Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 191

Jul10

Day 191 – Reading – Isaiah 5 – 8

Read today’s Scriptures.  Do you see anything you love in these chapters?

Isaiah 5.

The parable of the vineyard (5:1-7).  I can never read these verses without “hearing” the song that the Christian organization, JEWS FOR JESUS, sang so many years ago.

https://www.invubu.com/music/show/song/Liberated-Wailing-Wall/Vineyard-Song.html

Here is the last stanza of their song:

O, you who seek the Lord today
The lesson still holds true.
For what he sought of Israel
He still requires of you.
O, walk with Him in righteousness
And be a fruitful vine.
And press your life into His hands
That He might drink the wine.

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Anyway, Isaiah said it first, a song he wrote to the Lord, his “beloved.”  It’s a sad song, but it portrays Israel and Judah in that day. God did EVERYTHING for His Chosen Nation, including giving them this land forever. But they (like we all do) turned away from Him.  And the consequences?  They would be removed from that “very fertile land.” 

The LORD looked for justice and righteousness… but found in His people only bloodshed and iniquity. 

Jesus, the true vine, promises good and abundant fruit from us, His Chosen, when we abide in Him. (John 15:1-11)

Isaiah 5:8-30 tells of the consequences of Israel’s “rejecting the law of the LORD of hosts, and despising the Word of the Holy One of Israel.”  (Six woes)  And the LORD was “angry with his people. He stretched out His hand and struck them.”   

Isaiah says that God will “whistle for the nations far away … and quickly, speedily they will come.”  The picture is of a strong and well-equipped army.  “Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and NONE CAN RESCUE.“

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Isaiah 6.

This chapter shows the original calling of Isaiah, before he began to prophesy. He received the prophecies of the first five chapters AFTER this astonishing event.  He describes it here to authenticate what he’s written.  ‘Here’s how it happened, folks. Here’s how God called me…..’

  • “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train (hem) of his robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim.” 
  • “And one called to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’
  • “And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
  • “And I said, ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
  • “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he TOUCHED my mouth and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
  • “And I heard the voice of the LORD saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
  • “Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.”

Then God gave Isaiah his ‘marching orders.’  He was to go to the people of Israel and give them the warnings and predictions God would tell him.  They would not hear, their eyes would be blind, their hearts would be without understanding.  But still, Isaiah was to TELL THEM.

“How long, O Lord?” Isaiah asked.  God told him, “Until the cities lie waste and empty and the LORD removes the people far away, and the land is burned.”   

But God promised that a “holy seed” or remnant, WOULD hear and believe.

*** (WOW, what an experience!  Isaiah was changed.  And he went out to prophesy. (Go through the first chapters again, with this image in your mind.)

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Isaiah 7.

And now we see the armies that the LORD “whistled for.”  

In the days of Judah’s King Ahaz (grandson of Uzziah),  the kings of Syria and Israel (north) came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it.  When King Ahaz and the people heard they were coming, their hearts “shook as trees in the wind.”  So God sent Isaiah to meet King Ahaz at a specific location and to tell him…

  • “Be careful. Be quiet. Do not fear. Do not let your heart be faint because of these two ‘smoldering stumps of firebrands’ because they have devised evil against Judah.
  • “It will not stand. It shall not come to pass. Soon, Israel would cease to be a people, and Syria would be conquered by Assyria.

Then the LORD gave King Ahaz a choice to trust Him or not. 

He even told Ahaz to “ask for a sign to prove it was true … a GREAT sign (deep as the grave or high as heaven).”  But King Ahaz was afraid to “put the LORD to a test.”   (EVEN THOUGH THE LORD TOLD HIM TO!!!)

You can feel God’s exasperation when he says, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary GOD also???  Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign.”

Does that sound familiar?  You’ve read it in Matthew 1:22-23.

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name, Immanuel.   Then the prophecy gets more specific for King Ahaz.  Before a son born in nine months can distinguish between evil and good… the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. They will meet their doom at the hands of the King of Assyria.”  Whew! Good news, right?

(Not so reassuring was that the LORD would also bring the Assyrians against Judah. It would be the beginning of the end for them as well.  Babylon would eventually lead them into captivity.)

