MY SHORT REPORT 2 CHRON 13-36
The link that brought you to this page and the page title are a bit of a misnomer, because this short report is not long enough to cover so many chapters of the Bible. What the link and the title do, however, is track where we are in our plan to read through the entire Bible in 1 year. May each report pique your interest and help you to draw near to God. The Bible, James 4:8, tells us if we do so God will draw near to us. Works cited are at the end of the report.
BIBLE READING—WEEK 20—2 CHRON 13 - 36: In a past Short Report I mentioned that all of the kings of the Northern Kingdom were ungodly leaders. The Kingdom of Judah, on the other hand, had a mixture of good and bad kings. This week’s Short Report takes a brief look at the five best kings of the Southern Kingdom after a quick review of the six “kingdom” books.
Reading any verse of the Bible has the potential to open our eyes and our heart to a Biblical gem—a precious piece of holy information—whereby we gain another perspective of our Creator and, thus, reading any Bible verse can draw us closer to God. First, however, we must resist our sinful flesh which tells us reading God’s holy Word is hard, boring, or even too repetitious, and open ourselves to the work the Holy Spirit who is eager to teach us and help us in our personal relationship with God.
While the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles share a lot of information, each book is unique in its purpose: 1 Samuel covers the time of Samuel, Saul and David, 2 Samuel takes a close look at the reign of King David, the focus of 1 Kings is the United Kingdom, 2 Kings reviews the divided kingdoms, while 1 and 2 Chronicles’ sole focus is the Southern Kingdom (Judah), which contains the royal lineage of David upon whose throne Christ now sits (Luke 1:30-33). Even so, 1 Chronicles primarily offers a fresh view of David’s kingship, and 2 Chronicles gives us another point of view of the kings of Judah that followed him.
While each book is unique in its purpose some information is exclusive to only one of the six books mentioned above. For instance, David’s heroic battle with Goliath is only viewed in detailed in 1 Samuel. And, while King Jehoshaphat’s reign receives 9 verses in in 1 Kings 22 (vv. 41-50), it holds 4 chapters in 2 Chronicles (17-20).
By most accounts, the Northern Kingdom lasted 253 years and was ruled by 19 kings, but the Southern Kingdom of Judah survived an additional 134 years and existed for a total of 387 years (Rathmann, 257) . The average reign in the Kingdom of Judah was a little over 19 years with the rule of King Jehoahaz lasting only three months (2 Kings 23:31) while the reigns of kings Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah, who were all good kings, lasted 41, 25, 16, 29, and 31 years respectively (1 Kings 15:10, 2 Chronicles 20:31; 27:1; 29:1; 34:1).
Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah have much in common that made them stand-out from the other 15 kings in the Southern Kingdom. While the Bible gives us enough information about Josiah to place him among the best, the other kings in this list have a lot more facts recorded about them. Also, this list of five does not mean all of the remaining 15 kings were evil. Manasseh, for instance, started his reign evil but finished good.
During Solomon’s reign, even after the Temple was dedicated, idolatry was widespread in the United Kingdom—surprisingly, Solomon also participated in this form of false worship (1 Kings 11). The Kingdom was split during the rule of Solomon’s son Rehoboam, who was Judah’s first king in 931 B.C..
Asa was the Judah’s 3rd king. His son Jehoshaphat was the 4th. Much later Jotham ruled as Judah’s 11th king. Hezekiah became Judah’s 13th monarch. Josiah, the 16th king was Judah’s last faithful ruler.
First the bad news. Like King David, all of the kings left the straight and narrow path once or twice. For the most part this happened towards the end of their reign, as if they had become complacent and lowered their guard.
