Archives

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 214

Aug1

    Day 214—We are beginning the EIGHTH month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and prophecy.

    Day 214 – 2 Kings 20 – 21 (A repeat of Hezekiah’s sickness & foolishness, Manasseh & Amon)

Chapter 20 retells (from Isaiah 38) the latter years of King Hezekiah, how he became deathly ill, prayed, and was given 15 more years to live. He used those years foolishly, boasting to the visiting Babylonian well-wishers about all that he owned. Isaiah scolded him and foretold of when the Babylonians would ruthlessly attack and take it all away. Hezekiah was not concerned, however, because “at least it won’t happen in my days.”

Chapter 21 tells of his very wicked son, Manasseh becoming king at 12 years old. (He was born in Hezekiah’s last “foolish” 15 years!!). This guy was worse than any of the kings of the northern kingdom. Manasseh “did what was evil in the site of the LORD, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.”

He rebuilt the high places. He erected alters for Baal. He made Asherah poles. He worshiped all the host of heaven. He built altars to them IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD. He burned his son as an offering. He used fortune telling and omens. He dealt with mediums and necromancers. He carved an image of Asherah and set in the house of the LORD. He led Israel astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.

And BECAUSE of this…..  The LORD vowed to bring “such disaster on Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.”

After many years of utter evil (2 Chronicles 33 tomorrow will tell of his repentance after a terrifying incident!!), Manasseh dies and his evil son, Amon reigns for two years.  Manasseh’s legacy continues in the son, as he served and worshipped idols. “He abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers and did not walk in the way of the LORD. 

After two years, his servants killed him and made Josiah (at 8 years old) the new king.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 212

Jul30

    Day 212—We are in the seventh month of Bible reading, with more in Isaiah.

    Day 212 – Isaiah 59 – 63. (Israel’s evil ways & repentance, future glory of Israel, the LORD’s favor & salvation, the Day of the LORD)

Isaiah 59 talks about how Israel’s sin has separated them from their God. “your sins have hidden His face from you so that he does not hear.”  Their bloody hands, lying lips, unjust lawsuits, and feet that run to evil, as well as sinful thoughts, all condemn them.

Israel, like us, knows her sins and confesses, “For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities; transgressing and denying the LORD, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.”  

God saw all this and “wondered” that there was no man to intercede. “Then His own arm brought Him salvation, and His righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head.”   “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.

 

Isaiah 60 tells of the light that will shine forth from Israel “in that day.”  

“Arise, shine, for your LIGHT has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.”   “the LORD will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light.”

“The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.”

 

Isaiah 61. The beginning of this chapter is familiar to those who study the life of Jesus because He read this portion of scripture in the synagogue of His hometown of Nazareth to begin His ministry. And….. the Jews rejected Him, saying, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son??” They even tried to murder Him. (Luke 4:16-30) 

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring GOOD NEWS to the poor;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound."

Verse 10 echoes the heart of any who WILL believe and receive Jesus.  “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” (See 2 Corinthians 5:21)

 

Isaiah 62 speaks of the glory of Zion’s coming salvation.  

“Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth; say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, His reward is with him, and his recompense before Him.’ And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.”

 

Isaiah 63 speaks of “the LORD’s Day of Vengeance….” 

“Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments…”?

“Why is your apparel red and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?”

“I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood splattered on my garments and stained all my apparel.  For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come.”

It also tells of “the LORD’s Mercy….”

“I will recount the steadfast LOVE OF THE LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the GREAT GOODNESS to the house of Israel that He has granted them according to HIS COMPASSION, according to the ABUNDANCE OF HIS GREAT LOVE. 

For He said, Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.”

And He became their Savior.” 

“

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 200

Jul18

    Day 200—We are in the seventh month of Bible reading. Praise God!

    Day 200 –2 Kings 18, 2 Chronicles 29 – 31, Psalm 48. (Godly Hezekiah restores worship and Passover in Judah, then Sennacherib attacks)

The chapters in 2 Chronicles tell of the new King Hezekiah in Judah and how he “did right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.” 

Hezekiah removed the high places of idol worship and broke the pillars and Asherah. He even destroyed the bronze serpent Moses had made in the wilderness because the people had started to worship it. 

