Day 34 ~ What's this temple used for?

We had a different type of Tribe Warfare - my home fellowship group (Roberts/Russell) challenged another home fellowship group (Hartwick) to "Survivor Arcadia" (styled by Paul and Jen Huss after the Survivor TV show) and we were judged by the Conder's and the Knapp's. We all had a fantastic time, and the weather and food couldn't have been any better. No one got injured (and that counts the 15 or more kids offsite with some awesome babysitters). I'm looking forward to having an event like this again. And I owe Alicia King a huge favor! But now, I must pay the consequence of taking a nap after church instead of getting my blog from yesterday's reading done and doing my homework for today. Team names were plucked straight from the scripture - Shallum (chief over the temple treasury) and Mattithiah (chief over the things baked in pans). I thought that was hilarious - but the "biscuit makers" kicked some Shallum rear end until the fire making challenge, where the former body guard Darrell lead us to a tie. Where will our lovely shared trophy show up next?

Okay, on to the real tribe warfare, from 2 Chronicles.

• Young king Joash of Judah discovers just how badly Judah has fallen away from the Law of Moses. Collection boxes are placed for the people to bring their gifts to support the repair of the temple. "Then all the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought their contributions, and put them into the chest until all had given." 24:10 - looks like the people welcomed this return to the Law.
• How many of us are like king Amaziah? 25:2: "And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a loyal heart"
• 25:12: "Also the children of Judah took captive ten thousand [people of Seir] alive, brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were dashed in pieces" - pretty brutal
• Amaziah's arrogance and stubornness cost him greatly - at the hands of the Israelites - he was captured and a large section of the wall of Jerusalem was destroyed.
• Chapter 26 - Uzziah - king of Judah - as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper
• Interesting facts about Uzziah - he built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the corner buttress of the wall and in the desert. He dug many wells, he loved the soil. When he attempted to burn incense in the temple, he was struck with leprosy.
• Chapter 27 - Jotham built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord
• Chapter 28 - Israel and Syria band together to defeat an evil king in Judah - who had resorted to sacrificing his own children to a foreign god. But God is not happy with Israel because they have viciously attacked Judah and taken captives. The Israelites quickly correct their behavior and send the captives back home.
• Chapter 29 - the lamps which were to burn continually in the temple had been extinguished and the doors to the temple shut when Hezekiah cleanses the temple.
• 29:16 - they finished the cleansing of the temple on the 16th day of the first month, having started on the first day of the first month. They missed Passover again - why didn't they institute a passover when they were trying to get back on track (Numbers 28:16 - "On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord."
• King David's words and poems were used as worship songs as early as Hezekiah (29:30: "King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the LORD with the words of David")

What I've been watching for - Passover - and everyone is invited to Jerusalem. But is this before or after the captivity by the Assyrians and Babylonians? It looks like it is after the Assyrians cart off the northern kingdom (vs. 30:6). According to the timeline I've been referencing, the "final dispersion" of the northern kingdom occurs in the early years of Hezekiah's rule in the southern kingdom. Hezekiah starts the restoration of sacrificing in his first year. A month late, but at least they didn't wait, and followed the instructions to purify appropriately. Even though the people celebrating the passover didn't follow the letter of the Law, Hezekiah prayed to God for forgiveness and it was given.

• 30:1-5 "And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel. For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month. For they could not keep it at the regular time, because a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem. And the matter pleased the king and all the assembly. So they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem, since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner."
• 2 Chronicles basically skips right over the fact that Assyria captures the northern kingdom and takes them captive. It just talks about the northern kingdom has a chance to return if they favorably accept the invitation to return to the roots of their worship.
• Of course the invitations were mocked by most, but some in Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun responded, and God placed a special desire on Judah to be obedient (we know why).
• The Feast of Unleavened Bread is also a name for Passover (30:13). I'll do a quick search for that phrase and see if I missed it being celebrated under that name since first entering the promised land. Yes - one time after Joshua and before Hezekiah in Solomon's day - "Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD which he had built before the vestibule, according to the daily rate, offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New Moons, and the three appointed yearly feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles." (2 Chronicles 8:12-14) - I just read that! Later on: 30:26 referencing Passover: "for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem"
• Perhaps this return to the Law is what allowed Judah to survive a bit longer before they are taken captive.
• As he laid seige against Hezekiah in Jerusalem, King Sennacherib of Assyria tries his own version of "Tokyo Rose" to discourage the Hebrews who had returned to Godly worship. The Hebrew's faithfulness pays off, as God sends King S. back to Assyria like a puppy with his tail between his legs, and he is murdered back home.
• 32:30 - "Hezekiah also stopped the water outlet of Upper Gihon, and brought the water by tunnel to the west side of the City of David" - wonder if this underground system of water supply has been found?
• Chapter 33 - didn't last long! Hezekiah's own son, Manasseh the new boy king, not only brings back idol worship, but sets it up right in the temple of God, sacrificed his own son, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying.
• however, after being dragged off in chains by the Assyrians, Manasseh gets the picture and begs for mercy from God, which he was granted.
• 33:14 - some more architectural notes: "After [repentance] this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height"
• Chapter 34 - geez, these people are either hot or cold. They go full tilt in one direction or the other, and pretty quickly. Again, all Law appears to have been abandoned, for within 18 years of Manahasseh's death, the book of the Law apparently was lost and finally found.
• Imagine what it would be like if you found a book and read it and discovered that what you were doing would lead to your doom. What would you do?
• Josiah keeps a passover in chapter 35. 35:18 - "There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet; and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem." What about Hezekiah's Passover? Was it disqualified because it was held in the second month?
• I think we're going to hear about King Josiah some more in Lamentations Jeremiah. 35:25 - "Jeremiah also lamented for Josiah. And to this day all the singing men and the singing women speak of Josiah in their lamentations. They made it a custom in Israel; and indeed they are written in the Laments."
• Egypt installs a puppet king in Judah after Josiah is killed in battle against Pharoah Necho.
  

There are some pretty interesting people to do a detailed study on - King Necho, Sennacherib, Josiah, Hezekiah, Ahaz...

• King Nebuchadnezzar appears to do a back door attack on Judah already subdued by Egypt, and carries off parts of Judah (including the puppet king) and some stuff from the temple to Babylon with little fanfare from the Chronicler.
• Apparently Nebuchadnezzar continues to cart stuff back to Babylon from Judah over several years. Where is Egypt protecting their interests here? Maybe they had already taken what they wanted and were no longer interested.
• God sent powerful prophets to try a last-ditch effort to save Judah, but they refused.
• The people of Judah will be slaves in Babylon until the rule of Persia. Wonder when that is. Perhaps Persia defeats Babylon. Also, Jeremiah must make some prophesy about how long Judah remains captive that has to do with 70 years. (36:21)
• Enter King Cyrus of Persia, whom it appears God has instructed to rebuild Jerusalem and a temple.

14 books completed, 52 left to go. And I'm caught back up with my challenge (I got the reading done yesterday, but not the blog).

Day 33 ~ Rose Colored Glasses

The writer(s) of 2 Chronicles offer a bit rosier picture of the history of Israel, this book favoring the history of Judah over the northern kingdom.

• 7:7 - "Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the LORD; for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat." Why? Were there too many animals being sacrificed to keep up?
• Still looking for clues to see if a Passover had been held. 7:8-10 mentions a 7 day feast, but it was held in the seventh month (feast of trumpets followed by tabernacles?). Passover is in the first month. Not mentioned in 8:13 either. Does Passover go by any other name?
• 7:14 - "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
• 8:11 "Now Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, 'My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the LORD has come are holy.' " Was she not holy? She was likely an idol worshipper - did Solomon acknowledge her uncleanliness?

Notice how in the passage today it fails to mention that Solomon becomes an idol worshipper. In fact, the book of 2 Chronicles seems to shed a better light on the history than I & II Kings, more so for the nation of Judah.

• Chapter 9 - Queen of Sheba visits Solomon. I read somewhere that the Queen and Solomon had a child together. Neither of the accounts that we've read so far come out an say that, and don't really imply it either. However, in 9:12 it says "Now King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired" - Did she desire a child with him. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines, it wasn't as if this would have been out of the realm of possibility.
• 9:21 - why do they import monkeys? And why is it important to list that they import monkeys?
• Sounds like Solomon has created a fee for being in his presence (9:24)
• 11:13-15 - did I miss this detail before? The Levites abandon the northern kingdom when the division occurs and move to the Southern kingdom.
• Civil war between Judah and Israel leaves 500,000 dead.
• 14:9 - a 1,000,000 man army comes out of Ethopia against Judah. They are defeated by God's intervening hand.
• 15:2b: "The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you."
• Approximately only 35 -45 years after Solomon did so much sacrificing that an additional altar had to be consecrated, the altar had fallen into disuse and disrepair (15:8)
• Chapter 16 - because Judah relied on alliances with foreign countries instead of God, they will be plagued with wars for their foolishness
• Chapter 17 - 1,000,000 troops or more are available in Judah
• Chapter 18 - Jehoshaphat (king of Judah) / Ahab (king of Israel) alliance - how in the world did Jehoshaphat end up marrying a daughter of Ahab, the enemy king?
• Only one prophet of God in all Israel.
• 20:3 - a fast is called for.
• God likes the sincere attention and works a great victory as a reward for their seeking Him. Judah didn't fight, just collected the loot.
• Again - Jehoshaphat allies with Ahab's evil successor? Why? The result was the jointly built sea fleet was destroyed.
• Chapter 21 - Jehoram was a lousy king which caused a plague of intestinal distress to come upon his people, as well as attacks by the Philistines and Arabians.
• 21:20 - Jehoram, "to no one's sorrow, departed."
• The Lord allows the lineage of Christ to flow through Judah in spite of themselves. He has to arrange to have a boy hidden for years from his murderous mother to do so.
• 23:15 - mention of the Horse Gate in Jerusalem; 23:20 mention of the Upper Gate.

