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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 190

Jul9

Day 190 – Reading – Isaiah 1 – 4

Read today’s Scriptures.  

Isaiah prophesied to Judah and their corrupt leaders in Jerusalem for over 40 years, during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.  He warned that the devastation and exile they saw happening in the northern kingdom would come upon them too, if they didn’t repent of their rebellion, idolatry, and injustice.  He also prophesied about a coming king (branch) from David’s line.

The book is divided into three general sections.

  • 1-39 – Points to the sin and fall of the northern kingdom of Israel, and what is coming for Judah. God will send the nations to conquer the southern kingdom, and Jerusalem will fall. Her people will go into exile in Babylon. (This happens 100 years later)  A thin thread of HOPE also runs through these chapters, of the New Jerusalem, a godly remnant, and a Righteous Ruler.
  • 40-55 – Reveals the coming Messiah (700 years later), and His role as the slain Lamb of God.
  • 56-66 – Tells more fully of the final judgment and restoration; the new heaven and earth, and the righteous rule of the Messiah.

Much of Isaiah is written in the form of beautiful poetry.  Maybe, like me, you’ve learned to sing some of his words!

Isaiah 1.

The first “vision” of Isaiah is a courtroom scene.  The LORD is the plaintiff and Israel, the defendant. Instead of responding to the care and love of “the Holy One of Israel,” they rebelled and disobeyed his law.  If God’s grace had not intervened and left a few survivors, Judah and Jerusalem would have been destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah.

The LORD hates hypocrisy, especial in His worship. “He’s had enough of their burnt offerings, He doesn’t delight in the blood of bulls or lambs.”   He wants them to first “Wash themselves, remove their evil deeds, learn to do good, seek justice for the orphan and widow!”

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.  IF YOU ARE WILLING AND OBEDIENT, you will eat of the good of the land, BUT IF YOU REFUSE AND REBEL, you shall be eaten by the sword….”

Isaiah then tells of God’s plans to “turn His hand against you, and smelt away your dross with lye, and remove all your alloy. Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, a faithful city.”  

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Isaiah 2

God encourages His people first, with a glimpse of Jerusalem’s (Zion) future exaltation “in the latter days.” It will be the “highest” of mountains.”  “All nations shall flow to it.”  “Many will come to the house of God, that He may teach them His ways so they can walk in His paths.”

“For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”

And the prophet pleads, “O HOUSE OF JACOB, COME, LET US WALK IN THE LIGHT OF THE LORD.”

Then Isaiah returns to his rebuke of their sin, telling them why the LORD has rejected them: greed, fortune-tellers from the East, their lofty pride and haughty looks, and exalting idols made with their own hands.

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Isaiah 3.

The judgment of Jerusalem and Judah continues. 

Warning:  the LORD GOD is taking away support and supply from Jerusalem and Judah – bread, water, all leadership, military help, the soldier, judge, prophet, diviner, elder, counselor, the skillful magician, and the expert in charms. 

For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen – BECAUSE their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying HIS GLORIOUS PRESENCE.  They have brought evil on themselves.

And then Isaiah predicts the horrors that will come when Jerusalem is taken captive.  All the lovely things they have flaunted will be gone, with rottenness, death, and mourning in their place.

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Isaiah 4.

But … hope, too! 

“In that day, the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.”

“And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion….”

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(Ah, LORD, thank you for the HOPE you give us in Jesus, the Messiah. Sin consumes our world now, and even permeates our own lives like Israel of old.  PRAISE YOU, for washing our scarlet and crimson-red sins away with the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was crucified as punishment for our iniquity.  THANK YOU for making us (in your sight) white as wool and pristine as snow! We fall on our knees, no, our faces, and worship You!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 189

Jul8

Day 189 – Reading – 2 Kings 15, and 2 Chronicles 26

Read today’s scriptures. Refer to “Kings” chart to keep the names straight!

2 Kings 15.

In the middle of Jeroboam II’s reign in Israel (north), Azariah/Uzziah became king in Judah (south).  (We will call him Uzziah, because that how Isaiah refers to him.)

  • He was 16 when he began to reign.
  • He reigned 52 years.
  • He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD (until right at the very end).   (Verse 5 says that the LORD touched him with leprosy at the end of his life.  Don’t worry, we will read the details in 2 Chronicles!)

At the end of Uzziah’s life and after after he died, his son Jotham reigned in his place. (More in 2 Chronicles.)

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Meanwhile in Israel (north), Jeroboam II died and his son Zechariah became king … for six months.  Shallum (the son of nobody” according to the Assyrians), killed Zechariah and took his crown. 

And that was THE END OF THE PROMISE THAT GOD GAVE TO JEHU FOR HIS HUMOUNGUS BLOODY WORK OF ANNILIATING THE HOUSE OF AHAB. (Read 2 Kings 10:30 for that promise that 4 of his sons would reign as king).

Shallum (Mr. Nobody) reigned for ONE MONTH.  Menahem, the military commander under Zechariah, came and killed Shallum, and took the crown of Israel. (This guy did some horrible things because some cities did not accept him. Menachem reigned ten years.

During his reign, Pul, the new, evil, and growing in power, king of Assyria (form Nineveh – remember Jonah?) came down on Israel.  Menachem assessed 50 talents of silver from all the rich men and gave it to Pul, and the King of Assyria went home …… for a time. 

After ten years, Menachem’s son, Pekahiah became king. (Uzziah was still king in Judah to the south).

Pekahiah reigned two years.  Pekah (no not his son, but the son of his army captain), along with 50 men conspired against king Pekahiah and killed him in Samaria, in the citadel of the king’s house. 

And so, Pekah became king in Israel in the last year of Judah’s king (Uzziah)’s reign.  Pekah reigned twenty years, and did evil in God’s sight.  During his 20-year reign, another King of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser, stronger and crueler than Pul, came and captured a northern chunk of Israel, including all of the territory of Naphtali, Gilead, and Galilee.   He carried all the people there away into captivity … they did not return.  

Then the Assyrian king made this area into three provinces of Assyria.  The Assyrian king was probably involved in the conspiracy of Hoshea that ended in Pekah’s death.

Israel’s LAST KING, Hoshea, killed Pekah and became king in his place. HIS DAYS WERE NUMBERED!  

We will see the sad final end of Hoshea and ISRAEL, in our study NEXT TUESDAY.

Meanwhile, back to the South………

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2 Chronicles 26.

Ah, the beginning of the mostly good King Uzziah, crowed by the people of Judah at age 16, he — 

  • “set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah (an unknown prophet) who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.”
  • God helped him in the war against the Philistines, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites.
  • His fame spread even to the border of Egypt because he became very strong.
  • He built and fortified towers in Jerusalem and in the wilderness.
  • He built cisterns for his many herds.
  • He had a huge army, fit for war, and made shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and slings for them.
  • He made “engines” invented by skillful men to be on the towers to shoot arrows and great stones.
  • He became STRONG.

BUT … WHEN he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction.  (He was unfaithful to the LORD his God  and “entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.”)   WHAT!!!

Oh, such a warning to me and to you!

Of course, the priests stopped him before he could do it, but he had the censor IN HIS HAND!  

(Oh, my goodness, remember Aaron’s sons who tried to do that?  A blast of fire from God’s holiness consumed them!!)

The priests – all eighty of them – managed to get King Uzziah OUT of the Temple. But the KING WAS VERY ANGRY and struggled.  And the LORD struck him with LEPROSY.  The priests could see it on his forehead, but it could have been elsewhere too.

And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death. He lived in a separate house and was excluded from the House of the LORD.  (Oh, my! and after all the good he did!)

His son, Jotham took over governing the people.  When Uzziah died he was buried outside the city in the field belonging to the kings.  And Jotham then reigned as king.

