May 14, 2021: Day 69 – II Chronicles 36

We come to the end of the book of II Chronicles and we find our friend the prophet Jeremiah ends the book.  Remember Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet because over his 40 year ministry he does not have a single convert.  We find another cyclical turn over in rulers with Josiah who was a righteous king leaving and his son, Jehoahaz taking over and once again a continual cycle of those doing evil in the sight of the Lord begins.  There is no one who comes out strong and brings the people back.  It is so bad that even Jehoiachin who was eight years old and only reigned for 3 months is described as someone who did “evil in the sight of the Lord.”  What can an 8 year old do that can be described as being evil?

This continual reign of bad rulers continues and it includes both Egyptian and Babylonian exile by the the people and those in command.  We see that both Egypt and Assyria have the chance to not only take the people in to captivity but they also get to choose who stays behind in Jerusalem to rule over the people, or at least those who remain.  It can easily be said that the ending of II Chronicles gives us probably one of the worst times in Israelite history.  

We end the chapter with a bit of a potential promise as King Cyrus of Persia encourages people to go back to Israel and rebuild the city and the walls.  This is after Jeremiah and probably around the time that Nehemiah is the prophet.  

We close this book of the Bible and move on to one that is no longer a history of the rulers.  We must remember that people of God have a tendency over time to do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord.  May God protect us as we look to break that cycle.