Tag: second chronicles

The Wealth and Wisdom of Solomon (2 Chronicles 9:29-31)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
King Solomon, by British artist Simeon Solomon, c.1874

Everything else Solomon did while he was king is written in the records of Nathan the prophet, Ahijah the prophet from Shiloh, and Iddo the prophet who wrote about Jeroboam son of Nebat. After Solomon had ruled 40 years from Jerusalem, he died and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam then became king. (Contemporary English Version)

The life of King Solomon can be found in the biblical books of 1 Kings (chapters 1-11) and 2 Chronicles (chapters 1-9). Solomon is also traditionally viewed as the author of three biblical books: Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Song of Songs.

Solomon was the son of Bathsheba and King David. He is most known for building the first Jerusalem Temple, as well as his immense wealth, wisdom, and numbers of wives.

Although his reign as king was marked by peace and prosperity, it fell apart after his death. Late in his life Solomon succumbed to worshiping many other gods, which the biblical editor connects with the split of the kingdom under his son Rehoboam.

King Solomon presides over the Old Testament as a sort of larger than life individual. He reigned over a united kingdom of Israel and Judah nearly a thousand years before Christ.

Coming to the throne after his father’s death, Solomon carried out a purge. He cunningly did away with his older brother Adonijah, and the commander of the army Joab. Both of them were characters only concerned with themselves and not the overall good of the kingdom. (1 Kings 2:13-46)

Once firmly ensconced in power, Solomon famously asked God for wisdom – after the Lord came to him in a dream and offered to grant the king any wish he wanted. In asking for wisdom instead of riches, glory, or long life, God was pleased to give him a great degree of discerning wisdom that no one before or since would ever have. (1 Kings 3:5-15)

The Judgment of King Solomon, by Frans Floris, c.1547

The proof of King Solomon’s wisdom came in many forms, including the rendering of justice. The biblical story is told of two women who came before the king, both claiming to be the mother of a baby. Solomon called for a sword and said the solution to the dilemma would be to cut the baby in two, and give each half to each woman.

One woman finds the solution agreeable, but the other woman protested, stating that she would give up the child rather than see the baby killed. King Solomon therefore concluded that this woman, not the other, was the child’s mother. (1 Kings 3:16-28)

King Solomon engaged in many building projects, but none more great than the Temple. To this day, Jerusalem continues as the center of Jewish prayer and worship. Indeed, Solomon’s impact is felt all these millennia later.

And then there were the wives. Lots of them. According to scripture, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines (a concubine was a lesser wife who was not born of royalty or nobility). Many of his wives worshiped gods other than the Lord, which is why Solomon eventually allowed idols into the city.

A famous encounter with Solomon included the Queen of Sheba, which is a story told in both 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. The country of Sheba, in the south of the Arabian peninsula, heard about Solomon’s renown. The queen decided to travel to Jerusalem with a large entourage in order to meet him for herself.

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, by Edward Poynter, 1890

The queen was overwhelmed with what she saw and experienced; and was so impressed with Solomon’s wisdom and wealth that she gifted him with spices, precious gems, and gold from her own country. All sorts of various Jewish stories came out of this original biblical account.

The many wives of Solomon included women from the nations God commanded the Israelites not to marry, because they would lead their husbands astray to worship foreign gods. And that is exactly what happened, even to the wisest man in the world.

Because of this, we get some different takes on Solomon’s spiritual commitment in scripture and according to tradition. On the one hand, Solomon is presented as fully devoted to God, and careful to worship the Lord and communicate divine precepts. Yet, on the other hand, the Bible doesn’t hedge from stating that Solomon committed evil in God’s sight and was not loyal like his father David.

In truth, we are all a bit of a mix of sinner and saint, showing steadfast loyalty in many ways, along with a curious bent toward indulging our desires and letting them carry us to unfaithful places.

Yet, no one can doubt King Solomon’s influence and legacy on the religious world. His writings and collection of wise sayings, along with the colorful stories, are still read and retold by Jews and Christians to this day.

The biblical text tells us that after ruling for four decades, King Solomon was laid to rest in Jerusalem. He was the last ruler of a united Jewish kingdom. Because of this, and his legendary wisdom and wealth, Solomon’s reign is remembered by many as a golden era in history.

But whatever you think about the story of Solomon’s life, his legacy of proverbial sayings and experiential truth can continue to inform and teach us. Our lives will never come close to Solomon’s material riches, but perhaps we can gain something of the immaterial blessings through his wisdom.

Almighty God, I humbly ask that You grant me wisdom to make sound choices and decisions. Open my eyes to see Your truth clearly. Give me spiritual discernment to distinguish right from wrong. Help me not rely solely on my own limited understanding, but trust in Your wisdom to guide my steps. Grant me a heart eager to gain wisdom from Your Word and wise counselors. Let Your wisdom shape my thoughts, words, and actions each day. Amen.

Spiritual Spring Cleaning (2 Chronicles 29:1-11, 16-19)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old and was king in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. In God’s opinion he was a good king; he kept to the standards of his ancestor David.