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Isaiah prophesied during the time of Uzziah, Jotham, (and Ahaz and Hezekiah), kings of Judah. Isaiah 1:1

He had an amazing vision, recorded in chapter 6.  Isaiah 6:1 – “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His GLORY filled the temple………..”  WOW! 

We will see what Isaiah’s reaction was to this – so different from Uzziah’s pride.

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 187 & 188

Jul7

Day 187 – Reading – 2 Kings 14, and 2 Chronicles 25

Day 188 – Reading Jonah 1 – 4

Read today’s Scriptures.  Do you see connections?

2 Kings 14 & 2 Chronicles 25.

These two chapters essentially tell the same story, but with a few different details.  It’s a bit confusing because BOTH the King of Israel and the King of Judah are named Joash! It would be like the President of the United States and the President of Russia BOTH named Trump.  Can you imagine the confusion in the press!!

Then, the southern kingdom of Judah’s King Joash was assassinated by his own servants, and his son, Amaziah, succeeded him as king.  Amaziah was a semi-good king, at least at first, doing what was “mostly right in the sight of the LORD,” but not quite as well as David.  The first thing Amaziah did was to kill the servants who had killed his father, Joash. (Remember, Joash killed Zechariah, the priest, the son of the priest who’d raised him. Two servants then conspired to kill  him.) Now the new king killed those servants. What a chain of cruelty and death! Will it stop there?

Amaziah mustered an army in Judah (along with 100K paid mercenaries from Israel) to fight against the men of Mt. Seir (Edom).  But God told him NOT to use soldiers from Israel.  God was NOT with them, but God WOULD help Judah alone to defeat Edom.  Amaziah sent the Israeli soldiers home (which made them mad), and went on to defeat Edom.

But, those 100K mercenaries, angry at not being able to go to war (and get loot), attacked and looted cities in Judah and Jerusalem!!

And then, Amaziah came back with – get this – some idols of the Edomites. And he started worshiping THEM!!  Can you believe it??  God sent a prophet to reprimand the king, but Amaziah made him stop.

Feeling emboldened, Amaziah sent to Israel and challenged King Joash of Israel to fight him. WHAT??  King Joash told King Amaziah to “Stay home, you little weed (thistle)!”  But Amaziah would not listen.  Why?  GOD HAD ORDAINED HIS DOWNFALL because of the idols from Edom.

The two kings, with their armies, fought at Beth-Shemesh in Judah’s territory, and Judah was defeated.  The southern army ran away, and King Amaziah was captured. The northern king then went to Jerusalem and seized all the gold, silver, and all the vessels that were in the Temple and the king’s own house, and even broke down part of Jerusalem’s wall!  He took hostages (but left King Amaziah there) and returned to Samaria, with a smug smirk on his lips. Thistle indeed!

Amaziah lived 15 more years, but a conspiracy against him made him flee to Lachish (a fortified city about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem). But the angry people went after him and killed him there.  The people then put his son, the sixteen-year-old Azariah, in his place as king.  (Azariah did right in God’s sight and reigned 52 years!)

Meanwhile, back in Israel, King Joash also died and was buried in Samaria.  His son Jeroboam II succeeded him.  Unsurprisingly, he did what was “EVIL in the sight of the LORD.”

Now, here is an interesting fact.  The LORD used Jeroboam to “restore some of the borders of Israel, east of the Jordan River.  Why?  “The LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, none to help Israel. The LORD had not said that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam.”  WHAT MERCY!

And, according to (2 Kings 14:25), who told Jeroboam to go and do that? 

NONE OTHER THAN THE PROPHET OF GOD — JONAH!!   

But we are much more familiar with the prophet’s other story.

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Jonah 1 – 4.

We’ve all heard about “Jonah and the whale” from Sunday School stories and children’s books. Those stories usually tell how Jonah was thrown overboard in a storm and was swallowed by a whale. Then God made the critter spit him out on the shore three days later, after he prayed.

All true.

But much more.

First, his name means “Dove.”  Today, we would think of “peace,” or someone who is anti-war.  Well, Jonah WAS a rebel, for sure, but not anti-war.  Earlier, God had used Jonah to encourage Jeroboam II to push back against the Syrians, which he did, and gained back almost as much land for Israel as in the days of David and Solomon. 

But the Syrians had grown weak.  Soon, a greater, fiercer, and crueler nation would swallow them up, and then look toward Israel.  Who? The Assyrians. Whereas Syria’s capital was Damascus, the capital of Assyria was Nineveh, WAY to the North-East, over 500 miles away.

“Go to that wicked city, Nineveh, and tell them to repent,” God told Jonah.

“No way!” said the prophet of God, who was all for defeating Israel’s enemies.  Jonah promptly went down to Joppa and bought a ticket on a boat to Tarshish. (Modern Spain, which is WAY to the West.) 

  • Verse 3 states twice that Jonah was “fleeing the presence of the LORD.”  Is that possible?  We may think so, but remember God is “omnipresent,” which means everywhere at once. 
  • Check out Psalm 139:7-10, where David asks the question, “Where shall I flee from Your presence?  Heaven? You are there. The grave? You are there. The uttermost parts of the sea?  Even there, Your hand shall hold me.”  I guess Jonah never read that psalm.

The boat sailed. Jonah went below deck for a nap. God “HURLED” a great wind on the sea, which whipped up into a horrible tempest!  The ship started to break up!  The sailors were terrified and began to pray to their god (Poseidon?).  They hurled the cargo into the sea (There goes their profit!)  Then, at his request, they hurled the prophet into the sea as well.

(Jonah had told them the true God of Heaven was angry with him. They got REALLY afraid – that’s why they obeyed and tossed him overboard.)

Immediately, no wind and placid seas.

That terrified the sailors even more, and they WORSHIPPED the LORD.  (A foretaste of Nineveh?)

Down, down, down went Jonah. Right into the mouth of a great fish that God had prepared. (Like Moby Dick??)

AND JONAH PRAYED TO THE LORD FROM THE BELLY OF THE FISH!

Not exactly repentance, but an acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty.  The “vow” in verse 9 could have been a vow to carry out God’s call to preach in Nineveh.

And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited (Yuck!) Jonah on dry land.  “Terra firma, Hooray!”  Good to be there.  Then…

Again came God’s message, “Go to Nineveh. Call out against it with the message I will give you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I KNOW, God.”

So, after a “swish-off” in the Mediterranean, Jonah set off, Eastward.

How long it took him, we don’t know.  Did he catch a ride with a caravan, or hot-foot it all the way?  Regardless, Jonah finally arrived at that great city (in modern-day Iraq).  The city was HUGE!  It would take a person THREE DAYS to walk across it. (Like Los Angeles??)

Jonah went halfway in and cried, “IN 40 DAYS, NINEVEH WILL BE OVERTHROWN!” And then he left, went outside the city to a hill, and sat down to watch the “holy fireworks.”

They didn’t come.

Instead, the whole city repented. (FROM ONE 7-WORD SERMON!!)  The people believed God. They put on sackcloth in mourning for their sin, the king too, and all his court.

He proclaimed a fast from all food and water (for the animals as well!) and told the people to “Call out mightily to God. Turn everyone from his evil ways and the violence he’s done. For who knows?  God may turn and relent from His fierce anger, and we may not perish.”

And when God saw their hearts, He relented of the disaster that He said he would do to them.  (At least for a while.)

Not what Jonah imagined, or wanted. He was furious! 

  • “SEE!!!  This is what I said would happen when I was back home!
  • This is why I fled to Tarshish! 
  • I KNEW You were a gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in mercy, and relenting from disaster!    (He was quoting Psalm 103, now, so I guess he did read God’s word.)

JONAH SHOULD HAVE BEEN THANKFUL that God was merciful… a God of second chances. Or else, he might have still been in that fish’s belly, rotting away!

  • Oh, please just kill me, for that is better than living (and seeing this!)