In his old age Asa counted on the king of Syria for security and physicians for his health, and choose not to seek the Lord (2 Chronicles 16). When Jehoshaphat was younger he joined forces to help King Ahab in his war against Syria. Because of his prayer, the Lord spared Jehoshaphat, but Ahab died (chap. 18). Years later Jehoshaphat again associated with an evil king from the Kingdom of Israel, this time in ship building with Ahaziah, but God destroyed the fleet (chap. 20). Little is known of Jotham, but the Bible records that he never went to the Temple, and the people, not Jotham but the people he was sovereign over continued their idolatry (chap. 27). Hezekiah became prideful in his old age. He did return to his senses and humbled himself before God prior to the Lord’s wrath befalling Jerusalem (chap. 32). Josiah died in a battle he had no part of. He entered the fight, contrary to the word of God and in disguise, and was fatally wounded by an arrow (chap. 35).
In spite of their shortcomings, these five kings, Asa (895 B.C.), Jehoshaphat (869 B.C.), Jotham (750 B.C.), Hezekiah (716 B.C.), and Josiah (640 B.C.) were good and faithful servants and the Scriptures record that all of them did what was right in God’s eyes. In addition, about Jotham, we are told he did a lot of construction in the Southern Kingdom, defeated the Ammonites that, for several years following, paid him homage in the form of silver, wheat, and barley, and he “became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God” (2 Chronicles 27:6).
Jotham left the idols in place and his construction did not involve the Temple. On the other hand, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah were all reformers that tore-down the false gods, restored the Temple and reestablished true worship in Jerusalem and all of Judah.
Because of Asa’s fame as a servant of the true God, Israelites from the Northern Kingdom moved south into Judah (2 Chronicles 15:9). He led the people in an oath to only worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (v. 13).
Jehoshaphat sat on the throne after his father. We are told “his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord” (17:6). As a part of his reforms he established judges in each city which were under the leaders in Jerusalem that included some of the priests, Levites as well as elders from the Northern Kingdom that returned to Judah (chap 19).
After years of peace three nations came against Judah. By way of response, Jehoshaphat gathered the people in the house of the Lord and petitioned God. The Lord answered through Jahaziel who told the people, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15). The next day God saved Judah—the Lord confused the enemy warriors and they destroyed themselves (v. 23).
Years later Jotham ruled Judah, and years after him Hezekiah became king. He immediately set out to repair the Temple. He also gathered the priests and Levites, whom he reprimanded. They dedicated themselves to God and worked to “cleanse the house of the Lord” (29:15). Once everything was ready they were able to celebrate the Passover for the first time in years (chap. 30)
The Kingdom of Israel was taken away into exile in 722 B.C. and 7 years later King Hezekiah sent out messengers throughout all of Israel saying “O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria” (30:6)
In 2 Chronicles 32:24 we are told that Hezekiah became sick to the point of death, and we learn from Isaiah 38 that God sent Isaiah to see Hezekiah. Isaiah told Hezekiah that he would die. With this knowledge, and in his sickness, Hezekiah did not hesitate to turn to the Lord in prayer, and God gave Hezekiah an additional 15 years.
Like Hezekiah before him Josiah turned the people back to the Lord. And like all of the good kings “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father” (2 Chronicles 34:2). He assumed the throne while just 8 years old and 12 years later he started to remove the idols from Judah. But he did not stop there. The Bible says he went as far north as Naphtali (v. 6). 600 years later the area would be called Galilee.
Under Josiah’s reign (now 621 B.C.) the Temple was once more cleansed and true worship was restored, and the high priest, Hilkiah, found the Book of the Law, which was again read to the people, and the Passover was celebrated. This was, however, the last days of Judah. In a few years Josiah would die in battle. Halley explains it this way: “In Josiah’s day the Scythian invasion swept over Western Asia, and greatly weakened Assyria. Pharaoh’s march against Carchemish (35:20-24) was to give a final blow to the sinking Assyrian Empire. Josiah, as a vassal of Assyria, felt it was his duty to attack Pharaoh, at Megiddo, and was killed” (p. 277).
Four wicked kings would follow, Jehoiakim (609 B.C.) for only three months before he was deposed by Pharaoh and the Southern Kingdom would become a vassal state of Egypt (36:1-4). In short order King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (v. 6) would start to deport Judean exiles to Mesopotamia. Daniel would be taken in 605 B.C. (CF Daniel 1). In 588 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar would attack Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36). It would fall 2 years later.
