Bible Food Day 32 - Second Chronicles

Good day and welcome to Bible Food.

We are going to pick up our reading in 2 Chronicles today starting at chapter eight; and we'll end in chapter twenty-three.  Let's get our eyes on and read the the Word of God.

2nd Chronicles chapter 8

Solomon is ordering the kingdom and he is still keeping the ways written by Moses, the servant of God.

¹³Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.

2 Chronicles 9

 ¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

We remember this story in 1st Kings chapter 10; people of the world sought after God in these days and to hear that a man in Israel had all the answers; quite naturally everyone will come up and prove he had them or get some good wisdom from that person, concerning the Lord.  

That person was Solomon; and I have to reemphasize that Sheba came up asking hard questions; not simple stuff like what day is the Sabbath day, or how many are in the Godhead; but hard questions like what is the Lord doing with this creation?

She was very impressed from his wisdom to how orderly his kingdom was and how everyone was happy that worked for his.  She gave great monetary gifts; that is another thing wisdom can get you.

¹²And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants.
 ¹³Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold;

Just a quick sign in verses13; the amount of gold that came in one year was six hundred, sixty, and six, or 666!

¹⁹And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom.
²²And king Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
 ²³And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart. 

Solomon's kingdom was rich and beautified with gold; great ivory overlaid with gold.  And his kingdom is nothing compared to what Jesus will have in the 1,000 years he reigns.  If you have much knowledge and wisdom, you will be sought after by not just the "regular joes;" but the great men of the world.
Solomon reigned 40 years in Jerusalem and died and his son Rehoboam took over in his place.

2 Chronicles 10

We get a recap of the story of Rehoboam and his failed wisdom to seek counsel from the elders but instead with his childhood boys; and although it was from God; it got the kingdom stripped from him (1Kings 12).

¹⁶And when all Israel saw that the king would not hearken unto them,... What good is it to not listen to the citizens of your country and to their needs?  Business owners can take heed from this and work on customer satisfaction.  The result for Rehoboam was the other tribes wanting nothing to do with the son of David (¹⁹And Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.).

2nd Chronicles 11

Here Rehoboam does like children do; when you can talk it out it leads to fighting it out, even if it was caused by you.  So he prepares to bring Israel back together by war.  However the Lord sends Shemaiah, the man of God, and tells him this split of the kingdom is from the Lord for the sin of Solomon.  And the smartest thing Rehoboam does is listen to Shemaiah and backs off.

Now initially, all tribes left Judah alone; but Benjamin being neighbors stayed with Judah and then the priest or Levites returned because Jeroboam (the king over the 10 tribes), hired anyone to be priest to the Lord and many devils took the office; so the Levites returned since they had no inheritance among the people.  No inheritance and no job means a bunch of hungry priest so they returned.

¹⁴For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office unto the LORD:
 ¹⁵And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.

With the Levites returning to Judah, they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong, three years: for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon.  Just three years huh...
Just like his daddy, Rehoboam loved the women.  ²¹And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines; and begat twenty and eight sons, and threescore daughters.)  He had 18 wives; and pretty much slept with 60 other women called concubines, which gave him 28 sons and 60 daughters.  Gees Luis...

One thing Rehoboam did do is take care of all the women he had in abundance and took care of his children wisely and in abundance as well.

 ²³And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his children throughout all the countries of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fenced city: and he gave them victual in abundance. And he desired many wives.

2 Chronicles 12

With much success, the grandson of David began to leave the law of God and do his own thing.  We much watch when our riches are increased that we do not forget the Lord our God at all.  As Rehoboam began to forsake God, much trouble came on him and his kingdom.  Egypt; the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians rose up against him, and he probably never laid it to heart that he needed to patch things up with God.

And I know the prophets let him know why he was having so much trouble; because he forsook the Lord.  And when they were told, they humbled themselves and the LORD saw it, so the Lord had Shemaiah tell them He will not destroy them, but will grant them some deliverance; and His wrath will not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

 ⁸Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.

