Week 20 2 Chronicles
Last Monday I decided to group each of the Judah-South kings into one of three classes: Goods-Bads-Middlers. The key question for me was: did the writer say only good things – only bad things – or both good-&-bad things about a king?
I’ve finished reading 2 Chronicles now and the fifteen candidates are: Rehoboam Abijah Asa Jehoshaphat Jehoram Ahaziah Joash Amaziah Uzziah Jotham Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh Amon & Josiah. [I didn’t include Athaliah because she wasn’t officially coronated. When her son died she just took over – a decisive woman in the right place at the right time. Another thing about Athaliah – she almost eliminated David’s bloodline by killing everyone but Joash.]
So anyway my personal findings are…
Bads: Jehoram Ahaziah Ahaz Amon.
Middlers: Rehoboam Abijah Asa Jehoshaphat Joash Amaziah Uzziah Jotham Hezekiah Manasseh.
Goods: Josiah.
Couple of Comments:
I had Jotham as a Good at first. Then I cross-referenced his story in Kings and bumped him down.
Hezekiah was a star until near the very end when the chronicler says: he became proud. It’s too bad – I’d had him batting a thousand. I counted about 620-verses in the twenty-six divided-kingdom chapters and Hezekiah accounted for 117 of them – almost 19% of the total! Almost all of it admirable. Just one minor brush with pride.
I think all Middlers started well and went astray later on – except Manasseh – a real ogre right out of the starting gate – but he did a one-eighty in the end.
Note: quote from 2 Chronicles 32:25 (NLT).