2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 185

Jul3

    Day 185—We are NOW in the seventh month of Bible reading with the history of Israel and its prophets.

    Day 185 – 2 Kings 9 – 11. (the prophesied bloody vengeance on the house of Ahab)

In Chapter 9, Elisha sends a younger prophet to anoint Jehu as the northern kingdom’s king and instruct him to destroy all the remaining men of the house of Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Jehu quickly gathers an army and rides furiously in his chariot to Jezreel.

King Jehoram was healing from a battle wound, and Ahaziah, king of Judah (a son of a marriage alliance with Ahab), was visiting him. These two kings set out to meet Jehu, but seeing he wasn’t coming in peace, they turned their chariots and fled. Jehu drew his bow and shot Jehoram in the back, clear to the heart.  They threw his body on the plot (vineyard) previously owned by Naboth, as prophesied. Then Jehu went after the southern king and shot him also.  He died at Megiddo. They buried him in the City of David. 

Then Jehu went after Jezebel, who put on her makeup to greet him. A couple servants tossed her out the window, and she was trampled to pieces by Jehu’s men’s horses. The remaining pieces of her were scattered abroad like dung. 

In Chapter 10, Jehu also makes sure the seventy other sons of Ahab, who were being schooled by elders and guardians, are all killed. On his way out of Jezreel, Jehu meets relatives of Ahaziah, the southern king with Ahab’s blood, and kills all of them. Then, arriving at Samaria, “Jehu struck down all who remained to Ahab, till he had wiped them out, according to the word of the LORD that He spoke to Elijah.” 1 Kings 21:21

Next, Jehu gathers all the prophets, worshipers, and priests of Baal into the house of Baal. He surrounds the place with his soldiers, then tells these mighty men to go in and slaughter them all. They burn the pillar of Baal and demolish the building….. making it a latrine (outhouse) to this day.

Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel….. but he did nothing to the golden calf idols at Bethel and Dan.  However, since he did well in his commission to eliminate Ahab, God promised he would have a relative on the throne of Israel for four generations.  He was king for 28 years and died. His son, Jehoahaz, became the new northern king.

Chapter 11 describes how the baby, Joash, who had escaped the murderous actions of his grandmother Athaliah (Ahab’s daughter) and was hidden for six years, is brought out at age 7 by the godly priest, Jehoiada, and anointed King of Judah. The guards are summoned and told to kill Athaliah.  Then, Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people that they should be the LORD’s people. Then, all the people went to the house of Baal, tore it down, and broke it into pieces, as they did with all the altars of Baal. 

Then, all the people of the land (Judah) rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword in the king’s house. 

Dead and done, all you of Ahab.  Thank God!

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 184

Jul2

    Day 184—We are NOW in the seventh month of Bible reading – halfway through the year. Praise God!  Hopefully, we have established a good habit that will continue to December 31st and beyond!

    Day 184 – 2 Kings 5 – 8. (God working His grace through Elisha’s “double portion”)

1 Kings 5. Here is the familiar story of Naaman, an Israeli servant girl, and Elisha. Naaman was the commander of the army of the king of Syria. In a recent war with Israel, he acquired a young girl who became a servant to his wife.

Naaman had leprosy, and this little girl told his wife he should visit the prophet (Elisha) in Samaria and be healed.  Naaman requested leave and got it, plus a note to King Jehoram in Samaria and a large payment from his personal wealth. Naaman went to King Jehoram, who was terrified, thinking the Syrians were seeking a quarrel with him. 

But Elisha heard of it and sent a note to Naaman. “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be clean of leprosy.“

But Naaman was insulted and said he could bathe in a Syrian River. He gave up and headed home when one of his men told him, it was really “nothing” to bathe in the Jordan. Why not try it.

Naaman reconsidered, bathed in the river, and became healed. (It’s a wise leader to listen to his servants.) 

In gratitude, he tried to give all his wealth to Elisha, but the prophet declined, wanting the man’s gratitude to go to God alone.  But Elisha’s servant thought he might enjoy some of it and ran after Naaman with a story that Elisha had unexpected guests, and some of that loot would be helpful. Naaman gladly gave the servant a sizable gift. When Elisha heard of his greed and lying, Naaman’s leprosy was immediately transferred to the servant.  

