The Journey Brought Forth "2 Chronicles"

This blog series is focused on God’s word bringing people through their journeys in His intentional way that He has set in front of them thereby bringing them through to His completion.

Exodus chapter twenty through Matthew chapter four is the section of scripture that most Christians find themselves living in its revolving pattern of realization, but once they receive its revelation, the Third Stage of Life is what their lives are built upon instead of attempting to achieve.

The book of 2 Chronicles begins with after King Solomon became the king of Israel and states he was strengthened and the leaders of the people went with Solomon to the tabernacle of the congregation in the high places of Gibeon. (God had told His people before they entered the Promised Land not to worship on the high places and that is what they did as soon as they entered it and continued doing so until He displaced them from the land. A lot of the things in and of culture are not acceptable to God, but people will think they are because that is what has always been done and they “never thought about it.”)

That night God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked what Solomon wanted God to give him. Solomon replied, “Thou hast shewed great mercy unto David my father, and hast made me to reign in his stead. Now, O LORD God, let thy promise unto David my father be established: for thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?” (Solomon did not ask for humility and understanding in the relationship with God to know Him more intimately and thereby have God reign over the people. He asked for the ability to do it by Himself. This is why God added wealth, and wealth, and honor. Most people think this is a blessing that God added, but when you look at what God warned His people the king would do and what Solomon did, it is evident along with knowing because of his acquiring the material possessions in such magnitude it gave him the opportunity to have seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines which led him astray spiritually, and he ended up building places of worship for false gods of the former inhabitants of the land along with sacrificing to them and defiling the land. This is the same thing that many people are admiring today. The ability to amass great possessions, yet be destitute in the one thing that pays with an eternal inheritance.)

Solomon now gathers people and gives them the task of gathering and processing materials to build the house of the Lord. One of the ways he brought people together was to make a partnership with the peoples of the lands adjacent to Israel. This is another way he went away from God’s direction. God strictly warned His people not to be joined with the people of the lands, but Solomon was apparently too wise and understanding to listen to God’s simple instructions. (These same people who he partnered with were the ones Israel warred with later. (God’s instructions are simple enough for a child to understand but is far above man’s ability. The simple and proper thing to do is get out of culture and into God to see things from His perspective.)

Solomon made the house and its furnishings in accordance with God’s instructions, and they represent things in heaven which will be partially addressed in later blogs. (God wants His people to be comforted with things from their true promised land, and He gives them pacifiers until they get back home.)

The ark enters the temple after it is built and completely furnished. This represents the heart God places in His people after they are seemingly complete; then, God fills the temple with Himself. (There’s no complexity to God’s simplicity.)

Solomon then blessed the people and showed the house of the Lord to them. The next thing Solomon did was to kneel on a raised platform in front of the people toward God thanked and praised Him basically reminding the people of what He had done and promised to do for His people. (Prayer is extremely powerful, and when people pray in front of others it should be genuine with God and proper for the setting.)

Fire came down from heaven consuming the burnt offering, and a dark cloud filled the house of the Lord once Solomon had made an end of his prayer. Then they made a huge number of sacrifices and the priests took their places and performed their jobs. (Prayer opens God’s people to receive His presence and gives them the sacrifice to perform the tasks set in front of them.)

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God appears to Solomon the second time and tells him he accepts the house that Solomon had built, and he will dwell in it. He also warns Solomon about the possibility of the people going astray from Him and doing evil, and what would happen to them, but that they could turn from their ways and pray toward the temple and He would hear and heal their land. (God is telling His people the same thing today. It is as simple and impossible as complete obedience to Him without any distraction.)

King Solomon built store houses, gathered lands, placed people in servant positions whom the Israelites had not destroyed as God had told them to do upon entering the Promised Land, and placed one of his Egyptian wives in a house he built for her because King David’s places were holy. (Solomon acquired such great riches he had to build cities to store them, placed the dispossessed people into servanthood instead of completing their annihilation of them, and placed his wife outside of physically holy places instead of divorcing her and cleansing his life. Riches still distract people, and somewhat distant and especially close relationships distract and destroy people’s lives today.)

