Category: Nation Stream

Asa, his son reigned immediately following.  Asa sought the Lord wholeheartedly and his plan was to clean up Judah. He banished his twisted grandmother (Abijah’s mother), he rid the lude idols and the Lord gave him reign for 41 years; a time span that covered 7 of Israel’s kings in the north. II Chr. 14-16 has more of Asa’s story. Notice that he turned to Syria [not the LORD] for military help,  He did the same in his old age regarding the problems with his feet and he suffered for his refusal to come to God in this matter.  Take note here, friends!

I Kings 15-16, for the remainder of the run here, lists a string of kings that coincides with the reign of Asa.  It’s a grisly, bloody, backstabbing, horrid time in Israel.  The kings are practically trying to outdo each other in an “ungodliness contest” wherein the thirst for darkness doesn’t seem to be quenchable. They are then listed and described in succession; Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab [Jezebel’s wife] . None are people of character nor virtue. Their exploits are garish, huge and far reaching for the next 35 years or so. Keep in mind that “1 & 2 Kings” is much more of the northern perspective, while simultaneously, while 1 & 2 Chronicles is much more the southern perspective. Kings is a zany rendition of simply what happened as a nation frantically ran from God. Chronicles has a couple dozen reminders and anecdotes that are an attempt to see Judah return to following the Lord.

17 –  Enter Elijah, one of the most glorious and powerful characters in the whole Bible.  He is so etched in the “hall of heroes” among Judaism that the leaders in Jesus’ day think that it is Elijah that Jesus is calling out to 800+years later as he is gasping to breath on the Cross.  Just in reading this part of the incidents in Elijah’s life we see why he had Messianic level status as he did many miraculous deeds, multiplied food, raised the dead, won victories and so forth.  He first declares a drought and then is instructed to hide in a canyon by a brook west of the Jordan. He is miraculously fed there until God prompts him onward. He then is to go to a widow in duress who is out of food.  Elijah restores her food supply. Her son then dies and Elijah brings her son back to life.  He has quite a string of salient assignments and he follows God’s prompting gloriously.  We can see why he is so highly revered in Judaism and later in Christianity.

18 – Elijah and Obadiah have an encounter, as they are both on the right side of faith and Elijah has Obadiah set up a meeting with Ahab.  Ahab was the most wicked king to date. His wife Jezebel even outdid Ahab for treachery, paganism, murder of God’s people and diabolical deeds.  Elijah calls for a spiritual showdown on Mt. Carmel and wanted all of Ahab/Jezebels’ prophets present and for Israel to watch this showdown.  They meet on Mt. Carmel and Elijah set the parameters.  Each side sacrificed and arranged a bull on their respective places and they were to call on their divine source for God/god/Baal to light the fire and burn the sacrifice.  The Baal worshipers commenced and called and danced and cut themselves as their false religion required of them. All the while Elijah jeered and cheered them on sarcastically as if they weren’t trying hard enough.  Elijah then arranged his sacrifice and soaked it with a laborious amount of water to over prove his point. There well could have been ca. 300 gallons of water poured over the wood and bull and to fill the trench. Then God sent down fire as Elijah called for God to give this sign.  It was so hot that the entire altar burned up and vaporized with the bull and the wood.  Even the stones were burnt and gone!!  My husband looked this up for me and stones vaporize / “evaporate”  at +3450 degrees fahrenheit.  They turn white hot and then are gone.  Btw, the surface of the sun is calculated to be 10K degrees!  This was a demonstration of many things among them is that “our God is a consuming fire” / He is livid at Baal worship / He’s all powerful / …the list goes on. Israel was on their face in worship and confession.  Elijah orders that all the Baal prophets be executed.  The drought then ends in a wild display as Elijah orchestrated the exit from Carmel and ran ahead of, shall we call it –> “Ahab’s parade”.?  This would make quite a movie scene would it not?  It’s a scene that is among the most wild-like nature miracles and savagely impressive in all the Bible.

 

8 – It is fascinating in this reading pattern that we are doing together that yesterday we read about Bezalel making the Ark of the Covenant. And today it is being brought into the finished Temple (not the Tabernacle/[tent] that was carried throughout Sinai. The two stone tablets inside the Ark and the Ark itself were made well over 500 years prior and today, in our reading, they are finally in place! Imagine the “it’s done!” sentiment that swept over the people after all these centuries.  Well they probably felt this way because God felt this way.  The Cloud, signified God’s Presence, and The Glory of God filled the house as soon as the Ark was in place.  I don’t know who else feels this way, but it sure would have been exhilarating to be there!

Solomon’s address to the people is historical!  The ceremony that followed was regal  – perhaps excessive, but it was for God (with a definite ‘touch of Solomon’) so let’s do it in a big way!  This initial dedication is not going to happen again.   Solomon’s prayer included remembering David, seeking God’s blessing, prayers and rituals of worship, dealing with sins, enemies and their related interaction, famine and pestilence, foreigners, and battles.  The blessing Solomon gave to the people was marvelous – it would have been good if Solomon had followed his own advice all his life.  but So it goes.  At any rate, the 14 day celebration was ‘one for the books!’

 

9 – This chapter is a continuation of ch. 4.  Note that ch’s 5-8 are a hiatus to describe the Temple, then 9 continues where 4 left off.  God opens with a promise for following Him and a warning against turning from Him.  It applied to Solomon AND his sons, btw.  They all must follow God in perpetuity.

The activity is impressive as Solomon and Hiram interchange and trade and gift eachother..  Solomon built cities, and rebuilt others.  He commissioned a staggering amount of workers. Solomon built a navy fleet of ships that sailed the Mediterranean, and others that sailed from the gulf to the south traversling into Arabia, India, and Africa.  In the last verse, did you perceive the size of the gold shipment loaded for Solomon from Ophir? It was 31,000+ lbs. of gold.  My math could be wrong, but in today’s rates, that is $665million.  It was a gift and it was simply loaded and taken to Solomon.  Holy Smoke, these folks are living a dream. AND, it was only part of what was brought to Solomon for that one year.  The gifts kept coming annually

 

10 – The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon and it too was an encounter fit for the history books; the real history books for that matter.  She marveled at his world, his acquisitions, his staff, his wisdom, knowledge, and insight. 10:5b is interesting, “…and there was no more spirit in her. ” [all her curiosities and questions were answered]  She was truly overwhelmed at what she saw.  She had heard of Solomon’s Kingdom, but amid all the telling, she had only heard “the half of it.”   She leaves him a gift of precious gems, spices that ranked as the best in the world, and 4+1/2 tons of gold (imagine that! and it was all brought by camel from Central Africa).  The chapters final phrase/phase ends with a tally of the splendor, riches, glory of Solomon’s Kingdom.  The immensity is almost too much to take in. If anyone is wondering, the horses that came from “Kue”… Kue is in AsiaMinor near where Apostle Paul was from in Tarsus; Remember “Saul of Tarsus”?  One very famous preacher shared his studies revealing that Solomon had more wealth as a single individual than the country of Canada has among it’s 35+ million people.  It’s hard to perceive such wealth all attached to one man.  y’ever wonder what he’s going to do with it all, or if he’s even going to keep it?