The Book of Esther is right in the middle of our reading today. This Book has 10 chapters but not once is the name of God mentioned. The careful reader, however, will not be misled by this. In the story of Esther and her older cousin Mordecai, the LORD is very much involved in what […]

Nehemiah is one of my favorite characters form the Old Testament. He expresses a great devotion to the LORD (Neh.1:4-11;2:4), a great sensitivity to dealing justly with the poor (Neh. 5:1-19) and a great capability to organize God’s people to do a great work for God (Neh. 2,4,6). Under his leadership, the Israelites are able […]

At the end of 2Chronicles, the southern kingdom of Judah finds itself in Babylonian exile for covenantal unfaithfulness. In Chronicles 36:15-17b, we read these words: “The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But […]

[Hey all. Pastor John has once again asked me to republish a post I wrote back when I was blogging through the 90 day challenge. This post looks closely at the story of Manasseh in 2 Chronicles in contrast to the same story told in Samuel-Kings. I conclude by offering some things on some distinctive features of 2 Chronicles which stood out for me. ~ Derek]

Today’s reading concludes the book of 2 Chronicles.

In my previous post I already zeroed in on a few of the distinctives found throughout Chronicles regarding a certain unabashed bias in favor of Judah and a highly optimistic portrait of its kings. Of all the examples I provided in yesterday’s post, none compare to the contrasting stories of King Manasseh when compared to 2 Kings 17 (cf. 2 Chronicles 33).

Both accounts depict Manasseh as the worse king in Judah’s history. Manasseh went beyond worshipping other local gods and began to worship the gods of the East – “all the starry hosts”. He went into the Temple of the Lord and set up altars and statues of these “gods” in there to be worshipped. He practiced sorcery and consulted spiritists and as if none of this were bad enough, “He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom” (2 Chronicles 33:5; Jesus later had this valley in mind when he spoke of Hell). Manasseh was a bad dude.

In the beginning of our reading today, the LORD appears to Solomon right after he finished building the Jerusalem Temple. I find it very interesting what the LORD says to Solomon. The LORD makes reference to the covenant He had made with Solomon’s father David in 2Samuel 7:11-16. Both in 2Samuel 7 and here in […]

In Ezra 1:1 – 4, we read of King Cyrus’ edict to the Jews in his realm, giving them permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. The 2 Books of Chronicles are written to these returning Jews who are encouraged to carry out Cyrus’ decree. Under the Mosaic Covenant, it was Aaron’s descendants […]

The Books of 1 & 2 Chronicles were written for the Jewish remnant that returned to the Promised Land from Babylonian Exile (1Chronicles 9:1,2). It exclusively focuses on the Davidic kings of the southern kingdom of Judea. No mention is made of the apostate kings of the northern kingdom of Israel. These Books also pay […]

It has been said that the Book of Leviticus has been the graveyard of many adventurers who had begun the journey to read through the Bible. The Levitical rituals have slain many Bible pilgrims on the way to the Promised Land. Today’s reading covers another section which can bog down the serious adventurer through the […]

In our reading today, the northern kingdom of Israel is sent into exile by the LORD for their unfaithfulness to the Mosaic Covenant. The instrument used by God is the Assyrians (2Kings 17:5,6). The LORD spells out the reasons for His people’s banishment from His presence in very clear terms. In 2Kings 17:7, we read […]