Month: May 2023

Week 20  1 Chronicles 3

It’s hard to think of any other nine-consecutive-chapter section of the bible that’s less interesting than 1 Chronicles 1-9. But one paragraph catches my attention: the descendants of Solomon were Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, and Josiah. The sons of Josiah were Johanan, Jehoiakim, Zedekiah, and Jehoahaz. Jehoiakim was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin; he, in turn, was succeeded by his uncle Zedekiah.
The section registers with me because I’ve just been reading the stories of these kings in 1 & 2 Kings. (Of course in the Kings the writer’s constantly jumping back and forth across the border…alternating between north & south – Israel’s King A was doing this but meanwhile Judah’s King B was doing that. It’s a long bewildering frustrating & demanding 37-chapters to read. Elijah & Elisha excepted.)
Anyway I’ve got a master list of the kings of Judah that I copied from a book. I compare it with the list in 1 Chronicles 3 for accuracy. They match up. These seven verses list the kings of Judah from the start of the divided kingdom (1 Kings 11) to the exile in Babylon (2 Kings 25). Rehoboam to Zedekiah.
I page forward. In about a week I’ll be reading about these same kings all-over-again in 2 Chronicles 10-36. It’s a shorter history and isn’t cluttered up with any kings of Israel (it’s a relief to know the chronicler’s not interested in them).

Note: quote from 1 Chronicles 3:10-16 (NLT)

Week 19  2 Kings 4

I’m reading the story of Elisha & the Shunamite woman and notice how similar it is to the story of Elijah & the widow of Zarephath.
Each of the women had a son
Both of those boys died
Each mom was completely devastated by the loss of her boy
Both moms appealed to the prophets
Both prophets prayed to the Lord for an intervention (Elijah & Elisha both came to where the bodies lay – they didn’t heal from a distance – and they both used a similar technique of lying down against the dead & cold body)
The boys came back to life!
Both moms had similar reactions. The widow of Zarephath told Elijah: now if know for sure that you are a man of God, and that the Lord truly speaks through you. The Shunamite woman didn’t – or maybe couldn’t – speak. But she: fell at (Elisha’s) feet, overwhelmed with gratitude.
I wonder for a minute why the writer told two stories that were so much the same. I wonder if he was making some point about Elijah & Elisha both being great & powerful prophets – and roughly equal in miraculous capacity.
But mostly I just like these two stories. Great Story #1a & Great Story #1b. They’d both have to be considered for any list of Top Stories of the OT.

Note: the stories are in 1 Kings 17:7-24  & 2 Kings 4:18-37. Quotes are from 1 Kings 17:24  & 2 Kings 4:37 (NLT)

Week 19  2 Kings 1-3

Bam…Bam…Bam. Three chapters and three head-scratcher stories as the book begins.
Story #1: three military units go to arrest Elisha. The first two are destroyed by an explosion of fire-from-heaven.
Story #2: a yowling pack of boys mock Elisha. Elisha curses them and a couple of bears attack and maul the boys.
Story #3: a battle between Israel & Edom. Israel has the upper-hand but the king of Edom sacrifices his son…and so Israel leaves the country.
Story #1 and Story #2 are similar because with both of them I’m wondering whether the punishment was warranted. Did the soldiers have to be incinerated? Did the boys have to be mauled? Why does it seem so excessive?
Story #3 is different from #1 & #2. Israel was winning the war but when they hear about the human sacrifice they turn-tail-and-run. What spooked them? Why did they run?
What it comes down to is that these stories just don’t have enough detail to make sense. And the problem with a story without enough detail is that I’m tempted to fill-in some of those blanks by myself.
But I hold back. I definitely want to fill the information-vacuum – but don’t want to fill it with crazy & nonsensical mumbo-jumbo. Don’t even want to fill it with reasonable-sounding mumbo-jumbo.
So while I’d rather not be perplexed I’ll leave them blank for now. On balance living with some perplexity is better than guessing wrong.