1 Kings 6. The next story tells how Elisha retrieved an iron axe head a young prophet was using when it flew off and fell into the river. God, through Elisha, made the axe head float!

Elisha often told King Jehoram about specific movements of the King of Syria’s army, which Israel could avoid and be safe. The Syrian king thought he had a mole, but his servants told him about Elisha. He sent his army to get rid of the snitch. 

Elisha’s servant was terrified to see that hoard coming to get his master.  But Elisha asked God to open his eyes.  Behold, the hills surrounding Elisha were full of horses and chariots of fire protecting Elisha.  When the Syrian army approached, Elisha asked God to make them blind, then he led them to Samaria. King Jehoram asked if he should kill them all, and Elisha said he should feed them a great feast instead.  After that “the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.”

Later, a severe famine hit Israel. They had begun to eat their own children! The king sent to kill Elisha, blaming him for the famine. Elisha told him there would be food aplenty the next day, but the king’s main Captain in charge did not believe him. Elisha countered, “You shall see it with your own eyes but not eat it.”

And it happened this way. The Syrians encircled Samaria, but in the night, God caused a noise of chariots coming. It scared the Syrian army, and they fled in fear, leaving their tents, supplies, horses, and donkeys.  Four lepers decided to investigate – either way, they would die either from starvation or by soldier swords. But they found the camp deserted and ate their fill.  Then they told the king, and sure enough, when the crowds came out to gather the spoil, there was food aplenty.

But that Captain was trampled to death by the people rushing out the gate to get the food.

2 Kings 8. In this chapter Elisha was in the Syrian capital of Damascus. Ben-Hadad, the king was sick and he sent to Elisha to discover if he would get well. Elisha said he would, but that he would then die, and it happened that way. He got over the illness, but Hazael killed him. Elisha wept at this prediction because he knew the horrors Hazael, as king, would do to Israel in war.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, days 182 & 183

Jul1

    Day 182 & 183—We are NOW in the seventh month of Bible reading and HALF WAY through the year!  Hopefully, we have established a good habit that will continue to December 31st and beyond!

(Note: SUNDAY’s and MONDAY’s readings are combined.)

    Day 182 – Obadiah, Psalm 82 – 83. (Judgment on the enemies of God and Judah)

Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament. The prophet speaks against Edom (the people of Esau, twin brother of Jacob) for attacking what is basically their family.

Jehoshaphat successfully defeated one attack when God told him to go to battle against Edom with singers!!  Edom rebelled under Jehoram’s reign but was conquered again in Amaziah’s reign.

Their part in Judah’s exile to Babylon was most grievous. The Edomites caught any runaways and gave them to their captors.  Obadiah prophesies against the nation.

“Will I not on that day, declares the LORD, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau? And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, 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.”

And in the future kingdom age, “The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble, they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the LORD has spoken.”    

Both Psalms 82 and 83 speak about God’s judgment on behalf of the weak and needy and on those who oppress them. “They say, Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!  For they conspire with one accord; against You, they make a covenant – the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites…”   “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 all the earth.”

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    Day 183 – 2 Kings 1 – 4 (Northern kings, Elijah/Elisha)

Chapter 1. King Ahaziah, Ahab’s son, is now reigning in Israel, and he was evil in God’s sight like his father, Ahab.  One day, he fell through the lattice of his upper chamber and lay ill.  And, being raised in a house where 400 evil prophets were fed by his mother, he immediately sent someone to ask Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron (Philistines), whether he would recover or not. 

But Elijah met the messengers and asked in astonishment, “IS IT BECAUSE THERE IS NOT GOD IN ISRAEL THAT YOU INQUIRE OF BAAL-ZEBUB??? Tell the king he will not get well but DIE.”

