Bible Reading Challenge Blog

Like we find in just about all of the characters of the Bible we see another king who falls short of what they should have done.  Israel begins to cause trouble, so that would be northern kingdom.  So Asa, who is in the south, notices this and basically bribes the nearest ally to the north, the king of Aram.  He gives him gold and silver and tells him to tell Israel that they will no longer protect the southern Israelite border.  So as a result this foreign nation comes to the aid of Judah, or King Asa.  They go up against the north, or Israel, and begin to battle against it.  

As a result Israel backs away from the troop pile up that had been going on near Judah and king Asa considers this a victory and is able to expand his land even more.  But God was not happy.  Remember the Ethiopians?  Remember the million or more troops that were amassed against Judah?  God intervened and made sure that king Asa would win that battle.  God was not happy because Asa did not reach out to God and ask for help.

An object lesson to this is that we see Asa gets sick, his feet are all messed up, and he doesn’t even seek out God for help with that.  God moves away from Asa because Asa had first moved away from him.  He forgot all that God had done for him and tried to do it by himself.  Not a great lesson for any of us.  Continue to seek God in all times of our lives.

The story of Asa continues as we see the faithfulness of this king.  He is also able to rally his people and get them to profess loyalty to God in a way that had not been done for generations.  We read that he gathered all of the people and they all sacrificed to the Lord and they all swore an oath.  As a result we read in vs.15 that the Lord gives them rest all around.

The consecration of the people and the of the king is extreme enough that Asa finds out that his mother had desecrated herself by offering up an idol to the high places.  As a result he removed his mom from being the queen mother because of this action.  No one is spared and there is no nepotism.  You can see the loyalty of Asa by the fact that not even his mom is given a pass.

The most telling of the verses is probably vs.19 where we read that there was peace in the land for 35 years.  That is incredibly impressive for a land that has seen wars for generation upon generation since even before the time of David.  That certainly is not the case today as war continues to ravage that region.

Here is one that would fit for this Scripture.

We find ourselves with another king who was pleasing in the sight of the Lord.  One of the primary characteristics that makes a king pleasing in the sight of the Lord is the fact that they do not worship other gods and that they dismantle the high places for these other gods that other people may have established.  So while Asa did what was good in the sight of the Lord that consisted primarily of what we find he did in vs.3: “He took away the foreign altars and the high places…”  

As a result there was peace in the kingdom.  We find an example of where Asa and Judah was terribly outnumbered.  They were up against a million men, but notice only 300 chariots.  That is curious.  But still the sheer numbers you think would strike fear in anyone’s heart.  Can you imagine if you are a soldier and you see a million men staring at you ready to take the fight to you?  In fact, Asa goes to the Lord and asks for deliverance and it is provided to him.  It states that the Ethiopians “were broken before the Lord and his army.”  It is good to have the Lord on your side.

I ran into this video and I thought it was appropriate as we think about what it means that God is on my side.

The son of Rehoboam, who was the king after his father Solomon died, is Abijah.  Abijah and Jeroboam, from the north, were constantly at war with each other.  We find described in this chapter what could be described as the definitive battle.  Abijah goes out with his 400,000 warriors against Jeroboam’s 800,000 warriors.  He reminds those who were gathered that God had promised the household of David, of which Abijah was a part, to carry on the line.  He reminded all those gathered that the Israelites, the north, that would be Jeroboam and his overwhelming soldiers, had turned their backs on the Lord.  He reminds them that this war was not just between the two of them and their nations, but between the two of them and their gods.  Abijah who continued to follow the Lord God and Jeroboam who was worshipping calves made of human hands.

Well, you probably could have predicted it but the Lord wins this battle and the 2 to 1 odds do not hold up and those who served Jeroboam fall in defeat.  He warns them that they are fighting against not only the warriors but also “against the Lord, the God of your ancestors.”  You see that in vs.12.  As a result king Abijah is considered a strong king who doesn’t unify the monarchy, but at least provides some sense of pride for the south which it had been missing for a while.

It doesn’t take long for Rehoboam to turn his back on the Lord, even though he was probably present when God spoke to his father, Solomon, when he told Solomon that if the people obey my commandments and don’t worship other gods then I will protect and keep them.  Well, that doesn’t happen.  We read that five years into his reign, Rehoboam and the people of Israel because they had been unfaithful to God and had abandoned his commandments, he allows Egypt to invade and take over up to Jerusalem.  

At that point the king and the officers bow down before God and God allows Jerusalem to be saved.  But it was saved up to the point that the king and his followers were not killed.  But the house of the Lord was ransacked and everything was taken out of the temple.  What we read in vs.9 is that he took everything.  I’m assuming that this means that he also took the ark of the covenant.  