Of course, the story does not end there. The Lord would move Cyrus, the king of Persia to free the captives in 537 B.C., 68 years after Daniel was carried off to Babylon, and the returning exiles would start rebuilding the Temple in 535 B.C. (cf. Ezra 3).
Reading any verse of the Bible has the potential to open our eyes and our heart to a Biblical gem—a precious piece of holy information—whereby we gain another perspective of our Creator and, thus, reading any Bible verse can draw us closer to God. First, however, we must resist our sinful flesh which tells us reading God’s holy Word is hard, boring, or even too repetitious, and open ourselves to the work the Holy Spirit who is eager to teach us and help us in our personal relationship with God.
While the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles share a lot of information, each book is unique in its purpose: 1 Samuel covers the time of Samuel, Saul and David, 2 Samuel takes a close look at the reign of King David, the focus of 1 Kings is the United Kingdom, 2 Kings reviews the divided kingdoms, while 1 and 2 Chronicles’ sole focus is the Southern Kingdom (Judah), which contains the royal lineage of David upon whose throne Christ now sits (Luke 1:30-33). Even so, 1 Chronicles primarily offers a fresh view of David’s kingship, and 2 Chronicles gives us another point of view of the kings of Judah that followed him.
While each book is unique in its purpose some information is exclusive to only one of the six books mentioned above. For instance, David’s heroic battle with Goliath is only viewed in detailed in 1 Samuel. And, while King Jehoshaphat’s reign receives 9 verses in in 1 Kings 22 (vv. 41-50), it holds 4 chapters in 2 Chronicles (17-20).
By most accounts, the Northern Kingdom lasted 253 years and was ruled by 19 kings, but the Southern Kingdom of Judah survived an additional 134 years and existed for a total of 387 years (Rathmann, 257) . The average reign in the Kingdom of Judah was a little over 19 years with the rule of King Jehoahaz lasting only three months (2 Kings 23:31) while the reigns of kings Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah, who were all good kings, lasted 41, 25, 16, 29, and 31 years respectively (1 Kings 15:10, 2 Chronicles 20:31; 27:1; 29:1; 34:1).
Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah have much in common that made them stand-out from the other 15 kings in the Southern Kingdom. While the Bible gives us enough information about Josiah to place him among the best, the other kings in this list have a lot more facts recorded about them. Also, this list of five does not mean all of the remaining 15 kings were evil. Manasseh, for instance, started his reign evil but finished good.
During Solomon’s reign, even after the Temple was dedicated, idolatry was widespread in the United Kingdom—surprisingly, Solomon also participated in this form of false worship (1 Kings 11). The Kingdom was split during the rule of Solomon’s son Rehoboam, who was Judah’s first king in 931 B.C..
Asa was the Judah’s 3rd king. His son Jehoshaphat was the 4th. Much later Jotham ruled as Judah’s 11th king. Hezekiah became Judah’s 13th monarch. Josiah, the 16th king was Judah’s last faithful ruler.
First the bad news. Like King David, all of the kings left the straight and narrow path once or twice. For the most part this happened towards the end of their reign, as if they had become complacent and lowered their guard.
In his old age Asa counted on the king of Syria for security and physicians for his health, and choose not to seek the Lord (2 Chronicles 16). When Jehoshaphat was younger he joined forces to help King Ahab in his war against Syria. Because of his prayer, the Lord spared Jehoshaphat, but Ahab died (chap. 18). Years later Jehoshaphat again associated with an evil king from the Kingdom of Israel, this time in ship building with Ahaziah, but God destroyed the fleet (chap. 20). Little is known of Jotham, but the Bible records that he never went to the Temple, and the people, not Jotham but the people he was sovereign over continued their idolatry (chap. 27). Hezekiah became prideful in his old age. He did return to his senses and humbled himself before God prior to the Lord’s wrath befalling Jerusalem (chap. 32). Josiah died in a battle he had no part of. He entered the fight, contrary to the word of God and in disguise, and was fatally wounded by an arrow (chap. 35).