King Ahaziah did not like this and asked about the man. Sure enough, he knew Elijah from all his mother and father’s tales and sent men to bring him back.  But the captain and 50 men received fire from heaven after they demanded Elijah to come to the king. Another set was sent with the same results. When the third captain arrived with his 50 men, he knelt before Elijah and humbly begged the prophet to go to the king.  Elijah did – with the same message – and soon after, Ahaziah died.  

And Ahaziah’s brother Jehoram reigned. (Ahaziah had no sons. This was another son of Ahab.) (Don’t be confused. Jehoram was the name of both the king of Israel and the king of Judah after Jehoshaphat died. Some Bible translations call this northern king “Joram.”)

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Chapter 2. Now that Elijah had finished the tasks God had given him, it was time for the LORD to “take him up to heaven by a whirlwind.” Elisha sensed this and refused to leave his mentor, desiring the “double portion” of the Spirit he was promised. Elijah tested his resolve three times, but Elisha stayed close by. 

At one point, Elijah crossed the Jordan River by rolling up his cloak and striking the water to make it part.  Soon, “chariots of fire and horses” separated them, and Elijah went up in a whirlwind. “My father!” Elisha cried twice and saw him no more. Then he picked up the cloak that fell from Elijah and returned to the Jordan River. When he struck it, the water parted for him.

The group of prophets who had been following him saw this happen and knew that the spirit of Elijah was now on Elisha. The men of a nearby city also learned this truth, for when they told Elisha that the water was bad, Elisha took a bowl of salt, threw it into the water, and healed it. 

On his way to Bethel next, some little boys of the city mocked him. As a prophet, Elisha should have been a Nazarite and not have cut his hair. But it seems that Elisha was bald. (Hair loss, not a razor). “Hey, bald head!” the jeered.  Elisha turned around and cursed them (for mocking a prophet, not just him).  And a couple of mama bears came out of the woods and ate those 42 rude boys. WOW!!

Elisha then visited Mt. Carmel – perhaps to see the site of the great contest between his mentor’s God and the priests of Baal.  Then he went down to Samaria, where the kings of Israel lived.

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Chapter 3. Moab had been paying tribute to Israel after their last big defeat. But after King Ahab died, he rebelled. King Jehoram with his army went to King Jehoshaphat and said fight Moab with me. They also went to Edom and got that king to join them around the bottom of the dead sea. By the time they got to Moab, they were dying of thirst.

How to solve this problem: Ask a prophet. A servant of Jehoram suggested Elisha, so the three kings went to him. However, Elisha was not willing to help them until he saw the godly King Jehoshaphat with them.

After a musician played, the spirit of the LORD came on Elisha and he told them that the LORD would make streams and pools of fresh water for them and their livestock. He would also help them beat Moab and take all their cities. The next morning, water came up from the south (how weird!) and filled every the country.

The Moabites heard this, suited up for war, youngest to oldest, and went out at dawn. The morning sun shining on the massive lake of water looked like blood to them, and they thought the three kings had massacred each other, so they charged. But, when they came to the camp, Israel struck them till they fled.

They chased them, taking cities as they went. When King Mesha saw this, he took his crown prince and sacrificed him as a burnt offering on the wall for luck. He then took 700 of his best soldiers and charged.

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Chapter 4 describes a few more instances of God using Elisha. The first concerns the widow of one of the prophets who was being hounded by creditors. A loan shark was coming to take her two children; she only had a single jar of oil. Elisha told her to borrow as many jars and vessels as she could. Then she was to close the door and began filling all of them from her one jar. She did, and the oil never ran out until ALL the borrowed vessels were full. She used that oil to pay her debts and to live on the rest.

The second instance was when Elisha visited a wealthy woman of Shunem. She fed him, and her husband prepared a spare room for him to stay when he passed. He was so pleased that he asked her what he could pray about her. She desired a son. Elisha prophesied she would have a son the following year. One day, many years afterward, word came to Elisha that the woman’s son was dead. She hurried to him and begged him to return to her house. He did and prayed for the young man. He returned to life!

The third instance was when Elisha stayed with some prophets during a famine. Some poison herbs were accidentally cooked into the stew, and they got sick. “There’s death in that pot!” they cried. But when Elisha threw a little flour into the pot, it became harmless.