The Lord will still punish you and if you can deal with the punishment, you are blessed.  The Lord made them serve Egypt; and he will make you serve someone else if you refuse to serve Him.  Think about it?

Rehoboam did evil in the sight of God and his son Abijah took over after Rehoboam died after 17 years of ruling in Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 13

 ¹Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.

Abijah confronts Jeroboam about breaking off from the house of David and while speaking Jeroboam's 800,000 army ambushes Abijah's 400,000 army.  However, the Lord was with Judah and they slew 500,000 of Jeroboam's army and defeated them.  Jeroboam never recovered strength against Judah in Abijah's days.

²¹But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.
On the personal side of things Abijah was just like his fathers; many wives and many children.

2 Chronicles 14

Asa then took over and he had peace ten years in the land and did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.
⁴And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.

2 Chronicles 15

 ¹And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
 ²And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
 ³Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
 ⁴But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
 ⁵And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.

This chapter is one of my favorite chapters in the entire bible because it makes a HUGE statement in the first five verses.  The Spirit of the God came on Azariah, and he went out to meet with the king, king Asa telling them if you seek God; you will find him; if you forsake Him; He will leave you too.  
In the days of Asa; Israel had been without the true God.  What does this mean?  They were dealing with paganism, and things that don't pertain to God.  Why were they like that?  Because they did not have a teaching priest and that meant they were without the law of God.  

That is what a priest does; teaches the law and the ways of God to the people.  So if they have a priest or preacher who just motivates them or tell them what they want to hear; he is not a teaching priest that is teaching the law.  And look at the results of that; no peace in the streets, killings, robbing, wars, and other grave atrocities because no one is keeping the laws of God.  
Sounds familiar today doesn't it?  No mention of the commandments in public places (for a country built on religious freedom (USA)), preachers preach we don't have to keep the law, Jesus has done it, and on and on.  So we have the chaos we have in the world because we lack teaching priest.

Hearing this prophesy from Azariah made Asa do even more to keep the ways of the Lord and he prospered.  He didn't have a war in his 40 years of reigning until the 35 year.  That is some major peace.

2 Chronicles 16

 ¹In the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

Now in the 36th year; Baasha the king of Samaria came up against him and Asa called on Syria to help him instead of calling on the Lord to help him.  We must remember where our help comes from.  Yeah; God may send Syria to help you but it's better for you to acknowledge God and have Him send someone to you than for you to ignore God and seek help on your own.

⁷And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.
⁹For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
 ¹⁰Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

The seer came and spoke with Asa about relying on men and not God and Asa got upset with the seer, who told him he'd have wars, and threw him in jail.  We cannot get mad at the truth; instead we should be mad at our foolishness and accept our consequences.

¹²And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.

Asa caught a disease in his feet and it became a harsh ailment but through it all he did not seek the Lord for healing; but went to the trusted medical doctors.  As I mentioned earlier; we should seek GOD and have him sent the best physician to you.

2 Chronicles 17

 ¹And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel.
³And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim;

Jehoshaphat was a great king in Judah; he loved the Lord and made sure to walk in the Lord's ways.  He was a nice man, meek in some of his dealings with Ahab; but he was diligent about the Lord and always sought counsel of the Lord first (as David did).

⁷Also in the third year of his reign he sent to his princes, even to Benhail, and to Obadiah, and to Zechariah, and to Nethaneel, and to Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.
⁹And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the LORD with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.

Look at this; imagine of Barak Obama or any king over a nation sent trained teaching priest and prophets to teach all citizens the book of the law (the bible) throughout all the cities.  Imagine telling folks to simply keep Exodus 20 the commandments and teaching them why.  That would be a nice country to live in.

Because of this, the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.  This is what the Lord will do for you if you simply keep His ways and seek Him.

2 Chronicles 18

 ¹Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab.
⁴And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.