It got very hot.  Jonah put up a lean-to to shade himself while he watched. And the good and kind LORD caused a vine to grow up over the lean-to, which added more shade and a sweet fragrance.

Nice. 

Jonah settled back.

Then the good and kind LORD caused a worm to kill the plant.  And the next day, a scorching east wind blew, and the sun beat down. 

Jonah was angry that the plant died.  “It’s better for me to die than to live,” he moaned.

“You are angry and pity a vine that you did not plant or cause to grow, that came into being in a night and  perished in a night?”

“YES!“

And the good and kind LORD said, “And should I not pity Nineveh, a great city, in which there are more than 120K small children?”

No answer.

Silence.

About 40 years later, the NEXT generation of Assyrians reverted to their evil, violent ways. They came down on Israel, destroyed the kings, and carried the people away into captivity, never to return. 

End of the northern kingdom. 

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(**** Ah, LORD, You are faithful to save, when people turn their hearts from sin and trust in You…. at the preaching of Your Word.  

"For the scripture says, Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame. 
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. 
For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on ALL who call on Him. 
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?"
Romans 10:11-15.






			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 186


					
Jul5
			


	

		
Day 186 – Reading – 2 Kings 12 – 13, and 2 Chronicles 24




Read today’s Scriptures. 


Don’t be confused by all the similar names. Try to be consistent looking for the phrases:


“He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD,”


and “He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.”


Right through here the names of the kings in Israel (north) and Judah (south) get a bit confusing for they are the same, and a few have the same or opposite “nicknames.”  Here’s the chart again. 




NOTE in Judah, after Jehoshaphat, there is Jehoram (Joram), another Ahaziah, Athaliah (the queen), Joash (Jehoash), and Amaziah.


NOTE in Israel, after Ahab, there is Ahaziah, another Joram (Jehoram), Jehu, Jehoahaz, another Jehoash (Joash).


Seriously, as you are reading, if you don’t mind marking your Bible, highlight or underline the northern king’s names in blue, and the southern kings’ names in red. (or other colors).


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2 Kings 12.


This chapter continues what we learned in 2 Chronicles 23-24.  Even though the new king in Judah is called Jehoash here, we read about him as Joash, saved from his murdering grandmother, hidden away by the priest, Jehoida, until he was seven, and then crowned the king. His wicked “nana” was also killed that day.  We also read of the reforms the boy (under the priest’s tutelage) made, including repairing the Temple.


Now we see him calling again for the three types of offering that support the temple. 


    

  • The 1/2 shekel per man whenever a census was taken,
    • 

  • the payments of vows,
    • 

  • and voluntary offerings.
    • 



King Joash/Jehoash called for these offering.  After some years, when they did NOT come in, he had a special “offering box” made.  It was a reminder for the people to give.  When it was full, the priest would count and bag it and GIVE IT TO WORKMEN (carpenters, builders, masons and stonecutters) who were doing the repair.  (No “hanky-panky” in changing so many hands.


He reigned 40 years. Towards the end, Hazael (whom Elisha had anointed King of Syria) came and took Gath from the Philistines.  Now Gath was a mere 20-25 miles west of Jerusalem. And when Joash saw that the Syrian king meant to attack and take Jerusalem, he took all the sacred gifts, and his own gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the Temple and the king’s house … and sent it to Hazael. 


Pleased, Hazael “went away from Jerusalem.”  (Too bad he did not pray for help from God!!)


************** And then – sheesh – two of Joash’s servants KILLED the king.  He was buried in the city of David, and his son Amaziah reigned.


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2 Kings 13.


Meanwhile back up in the North, while Joash had been reigning, Jehoahaz (son of Jehu) began to reign. (17 years, evil)


Having left Jerusalem alone, the Syrian king, Hazael, and later his son Ben-Hadad III, continually harassed the northern kingdom, taking small bites of land/cities.  King Jehoahaz’s army was whittled down to 50 horsemen, ten chariots, and 10K foot soldiers.


BUT NOTICE!!!  This wicked king “sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him, for He saw how oppressed they were.”  (God is so gracious and merciful!  He gave them “a savior” so the people could escape from the hand of the Syrians, and live in their homes.)


NOTE: This “savior” whom God gave to Israel is not named. But there are three choices.


    

  • 1. The Assyrian king, who attacked the Syrians from behind and forced them to turn from Israel.
    • 

  • 2. Elisha, the prophet, who continued his “secret” leadership in revealing where the Syrians would strike next.
    • 

  • or 3. Jeroboam II, the man who would be king after Jehoahaz, who fought the Syrians back. 
    • 



Take your pick.


Jehoahaz died and was buried in Samaria. 


His son Jehoash/Joash began to reign in ISRAEL. (Joash, king of JUDAH was still on the throne in the south.  Two kings named Joash: north & south!)


This new king “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.” 


Elisha, the prophet of God be came deathly ill.  King Jehoash/Joash went to him and wept.  HE KNEW the northern kingdom was lost without this godly prophet.  


He cried out to Elisha, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”  (Remember there were only 10 chariots and 50 horsemen!).  He was asking for military help!!


Elisha had King Jehoash/Joash shoot an arrow out the window, prophesying a victory over Syria.


Elisha then had the King strike the ground with his quiver of arrows. the king struck three times.


“Oh, no!!” said Elisha. “You should have struck 5-6 times then you would have totally defeated them.  Now it’s only three times, and they will come back and get you.


AND ELISHA DIED. They buried him, but it seems they forgot to fill in the grave. A band of Moabites came by, one of them died, and they threw him in the grave. HE BOUNCED BACK OUT ALIVE, AFTER TOUCHING ELISHA’S BONES. Elisha’s double portion of God’s power continued even after his death!


What??? 


The Syrian king, Hazael died and Ben-Hadad III reigned. Israel fought with him and took back the cities that were taken in war. THREE TIMES Israel defeated them. 


Jehoash/Joash reigned 16 years and died, and was buried in Samaria.


..


Jeroboam II became king in the NORTH.


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2 Chronicles 24.


Okay…. were you curious at how quickly Judah’s king Joash was suddenly killed by two servants, after getting on with repairing the Temple??


I was!


Now, in Chronicles, we see the details.  King Joash had an about face, and TURNED AWAY FROM GOD, after his mentor and surrogate father, Jehoiada, the priest died.  Like Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, Joash then listened to the advice of the young princes of Judah.  He abandoned the Temple AND SERVED IDOLS! What?


Zechariah, the new priest and son of Jehoiada, called Joash out and said God would forsake HIM. Joash didn’t like that and commanded that the priest be STONED!!


The Syrians came again and took all those princes captive, and injured King Joash severely.  IT WAS THEN, THAT THOSE TWO SERVANTS CONSPIRED TO KILL KING JOASH – BECAUSE HE HAD THE PRIEST, ZACHARIAH STONED.


Okay then.  That makes sense.  Good for them!


Amaziah, the king’s son reigned instead in JUDAH.





			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 180 & 181


					
Jun30
			


	

		


Sundays and Mondays studies are posted together on Mondays


Day 180. Reading 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 18




Day 181.  Reading 2 Chronicles 19 – 23








Read Today’s Scriptures.


What insight or comfort do you receive?


 


Day 180 – 1 Kings 22.


After that ill-advised truce between King Ahab’s Israel (north) and King Ben-Hadad’s Syria (farther north), there were three years without war. Each country was trading in the other’s bazaars.  


But, there was a sore spot between the two kings. It was the town of Ramoth-Gilead.  Officially, it was in Israel’s territory, way east, across the Jordan River and right up next to Syria. (See map on yesterday’s post.) Syria was gradually “taking” the town, and Ahab didn’t like it.


So… when King Jehoshaphat of Judah (south) came to visit Ahab, Ahab asked him if he would go with him and battle for it and try to settle the dispute with Syria.


“Sure,” Jehoshaphat said. “My people are yours and my horses are yours. But … hey, let’s inquire of the the LORD first.”


