Today’s passage: 2 Chronicles 36:1-23

Helpful thoughts:

• After Judah and King Josiah’s defeat to the Egyptians, the combination of foreign assertion and Judah’s abandonment of the Lord resulted in a steady decline.
  • Not everyone in Judah abandoned the Lord.  This period is where we see the lives and ministries of men like Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, etc.
• The Sabbath years were to have been kept every seven years (Leviticus 25:1-7).  Israel and Judah had not kept the Sabbath year for 490 years (Leviticus 26:34-35).
• Jerusalem has fallen, but the Lord never did (Verse 23).  Even the king of the Persian Empire was under the sovereignty of God.

Questions to consider:

1. Why do you think the kings of Egypt and Babylon were taking kings away and installing their brothers as king over Judah?  What message would they have been sending about who was in charge?  What would those newly installed kings have been tempted to think about those who had given them their new power?
2. Did the government and the nation of Judah make God’s people God’s people?  Did Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Ezra and Nehemiah cease to be God’s people for seventy years because they were in a different land and Jerusalem was not functioning as a city?
3. What makes a Christian a Christian?  Is it ethnicity?  National citizenship?  Geographical location?   Where is the headquarters of Christianity on the earth today? Where is our home?  What is our mission in this foreign land? (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Revelation 7:9-12, Matthew 28:18-20)

Today’s passage: 2 Chronicles 35:1-27

Helpful thoughts:

• The Ark of the Covenant had been removed from the Holy of Holies!  Most likely during Manasseh’s reign.
  • When Josiah informs the Levites they would no longer need to carry it, he is letting them know the ark would stay where it belonged.
• Because Josiah intentionally kept the Passover according to what he read in the Word of God, he did it more accurately and correctly than any king that had preceded him (Even David and Solomon). (See verse 18)
• Josiah was convinced he needed to prevent Egypt from going up to Carchemish.
  • The passage never tells us whether the Pharaoh was lying about hearing from God or not, but it’s pretty clear King Josiah did not believe him.
  • The mention of Jeremiah’s mourning reminds us that the end of Judah is near.

Questions to consider:

1. What was Josiah’s secret for holding such a successful Passover?  How did he know how to do it correctly?  Was it luck?  Was it a major mystical spiritual experience that showed him the way?
2. Why is something as easy as reading the Bible so hard for us to do sometimes?  Why doesn’t it seem “spiritual” or “deep” enough to some?  Is a person truly being led by the Spirit if they are disregarding the ministry of the Spirit to God’s people through the Word of God?
3. Why would the Chronicler (Likely Ezra) take such pains to write down these records of kings in Judah restoring the practice of celebrating the Passover?  When the Jews returned from their exile, they hadn’t celebrated Passover for over 70 years…whom did Ezra want to lead the people back to worship after seeing the ways and worship of the Babylonians?

Today’s passage: 2 Chronicles 34:1-33

Helpful thoughts:

• Josiah became king at the age of 8.  He was 26 when he first heard the Word of the Lord.  He began seeking out the Lord when he was 16, but it would be another ten years before anyone found the Bible!
  • It is important to remember: The kings were commanded to have written their own copy of the Word of God under the supervision of the priests (Deuteronomy 17:18).   Josiah would have hand-written his own copy…and had access to the multiple copies handed down by all the kings who preceded him.
• It would have taken a great deal of courage for the young king to meticulously destroy all the false idols around the nation.  Many people would have surely been dismayed and frustrated by his actions.
  • It would have shown a great deal of humility as well for Josiah to respond in grief and repentance when he heard the Word of God.  He did not gloat or brag at how he had been working to bring Judah back.  He mourned the sins of Judah and Israel, which had been going on for generations.

Questions to consider:

1. If Josiah did not have access to that copy of the Law for eighteen years, where would he have gotten his information from to begin seeking the Lord?  What tradition was there?  Whose examples did he follow?  Who would have told him what to do and how would he know if they were leading him correctly?
2. Judah was clearly told that judgment was coming.  They chose to worship the Lord under the leadership of Josiah?  Why might this sound unusual (Worshiping the God who just declared your judgment was coming)?  Why was it also the right thing to do?
3. In a culture that magnifies the importance of personal will and opinion, why must we value God’s revealed words above all others?  If how I feel becomes more significant than what is true, what will become of my understanding and appreciation of the Bible, the Gospel, sin and judgment, the need for evangelism, etc.?