In spite of their shortcomings, these five kings, Asa (895 B.C.), Jehoshaphat (869 B.C.), Jotham (750 B.C.), Hezekiah (716 B.C.), and Josiah (640 B.C.) were good and faithful servants and the Scriptures record that all of them did what was right in God’s eyes. In addition, about Jotham, we are told he did a lot of construction in the Southern Kingdom, defeated the Ammonites that, for several years following, paid him homage in the form of silver, wheat, and barley, and he “became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God” (2 Chronicles 27:6).
Jotham left the idols in place and his construction did not involve the Temple. On the other hand, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah were all reformers that tore-down the false gods, restored the Temple and reestablished true worship in Jerusalem and all of Judah.
Because of Asa’s fame as a servant of the true God, Israelites from the Northern Kingdom moved south into Judah (2 Chronicles 15:9). He led the people in an oath to only worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (v. 13).
Jehoshaphat sat on the throne after his father. We are told “his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord” (17:6). As a part of his reforms he established judges in each city which were under the leaders in Jerusalem that included some of the priests, Levites as well as elders from the Northern Kingdom that returned to Judah (chap 19).
After years of peace three nations came against Judah. By way of response, Jehoshaphat gathered the people in the house of the Lord and petitioned God. The Lord answered through Jahaziel who told the people, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15). The next day God saved Judah—the Lord confused the enemy warriors and they destroyed themselves (v. 23).
Years later Jotham ruled Judah, and years after him Hezekiah became king. He immediately set out to repair the Temple. He also gathered the priests and Levites, whom he reprimanded. They dedicated themselves to God and worked to “cleanse the house of the Lord” (29:15). Once everything was ready they were able to celebrate the Passover for the first time in years (chap. 30)
The Kingdom of Israel was taken away into exile in 722 B.C. and 7 years later King Hezekiah sent out messengers throughout all of Israel saying “O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria” (30:6)
In 2 Chronicles 32:24 we are told that Hezekiah became sick to the point of death, and we learn from Isaiah 38 that God sent Isaiah to see Hezekiah. Isaiah told Hezekiah that he would die. With this knowledge, and in his sickness, Hezekiah did not hesitate to turn to the Lord in prayer, and God gave Hezekiah an additional 15 years.
Like Hezekiah before him Josiah turned the people back to the Lord. And like all of the good kings “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father” (2 Chronicles 34:2). He assumed the throne while just 8 years old and 12 years later he started to remove the idols from Judah. But he did not stop there. The Bible says he went as far north as Naphtali (v. 6). 600 years later the area would be called Galilee.
Under Josiah’s reign (now 621 B.C.) the Temple was once more cleansed and true worship was restored, and the high priest, Hilkiah, found the Book of the Law, which was again read to the people, and the Passover was celebrated. This was, however, the last days of Judah. In a few years Josiah would die in battle. Halley explains it this way: “In Josiah’s day the Scythian invasion swept over Western Asia, and greatly weakened Assyria. Pharaoh’s march against Carchemish (35:20-24) was to give a final blow to the sinking Assyrian Empire. Josiah, as a vassal of Assyria, felt it was his duty to attack Pharaoh, at Megiddo, and was killed” (p. 277).
Four wicked kings would follow, Jehoiakim (609 B.C.) for only three months before he was deposed by Pharaoh and the Southern Kingdom would become a vassal state of Egypt (36:1-4). In short order King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (v. 6) would start to deport Judean exiles to Mesopotamia. Daniel would be taken in 605 B.C. (CF Daniel 1). In 588 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar would attack Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36). It would fall 2 years later.
Of course, the story does not end there. The Lord would move Cyrus, the king of Persia to free the captives in 537 B.C., 68 years after Daniel was carried off to Babylon, and the returning exiles would start rebuilding the Temple in 535 B.C. (cf. Ezra 3).