King Ahab gathered his 400 prophets and inquired if they should go up against Syria at Ramoth-Gilead.


They ALL said, “Go up, for the LORD will give it into your hand.”


This seemed a little fishy to King Jehoshaphat, and he asked if there was ANOTHER prophet of the LORD that they could ask.


King Ahab grumbled, but finally said, yes, there was ONE, but Ahab didn’t like him because he ALWAYS prophesied against him.  Jehoshaphat pressed him, and Micaiah was called.  After a bit of messing around this real prophet of God said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd.“


“SEE!!! I told you.  He never says anything nice about me!” bemoaned Ahab.  And Ahab promptly put Micaiah in prison with meager food rations.


But, the Word of the LORD which Micaiah spoke came true.  The two Jewish kings went up to battle with the king of Syria, who had told his men to “fight with neither small or great, but with the King of Israel (Ahab) only.”


King Jehoshaphat (Judah) rode out in his chariot in regal clothing and a crown on his head.  But wily King Ahab disguised himself as a lowly soldier.  The Syrians of course, went after Jehoshaphat, who cried out to the LORD for help.  When the Syrian captains saw that he was not King Ahab they turned away.  


Then ,,, a random soldier drew his bow and randomly shot an arrow into the air.  “Oops!” That deadly missile flew right to the disguised King Ahab and entered his body through the crack separating his breastplate from his chain mail.  A scream.  And, “TURN AROUND AND CARRY ME OUT OF THE BATTLE FOR … I … AM … WOUNDED!  And troops fled every man to his city.


In the evening, King Ahab died.  His blood flowed into the bottom of the chariot. His body was brought to Samaria and buried.  


“And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs liked up his blood.”  Just as Elijah had prophesied.


Ahaziah, his son reigned in his place. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father, King Ahab, and in the way of his mother, Queen Jezebel. He served Baal and worshiped the pagan gods. He provoked the LORD, the God of Israel to anger in every way that his father did.


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Meanwhile, in the south, King Jehoshaphat continued to reign over Judah. (We’ll learn some good things about him tomorrow from 2 Chronicles 19-23.  He continued to clean up the pagan worship that his father King Asa had begun.)


Jehoshaphat eventually died and HIS son, Jehoram reigned in his place. Jehoram was exceedingly wicked, and you will find out why (below) and how (tomorrow’s reading).  


.


2 Chronicles 18.


Here are a few interesting details on the story above about King Ahab in the north, and King Jehoshaphat in the south going to battle together for Ramoth-Gilead.


Jehoshaphat had GREAT RICHES and honor.  He – STUPIDLY!!! – made a marriage alliance with king Ahab.  (Ah ha! … now we see why the southern king was willing to go to war with Ahab against the Syrians.)  Jehoshaphat had arranged for his son, Jehoram, to marry Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab & Jezebel.


And the fall out of this union nearly wiped out the godly line of David through whom the Messiah Jesus would come!!! We’ll see that tomorrow.


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###


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Day 181 – 2 Chronicles 19.


When King Jehoshaphat returned to Judah after that narrow escape with the Syrians and the death of Ahab, he was met by Hanani, a prophet of God, for a thorough scolding. 


“Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD?”  (Yes, it did seem strange that he would help the wicked King Ahab fight the Syrians … until we learned that his son had married Ahab’s daughter.  There was a political obligation there.)


Hanani told the king of Judah that he SHOULD be punished … but that, “some” good had been found in him. He’d gotten rid of the pagan Asherah poles, and … MORE IMPORTANTLY, Jehoshaphat had “set his heart to seek the LORD.”  After that …


    

  • He went out to the people in his land and “brought them back to the LORD, the God of their Fathers”.
    • 

  • He appointed judges in all the fortified cities and reminded them that the LORD was watching them. They should make sure there was no injustice or bribery.
    • 

  • He appointed special Levites in Jerusalem to decide disputed cases.
    • 



.


2 Chronicles 20.


And then, a threat of war came to Judah (south). The descendants of Israel’s old relatives: (Moab & Ammon, both from Abraham’s nephew Lot) and Edom (descended from Jacob’s twin, Esau) joined together. They came around the south end of the Dead Sea, with the plan to de-throne Jehoshaphat.


Thankfully, the king did not call on the wicked kings in the north to help him, but “set his face to seek the LORD.” He proclaimed a fast for all his people. And prayed this prayer;


    

  • “O LORD, God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven?  You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand You.  Did You not, our God, drive out the in habitants of this land before Your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham, Your friend?
    • 

  • “And they have lived in it, and have built in it a sanctuary for Your Name, saying, “If disaster comes upon us (the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine), we will stand before this house and before You (for Your Name is in this house) and cry out to you in our affliction, You will hear and save!
    • 

  • “And now behold, the men of AMMON, MOAB, and MOUNT SEIR, whom Your would not let Israel invade when we came up from Egypt – Behold, they “reward us” by coming to drive us out of Your possession.
    • 

  • “O our God, will you not execute judgment on them?  For WE ARE POWERLESS AGAINST THIS GREAT HORDE that is coming against us. “WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO!  But our eyes are on You.”
    • 



**** (Oh, my goodness, what a prayer!  What if WE should pray this way, with such dependence on God!  What if modern Israel would pray this way, in total dependance on the LORD, their God! How would YOU respond, O LORD our God?)


As all Israel, with the little children and women, stood before the LORD, the Spirit of the LORD came on Jahazel, a descendent of Asaph, the Levite. And he said,


    

  • “LISTEN, all Judah, inhabitants of Jerusalem, and king Jehoshaphat. Thus says the LORD. “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, FOR THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS BUT GOD’S.”
    • 

  • “Tomorrow go down against them.  YOU WILL NOT NEED TO FIGHT IN THIS BATTLE.  Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD, on YOUR behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.
    • 

  • “DO NOT BE AFRAID AND DO NOT BE DISMAYED.  Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you!”
    • 



Jehoshaphat, all Judah and Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping Him. They praised the LORD, the God of Israel with a very loud voice.


And they arose early in the morning and went out to meet the horde. Jehoshaphat stood and encouraged them. “Hear me, Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, an you will be established. Believe the prophet and you will succeed.


AND THEN … Jehoshaphat appointed singers to sing and praise the LORD, as the went before the army.


“Give thanks to the LORD, FOR His steadfast love endures forever.”


And when they BEGAN to sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, so that they were routed.  They each destroyed one another!!!!!  Dead bodies all around. None escaped.


WOW!


Jehoshaphat and the people came to take the spoil and found GREAT NUMBERS of goods, clothing, precious things – which they took for themselves until they could carry no more.


They returned to Jerusalem with GREAT JOY for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies. 


And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel.  So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet … for his God gave him rest all around.


.


At the end of his life, King Jehoshaphat joined in a venture to build a shipping fleet to Tarshish – with Israel’s wicked King Ahaziah (north).  But God destroyed all the ships because of this ungodly alignment.


Eventually Jehoshaphat died and was buried in the City of David (the southern part of Jerusalem, below the Temple Mount and palace).


.


2 Chronicles 21.


Jehoshaphat’s first-born son, Jehoram (the one he’d arranged a marriage with wicked Ahab/Jezebel’s daughter, Athaliah), ascended the throne.  HE WAS NOTHING LIKE HIS GODLY FATHER!  Immediately, he killed all his brothers, six in all, plus some of the princes of Israel (north), to assure his place in the kingdom.  (These men, were the lineage of “the house of David” through whom God had promised the reigning Messiah. Jehoram killed them all!) 


And yet God did not destroy him, even though he did what was totally evil in His sight, for God was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the Covenant He’d made with David. God had promised “a lamp to him and to his sons forever.”  But what about this totally evil man of darkness???


Do not fear. God is Sovereign over all.


But meanwhile Jehoram grew worse. He made high places for pagan worship. He led Judah into whoredom and made them go astray.