King Solomon made extensive sacrifices and burnt offerings; then, the Queen of Sheba now comes to inquire of Solomon and see if he is as wise as people say he is. His wisdom and the wealth of how he and his people lived surpassed her expectations, and she gave him gold and many spices; then she departed. (Solomon again partnered with foreign people while he offered sacrifices and cleansing the temple. Solomon like many in this Stage of Life was living a dual life and thought he was pleasing God.)

Solomon’s base acquisition of gold per year weighed 666 talents; and, there were more gold, silver, and precious stones that were taken to him. He made things out of gold that most kingdoms had out of base metals. He reigned forty years and died; then, his son, Rehoboam, reigned in his place. (Solomon acquired all this wealth and we will find out that he did not give his children’s children a huge inheritance; because like so many financially wealthy people today, he did not follow God with all of his heart and it ended in the disbursement of the wealth and contributed to a more wicked generation to follow, but it does not have to be this way as we will discover in this blog.)

Jeroboam came back from living in exile when he heard Solomon was dead and asked Solomon to lighten the burden compared to what his father had placed on the people. Rehoboam inquired of the men who had assisted his father being king and they told him he should lighten the load and the people would serve him, but Rehoboam asked his people, and they told him to tell Jeroboam that instead of lightening the burden, he would increase it. They rebelled, and Israel was divided into two nations, one named Judah and the other Israel. God told Rehoboam through one of his people to not try to maintain the unity of the nation; because what Jeroboam had done was God’s purpose. (God’s people must have His discernment to understand the difference in wise and foolish counsel, and be willing to follow the wise counsel at all costs.)

Rehoboam built defensed cities in Judah and Jeroboam disregarded and replaced the Levites in Israel with other men to be priests for their false gods, idols, and devils. (People who are humbled and brought low often reach out to God and people who are brought up often reject God and everything associated with Him. This might seem backward, but it is throughout the scriptures and plainly seen in today’s people.)

Rehoboam married his half cousin and appointed Abijah ruler over his brothers grooming him to be the next king.

Five years into Rehoboam’s reign, Egypt invades Judah because Rehoboam led Judah away from God. Rehoboam and Judah humbled themselves and sought the Lord, and He gave them some reprieve, but they were still forced to be Egypt’s servants for a while. The Egyptians took the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house. (There are consequences to actions, and God reproves those who are His.)

Rehoboam died after reining seventeen years in Judah, and Abijah took his place when he died. Abijah sets a battle against Israel and proclaims Israel’s wicked behavior of how they had displaced the priests and worshipped false gods instead of being like Judah and respecting the priests and worshipping God properly, and warned them they would not prosper fighting against God and His people. Jeroboam had a portion of his army go around Judah and Judah cried out to the Lord. The Lord saved Judah and Judah slew five hundred thousand men of Israel that day. Judah took the regions of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephraim and all of the regions’ towns. (Israel had much more people than Judah, but Judah had God on its side; therefore, Judah was victorious in their conquest, and God’s people will always be victorious when they are with Him.)

Abijah’s died, and Asa reigned in his place. Asa did right in the sight of the Lord and took the high places down and removed everything that was contrary to the proper worshipping of God except for idols that were taken from mount Ephraim. During times of peace, Asa had Judah build cities and an army of five hundred eighty thousand highly skilled men. The Ethiopians came against them, and Asa cried out to the Lord to save them. God smote the Ethiopians and Judah pursued them and took many items in the victory. (God gives His people times of quietness to prepare for the next battle whether it be famine or foe and He assures victory when His people are fixed on His outcome.) A prophet came to Asa and told him God is a rewarder of those who seek Him above everything; then, Asa removed the idols and renewed the altar of the Lord. The people of Judah and Benjamin, along with the people that had withdrawn from Israel out of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, who knew Judah was following God and Israel was overtaken with false gods and idol worship, had a gathering and sacrifices a great sacrifice to God entering into a covenant with God. They swore to Him and followed Him with their whole heart; then, God gave them rest. (God demands complete and utter desire from His people to Him, and He shows Himself to all who focus on Him.)