Hezekiah “trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there were none like him among all the kings of Judah after him or before him. He held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following Him but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. And THE LORD WAS WITH HIM. WHEREVER HE WENT OUT, HE PROSPERED.”

Right away, King Hezekiah gets the temple, the priests, and the Levites cleansed & concentrated so true worship of the LORD could be restored. The holy men responded and began the cleansing. They brought out the “filth from the Holy Place” and all uncleanness and dumped it in the Kidron valley.  For eight more days they consecrated the house of the LORD, putting back all the utensils used in the temple.

Then, with as many of the consecrated priests, they began the sin offerings to make atonement for all Israel. The Levites stood with instruments and encouraged the people to sing and worship the LORD. They sang the words of David and Asaph. They sang the songs with gladness, bowed down, and worshiped.

Psalm 48  

‘Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised,

in the city of our God!

His holy mountain,

beautiful in elevation,

is the joy of all the earth,

Mount Zion in the north,

the city of the great King.

We have thought on your steadfast love, O God,

in the midst of your temple.

As your name, O God,

so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.

Your right hand is filled with righteousness.

Let Mount Zion be glad!”

Then King Hezekiah invited any who were left in the northern kingdom of Israel to come and join Judah in the Passover celebration, so long neglected. He got jeers and mocking, but some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

Hezekiah knew there wouldn’t be time for them to consecrate themselves and encouraged them with, “The LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away His face from you if you return to Him.”   When they arrived, he prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness.”  And the LORD HEARD Hezekiah. 

And there was such a joyous celebration of Passover! They stayed for the seven days of Unleavened Bread and extended it another seven days. The Levites and priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with all their might to the LORD.  So they ate the food of the festival, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

“There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David King of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.”  And the prayers of blessing by the priests and Levites arose and came to His holy habitation in heaven.

.

Then, as it always happens, after “mountain top experiences” come the “dark valleys.”

“After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, came and invaded Judah and encamped against them.”

And the Rabshakeh (commander and spokesman for Sennacherib) taunted the king and people of Jerusalem. “On what do you rest this trust of yours?   In whom do you now trust?  Egypt? They are nothing. If you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed???  

And to the people on the wall, he called, “DO NOT let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.  DO NOT let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, the LORD will surely deliver us.  DO NOT listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you.  Has any of the gods of the nations EVER delivered his land out of the land of the king of Assyria???  Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that THE LORD SHOULD DELIVER JERUSALEM OUT OF MY HAND??”

However, the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”  But the king’s chief of staff came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. 

And we’ll see what the godly Hezekiah does in the next chapter (2 Kings 19) in nine days. Meanwhile, Isaiah.  

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 199

Jul17

    Day 199—We are in the seventh month of Bible reading and are continuing in Isaiah.

    Day 199 – Isaiah 23 – 27. (severe judgment, the Day of the Lord, and HOPE for God’s people)

Chapter 23 is the oracle of judgment on Tyre and Sidon. They are the traders of the world, and now the port cities are amazed at the judgment on them. Verses 8 & 9: “Who has purposed this against Tyre….”   “The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth.”

.

Chapter 24 describes the judgment on THE WHOLE EARTH!  “Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.”   “The earth shall be utterly empty   plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word.” 

“The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants, for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the EVERLASTING COVENANT.  Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their GUILT; therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.  (Maybe see Genesis 9:5-16.)

.

Chapter 25 speaks of home in that God will end death.  “He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.”

“It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God, we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

.

Chapter 26 continues with a song that will be sung in the land of Judah. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”

“Come, my people, enter your chambers and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed. For behold, the LORD is coming out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover up the murdered.”

.

Chapter 27. Israel will be redeemed. “In the days to come, Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom, and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.”   

“In that day, from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt, the LORD will thresh out the grain, and YOU will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel.  And in that day, a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain of Jerusalem.”

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 192

Jul10

    Day 192—We are in the SEVENTH month of Bible reading. Praise God! Today we read in another of the “minor prophets.”

    Day 192 – Amos 1 – 5. (Judgment on Israel and her surrounding nations)

The northern kingdom of Israel, under the rule of its evil kings, has become fat, proud, and merciless.  