Lastly, a man came and donated twenty small loaves of barley bread and some grain to the prophets. But they asked how this little could feed 100 men. Elisha, foreshadowing an incident with Jesus, said to give it to them to eat and there would be some left. He did; they ate, and there were leftovers, according to the word of the Lord.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 181

Jun29

   Day 181—We are in the 6th month of Bible reading and continue with the history of Israel.

 Day 181 – 2 Chronicles 19 – 23. (Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, and Joash reign in Judah.)

2 Chronicles 19 picks up just before 1 Kings ends with more about Jehoshaphat. Just as he returned to his southern kingdom of Judah after fighting the Syrians, the prophet Jehu came to visit him, scolding him for partnering with King Ahab in the Syrian battle. (He COULD have gotten himself killed!) However, God WAS happy with him, because he had set his heart to seek God. 

After that, Jehoshaphat stayed home and helped to lead the people of Judah back to the LORD, the God of their fathers. He appointed judges, special Levites, and priests and told them to remember that they would judge and hear cases for the LORD and not for man. “Let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with Him or with taking bribes.”

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In 2 Chronicles 20, war threatened Judah from the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites in the form of a great multitude from the east. Jehoshaphat was afraid.  Unlike Ahab, who called for human help, Jehoshaphat sought the LORD. He proclaimed a fast and asked the people of Judah to seek the LORD.  (This is part of the prayer Jehoshaphat prayed.)

“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.”   

“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.”

Then came the word of God through the Levite, Jahaziel.  “Do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed at this great horde. 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, O Judah and Jerusalem.  Do not be afraid or dismayed.”

The next day, the army went out, and Jehoshaphat encouraged them, “Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” Then he told those who he’d appointed to sing to the LORD to go before the army, singing, “Give thanks to the LORD, for his mercy endures forever.”

And when they began to sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush against the men who had come against Judah so that they were routed and destroyed each other. Judah did no fighting, only picked up the spoil.  And the armies and singers of Judah came home with joy, blessing, and praising their God. 

Unfortunately, Jehoshaphat’s last act was to make an alliance with Ahab’s son, Ahaziah, to build ships so they could trade in Tarshish (Spain). The LORD disapproved and sank them all. 

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2 Chronicles 21 describes the reign of Jehoram, Jehoshaphat’s son, whom he married to one of Ahab & Jezebel’s daughters.  Not surprisingly, he “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.”  First thing, he killed all his brothers and some princes in Israel as well. In his days, he made high places in the hills where the people could worship false Gods.  

Elijah, the prophet for Israel in the north, sent him a letter telling him how the LORD would bring a plague on his people, and Jehoram would get a severe sickness in his bowels (colon cancer??) and die. The LORD stirred the Philistines to invade. They carried away all his possessions, wives, and sons (except the youngest, Jehoahaz). Then he got the incurable bowel disease and died in great agony. They buried him, but not in the tombs of the kings. He departed with no one’s regret…… 

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2 Chronicles 22 describes Ahaziah’s reign. His mother was Athaliah (Ahab’s daughter). Ahaziah “walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. Ahaziah helped his uncle, the king of Israel, fight against Syria and visited him when he was wounded.

The LORD ordained that the downfall of Ahaziah would come through that visit to his wounded uncle.  Jehu, whom the LORD had appointed to destroy the house of Ahab, was busy doing that when Ahaziah arrived.  He, and his brothers attending him, were all killed as well.  AND….. the house of Ahaziah had no one able to rule the kingdom of Judah.

Guess what?  His mom, the evil daughter of Ahab, who was Ahaziah’s chief counselor, saw her son dead, so she destroyed all the royal family of the house of Judah and became the FAKE QUEEN of Judah. 

However…. one very young boy, a toddler, was saved by Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada, the priest. She took him and hid him from the murdering Athaliah.  