Elijah the prophet sent him a letter from the north. “Because you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel (north) and have enticed Judah into whoredom, and killed your brothers, I, the LORD, will bring a great plague on your people, children, wives, possessions and YOU YOURSELF will have a severe sickness of your bowels, until them come out of your body.”


WHOA! (Leave it to Elijah to terrify!)


God stirred up the Philistines against Jehoram, and the Arabians, and they came and invaded Judah and carried away Jehoram’s possessions, his sons, and his wives. (Only Jehoahaz, his youngest son remained.)


Then God struck him with that dreaded bowel disease, an incurable disease.  In two years’ time all his bowels came out and Jehoram died IN GREAT AGONY. 


No one regretted his departure. He was buried in the city of David, BUT NOT IN THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS.


.


2 Chronicles 22.


So, Ahaziah/Jehoahaz, Jehoram’s youngest son reigned. He walked in the ways of his grandfather, King Ahab (north), for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedness. 


God ordained his downfall through His appointed Jehu, whom God had appointed to destroy the house of Ahab. (Remember, that was one responsibility the old prophet, Elijah had, to anoint Jehu.)  And Jehu did that – he killed Ahaziah/Jehoahaz and all the remaining princes of Ahab.


Now, there was no one able to rule the Kingdom of Judah.  


Why?  Because the wicked mother (daughter of Ahab) destroyed all the royal family of Judah. She proclaimed herself queen – but nobody took her reign seriously.


WAS JUDAH WIPED OUT?


WAS THERE TO BE NO SEED OF DAVID LEFT TO COME AS MESSIAH?


WHAT ABOUT GOD’S PROMISES?


But … there was a woman named Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, and the wife of the priest, Jehoiada.  She went into the “nursery” and carried away the very youngest son of the king, less than 1-year-old Josiah, AND HID HIM FROM HIS WICKED GRANDMOTHER. 


Josiah, the SEED OF DAVID, the “lamp of Israel,” lay hidden in a cradle. He stayed with the godly couple for six years, while Athaliah “reigned” over the land.   


****(Doesn’t this remind you of how God kept the baby Jesus safe from King Herod when he sent Joseph and Mary to Egypt?)


.


2 Chronicles 23.


Finally the time had come.


Josiah was seven years old.


He’d been trained by the priest, who now took courage.


Jehoida gathered the commanders of the army. They went through Judah and gathered the Levites from all their cities, as well as the fathers of the houses of Israel.


Jehoida showed them the boy-king, Josiah and said, “Behold, the king’s son! Let him reign as the LORD spoke concerning the sons of David.”


Then Jehoida revealed his carefully-though-out plan.  All the Levites and priests who had come off duty were divided into thirds and placed around the House of the Lord at the gates. “NO ONE MAY ENTER EXCEPT THE MINISTERING PRIESTS.” 


“Surround the king, each with his weapon in his hand.  Anyone approaching shall be killed.  Be with the king at all times.”


THEN, he brought out Josiah, the king’s son and placed the crown on his head.  “Long live the king!”


.


YIKES!  When Queen Athaliah heard the noise, she went to see what was happening and saw the young king. 


She tore her clothes and cried, “TREASON! TREASON!”


Jehoida commanded the captains to seize her. “Take her out of the court of the House of the Lord, and kill her!”  They led her through the horse gate of the king’s house and… did the deed.  The end of that wicked Ahab/Jezebel line … except for Josiah, whom the LORD had chosen to carry David’s seed.  WHEW!


.


Jehoida made a covenant between himself, the people, and the young king, that they ‘should be the LORD’s people.   He saw to it that the altars and images of Baal were destroyed. He reinstituted the sacrifices and offerings that Moses wrote about in the LAW.


Then he took the young boy king from the house of the LORD to the king’s house.  They set him on the ROYAL THRONE.  All the people rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been killed.


.


****(WOW. What a long tale of evil and good.  God is ALWAYS in control. HE is sovereign. He will fight for His people.  He will see that not a word of his prophecy EVER fails. His covenants are sure. HE IS GOD, and KING, and the LORD of Hosts forever and ever. Glory be to His name!)


 




 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 





			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 179


					
Jun28
			


	

		
Day 179.  Reading 1 Kings 20-21








 


Read today’s Scriptures.




1 Kings 20….


…tells a surprisingly good story about the wicked King Ahab.  Until the last part, that is.


We see King Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, again in this chapter. (Syria is the country just north-east of Israel, with Damascus as the capital.) (This map also shows the two places Elijah stayed during the drought, and Mt. Carmel, where the great “showdown” happened. Samaria is the capital of Israel, where Ahab lives.) 



 


 


Remember, in Chapter 15, King Asa (south) had paid Ben-Hadad a large amount of gold and silver from the temple, to harass King Basha (north) so he’d stop fortifying the border. The Syrian King had agreed. Now, it seems, Ben-Hadad was sure King Ahab could also be easily defeated.


“Hey, King Ahab, give me your silver and gold and the best of your wives and children.” 


“Okay, sure,” said Ahab.


Then Ben-Hadad got greedy. “I will send my servants to you tomorrow, and they will search your house and take whatever pleases them.”


“Um, no! The gold and silver and best wives and kids I will do, but NOT THAT,” sent back King Ahab.


“Okay, then. It’s war!”


“Make my day!” replied Ahab.


Now, here is the strange part.  A prophet of God came to Ahab and told him that he would get the victory, “So you will know that I am the LORD.”  Ahab got some military instructions from the prophet, and at noon they went out to confront King Ben-Hadad’s army.


The Syrian king was drunk, however, and commanded, “If they come in peace, TAKE THEM ALIVE!  But if they come out for war …. TAKE THEM ALIVE!”  (Huh?)


Ben-Hadad didn’t have the chance to do either, because King Ahab struck his forces a “very great blow!” The Syrians fled and Ben-hadad escaped on a horse.


The prophet of God told King Ahab to rest up, for in the Spring the king of Syria would be back.  (Now, the Syrians believed that Israel’s God was only a god of the hills. That’s why they were defeated.  Next time they would bring lots of chariots and fight on the plains.  The Jewish God would be defeated there.)


Oh, Syria.  You’ve a lot to learn!!


So, in the spring Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to fight against Israel … in the plains. The army of Israel that encamped before them was as “two little flocks of goats” compared to the Syrians who filled the country.  (Hahaha. Oh, Ben-Hadad, did you never hear of David and Goliath??)


The prophet of God came to Ahab and said, “BECAUSE the Syrians claim the LORD is only a god of the hills, I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and YOU SHALL KNOW that I am the LORD.”


And the people of Israel struck down of the Syrians 100K foot soldiers in one day.  When the rest fled to a town, the wall fell on them and 27K more were killed.  Ben-Hadad hid deep in the town and sent a message to King Ahab, “Please let me live.“


AND HERE IS WHERE KING AHAB WENT WRONG.  God had “devoted the Syrian king to destruction,” meaning he was to be killed.  But King Ahab thought it would be cool not to kill him.


“He’s alive? He’s “my brother!” he said.


“Yes! Your brother, Ben-Hadad!”


“Go, bring him out.”


When the Syrian king was brought out, King Ahab invited him up into his own chariot. And the two kings made a trade deal between their countries. And …. Ahab let him go.


LATER…


The prophet of God came to King Ahab with a bit of play-acting, but then told him.  “Because you have let go the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore YOUR life shall be for HIS life, and YOUR people for HIS people.”  Dire news indeed.  Instead of the Syrians and their king under this law, now Ahab and Israel would be “devoted to destruction.”


Ahab, went home, vexed and sullen.  


.


1 Kings 21.


King Ahab’s boredom caused him to sin.  He saw a lovely vineyard that he coveted for himself. It belonged to another, but he WANTED it, and the obsession grew. 


 (Oh, my goodness, this reminds me of our favorite King David.  


Idleness is a TERRIBLE sin. 


