Blogging the Bible

David was a great warrior but he was a great worshiper of God. For him God had to be in the center of his people. When he became the king of Israel he decided to bring the Ark of God to Jerusalem. While he was doing so a terrible incident happened “when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put down his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he die there before God” (1 Chronicles 13:9-10)

The first reaction of David to what the Lord did to Uzzah was anger (1 Chronicles 13:11) yes everybody might feel the same, frustrated because he was doing an act of adoration. David could not understand why God was acting in this way, but after a while he changed from anger to fear (1 Chronicles 13:12) because he realized that for sure God knew what he was doing and they needed to understand what they did wrong.

God is not only interested that we do the right thing but He is also interested that we do the right way according to his word. According to the word of God only Levites could carry the ark of God and not in cars but in their shoulders (Exodus 25: 14). That is why after a certain time David made sure of that and the he said to the Levites: “Because you did not carry it in the first time, the Lord our God burst out against us, because we did not give it the proper care” (1 Chronicles 15:13).

When you do the proper thing before God instead of fear you will have confidence. This is exactly what David experienced time after time in his service to God. Take for instance his battle against the Philistines, he inquired from God: “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hands? The Lord said to him: Go up, and I will give them into your hands” (1 Chronicles 14:10).

The result was that “the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him on all nations” (1 Chronicles 14: 17)

 We believe in a loving and merciful God, but also we believe in a just and righteous God. He is willing to bless and also willing to discipline his children. He can do that with a nation or with a single person. We read in (9:1) “The people of Judah were taken into exile toBabylon because of their unfaithfulness” and we also read that “Saul died for his unfaithfulness” (10:13)

 Yes, God is aware of everybody and his desire is to bless people not to punish them, but for their own sake he will punish if necessary. This is the story of the Israelites but also our own story and we really need to pay attention because there is no difference between them and us.

Chapters 11 and 12 are an account of David mighty warriors, and when you read about them you feel that they are super heroes.  However, a more careful reading will demonstrate that their abilities really came from the Lord. Take for example chapter 11 verse 9: “And David became greater and greater for the Lord of hosts was with him.”  We read in chapter 12 that David was getting more and more support from those warriors, and he was not sure about their intentions.  Suddenly “The spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the thirty, and he said: We are yours, O David and with you, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you and peace to the one who helps you! And peace to the one who helps you for your God is the one who helps you” (12:18).

Your God is the one who helps you! Definitely if they believed that for David they must have believed that for themselves. They were very brave and skillful men but they were also men of faith who learned that God is the real helper who put people together to achieve his wonderful purposes.

Again is not about mighty warriors but about a Mighty God!

More names and more numbers, but still we can find God working among people and responding to their prayer requests.

Today we can see that in chapter 5 the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh are described as “valiant warriors, who carried shield and sword, and drew the bow, expert in war, forty four thousand seven hundred sixty, ready for service” (5: 18) and still they were successful not because they were well equipped but simply because they “cried to God in the battle and he granted their entreaty because they trusted in him” (5: 20)

As we said last Sunday in the rededication service it is not about us, but it is about God. Yes it is about him and it is his purpose for us that really matters, because when he is in charge we can trust that He can do everything that is necessary for us to accomplish his plans. We read that the Israelites success was “because the war was of God” (5: 22)

What is God doing in your life? Do you trust in him through prayer? We have to remember that God is really looking for people who trust in him and do not put their confidence in their abilities or resources.

I do not know what your responsibilities or challenges are, but one thing is for sure, if you and I decide to trust in the Lord he will surprise us with his amazing power.

This is an interesting book and while reading it, it looks like repetition of the history already told by the books of Samuel and Kings. It is not exactly a copy of them because when you read it carefully you will find details or points of view that will enrich our perspective of God and his work in this world.

Take for instance the fact that the writer starts by pointing out his story like something that did not start withIsrael but with Adam the first man (1 Chronicles 1:1). In some way retelling that out of a great process his people came into existence. Also the writer is telling us that even though it looks like just names and numbers, each individual listed there has a personal story with God, like Er Judah’s first born who “was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death” (1 Chronicles 2:3) or Jabez who “was honored more than his brothers” (1 Chronicles 4:9) because “Jabez called onto the God of Israel” (1 Chronicles 4:10).