Day 32 ~ Order, structure, schedules

• Chapter 22 - Although David didn't build the temple, he gathered all the needed materials.
• Perhaps David planted the idea of asking for wisdom and understanding in Solomon (22:12)
• 23:5 - musical instruments " 'which I made' said David, 'for giving praise' " - what does this mean? Did David actually make the instruments?
• 23:31 - mention of feasts and festivals, but not specifically passover. I'm looking for evidence that a passover was held after the one described in Joshua 5 when the Israelites first came in to the promised land.
• 25:1 - how do you prophesy with a harp?
• 25:8 - when given shifts for work of the musicians of the temple "the small as well as the great, the teacher with the student" - I like the idea of them working together.
• In the assignments of the leaders of tribes in 27:18 "over Judah, Elihu, one of David’s brothers". Why isn't this brother listed in 2:23-24?
• 28:12 - apparently the plans for the temple were give to David by the Holy Spirit. 28:19 - “All this,” said David, “the LORD made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, all the works of these plans.”
• 28:20 - we've seen this many times, and it bears worth repeating, this time the charge by David to Solomon: "Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD God—my God—will be with you."
• 29:2 - marble for the temple - I don't remember marble from before.
• 29:9 "Then the people rejoiced, for they had offered willingly"
• 29:14 But who am I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, And of Your own we have given You.
• How do you sacrifice 1000 of three different types of animals in one day? Aren't they limited to the one altar at the tabernacle? (29:21)
• "Now the acts of King David, first and last, indeed they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer" 29:29 - where are these books - Nathan, Gad? We have Samuel, it's been made into two books.

1 Chronicles done. It was basically from beginning through David. My guess is that 2 Chronicles will be Solomon through the captivity of Israel and Judah. 13 books down, 53 to go.

• Chapter 1 - Why is the tabernacle in Gibeon? It was in Jerusalem in the last chapter of 1 Chronicles. Wonder why and how it got to Gibeon. Did Solomon take it there as a memorial gesture?
• 1:16 - the kingdom was so rich in Solomon's day that they didn't even try to pay discount - just pay the full price!
• Chapter 2 - Solomon asks Hiram, king of Tyre, to send him the supplies and skilled workers needed for the temple building project. I would think he should have asked God to send him the workers he needed.
• Chapter 3 - additional detailed description of the temple construction and decor. Gold from Parvaim this time, not Ophir. Did they use up all the gold that David had accumulated from Ophir?
• The cheribum in the holy of holies face inward (they have 10 cubit wingspans which touch the walls on each side of the room and the other cheribum's wing in the middle). Trying to picture that is like they would be looking to their sides, not forward.
• What is the significance of the names of the pillars outside the temple: Jachin and Boaz? Jachin shows up as a son of Simeon, and Boaz was David's great-grandfather. What is the significance of pomegranates?
• Chapter 4 - what are the great sea and the lavers used for? 4:6 - "He also made ten lavers, and put five on the right side and five on the left, to wash in them; such things as they offered for the burnt offering they would wash in them, but the Sea was for the priests to wash in". That was easy.
• Chapter 5 - the temple is complete. God enters his glory and inhabits his new home with much sacrificing and fanfare.
• Chapter 6 - it seems like a humble act for the great king Solomon to kneel before the nation and offer this great prayer of dedication to God. The prayer reminds me of another choir song.
• 6:36-39 is more real than Solomon imagines - if your people are carried off to captivity and turn from their wicked ways, hear their prayer and forgive them. Will the captives in Assyria and Babylon turn from their wicked ways and be returned? Let's get on with the repeats and get to some new history!

Day 31 ~ More timeline pretzel, David revisited

• 9:2 "And the first inhabitants who dwelt in their possessions in their cities were Israelites, priests, Levites, and the Nethinim." What does this mean? whose possession? whose cities? Is this the Israelites returning to the promised land, or is this the first round of captives shipped off to Babylon, or are these people who never left during the captivity? Review of a couple of different translations show these were the first to return to Jerusalem, and the following verses outline specifically who returned. Nethinim were the helpers in the temple, possibly not Israelites.
• There is no talk of the high priest, just the service/guard types.

Where are we? We keep going back and forth in time and it is confusing me! These Levites that are coming back to care for the temple - I thought that the temple was destroyed by fire and the walls torn down then the people were taken into captivity to Babylon (II Kings 25:8-10). So what do they have to do? Then we go back and talk about Saul again, who has been dead for hundreds of years. I checked a few of the names in the Levites job list, and didn't find those that I looked for mentioned prior to 1 Chronicles 9, so it would seem to indicate that they weren't around prior to captivity.

Maybe this captivity was done in stages. After the death of Josiah (who cleaned up the temple and instituted a passover), a pharoah appointed a king to replace Josiah (2 Kings 23:34), so they were being ruled by a puppet controlled by the Egyptians first.

I've got to let this go or I'll be up all night!

• We don't stick with Saul long - basically the story of the desecration of his body. Now we're off to get some more details on David's reign.
• 10:11 Tamarisk tree alert!
• Maybe all that levitical stuff in chapter 9 had to do with when David moved the tabernacle to Jerusalem.
• Chapter 12 tells us how big the army of David was when he was told at Hebron by the Lord he would overtake the throne, with soldiers from many (I'm not gonna check and see if it's all) the tribes.
• Chapter 15:1 - David built houses (note plural) for himself in Jerusalem, but pitched a tent for God.
• 15:13 - the reason David gives for God striking the man who tried to steady the falling Ark when it was brought to Jerusalem was because the priests failed to ask God about the proper order. He asks them to get it right when the move the Ark after stowing it for three months.
• David asks the Levites to create a music department for the tabernacle. singers, instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, cymbals - raising the voice with resounding joy. Also listed were trumpets, horn
• Chapter 16 - after the big celebration of bringing the Ark to the tabernacle in Jerusalem, every man and woman in Israel were given a loaf of bread, a piece of meat and a cake of raisins.
• 17:8 " Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples!" 24-25 "Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is also to be feared above all gods." - part of a psalm to the Lord, also a tune from a choir song using this passage comes to mind.
• The word Gentile is used in the Psalm in vrese 35. Have we seen this before? (Yes, three times in New King James version: Genesis 10:5, Deuteronomy 32:43, 2 Samuel 22:50)
• Chapter 18 - David extends the kingdom all the way east to the river Euphrates. Somewhere before we read that the land was expanded because of all of the flocks - this would have been pasture land for Manasseh, Reuben, Gad.
• What's the difference between a recorder and a scribe?
• Joab doesn't come off as badly as he did in II Kings.
• Chapter 21:1 "Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel". It is pretty clear here that this census didn't come from God. Even Joab questions David why they need the census.
• Somewhere here we've gone back in time again, because in 21:29, after the evil census, the tabernacle is in Gibeon.
• 1,100,000 swordsmen in Israel; 470,000 in Judah. Why was the count given in context of the the divided kingdom when it wasn't divided at this time?
• Joab was so unhappy with David's decision to do the census that he didn't count Levi and Benjamin. Levi I understand, they are the priests. But why not Benjamin. Was Joab from the tribe of Benjamin?
• God strikes Israel because of the census.

Day 30 ~ Common-lands, blah blah blah, common-lands...

We've left the divided kingdom in suspended animation in captivity - I know from the timeline I've been using that they will return, but I don't think that has been obvious from what we've read. Let's go back to the beginning to our favorite type of reading...geneaology! This is a short reading, and I know why. The readings were based on about 350 verses each, with each reading ending at the end of a chapter. The verses in this section were really short.

• 1:10 - Nimrod began to be a "mighty one." Was that name used in reference to giants? I don't think so - he was described as a mighty hunter in Genesis 10
• 1:14 - in the "begot" of Canaan, why does it switch from proper names to "ites"
• 1:19 - in the days of Peleg the earth was divided. This was before Abram but after the flood. Was it Babel that divided them?
• Lots of names are used over and over - Sheba and Dedan popped out to me in 1:9 & 32
• 1:38 - who is Seir? It doesn't list him as being a child of anyone, but gives his descendants. Seir is only listed other places as a location in Edom (named after Esau). Genesis 36:21 lists Seir the Horite. I'm assuming he comes from Esau. Why is he singled out in this list?
• 2:4 - Tamar - what was her story - why is she listed here? Oh yea, she was the widowed daughter-in-law of Judah who posed as a prostitute and got Judah to impregnate her. Their son Perez (Genesis 38) is in the lineage of Jesus (Matthew 1:3, Luke 3:33)
• The names of king David's brothers are supplied in 2:13-14
• Prayer of Jabez is found in 4:10: "And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested."
• Geez, I want to see a big family tree!
• 5:26 - Pul, King of Assyria, carried off Reuben, Gad and 1/2 Manasseh way before the two kingdoms fell.
• 6:31 - Did David instituted tabernacle musicians? I don't recall anyone being assigned these tasks when the Levites were given specific jobs.

common-lands, blah blah blah, common-lands, blah blah blah, common-lands...

• 7:13 - one whole verse for Naphtali. What is the story there?

Beth Shean 7:29 - one of my favorite places to visit was the site of Beth Shean. Most of the ruins that we saw were from the Roman periods in first century AD, at the foot of the "tel" ( a mound where ancient cities built on top of one another), but there were also ruins there from the time of King David and before at the tel. This is where the dead bodies of king Saul and his son Jonathan were hund (1 Samuel 31:10). Here's some info: http://www.jewishmag.com/39mag/shean/shean.htm or better pictures at http://www.bibleplaces.com/bethshean.htm

• Benjamin is listed both in 7:6-12 and 8:1-28, but the lists don't match. Why? (7:6 "The sons of Benjamin were Bela, Becher, and Jediael—three in all"; 8:1 "Now Benjamin begot Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, Aharah[a] the third, 2 Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth"). And why is there no mention that Benjamin is practially wiped out when teh concubine of the Levite is raped?