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2 Chronicles 23.  In the seventh year, the priest staged a coup with the commanders of the army, the Levites, and heads of houses, and they crowned young Joash King of Judah. “Long live the king!”  When queen Athaliah heard the ruckus, she knew her end had come. Although she screamed, “TREASON! TREASON!” no one listened. The captains of the army, instructed by the priest, killed her with a sword at the horse gate. 

And, under the priest’s direction, Judah cleaned up their act. They tore down the house of Baal that was built and killed its priest, then began sacrifices and worship of the LORD. And they took 7-year-old Joash to the king’s house and set him on the royal throne. And all the people rejoiced.

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)

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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

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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 178

Jun26

   Day 178—We are in the sixth month of reading the Bible and continue with the History of Israel. Today, we meet the prophet Elijah. 

 Day 178 – 1 Kings 17 – 19. (Elijah and a drought, King Ahab, a contest, and a runaway)

In 1 Kings 17, we meet Israel’s great prophet, Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead (East of the Jordan River). The LORD came to him and said there would be no dew or rain for years except by His word.

Elijah was to go a little way eastward to the Cherith Brook and hide out there. He could get water from that stream, and God would send him meat and bread morning and night via Ravens. Elijah immediately obeyed.

After a while, as the drought took hold, the Cherith dried up. Before Elijah had time to wonder, the LORD told him to go to Zarephath, a far north-west town in Sidon on the Mediterranean Sea, and stay there. God had provided a Sidonian widow to feed him. Elijah immediately obeyed.

When he reached the city gate, he saw “the widow” and spoke to her. Would she bring him water and a little “morsel of bread?”  She told him she had only enough flour and oil to make herself and her son one last pita, and then they would die of starvation.

Elijah told her that if she fed him first, God would supply her needs until it rained again.  She believed, and God honored her faith. Her flour and oil were replenished every day as she used them. Later, when her young son got sick and maybe even died, Elijah went to the boy and prayed and he was revived.  

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1 Kings 18.  Much later, God told Elijah to go to Ahab, and God would then send rain on the earth. Elijah immediately obeyed. He met Obadiah, a servant of Ahab and a secret prophet of the LORD who had been hiding and feeding 100 prophets so Queen Jezebel couldn’t kill them. With Elijah’s assurances that he wouldn’t disappear, Obadiah told King Ahab where to find Elijah.

At the meeting, there was a bit of angry wordplay. “It is YOU, you troubler of Israel!” Ahab cried. “No, I have not troubled Israel,” Elijah responded. “YOU have, and your father’s house.” 

Elijah then gave Ahab an ultimatum. “Send and gather all Israel to me at Mt. Carmel, plus the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah – who eat at your wife’s table!”  Interestingly, Ahab did not quibble but obeyed. (The king was desperate for rain!)

Then came that great contest between good and evil, using two sacrificed bulls.  The 850 false prophets prayed and cried, cut themselves, and flailed away until exhausted, but no god came to light their fire (and burn their bull). Elijah mocked them. “Perhaps your god is sleeping, going potty, angry, traveling somewhere…or dead.”  No matter how those false prophets tortured themselves, “No one answered; no one paid attention.”

And then it was Elijah’s turn.  He set up the sacrifice and drenched it three times with some very “dear” water brought to the top of the mountain. Then Elijah prayed to the living God. “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that YOU are God in Israel…..”

And WHHOOOOSSSH!! Elijah’s sacrifice exploded into holy flames that consumed the bull, the wood, the stones, the water in the ditch, and even the dust.  And the people fell to the ground proclaiming,  THE LORD is God.

“Seize those prophets of Baal, let none escape!” cried Elijah, then he took them down to the brook Kishon and systematically slaughtered them all.   Whoa!

Then Elijah told Ahab, Go up, eat, and drink, for “There is a sound of the rushing of rain.” Then Elijah went up to the top of Mt Carmel again with his servant and bowed down to pray.

(James 5:16b-18, “The prayer of a righteous man has great power…. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months, it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”)

Three times, Elijah prayed and had his servant go and look toward the west. On the third time, he returned and said, “Behold a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”

The servant was sent to Ahab with the message, “Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.”  And in just minutes, the sky became black, the wind started howling, and a GREAT RAIN began. 