In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah, having first repaired the doors of The Temple of God, threw them open to the public. He assembled the priests and Levites in the court on the east side and said, “Levites, listen! Consecrate yourselves and consecrate The Temple of God—give this much-defiled place a good housecleaning.

Our ancestors went wrong and lived badly before God—they discarded him, turned away from this house where we meet with God, and walked off. They boarded up the doors, turned out the lights, and canceled all the acts of worship of the God of Israel in the holy Temple. And because of that, God’s anger flared up and he turned those people into a public exhibit of disaster, a moral history lesson—look and read! This is why our ancestors were killed, and this is why our wives and sons and daughters were taken prisoner and made slaves.

“I have decided to make a covenant with the God of Israel and turn history around so that God will no longer be angry with us. Children, don’t drag your feet in this! God has chosen you to take your place before him to serve in conducting and leading worship—this is your life work; make sure you do it and do it well….”

The priests started from the inside and worked out; they emptied the place of the accumulation of defiling junk—pagan rubbish that had no business in that holy place—and the Levites hauled it off to the Kidron Valley. They began the Temple cleaning on the first day of the first month and by the eighth day they had worked their way out to the porch—eight days it took them to clean and consecrate The Temple itself, and in eight more days they had finished with the entire Temple complex.

Then they reported to Hezekiah the king, “We have cleaned up the entire Temple of God, including the Altar of Whole-Burnt-Offering and the Table of the Bread of the Presence with their furnishings. We have also cleaned up and consecrated all the vessels which King Ahaz had gotten rid of during his misrule. Take a look; we have repaired them. They’re all there in front of the Altar of God.” (The Message)

Hezekiah Destroys the Idols, by Maerten de Vos, 1585

This is the time of year when many of us begin to plan for some Spring housecleaning. And it’s definitely needed! All the rooms of the house, along with the garage, are in need of going through all the contents contained in them, as well as a good old fashioned scrubbing down and thorough cleaning.

And that is really what the Christian season of Lent is intended for on the spiritual level of things. We seek to identify any and all hindrances to living the Christian life and get rid of them; spruce up the things we keep that are helpful to us; and do the hard work of scraping off all the encrusted barnacles on our hearts.

Hezekiah was a faithful king, having come from a long line of faithless ones. In the beginning of his reign, Hezekiah’s first act of royal business was to thoroughly cleanse the Temple. And did it ever need a serious cleaning!

The evil kings who reigned before him did not treat the Temple as a sacred space devoted specifically to the prayer and worship of the one true God, Yahweh. Instead, they defiled it by introducing all sorts of unhealthy practices from other gods. As a result, the holy implements used in the Temple, as well as the structure itself, fell into terrible neglect.

Therefore, Hezekiah assembled an impressive team of people, and tasked them with getting the Temple in shape again with a complete and thorough purification that would make any German house frau proud. Hezekiah sought to restore things so that the Temple could once again be used as it ought. 

The team of Levites meticulously took their time and worked diligently to consecrate the Temple and give it a good and sacred cleaning, tossing everything unholy into the Kidron Valley – the garbage dump.

Perhaps there is no better passage of Scripture than today’s Old Testament lesson, in order to embody what the season of Lent is really all about. We are to do the holy work of carefully consecrating our hearts, so that our lives are prepared and ready for the new life of Easter. 

This task of spiritual Spring cleaning and heart purification is hard and courageous work. Just as Hezekiah had the bravery to uphold the Temple’s true purpose through cleansing it, so we are to bravely enter the shadowy places of our hearts, bring out the sin within, and toss it in the metaphorical incinerator. It’s definitely not a pretty process, but a necessary one.

One of the greatest needs that many believers have today is the courage to be vulnerable, to expose and bring into the light our besetting sins, so that they can be carried away and tossed into the dump. 

Instead of spending inordinate amounts of energy and time trying to hide our true selves, it is much better to let the example of Hezekiah clear a path forward by confronting the darkness within.

Holy God, my life is a Temple of your Holy Spirit. I invite you to come in and do the sort of cleansing work that needs to be done so that my words and actions are thoroughly consecrated to you. Help me have the courage to go to the places within that frighten me, for the sake of Jesus, my Lord. Amen.

2 Chronicles 34:20-33 – Renew Your Faith

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

He [King Josiah] gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant:“Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.”

Hilkiah and those the king had sent with him went to speak to the prophet Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter.

She said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people—all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all that their hands have made, my anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’ 

Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord. Now I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here.’”

So, they took her answer back to the king.

Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.

Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.

Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors. (New International Version)

Sadness transformed to joy is a beautiful thing. However, joy that turns into an “Uh, oh!” is an altogether different thing.

Today’s Old Testament lesson has both sadness and joy, at the same time. God’s temple was undergoing repairs. And the Book of the Law was found. It’s sad that the Law was even lost, at all. Somewhere along the line a king, a priest, some people, they all just plain forgot about God’s Word to them. 

Yet, what’s joyful is that King Josiah had God’s Word read to him. He and his officials responded with promising to be faithful to what they heard, and to carefully follow God and God’s instructions for them as God’s people. What’s more, Josiah asked the Israelites to make that same promise.