Day 29 ~ 450 years without a Passover

Here are a couple of handy charts on the kings of Israel and Judah. http://www.lightuntomypath.us/kingsjudahisrael.htm
http://www.biblestudy.org/prophecy/israel-kings.html

• more duplicate king names...resist the urge to create a spreadsheet...
• chapter 14:8 - just because you beat the Edomites, don't think you can take on others - the king of Judah gets big headed and takes on the kingdom of Israel and is Judah is soundly defeated. The king of Israel warned the king of Judah, but he wouldn't listen.
• Wow...not only did the king of Israel defeat Judah, he came in and destroyed part of the wall around Jerusalem and sacked the temple
• Chapter 15 - Azariah is king of Judah for 52 years, but hides out in the palace with leprosy while his son Jotham judged the people. Then Jotham reigned after him another 16 years (:33)
• We get a list of kings of Israel, all wicked (part of that bad kings for four generation curse from God, :12)...Zechariah (6 months), killed by Shallum, who reigned for 1 month, killed by Menahem (who killed pregnant women and ripped out their babies, as predicted) reigned 10 years. He raised taxes to pay off the king of Assyria who was threatening the land. He dies a natural death (for once) and is replaced by his son Pekahiah, killed after 2 years by the son of his officer named Pekah. Pekah reigns 20 years. Assyria comes back and steals a few cities away from Israel during his reign. Hoshea kills Pekah and reigns in his place.
• While Pekah is king in Israel, Jotham (who covered for his father king Azariah the leper) comes to rule in Judah and rules for 16 years. He was mostly good, but there was still idolatry. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord.
• Pekah (Israel) joins the king of Syria and strikes against Judah. Jotham is killed and his son Ahaz takes the throne.
• Chapter 16 - Ahaz reigns in Judah 16 years and was a bad king, and worshiped idols himself. The king of Israel and Syria attack again, but can't overcome Ahaz, but do take some of Judah's territory.
• Ahaz pulls the back door trick and appeals to the king of Assyria who has twice struck at Israel in the last two reigns to save him from Israel and Syria. The king accepts silver and gold from the treasures of Judah's kingdom (can't be much left to give!). Assyria attacks Syria, kills their king and takes their capitol, Damascus.
• This can't be good - while looking over the taken city of Damascus, Ahaz sees and altar he likes and has it replicated in Jerusalem and then makes offerings on it. He makes the old altar a crystal ball of sorts. Why didn't the priest Urijah stop this?
• Apparently under pressure from Assyria, the king of Judah begins to disassemble portions of the temple.
• Ahaz dies naturally, then his son Hezekiah reignes in his place. Looks like they are really a puppet of the king of Assyria now. Which is interesting, because the northern kingdom will fall to the Assyrians first, not the southern kingdom. Will there be a double cross?
• Chapter 17 - Well, didn't have to wait long for that...the next king of Israel, Hoshea, conspires against Assyria who is still asking for tribute money. The king of Assyria (Shalmaneser, 18:9) finds out about the conspiracy and besieged Samaria, then takes Israel captive back to Assyria. This is in about 721 BC. We get a long recounting of how Israel disobeyed God repeatedly and in many different ways which led up to this capture, even after repeated warnings to turn from their evil.
• Assyria moves in to Israel and occupies it, but sends the people of Israel (northern tribes) out. God still claims the land and sends lions to plague the Assyrians in His promised land. The Assyrian king was smart enough to get a priest from Israel and send him back to Samaria to teach the Assyrians how to sacrifice to God to perhaps get Him to ease up on the lion attacks.
• It was a melting pot of religions (including a fear of the Lord, but not a reference for Him) with the multiple allies of Assyria also occupying the taken territory.
• Chapter 8 - I predicted it...the bronze snake image that Moses cast at God's command had become an idol in Judah, but a decent king, Hezekiah, destroys it and the other areas of idolatry in Judah.
• Hezekiah held off the hand of the Assyrians (who set their sights on Israel and overtake them) and subdued the Philistines. But after only eight years, king Sennacherib of Assyria captures the fortified cities of Judah. Hezekiah strips the gold from the doors of the temple along with other silver and gold and pays it to the Assyrian king...this does no good and the king continues to harass Judah.
• Apparently there is some sort of allied treaty with Egypt and Judah, but Egypt was described as weak (18:21)
• Chapter 19 - enter a new prophet, Isaiah. My guess is he's pretty good, since he has a whole book named after him, and it's still at least 110 years before Judah falls. Isaiah prophesies of the death of the Assyrian king, who has blasphemed God.
• Hezekiah prays fervently to God, but God doesn't speak directly to him - he speaks through Isaiah.
• 19:31: for out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant (is this Messianic?)
• The Lord strikes 185,000 dead overnight in Sennacherib, camp against Jerusalem, and he returns to Nineveh. He is killed by his own son, Esarhaddon, who ascends the throne.
• Chapter 20 - Hezekiah, near death, appeals for a longer life and God grants him 15 more years. God shows a sign of his promise by making a shadow go backward 10 degrees.
• For some stupid reason, Hezekiah shows a new foreign leader, of Babylon, all his treasures. Where does he keep getting these treasures? Not so long ago he had stripped the gold from the temple doors. God tells Hezekiah that Babylon will carry all these treasures off as well as some of Hezekiah's descendants, who will serve the Babylonian king as eunuchs.
• Apparently Hezekiah did something cool with water in Jerusalem. He dies (extended by 15 years), and his son Manasseh took the throne at the age of 12.
• Chapter 21 - Manasseh was a bad king, reintroducing idolatry, including in the temple of the Lord.
• 21:41 - God will forsake the remnant of His inheritance because of their evil deeds.
• A 55-year reign of evil ends, and Manasseh's son Amon takes his place, following the same evil path. He is murdered after 2 years and replaced by Josiah.
• Chapter 22 - But Josiah, only 8 when he was placed on the throne, did right in God's eyes. He has repairs made to the temple of the Lord, and guess what they find? The Book of the Law!
• Interesting - Jerusalem is broken up into quarters - as it still is today (22:14). A female prophet named Huldah. She tells of the unquenched anger of God to come, but also prophesies that the good king Josiah will not have to witness it.
• Chapter 23 - the king gathers the elders and does something that hasn't been done in probably a long time - and which is to be done at least every seven years if I remember correctly - he reads the book of the Law.
• Josiah cleans house - gets rid of the idols within the temple, the high places, removes the corrupt officials.
• Passover is reinstituted. 23:21

Passover had not been practiced since the time of the judges. Ouch. Let's see, the first king (ending the time of the judges) was Saul about 1095 BC per my OT chronology CD. We're at least 18 years into Josiah's reign (22:3; 23:24); or Josiah was 18 years old, which would be about 10 years into his reign, so about 630 BC. Josiah found the book of the Law, he wasted no time clearing out the country. A quick scan for the word "Passover" shows that the last time it was used was way back in Joshua 5, when the Israelites first crossed into the promised land and celebrated Passover in their new territory. This is disgusting - did they really quit celebrating the important festival for 450 years? Why even go to the trouble of having all the sacrifices? Perhaps they did it just to try to appease God. Not even David turned to the Law as did Josiah. Is there any evidence to the contrary that the Passover feast was celebrated in this timeframe?

• But, it's not enough. God's fury is still hot.
• If there was a sort of treaty in the past with Pharoah, it's over now. For some reason, while Pharoah is battling Assyria, Josiah tries to take on Pharoah. I'm sure we'll see details of this in the Chronicles, but Josiah dies in battle.
• Jehoahaz, Josiah's son, returns to evil as he rules for a short three months. The Pharoah imprisoned him and taxes Judah, and sets another son of Josiah, Eliakim/Jehoiakim on the throne. He was also evil, and ruled with heavy taxes for Egypt for 11 years.
• Chapter 24 - Ah, here he is...Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. The end is near. The egyptians leave Judah alone now because Nebuchadnezzar has plundered them as well.
• Jehoiachin replaces his father as king after Jehoahaz' death, as short three month reign beseiged by Nebuchadnezzar, and are taken prisoner.
• Why has the author consistently given the names of the mothers of these kings?
• All of Jerusalem (except the poorest people) and the treasures are carted off to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzer wants the soldiers, craftsmen, and ablebodied only.
• Mattaniah is made king over Judah in Jehoiachin's place by Nebuchaddnezzar. Neb changes his name to Zedekiah. He'll change the names of the captives when they get to Babylon too. No surprise that he doesn't follow God, but somewhat surprising that he does rebel so quickly.
• Chapter 25 - not a good ideal to rebel - it drew Neb's attention back to Jerusalem.
• Good info for cross referencing other historical records - in the fifth month, seventh day of the ninetheenth year of Nebuchadnezzer's rule in Babylon, the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the walls of Jerusalem were broken. By my handy chart, this was 586BC.
• More captives were carted off from Jerusalem. Some were left to farm and care for the vineyards for Babylon's use.
• Where is Riblah? Is it halfway between Jerusalem and Babylon?
• I'm not sure, but it looks like those left behind fled for Egypt because of the Chaldeans.
• Apparently Nebuchadnezzer is no longer on the throne, and a new king of Babylon, Merodach, releases the deposed king Jehoiachin of Judah from prison after 37 years, and Merodach gives him a place of honor in his cabinet. Don't understand that logic.

That is the end of 2 Kings. 12 books down, 54 to go. From all the times we read "are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah" I think we're going to get some ugly details of the failed time of the kings.

