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. 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 built and established the temple and God's presence fell upon it. 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.

Then came Amaziah who was lukewarm as a king, Uzziah who started off strong but sinned against God in his pride, and Jotham who was consistently faithful to God. Ahaz was the worst king that Judah had, engaging in child sacrifice. Then we got a long stretch from Hezekiah. He turned to God, led the people in repentance, purified and restored the temple, reestablished holy festivals and worship, and reorganised that Levites and priests so they were ready to lead the people in their worship going forward. 

But then it turned south again. Manasseh restored child sacrifice and was taken into captivity by Assyria before repenting and turning to God. Amon also worshipped foreign gods and was assassinated. Fortunately, JJOsiah was determined to lead the people back to God restoring the temple and discovering an early version of the Torah.

2 Chronicles 35-36

The next reform that Josiah brings is to reestablish the Passover again. Hezekiah did the same thing during his reign in 2 Chronicles 30. The Passover was the centre of worship for the people of God. It was the feast where the people remember all that God has done for them and recommit themselves to him.

Josiah is very keen that this Passover is done exactly as it is written in the book of the Law. Nothing is to be missed out or changed. First, he prepares the Levites and the priests, and then he provides out of his own pocket all the lambs and bulls that are needed.

So the people kept the Passover that year, and it was the greatest Passover since Samuel was prophet in the times of kings Saul and David. But then, as it always does, it goes wrong. An army from Egypt began to travel north, to aid Assyria in a war against Babylon.

Josiah immediately goes to join them, but the king of Egypt tries to stop him. This war has nothing to do with Josiah. God has specifically told the king of Egypt that just he is meant to go. If Josiah ignores God's word, he will die.

While Josiah was willing to listen to the word of God written in the book of the Law, he didn't have the wisdom to listen when God was speaking through over human beings. He put on a disguise so he could also go out and fight with the king of Egypt and was caught by a stray arrow and killed. There was great mourning and lament in Judah as Josiah's body was brought back into Jerusalem and buried there.

This is the point where Judah really declines. The prophetess' words are about to come true. Jehoahaz, Josiah's son, reigns next, but only for three months. Then the king of Egypt comes and takes him into captivity, putting his brother Eliakim (also known as Jehoiakim) in his place.

Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years doing what was evil before Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came and took him into captivity along with much of the wealth from the temple.

Next up is his son, Jehoiachin. He lasted three months before Nebuchadnezzar came and took him into captivity too. He took even more of the wealth from the temple and puts Jehoiachin's brother, Zedekiah, in his place.

Zedekiah was king for eleven years, doing what was evil and eventually rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonians came up one last time, sacked all of Jerusalem, and taking all of its wealth and people into captivity.

The land was left desolate, allowing it to enjoy its Sabbath years. The Sabbath year was meant to be every seventh year when the people would not farm the land, allowing it to rest. The people had not done this in the almost 490 years they had been in the land, which added up to seventy missed Sabbath years, which is exactly how long the land was left empty before the people returned from exile.

The book finally jumps forward to the reign of king Cyrus, when he allowed the Jews to return to their land. He says to them, "Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up." (2 Chronicles 36:23). And the book ends there.

Chronicles serves as a recap for the history of Israel and the Jews while also making points of its own. David and Solomon both set the bar as kings. One of the key themes that the prophets spoke about in their writings was a future king that would lead the people of God.

God's people were still waiting for this king, and as they read of the good traits of these two kings, it set the expectation for the future king. From these two kings, we learnt that a king unites God's people. They are in line with God's will and defeat his enemies. The king fills the role of the son of God. He establishes God's temple. And much, much more.

Chronicles also shows the wickedness of human beings. Pretty much every king after Solomon was wicked from the beginning, or started off good and ended up turning from God or failing him by the end. It doesn't matter how good a person you are. We are all wicked and fall short.

The answer to this is repentance. Not just individual repentance, but the repentance of a whole body of people, recommitting themselves to God. This only happened through the king, but it needed to be a regular thing.

Too often the people of Judah and their king would turn to God, repent and recommit themselves to him. But then, after doing it once, they would slip back into their own ways. What the people need is a king who will lead them in a life of constant repentance and returning to God.