Asa sends silver to the Syrians to buy their loyalty and has Syria break their relations with Israel after Israel had built a siege city. Israel stopped building the wall when Syria had attacked a couple of Israel’s cities; then a prophet came to Asa and told him that the Syrians had escaped out of Judah’s hands of victory because they had looked toward them for security instead of God, and therefore Judah shall be continually at war. (God uses many different approaches and tools to secure His people’s victory, but they must always first turn to Him to understand which method He is instructing them to take. Small, short-term victories often overtake people’s vision of the overall long-term success that is possible, and they end up in a war for the rest their lives because they saw it from their own point of view instead of God’s eternal understanding.)

Asa now being in his thirty-ninth year of reign became ill in his feet and sought the physicians instead of God and therefore died. (God gives us physicians, but still demands that we seek Him before anything else. Asa did not learn his lesson from an outside war and lost his life because he looked at man’s ability instead of God in his health as well as his surrounding security.)

Jehoshaphat reigned in His father Asa’s place and did right in the sight of the Lord by seeking Him and removing the high places and groves the people had used for false worship; he built strong cities and an army, he also sent people to teach God’s word to the people. The neighboring nations were fearful of Judah and brought many riches to them. Once Jehoshaphat gained much wealth and strength he joined himself to King Ahab of Israel. Ahab was a wicked man not following nor seeking God. Ahab desired to make war with a neighboring people, and Jehoshaphat said to inquire of God by the prophets. Ahab got four hundred prophets to agree and encourage them, but Jehoshaphat asked if there was one more. Micaiah was brought to them and told them God had placed a lying spirit in them to accomplish His purpose of killing Ahab. They went to the battle, and Ahab disguised himself, and Jehoshaphat wore his king’s apparel. The Syrian king had commanded his people only to smite Ahab, and they did by, “And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness…” (There is not any possibility of the possibility of hiding from God’s wrath.)

Upon returning to Judah, Jehu, one of God’s prophets, confronted Jehoshaphat for joining forces with Ahab and told him the righteous should not join with the wicked, but also commended him for purging the high places and groves from Judah. Jehoshaphat then set judges and other leaders in place telling them they were under God’s authority and answerable to Him. The next thing that happens is three nations, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the inhabitants of Mount Seir came up against Judah, and Judah’s response was to proclaim a fast and went to God in prayer. God sent his spirit upon a man and told Judah that He would fight for them. They went to the battle, but the Moabites and Ammonites had already destroyed the inhabitants of Mount Seir then each other, and Judah carried the spoils of war away for three days without even going to battle. The people returned to Judah dancing and praising God the fourth day; then Jehoshaphat died, and Jehoram reigned in his place. (God gives His people opportunities to turn to Him even more earnestly by things happening that appear to be impossible to overcome, but He shows Himself real by making that impossible situation possible and overcoming it for them when His people had no other way; however, the people still had to actively receive the gifts that He supplied for them.)

Jehoram did evil by slaying all of his brethren when he was risen to be the king because he was married to Ahab’s daughter and did like Ahab. Libnah and Edom revolted from Judah during Jehoram’s reign, and they were never under Judah’ reign again. Elijah wrote a letter to King Jehoram stating a great plague shall come upon Judah’s possessions and a sickness which would cause their bowels to fall out of them. The Lord stirred up two nations, and they took Jehoram’s possessions, sons except for his youngest son Jehoahaz, and his wives; then the Lord smote him with an incurable disease for two years that ended in his death by his bowels coming out of him. (Jehoram was set in the place of authority and given an opportunity to lead God’s people in His direction, but he turned from the Lord by joining wicked people and doing as they did which led him to death and despair for him and almost everyone around him.)

Judah made Ahaziah king in Jehoram’s place after his death. Ahaziah did evil and was allies with Israel. God was slaying the leaders of Israel and slew Ahaziah with them. Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, killed all of the rightful inheritors of the throne except Joash, the only one hidden from her. Athaliah reigned for seven years then Joash was set in his rightful place of being the king of Judah, and the priest had her slain. (wicked people may come to power, but they will not have peace or the ability to reign for extended periods because God will remove them as He knows necessary.)