Your personal story with God is very important, how would you like to be remembered? If you call onto God you definitely are going to have a great story like Jabez whom changed his entire life and story because he dared to ask God four very specific things:

1) Bless me

2)Enlarge my border

3) That your hand might be with me

4) Keep me from hurt and harm

What was the answer? God granted what he asked (1 Chronicles 4:10)

 I personally think that those stories are there to remind them and us that our lives really matter to God and the only thing that we need to do is to trust in God and his purposes for our lives. The same God that was with Adam was with
Israel and Jabez, is also the same God that will be with us if we just call on him.

Alfredo was called to the hospital yesterday for an emergency. As many of you know the pastor he formerly worked with was not able to be at his commissioning on Sunday.  He is in serious but stable condition in an area hospital.  Please keep Roberto Colon and his wife Noellia in your prayers.  So I am blogging for Alfredo For Day 107 because today he and David and Erica Yusten are doing promotional and recruitment ministry at Azusa Pacific University.

What is up with all these boy kings and their mothers.  The biblical record rings very true to other historical records about boy kings and the intrigue that surrounds them as they are used by adults to gain and vie for power and control. 21:9 is the central issue of sin–the people did not listen to the Lord.

At last! 22:2 we have one of the few kings who did what was right in the sight of the Lord! Josiah begins to repair the temple. In the process they find the book of the law.  This is shocking! You mean, they had lost it?  The sacred book that had come down from the mountain with Moses in the midst of all of God’s miraculous deeds? They had lost it?  Wow! This is hard to believe.  When Josiah hears it, he tears his clothes–a sign of sorrow and repentence and remorse and humility. It is even more amazing now that Josiah is doing what is right in the sight of the Lord. “What was right” had been lost. Certianly God must have been working in this young kings heart in spite of the evil of the people and all who had turned against God. 

Even more amazing is the demonstration, once again, of God’s tender heart toward those who fear him.  In verses 18-20, the Lord promises to spare Josiah the devastation of watching the destruction of Israel and Judah. God “gathers him to his fathers in peace” because of his “responsive” and because he humbled himself and showed great remorse before God. Wow! God really does listen to us and know our hearts!

Josiah destroys all the pagan altars and places of worship and practices and then reinstates the Passover.  Neither before or after him 23: 24-26  says was there a king who turned to the Lord as he did with all his heart.  What a testiment to his faith and to the power of God to keep for himself a remnant, once again.  But you notice it did not keep God from carrying out his judgment on Judah and Israel and Jerusalem.

And the son of Josiah obviously did not have the same heart.  He again did evil in the sight of the Lord. Wow! God is so faithful and patient.  And humankind is so quick to turn away. We marvel that they lost track of the Book of the Law.  But how many times have we “lost track” of the Word of God?  How many days, months, years have we gone without reading it, let alone obeying it?  How long have we allowed our lives to be consumed with other instructions and directions and purposes?  We, too, lose track of the amazing Word of God to us–the Word who is flesh and blood–the Word who is Christ.  We have experienced the miracle of his love and forgiveness and the beginnings of a transformed life and then turned away after other loves and other things.  We, too, need to rediscover the book and recommit to knowing it and living by it.  Amen.

The final chapters describe Israel and Judah being taken away into exile and the city of Jerusalem being ransacked and destroyed.  It appears that there is nothing left of God’s people or his promise.  And yet, a strange hopeful not rings out at the end of chapter 25. In all the evil and destruction and hopelessness, this simple recorded history that Jehoiachin, king of Judah, is release from prison and shown favor. Actually shown kindness by the king of Babylon and given a place of honor. This is again, the sign of God’s faithfulness an provision to continue to keep his promise to Abraham and to David that out of Israel would come the Savior of the world. The sad history of the nation of Israel found in 1 and 2 Kings ends on this hopeful note.  A king of Judah is shown favor and kindness and is poised to help begin to lead Israel back to following the ways of the Lord and back to restoration.  There is always hope because of God’s unfailing promise and love.