It’s likely that you are reading this because you are a person committed to listening to God’s Word. Also, it’s likely you don’t need to go on an archaeological dig inside your own house, just to find an old dusty Bible to read. 

Maybe, however, you need to take the next step, like Josiah of old, to not only listen and obey yourself, but to ask and invite others to make the same promise.

You and I know that straightforward Bible reading often does not take place within the homes and even the churches of many confessing believers in Jesus. So, take the next step. Invite others to read with you. Ask fellow Christians to read Scripture, make observations about it, apply it to their lives, and base prayers upon it. 

Ask them to make the same promise that you have made to God: To listen to God’s Word, and then, do what it says.

This is how renewal happens.

Patient God, you continue to wait for people to read your Word and obey it. May I not simply attend to your laws in isolation from others, but freely ask others to make the same promise I have: To obey Jesus Christ, my Lord, by living and loving like him, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2 Chronicles 15:1-15 – Revive Us Again

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. 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. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time, Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. 

But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”

When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple.

Then he assembled all Judah and Benjamin and the people from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon who had settled among them, for large numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

They assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. At that time, they sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred head of cattle and seven thousand sheep and goats from the plunder they had brought back. They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and soul. All who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, were to be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. They took an oath to the Lord with loud acclamation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. All Judah rejoiced about the oath because they had sworn it wholeheartedly. They sought God eagerly, and he was found by them. So, the Lord gave them rest on every side. (New International Version)

God’s people had drifted. Times of seeking the Lord became few and far between – until it rarely happened, at all. They were spiritually dry with seemingly no hope. How did they get to the point of being so far from God that they needed a spiritual revival?

After God brought Israel out of hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt, they were led to the Promised Land with Moses as leader. Moses died, and his young protégé Joshua took over and led Israel in her military campaigns to take the land that God had promised them. 

God kept the divine promises. However, although Israel had geographically taken the land, they did not completely dislodge all the peoples living there, as God had told them to do. God’s people only partially obeyed. They were content to be in the land without dealing with all the remaining people.

Israel and Judah’s relationship to the land also serves as a metaphor for the church and her faith. Israel saw the land as a possession, as something to have, rather than as something to be used and developed for the glory of God. 

If and when God’s people, in any age, look upon their faith as merely a possession, instead of a dynamic relationship between themselves and the Lord, then the beginnings of spiritual rigor mortis begin to settle in. 

We get a haunting narrative in the book of Judges, after the people took the land, and Joshua died: 

“After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel… They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger.” (Judges 2:10-12)

The land became something not to lose, instead of something God wanted to use to grow them into faithful people.

The day God’s people took the land was the day they rejoiced in victory, and also the day their faith began to die. The Old Testament is a long drawn out story of a disobedient and obstinate people who continually forsake their God and live like the nations for whom they did not overcome. 

The Lord, ever the longsuffering and patient God, went century after century sending prophets to call them back to a living faith. Yet, with each passing year, they’d die a little bit more.

The promise, however, was always there: Seek God, and you will find him. Whenever the people were reminded of that reality and took it to heart by going after the Lord, there was revival in the land.

Restore us, Lord God Almighty;
    make your face shine on us,
    that we may be saved.

Psalm 80:19, NIV

God’s people, in every age, must look upon faith as a wonderful opportunity to spiritually engage the world – to explore all the dimensions of knowing God. That requires putting unhealthy stuff aside and taking up healthy practices. The word for that action is “repentance.” And the result is revival, or new life.

For the Christian, if the goal is to just keep some semblance of looking like a real follower of Jesus, then there is probably some inner distress which no one sees. If we become more afraid of making mistakes than we are of missing God-given opportunities, then the time is ripe for a revival. 

God does not send us to safe places to do easy things; the Lord sends prophets to remind us of our true calling, to revive us again.

The need for resurrection presupposes that there is death. Praying for revival, renewal, and reawakening means that something needs life. With God, nothing is impossible – even the deadest and driest of people and situations.

God specializes in both giving and restoring life. The Lord does more than help; God finds us and changes us. reanimates us from spiritual rigor mortis to lively resurrection through breathing on us. Jesus came to his disciples after the resurrection and said:

“Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ” (John 20:21-22, NIV)

Faith is more than a possession; it is also a gift to be used to glorify God in loving one another and loving the world as Jesus did.

You live where you live because God wants you to bring life to your neighborhood. 

Who will pray for your neighbors, if not you? 

Who will be concerned for our communities, if not us? 

You work at your workplace because God wants to bring life to it.

Who will make a difference at your workplace, if not you? 

You are in your family, your school, or your church because God wants to bring life to all those spaces and places.

Who will bring a vigorous spiritual life everywhere they are, if not you? 

We are to seek the Lord. It isn’t a game of hide-and-seek. It is an act of faith, believing that God can and will be found by those who seek after him. And wherever God is found, there you will find abundant life.

Perhaps, just maybe, what is needed is some heartfelt, sustained, and focused prayer to God.

Ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find.

Knock and the door will be opened to you. 

For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)

Revive us again, fill each heart with thy love.
May each soul be rekindled with fire from above.

Hallelujah! Thine the glory, hallelujah! Amen!
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, revive us again. – W.P. Mackay, 1863