Join Alan J. Huth as he provides personal reflections from his decades of Bible reading journals, offering a unique viewpoint that connects the ancient stories to contemporary life lessons. Reflect on the significance of aligning oneself with godly influences and the perils of straying from righteous paths. This episode not only chronicles the historical events of Judah’s kings but also serves as a spiritual guide for maintaining a life dedicated to biblical principles.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today brings us to 2 Chronicles chapters 21 and 22. Let’s listen to Faith Comes By Hearing’s reading of these two chapters.
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2 Chronicles 21 Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place. He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel. Their father gave them great gifts of silver, gold, and valuable possessions, together with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn. When Jehoram had ascended the throne of his father and was established, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and also some of the princes of Israel. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever.” In his days Edom revolted from the rule of Judah and set up a king of their own. Then Jehoram passed over with his commanders and all his chariots, and he rose by night and struck the Edomites who had surrounded him and his chariot commanders. So Edom revolted from the rule of Judah to this day. At that time, Libna also revolted from his rule because he had forsaken the Lord, the God of his fathers. Moreover, he made high places in the hill country of Judah and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into whoredom and made Judah go astray.
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And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father, because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat, your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have enticed Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into whoredom, as the house of Ahab led Israel into whoredom. And also you have killed your brothers of your father’s house, who are better than yourself. Behold, the Lord will bring a great plague on your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions. And you yourself will have a severe sickness with a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the disease, day by day.
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And the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the anger of the Philistines and of the Arabians who are near the Ethiopians. And they came up against Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions they found that belonged to the king’s house, and also his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz his youngest son. And after all this the Lord struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease. In the course of time, at the end of two years, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great agony. His people made no fire in his honor, like the fires made for his fathers. He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed with no one’s regret. They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. 2 Chronicles 22 And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son, king in his place, for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Amri. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done. For after the death of his father, they were his counselors to his undoing. He even followed their counsel and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to make war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead. And the Syrians wounded Joram and he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that he had received at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was wounded. But it was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah should come about through his going to visit Joram. For when he came there, he went out with Jehoram to meet Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. And when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he met the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers, who attended Ahaziah, and he killed them.” He searched for Ahaziah, and he was captured while hiding in Samaria, and he was brought to Jehu and put to death.
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They buried him, for they said, He is the grandson of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.
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and the house of Ahaziah had no one able to rule the kingdom. Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family of the house of Judah. But Jeho Shabbiath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were about to be put to death. And she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus Jeho Shabbiath, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada the priest, because she was a sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not put him to death. And he remained with them six years, hidden in the house of God, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
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Since the kingdom of Israel was divided into the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom, there have been no good kings in Israel, the northern kingdom, and mostly good kings in Judah, the southern kingdom, until now. At the end of chapter 20, although Jehoshaphat for the most part was a pretty good king, he joined once again with the king of Israel, who acted wickedly. The last verse of 2 Chronicles chapter 20 says this, Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made. And the ships were wrecked and were not able to go to Tarshish. Chapter 21 opens with Jehoshaphat’s death and his oldest son Jehoram begins his reign in his place. Jehoram starts out by killing all of his brothers, and then does the same thing Jehoshaphat did, and that’s have an alliance with the king of Israel. Take a look at 21.6. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done. For the daughter of Ahab was his wife. I want to share my footnote in my English Standard Version Study Bible concerning this marriage. His marriage to Athelia, the daughter of Ahab, implicated him in the evil ways of that kingdom. Once in sole possession of the throne, Jehoram demonstrated his true character through the murder of his brothers and other possible rivals, a policy that Athelia would later repeat. Alliance with the ungodly would bring the dynasty to the brink of destruction. So to get the picture clear, Jehoram, who was the king of the southern tribe of Judah, married the daughter of Ahab, the evil king of the northern tribes of Israel. The footnote mentioned nearly the brink of destruction. Let’s look at verse 7. Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant that he made with David, and since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever. The only reason God doesn’t wipe out this king and this kingdom is because of his covenant with David that he would have someone on the throne forever. The prophet Elijah shows up to give a message to Jehoram. Verse 12, And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, and we go on, Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa the king of Judah, but have walked in the ways of the king of Israel, the Lord will bring a great plague on your people, your children, your wives, and all your possessions, and you yourself will have a severe sickness. Next, we look at verse 18. In chapter 22, his youngest son Ahaziah becomes the king. He only reigned one year in Jerusalem, the southern kingdom, and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. His downfall is also ordained by the Lord. See verse 7. But it was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah should come about through his going to visit Joram. And Joram was Ahab’s son, the new king of the northern tribes of Israel. On the trip to see the king of the northern tribes, Ahaziah is put to death. The spiral continues downwardly. In verse 10, when his mother found out he was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family in the house of Judah. And somehow, she takes over and reigns over Judah. What can we learn from these two chapters? First, don’t do evil in the sight of the Lord. It gets God’s attention and he punishes it. So, our first lesson is, don’t do that. Secondly, don’t become associated or don’t become friendly with evil people. These southern kingdom kings are now befriending the northern kingdom kings who all did evil in the sight of the Lord. There’s not one good king in the northern kingdom, yet there were some good kings in the southern kingdom. But when they befriend the northern kingdom kings, they also do evil in the sight of the Lord. So who are you associating with? Who are your friends? Who are you looking to for alliances or friendship? From these chapters, it’s obvious. Be careful. We are seeing here that evil seems to rub off on good. Way more than good rubs off on evil. Holy Spirit, protect us from doing evil. Keep our hearts in your word and our minds on the good things that you give us. Keep us away from the tempter and the temptations of evil. And Lord, help us associate with good people, godly people, biblical people, and stay away from those who can lead us astray. Be our shield and our protector. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. We started on radio on October 1st, 2024. I hope you noticed some differences in AdBible from other programs. For example, we are fully committed to the Word of God. That’s why we play full chapters on the air, not sound bites. It takes a lot of our program time, but it’s my belief it’s more important for you to hear the Word of God than me. You may also have figured out by now I’m not a pastor, just a layman like most of you. So these recordings are not based on sermons. They’re based on my personal walk through the Bible over several decades of my life. Therefore, AdBible is a unique perspective of how the Bible impacts life, not a teaching series you get at your church. I share personal Bible reading journal entries from my life, from my journals, I’ve never thought would ever be shared with anybody. What I share are raw, authentic notes from Bible intersections of my own life. My life is no different from yours, so I hope the stories and applications I share are relevant to your life as well. I hope you are enjoying this unique radio program and therefore will help us stay on the air. We have so much more to share. Visit EzraProject.net and donate today. Or send a check to the Ezra Project 1399 South Havana Street, Suite 201E, Aurora, Colorado 80012. 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