And the LORD would whistle for “the fly” (Egypt, known for flies) and “the bee” (Assyria, known for beekeeping).  These insects represented the armies of these countries, which would overrun Judah.

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Isaiah 8.

Then another strange prophecy that would foretell the Assyrian invasion.  Isaiah and his wife would get pregnant and have a son. They would name the boy, Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  Yep, you got that right. (Would you call him “Baz” for short?)  The words mean, “the spoil speeds, the prey hastens,” and they are a prophecy to Israel.

BUT, because King Ahaz called for help from Assyria against the nearer enemies, and didn’t call on God, that far enemy would rise like a massive flash flood and overwhelm them too … to their necks.

(***** Imagine if all these scary predictions were leveled at our own country.  Would the words sink in and be believed?  Would we turn from our wicked ways and seek “the gently flowing waters of Shiloah” (the Lord)?)

God gave a message to Isaiah and warned him not to walk in the way of the people, “Do not fear what they fear or dread what they dread. But the LORD of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary … and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and … taken.”

Whoa.

Isaiah answered. “I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Israel, and I will hope in Him.”

I agree with Isaiah. Wait for HIM, Hope in HIM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.


.


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.


.


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, Day 185


					
Jul4
			


	

		
Day 185 – Reading – 2 Kings 9 – 11




Read today’s Scriptures. Whoa! The prophesied Jehu. What do you learn about him?


2 Kings 9.


God had previously told Elijah, way back at Mt Horeb, that Jehu would become king over Israel, and he would kill all those involved in the worship of Baal (1 Kings 19:17).  The time had come for Elisha to see to Jehu’s anointing. He sent one of the young prophets to Ramoth-Gilead (that Eastern border town with Syria) to find Jehu and privately commission him.


Say, “I anoint you king over Israel.” THEN OPEN THE DOOR AND FLEE. DO NOT LINGER!”


The young prophet-student did just that … adding, “AND … you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that God may avenge on Jezebel the blood of His servants the prophets of the LORD.”  “AND, the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel and none shall bury her.”


“Then he opened the door and fled.”


Jehu came out and told his fellow servants, “Well, the LORD says I am anointed king over Israel.” 


And all those men threw down their garments, blew the trumpet, and proclaimed, “JEHU IS KING!”


FIRST THING:  Jehu plotted to kill Israel’s king Joram. He told the servants who’d proclaimed HIM king to keep quiet and tell no one of this.  Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, because Joram (injured in the battle) lay there.  King Ahaziah of JUDAH was also visiting him. 


The king saw him coming and sent messengers (who did not return). But a servant exclaimed, “The driving is like the driving of Jehu, for he drives furiously!”


Both the king of Israel and the king of Judah got into their chariots and went out to meet Jehu. They came together at the property of Naboth. (Remember, he was the righteous vineyard keeper whom Jezebel killed so Ahab could make a veggie garden.)


“Is it peace?” asked the king of Israel.


“What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?”


King Joram saw the situation, turned his chariot around, and fled.  Jehu shot an arrow into his back, clear to his heart, and killed him.  “Throw his body onto Naboth’s land, as the LORD had prophesied.’


Judah’s king Ahaziah also fled, and Jehu shot him too.  Ahaziah’s servants carried him back to Jerusalem for burial.


When Jehu came to Jezreel, where the kings lived, Jezebel heard he was coming. She put on her makeup and fixed her hair.  Then she leaned out her window to watch his approach. “Is it peace, your murderer of your master?”


Jehu looked up and asked, “Who’s on my side?”  Several of her eunuch servants nodded.


“Throw her down!” commanded Jehu.  And they did.


She fell splat, for the window was way up high. Some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses and they trampled on her.


Jehu and his party went inside, ate, and drank.  Finally, Jehu said that they should see about burying that “cursed woman.”  But outside, only her skull, the bottoms of her feet, and the palms of her hands could be found.  The dogs had totally consumed her.


“Ah,” said Jehu. “This fulfills the word of the LORD that Elijah spoke.” (1 Kings 21:23)


.