It leads to much worse sin. 


Desire and lust and a flame in the belly, which James 1:14-15  says leads to death.


Watch out for it!!)


Ahab at first proposed to Naboth, the vineyard’s owner, that he give it to the king, in exchange for a “better vineyard.”  Or… he could sell it to Ahab, who would give him the vineyard’s value in money.” 


Reasonable, right?  NOT!


What Ahab neglected to realize in his coveting, is that the men of Israel had their land as a divine allotment from God.  They were not to sell/give it to someone outside their tribe.  He said “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.”


Ahab “lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food.”  


Really??  What a spoiled-brat!!


Enter his wicked wife, Jezebel.  “Hey, Hubby.  What’s wrong?”


“Naboth won’t give me his vineyard!”


“ARE YOU NOT THE KING OF ISRAEL!” she said.  “Get up, eat some bread, be happy!  I’ll get the vineyard for you!’


And the wicked Jezebel set into motion her wicked plan.  She defamed Naboth before of the town council, and tricked them into condemning the innocent vineyard owner. They killed him and sent a sweet note to the Queen.


“Naboth has been stoned. He is dead.”


And so, she skipped into King Ahab’s room with the news, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard for Naboth is not alive, but dead.”   And quickly, without any questions, Ahab got dressed and went down and took possession of it.


Sick!  And after all God had done for the king!


And God sent His top man, Elijah, to condemn the king.  “Arise, Elijah, go down and meet Ahab king of Israel in the vineyard of Naboth.


With this gruesome prophecy.


    

  • “Thus says the LORD: ‘In the place where dogs liked up the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick up YOUR blood.”
    • 



“Oh, my enemy!  You have found me!” said Ahab to Elijah.


And the LORD’s message continued.


    

  • “I have found you because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD. 
    • 

  • I will bring disaster upon you. I will utterly burn you up, and will cut off from Ahab EVERY MALE, bond or free in Israel.   
    • 

  • And….. of Jezebel, the dogs shall eat Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel. 
    • 

  • Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city, the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the country the birds of the heavens shall eat.”   
    • 



(And oh, wow, you will read about this happening in 2 Kings 9:10, 30-37.)


(“There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited.  He acted very abominably in going after idols.”)


And here’s another VERY INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT. Ahab tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. (This was not his usual pouting.)  In the Old Testament, this is a sign of REPENTANCE.  Was it sincere? 


God saw this evil, weak, man’s heart. “Because he has humbled himself before me,” said the LORD. “I will not bring this disaster in his days, but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster on his house.”


.


(Wow. There is hope for you and me.  God sees a person’s heart. He knows if repentance is real. He knows if we truly will humble ourselves before Him.  O, my heart, fall on your knees before the all wise, living God. He is merciful to save.)


 


 







			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 177


					
Jun26
			


	

		
Day 177.  Reading 1 Kings 16 and 2 Chronicles 17.








 


Read the Scriptures.


What are you discovering about the Kings of Israel/Judah?


How can you pray for your own country with these sins?


1 Kings 16.


I skipped a brief reign of Nadab, Jeroboam’s son in 1 Kings 15 yesterday. In the second year of King Asa in Judah (south), Nadab reigned in Israel (north). He did EVIL in the sight of God, just like Jeroboam had.  A man named Basha (house of Issachar), conspired against him and killed him in Philistine territory where they’d been fighting.


Basha then reigned in his place. And, as per prophecy (1 Kings14:9-11), he killed all the house of Jeroboam, leaving “none that breathed.”


King Basha (north) then reigned 24 years, and did EVIL in God’s sight.


Now, to chapter 16.


Because of his evilness, King Basha (north) also had a prophecy of utter destruction against him.  And so, King Basha died, and Elah his son reigned in his place.  In the 26th hear of the southern King Asa’s reign, King Elah (north) began to reign.  He made it two years,  But the Zimri, commander of half of his chariots, conspired against him.  When Elah was at a friend’s house, drunk as a skunk, Zimri came in and killed him.  Zimri then became the new (northern) king.  He also then killed all the remaining relatives of the house of Basha – as prophesied because of Basha’s and Elah’s sin.


King Zimri (north) reigned seven DAYS.  The troops still down in Philistine territory heard this, and made Omri  their “commander-in-chief.  When Zimri heard about it he went into the king’s house, set aflame and died inside.  WHOA!


So, after a power struggle with one Tibni, Omri became the new northern King. (King Asa still was reigning in Judah (south).)  King Omri reigned in the north for twelve years.  Halfway through his reign, he moved the capital to Samaria.  He also “did what was EVIL” in God’s sight.  He died and …. AHAB, his son, reigned in his place in the northern kingdom.


King Ahab reigned 22 years, and did “evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, he took his wife, JEZEBEL, the daughter of the Sidonian king (and priest of Baal) and worshiped him. Ahab erected an altar to Baal in Samaria, and made an Asherah (female version of Baal).  HE DID THOSE THINGS TO PROVOKE THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL TO ANGER, more than all the kings of Israel before him.


And, interestingly, during Ahab’s reign, a man named Hiel REBUILT JERICHO. If you remember in Joshua 6:29, Joshua cursed anyone who rebuilt that city, saying that it would be at the cost of the man’s first born and youngest sons.  That prophecy was fulfilled, but Jericho was rebuilt.


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2 Chronicles 17.


Meanwhile in the south, remember the long-reigning King Asa of Judah finally died from that stinky feet disease.  His son, Jehoshaphat reigned in his place.  The LORD was with King Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David.  He did not seek Baals, but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments.  THEREFORE, God established the kingdom in his hand.


He fortified the cities along the Judah-Israel boarder in Ephraim that his father had captured.


More significantly, in his third year of reign, he sent his officials, and with them the Levites, into the cities of Judah to teach them the Book of the Law of the LORD.  And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the land – that were AROUND Judah – and they made no war against King Jehoshaphat.


Some of the Philistines even came to King Jehoshaphat with gifts of silver, and the Arabians brought rams and goats as tribute. 


(This reminds me of Proverbs 16:7, that says, “If a man’s ways please the LORD, even his enemies are at peace with him.”)


Jehoshaphat built garrisons and store cities. His army was great and full of mighty men of valor.


(Why, oh why, don’t we always seek to please and honor and glorify the LORD.  What benefits!)


.


(Jehoshaphat DOES make a major mistake, however, which we’ll cover on Sunday.)


 


List of north/south kings:




 


 





			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 176


					
Jun25
			


	

		
Day 175.  Reading 1 Kings 15 and 2 Chronicles 13 – 16








 


Read Today’s Scriptures.


We now begin to read through the history of the reigning kings of the North and South. It can be confusing. Here are two helps.


1.) Check out (and maybe print) the list I posted yesterday of the kings and when they reigned.


2.) If you mark in your Bible, use a colored highlighter to mark the kings of the North, and a different color for the Southern kings.


1 Kings 15.


In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam (north), King Abijah/Abijam began to reign over Judah (south).  He reigned for three years. He walked in the sins of his father before him – his heart was not wholly true to the LORD, as the heart of David.


    

  • “Nevertheless, for David’s sake, the LORD gave him a ‘lamp’ in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem, because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  (I love this promise!)
    • 



.


2 Chronicles 13.


Now there was war between Abijah (south) and Jeroboam (north). Abijah, with 400K soldiers VS Jeroboam with 800K (who were positioned in front and behind Judah in an ambush stance.


But, although Abijah was not a good king, he had some good words to the Northern army that day.