Joash was seven years old when he began reigning over Judah, and he reigned forty years and did right as long as Jehoiada was the priest. Joash commanded the priests to go throughout all of Israel and gather resources to repair the house of the Lord, but they tarried; then, he insisted, and they did as instructed until the house of the Lord was repaired including having its furnishings. Jehoiada, the priest, was one hundred thirty years old when he died, and they buried him in the place of the kings because he did good in Israel. After Jehoiada’s death, the men of Judah led Joash to abandon the worship of God for false gods. God sent prophets to them, but they would not hear. God took vengeance on Joash by the Syrians coming and took much spoil from Judah because of Joash’s actions; then the Joash’s own servants conspired against him and slew him. (The beginning of people’s lives and the ending of them are often much different than each other in either being connected to God or not and during people’s lives they are at war attempting to navigate through this.)

Amaziah, Joash’s son, reigned in his place doing right and slew the men that killed his father, then built an army of three hundred thousand men of Judah and hired one hundred thousand men of Israel to go to battle with them, but a man of God warned him to leave the Israelites out of the battle. He did so, and the Israelites were not pleased with his actions even though he paid them what they had agreed upon; so, they went to war victoriously, but while there, the army that King Amaziah sent back slew three thousand inhabitants of Judah and took their possessions. Amaziah took the false gods from the people he was victorious against and started worshipping them, so God sent a prophet to tell him of his impropriety, but he would not listen; therefore, God placed in Amaziah’s heart to battle against Israel. The king of Israel warned Ahaziah, but he refused to listen to him because it was from God. King Joash of Israel then went to Judah and was victorious in the battle, destroyed a portion of its wall, took all of the gold, silver, and the vessels of the house of the Lord, treasures of the king’s house, and hostages with him back to Israel, and his own people made a conspiracy against him and slew him in a foreign land and took him back to bury him in Judah. (This is another example of God’s people turning from Him in their pride after He was the One who gave them what they had in the beginning.)

Amaziah’s son Uzziah reigned in his place and did right, and God made him prosper. Uzziah was victorious in war, built cities, and received gifts from neighboring nations, but when he was built up strongly, he became prideful and went into the house of the Lord to burn incense; so the priests went in after him to remove him and he became angry, so he became a leper until his death. (Another example of men turning away from God.)

Uzziah’s son Jotham reigned in his place during his Uzziah’s leprosy and after his death. Jotham did right in the sight of the Lord and did not enter the house of the Lord as his father did, was victorious in war, and received gifts from a neighboring land; so, he became great and built Judah back to power during his reign. (God’s people don’t have to follow the wicked ways of the earthly fathers and can prosper with God leading their way.)

Jotham’s son Ahaz reigned in his place and did evil following after the kings of Israel worshipping false gods and performing the rituals due to them; therefore, God defeated them in battle by the Syrians and the Israelites. The Israelites took many from Judah captive to Samaria and then returned them because God told them they were adding sin to the sin they had already sinned against Him. Ahaz tried to hire Assyria, but only gave them things without receiving any help. Ahaz then sacrifices to the Assyrian gods, and this is the final ruin of him. (God showed Himself real to Ahaz’s father, but Ahaz turned away from Him and was destroyed with everyone under his leadership suffering greatly.)

Ahaz’s son Hezekiah reigned in his place and did right in the sight of the Lord by his first action being having the Levites restore the house of the Lord; then they had a rededication of the nation to God through a tremendous time of sacrifice and burnt offerings to God. Hezekiah proclaimed a Passover feast for all of Judah and Israel out of the season because the priests and the people had not been sanctified properly at the proper time. They held the Passover and made sacrifices in number that had not been done since Solomon reigned. They then cleansed the land of all of the other god's altars and idols and returned to their homes. Hezekiah had the priests and Levites take their proper positions by genealogical inheritance perform their jobs and the people of Judah and Israel bring their tithes to the house of the Lord; which they had to build storage rooms to receive them because there was so much being brought, and Hezekiah did this with all of his heart and prospered. (Just like Hezekiah, God’s people can turn from their earthly father’s way and be a true vessel of God and be blessed immensely through Him for following Him with all of their hearts.)