2 Kings 10.


Jehu continues to fulfill the prophecy and commands of the LORD.  He conspired and succeeded in killing all 70 of Ahab’s sons. He also killed all of Ahab’s great men, close friends, and priests. He left none standing.  He even killed a group of Ahaziah’s (the dead king of Judah) relatives as they came to visit Israel. Jehu struck down all who remained of Ahab in Samaria.


THEN, he tricks the worshippers of Baal into attending a big celebration for Baal.  Not one was to miss this.  And when they all assembled in the house of Baal, and while they were sacrificing, Jehu’s 80 soldiers went in and killed them all.  They brought out the statue of Baal and burned it. Then, they demolished the house of Baal and burned it too …and made it a latrine (toilet) to this day. 


BUT, he did not destroy the golden calves that were in Dan and Bethel.


Nevertheless, because he had obeyed God’s command about the house of Ahab and the worshippers of Baal, He promised King Jehu that his sons would reign on Israel’s throne for four generations.


.


But the Syrians under King Hazael began to “cut off parts of Israel,” starting on the east side of the Jordan River, taking all the land of the three tribes of Israel who lived there (Gad, Reuben, 1/2 tribe of Manasseh).


Jehu reigned 28 years in Samaria. When he died his son Jehoahaz reigned in his place.


.


2 Kings 11.


This is a repeat telling of the wicked Queen Athaliah (2 Chronicles 22 – 23) when she saw that her son was dead (killed by the second arrow of Jehu). She killed all his children living in Jerusalem and set herself up as Queen in Judah (no one believed her). But she missed the baby Joash, who was hidden with his wet-nurse by a priest and his wife for seven years. At that time, the priest arranged for him to be anointed, crowned, and hailed as king … and for Athaliah to be killed.


The boy-king reigned and did what was right in God’s eyes.


.


(WHOA. This was a bloody day of reading. Evil is wiped out, and good (mostly) triumphs.  For a while.


Oh, LORD, I know our hearts are desperately wicked.  How can you love us and forgive?  Thank you for Jesus, the pure, sinless Son who sacrificed his life in our wicked place, so we could be forgiven!)





			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 184


					
Jul4
			


	

		
Day 184 – Reading – 2 Kings 5 – 8




Read today’s Scriptures.  Do you see connections?


2 Kings 5.


The setting: 


    

  • Syria
    • 

  • Samaria
    • 

  • the Jordan River
    • 



Characters:


    

  • Elisha the prophet,
    • 

  • Gehazi, Elisha’s servant,
    • 

  • Ben-Hadad II, King of Syria,
    • 

  • Naaman, supreme commander of the Syrian army, 
    • 

  • a young Jewish servant girl
    • 

  • King Jehoram/Joram, (2nd son of Ahab to rule Israel),
    • 



Naaman (meaning gracious and fair) was highly regarded by the king of Syria, DESPITE having leprosy. (Lepers didn’t seem to be shunned and isolated as they were in Israel.)  He had conducted many successful raids into Israel on behalf of Ben-Hadad II, and on one of them had brought back a young Jewish girl to be servant to his wife. 


One day, this little girl was brave enough to tell her mistress that Naaman could be healed if he went to the prophet in Samaria.  The wife told Naaman. The Syrian king gave him permission, and sent Naaman to Samaria with a letter to King Jehoram.  He also took looks of gold, silver, and fancy clothes to pay for the healing.


King Jehoram  was shocked and thought Naaman’s request was a way to quarrel with him. But Elisha heard about it and told the king of Israel to send Naaman to him, “That he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”


Naaman goes, but is insulted that Elisha’s servant gives him the prescription for healing.  Not only does Elisha not come out to mee him, but he says to dip in the Jordan River seven times and he’ll be healed.


“I’m not doing that! Aren’t there better rivers in Syria?  And the guy didn’t even come out to talk to me in person. Doesn’t he know who I am?”   And Naaman gathered his company and his gifts and began to leave.  But…. one of his men asked if it wasn’t “worth a try” since they’d come all this way? 


Naaman relented and dipped in the muddy Jordan 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 times … and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child. He was “clean.”