    

  • “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel. Ought you not to KNOW that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons? Yet Jeroboam – a servant of Solomon – rebelled and, because Rehoboam was young and irresolute, took the northern tribes to reign over them. 
    • 

  • “And NOW you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David?  Because you are more in number and have golden calves???   AS FOR US, the LORD is OUR God, and we have not forsaken Him. We have priests ministering to Him, the sons of Aaron, and the Temple of God.
    • 

  • “Behold, God is with us at our head.  O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, because you cannot succeed.”
    • 



A bold proclamation, for sure, but then Judah noticed the 400K soldiers in front of them and the 400K behind them, ready to ambush. They “cried to the LORD, and the priests blew the trumpets, and the men of Judah raised the battle shout.”  And when Judah shouted, GOD defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and all Judah!  WHOA! And the men of Israel fled before Judah, who struck down 500K of Israel.


Why this massive victory?  “Because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.”


Jeroboam (north) did not recover his power in the days of Abijah (south). And the LORD struck him down, and he died.  But Abijah (south) grew mighty.


.


2 Chronicles 14.


Abijah (south) died and was buried in the City of David. His son, Asa, reigned in his place, and the land had rest for ten years.  “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God,”  taking away the foreign altars, the high places, and the Asherim pillars. He also commanded the people of Judah to “seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and keep the law and commands.”


The kingdom had rest under him. He had no war in those years, for the LORD gave him peace.


But then…


    

  • “Zerah, the Ethiopian, came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots!  WHOA!
    • 

  • And Asa cried to the LORD his God.  “O LORD, there is none like You to help between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your Name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.”
    • 

  • So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah. And they fled.  Asa and Judah pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell … until NONE remained alive. (a million!!!)  And Judah carried MUCH PLUNDER back to Jerusalem.
    • 



.


2 Chronicles 15.


Then the Spirit of God came on the prophet Azariah, and he took a message from God to King Asa (south), to Judah, and to Benjamin.


    

  • “The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.”  “But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”
    • 



And what was the “work” they had to do?  Clean out the land of all the detestable idols.  And as soon as Asa heard the prophet’s message, he took courage and put away the idols from Judah and Benjamin.


He also gathered those people from the northern tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel (north) when they saw that the LORD was with him.


All these, and Judah entered into a covenant to seek the LORD the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul.  They rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire … and He was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around.


And King Asa removed his mother, Maacah, from being queen mother, because she had made a detestable image for Asherah.   The heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. 


And there was no more war …. until the thirty-fifth year of his reign.


.


2 Chronicles 16.


In the 36th year of Asa’s reign (south), the (northern) king Basha went up against Judah.  He built a fort so no more of his people could leave him and go to King Asa. 


NOTE: Instead of crying to the LORD his God, King Asa took money (gold and stuff from the treasuries of the LORD) to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria in Damascus, and paid him to fight King Basha (north) so he would withdraw from King Asa (south).


Ben-Hadad agreed and sent commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel (north), and they conquered Dan, other cities, and all the territory of Naphtali. The northern king Basha heard of it and withdrew from building the fort against Judah. 


But…


This was NOT what King Asa should have done. The prophet Hanani said to him,


    

  • “Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of Syria has escaped you. (He could have battled them and won!)  
    • 

  • Were not the million Ethiopians a huge army, yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him.  
    • 

  • YOU HAVE DONE FOOLISHLY IN THIS. From now on, you will have wars.
    • 



Well, that did not make King Asa (south) happy.  In a furious rage, he took Hanani and put him in stocks in the prison!


“Did that help, Asa???  I think not.  Accept your sin! Repent! Ask forgiveness!!  But he didn’t. In fact, “he inflicted cruelties on some of the people at the same time!”


Three years later, “King Asa (south) was diseased in his feet (did he think about those prison stocks??) and his disease became severe. EVEN THEN, he did not seek the LORD, but went to doctors.  Sheesh!


He died two years later and was buried in a tomb that he’d cut for himself in the city of David.  Curiously, the people filled his casket with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art.  (YIKES, did his feet smell THAT bad???)  They made a very great fire in his honor.


(17:1 – And Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his place.)





			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 175


					
Jun24
			


	

		
(NOTE:  This is a continuation from Day 174, which I didn’t cover yesterday.  OOPS!   I’ll do it here.) (Day 174 (missing = 1 Kings 13-14) 


Day 175.  Reading 2 Chronicles 10 – 12








 


Read Both Days’ Scriptures.


(Note what causes the declines of the Northern & Southern Kingdoms.)


###


 


NORTH — (Jeroboam built two GOLDEN CALVES and put one each in Bethel (only 12 miles from Jerusalem) and Dan. He made temples for these idols and appointed priests to serve them.)

“Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”


And the people of Israel went up to the altars to make their offerings.  And they sealed their fate.,,,


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1 Kings 13. (This is a crazy-weird chapter!)


A “man of God” from Judah went to Bethel by the Word of the Lord.  He prophesied to the northern king, Jeroboam, who was standing there, about to make an offering to one of his golden calf idols, about a future king of the southern kingdom who would come and sacrifice THE FALSE PRIESTS on it.


Jeroboam stretched out his hand against the “man of God” to seize him. BUT HIS HAND FROZE IN THAT POSITION!  Jeroboam pleaded for him to pray to the LORD to restore his hand. He did, and God answered his prayer.


Jeroboam was so grateful that he invited the “man of God” to his home for some refreshment.


“Not on your life, for God has commanded me saying neither to “eat bread nor drink water in that place, NOR even to return the way I’ve come.”  And off this unnamed “man of God” goes …


So far, so good.


But then the STRANGE PART:  An “old prophet” lived nearby. His sons told him about the happenings at the idolatrous altar at Bethel and what “the man of God” had said.  He sent his sons off to meet the man on his return to Judah. The “man of God” repeated his instructions from God … BUT this (false) prophet counteracted God’s word and lied to him.  He said that he could get some refreshment.


The “man of God” believed this false prophet’s son OVER God’s word to him. (Hey, does God’s Word ever change?)  Sinfully, he returned to the “old prophet’s” house and had some bread and water. 


As he was sitting at the table, perhaps a piece of bread heading toward his mouth … the WORD OF GOD came to him. “You have disobeyed, Now will soon die.“


The “man of God” immediately left, and a lion killed him on the way home, then stood by his body (not eating him). The “old prophet” heard about it, went to the body, took it home with him, and buried it.  He mourned. He told his sons that when HE died, they were to open this man’s grave and bury him there too. (???)


He also admitted, ‘Surely the Word of the LORD against this altar in Bethel will come to pass.”  (It did in 2 Kings 23:15-20 with Josiah.)


The Old Prophet repented and believed, but Jeroboam did not. He appointed fresh false priests (anyone who wanted to be) and continued to cause Israel to sin.


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1 Kings 14.


Then another prophecy came to Jeroboam when his son, the crown prince, got very sick.  Jeroboam told his wife to go to the prophet of God, Ahijah, the one who had told him he would become king, and ask if their son would get better.


His wife obeyed, but the prophet identified her right away, despite being blind, because God alerted him..  Bad news. Yes, the son would die as soon as she returned home.  And here is why.


    

  • “I exalted you, Jeroboam, from among your people and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you. Yet you have NOT been like my servant David, who followed me with all his heart.
    • 

  • You have done evil. You made for yourself other gods and metal images and have cast Me behind your back. 
    • 

  • Therefore, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and cut off every male. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam until it is all gone.
    • 



AND, this dire prophecy as well …


    

  • And the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land, and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger. And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.
    • 



Yep, the boy died as soon as his mother came to the doorway of the house. All Israel mourned for him. He would be the ONLY one of Jeroboam to be buried and mourned, BECAUSE THERE WAS FOUND SOMETHING PLEASING TO THE LORD IN HIM.


Jeroboam reigned 22 years and died. His next son, Nadab, reigned in his place.


.


###


TODAY’S READING:


2 Chronicles 10.


This chapter retells the split of the Kingdom of Israel, after King Rehoboam’s foolish decision to be even harsher to the people than his father, Solomon, had been.


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2 Chronicles 11.