God sends Amos from Judah to pronounce judgment on Israel in the days of King Jeroboam the 2nd for their idol worship and their lack of justice and cruelty to the poor. 

Interestingly, God’s judgments by Amos begin with the nations around Israel, but they circle closer and closer to the center of the “target,” His own people.

Amos uses the verbal device “for three transgressions, and for four, I will punish.”  It means their “cup of iniquity” was full at #3, overflowing at #4, and ripe for judgment.

       Damascus (Syria). God will punish and send fire to the houses of Hazael and Ben-hadad for their cruelty and greed.

       Gaza (Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron: the Philistines). God will devour their strongholds and cut off the people and kings, and they will perish because they delivered God’s people to Edom.

       Tyre. God will also send fire to this country and devour them for their betraying God’s people to Edom.

       Edom. The second, closer circle begins now. God’s anger was against Edom for pursuing God’s own people with the sword and without mercy.

       Ammonites. God also will send fire, devastation, and exile on them for their cruelty and greed.

       Moabites. The same as with Ammon. But Moab “will die amid uproar.” God will cut off its king and all the princes.

       Judah.  Even the southern kingdom of Judah, God’s own people, does not escape judgment.  But their sin is worse. “They have rejected the law of the LORD and not kept His statutes.” Fire and destruction will devour Judah and Jerusalem.

       And finally, Amos comes to Israel.

God will judge them for the selfish way they’ve treated the poor and needy while living rich in their own homes. They have profaned God’s holy name by incest and sexual sin.

God lists all the good He has done for Israel, but they turned and despised Him.  And so, God will “press them down in their place, make them inadequate to fight enemies, fearful enough to flee away naked.” 

God’s heart was toward them. “You only, have I known of all the families of the earth…”   “Therefore… and adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses, and your strongholds shall be plundered.”

Amos tells them, “The LORD has sworn by his holiness that the days are coming upon you when they shall take you away with hooks.”

God reminds them of all the past warnings he sent them, yet “you did not return to me.”  And now, the verdict has come.  “Therefore this I will do to you, O Israel…. prepare to meet your God.”

He pleads with them, “Seek me and live.”  “Seek the LORD and live.”   “Seek good and not evil that you may live; Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

But they do not turn, and the LORD says, “I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.” (the Assyrians)

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 188

Jul6

    Day 188—We are in the seventh month of Bible reading. Praise God!  We are reading the second minor prophet today.

    Day 188 – Jonah 1 – 4. (God’s rebellious prophet)

From 2 Kings 14:25-27, we know that Jonah (from a town in Zebulun) lived and prophesied in the time of Jeroboam 2nd in the northern kingdom of Israel. He had said that that king would restore much of Israel’s land taken by Syria BECAUSE the LORD had mercy on the people. Even though Jonah knew that God was merciful (Jonah 4:2), he hated that God’s mercy would be shown to the cruel Assyrians.

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message I will tell you.”

When God told his prophet to preach to Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, Jonah went in the opposite direction.  Instead of traveling east (toward modern-day Iraq), he hopped aboard a boat bound west for Tarshish (Spain).

He immediately went to sleep. Above him, a storm raged, and the sailors panicked. They prayed to their gods. They tossed the cargo overboard. Finally, they woke Jonah and discovered the real reason for their predicament. He worshipped God, the creator of the land and SEA, and he was running away in disobedience to that God.  “Toss me overboard, and you’ll be okay,” he suggested. They didn’t want to but eventually did what he said. And the storm was immediately calmed….and they praised God.

Jonah preferred death to preaching to the Assyrians. But God did not let him “off the hook.” A specially prepared fish swam by and gobbled up the sinking prophet. Inside that icky fish stomach, the prophet remained for three days. He prayed while the fish swam east, where it finally vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Like an echo, the word of the LORD to Jonah came again, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I will tell you.”

Can you imagine Jonah’s great sigh as he brushed the sand off and stomped toward Nineveh?  He finally arrived at this massive city (It took three days to walk across it!), walked a third of the way in, and said, “In forty days, Nineveh shall be overthrown!”  