Day 28 ~ Teasing bald men can be deadly

• Chapter 1 - Moab attacks - there is an enemy who was waiting for an opportunity - Ahab's death
• The Lord reminds the king of Israel that there is still a God over the land through his prophet Elijah. It costs Ahaziah 100 men and his own life
• Chapter 2 - Elijah seems like he is trying to get rid of Elisha - he tries to get him to stay behind three times, but Elisha won't leave his side.
• The third and fourth time that the Lord parts water so people can cross on dry land occurs in 2:8 through Elijah, and vs 14 by Elisha. The mantle is passed to Elisha. Literally
• Elijah is taken with a chariot of fire in a whirlwind to heaven. He is the second prophet to not die - Enoch was the first (Genesis 5:24)
• It isn't clear to me - did Elisha get the double portion of spirit?
• Elisha was a bit touchy about his bald head - 42 youths who teased him were mauled by bears (2:24)
• Chapter 3 - Jehoram is a bad king, but not super bad like his father. I guess that's a compliment of sorts. And he isn't as bad as Ahab's other son, Ahaziah, who king Jehoshaphat of Judah would not work with, but this replacement is good enough that the two kingdoms unite together with the king of Edom in battle agains the Moabites.
• The three kings realize they are in a weaked situation and send for a prophet of God (should have done that before you went marching into the desert for 7 days). Elisha won't deal with the evil king of Israel, but will prophesy for the king of Judah.
• Chapter 4 - the widow and the blessing from Elisha to fill the oil jars. Don't be short-sighted! When the jars ran out, so did the oil.
• The Shunammite woman was so hospitable to Elisha when he traveled his circuit, that she prepared a room for him to use whenever he was in town. Her blessing was a son, who was later injured on his head and died. The woman goes to Elisha at Mt. Carmel to get Elisha because she knows he can perform miracles in God's name. Elisha was able to perform the miracle of raising the boy.
• Chapter 5 - why does Naaman want two loads of earth (5:17). He wants to follow God after being healed, but if pressured, he will bow to the false gods and is asking forgiveness in advance (5:18). Reminds me of the Left Behind books when people refuse to deny Christ - they don't deny him and are killed. Naaman's commitment is only skin deep.
• Gehazi - a hanger-on to Elisha, gets greedy and gets leprosy.
• Chapter 6 - what is the point of the floating ax head?
• It would have been pretty cool to see the army of the Lord revealed as described in vs. 17. This again reminds me of the Left Behind books.
• Why does the king call Elisha "father" (6:21)
• A famine so severe comes on the land that the price is given for a donkey's head - I'm assuming that the people were so desperate that they would actually sell a donkey's head to eat for a large sum. Only 5 horses are left in all the city (7:13) It gets worse: in verse 6:29, the people are resorting to cannibalism.
• The raider warfare wasn't working, so Syria besieged Samaria, and this only compounds the famine. The king thinks that killing God's prophet will help?
• Chapter 7 - God again plays with one of the senses to fool the Syrians - in chapter 6 he made them blind then restored their sight in the presence of their enemy; here their hearing makes them think they are surrounded by a great army and they leave Samaria. The plunder from the abandoned camp ends the famine as Elisha prophesied.
• Chapter 8 - It would seem that chapter 8 backtracks a bit - Elisha must have told the woman to leave before the famine described in chapters 6 & 7. For one, the king is talking to the hanger-on of Elisha, Gerhazi, and we know that he has leprosy (chapter 5) and would no way have audience with the king.
• The kingdom of Syria gets a wicked king - Hazael, sent by Syria's king Ben-Hadad, was sent with gifts to Elisha to see if the king would be healed of his sickness. Elisha prophesies that he will not die of his sickness, but he won't live. He says that Hazael will take over the throne and will be a terribly violent leader. Hazael doesn't waste any time - he goes back with the news that Ben won't die of his sickness, then kills the king in his sleep and takes the throne.
• Judah breaks it's string of okay (as opposed to really bad) leaders when Jehoshaphat's son marries a daughter of evil king Ahab (northern kingdom) and rules after his father. Downhill from there.
• Two bad kings of Judah and Israel unite to fight against the killer Hazael of Syria. Both Hebrew kings return home injured or sick.
• Chapter 9 - some more blood for the dogs to lick up in the stolen field of Naboth. Jehu, anointed as king by word of Elisha, kills both the king of the northern and the southern kingdoms. Which kingdom will he rule over? The prophecy about Jezebel's death comes true at the hands of Jehu as well.
• There should be a rule about unique names in the Bible. To make this ruling power timeline more complicated, there is an Ahaziah in both the northern and southern kingdom. And similar names: Joash/Jehoash/Jehoahaz - I'm tired and I can't keep these straight!
• Chapter 10 - another prophecy comes true at the hands of Jehu - the family lines of Ahab (north) and Ahaziah (south) are wiped out (well, except for Joash, who was hidden for several years and then later rules in the southern kingdom - see chapter 11). Jehu cleans house by killing Baal worshippers, but he doesn't clear out the golden calves of Jeroboam. God rewards the good work that he did by promising that Jehu's family would rule in the northern Israel for four generations.
• 10:32 - important to note that the Lord was cutting off parts of the land given to the tribes - all the land of Gilead given to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh is lost. This is the land outside of the promised land to the east of the Jordan. I don't think it will ever be regained.
• Chapter 11 - hey, a devilish queen for a little while in the southern kingdom (Athaliah). She kills her own kids to ascend the throne (misses one!) A new priest, Jehoiada, comes on the scene in Judah, and he goes behind the back of Athaliah under heavy guard and crowns the seven-year-old boy Joash as king. Athaliah is killed.
• Chapter 12 - Jehoiada must have been a puppet master for awhile to the young king, but he cleans the place up a bit, and Joash (there are descrepancies in the spelling) tries to be a good king, but he's a sissy. He has the temple repaired, only to turn around and give up all the stuff to the king Hazael of Syria who threatens to attack Jerusalem. Why attack when a threat delivers the booty?
• Another killing of a king by inside men. Joash is history.
• What happened with Elisha? He's been off the scene since appointing Jehu king in early chapter 9.
• Chapter 13 - oh, there is Elisha, but he's sick and gonna die. Joash calls him "father" too. I'm too tired to try to decipher the last few paragraphs...but I did read them!

Day 27 ~ Divided Kingdom

We cover alot of years and kings in the divided kingdoms in today's passage from 1 Kings 12 - 22. I thought I'd come back and recap the kings, and looked for an online chart to reference. Of course, I see fault with the nice chart I found (based on a chronology of John Bright).

The Bible lists our last king of Israel in our passage today as "Ahaziah the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel (22:51). Back a few verses (22:42) "Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem." This chart listed Ahaziah from 850 to 849BC (we count backwards before AD), and Jehoshaphat from 879-843BC. 850BC could not have been the 17th year of Jehoshaphat's reign by this chart. Maybe the books of I & II Chronicles, which are referenced continually in the text, provides a different timeline. It contradicts the text, so I'm going to move on, but if you want to see what I'm talking about: http://www.cresourcei.org/israelitekings.html. It lists the split of the kingdoms at 922BC.

Things the charts I referenced online did agree to: the fall of Samaria to the Assyrians (northern kingdom capital) in 721/722BC and the fall of Jerusalem to Babylonians (southern capital) in 586/587BC. To further confuse me, there are two kings named Ahaziah, one in each kingdom, but we haven't been introduced to the second one yet. So, why can't they do the math? Apparently we don't get the start/end/length data we need.

I'll reference my handy CD from the Chronology of the Old Testament book...right on target...Ahaziah is right where he should be in reference to Jehoshaphat. At least there is no contradiction of the math given in chapter 22. It lists the split of the kingdoms at 975BC. I've seen about a 50 year difference in the different timelines for the start dates, this being the earliest date.

9 kings (all of them bad) in these 10 chapters in Israel (including the short-lived split within Israel); 4 kings (2 of them bad) in Judah.

• Rehoboam leaves Jerusalem to go to Shechem to be inaugurated - why? Why wouldn't they do that in Israel where the temple and palace were?
• 12:4 - apparently Solomon had high taxes to pay for all the opulence
• Rehoboam shows he's an idiot from the beginning - let's rule with fear!
• The split occurs - Judah & Benjamin (called Judah) vs. the other ten tribes (called Israel)
• To keep the religious people of Israel (northern kingdom) from going to Jerusalem to sacrifice (in Judah, southern kingdom), Jeroboam created two new sights within the northern kingdom, extended the ability to be a priest outside the tribe of Levi, and instituted a rival system of feasts.
• Chapter 13 - the Lord shows his displeasure with the idolatrous altars built by Jeroboam.
• Chapter 14 - when his son becomes sick, Jeroboam sends his wife in disguise to Shiloh - wouldn't this be in Judah? Does this mean that he goes to the true religion when he knows he needs help? God foreshadows the captivity of the northern kingdom (by Nebuchadnezzar I think).
• For more details on Jeroboam's and Rehoboam's reign, see Chronicles (14:19; 29)
• King Rehoboam of the southern kingdom was no better. He also had idol altars, and within 5 years of his reign, all the wealth of he palace had been taken off by the Egyptians.
• Why was the name of Rehoboam's mother given two times? (14:21, 31)
• Chapter 15 - hey, one of the kings of Judah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord! Asa. But when at war with Israel, he sent the riches out of Judah into Damascus under a treaty with the Syrians. It doesn't seem likely that the riches will be coming back.
• We get a back and forth between the history of Israel and Judah. On the northern side, Jeroboam's entire family is wiped when Baasha murdered the son of Jeroboam, Nadab, and ascends the throne.
• Chapter 16. Baasha's family line is also wiped out when his son Elah, who inherited the throne from his father, is murdered while drunk by his servant Zimri, who takes over the northern throne, sort of. He lasted 7 days - the people chose a different king, Omri, and Zimri kills himself. But there was division in Omri's reign and the northern kingdom split temporarily, but Ormi defeated the rival. The kingdom headquarters moves to a new city called Samaria.
• As predicted in Joshua 6:6, Jericho was rebuilt, and the man who built it was cursed
• Each king is worse than the next, especially in Israel.
• Chapter 17 - the Lord sends sends a drought up0n the land and protects a new prophet, Elijah. But in this chapter, he is only making a difference in the lives of a woman and her son, whom God revives after death.
• Chapter 18 - how did Obadiah know Elijah (he recognized him as a man of God, like himself).
• Jezebel must be the wife of evil king Ahab (16:31), and an idol worshipper. Will we learn more about her in Chronicles? Apparently she has killed other prophets (18:13) and Obadiah hid more than 150 prophets from her.
• One man of God, Elijah, shows up the 450 prophets of Baal, who could not get their false god to respond to their acts of worship. (The story of the altar and the wet sacrifice which God lites afire.)
• Chapter 19 - Jezebel is not happy with Elijah because he killed the prophets of her false religion - baal, and promises to kill Elijah, who runs for the hills.
• 19:4 - a new type of tree: broom tree. I am resisting the urge to see what this is.
• Elijah rests for several days, and the Lord passes by him and tells Elijah to go and anoint some new kings in Syria (has Israel taken over Syria?) and Israel, as well as his own successor as prophet, Elisha.
• 19:18 - 7,000 (0nly 7,000?) remain in Israel who have not turned to foreign gods.
• Chapter 20 - I'm confused by this threat by the king of Syria. Why does Ahab decide he's going to to what God wants now? And why would he enter into a treaty with someone so close to being wiped out. Because he will only follow the power that he thinks will give him what he wants. The wall at Aphek must have been huge - it fell and killed 27,000 soldiers (20:30)
• Chapter 21 - big pouty baby king Ahab (vs. 4) tells his wife with the go-get 'em attitude he wants the neighbors land, and she arranges to have the man killed on false charges.
• I don't really buy that Ahab was really being humble - it seems like he was just placating to save his neck. But God would know his intent. So, God will hold off the cutting off of Ahab's name until his Ahab is done and the punishment will be on his sons.
• Chapter 20 - why does it say that the king of Judah went "down" to visit the king of Israel, when Israel is to the north. Judah must be a higher elevation. When Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, the two split kingdoms worked together to take a site in Syria. Didn't the north have a treaty with Syria?
• Jehoshaphat was the son of Asa, who was a good king in Judah. Apparently he didn't see a godly man in the prophets that the king of Israel asked to inquire of the Lord concerning going against the Syrians. They must have all been a bunch of "yes" men. Except for one, who always prophesied against Ahab. When this prophet agrees with the "yes" men, Ahab knew he had to be lying because he never agreed with them.
• So, after all this, which showed that the one godly prophet told them not to fight, why did they fight? Anyhoo, Ahab is killed in battle as the prophet said he would be, and dogs like his blood as God said they would (21:19) When will Jezebel get eaten by dogs (21:23)? Probably in one of the Chronicles.
• Jehoshaphat did not strike a deal with Ahab's evil son (22:49).
• They've been waring against each other and against the Syrians. What has kept the Philistines, the Edomites and the Egyptians busy all this time that they have not struck against the divided kingdom?

I just realized we finished 1 Kings...11 books completed, 55 to go.