After this defining moment we read about the reign of Rehoboam and that he was in power for 17 years.  He came into power when he was not a young man.  He was already 41 when he began to rule.  The Scripture says that he did evil in the sight of the Lord.  We can only hope that his son who succeeds him does a better job.  We will see the next chapter.

We now find the kingdom divided.  Just like that, after decades of rule by David and Solomon the first in line after them loses the northern kingdom, which is called Israel.  God tells the king not to go after Jeroboam in the north because this was from God.  Notice, that no sooner had the kingdom divided then the north begins to worship calves and other gods which were not inspired by the Lord.  All those who wanted to serve the Lord had to flee to the south in order to be in the presence of the Lord in the temple and to be out of the way of those who were sacrificing to false gods.

We then find the king and his wives and his concubines.  It always strikes me that this was a normal thing back then not only to have multiple wives but also to have multiple concubines.  He alone had 16 wives and 60 concubines.  There is never a word of explanation or any word that would give us the context as to why this is okay.  It is just a matter of fact.  As a matter of fact we know that today this is not okay and not at all what God would want any of us to do, either male or female.

It doesn’t take long for a turn in administration to bring about very different feelings among the people of Israel.  Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, is now king and the tribe of Jeroboam which was in hiding and exile in Egypt came to Rehoboam and asked to be excused.  What had happened with Solomon was that Jeroboam had tried to lead the northern tribes away from Solomon and make them unhappy with the eccentricities of Solomon.  Well, the king found that out and Jeroboam fled and was protected by the Pharaoh.  

Now that Solomon is out of the picture Jeroboam asks the new king if he might be able to return.  Those who were older and who used to be Solomon’s advisers tell him to let bygones be bygones.  But those with whom this young king grew up said no, make them continue to pay for their crimes, because who knows, maybe they might try to turn against you as well.  

He doesn’t go with those who were filled with wisdom while Solomon was around, but rather with those who were with him while he was growing up in school.  They didn’t seem to have a real world perspective like the other advisors.  As a result the new king says that he will come down even harder than he did on them before.  They tell the Israelites to go back to their own individual tents and not heed the dictates of the family of David.  As a result Rehoboam is made to flee from northern Israel and return to Jerusalem where he would be safer.  You know that things are only going to get worse from here on out.

We find ourselves at the end of the reign of Solomon.  The entire chapter is a description of the amassing of wealth that takes place as a direct result of the wisdom of Solomon.  It being with the queen of Sheba being overwhelmed not only by his wisdom but by the way he treats his servants and those who wait on him.  They were dressed as nicely as any other person.  Solomon treated his subjects with the type of respect that was normally reserved for royalty.  This is a key to understanding our approach to life as believers in Jesus Christ.  We are to treat everyone as if they are children of God, simply because they are.  This means not just those who have means, but even those on the very bottom of the totem pole in our society.  What an approach to live by!

As a result of Solomon’s wisdom all of the surrounding rulers came to his presence and sought out advice.  They would bring gifts with them and so as a result his wealth would increase.  For 40 years Solomon ruled and during all of this time the borders of Israel increased as did the wealth of the ruler and of the nation.  We find Rehoboam succeeds him.  We can’t expect the loyalty to God to last forever, unlike the everlasting love of God.

Now that the work is accomplished in both the building of Solomon’s house and the building of the house of the Lord Solomon is able to sit back and reflect a bit on his work, and maybe even put his feet up.  We find that in vs.12 he does offer up the burnt offerings that were required, and this was a daily task.  He lined up all the Levites and all those who were commissioned to work in the temple so that the normal operations would happen in a way that was systematic.  

We see in vs.16 that the work of Solomon was accomplished and that he then went to a place near the sea so that he could hang out there for a bit of time.  He does sound like a bit of a normal person.  Once the task is accomplished then rest is required and is desired by the Lord.  

After the dedication of the temple and the words of Solomon God then appears.  Fire comes down from heaven in the same way that it came down with Elijah when he was dueling it out with the prophets of Baal.  The glory of the Lord that filled the temple was so powerful that it prevented any others from entering the temple.  For seven days a celebration was held to dedicate the temple.  This brings to a conclusion the dedication of the temple, and the Lord takes his place as he had promised.

After this God appears to Solomon a second time.  The first time it was to give Solomon a single wish.  This second time is to confirm the promise that God had made to Solomon’s dad, David.  The promise was that God would reside in Jerusalem in the temple that Solomon had made.  He tells Solomon that as long as the people of God obey him, as long as the people of Israel follow the commandments that God had given then he would dwell in his place.  

There is a bit of foreshadowing as God warns the people of Israel that if they do not follow his commandments and if they pursue other gods then he would abandon them and they would be carried off into exile, which indeed happens in the future.  But here is a song that I think reflects God’s love endures forever.