And miracle upon miracle, Nineveh truly repented. From the king down to the cattle, they removed their robes, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes.  And God relented, just as Jonah knew He would. (Psalm 86:15, 103:8)  (Nineveh was eventually destroyed, but they were given a merciful reprieve here.) 

Meanwhile, Jonah leaves the city, climbs a hill, and waits for the fiery destruction, perhaps like Sodom and Gomorrah?  But inside, he knows it wouldn’t happen. And that angers him. Just like the plant angered him, the one God caused to grow over him for shade, and then it died because a little worm killed it, allowing the burning sun to scorch his head. Nothing, it seems can make Jonah happy.  Jonah even prays to die. 

God chides him for thinking more of a plant than a city full of children and repentant adults. But Jonah remains silent in his gloom. 

 

You might think this was an allegory and not about a real person, except Jeroboam 2nd knew him, and Jesus mentioned him in Matthew 12:39-41 when the Pharisees asked him for a sign. 

“But He answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with THIS generation and condemn it, for THEY repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”

By the way, the Pharisees were also wrong when they said to Nicodemus that no prophet comes from Galilee. Did they forget Jonah? John 7:50-52.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 186

Jul4

    Day 186—We are in the seventh month of Bible reading, continuing with the history of Israel (North and South)

    Day 186 – 2 Kings 12 – 13, 2 Chronicles 24. (confusing kings – Jehoash, Joash, Jehoahaz, Jehoash 2, Joash)

2 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 24.  Jehoash/Joash, at seven years old, begins to reign in the southern kingdom of Judah. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD during the days of his mentor, the priest Jehoiada. 

He instigated repairs to the Temple but had to take matters into his own hands when the Levites were slow to do this. He had an “offering chest” made where the people could directly give toward the repairs. The people responded willingly.

Then Hazael, king of Syria, attacked and took Gath, a city of Philistia, to Judah’s west. He then looked to attack Jerusalem, but Joash took all the sacred gifts and gold from the king’s house and gave them to Hazael. Satisfied, he went away. 

The old priest finally died and was buried among the kings in the City of David because he had done “good” in Israel. After his death, the princes of Judah came in and influenced the king to abandon the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and serve Asherim and idols. God sent prophets with warnings, but none were heeded. 

Then Zechariah, the son of the “good” priest, called out to them, “Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has forsaken you!”  But shamefully, by Joash’s own command, Zechariah was stoned to death in the temple court. 

The Syrians then sent a small army against Judah (in judgment). They destroyed all the princes, wounded Joash, and took spoils to their king. Then, the king’s servants (who happened to be an Ammonite and a Moabite), who supported the godly priest and his son, killed Joash in his bed. They buried him in the City of David but not among the kings. He had reigned for 40 years.  His son, Amaziah, became king.

 

2 Kings 13.  Back in Israel in the north, Jehoahaz, the son of that bloody Jehu who had annihilated Ahab’s line, began to reign in Israel. Like all the kings in the north, he did evil in the sight of the LORD.  In judgment, the LORD caused Hazael, then Ben-Hadad, the kings of Syria, to attack and harass them continually. 

Jehoahaz temporarily turned to the LORD for help, and God was gracious and gave them “a savior.” This could have been Elisha, who often caused Israel’s success by telling them what the enemy was doing, or it might have been the Assyrian king, whose attack on Syria, caused them to withdraw from Israel. In either case, it was God who arranged it.

Nevertheless, Jehoahaz stuck to his evil ways. He died after a 17-year reign, and his son, Joash (not to be confused with the 7-year-old king in Judah), reigned in his place. This Joash reigned for 16 years and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

Now, Elisha, that mighty prophet in Israel, got sick with the illness he would die from.  King Joash of Israel came to him about the attacks from Syria. Through some “object lessons” involving shooting arrows and striking the ground with arrows, Elisha shows him that Israel will have victory over Syria… but only three times. 

Then Elisha died, and they buried him. But the miracles of the prophet weren’t done yet!  As another man was being buried, a marauding band of Moabites appeared. The grave diggers quickly threw the dead man into Elisha’s grave.  When the body touched Elisha’s bones, he was immediately resurrected!! WHOA!

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 180

Jun28
   Day 180—We are in the 6th month of Bible reading and continue with the history of Israel.