Day 26 ~ Temple is built; Solomon gives in to the ladies

I spent a good part of the day at the Earth Festival in Atlanta with my daughter and it was nice to visit, even for a short while, with my Uncle Larry and Aunt Mary, Uncle Jim & Aunt Vonne Ann, my cousin Donna and her husband Randy and their son Michael. Uncle Larry showed Grace the very trick I talked about way back in Leviticus where you make it look like one arm shrinks. He also kept popping out his false teeth, and she kept sticking out her lower jaw trying to replicate the trick. I ate way too much and I have heartburn. I'll admit I'm tempted to say "I read it", it was about Solomon, the new temple, a glorious compound for himself, the queen of Sheba, and 700 wives, but I'll add a few (ha) points. This section hits on much that can be used in the field of archaeology, which is interesting to me.

• 4:7 - Ben-Hur - is this the guy from the book and the movie, or was that just fiction?
• Solomon breaks up the nation into 12 provinces with governors. Why didn't he break them up by tribes? Each province is assigned one month to supply materials to the king.
• 5:6 - when you want the best job done, go to the experts.
• Chapter 6 - 480 years after the exodus is when Solomon started the temple, in the fourth year of his reign. This has to be a solid point in the pretzel timeline of old testament events. It took seven years to build the temple.

All this discussion of the temple that Solomon built takes me back nearly ten years ago to our trip to the Holy Land and the temple mount. Solomon's temple was destroyed and it had been rebuilt in the time of Jesus, but the "wailing wall" is believed to be the stone base of the temple mount that was described as being built by Solomon. There is a large area (near/under?) the temple mount that was believed to be one of Solomon's stables (10:26). http://www.templemount.org/solstables.html

I did a few searches for some artists rendition that is matching the picture in my minds eye of how the temple is described, and this one seems to fit - the windows, the big bronze pillars, the huge altar and laver of water, the shape, the height: http://www.crystalinks.com/solomonstemple.html. http://www.templemount.org/badillo/Temple-A.pdf This temple will last less than 100 years before it is destroyed.

What about this series of buildings that Solomon has built for himself that take 13 years to build? They must have been something else. I do have to admit that carved wood covered with gold all over is a bit much for my decorating taste, but God must like gold covered stuff. At least Solomon thought God did, and when the temple was done, a cloud of God's glory entered in to the holy of holies. The holy of holies was 20 cubits square, and inside it were two huge cherubim

• whose wings touch each other in the middle of the room and also touch each wall. The cherubim were 10 cubits high and wide each. Remember that Goliath was 6 cubits high, and this is translated as about 9 feet tall.
• 7:41-43 - foreigners welcome to come to Jerusalem and worship God. A foreshadowing of the salvation that will be open to the non-Jews in the new testament?
• 8:46 - there is no one who does not sin
• Chapter 9 - if Hiram doesn't like the cities that Solomon gives him (presumably as payment for his work and supplies?), then why does he send Solomon a bunch of gold.
• The wall of Jerusalem is built during all this time.
• Archaeology is so important to proving the truth of the Bible. Take verse 9:15, and a reference to building at Gezer. Just one short sentence that many would gloss over. Now look at this site: http://www.kingsolomonsgate.com/
• A few things about the temple mount. First, the city of David was not within the walls that now surround the old city of Jerusalem. Apparently the inner walls of the city (which have been expanded a few times) were built during Solomon's reign (9:15).
• What is a Millo?

Here are a few things of interest about the the holy land:

• if they say it's a mountain, it's a hill; if it is called a sea, it's a lake (the sea of Galilee is 7 miles long - so is Morse); if they call it a river, it's a creek. There is a valley between the mount of olives and the temple mount, but you could walk between the two places (through a cemetary and a bunch of rubble).
• The old city of Jerusalem has not only been expanded north, south, east and west for a few thousand years, but it has been built layer upon layer from the rubble of destruction. Near the temple mount, there are literally four or five layers of the city.
• Discovery of the old city of David has only been unearthed just in the last century or so, the possible location of David's palace within my lifetime. It was outside the walls of the city that was built by Solomon. http://www.huc.edu/de/arubin/images/solomons_temple.gif
• Here is a good site for a quick overview with pictures: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Jerusalem2.html#Temple
• Some religions have made it convenient to visit the historical parts of the city and created a neat little package of sites and deemed them the real deal, but I'm not buying it - like the stations of the cross. How could they possibly know the spots were Jesus fell when he carried the cross. Some of them could be authentic, but most of them simply can't be. Everywhere you go, things are passed off as the actual Biblical site, like the tree where Jesus prayed in Gethsamane, which is only maybe 1000 years old, but some claim that the tree is from the remains of one that Jesus would have prayed by - impossible to know, but good for tourist trade.
• One of the nicest public restrooms I've been in is by the wailing wall in Jerusalem.
• This makes me want to save up and go again.

Back to the text:

• I bet people would like to find Ophir - this place was a goldmine, literally! As well as valuable wood and gemstones. (9:28, 10:11)
• The Queen of Sheba comes to visit and is more than impressed (chapter 10)
• Solomon has too close a relationship with the former oppressors of the Hebrews - marries a wife from Egypt, and trades with the Egyptians (10:28)
• Chapter 11 - like father, like son, and both liked the ladies. Solomon loved the foreign ladies, and had wives from all over. 700 wives, and 300 concubines. I thought the man was wise!? As with David, these women were his downfall - he turned to their gods - he wasn't particular...chemosh, Molech, Ashtoreth...
• God's punishment for Solomon's idolatry really didn't hurt Solomon too much. He didn't have to pay the consequences, but his son would.
• The tribes would be split 10 to 2. Jeroboam would take the majority of the leadership of the country, but Rehoboam, Solomon's son, would hold a small portion. Not sure of the math here in 11:31-32 - 10 tribes + 1 tribe is 11, not 12.
• Solomon reigned 40 years. Rehoboam takes over. Get ready for a bumpy ride.

Day 25 ~ Solomon ascends the throne

• David shows over and over again that he has a merciful spirit. In 2 Samuel 18:5, he demonstrates it in his instructions to deal gently with his son Absalom who is trying to abdicate the throne.
• The woods devoured more in the battle than the sword - what does that mean? (18:8)
• The infamous terebinth tree strikes again! This time it grabs Absalom by the hair - it must have been time for his yearly trim.
• I'm guessing that David is not going to be happy with Joab, who against David's orders and the advise of his troops, kills Absalom as he hangs by his hair from a tree.
• Chapter 19 - David mourns Absalom, to the extent that Joab is irritated because it seems to him to be excessive, and he tells David so. Remember that Joab was in on the sin that caused the ultimate death of Absalom when he arranged to have Uriah killed in battle. David makes the people request that he return to Jerusalem to be king.
• Why does Joab try to keep the news from David about Absalom? Is he more worried that David will find out that it was he who disobeyed David's instructions?
• David's mercy is extended to Shimei (who had cursed him), Mephibosheth (who had not joined David as he fled Jerusalem), and Barzillai (who had aided David in his time in Gilead)
• The immature tribes who had sided with Absalom now argue about who should have accompanied David back to Jerusalem.
• Chapter 20 - What is the deal with the Benjamites. First they stand with David, then a bunch of them rebel with Sheba.
• For some reason, I really don't trust Joab.
• A wise woman of Abel of Beth Maachah saves the city by delivering the head of Sheba to Joab.
• David's political cabinet: Joab - military; Adoram - treasury; Jehosaphat - recorder; Sheva - scribe; Zadok & Abiathar - priests; Ira - chief minister. But what/who are the Cherethites and Pelethites, first mentioned in chapter 8. Anyway, Benaiah was over them.
• Chapter 21 - Saul's sin against the Gibeonites (a remnant of the Amorites whom were to have been protected) results in three years of famine. David seeks what he may do to atone to the Gibeonites. They want 7 decendants of Saul to hang. David gives up 5 of his (ex) wife Michal's children (ouch!).
• David recovers the seven bodies as well as the desecrated bodies of Saul and Jonathan and gives them a proper burial.
• This is the second or third time that David's army tell him not to come to battle - he is too valuable (21:17). Especially when they are fighting the giant Philistines, who would surely have it out for David after he killed Goliath.
• Odd trivia: who had 12 toes and 12 fingers: a giant of Gath killed by Jonathan.
• Chapter 22 - “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
  The God of my strength, in whom I will trust" 2b, 3b
• Remember this song that you sing in a round? "I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies." “The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God be exalted, The Rock of my salvation!" (vs. 4, 47)
• I'll admit right now that I'm not a big fan of poetry. I like the stuff that rhymes, but to pick up and read a book of poetry is really not my thing. I tend to tune out when it's not written in narrative form, and I did it to some bit just reading this one passage. I'm going to really have some trouble being focused in the books coming up.
• Chapter 23 - full of a bunch of his army buddies
• Chapter 24 - census time again. God is angry and wants a count. He sends Joab to do it, and Joab questions David. Noone else is that bold. Nearly 10 months later, but they are still separated by "Isreal" and "Judah" - even though the kingdom is under one ruler, this foreshadows the split to come. Israel (northern) 800,000 swordsmen, Judah 500,000 men.
• 24:10 - what had David done that was sinful (this time?). The Lord let's him choose his punishment through the prophet Gad: 7 years of famine, flee three months while being pursued by and enemy, or a plague for three days in the land. I think he'll choose the enemy chasing him, because he's done that so much. Guess I was wrong, that is exactly what David didn't want. The Lord sent a plague, and restrained the angel with the plague from destroying Jerusalem. At least 70,000 were killed.
• 24:24 - David won't offer a sacrifice that costs him nothing - he insists on paying.

What do you know - 2 Samuel is complete. That makes our count how many books now? 10. 56 to go. Onward to 1 Kings...