Ahab whipped his horses towards Jezreel (his winter capital, about 20 miles away).  Elijah gathered up his garment and RAN AHEAD OF AHAB TO THE ENTRANCE OF JEZREEL!  (Man, that prophet was flying!!)

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1 Kings 19. When Jezebel heard how Elijah had killed all her hand-picked prophets, she was enraged and vowed to kill him by the next day.  Elijah heard the threat, and this mighty man of God was afraid. He got up and ran for his life, all the way to Beersheba, ONE HUNDRED MILES south, and then another day into the desert. He sat down under a bush and asked God that he might die.  Then he fell asleep. 

God sent an angel with food, which he ate, and then fell back asleep. Later, the angel brought more food and then sent him on a less hectic journey even further south, all the way to Mount Sinai. It took forty days and forty nights. 

There, on the Mount of God, Elijah rested in a cave.

“What are you doing here, Elijah?” asked the LORD.

“I’m the only one left, and they all seek my life,” Elijah answered.

“Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD,” came the command.  And the LORD passed by.

A great and strong wind tore the mount and broke rocks in pieces…but the LORD was not in the wind.

An earthquake came, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

A fire came next, but the LORD was not in the fire.

A sound of a low whisper came next. This time, it WAS the LORD, and He comforted Elijah.  YOU are not alone. I have 7,000 others who are faithful to me. 

I want you to go; anoint Elisha to be a prophet after you. 

You are also to go anoint Jehu to be king over Israel. 

And you are to go to Damascus and anoint Hazel to be king of Syria. 

See, I have work for you yet, Elijah. 

Elijah left Mount Sinai and found Elisha plowing a field. He threw his cloak on the young man. After Elisha made a sacrifice and kissed his mom and dad goodbye, he went after Elijah and assisted him. 

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.

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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.”)

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, days 175 & 176

Jun24

    Day 175 & 176—We are in our 6th month of Bible reading. What have you learned so far about God and his purposes with His people?

(Note: SUNDAY’s and MONDAY’s readings are combined.)

    Day 175 – 2 Chronicles 10 – 12. (A repeat of 2 Kings, but with more details about King Rehoboam.)

2 Chronicles 10. It’s interesting that Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, went to Shechem. Verse 1 says that all Israel had come there to make him King. Undoubtedly, he was solidly installed in that office in Jerusalem where his father reigned.

These northern folks wanted to know how Rehoboam would reign. Would it be as harsh as Solomon all during that building and expansion period?

As we saw yesterday, King Rehoboam consulted both the elder and younger advisors. At 41, he wasn’t a young man to begin his reign, but he went with the youthful advice and came down hard on the people of the North. And they rebelled. “Sayonara, Ray,” they called as they left, and Rehoboam hi-tailed it back to Jerusalem.

From 1 Kings 12-13, we know that Jeroboam was waiting for these northern tribes with open arms.

2 Chronicles 11 describes how Rehoboam strengthened his two-tribe kingdom by building and fortifying fifteen defense cities throughout Judah, placing commanders, weapons, and food provisions in them.

Remember in 1 Kings 12 how Jeroboam turned the hearts of his people away from God by proclaiming Bethel and Dan as cities of worship (instead of Jerusalem) and setting up golden calves in these places for the people to worship instead of the LORD their God. He also gave the office of priest to anyone who wanted it.

In 2 Chronicles 11:13-17, we see the northern priests and Levites leaving their homes, lands, and positions in Israel and coming into Judah and Jerusalem. “And those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.  They strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years, they made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.

But, when Rehoboam was established and strong, he abandoned the law of the LORD and all the country with him. 2 Chronicles 12:1.

Because they were unfaithful to the LORD, King Shishak of Egypt came with hoards of soldiers and chariots and took those fortified cities all the way to Jerusalem.  YIKES!

God told Rehoboam through the prophet Shemaiah that the reason for the invasion was because they had abandoned Him, so He abandoned them.