The king of Assyria came against Judah, and Hezekiah told the people that God being with them is more than the strength of man being with the Assyrians. The king of Assyria tried using psychological warfare against the people telling them that none of the gods of the other lands had delivered their people and that God would not deliver them either. Hezekiah and Isaiah, a prophet, therefore went to God in prayer: God smote the Assyrians, and they went back to their homes with shamed faces. When the king of Assyria arrived home, his sons slew him. (Being teamed with God is always better than being teamed with men, but God often teams His people together to strengthen them as a unit.)

Hezekiah’s son Manasseh reigned in his place and did evil in the sight of the Lord by building the high places and altars for false gods and made groves: he also placed altars in the house of the Lord and made his children pass through the fire, used enchantments, observed times, used witchcraft, dealt with familiar spirits and wizards, and placed an idol in the house of God. God spoke to Manasseh and the people, but they would not listen; therefore, God sent the king of Assyria and took Manasseh, and when he was in affliction, he called to the Lord, and the Lord heard him and brought him to Jerusalem again. Manasseh knew the Lord was God and he cleansed the land and the house of the Lord from all of the things he had done and worshipped the Lord; however, the high places were not taken down, and the people sacrificed to the Lord upon them, and Manasseh died. (God will put heavy burdens on His people to allow them to go through their humbling process. When they repent, He is there to lift them up again and restore them to a better place than they were before they had erred; because they have a personal revelation of who He is.)

Manasseh’s son Amon reigned in his place and did evil by serving the false gods that his father had made, and his own people killed him; then Judah killed those men and placed his son in his place. (Amon was responsible for his own actions, but by his father Manasseh removing and not destroying the false gods it allowed Amon to go and worship them.)

Amon’s son Josiah reigned in his place and did right by removing all of the idolatrous places and things in Judah, and rebuilt the house of the Lord. Hilkiah, the priest, found the book of the Law and they read it and tore their clothes in the act of mourning; because they realized how they and their fathers had gone away from the Lord’s commands. They went to a prophetess and inquired of the Lord, and she told them all the curses of the book would come upon them because of their transgressions, but it would not occur until after King Josiah had died because he had been humble and followed the Lord. When they told Josiah what she said, he gathered the people and read the covenant and caused Judah to do according to the covenant, and reinstituted the Passover; which was the greatest Passover kept since Samuel. The king of Egypt came to fight against a neighbor of Judah and Josiah confronted him, and the Egyptian told him he had no business with Judah and to go away, but King Josiah disguised himself and got slain by the Egyptians. All of Judah lamented for King Josiah’s dying. (A man can live his life honoring God and build a great earthly kingdom for God, but at the end of his life make a decision apart from God and lose his life.)

Josiah’s son Jehoahaz reigned in his place for three months, and the Egyptians put him down in Jerusalem and brought him to Egypt; then, they placed Jehoiakim in his place. Jehoiakim did evil, and the Babylonians took him and the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon. Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin reigned in his place and did evil; then, they carried him and more of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon; then they placed Zedekiah in his place, and he did evil by being rebellious to the prophet Jeremiah and the Babylonian king who had made him swear, but he broke his oath. God sent messengers, and the people of Judah mocked them and treated them wrong; so, God sent the Chaldees and they killed many people, took all of the vessels of the house of God and the treasures of the house of the Lord, burnt the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burnt all of the palaces, destroyed the good vessels, and carried many people to Babylon where they were in captivity until the reign of the kingdom of Persia which was seventy years; when God stirred Cyrus to build the house of the Lord God. (There may be generational transgressions or long periods of time in a person’s individual journey that are contrary to God, but once His people are awakened and are separated from their way of life, God will cleanse them and rebuild them the way He needs them to be.)

2 Chronicles is written to people who are living after the time of the kings and are looking back on their lives and the events that brought them back to a land that had been very powerful in the past. This allows God’s people today to look back in their lives and understand by other people’s life examples of who they are and how their lives might be changed without having to be completely destroyed and brought to a place of exile, but even if God’s people find themselves in exile, they also can know that it will not last forever if they are humbled and call upon Him in their times of need.