After the LORD forbade Rehoboam from warring against the people of the ten northern tribes, the king turned to Judah/Benjamin, the remaining tribes under his rule, and BUILT UP THE CITIES and FORTIFIED THEM HEAVILY.


It’s interesting that the priests and Levites who lived in all Israel moved south and presented themselves to King Rehoboam. They had left their land and holdings (cities) in Israel and came to Judah and Jerusalem.


“Those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel, to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers. They “strengthened” the kingdom of Judah … for they walked in the way of David and Solomon.


**** (And this saved their progeny.  For after the Babylonian Captivity, only the people of the southern kingdom of Judah returned to rebuild and live in the Land again.)


Rehoboam followed his father’s example and took a lot of wives and concubines (only 78, as compared to Solomon’s 1,000!)  But his “fave” wife was the daughter of Absalom!  Seriously??  And her son, Abijah, is the one he appointed to be king after him.  (Remember, Rehoboam was the son of one of Solomon’s foreign wives, Naamah, the Ammonite.)


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2 Chronicles 12.


So, after Rehoboam strengthened all his cities, sent his many sons to rule them, and welcomed the people and religious leaders from the north….. guess what?  He abandoned the law of the LORD, and Israel with him. (sigh)


And so … Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen, and people without number, including some from Libya and Ethiopia.  (He actually made it all the way to the Sea of Galilee!!)


He was unable to conquer both Israel and Judah, but he destroyed cities in Judah, took many of the gold treasures Solomon had amassed, and gained some control of the trade routes.


The princes of and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.”


When God saw this, he sent His prophet, Shemaiah, with the message…


    

  • I will not destroy them, and I will grant them “some” deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. NEVERTHELESS, they shall be servants to him, “that they may know My service … and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”
    • 



****(This was the first major military encounter with Egypt since the Exodus.  A taste of being enslaved again was bitter. God’s message was clear.  Forsake the worship of God, and they would lose His protection and blessing.)


And so ,,,


Rehoboam reigned seventeen years (five years less than Jeroboam) in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all of Israel to put His Name..  And although he did “humble himself before God” when the Egyptians came, he will go down in Jewish history as ….


“He did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.”


So Rehoboam died and was buried in the City of David.


His son, Abijah, reigned in his place.














			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 173 & 174


					
Jun23
			


	

		


Sundays and Mondays studies are posted together on Mondays


Day 173. Reading Proverbs 30 – 31




Day 174.  Reading 1 Kings 12








Read Today’s Scriptures.


What challenge, insight, or comfort do you find?




Day 173 – Proverbs 30.


“Words of Agur, son of Jakeh.”


Who in the world is Agur?


He is an unknown sage or oracle, possibly a student of wisdom at the time of Solomon.  1 Kings 4:30-31 mentions other “wise men” of the time from the East (Mesopotamia) and from Egypt, like Ethan, Heman, Calcol, And Darda.  (Who knew?)


Agur seems more humble than Solomon, with a heart towards God.  He confesses to “stupidity” and no “learned wisdom.” He confesses no knowledge of “the Holy one,” and yet he describes God well.


    

  • “Who has ascended to heaven and come down?  Who has gathered the wind in His fists?  Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth?  What is His Name, and what is His Son’s name?  Surely you know!”
    • 

  • And, “Every word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuged in Him. Do not add to His Words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar.”
    • 



Agur writes an interesting series of “four things” that he’s grouped together in wonder.  1) Things never satisfied,  2) amazing things to ponder, 3) things the earth trembles at, and 4) things that are stately in their stride.


And he includes this prayer, “Two things I ask of You; deny them not to me before I die. Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches.  Feed me the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny You, and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the Name of my God.”




I would pray such a prayer as well.


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Proverbs 31.


The Words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him.  Who in the world is King Lemuel? And who is his mother?


Jewish tradition identifies King Lemuel as King Solomon himself.  And his “godly mother” must be none other than Bathsheba.  She taught him about being a wise king (verses 2-9) and what an “excellent wife” looks like (verses 10-31).  (Too bad he didn’t stick with one such wife.)


Wow, does she ever scold the king!  I can almost see her grabbing his ear and pulling him away.


    

  • “What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? DO NOT GIVE YOUR STRENGTH TO WOMEN, YOUR WAYS TO THOSE WHO DESTROY KINGS!”
    • 

  • And “It is NOT FOR KINGS, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all.
    • 

  • “Give strong drink to the perishing, wine to those in distress. 
    • 

  • But “Open YOUR mouth for the mute…  Open YOUR mouth to judge righteously and defend the rights of the poor and needy.
    • 



And then the grown-wise mother tells her son the RIGHT kind of woman to marry.  Did she come to him too late?  Was he already involved in politics and power-machinations when he took Pharaoh’s daughter as his first wife?  Did her words fall on deaf ears?


“An excellent wife who can find?  She is far more precious than jewels……”


Read these verses slowly.


Some aspects are rooted in the agrarian culture of that day (perhaps you can transfer them to duties of a present-day wife/woman), but consider the ATTITUDES this woman displays. Surely her heart is full of the LORD.


    

  • She does her husband good all the days of her life.
    • 

  • She opens her hand to the poor; she reaches out her hands to the needy.
    • 

  • She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
    • 

  • A woman who fears the LORD….
    • 



Truly, her children and husband should rise up and praise her, calling her blessed.


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###


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Day 174 – 1 Kings 12.


And so the Kingdom of David’s Israel rips apart, from pride and arrogance, and the decree of God. 


North and South; “Israel” and “Judah.” King Jeroboam (the “Jerk”), son of a servant, friend of Pharaoh, and King Rehoboam (the “Royal”), son of Solomon, grandson of King David.  Both kingdoms start down a slippery slope of sin and idolatry.  It takes Judah longer (God is faithful to David), but both will end up in captivity; one will remain permanently there.


Oh, Solomon!  Why did you let your heart become divided with the glory, gold, and girls of the world, and forsake the Living God who gave you everything???


.


After his father died, Rehoboam went to Shechem to be crowned king of all Israel.  Jeroboam rushed from Egypt to Shechem as well (on standby).  The people stood between the two kingly candidates and presented an ultimatum to Solomon’s son.


    

  • “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”
    • 



And what did Rehoboam say?  “Um, I’ll get back to you in three days.”  WHAT???  Grab the kingdom, you worthless fool!


But Crown Prince Rehoboam wanted to “take an opinion poll.”


He asked his father’s advisors, old men, what he should do.


    

  • “Speak good words to them when you answer them, and they will be your servants forever.”
    • 



Then he asked counsel of the young men who had grown up with him (and probably hoped to be appointed to good positions).


    

  • “Tell them you will ADD to the heavy yoke of your father, and discipline them not with whips, but with ‘scorpions!’  (He liked their advice best.)
    • 



He returned and told the people all this. They rebelled and deserted Rehoboam. “We have no part in David, no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel!”  


    

  • “This was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that He might fulfill His Word, which He spoke by the prophet to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.”
    • 



Rehoboam sent his chief tax collector and head of forced labor to the north, but all Israel stoned him to death.  And Rehoboam got into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem.


So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.  When they heard that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt, they called him and made him KING over all Israel.


Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David. (And Benjamin, next to them.)


So, Rehoboam rallied 180K chosen warriors to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to the son of Solomon.


    

  • BUT God sent his prophet Shemaiah to say, “Thus says the LORD. You shall NOT go up or fight against your relatives, the people of Israel. Every man, return to his home, for this thing is from ME.”
    • 



.


And so, the end begins for the Northern Kingdom.  Jeroboam (the Jerk) built up Shechem and lived there. Then, fearful that the people would go back to the king of Judah when they went to Jerusalem to worship, he decided to build worship centers in Bethel and Dan.


And… having just come from Egypt… he built two GOLDEN CALVES and put one each in Bethel and Dan. He made temples for them and appointed priests to serve them.


“Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”


And the people of Israel went up to the altars to make offerings.  And sealed their fate.


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