Surprisingly, the king and his leaders humbled themselves  and said, “The LORD is righteous.”  When God saw this, He relented. He would not destroy them. He would grant them SOME deliverance. But they would be servants to Egypt’s king. (Yesterday, we saw that Shishak took all the treasures of the Temple and the king’s palace as “tribute.”)

So, Rehoboam reigned in Judah for 17 years and then died. His son, Abijah/Abijam*, reigned in his place.

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    Day 176 – 1 Kings 15, 2 Chronicles 13 – 16. (From here on until the invasion of Assyria, the history of the Jews will track both the northern kingdom of Israel/Ephraim along with the southern kingdom of Judah. All northern kings were wicked; most of the southern kings were also wicked. Kings were either compared to the wicked King Jeroboam or to the righteous King David.)

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1 Kings 15 covers the end of King Jeroboam’s reign, the brief reign of his son Nadab (evil), and the reign of the usurper, Baasha (evil), who killed the former king and ALL of the house of Jeroboam, as was prophesied in chapter 14:9-11.

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2 Chronicles 13 describes King Rehoboam’s son, Abijah’s reign in Jerusalem.  He was “a great sinner” according to 1 Kings 15:3, but here he is described as standing for the principles of the LORD God of Israel as David did…. at least when he was at war.

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2 Chronicles 14.  In this chapter, Abijah’s son, Asa, becomes king. He did what was “good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.”   “And the kingdom had rest under him.”  “He had no war in those years, for the LORD gave him peace.” 

When Zerah, the Ethiopian, with his MILLION soldiers and 300 chariots, came against Judah, King Asa cried to the LORD. “O LORD, there is none like You to help between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in Your name we have come against this multitude.”  “So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.” 

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2 Chronicles 15 describes King Asa’s religious reforms, removing the detestable idols from the land and repairing the altar of the LORD. He even removed his mother from being the Queen Mum because she had made an image for Asherah. He cut down that image, crushed it, and burned it.

King Asa then gathered all the people and sacrificed and worshiped the LORD, entering into a covenant with Him “to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul.”

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2 Chronicles 16.  However, in King Asa’s later years (he reigned 41 years), he strayed from that wonderful commitment.  Instead of trusting the LORD for victory over his enemies, he “paid” the army of Syria to fight with him against King Baasha in the north. As a result, his campaign failed.

The prophet Hanani came to him and said, “The eyes of the LORD run ‘to and fro’ throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him.  YOU have done foolishly in this, for from now on, you will have wars.”

The aging King “was angry with the prophet and put him in stocks in the prison.” (Asa was in a rage because of this…!  Asa inflicted cruelties upon some … at the same time.”)

WATCH OUT, senior citizens!  Stay steady and faithful even in your old age!! (I’m talking to myself here too!)

Two years before King Asa died, he became diseased in his feet, and it became very severe. (Gangrene from diabetes???)  “Yet, even in his disease, he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians.”  (Not saying doctors are wrong, just that seeking the LORD is good.)

(After King Asa died, they laid him on a bier that had been filled with various spices prepared by the perfumer’s art (curious!), and they made a very great fire in his honor.) (Cremation is RARELY used by Hebrews, although King Saul & his sons were also burned. 1 Samuel 31:13)

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*Abijah (my father is the LORD) perhaps had his name changed when he forsook God.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 174

Jun22

   Day 174—We are in the 6th month of Bible reading.

 Day 174 – 1 Kings 12-14. (Rehoboam, the Royal vs. Jeroboam, the Jerk)

2 Kings 11:41-43 describes the last days of Solomon, claiming that even more about him and his wisdom are written in an unknown book, The Acts of Solomon.  King Solomon reigned for 40 years, as did his father, David.

Then, as all kings and paupers do, the king died. He was buried in “the City of David.”  And his son Rehoboam began his reign, heralding the beginning of the downfall of mighty and glorious Israel. 

1 Kings 12 tells of Rehoboam’s “folly.”

Obviously, he inherited NONE of his father’s wisdom and did not ask God for any.  At least he inquired of his father’s experienced advisors about how to rule the people. But he also asked the young men who’d been raised in the palace with him and who knew nothing about living as a common person in the labor force. Basically, it was either ‘be kind to the people and serve them’ or ‘be nasty to them, like a tyrant.’ 