• 1 Kings - they know just the thing to comfort the man who goes for the ladies...a nice young virgin to warm him up in his old age.
• Absalom's brother, Adonijah, another good looking son of David, gets it in his mind that he would be a good king. Will he wait for old, cold David to die? Or will he take matters into his own hand. Surely he won't think to seek the Lord on what to do.
• A-ha! I knew I didn't like Joab - he jumps ship (with one of the priests, Abiathar) and supports Adonijah while others in David's cabinet stick with David. ( 1 Kings 1:7,8)
• Just because he gathers some men, how does this make him a king? Nathan tells Bathsheba that Adonijah is king and David doesn't know it. That doesn't seem like the truth. (:12)
• Is this the first time that we have heard that Solomon is to ascend the throne? I think so.
• That must have been an interesting situation - Bathsheba goes in to see her husband and the young girl is in there keeping him warm. (:15)
• David appoints his son Solomon as his successor to the throne.
• When Adonijah, who was once cocky and is now quite scared, finds out about the coronation of Solomon, he runs scared to the altar (is this the home base in a game of tag?) and begs for mercy to be spared. Solomon spares him (for now?)
• Chapter 2 - David charges Solomon to walk in the ways of the Lord in order to prosper.
• A-ha again! David's deathbed instructions are to give Joab what's coming to him. He also passes the protection he promised to the sons of Barzillai and Shimei to Solomon.
• The age that people are dying seems to be dropping considerably. Not too many books back, people were living to be several hundred years old. Then people were living into their lower hundreds. In one of the verses we've read today, a man is described as old at 80. Now David is dead after reigning 40 years, and I think he was 30 when he took the throne (hey, I remembered correctly - 2 Samuel 5:4). That's only 70.
• Solomon sat on the throne of his father and his kingdom was firmly established. I bet not for long. (:12)
• Adonijah has some nerve - he asks Bathsheba, Solomon's mom, for the young virgin that kept David warm before he died as his wife. I'm thinking that was not a smart move. Confirmed: Adonijah sealed his fate and was killed (:25)
• Abiathar is removed from his priestly position but his life is spared by Solomon. You know that Joab has to be shaking in his sandals. Yep - he tries the "home base" at the altar ploy as well. (:28). I'm surprised that God didn't strike them dead for touching it.
• You better do exactly as Solomon instructs. Shimei learns a lesson the hard way. (:46). I bet when people saw Benaiah coming, that they started running for their lives.
• Chapter 3 - What!? Solomon breaks a couple of rules right off the bat: 1) he makes a treaty with a foreign land (Egypt); 2) he marries outside the tribe. How does it say that Solomon does this and a verse later it says Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statues of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. I would add some more stuff to that based on the first verse alone. However, he must have at least started the temple (seee vs 1)
• God asks Solomon "what shall I give you?" in a dream. What would you answer? Solomon admits that he's a bit green and wants to be able to judge the people with an understanding heart and discern between good and evil. God is pleased and grants his request, in addition he will get riches and honor...if you walk in my ways, keep my statutes, then God will lengthen his days. In addition to the other granted requests?
• The wisdom of Solomon is displayed in the story of the two women claiming to be the mother of an infant. Abraham Lincoln did something similar to this in his days as a circuit judge, but the baby in question was a colt.

Day 24 ~ Political Intrigue fit for a Tom Clancey novel

Today my brother Todd had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back that has been causing him some pretty severe pain. While I grabbed a bite to eat in Ball Memorial Hospital, I discovered that they had some computers, so I actually got through five chapters and started my blog while Todd had his surgery. He came through well, and was very pleased that his leg and hip pain were gone. He'll have to lay low for a few weeks, but should be fine.

I had an email from my college roommate today. We roomed together for four years at Johnson. you know how it is when you hear from someone whom you were once really close with but haven't seen for awhile, it seems like it was just yesterday and you're comfortable immediately? I felt that way with Danielle, and long to see her again. She's in Tennessee with her husband Allen, a Youth Minister and their two children. I jotted back a few lines and really wish I had more time to catch up! But, I'll have to wait for a lazy day or wait 66 days until this challenge is complete!

After I read to Grace tonight, she asked me if I had my homework done. I told her I had the chapters read, but I had to write the report....

• We find out that Ishbosheth, Saul's son who made king over the tribes except Judah, only reigned two years, and he is killed. David is not happy about his murder.
• Why was Jerusalem chosen for the location of the tabernacle location?
• Mephibosheth is introduced.
• 5:13 -more wives & concubines and children for David - you can tell that women will be at the root of his downfall
• The ark is finally moved from the location where it has been for 20 years since it placed in it's temporary location after it came wandering back from the pHILISTINES.
• 6:5 - Uzzah buys it on a technicality, and David gets too nervous and parks the ark for three months before really moving it into town. Why did he park it in obed-edom?
• imagine the celebration described in chapter 6 when the David brings the ark back. He must have been a dancin' fool, and his first wife was embarrassed. Perhaps she never really wanted to be with David. Her father Saul gave her away as a prize, then took her back, then she married someone else whom it seems really loved her, then she is returned to David. Her bitterness causes her to never have children with David.
• why did David wear the ephod - where were the priests?
• God wants David to build a permanent temple (chapter 7) - if David does: 7:12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom." Is this also Messianic?
• Chapter 8 - the kingdom grows; gathering wealth and booty (likely to be used in temple?)
• David is not only the king, but the chief judge
• Mephibosheth's story is recounted in chapter 9
• What is with the "dog" refrences used in an insulting way. It seems to have started with Goliath - "what am I, a dog that you come at me with sticks?" This is the third or fourth dead dog reference. 9:8
• David sent sincere sympathy at the death of a neighboring king, but it was interpreted as a spy maneuver.
• Chapter 11 - begins the adultery with Bathsheba. Rather than live up to his responsibility of getting her pregnant, he gets her husband home from the battle field and tries to get him home for a congugal visit, but Uriah won't accept special treatment while his buddies are on duty. David's next try to solve the problem could be deemed successful - he has Uriah placed in harm's way on the battlefield and he is killed. David takes Bathsheba as his wife. The country may have been fooled, but the Lord is not pleased.
• The Lord sends Nathan (not David's son, a different Nathan) to tell David of the consequences of his sin: the son born to him and Nathan will die, a son will rise up against David, he will be publically humiliated, and the time of peace under his rule is over. David's response is a sincere "I have sinned" - Psalm 51. The consequences of David's sin are paid by an innocent child.
• As a sign of His forgiveness, the Lord allows David and Bathsheba to have another son, Solomon, who will rule over the kingdom at the height of the empire.
• Chapter 13 - All these half-related children in David's family make for an family tree with many branches. Absalom, who will become the child who rises up against David, shows his true colors. He suggests to his half-brother Amnon a way that he can try to seduce Absalom's sister Tamar, whom Amnon loves (and is half-sister to). The seduction becomes a rape. Absalom turns on Amnon, tells Tamar to keep her mouth shut, and kills Amnon. Nice guy. When Absalom doesn't get his way, he acts out in violence. It's also interesting that Absalom names one of his children Tamar. (14:27). He remindes me of a slimy politician in chapter 15 as he gains favor.
• 15:26 - foreshadowing - discussion of Absalom's hair
• David flees from his son who is trying to usurp the throne. See Psalm 3.
• Hey, whatever happened to David being all gung-ho about fulfilling God's desire for a temple in Jerusalem?
• Chapter 15 & 16 - oh, the political intrigue! Spying, double-crossing, traitors
• David's public humility described by Nathan occurs when Absalom comes into Jerusalem, and rapes David's concubines.

Day 23 ~ David and Saul play tug-of-war

I forgot to send out my email encouragements today. I thought about it several times, but I have no short-term memory.

• 21:7 An Edomite is a servant in Saul's kingdom.
• Chapter 22 - David jumped from the pan into the fire - from Saul to a foreign king of Gath; but that king recognized him and David fakes insanity
• Saul's stronghold is so great tht no one can protect David's family in Israel. So David sends them out of the kingdom. Reminds me of Jesus going to Egypt to escape Herod.
• 22:6 Tamarisk tree - I'm not going to go there!
• 23:6 - why is it important to comment that the one priests son who escaped the massacre had an ephod. Did the ephod contain urim & thummin or was that reserved only for the ephod of the high priest? Was this ephod an oracle for inquiring of God?
• Chapter 24 - When Saul went into the cave to "attend to his needs" (24:3) did he cover it up as instructed in Deuteronomy 23:13?
• Saul knows his fate is sealed when David does not kill him, and David agrees not to cut off Saul's descendants when he takes power.
• Chapter 25 - Samuel dies. No big fanfare.
• Abigail appeals to David not to kill the men in Nabal's household simply because of Nabal's ungrateful behavior. David spares them. Abigail returns to the house to tell Nabal what has occurred, but he is drunk. Note that she doesn't try to tell him something important until he sobers up. Ten days later Nabal was dead - the Lord took his revenge. David proposes to Abigail and she becomes his wife. And he takes on a spare, Ahinoam. Apparently his original wife Michal had been repossessed by her father and assigned to someone else.
• Chapter 26 - David's band of armed men has doubled in size. David had learned through Nabal's example that if he is patient, God will take care of his enemies. The Lord had caused a deep sleep to fall on Saul and those sleeping around him. This seems like a test for David to see if he would take advantage and kill Saul, or if he would be patient.
• Chapter 27 - David sees right through Saul's lies and knows that Saul will be hotter to kill him than ever. He goes back to the king of Gath and hides out from Saul. David would attack other foreign nations and kill all, then bring back he spoil and let the king of Gath believe he was attacking Israel.
• Chapter 28 - The king of Gath thinks that he basically has David cornered by the Israelites hatred and that he has no where to go but to remain and serve him.
• Now that Samuel is gone, Saul has no way to be in contact with God. He tries the Urim and it doesn't work. Saul had kicked out all the mediums when Samuel was still around, but now he wants one to a medium to conjur up Samuel so he can get the answer he seeks. See how removed he is from communicating with God? Surprisingly, the medium successfully contact Samuel who predicts the defeat of the Israelites to the Philistines (king of Gath) and Saul's death the next day.
• Chapter 30 - while David is preparing for battle with the Philistines against Saul and the Israelites, the lords of the troops are concerned that David will defect back to the Israelites, so the king of Gath sends he and his troops back to their Philistine city. When they return, their city has been attacked by the Amalekites, and David's wives have been taken captive. They probably recovered some of the stuff David had taken from them. Apparently you can communicate to God through the ephod, because that's what David does.
• This is like the third time in 1 Samuel that they talk about men at war not eating and getting too tired. David and the Amalekites play tug-o-war again and David, with God's blessing, wins. He sets a precedent of sharing the spoils evenly. I wonder if David got his wives back.
• Chapter 31 - Saul commits hari-kari when he is mortally wounded by the Philistines. Jonathan dies too. I'm sure David will be upset. The Philistines desecrate Saul's body, but it is recovered and they mourn him. Israel is without a king.

I Samuel complete. 9 books down, 57 to go. Man, this seems like a long reading tonight!