Now we had this story in 1 Kings chapter 22 about the lying spirit that went to Ahab's prophets to get Ahab to go to war and be killed.  Ahab persuaded Jehoshaphat to go with him and it nearly got him killed.  I think the Lord spared him because of his good works.

²¹And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so.

The events account is the same as in 1st Kings chapter 22; so you can read it in that post.  However, we do see that prophets can be lying even when it is 400 to 1.  If 400 men say the Sabbath is Sunday and 1 says it's the 7th days of the week (known as Saturday); go with what the Bible says regardless of how many side on Sunday.

Micaiah was the prophet that spoke the vision and he was punched in the face and thrown in jail for telling what he saw from God.    ²⁸So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead.  Nevertheless, they went up and Ahab was killed even when he attempted to set Jehoshaphat up, the Lord still had him killed.   

2 Chronicles 19

 ¹And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.
 ²And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.

This is why I think Jehoshaphat was meek and nice, thinking his niceness will turn people over to the ways of God.  Because why would you be brotherly to someone who hates the Lord.  Ahab wanted nothing to do with God's ways, he'd get sad when bad news came on him and humble himself; but he'd go right back to his ways.

We aren't to go to bat or war with people who are consciously not committed to serving God.  You can hang with them, attempt to show them the ways of the Lord; but if they come and ask you for help with a situation, I'd be cautious.
  
 ³Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.
 ⁴And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the LORD God of their fathers.

Because Jehoshaphat did good things the Lord spared his life and the good of his kingdom.  Let your good outweigh your bad and your foolishness.  Jehoshaphat continued to put men of God in offices to rule and judge the people faithfully with the fear of the Lord.

2 Chronicles 20

 ¹It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

Let's see who the king called on for help with this war...

³And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

He turned to the Lord is swift prayer; and he threw every punch in there, even reminding the Lord that they are the seed of Abraham, God's friend.  ⁷Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
¹⁴Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;
 ¹⁵And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

The Lord told them not to worry nor fear; this is His battle.  Insomuch as they would not need a single weapon; just instruments and some singers.  Jehoshaphat told the people something preachers need to mention more to their congregations today; "Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper."

So they come to the war with just singers and the Lord set up the children of Ammon & Moab (brothers) to fight against the children of Edom.  After they kilt off the Edomites; they began to fight against each other until no one was left but the children of Judah singing.

²⁴And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.

No one escaped of these 3 countries that came up against Judah.  And Israel had spoil in abundance.  It took 3 days to take all the riches of spoil that was in the valley of the dead bodies.

2 Chronicles 21

 ¹Now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.

Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.  He did evil; even killed his brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat and he walked in the ways of the kings of Samaria.

¹²And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
 ¹³But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, which were better than thyself:
 ¹⁴Behold, with a great plague will the LORD smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods:

Look who's back on the scene, Elijah sending letters.  See he hadn't died yet but was taken up in a whirlwind.  He was still doing his job in correcting wicked kings.  And he brought judgement on Jehoram for his evil.

¹⁵And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.
¹⁸And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.

And later his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. 

 ²⁰Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

He reigned 8 years and died and no one felt sad for him.  He departed like George W. Bush departed out of office; without being desired.

2 Chronicles 22

 ¹And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead: for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned.  

He also was like the kings of Samaria and was hanging out with Ahab's sons when Jehu, who the Lord commissioned and anointed to cut down Ahab's house, saw him and killed him along with Ahab's sons.  Jehoram died after reigning one year and his evil mother Athaliah attempted to take over his thrown.

¹⁰But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.

However, one of the royal seed got away.  The infant Joash was taken away by Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah for six years.

2 Chronicles 23

After six years, Jehoiada the priest made ready to make Joash the king over Judah.  ¹¹Then they brought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king.

Athaliah saw this and shouted treason and they caught her and killed her.  ¹⁶And Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king, that they should be the LORD's people.  Then they went back to serving the Lord. 