Rehoboam chose tyranny, and the people rebelled.

Waiting in the wings was Jeroboam (the man about whom the prophet Ahijah said would rip ten of the tribes away from the kingdom and rule them).  He easily led the discontented ten northern tribes away from Rehoboam.  Rip-p-p-p-p!  Rehoboam immediately assembled 180K soldiers together to fight the departing tribes, but God said through the prophet Shemaiah. “NO! You shall NOT fight your relatives.”  And (incredibly) they listened to the words of God.

So the kingdom of Israel is now two parts, “Israel” (ten tribes in the north) ruled by Jeroboam, the Jerk, and “Judah” (two tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the south) ruled by Rehoboam, the Royal.  The northern tribes are also sometimes called “Ephraim.”

Here’s why I call Jeroboam “the Jerk.”  God had given him (and his offspring) the northern part of Israel to reign. He set up his capital in Shechem (about the middle of the northern tribes).  BUT he did not trust God and feared that the people – when they went to Jerusalem to worship three times per year – would want to go back to Rehoboam. He didn’t like that possibility, so he built TWO places for Israel to worship; one in Bethel and the other way at the northern tip of the land, in Dan. 

These were not approved worship places for the LORD. No, Jeroboam the Jerk followed the example of ole Aaron and made two calves of gold for the people, saying THESE were what brought you out of slavery in Egypt. WHAT????  He also made priests of anyone who wanted to be one. AND… chose another Feast Day from his own heart to sacrifice to these two idols.   JERK!

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1 Kings 13 is kind of a weird chapter about some prophets of God. 

One (Prophet A) appeared and cried out against Jeroboam at the altar in Bethel while the Jerk was making sacrifices. This prophet said that a future Southern king named Josiah would tear the altar down after sacrificing the false priests upon it!  Whoa!

Jeroboam did NOT like this and tried to waylay the prophet.  But God had told him that under no circumstances was he to stop there, so he slipped away. 

Then another old prophet (Prophet B) stopped the first one who was heading back to Judah. And with a false prophecy, tempted Prophet A to come in for a snack. He did, but God was angry about his disobedience, and when he was finally on his way again, a lion killed him. (Didn’t eat him, just killed him and stood there along with the prophet’s donkey in the middle of the road!)

Well, Prophet B now got an actual word from God: “Prophet A died because he disobeyed Me and listened to you!” Well this prophet went, brought back the dead one and buried him. The town mourned him too. THEN, Prophet B made his sons promise to bury him when he died, in the grave with Prophet A, saying he was a true prophet.) I told you chapter 13 was weird.

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Chapter 14 describes a young son of King Jeroboam the Jerk getting sick.

The king told his wife to disguise herself and go to another prophet, Ahijah, to learn what would happen to the boy. The disguise did not fool Abijah, even though he was nearly blind, and he immediately told the Jerk’s wife that the boy was going to die.

But there was WORSE news. God (through Abijah) told the woman a message to tell her husband. It was also the end of the house of Jeroboam – all the males would be cut off and his house burned up as a man burns up a dung pile. Why?

Because when God “exalted him from among the people and made him leader over His people, Israel, and tore it from the house of David (who kept God’s commandments and followed Him with all his heart) ….. he did evil and made for himself other gods and metal images, provoking God to anger, and he cast God behind his back.”

And, as the woman came to the threshold of her house… the boy died “because in him there was found something pleasing to the LORD, the God of Israel.” (He would not suffer his father’s judgment.)

Eventually, the Jerk died after a 22-year reign.

Rehoboam the Royal reigned for 17 years, and in his fifth year, the king of Egypt came up and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the king’s house.

Eventually, the Royal died too, and was buried in the City of David. His mother was an Ammonite, and during Rehoboam’s reign, high places and pillars and Asherim were built on every high hill and under every green tree. And there were male cult prostitutes in the land, and they did all the abominations of the nations living there before Israel.