• II Samuel 1:10 - why would this guy lie about killing Saul? And was he an Israelite or an Amalekite? Doesn't matter, even in Saul's death, David is respectful of his position as anointed king, and he has the Amalekite killed.
• Hey, the Book of Jasher again. If it gets mentioned one more time, I'll go on off the path and track it down. (1:18)
• 2:2 - yes, he got his wives back.
• David is anointed king of Judah in Hebron. Was Saul only the king of Judah, or of all Israel?Apparently Abner (Saul's right hand man) appoints Saul's son king over the rest of Israel, and only Judah goes with David. The kingdom is split.
• David has picked up a few more wives in 3:2-5, and it seems he splits his time evenly between them. Ahinoam, Abigail, Maacah, Talmai, Haggith, Abital, Eglah. Each of them bore him a son.
• Why does power hungry Abner, who has Saul's son the king scared of him, want to make a pact with David, and transfer power. This smells fishy.
• David wants, and gets, his original wife Michal back.
• Joab sees through Abner's plot to spy on David. He kills Abner in revenge for his brothers death. David makes it clear that he is not responsible for this act - a good political act for one who will be taking over the kingdom that previously was run by Abner with Saul's son as the puppet king.
  

Day 22 ~ The Jealous King

I had an interesting thing happen to me today. Our friends from our home fellowship, Chris and Melissa Perry, had a baby two weeks ago. Last week I planned to take them a meal, but when I got home to the crock pot of food that was to have been cooking all day, I discovered I never turned the crock pot on. I was more than slightly irritated with myself. So I had to call and confess my stupidity. Well tonight, I did come home to the smell of food cooking, and Grace and I headed west to visit new baby Olivia. I didn't plan ahead for a dessert, so we stopped at the pie shop. Since tomorrow is payday for me, and we're doing the Financial Peace cash envelope system, I used $8.50 of the $9 dollars that I had left in the eat out envelope (groceries and blow money were gone a few days ago - sam's club and a garage sale did me in). Then we proceeded to take one step and the pie flipped out of the box onto the floor. I just kind of stood there, and Grace and I asked for a spatula to clean it up. Grace asked if we would get another one, and I said I couldn't because I didn't have any more money. A man who came in while we were cleaning up the pie (I was tempted to eat some of it off the floor rather than to waste it all) said "you have the money, I'll buy the pie for you." I nearly cried. He said he's wife had died two years ago and she would have had him do so. I told him it wasn't even for us, and that he was a real blessing. I got paid forward for buying lunch in the drivethru that guy in the truck behind me at McDonalds. What a blessing to share with my daughter...about money, about sharing, about being thankful. Guess that is why I forgot to turn on the crockpot last week - because last week I had a dessert, and this week I didn't - I would have missed out on the blessing.

• 10:3 What is a terebinth tree? It seems like this type of tree has been mentioned before...let's see (goodsearch.com & biblegateway.com)...yes, in Moreh, Mamre, Shechem, Bethel, Zaanannim, Ophrah. There must be something about these trees that makes them worthy of a geographical indicator. Like the tree where Lee and Grant signed the surrender to end the Civil war under the Ash tree in Appamattox Court House - it was huge. In 10:3, the NIV calls it the "great" tree; in the NASB, Message, Amplified, Contemporary and American Standard versions "oak" is used. I guess I may be one of the few actually seeing the word "terebinth" in the New King James version. the KJV doesn't even have a tree, it calls it a "plain." Easton's Bible Dictionary says "a turpentine-tree, the Pistacia terebinthus." Wikipedia (which you can't really trust the content of on alot of things) says it is a small tree or large bush. That doesn't make sense - and Oak trees are not small or like bushes. Why would a large bush be a landmark? Also mentioned in most sources was that the tree was a source of turpentine, which may have been of interest to note in histories.
• Okay, I just spent 30 minutes on the first three verses of the reading. Somebody smack me.
• 10:6 - Saul will be "turned into another man" - as in "poof, you're an egyptian!" what does that mean? Will God change him significantly? (yes, vs. 9) Go make sacrifices and wait 7 days (vs. 8 - to become clean?).
• Back to the timeline pretzel. Remember when Benjamin was practically wiped out by the rest of the tribes? Now the new king is picked from the tribe of Benjamin. I'm resisting the urge to look at the timeline, but I'm curious if that was before the war with Benjamin or after, and if it was after, was it shocking? (10:20)
• 10:25 "Then Samuel explained to the people the behavior of royalty, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD" - explained how the kings were suppose to act, or how the people were to act around kings?
• Chapter 11 - Saul does a good job rallying the all the tribes behind a city under threat, and defeats the would-be oppressors, the Ammonites.
• Chapter 12 - It doesn't matter who rules over you - a judge or a king - what matters is if you follow the commandments of the Lord.
• Chapter 13 - Saul's tenure as king was shortened in the second year when he was impatient and sacrificed improperly instead of waiting for Samuel. 30,000 chariots of Philistines were breathing down the neck of Saul's small 600 man army, with only a few weapons.
• Chapter 14 - all that war talk is confusing to me, but Jonathan must have snuck away to get some weapons at the garrison and won a battle. Saul made a stupid rule that the men couldn't eat until the battle was over, so that when they did eat, they were so hungry that they ate the blood (against the levitical rules). Saul wants Jonathan dead because he ate, even though Jonathan didn't know about the rule. The soldiers wouldn't allow Saul to kill his son.
• Chapter 15 - Samuel has an excuse for his disobedience in following God's commandments. Verse 12 says Saul set up a monument for himself. He did not utterly destroy, and brought home lots of spoil from the war with the Amalekites.
• 15:22 “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams."
• Samuel does what Saul should have done, and as NKJV so poetically puts it, "And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the LORD" (15:22)
• Chapter 16 - the Lord has given up on Saul, and selects a new king to replace him and send Samuel out to find the new king.
• Samuel immediately sees one of the good looking sons of Jessee and presumes this must be the chosen one (remember that Saul was a fine specimen). “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (16:7)
• Saul no longer has the peaceful spirit of the Lord, but a distressing spirit. The favor of the king has now been given to David, and Saul can tell, and turns to soothing music, played by none other than the newly selected successor, David.
• Remember king Og the giant from Deuteronomy 3:11 who had a bed that was 9 cubits long and 4 cubits wide? I remember thinking then that Goliath was 9 cubits tall. But I was wrong, Goliath was 6 cubits high, over 9 feet. So Og was much taller than Goliath.
• Goliath the the young David: “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” I love that line. (17:43). David gives the glory of the defeat to the Lord, even before the stone is thrown.
• Chapter 18 - we know that Saul doesn't much like his own son, Jonathan, so when Jonathan and David become best of friends, that irritates Saul, and when David is praised by the people for his victory, after Saul has spent his entire reign in battles, Saul begins to watch David closely, sensing that his throne is in jeopardy. Saul knows David is popular, but he wants him gone, so he tries to put David in situations where he could get killed at the hands of others. He tries to trip David up by offering his daughters in marriage. Dowry: 100 foreskins of Philistines - yeah, that might put David in harms way just a little bit. But David brings Saul 200. The overachiever gets under Saul's skin even more.
• Chapter 19 - Saul's own children help protect David from an increasingly unstable Saul.
• 20:5-6 - hey, it's the new moon feast from Numbers 29:6
• 20:31 - good point - as long as David is around, Jonathan's chance of inheriting the throne from his father Saul are slim. Jonathan is more loyal to David over his own father and is not swayed by the power of being a king.

Day 21 ~ Timeline pretzel

Pastor Tim's sermon this weekend highlighted from Romans 7 why the Israelites became so depraved - the law itself is powerless to produce righteousness.

I think I read a chapter too much yesterday. Anyway, a reminder that Ammon and Moab were the incestuous sons of Lot by his two daughters. Judges is completed - started out good, but ended up with Israel deeply depraved and at civil war with itself. Seven books down, 59 to go. Next, the book of Ruth.

• Why did Naomi and her husband Elimelech leave the promised land during the famine when they had well-to-do relatives they could have turned to?
• Boaz seems like a pretty good guy. He seems to know God, and follows some of the rules established in Leviticus, like leaving the gleaning in the field for the poor.
• It seems a bit forward for Naomi to send Ruth to the foot of Boaz' bed, but the rules for carrying on the family name would direct Ruth to the nearest relative of her husband. Boaz truthfully knows there is one other closer to her, but that man doesn't want to risk buying the land and getting a wife in the deal when if a son is born, the land would revert to the woman's first husband's family.
• I don't remember any mention of what kind of beauty Ruth may or may not have had. Boaz commends her on her good reputation and how well she cared for her mother-in-law

I'm sure I could get more out of the book of Ruth...but this is about quantity, not quality...although I think I'm getting a lot more quality than I ever anticipated. Eight books down, 58 to go!

• Hey, they start the first chapter of 1 Samuel with reference to the big yearly feast in Shiloh. This may be a good sign.
• Eli was the grandson of Aaron, the first high priest and brother of Moses. I can just picture him sitting in front of the tabernacle, with his chin resting on his hand, wondering what another drunk woman was doing at the tabernacle. Apparently his no-good sons were not only demanding the best for themselves from the sacrifices, and not even following the rules to burn the fat, but they were apparently messing around with the women who came to sacrifice at the tabernacle. Eli was a wimp in his chastising of his sons, basically telling them "you really shouldn't do that boys" and then sitting around worrying about it. Reminds me of some parents I know - too scared, and probably too late, to try some strict boundaries on their own kids and hold them accountable. Hope I don't do that.
• Hannah's prayer for a son were answered in Samuel and she did as she promised and left him to live with Eli at the tabernacle in Shiloh.
• Although Samuel was groomed by God from the start, in chapter 3 it says that when God called for Samuel that it basically didn't enter his mind that it would be the Lord calling him. He "did not know the Lord" even though he was living with the priest at the tabernacle. Pretty sad. But Eli knew that God was calling him and told Samuel to listen and obey.
• God chooses Samuel as a prophet, and he also serves as a judge for 40 years. I don't know where he falls in our timeline.

Speaking of timeline, this whole pretzel of a timeline is really starting to confuse me. I was assuming that the period of judges didn't even start until the Israelites were in the promised land, but I found an online sources of old testament timelines that puts the first sited judge, Othniel, before Moses is even born! That would explain why there was no talk of sacrifices, because they didn't have those instructions yet. It also places the Canaanite oppression broken by Deborah and Barak just after the Israelites enter the promised land, Samson and Samuel alive at the same time (partly during the occupation by the Philistines and Ammonites), and Ruth and Boaz before Samson but at the end of Gideon's life. But that just does not seem right! I should dig deeper! Othniel was the nephew of Caleb (Judges 3:9), so there is no way that the judges started before Moses, because Caleb was younger than Moses. That site's timeline is contradicted by scripture.

