Read 2
Chronicles 26-28 & John
17
To discover:
As you read consider the
relationship between the kings and the temple.
To ponder:
Uzziah was another who started well,
“seeking God” when instructed by Zechariah. And the principle we’ve learnt from
other kings is clearly stated so we don’t miss it: “As long as he sought the
LORD, God have him success.” So God helped him against numerous enemies, with
some bringing tribute, his fame spreading, he himself becoming powerful,
organising the defences of his kingdom and even the tilling of its land. These
are the marks of a blessed kingdom under a faithful king. But Uzziah’s pride
led to his downfall, seen particularly in an irreverent attitude to the temple,
burning incense as God had instructed only the priests to do, and then raging
against the priests when confronted. With great irony, he became leprous
meaning he had to be excluded from the temple and from having charge of the
kingdom. It brings the point home so helpfully. He’s not the one through whom
God’s promise to David will be fulfilled (1 Kgs 17v11-12).
Jotham,
however, did better than his father, seeking to rebuild the temple rather than
compromise its worship. And these same blessings marked his kingdom. He
fortified the land, conquered his enemies, received tribute and grew powerful,
all because he was said to “walk steadfastly before the LORD his God.” But
Jotham’s problem was that he couldn’t ensure that the people did the same.
Instead they “continued their corrupt practices.”
It all
highlights that only a king with a perfect attitude to God and so to Israel’s
worship can keep the throne as God had promised one of David’s offspring would.
But he must also be able to change the hearts of the people, so they share his
attitude. Of course, we see both in Christ, who renews hearts by his Spirit.
And the blessings that marked the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham are fulfilled
perfectly in him. He conquers all God’s enemies, even death. His fame spreads
to all nations from whom he is brought tribute through faith. And he exercises
God’s own mighty power, ensuring the security and fruitfulness of his kingdom.
Ahaz is the
antithesis of the king God’s people needed, not only following the idolatry of
the kings of Israel,
but sacrificing his sons like the Canaanite nations. And, consistent with the
influence of kings, we read “Judah
had forsaken the LORD” (27v6, 19). And so the security enjoyed under Jotham and
Uzziah was lost. God handed Ahaz over to Aram,
with 120,000 killed including leading men. Indeed, Judah
experienced a sort of mini-exile, with 200,000 wives and children taken to Samaria
with much plunder. But God intervened through his prophet Oded, clarifying he
had handed Judah over to Israel in anger, but that Israel should send the
people back as God was angry at them for their sin too. This anger was no doubt
at Israel’s
idolatry, but may also have been at her slaughtering Judah
and her desire to enslave the people in contravention of God’s law (Lev
25v39-53). In response, some Israelite leaders ensured the captives were freed,
provided for, nursed, and returned home. To the first readers this was a
reminder that their own return from exile was by God’s hand, and that he was
well able to ensure a remnant of his people endured no matter how oppressed
they became.
Ahaz, however,
looked to the Assyrian king rather than God for help against his enemies,
receiving trouble despite trying to placate him with treasures from the temple,
palace and princes. He even sacrificed to the gods of his enemies, judging that
was why he was defeated - rather than because of God’s anger. He then plundered
and shut the temple, setting up altars and high places to false gods throughout
the land. Likewise, in the face of advancing false religions and worldviews
those in the church can be tempted to somehow incorporate them into their
worship as if their rise suggests they have power, rather than being a
reflection of God’s judgement on our nation (Rom 1v18-32).
Praying it home:
Praise God that through Christ we
are not subject to such a fickle king or insecure kingdom. Pray that Christians
would not be fooled into serving false religions or worldviews, but honour only
God.
Thinking further: The point of 1
and 2 Chronicles
God’s promise to David was to
“establish” his offspring’s kingdom and throne forever. It implies not just an
existent kingdom, but a thriving, secure and enduring one - and one marked by
the king’s concern for the temple in particular (1 Chr 17v11-12). What is
therefore critical to understand in Chronicles, is that just as from Genesis 3
we keep looking for the serpent-crusher with each new character introduced, so
with every king who disappoints and whose kingdom is threatened, we look to the
next to see if he will fulfil these traits and be the one through whom God’s
promise is fulfilled. Indeed, with each that does well, hope is given to the
post-exilic community that their kingdom need not always be a shadow of what it
once was, but that God would bring an even greater king in the end.
This is why the
temple is such a dominant theme in the books. The faithfulness of kings is
assessed by their attitude to the worship of God and so the temple. Indeed, the
long awaited king who will establish God’s everlasting kingdom is expected to
display a concern for these things to the extreme. In this sense the books
build an appreciation of Jesus’ rule by contrast with the kings of Judah.
And here we might recall how Jesus drove people from the temple in his day
because “zeal” for God’s house “consumed” him (Jn 2v17). This act was yet
another proof that he was the Christ, the descendent of David who would build a
house for God (2 Chr 17v11-12). The surprise was that the temple he built was that
of his body, raised from the dead (Jn 2v19-22), and the church comprising all
united to him through faith (Eph 2v21-22).
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