Today’s passage: 2 Chronicles 33:1-25

Helpful thoughts:

• It only takes one generation.  May it be the heart of our church to reach the next generation with the Gospel and trust the results to the Lord.
• Verses 4 and 7 articulate a slap to the face of God.  Manasseh led all Judah to worship and serve a plethora of false idols, even in the very place where God had committed His presence.
• By God’s grace, Manasseh repented!  He was restored to his kingdom and throne.  But, he could not control the consequences of his actions.  (Verses 17 and 22)
  • What the people continued to do in verse 17 was the very thing Sennacherib wrongly criticized Hezekiah for correcting in 32:12.

Questions to consider:

1. Why do you think the servants killed Amon after seeing his sin grow worse and worse?  What had they just seen happen with Manasseh?  What might they have feared would happen again?
2. It only took one generation to see the spiritual health of Judah deteriorate, and we have seen Judah be revived in less time than that!  Why is it right for us to cling to the promises of God (e.g. Philippians 1:6) and to also strive for faithfulness and growth (e.g. Philippians 3:12-16)?
3. I think, with the Apostle Paul, Manasseh may have counted himself the “foremost/chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).  How far does the grace of God extend?  Who can be saved? (Romans 10:13)

Today’s passage: 2 Chronicles 32:24-33

Helpful thoughts:

• Hezekiah, a man and sinner in need of God’s grace, grew proud.
  • The details of this time in his life are recorded in 2 Kings 20 and Isaiah 38-39.
• By God’s grace, Hezekiah and Judah had been very successful.  They enjoyed victory over their enemies, economic prosperity, they were accomplishing great engineering feats, and Hezekiah forgot where the glory was due.
• God disciplines the ones He loves…for our good! (Hebrews 12:6)  It was better for Hezekiah to experience failure and be drawn to the Lord than it would have been to experience continuous prosperity and public acclaim.

Questions to consider:

1. Did the omniscient God not “know” the heart of Hezekiah?  Who needed to learn what the nature of Hezekiah’s heart was?  What was the right response (Verse 26)?
2. How would we tend to start thinking if we went on a long run of public successes?  What would the people around us start to say about us? Why would we be so prone to start believing all the hype?
3. What do our sins teach us about our need for God, the Gospel, and to depend on Him?

Today’s passage: 2 Chronicles 32:1-23

Helpful thoughts:

• Hezekiah remembered who the Champion of Judah was.
  • “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him.  With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.”
• Sennacherib sought to weaken the people through false teaching!
  • He claimed that removing all the “high places” reduced the worship of God.  Fewer altars = less worship.
  • He bragged about their victories over the gods of many surrounding nations.  Do you think your God is better than ours?
  • He warned them not to trust their leader, Hezekiah.  Your king is misleading you.
• The nation who had just completely defeated Israel (The northern tribes) not too long before, lost in the offensive campaign against Judah.  Not a single stone was slung.  Not a single sword was swung be any man from Judah.
  • For more details, you can read 2 Kings 19.

Questions to consider:

1. Why was Sennacherib’s propaganda campaign false?  How would you correct his messages?  In what way was the “reduction” in worship actually an “upgrade” in worship?
2. Had the people not been learning the Word of God and if they had not been relying on Him, what might the threats of King Sennacherib done to their hearts?  Was their decision to stand firm a new development or was it the fruit of their fervent devotion?
3. Sometimes people misuse 1 Corinthians 10:13 to expect God to bail them out of situations that are actually the consequences of their own wrong choices and actions.  We can even get angry with God, thinking He didn’t let us “escape” the hardship.  But, compare this passage today with this encouraging verse from 1 Corinthians…how did Hezekiah, the prophets and priests, and the people of Judah bear up under the load of this temptation and hardship?  How had they become prepared?