He went back and tried to pay Elisha with all the treasure, but the prophet of God refused. GOD had healed Naaman, not Elisha. He was only the messenger.  And so Naaman headed back to Syria, a changed man, praising and worshipping the God of Israel.  Until…..


Greedy Gehazi, thought HE could use some of that loot.  On his own, he ran to Naaman, told him a lie (the master changed his mind because unexpected guests had come), was greedy and accepted two silver talents and two changes of extravagant clothing. Then Gehazi deceived his master and hid his loot from Elisha (who could see through walls and across miles) and then lied to him right to his face.  Of course Elisha confronted Gehazi about it, and in the end, the servant (and his descendants) got Naaman’s leprosy.


(UGH!  What lessons learned!!)


    

  • A lesson about “instant” and “far-reaching” results to greed, lying, and deception (Gehazi)! 
    • 

  • A lesson about humility and obedience (Naaman).  
    • 

  • A lesson learned about boldness to speak out for the LORD, no matter where you live (the slave girl)
    • 



.


2 Kings 6 and 7.


The Setting:


    

  • By the Jordan River
    • 

  • Syria and Samaria
    • 

  • Dothan, north of Samaria
    • 



The Characters:


    

  • Elisha
    • 

  • “Sons of the Prophets”
    • 

  • Ben-Hadad II, King of Syria
    • 

  • King of Israel
    • 

  • four lepers
    • 



The group of student prophets came to Elisha and wanted to build a bigger lodging place down by the Jordan.  Elisha agreed and went with them.  While chopping wood, on young man heaved a mighty blow with his “borrowed” axe, and the head came off. The piece of iron went flying right out into the Jordan River.  Oh, no!  OH, NO! cried the man. 


NOTE: The man was responsible for the axe he borrowed. Moses’ Law said that if an item was LOST, the borrower would have to make full restitution. (Exodus 22:7-15)  The poor student prophet had no money for an axe, that’s why he borrowed it. He could NOT pay the price of a new one.  .


Elisha took pity on him, asked where it had gone in, then cut off a stick and threw it into the water.  THE IRON AXEHEAD FLOATED!.  The young prophet dashed into the water to get it.  A Miracle!


.


Now this is kind of funny.  Wherever the Syrian King planned to attack Israel, God gave Elisha a “heads-up” and he told the king of Israel so they could be ready, or move away.  This happened again and again until the Syrian king was pulling his hair out.  “There must be a spy among us!”


But one of his servants said, “No, m’lord. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel. HE tells the king of Israel the words you speak in your bedroom.


The king ordered, “Go, see where he is that I may seize him.


“Behold, he’s in Dothan,”


So the Syrian army with horses and chariots surrounded the city. Elisha went out early that morning and saw them.  But his servant was terrified. “WHAT SHALL WE DO???”


“Don’t worry,” said the prophet of God. “Those who are with US are more than those who are with THEM.  And he prayed that the LORD would open the servant’s eyes. 


When the LORD did, the eyes of the young man saw, and behold, the mountain was FULL of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.


When the Syrian army attacked, Elisha prayed that God would strike them with blindness.  Then Elisha went to the Captain and said, ” You are going the wrong way. Follow me and I’ll take you to the man whom you seek.”


And he led them right into the middle of Samaria.  Then he prayed that their eyes were opened, and they were.  EEK!!  And King Jehoram came out and said, “SHALL I KILL THEM ALL?”


“No,” cried Elisha.  “Set bread and water before them and then talk to their leader.”  King Jehoram went over and above. He served them a great feast.  And when they were full and drunk, he sent the away to their master.


And… (get this) “The Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.”


(That’s what comes from obey God and loving (being kind) to your enemies. HA!!  (a good lesson learned!)


.


2 Kings 8.


Remember the Shunammite woman? Elisha came and restored her young son to life after he died of an illness.  Elisha had also said that she was to move away because a famine was coming for SEVEN years.  She listened to him and moved to the land of the Philistines. Now she was back after those years. She asked the king to have her land restored.  And, what do you know!  Elisha’s servant Gehazi just happened to be there talking to the king.  The king had asked to hear of some miracles of Elisha, and BEHOLD there was the woman and her son.  And so, the story told, the king restored the woman’s land to her, PLUS all the crops that had grown in the last 7 years.


