Day 182: The Passover Renewed

Hezekiah gets busy with his reforms. Isaiah and Hosea have been shouting themselves hoarse, and at least temporarily, people are listening.
A warning
Isaiah 28:1-6
The drunken prophets of Judah
Isaiah 28:7-13
A cornerstone for Zion
Isaiah 28:14-22
God’s wisdom
Isaiah 28:23-29
A warning against idolatry
Hosea 5:1-7
Judgement on Judah and Israel
Hosea 5:8-15
The people’s insincere repentance
Hosea 6:1-11
Preparations for the Passover
2 Chronicles 30:13-22
The Passover is celebrated
2 Chronicles 30:13-27

The prophets rail against the unfaithfulness of Judah and Israel, Hosea in particular expresses God’s frustration with them - even their repentance doesn’t last. I remember my Old Testament teacher saying it’s like having teenage children, and she was right (I’ve reached that stage myself!) They can arouse such feelings of anger and frustration, because they know you too well, they see through your threats and they aren’t impressed. They aren’t impressed with anything.
So with that in mind, I turn to read about the restoration of the Passover. Seems that the people had “forgotten” to keep their most important festival for a while now. The way Chronicles tells it, there was great joy at this return to faithfulness, at least in Judah, because although Hezekiah invited Israel to come too, they mostly didn’t. Nevertheless, Judah thought it was the best since Solomon’s time. As if they’d always wanted to do the right thing, but their kings had led them astray. Well, I don’t want to be too harsh - teenagers are similarly very good at saying and doing the right things (sometimes) and very bad at remembering to keep doing it for long. Rooms will be tidied thoroughly, amidst promises to do it every week, until the next time angry parents flip their lid and send in the fumigation squad to recover all the dirty clothes and plates and cups that have been festering under the bed for months ...

Day 181: Hezekiah’s godly reign

In what feels like the nick of time, there is s regime change in Judah. The vultures were gathering and God seemed prepared to let both Judah and Israel be defeated.

The sinful city
Isaiah 1:21-31
Jerusalem plundered
2 Kings 16:10-18, 2 Chronicles 28:20,22-25
Pekah killed
2 Kings 15:30-31
Hoshea
2 Kings 17:1-2
Death of Ahaz
2 Kings 16:19-20, 2 Chronicles 28:26-7
Hezekiah
2 Kings 18:1-3,5-6, 2 Chronicles 29:1-2
Temple restored
2 Chronicles 29:3-36

Isaiah speaks about purifying Judah like refining metal - a painful but necessary experience. We hear in Kings and Chronicles about Ahaz copying the worship he saw in Damascus, with the collusion of Uriah the priest. Ahaz has lost the plot completely - he’s dazzled by the wonders of Assyria. He thinks their gods are bigger than Israel’s God.
As soon as he dies, Hezekiah loses no time in restoring worship.  He brings a different understanding - it is because of unfaithfulness that they have fallen on hard times. The solution is not political, but spiritual.

Day 180: Assyria’s victories

Is this the beginning of the end?
The conspiracy
2 Kings 15:5-6, Isaiah 7:1-2
Israel to be broken
Isaiah 7:3-9
Judah invaded
2 Chronicles 28:17-19
True worship
Psalm 50:1-23
Damascus to be judged
Isaiah 8:1-4, 17:1-14
Assyria defeats Syria
2 Chronicles 28:16,21, 2 Kings 16:7-9
Eastern tribes deported
2 Kings 15:29, 1 Chronicles 5:25-26
Warning to Judah
Isaiah 1:2-20

Judah is being harried by her enemies. Wicked King Ahaz is given no time to think again. Psalm 50 says in majestic words that God is Lord of heaven and earth, he has no need of any sacrifices. It is being openly declared now that God is greater than a tribal god, that his reach is more powerful and his authority worldwide.
The question is why does he not defend his people, and the answer that is given is because they are unfaithful, they do not deserve it. This causes massive problems of its own, not entirely thought through yet, because if even the people who have grown up with God cannot please him, then who can? How can God be content with the behaviour of anyone on earth? “to the wicked, God says: What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?” (Psalm 50:16)

Day 179: The coming Messiah

Here’s something new - mention of an “anointed one” (a messiah) who isn’t just another king. I wonder who this can be?