²¹And all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword.  It says in proverbs when the wicked are removed; the people rejoice (Proverbs 29 v2).  That is of course if there are righteous men in the land.

This concludes our reading today, I notice chronicles focuses more on the kings of Judah and are vague with the kings of Samaria as in the book of Kings; Judah was more vague than the descriptions of the kings of Samaria.  Thank you for reading; praise God in Jesus name.  Amen. 

--
Peace & Grace

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Day 31 of Bible Food

Good morning; today we are reading from 1 Chronicles 24 and we'll finish at 2 Chronicles 7

1 Chronicles 24

 ¹Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

Here is David establishing the sons of Aaron who were to administer the priest office:

 ⁴And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar, and thus were they divided. Among the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers, and eight among the sons of Ithamar according to the house of their fathers.

With Aaron and his sons these 24 chief men were the governors of the sanctuary, and governors of the house of God, were of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar.  They are the 24 elders in Revelation chapter 4 that had crowns are their heads; we see why; they are rulers of the sanctuary of God and of the house of God.  They are the priest who minister to God forever.  We even know their names.

¹⁹These were the orderings of them in their service to come into the house of the LORD, according to their manner, under Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him.

What a lot of people don't understand in the bible is that God attempted to set everything up in the beginning; but man failed and disobeyed; so now we are going through a trial process to see who will pass; the wheat growing with the tares and we are applying for positions.  David will be king over Jerusalem an Israel forever (under Jesus); and these 24 sons of Eleazar and Ithamar are going to be chief elders governing the house of God.  You and I have a job as well; it is to be announced.

1 Chronicles 25

We see in this chapter David continues to organize his kingdom; some details we didn't read in the book of kings nor in Samuel.  In some list we just read names; but in others you see they govern the temple as oppose to the sons of Aaron who govern the house of God.  There is a big difference.

We have instrument players and Asaph, who wrote many Psalms with David, being the chief musician.  They had 24 bands of 12 as the lot fell for those who were to do the songs of the Lord: ⁷So the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed in the songs of the LORD, even all that were cunning, was two hundred fourscore and eight.  The Lord has 24 elders to minister His Temple and 288 choir members here.

1 Chronicles 26

Here we have the chief porters; men who are conducting the ground work for the House of the Lord.  Don't quote me on if they will minister in the house of the Lord.

1 Chronicles 27

Chapter twenty-seven lays out the men of war in David's fortieth year of reign.  This chapter just gives the details of the mighty men who were set over their men and captains.

1 Chronicles 28

In this chapter, David makes his farewell speech to the people of Israel.  David tells them he had it in his heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building; but the Lord commanded he stop because of his many bloodsheds of being a man of war.

Nevertheless, God has made him king of Israel forever.  If it is forever, David is dead and Israel is scattered so his seed is not even sitting on the throne; that means the Lord is going to recover them and redeem David and other servants of God.  Redeeming them means to resurrect the dead.

David announces Solomon who will take over his throne when he dies.  ⁶And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.  We see here that David did not fully understand that the son to build the Temple will be Jesus, who came out of David's lineage in the flesh.

1 Chronicles 29

So David encouraged the people to be helpful to Solomon for this big task for the Lord.  David talked about all the instruments he dedicated, and the money of his own that he donated to this project, and finally he prayed and Solomon took over.

 ²⁶Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel.

 ²⁷And the time that he reigned over Israel was forty years; seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.

This is very important to know here in first Chronicles chapter 29 because in Luke chapter 1; the angel tells Mary that her child Jesus will reign over Israel forever, and will sit on the throne David said on.  Where did David sit?  That is where Jesus was set.

2 Chronicles 1

Here Solomon is ready to make sacrifices to the Lord and the Lord appears to him asking his what he wants in his kingdom.  And if we remember what he asked for in Samuel; we know it was: ¹⁰Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?