.


The Elisha went to Damascus the capital of Syria.  King Ben-Hadad II was sick.  The king sent Hazael, his servant, to ask Elisha if he would live or die. (He sent 40 camel-loads of goods along too.)


Hazael asked for the king, “Will he recover from this sickness?”


Well, Elisha knew the sad truth.  YES, Hazael would recover from the illness, but this messenger, Hazael, would kill him and become king in his place.  Elisha saw with grief all the horrible things that the new king Hazael would do to Elisha’s people, Israel. (Set fortresses on fire, rip open bellies of pregnant women, dash the little ones to pieces.)


“WHAT?” cried Hazael.  “Am I but a dog to do such a thing??”


“The LORD has shown me.”


Back in the king’s chamber, Hazael told Ben-Hadad he would recover … then suffocated him to death. He then became king of Syria.


,


Next, we see a repeat of the story in Judah (2 Chronicles 21:4-20). Jehoshaphat dies and Jehoram his son becomes king in Judah (south).  He was evil like Ahab (Jehoram’s wife was the daughter of Ahab), but God did not destroy him for the David’s sake and the “promised Lamp” to come.


He died and Ahaziah his son reigns for one year. His mother was the wicked Athaliah. He got sick and died.


.


The history of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah is so discouraging. Israel has only wicked kings, but because of the intermarriage with the house of Ahab, the evil invades Judah too, until the wicked Athaliah is killed (Chapter 11).


 





			


	



			
				


	

		
Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 183


					
Jul2
			


	

		
Day 183 – Reading – 2 Kings 1 – 4




Read today’s Scriptures.  Elijah/Elisha, how do they encourage you?


2 Kings 1.


We are backing up a little in time, and peering at the northern kingdom (Israel) and catch up with the southern kingdom, whose king was the boy, Joash. (Refer to the “kings” chart.


After Ahab died, his equally wicked son Ahaziah became king.  (Moab is going to rebel against Israel as Verse 1 says, but not until the NEXT king comes along. (chapter 3) First, God deals with this wicked king/son of Ahab.)


King Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber and lay sick (injured internally?).  He sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub (prince Baal), the god of Ekron (Philistine). 


*** (I guess his father, Ahab, never told Ahaziah about how Elijah’s true God had defeated 400 of this god’s priests on Mt. Carmel, who had called on, inquired of, and pleaded desperately with … and NONE had evoked a response from that dead god.) 


WE might ask, the same question Elijah asks when he heard what the king was doing.  “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron???


When the men returned to King Ahaziah, he was furious with Elijah.  He sent a captain with 50 men to bring the prophet back to Samaria.  Elijah’s signature “fire from heaven (from God)” took care of them.


Ahaziah sent another captain with 50.  Same thing.


Ahaziah sent a third captain with 50.  This man was scared-smart.  He fell to his knees and pleaded with Elijah to spare his life and that of his men. This was a sign from God that it was safe for Elijah to see the king.


Elijah tells king Ahaziah, “You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.”


And he died.


Ahaziah had no sons, so Jehoram, his brother (another son of the wicked King Ahab), began to reign. 


NOTE:  (DON’T GET CONFUSED.  In the south, in Judah, another Jehoram, Jehoshaphat’s son, reigned there when that king died.  Two Jehoram kings! (Must have been a popular name.)  However, the passage beginning in 8:16, refers to the northern king as a shortened “Joram,” so that helps.)


.


In chapters 2-4 today (and then in 5-8 tomorrow), we take a little side trail to see Elijah “pass the mantle” (literally) to his protegee, Elisha, and then some of Elisha’s “double-spirit” ministry.


“Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal in the area of Ephraim.”  


(It seems that the LORD informed both prophets that this was about to happen, and Elisha was hyper-vigilant.  WHY?  Remember, Elijah told the other man that if he SAW HIM DEPART, he would get the request of a double-ministry.  Elisha was NOT leaving Elijah’s side, even though the older man “tested” him three times.)


On their way from Gilgal to Bethel (7 miles), Elijah told Elisha to STAY THERE.  Nope, said his apprentice. “As the LORD lives, and as you live, I will not leave you.”