Note: Story #1 2 Kings 1:9-16. Story #2 2 Kings 2:23-25. Story #3 2 Kings 3:26-27

Week 18  1 Kings 18

Obadiah’s story is short. About fourteen verses – maybe a little over 300-words. But tucked away in that already short story is an even shorter story – bracketed off to show it isn’t the main story: (Obadiah was a devoted follower of the Lord. Once when Jezebel had tried to kill all the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had hidden one hundred of them in two caves. He had put fifty prophets in each cave and had supplied them with food and water).
In the main story Elijah comes to Obadiah and tells him he wants to meet king Ahab. Obadiah is reluctant to do that and tries to convince Elijah that he’s already done his share. He tells him his story-in-a-story: has no one told you, my lord, about the time when Jezebel was trying to kill the Lord’s prophets? I hid a hundred of them in two caves and supplied them with food and water.
But Elijah tells Obadiah that saving those people then doesn’t exempt him now.
Both stories are good. The one where Obadiah is liaison between Elijah and Ahab. And the other one about Obadiah – the covert operator – who rescued people from execution.
It’s a toss-up for me to decide which story I like better.
Anyway it’s obvious that the Elijah-Ahab story is the main event. Obadiah only has a small part to play. (But if I was one of the hundred prophets I’d figure Obadiah’s small part was still pretty big.)

Note: quotes from 1 Kings 18:3-4 13 (NLT)

Week 18  1 Kings 11

The Lord promised Jeroboam: I will place you on the throne of Israel, and you will rule over all your heart desires. If you listen to what I tell you and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right, and if you obey my laws and commands…then I will always be with you. I will establish an enduring dynasty for you… So in simple terms: if you do X then the result will be Y.
(Jeroboam didn’t get any flip-side instruction. He wasn’t also told: if you don’t do X then the result will be Z. But he seems to have been a smart enough guy to realize that if doing X would result in Y then not doing X wouldn’t also result in Y.)
Anyway Jeroboam decided not to do X. His decision was complicated by his busy life. Building a new capital city. Thinking-up a brand new religious system. Constructing idols. Planning for new sacrifices with new priests & new festivals.
The Lord’s final evaluation on Jeroboam was: you have done more evil than all who lived before you.
And the outcome would be: I will burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up trash.
The upside for Jeroboam was that he was free to decide what to do. He could either do X or not do X. It was up to him.
What wasn’t up to him was the outcome. It was pretty much non-negotiable.

Note: quotes from 1 Kings 11:37-38 14:9 10 (NLT)

Week 18  Psalm 119

The psalm starts out: happy are people of integrity, who follow the law of the Lord. Happy are those who obey his decrees and search for him with all their hearts.
I recall from other places this idea of being all-in with the Lord…this searching with-my-whole-heart. But the thing that jumps out at me today is the happiness part.
Not all bibles use the word happy. But there’s other words and phrases that back-up the idea. I should feel delight pleasure desire eagerness joy when I come to my reading. It’s the music of my life. Joy & sweetness & hope are all part of the mix. Love: how I love your law! I think about it all day long. And longing: I long to obey your commandments.
I feel a bit apprehensive about some of the language. It seems excessive and it worries me that the Emotional Response Standards are out-of-reach.
I also notice many references in 119 to people who hate the law of the Lord – they’re oppositional arrogant adversarial contemptuous. The Lord’s law is abhorrent. So this reminds me that there’s a kind of continuum. A pole to the extreme left – The Haters. And on the extreme right – The Lovers. I’m somewhere along that line. Not at the far-right location 119 talks about. But not an adversary either.
My orientation is to the right.
I’ll have to be satisfied today knowing I’m moving in my preferred direction. Even if I’m in the slow-lane.

Note: quotes from Psalm 119:1-2 54 97 40 (NLT)

Week 18  1 Kings 3-4

This is the famous story about the time the Lord offered Solomon his pick of any gift: what do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you (it was a kind of Aladdin’s Lamp but in real life).
Solomon’s answer was: give me an understanding mind so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong.
The rest of chapter three and all of chapter four describe what happened. There are Four Big Domains where Solomon’s Understanding Mind showed up. Solomon set up:
A fair justice system
An organized state bureaucracy
A rational & profitable economic system
Plus…Solomon personally had outrageous intellectual capacity & encyclopedic knowledge.
So Wisdom – a pretty intangible quality – affected Solomon’s real world of hard concrete tangible visible things and benefitted the whole state of Israel.
Every king makes Big Decisions. The key question he needs to ask is: Are My Big Decisions Stupid or Wise?
Solomon’s reign proved the rule that Wise Leaders Guarantee National Success. Unfortunately I know that soon enough I’m going to find examples of the other rule: Unwise Leaders Guarantee Failed States.

Note: quotes from 1 Kings 3:5 & 9 (NLT). The four domains are in 1 Kings 3:16-28 4:1-19 4:20-28 & 4:29-34 (I think it would be a good idea to collect the four into one chapter). End of April reading report: 35% of the bible read in 33% of the year (so my head is still above-water).