 Day 180 – 1 Kings 22, 2 Chronicles 18. (Both of these chapters tell of the end of King Ahab.)

Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, the southern kingdom, made a marriage pact with Ahab, king of Israel, the northern kingdom.

(Big mistake! 2 Kings 8:18 says that the son Jehoshaphat married off to Ahab’s daughter, “walked in the ways of Ahab, doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD.”)

In-laws now, Jehoshaphat visited Ahab and agreed to go to war with Syria with him. But first, the godly Jehoshaphat wanted to inquire of the LORD concerning the battle.  Ahab brought out his 400 prophets.

(These could have been the 400 prophets of Asherah that “ate at Jezebel’s table,” who were on Mt. Carmel when Elijah showed who was the REAL God by fire from heaven, but who escaped being killed when Elijah slaughtered the prophets of Baal. See 1 Kings 18:17-18 and 40.)

These 400 prophets all said Ahab should go to battle because he would be victorious. However, Jehoshaphat was suspicious of all the duplicate messages and asked if there was ANOTHER prophet. Ahab said there was, but he didn’t like Micaiah because that prophet always had terrible news for him. Nevertheless, the prophet of the LORD was brought, and he said that Ahab WOULD DIE in battle.

400 to 1?  Nope. Ahab wouldn’t listen to Micaiah and put him in jail “till I return safely.” Ha!

And off the two kings went to fight the Syrian despot. Just before entering the fray, Ahab told Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but YOU wear your robes.”

What?? Surely Jehoshaphat saw through that ploy!  But no, the southern king rode out in his royal chariot in his royal robes and crown. Then he wondered why all the enemy chariots and arrows were aimed at HIM!  “Help, LORD!” he cried, and God drew them away.

Then, a random soldier shot a random arrow in a random direction… and it struck the disguised King Ahab between his breastplate and his shoulder chainmail and mortally wounded him. As his chariot driver raced him out of the war zone, Ahab’s blood poured out on the chariot floor…until he died.

As Micaiah, the prophet of the LORD, said.

And as had been prophesied by Elijah, when the workers washed Ahab’s blood from the chariot by the pool of Samaria, dogs came and licked it up. (1 Kings 21:19)

..

AHAZIAH, son of Ahab, began to reign in Samaria in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat’s reign.  He reigned for TWO YEARS. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of this father and mother, Jezebel, who walked in the way of Jeroboam. Ahaziah served and worshiped Baal and provoked the LORD to anger in every way.

Jehoshaphat reigned for 25 years, walking in the way of his father, Asa, and doing what was right in the sight of the LORD. He died and was buried in the city of David. JEHORAM, his son (married to a daughter of Ahab), reigned in his place.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 179

Jun27

   Day 179—We are in the 6th month of Bible reading and continue in the History of Israel.

 Day 179 – 1 Kings 20 – 21. (More about King Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah)

In 1 Kings 20, Ben-Hadad II, king of Syria, Israel’s enemy to the north-east, along with thirty-two of his chieftains, attacked the Northern kingdom’s capital city and demanded surrender.  King Ahab agreed to their taking tribute in general but refused to allow Ben-Hadad to ransack his palace.

There were “fighting words,” and the two nations prepared for war. Then, an unnamed prophet of God came to Ahab and told him Israel would succeed, but he was to attack immediately.  It was lunchtime, and Ben-Hadad was drinking himself drunk, as were his 32 chieftains. Ahab attacked, and all the Syrians ran away.

The prophet told Ahab they would return in the Spring, so prepare. He did, and although Israel’s army looked like two little flocks of goats, they fought the Syrian army and struck down 100K men! Twenty-seven thousand escaped to the city of Aphek, but a wall fell on them and killed them all.

Ben-Hadad got away, then dressed in sackcloth and begged for mercy from King Ahab.  INSTEAD OF KILLING HIM, as the LORD wanted, Ahab made friends with the defeated king and even sealed some business deals with him between Samaria and Damascus.  The prophet returned to Ahab and condemned his actions, saying that now Ahab and Israel would pay for it with their lives.

“And the king of Israel went to his house vexed and sullen.” 20:43

.

