Last time, we got halfway into Chronicles II. Now for the next chunk.
CHAPTER 19
Jehoshaphat is rebuked for helping the evil kill of Judah in
the last chapter, but by and large he’s still a good king. He appoints judges
and gives them instructions to act well.
Jehoshaphat was just another king in Kings, but in
Chronicles, he’s one of the stars.
CHAPTER 20
Jehoshaphat suffers an invasion from the Moabites and
Ammonties and prays to God for help. OK, that’s exactly what Chronicles looks
to see – turn to God in time of help. Don’t turn to generals or doctors – turn
to God. Naturally, it pays off.
Jehoshaphat assembles all of Judah – women and children included, and tells
them to take heed. God will let them
pull through.
Everyone meets in one area, and it’s right where the
invading forces are headed. This could
go badly. But instead, the invaders are
slaughtered. No, they aren’t beaten in
battle. They just all die. Everyone in Judea awakes one morning, looks
in the direction of where the invading armies were – and it’s nothing but
corpses. So many corpses that it takes
Judea three days to loot them for all their stuff. My, this must’ve raised quite a powerful stench. I wonder how much disease spread from this.
Well, asking those questions assumes this event happened, and of all the spectacular events that happened in the Bible, this is the least likely of all. I don’t just mean in terms of being physically unlikely – the Nile turning to blood is still less likely than that. But here’s what sets this miracle apart: the guy who wrote Kings totally missed it. We have two accounts of these years in the Bible, and the other one – the main one people look at – has no idea this happened. Technically, silence doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, but how in heck do you leave this out? How in heck would anyone forget this? Keep in mind, we’re told it happened before all of Judea.
The authors include two types of things in their accounts:
1) things included because they’re too well known to leave out, and 2) things
that fit their agenda. If this
happened, both guys would have to include it.
The Chronicler is making it up, because it fits his agenda. How Jehoshaphat is so central to his agenda,
I haven’t the foggiest.
Also, this same principle casts doubt on the story of Elijah
and the 450 prophets of Baal. If that
happened, why isn’t it here? Actually,
there is a better excuse there. The
Chronicler doesn’t give a damn about the northern kingdom, and that’s where
Elijah worked. But this mass death
during Jehoshaphat’s reign? That should
be in both.
CHAPTER 21
Jehoshaphat dies and his son Jehoram becomes king. He sucks and breaks with God. Wait a second – when he was growing up he
supposedly would’ve seen entire armies slaughtered overnight with no reason but
God wanted it. That’s what Chapter 20
would have us believe, anyway. You’d think that would impress the prince
somehow. Guess not.
Instead, Jehoram kills all his brothers to ensure his
reign. But he’s punished with bowels
problems that eventually cause all his innards to fall out. That’ll teach him.
Oh, and Edom revolts and we’re told, “To this day Edom has
been in revolt against the rule of Judah.”
Well, not in revolt, but broke clear away. But phrasing it like this implies that the House of David is the
rightful ruler of Edom, which is clearly the point.
One other quick note – Elijah makes his only appearance
here. So score that for Elijah – even
the guy who doesn’t have any interest in the northern kingdom mentions
him. Elijah is the guy who says Jehoram
will have bowel problems. Note: by the
chronology of Kings, Elijah has gone up in a fiery chariot well before this
time.
CHAPTER 22
Time for a new king – Ahaziah. He also sucks. He dies,
and his mother Athaliah takes command, killing all his sons. (Wasn’t she the sister in Kings? I know it wasn’t wife there). Again, as in
Kings, she rules for six years.
CHAPTER 23
And, as in Kings, she’s overthrown after six years and her
youngest son (and only surviving son) is made king. The only difference I see
here is that last time we were told the guards did a lot of the work, and this
time it’s Levites. I suppose the
Levites could’ve been the guards, but they’re repeated referred to just at
Levites here. That certainly fits with
P author’s overall concern about Levites and priestly duties.
The more of this I read, the more I’m buying what Richard
Elliot Friedman said about this being written by the P author. It has the same interests, and despite a few
comments early in Chronicles I indicating it was written later, several places
indicate it was written before the end of Judah – all those “to this day”
comments, like the one about Edom’s revolt.
CHAPTER 24
The new king is Josah and during his reign he gets off to a
good start but then flops at the end.
He refurbishes the temple and starts up a collection box to finance
it.
But near the end of his life he turns away from the Lord,
and here is one place where Chronicles is actually worth reading. At the end of the life of Josah, Kings II
just said he was murdered by people inside the court. No explanation is given at all – and Josah had come off like a
good king in Kings. Here we get a
fuller story. He moved away from God,
and killed a prophet who came to warn him of his misdeeds. So his servants killed him while he lay on
his sick bed. They even refuse to bury him with the rest of the kings. They don’t like this guy.
That’s interesting, and it makes more sense than Kings’
completely out of nowhere murder of him.
Now we have motivation.
CHAPTER 25
Another chapter, another king. This one is Amaziah, and
he’ll largely repeat the arc of the life of his father. He starts off fine, goes evil, and is
killed. The opening says that he did
what was right before the Lord, “though not wholeheartedly.” Interesting – at least this time there is
foreshadowing of his turn for the worse.
And worse he turns.
After conquering Edom (really?)
he starts adopting some of their gods.
(Hmmm.. Methinks that was part
of the terms of Edom’s acquiescence. They’ll accept him as king if he accepts
their gods in his court. It makes
sense). But he’s punished, and Judah
defeats him in battle. They raid the
House of God itself even. Then he’s
killed in a conspiracy. I don’t
remember that from Kings, but checking – yeah, he was murdered there, too.
CHAPTER 26
Next king: Uzziah, who rules for 52 years.
Actually, around here I should note – there is literally
zero attempt made to note the Kings of Israel to the north. Kings bounced back and forth between the two
kingdoms, but here all that matters is Judah.
Israel is only mentioned when it applies to Judah. No wonder Elijah is almost entirely
non-existent here.
Anyhow, Uzziah becomes the third straight king to start
strong but then falter badly. He does
well – winning a whole bunch of battles – but then becomes proud. He comes to think that he’s the guy that won
all the battles. He even deems it his
place to enter the Temple of the Lord.
That’s a huge no-no. That place
isn’t for the public to show up – it’s the Lord’s house. Only priests may enter. But he figures he’s a big shot so he can
come in. And when the priests try to
stop him, leprosy immediately breaks out on his forehead. I take it that’s a “no” vote from God on if
he should enter the temple. He should
consider himself lucky that he’s still alive.
He’s a leper until his death. Oh, and Isaiah gets mentioned here, so we’re approaching that
point in Hebrew history.
CHAPTER 27
This is a short chapter – just nine verses – on King
Jotham. He’s a good king. No big complaints about him, so not much to
say. So the chapter swiftly ends.
CHAPTER 28
The next chapter tells the story of another king –
Ahaz. And he’s the worst one Judah ever
had. He made molten idols, and veers
far from God. He loses in battle and decides that means the other side’s god
must be better than God. Hey, it makes
sense if you think of it. And it wasn’t
just a small loss he had. The Bible
claims 120,000 Judah men died in a single day.
Sure – that’s not at all an inflated figure. Kings noted that Ahaz actually engages in child sacrifice, but I
don’t see that here. (Maybe I missed
it, though). He does break of the
utensils of God and closes the doors to the temple.
He dies, and they didn’t bring him to the tombs of
David. Then his son Hezekiah becomes
king – and the Chronicler loves Hezekiah so much he spends four full chapters –
half of the remainder of Chronicles II – on him. That’s the most any king since Solomon gets, but that’ll begin
next chapter, not this one.
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