the truth that God will bring order to this chaotic world. There will come a day when wickedness is cut of and the righteous are lifted up and flourish.