But wait! I have a book that I've never cracked open called "The Chronology of the Old Testament" with CD timelines I ordered from Answers in Genesis. Let's see what it says. It places Othniel after Moses' death, places Ruth at the time of Deborah and Barak, and Samson right before Saul, with the Ark of the Covenant being captured in the middle of Samson's life. This one makes more sense. Why did I open that book and just use up a half hour? I will never get my hotel selected for our trip next month at this rate. You know, homework before play!

• The Ark of the Covenant is taken from the Tabernacle in Shiloh to war as a sort of good luck charm (without consulting God, who surely would have said no), and it was captured by the Philistines and placed in a temple of Dagon, a false god. The ark was a bad luck charm, and they passed it from city to city for seven months before setting it on a cart and pointing it toward the East and the Israelites. The Philistines remembered what God had done to the Egyptians, and had themselves experienced tumors wherever the ark went, Before they put it on a cart they try to appease God with an apology gift of sorts - golden tumors and rats. Nice.
• When the ark returned to Israel, you think they would rush it right back to Shiloh and the tabernacle. But no, they keep it in a temporary home for 20 years. Even though the ark wasn't where it was supposed to be, there was a period of peace and reclaimed territory under Samuel.
• But his sons were rotten, so much so that the people demanded a king be given to them like the nations around them. Samuel sought God's council, and the Lord said give them a taste of what they think they want, but warn them it will not taste very good.
• It is interesting that the first time we see the man who would be king, he is described as good looking. That should fit in well with the Israelites hollow reasons for a king - a good-lookin' king is a bonus!

Day 20 ~ Flawed men of power

For some reason I'm really looking forward to getting to Ruth and trying to figure out where her story falls in the chronology based on the clues we've been given. We can create a basic timeline with the ages given at death, and the times between the judges, and the geneology (like Rahab, who was an ancestor of Ruth's husband Boaz)...Anyway, back to Gideon.

Gideon was from the tribe of Manasseh from the village of Orphah (which doesn't appear to have been uncovered archaeologically), presumably from the portion of the tribe on the west of the Jordan. He was joined in his army by soldiers from Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, all to the north of his territory. Now, if you remember correctly, the Midianites have been mentioned many times so far, but were always to the east of the Jordan. Apparently things had gotten so bad in the promised land that the Israelites couldn't even keep neighboring enemies from invading them. Apparently the Midianites had crossed the Jordan into the west and were oppressing at the time of Gideon. After their strategic pitcher/torch/trumpet plan, the small army chased the Midianites into the territory of Ephraim. Why do I tell you all this? So you can understand why Ephraim gets on Gideon's back in the first verse of our reading today.

• Chapter 8: Gideon and his army cross the Jordan to the east pursuing the Midianites. They asked for food from two different towns and were refused. After Gideon captured the kings Zebah and Zalmunna, he returned to the towns of those who refused them food and punished them. He then reminded the kings Z&Z that they had killed some of his relatives and killed them himself. Israel wants Gideon to rule over them, but he refuses saying only God can rule over them.
• Gideon collects all the golden earrings (of course, the Ismaelites wear earrings 8:24) from which he made a golden ephod. We've only seen the word Ephod used in the context of the jewel encrusted piece worn by the high priest to this point, but going forward it the word will be used to describe a linen ephod, and this ephod that Gideon makes, intended to be something sacred, but it apparently became some type of idol.

Back to our cycle of Judges: Israelites do evil...become oppressed by a native people who weren't utterly destroyed...God raises a judge to delivers them...followed by a period of obedience and peace. . Starting in day 19:

Mesopotamia...8 years slavery...judge Othniel...40 years of peace
fat Eglon in Moab...18 years...left-handed Ehud...80 years of peace
Shamgar - no specifics on this judge
Jaban of Canaan...20 years...Deborah (who is a bit cocky, it seems to me)...40 years
Midian...7 years...Gideon...40 years
Baal worship/reign of bad Israelite king Abimelech...3 years...Judges Tolah/Jair...23 years/22 years (doesn't say it was peaceful
Philistines & Ammon...18 years ...Jephthah...6 years followed by Judge Ibzan/6 years...Judge Elon/10 years...Judge Abdon/8 years
Philistines...40 years...Gideon...20 years

• Gideon had many wives and 70 sons. One son by a concubine (in addition to his seventy wives?) was named Abimelech (8:29-31). Remember that Gideon was renamed Jerubbaal when he tore down some idols after being addressed by the angel. Abimelech gained the trust of his brothers and then killed them all but one, Jotham. Then the men of the city made Abimelech king, presumably out of fear. He attacks and kills many, but a woman drops a millstone on his head and he asks to be killed by sword of one of the soldiers to it wouldn't be said that he died at the hands of a woman. Sorry Abimelech, they got the story down in a way you would not have approved of.
• Chapter 10. Israel has a smorgasboard of idol worship going on, and the Lord delivers them into slavery to the Philistines and people of Ammon. All of the eastern territory was in slavery, and then the Ammonites crossed the Jordan westward and were attacking Benjamin, Judah and Ephraim. God tells them to cry out to the new gods they have served for help. But they put away the idols and God's "soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel" 10:16.
• Chapter 11: Why would Jephthah's kinfolk kick him out for being illigitimate, then go get him to lead them? He was out running around and causing trouble with a group of raiders. Jephthah gives the king of Ammon a history lesson about why they can't have the land which the people didn't buy.
• The spirit of the Lord comes upon Jephthah, who promises that he will sacrifice as a burnt offering the first who comes out his door when he comes home in victory if God will aid in the defeat of the people of Ammon. Of course, his only child, a daughter, greets him after God allows him to subdue the people of Ammon. Why would God accept a human burnt offering? It doesn't say God accepted it, but Jephthah fulfilled his vow to God.
• What is with these people of Ephraim and getting mad when they don't get asked to go fight? This is the second time already. 12:1
• Jephthah shows his true colors - he did a smack down of Ephraim, and the Israelites actually stooped so low as a "nation" of Israel that they are enslaving and killing their own people. They know that the people of Ephraim can't pronounce a word correctly, and if they say it wrong, they kill them.
• Ibzan clearly breaks a rule from long ago, don't marry outside your tribe, he brings in outsiders as wives for his 30 sons.
• 13:1 - the Lord delivered the people into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years. We don't know if this includes the time God's anger grew hot in 10:7 and sold them to the Philistines and the Ammon - because chapters 10-12 deal with fighting with Ammon. This slavery to the Philistines may be the same time, because in chapter 13, we're in a different area, to the north with the tribe of Dan.
• An angel is again the choice of communication between God and his chosen. The wife of Manoah is greeted by an angel and told specific rules to follow for her son to be born. She wanted her husband to get in on the instructions...apparently she was more than willing to be a vessel of the Lord's work and wanted to get it right. Manoah also sees the angel, and not realizing it was an angel, offers to fix dinner. The angel tells them to prepare a sacrifice to God instead, which they do (and amazingly still know how to do). They assume their sacrifice was accepted by God. The angel does a cool trick in the fire.
• They have a son...Samson, who is to be raised as a Nazarite. See Numbers 6. Other Nazarites: Samuel, John the Baptist.
• Chapter 14 - Samson parents were aware that their son should not marry outside their tribe, but Samuel wanted a Philistine gal. Apparently, God had planted that desire in Samuel to create an occasion to move against the Philistines (14:4)
• Apparently Samson has a huge anger control issue. To pay the bet off of 30 articles of clothing, he goes and kills some men and takes their clothes, then gives his traitor wife to his best man...
• ...then he wants her back, and not only does he have an anger control problem, but he has a cruelty to animals problem and uses some live foxes as torches to ruin the crops, and deflects the Philistines anger onto his father-in-law. Samson then has a reason to attack the Philistines directly - they have killed his father-in-law, and he does some revenge killing then heads for the hills. The tensions grow as the Philistines come looking for Samson, and Samson's people are more than willing to give him up to get the heat off.
• Samson, filled with power by God, goes berzerk with a jawbone and kills 10,000 Philistines.
• What does Samson want for his effort? A drink of water (15:18).
• God certainly uses some flawed people and some questionable ways to get his will done. Samson is a bully, a killer, visits prostitutes, and a liar. He meets his match in the money-hungry Delilah, offered a great sum of money to find out Samson's secret to his strength through her feminine charm. Samson can't take the pestering of a woman (16:16), and just like his first wife, he tells her what she wants to know to shut her up. You know the rest of the story...cut hair...lost strength...gouged out eyes...one last blast of strength...many people (more than Samson had killed) die in a pile of rubble along with Samson as he makes the building collapse.
• Judges 17 tells us just how backward the people had become...Micah's mother dedicated silver to the Lord so she can make idols of it. Micah, from tribe of Ephraim, ordains one of his sons as a priest (wrong tribe, not appointed by God), but when a Levite comes to visit, Micah offers him the role of priest of his household.
• Who does this sound like: 17:6 "In those days ... everyone did what was right in his own eyes."?
• We find that the tribe of Dan still hasn't been able to gain their promised land in chapter 18. They are out scouting a weak place to attack, and when they come across what apparently is a unique occurance of a Levite priest (even though wrongly appointed), they immediately ask him for help, like a soothsayer. They steal the priest from Micah, along with his idols and fake ephod, and bring him along like a good-luck charm. I don't see them asking of God, nor of the priest asking of God, but they sure do like to use God's blessing without really knowing what it is. They defeat this weak little village and set up their own little idol chapel "all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh" 18:31 - the tabernacle was still the main place of worship for the nation, and it was in Shiloh.
• Chapter 19. The levite and his concubine picked the wrong town to sleep in. Note that they picked this town because it was an Israelite town, not a foreign town, but it was filled with homosexuals that weren't shy about what they wanted. As before in another similar story, the poor innocent daughter gets offered up to these heathen. Why would they rather protect a stranger than their own child? The daugher doesn't get taken this time, but the concubine does, and they basically ravage her and leave her to die. So the Levite cuts her up and sends a bit of her to each tribe.
• This special package to the tribes ignites some unity in all the tribes but Benjamin and a civil war is launched against Benjamin. The Lord, after being asked, sends men from Judah first to attack. But Benjamin takes the united tribes for some battle losses, but in the end were defeated.
• It's like we entered a totally new book with Judges 20. Apparently this description of the skirmishs against Benjamin has taken a big step back in time. 20:26-28: Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, went up and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. So the children of Israel inquired of the LORD (the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days)." I need to dig out my chronological Bible.

Remember my first paragraph today? Given the curveball in chapter 20, it may be next to impossible for me to figure out the chronology on my own. This is becoming a big ball of intertwining strings and timelines. Just wait until we get to Revelation, it is even more overlapping!