Samuel and Kings were written and organized in a way to address the circumstances of the exiled community.  In Chronicles we will see the same history interpreted and written for the restored community in order to explain what their relationship was to the God who had made promises that seemed to have been lost.  Chronicles will give reinforce the truth that when God makes a promise he always keeps it and that no matter what the circumstances may look like, God is always at work in and through the circumstances to accomplish his purpose, including keeping his promises to Israel.

What happened to Saturday and Sunday?! As most of you know who read this blog, it was two HUGE days in the life of our church. Saturday was final prep day for our rededication service of our sanctuary and ourselves and then Sunday was THE DAY! Somehow, if you can imagine, I just did not get around to the blog. Even more telling is that I did not even realize until today that I did not get around to the blog!  God in his grace and mercy still works, when we do not!  Good thing!  So I am going to blog tonight for the weekend missed.  David Yusten also had a very good question that  I will respond to.  First David’s question about the two kingdoms.

After Solomon died, civil war broke out.  Rehoboam has the blessing of his father, Solomon, but Jeroboam had more military influence.  So conflict erupted and Rehoboam became the king of the southern part of the kingdom known as “Judah” and Jeroboam took control of the northern part of the kingdom known as “Israel.”  So after Solomon there were two kingdoms both claiming to have the rightful kingdom.  According to the scripture the northern kingdom did not have one good king. They all did evil in the sight of the Lord. The southern kingdom faired a little better.  They had eight kings out of a couple dozen that did some good and followed the way of the Lord to some degree.  The history bears out exactly what the Lord predicted.  They had rejected him-God-as king and having earthly kings would only lead to heartache and destruction.  It did, when finally, in the 6th century BC both kingdoms had failed and Jerusalem was destroyed.  But not until the promise of God was able to bear the fruit it had promised.  The blood line was established.  The line of David, the family of Judah through Joseph would bear a son and his name would be called Emanuel, Jesus the Christ.  So the history after the divided kingdom becomes complex and difficult to follow without the help of a timeline and an overview.  You can find them in a good bible dictionary or online at several sites.  It helps to have a good bible dictionary close by when you are reading.  Or if you are using a study bible for our reading, the notes at the bottom will give some information about the divided kingdom.

Now to chapters 12-17…Chapter 13:4ff displays the consistent mercy and tenderness of God towards his people. He cannot stand to see them oppressed.  He hears their cries and delivers them even when they quickly turn away again.  Verse 22ff again demonstrates God’s tenderness and his faithfulness to his promise. Because of his promise to Abraham–the covenant–God continued to deliver Israel inspite of their repeated sin and idolatry.  In 14:26 again God’s faithfulness to his promise is declared and demonstrated.

Beginning in 17:7 we have the clear explanation why all these horrible things happened to Israel.  “All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God,  who brought them up out of Egypt… They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices the kings of Israel had introduced.”  The very reason the Lord had insisted that all these nations be driven out–their idolatrous ways–the Israelites adopted and it led to their destrcution.  Verse 14 says they would not listen to God or trust in him. The rejected his covenant and put their trust in worthless idols. And so the Lord allowed them to be taken away into exile.

The picture is quite clear from all of this history.  God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt.  He promised them a land and to establish them as his people.  All they needed to do was follow his commands and worship him and no other gods.  The command to drive out the other nations was not out of vengence or malice. It was judgment on those nations for their evil but also a protection for Israel against being influenced by them.  They refused to do what God said.  They did not completely drive out the other nations, and as God predicted, they began to copy their evil practices.  This idolatry was THE main reason for God’s judgment on them. But over and over again, his mercy and tender love for his people could not be quenched.  He always left a remnant of faithful and continued to work through history–even the evil that was done–to accomplish his purpose.  His purpose to redeem his people and glorify his name would come through the nation of Israel, the line of David, the tribe of Judah.  He would bring them back out of exile and he would keep his promise.  Stay tuned. It is not over until God says it is over!

Hezekiah became king of Israel in a very critical time, when the powerful reign of Assyria was sweeping all the nations in its way. It was not an easy time but the writer says that: “He trusted in the Lord the God of Israel; so there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah after him or among those who were before him” (2 kings 18: 5)

The great difference in his life came not because he got a lot of human accomplishments but because “he trusted the Lord” and was willing enough to obey him. What is your regular response to pressure o great challenges? For many people life is a great challenge and their regular response is fear and despair, King    Hezekiah learned how to trust the Lord and that made him an unusual king.