At Bethel some prophets told Elisha that the LORD would take Elijah that day. I know, he said.  Elijah again told Elisha to “STAY THERE” while Elijah went on fourteen miles to Jericho, but again the younger man refused.


At Jericho, again some prophets told Elisha that the LORD would take Elijah soon.  I know, he said. Keep quiet.


For a third time, Elijah told Elisha to STAY THERE while he went to the Jordan River.  Nope, Elisha said.


The 50 prophets followed the two to the river an witnessed the event.  Elijah took off his cloak, struck the river water, and it split so the two men could cross.  On the other side Elijah again asked what Elisha wanted. “A double portion of your spirit on me,” came the answer.


As they began to walk … CHARIOTS OF FIRE AND HORSES separated them.  Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.


“My father, my father!  The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”   And he saw Elijah no more.


Elisha tore his own clothes in grief.  Then he picked up Elijah’s cloak, walked to the Jordan, and struck the water.


It parted. 


He walked across.


Of course, the 50 prophets wanted to search for Elijah, thinking maybe God dropped him somewhere in the valley.  Elijah said no at first (he’d seen Elijah disappear INTO HEAVEN), but after they pleaded, he said okay.  After an intensive search, Elijah (or his body) could not be found, and Elisha gave them that “I told you so!” look.


Then, the first proof of prophethood.  A town had water that made the people sick.  God used Elisha (and a bowl of salt) to cure it.


When Elisha returned to Bethel, some nasty pagan boys (actually young men) came out to make fun of his bald head. (Usually, prophets of God kept the Nazarite vow and never cut their hair. Now, here was a prophet of God WITH NO HAIR.)


Elisha cursed the taunting boys, and some bears came out and ate them. All 42 of them.  Seriously?  To ridicule God’s prophet was to ridicule God, Himself.  This was God’s warning to all who attempted to interfere with the newly invested prophet’s ministry. 


.


Okay, back to Jehoram/Joram, king of Israel (north). He reigned 12 years and was evil in God’s sight, though not as bad as Ahab and Jezebel.


During Jehoram’s reign, the king of Moab, who had been paying tribute to Ahab, decided to stop now that Ahab’s second son was king. This made Jehoram mad, and he called Jehoshaphat (remember they had a marriage alliance) for help. Somehow, he also managed to get the King of Edom to help. They marched around the south end of the Dead Sea, planning to attack Moab. But they ran out of water. The animals (for food) and the army were desperate for a drink.


We need a prophet! Is there a prophet around here?  There’s Elisha, who took over for Elijah.


Elisha would not help King Jehoram or the King of Edom, but … he had regard for the “good” King Jehoshaphat, so he helped them and Moab retreated.


.


Chapter 4 tells of Elisha and the widow of one of the prophets. She was poor, and a creditor was coming to take her son into slavery to pay what she owed.  Elisha told her to go beg and borrow all the vessels she could from her neighbors. She did, and then she began to pour the bit of remaining oil she had into all the vessels and jars.  She kept pouring until every last one was FULL!  Then she sold the oil and the money paid for her debts and left some for her and her son to live on. 


Another woman, a wealthy Shunammite, offered Elisha food and a place to stay whenever he was in the area.  Elisha wondered how he could repay her. When he learned that she and her old husband were childless, he prophesied that she would have a son at that time the following year. And she did. 


A few years later, the boy got sick and died. IN FAITH, she went and got the prophet. Elisha came, prayed for the boy, and he was resurrected to life. 


.


While Elisha was visiting the prophets in Gilgal, a famine was in the land. The men gathered wild herbs for a stew and put them in a pot to cook. One man unknowingly gathered poisonous gourds and put them in the pot too.  The prophets got sick while eating and cried out to Elisha.


Elisha called for some flour and threw it into the pot.  Now they ate without harm. 


Then a man came with some loaves of barley bread and some fresh ears of grain as an offering for Elisha.  The prophet told the man to give it to all the men so they could eat.


“How can I set this before a hundred men?”


“Give it to them,” answered Elisha. “For the LORD says they shall eat and have some left.”  And it was so.  


