Week #16....already!!!
Are y'all enjoying this journey thru the Bible?
Me, too!!!!
I don't have as many notes this week because we're back into a portion of the Bible where there is a lot of repetition....but here's what I gleaned from this week's reading.....
***King Jehu destroyed the temple of Baal and all the Baal worshipers, making the temple a public toilet....which meant it was unclean for any future religious ceremonies.
***Athalia, the mother of King Ahaziah of Judah, became queen of Judah.
***Joash was 7 years old when he became king. He was instructed by Jehoida, the priest. Joash had the repairs made to the Lord's Temple.
***Elisha died and was buried.
(unlike Eliza who was carried away in a whirlwind)
***A dead man's body was thrown into the tomb of Elisha....as soon as the body touched Elisha's, it was revived and came back to life.
***Jonah the prophet is first mentioned in II Kings.
***The fall of Israel (the northern kingdom) happened because they worshiped other gods. They sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them safely out of Egypt and rescued them from the power of Pharaoh. The odd thing was that King Hoshea asked King So of Egypt to help him shake free of Assyria's power and King So turned on King Hoshea and the people of Israel were exiled to Assyria.
I thought to myself....as harsh of treatment that their ancestors had received when living in Egypt....why would they even consider asking Egypt for help?
***God sent lions to destroy the people who moved into Samaria to replace the people of Israel because they were worshiping false gods and not the One True God.
***The king of Assyria commanded that one of the exiled priests be sent back to Samaria to teach them the religious customs of God and how to worship Him. Although they worshiped the Lord, they continued to follow their own gods.
(Aren't we a lot like that today, too? We want to straddle the fence....or have our cake and eat it, too?)
***Hezekiah was king of Judah. He was a good king just as his ancestor David had been.
***King Hezekiah became deathly ill and the prophet Isaiah went to visit him and told him he would not recover from the illness. The king prayed to the Lord and before Isaiah had left, he returned to King Hezekiah and told him that the Lord would heal him and add 15 years to his life because of his prayer. King Hezekiah asked for proof that he would be healed and the shadow of the sundial went back 10 steps.
***King Hezekiah dug a tunnel to bring water into the city before his death. When he died, Manassah became king at the age of 12 years old. Manassah allowed evil practices. He even sacrificed his own son in the fire.
***While the Temple of the Lord was being repaired, Hilkiah, the high priest, found the Book of the Law and it was read to King Joash. He was very upset because the people weren't obeying the laws. Because of this disobedience, the Lord said He would bring disaster on the land, but only after Joash's death. Joash did away with all the items used in pagan worship, including mediums, psychics, household gods, and idols. He defiled the altars used to worship the pagan gods. He stopped the idolatrous priests from officiating. He also did away with the prostitution that had been taking place in the Temple itself. After all the destruction to the false gods, Josiah had the people celebrate Passover. He was killed in a battle with Assyria.
***Jerusalem came under siege by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The Temple of the Lord was burned down along with the royal palace and all the houses in Jerusalem. Everything used in the making of the Temple was broken down and carried away to Babylon. The people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.
This was all in II Kings....now we head into I Chronicles.
***I and II Chronicles can be called "books of hope". The history of the nation of Israel is traced from Adam to the captivity and the restoration. A lot is a repetition of I and II Samuel and I and II Kings. They were written to encourage the exiles who returned to Jerusalem after more than 50 years of captivity in Babylon. They were reminded of Israel's glorious days from the past...and were given hope for the future
(now doesn't that remind you of another verse of scripture....Jeremiah 29:11!!!)
So much of I Chronicles was a repetition....but it also served as a refresher course for a lot of what I had already read.
***The book of I Chronicles starts out with the genealogy of the nation of Israel, then the royal family of Judah.
Here are some things that I learned that I hadn't realized before....or had
forgotten....
David was the seventh son of Jesse (I didn't know he was #7...perfection)
David and Bathsheba had 3 other sons besides the one who died and Solomon.
Jerusalem was also called the City of David because David made it his home.
Jerusalem was once called Jebus.
The prayer of Jabez is in I Chronicles 4.....
"Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory. Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain".
And God....granted Jabez's request!!!
Until next week....blessings to you!!!
In His Most Precious Love....and with mine!!!
Hi Deb, Thanks for visiting! I just now got the post up where I featured the video you shared. Thanks for sharing your re-caps..they're great!
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