A good example of his confidence in the Lord is registered in chapter 19 when the king of Assyria menaced him and his kingdom, Hezekiah grabbed the letters that were sent to him from the Assyrians “Spread it before the Lord” and prayed “So now, O Lord our God, save us, I pray you, from his hand so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone” he got a great deliverance from God and also received an extra blessing for his kingdom (2 kings 19:29-34)

Hezekiah also received a miraculous healing from God (2 kings 20: 1-7) in response to his personal prayer for healing, but after that he was given a very hard word of prophecy from the prophet Isaiah after he received the envoys from Babylon. Nobody exactly knows the details about this passage, but some scholars tends to think that by showing them everything he clearly was looking for an alliance with Merodach Baladan instead of trusting in the Lord.

For me the greatest challenge in this reading today is the response of Hezekiah towards Isaiah’s hard prophecy: “The word that the Lord have spoken is   good” for he thought “why not, if there will be peace and security in my days” (20: 16-19) it seems that he was so selfcentered  that he did not realized that the future generations (including his sons) will be “taken away”

We are here for us and for the generations to come, so let’s give them the best inheritance, that is our confidence in the Lord. 

The opening of this section shows the Lord’s care of the widow and orphan and the certainty of his promises. Through  Elijah, the Shunammite woman had been promised provision.  Now after exile due to a famine she returns just at the right time and her land is restored to her as promised. God is always faithful to his promises.

God had warned Israel about having a king and what it would mean. And now we clearly see why. So few of the kings of Israel or Judah did what the Lord had commanded.  Over and over again we read the words that these kings “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”  Ocassionally, like the story of Jehu who wiped out the Baals and did much to turn Israel back to the Lord, but  he did not turn away from all of the sins of Jeroboam.  This reflects the story of humankind throughout history. Roman 3:23 tells us that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is true of kings as well as common folks.

The intrigue of the royal families in these stories reflects accurately the story of royal families throughout ancient history. Another reason why the Lord had warned them against having a king.  The greatest sin of this desire of Israel for a king was that it was a rejection of the Lord as their ruler, 1 Sam. 8:7. They wanted to be like the surrounding nations.  Unfortunately, they god what they wished.  Humankinds greatest hope and greatest destiny lies in the hand of the living God and his reign over our lives. Whenever we reject his rule and his ways, we suffer the consequences. Thankfully, God does not give up on us, but keeps trying to demonstrate his love to us even through all our sin and rebellion.  The “hound of heaven” is relentless in pursuing us.

This section of 2 Kings is clearly validating Elisha’s succession to be the prophet of God to Israel following Elijah’s dramatic career.  It was a hard act to follow, but the story makes it clear that Elisha got what he asked for and what was promised…a double measure of the Spirit.  The miracles that Elisha performs in these chapters–the multiplication of the oil for the widow, the healing of the Shunammite woman’s  son, the cleansing of the bad stew, the feeding of the men and the healing of Naaman all demonstrate that the Spirit of God was mighty in Elijah.  However, the purpose of these miracles was not primarily to validate Elisha as prophet. Consistent with all of the Old Testament, the purpose is to make the glory of God known. 5:15 explicitly states the result of all of Elisha’s miracles when Naaman declares, “Now I know that there is no god in all the earth except in Israel.” This is the purpose of all of God’s interaction with human history.  Through people of all kinds, weak and strong, young and old, Israelite and non-Israelite, God declares his glory and his love for all of humankind to see.

The story in chapter 6 is a real keeper. This is the story of many believers throughout the centuries. Trusting in the Lord and depending on his Spirit to do far more than we could ever imagine means that we begin to see things that normally cannot be seen. We may not always “see” with our eyes, but we “see” with our heart that God is always working behind the scenes to accomplish his purposes in and through us and just as the servant was able to see the army that surrounded them for  protection, if we trust God’s promises, God always surrounds us with whatever we need to do what he has called us to do.  Rom. 8:28 says that God is at work always to cause all things to work together for our good. This is a great promise to remember. God has demonstrated its truth all through human history. The Old Testament and the history of Israel is a testiment to this truth.