But we have finally finished the Old Testament. We’ve read through the Torah, which took us from Adam and Eve, through to God disinheriting the nations and choosing Abraham and his family to be his nation to lead the world back to him. We read as that family became a nation in Egypt and then were led out of Egypt to the promised land of Canaan as God’s people.

Then we read the Deuteronomistic History books, which reviewed Israel’s history through the lens of obedience leads to blessing and disobedience leads to curses. From the conquest of Canaan, to the period of judges, to the rise and fall of the kingdom leading into exile.

We’ve read prophets ranging from before the exile, during the exile, and after the exile. We’ve read wisdom books in Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.

Our brains are filled with Old Testament imagery and prophecy. Some we remember, and I imagine also a lot we've forgotten. That's fine. As we step into the New Testament, we will be reminding ourselves of the imagery and prophesies we've read and see how it unfurls there.

Psalm 78

This psalm is attributed to Asaph and falls into the category of wisdom psalm. It journeys through Israel’s history point out the cycle they fall into of rejecting God and being punished for it.

Psalm 78:1-8 - A message to be passed down generations

Psalm 78:9-39 - Round 1

• Psalm 78:9-11 - The people forget and reject God
• Psalm 78:12-16 - God was gracious to them
• Psalm 78:17-20 - They rebelled
• Psalm 78:21-39 - God pours out judgement

Psalm 78:40-66 - Round 2

• Psalm 78:40-42 - The people forget and reject God
• Psalm 78:43-55 - God was gracious to them
• Psalm 78:56-58 - They rebelled
• Psalm 78:59-66 - God pours out judgement

Psalm 78:67-72 - God chooses Judah over Israel

The psalmist starts with a call to others to listen to them. The psalmist will teach them things from years gone by that are meant to be passed down from generation to generation. Of all the great works God has done for their people.

God chose Israel to be his people and gave them commandments they were to pass on to their children. These commandments would guide them and give them hope, and hopefully each new generation would learn what the previous generations could not. How to be faithful to God.

The psalmist then starts their first round of reflecting on Israel’s history. They specifically focus on how Ephraim turned away from God, not keeping his commands and forgetting what he had done for them.

This psalm is likely written after the kingdom of Israel split in two. The northern kingdom kept the name Israel, but were sometimes referred to as Ephraim, as it was the largest and most powerful tribe of the northern tribes. The southern kingdom took on the name of Judah, their largest tribe.

Looking at Ephraim, this northern kingdom’s failings, the psalmist points to their ancestors. God brought their ancestors out of Egypt through miracles and wonders. He led them with great power and authority.

But despite this, their ancestors rejected God. They sinned against him and doubted his power to help them, despite the fact that even in the wilderness, he provided them with food and water.

So God poured out judgement on them. He continued to give them what they asked for, manna and meat, but then he crushed them. He killed the people for rebelling and eventually they turned back to him. But there was a falseness in how they returned to him. Their hearts were unchanged.

Yet despite this, God had mercy on them. Then we go back in for the second round. After all this, the Israelites once again rebelled against God. They tested him, provoked him, and forgot all that he’d done for them.

God had defeated their enemies. Recounting the plagues, the psalmist mentions the rivers of blood, the swarms of flies and locusts. The hail and thunder. God killed every firstborn in Egypt, breaking their control over the Israelites.

He led the Israelites through the sea and then drowned the Egyptians in it. He brought them through the wilderness and cleared the way of the nations before them.

But despite all this, the people rebelled again. They mocked God by worshipping idols. And so God poured out his judgement on them again. The psalmist mentions the time in 1 Samuel 4 where God allowed his tabernacle to fall into Philistine hands and his people to be defeated and killed.

And so the psalmist comes in to close. Because of their long history of forgetting God and turning from him, God has rejected the northern kingdom. Instead, he chose to dwell in the southern kingdom of Judah. In Jerusalem. He chose David to be his king, to shepherd the Israelites and lead them in what God has called them to.

The point of this psalm is to remind the people, using their history, that disobedience leads to punishment and rejection. But obedience leads to dwelling with God’s presence. The people are to remind themselves and teach their children this so that they never forget and turn away.