And so God used Elisha in these many ways to provide for His people in need.


.


(Oh, for faith to believe and act on the Word of God as these people did.)


 


 


 


 


 


 




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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 182


					
Jul1
			


	

		
A NEW MONTH! We are halfway through the year!


Day 182 – Reading – Obadiah 1 and Psalms 82 & 83




Read today’s Scriptures.  Do you see connections?


Obadiah 1.


Did the appearance here of this minor prophet surprise you? It did me. 


We are still reading about the divided nation = Israel vs Judah, both still living in the land God gave them.  So why the prophet Obadiah??


Obadiah is probably a contemporary of Elijah and Elisha, who prophesied mostly to the northern kingdom of Israel. Obadiah spoke only to the southern kingdom of Judah.


Now remember when Edom (Esau) along with Ammon and Moab came around the southern end of the Dead Sea to attack Judah?  (2 Chronicles 20). The Bible calls them “a great multitude” and “a horde.”  The people (and Jehoshaphat the king) were terrified of them.   Then, remember Jehoshaphat’s wonderful prayer to the LORD, reminding and claiming His promises of help?


    

  • “If disaster comes upon us, we will stand before this House and before You, and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.  Execute judgment on them now, for we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us.“
    • 



And remember the LORD’s reply.


    

  • “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. You will not need to fight in this battle.  Stand firm, hold your position, and SEE the SALVATION of the LORD on your behalf. 
    • 



And Jehoshaphat appointed singers to sing to the LORD, and to praise Him as they went. And as they began to sing and praise Him, the LORD set an ambush, so that Ammon, Moab, and MOUNT SEIR were routed, so that none escaped alive.


..


Obadiah is now prophesying against this Edom (Esau, Mt. Seir)  for the ill treatment of God’s beloved Judah.  He says,


    

  • “The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?”  Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars …. from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD.
    • 

  • Your mighty men shall be dismayed … so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter. Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.
    • 



Obadiah prophesies of the time when Judah will be carried off into captivity by Babylon.  At that time Edom helps their captors, by catching runaways, and killing them!  God roughly calls them out.


    

  • “Do not GLOAT over the day of your brother, in the day of his misfortune; do not REJOICE over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not BOAST in the day of distress. 
    • 

  • “Do not ENTER THE GATE of my people in the day of their calamity; do not GLOAT over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not LOOT his wealth in the day of his calamity.
    • 

  • “Do not stand at the crossroads to CUT OFF HIS FUGITIVES; do not HAND OVER his survivors in the day of distress.”
    • 



But in that day, that’s just what Edom did, and God punished them for it.  “As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.  There shall be no survivor for the house of Esau,” for the LORD has spoken. 


(Hey, you don’t mess with God’s chosen people! HE may discipline them, but not YOU!)


.


Psalm 82.


This psalm speaks NOT of persecuting the helpless, but RESCUING them. (It’s almost like this is sent ahead to Edom!)


    

  • “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless, maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
    • 



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Psalm 83.


This psalm is also very like Obadiah’s message to Edom (and to all who would persecute His Chosen… even TODAY)


    

  • “O God, do not keep silence; do not hold Your peace or be still, O God.
    • 



 


    

  • “They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones.
    • 



 


    

  • “They say, ‘Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
    • 



(Have you heard this mentioned about Israel today in the news???)


 


    

  • “For they conspire with one accord; against You they make a covenant, the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab, and the Hagrites, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the in habitants of Tyre; Asshur also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot.
    • 



(Yes, Israel is surrounded to day by those who hate them and want to destroy them!)


 


    

  • “O my God, make them like whirling dust, like the chaff before the wind. As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze, so may You pursue them with Your tempest and terrify them with Your hurricane!
    • 



 


    

  • “Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, that they may know that YOU ALONE, whose name is the LORD are the Most High over the  earth.”
    • 



 


Oh, my goodness.


This SO reminds me of recent affairs in the Middle East.


And the hate threats towards Israel.


(Oh, God!)


 


 


 





			


	



			
				


	

		
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).  


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



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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.


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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).


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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.


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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?)


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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!”


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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!


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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.


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****(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!)