God granted him riches, long life, and power just for his wisdom to ask for wisdom and knowledge.  Perhaps, we should not pray to God to give us the lotto ticket and maybe give us wisdom and understanding so we can figure out how to make money without worry.

2 Chronicles 2

 ¹And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the LORD, and an house for his kingdom.  Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, to send him cedars (as he did for David) to build the Lord an house to dwell there in.

And Huram agreed and blessed Solomon and also blessed the Lord God of Israel for putting it in the mind of Solomon to do this great task.  Solomon put the strangers who lived in Israelto work.

¹⁷And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.

 ¹⁸And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work.

First off there were 153,600 strangers living in Israel during Solomon's day and he made them workers in the land or 'bearers of burdens'.

2 Chronicles 3

Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.  Solomon began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

He laced the building with gold; and designed it beautifully, and he had the cherubims up and all manner of good works.  Also, this chapter gives us the measurements of the temple as well.

2 Chronicles 4

Chapter four just gives more construction basics.  Not that it is not important, because it made it's way into the bible so it is important.  The seers wrote on it to inform us of how the temple was built and how it looked.  Construction workers should love this chapter.  When we read Ezekiel's book we will see stunning resemblances to the temple to be built when the Lord returns and the one Solomon built.

2 Chronicles chapter 5 

Solomon has now finished the work of the temple and brings all the dedications and vessels into the temple. Then Solomon called all the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, up to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.  

So they all came up during the feast of Tabernacles in the 7th month.  It's important that we remember this took place in the 7th month.  It's the completion of things; and also Jesus will return to this earth on the seventh month of the year.

 ⁴And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark. 

and as they were playing their trumpets and the singers were singing, praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD.  

It was so bad that the priest could not deal with it and had to clear out because God had visited the temple.  I'm sure that was scary at the beginning then you get your composure.

2 Chronicles 6

⁵Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel:

 ⁶But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

Solomon is speaking but it shows he was clearly speaking with understanding and knew that David would rule over these people, Israel.  Solomon continues his prayer; that the eyes of the Lord may be open on this house day and night, upon the place where the Lord said He would put His name; to listen to the prayers, which His people pray towards this place.  Again, this why it is wise to pray facing Jerusalem because the eyes and ears of the Lord is on that place.

Solomon prayed for every circumstance asking the Lord to hear the people when they pray facing the Temple.  ⁴²O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.

2 Chronicles 7

 ¹Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

 ²And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD's house.

 ³And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

Thus we see that the Lord was there; He showed a wonder to prove to the people He was there and put fear in their hearts, nevertheless, He accepted their sacrifices.

⁸Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt.

 ⁹And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.

So they kept the feast in Solomon's day, the same feast we read of in Leviticus 23 that were written to be done forever.  They even kept the 8th day feast as well; a very significant feast.

¹¹Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD, and the king's house: and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the LORD, and in his own house, he prosperously effected.

 ¹²And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.

The Lord appears to Solomon in a dream perhaps and let's him know he has heard the prayer Solomon made.

 ¹³If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;

 ¹⁴If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

We have to get some understanding here: the Lord God of Israel says, if my people, who are called by my name, would humble themselves, pray, seek the Lord, turn from wickedness, then God would hear from Heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their land.  That is a promise.  

First things first; His people are called by His name.  What name is that?  Israel.  So if you have or had a problem with the name Israel; you are having or had a problem with the Lord's name.

 ¹⁵Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.

 ¹⁶For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

So the Lord confirms His ears will be open to the prayers sent towards this place, even if the temple is there or not.  And the Lord reiterates the destruction of Israel if they forsake the Lord; and will send them into captivity.  And the people will wonder why these people are in such horrifying conditions; and they will say they forsook their God.

This concludes our reading for today; we'll be back tomorrow.  Notice how David and Solomon had nearly all of Chronicles written of their accounts; and the rest of the kings got a few verses, some wicked me barely received that.  David and Solomon were great men.

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Peace & Grace

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