1 Kings 21.  Still moping around the house, one day, King Ahab looked out his window at his neighbor’s beautiful vineyard. He coveted it for a veggie garden that would be so near his kitchen.

“Give me your vineyard…. and I will give you a better vineyard, or, if you like, I will give you its value in money.” the king said to neighbor Naboth.

“Nope. It’s my inheritance from my fathers.” (land allotted to tribes and families upon conquering the promised land), said Naboth (entirely in his right).

So Ahab went to bed, turned his face to the wall, and sulked.  He would not even eat!  What a spoiled brat!

Then, along comes the baby-spoiler, the queen herself.  Maybe patting his back, she says, “Why is your spirit so vexed that you don’t eat?”

“Because Naboth won’t give me his vineyard, sniff, sniff.”

“Aren’t you the KING? Get up and eat,” commanded the wicked Jezebel. “I’ll get that vineyard for you,”  

And she does, by falsely accusing Naboth of cursing God and King and condemning him to death by stoning. (She was devious and had a couple worthless men do the accusing.)  Regardless, she got the vineyard for Ahab.  Ahab was gleeful and immediately went outside to look over “his” vineyard.

Meanwhile, God had instructed Elijah to go to Ahab in the vineyard and give him this curse, “Thus says the LORD, ‘In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick YOUR own blood.'”

“You have found me, O my enemy,” said Ahab.

“I have found you because you do what is evil in the sight of the LORD.” He says, “Behold, I will bring disaster on you. I will utterly burn you up and will cut off from you, Ahab, every male in Israel….”   “And about Jezebel, the dogs shall eat Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel.”

Shock of all shocks!!! Ahab repents. He tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth, fasts, and mourns. Wow.

And Israel’s omnipotent, Almighty, and Holy God shows mercy to this wicked king.  “Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the disaster in his days, but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster to his house.’  Double-wow!

James 4:6b.  “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 177

Jun25

   Day 177—We are in the 6th month of Bible reading and reading the history of Israel. All the kings in the north were evil in the sight of the LORD, while in the south, a few were pleasing to him, but most also did evil.

 Day 177 – 1 Kings 16, 2 Chronicles 17. (FIVE kings in the northern kingdom; ONE king in the south)

1 Kings 16 describes five kings of Israel in rapid succession, each worse than the former. Baasha became king after killing King Nadab and the entire “house of Jeroboam,” which fulfilled prophecy. Baasha was from the tribe of Issachar and reigned wickedly for 24 years. 

The prophet Jehu came to King Baasha and said that God would wipe him and his entire family off the map because of his sins. Baasha died, and his son Elah reigned for two years. One day, when Elah was drunk, Zimri, the commander of half his army, came in and killed him and became king in his place. As soon as Zimri began to reign, he killed all of Baasha’s family AND all of his friends, fulfilling the word of the LORD via Jehu. 

Zimri must have done a quick job of it because he reigned only seven days. The rest of the troops and all of Israel made Omri king in his place.  When Zimri saw this, he went into the king’s house, set it afire while he was inside, and died.  Suicide. 

King Omri reigned twelve years, fortified a few cities, and made Samaria the capital of Israel. But he did evil in the sight of the LORD even MORE than those before him. When Omri died, his son Ahab became King.  Ahab did more to provoke the LORD than all the kings before him, but his wife, Jezebel, far outdid him in wickedness. 

Side note:  A fulfillment of prophecy is mentioned in 16:34. It says that the city of Jericho was rebuilt during Ahab’s reign but that Hiel, the builder, lost both his oldest and his youngest sons in the construction. This fulfilled the prophecy of Joshua 6:26 to the letter.

..

2 Chronicles 17 describes the godly king Jehoshaphat, who reigned 25 years in Judah (the southern kingdom).

After his father Asa (diseased severely in his feet) died and was cremated, Jehoshaphat came to the throne. Verses 3-6 say, “The LORD was with 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, not according to the practices of Israel. Therefore, the LORD established his kingdom in his hand.”  “His heart was courageous in the ways of the LORD.”

In King Jehoshaphat’s third year of reign, he sent his officials and the Levites around Judah to teach “the book of the Law of the LORD.” “And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands around Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat.”

(This reminds me of Proverbs 16:7. “When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”)