Ahaz
2 Kings 16:1-4, 2 Chronicles 28:1-4
Pekah’s victory
2 Chronicles 28:5-8
Future hope
Isaiah7:10-16
The future king
Isaiah 9:1-7
Judah will be invaded
Isaiah 7:17-25, 8:5-22
The coming chastisement
Isaiah 9:8-10:4
Oded’s intercession
2 Chronicles 28:9-15

Ahaz, the new king of Judah, is not faithful to God. So he loses in battle to Pekah, king of Israel. Even worse than that, the looming threat of the Assyrian empire concentrates minds. Or at least, Isaiah clearly hopes it will. His prophecies make it clear that Assyria marches to God’s tune, which is a thought far from the minds of Ahaz and his advisors. Their efforts are bent on appeasing Asssyria, or defending themselves against its threat. Isaiah wants him to know that Israel’s God has power over Assyria, as well as over Judah and Israel.
It feels like events are building to a crisis. Words like these of Isaiah: “Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.” (7:8) send a chill down the spine.
Time is running out.

Day 178: Micah’s message

Another prophet stands up. The messages are coming thick and fast. Surely the people will listen!

Restoration of Jerusalem
Isaiah 4:1-6
Parable of vineyard
Isaiah 5:1-7
Six woes
Isaiah 5:8-30
Micah’s message
Micah 1:1
The wrath of God
Micah 1:2-16
Israel’s sins
Micah 2:1-11
A promise
Micah 2:12-13
Jotham’s strength
2 Chronicles 27:3-6
Rezin joins Pekah
2 Kings 15:37
Jotham’s death
2 Kings 15:36,38, 2 Chronicles 27:7,9

Isaiah’s parable of the vineyard sums up God’s perspective perfectly. He created this nation, he called them into being and gave them their land and everything they have. But instead of being fruitful, they have gone wild. An earthly farmer would tear it all up and start again., Why shouldn’t God do the same?
Micah starts by saying much the same thing. Perhaps he and Isaiah were friends. Perhaps they were the same person?? He hasn’t quite got the same poetry as Isaiah, but their messages are very similar.
Meanwhile, we hear about Jotham’s reign and his death, and the machinations of Pekah, king of Israel. It’s as if the kings are living in a parallel track - not knowing or caring about the overall state of the nation, immersed in politics, protecting their own position, making alliances or war against surrounding nations, not listening to God.

Day 177: Isaiah’s message

I’ve been waiting nearly half a year for this - to get to Isaiah, the big daddy of all the prophets. The longest book, the most read, the least understood? Possibly.
Pekaniah killed
2 Kings 15:25-26
Pekah
2 Kings 15:27-28
Uzziah’s death
2 Kings 15:6-7, 2 Chronicles 26:22-23
Isaiah sees the Lord
Isaiah 6:1-13
Jotham
2 Chronicles 27:1-2, 8 2 Kings 15:32-35
The promise
Isaiah 2:1-5
Chastisement before blessing
Isaiah 2:6-3:26

Coups and assassinations continue in Israel, as evil king follows evil king - their names so unmemorable that I feel like I’m reading about them for the first time.
But our focus is switching to the south, where Uzziah reigned well, except for his disastrous episode when he thought he was important enough to burn incense in the Temple himself, and had to be hustled out by the priests as leprosy broke out on his forehead.
Conceivably this event was witnessed by Isaiah, or he heard about it by those who were there, because he grew up in the inner privileged circles of the priests of the Temple. His call to be a prophet is set in the Temple, but in a vision in which the Lord is inhabiting, and filling the Temple, and Isaiah is humbled by the awareness of his sin, and the sin of his people. Nevertheless, he accepts a commission to go to the people with a message that disaster is going to overtyaske the land, like a forest cut down to its stumps.
Judah had prided themselves that they were much less naughty than Israel to the north, but Isaiah has stern words of judgement for them nevertheless. You’re not going to listen! He tells them. And it will be terrible for you.

Day 176: Evil kings

Things are getting bad in Israel. Kings follows king , assassinations and intrigues, invasions and threats from powerful neighbours are taking their toll on the land. But according to the prophets, it’s going to get much worse.
Another vision
Amos 8:1-3
Israel’s doom
Amos 8:4-14
The Lord’s judgements
Amos 9:1-10
Jeroboam’s death
2 Kings 14:28-29
The Lord’s accusation
Hosea 4:1-11
Pagan worship condemned
Hosea 4:12-19
Zechariah
2 Kings 15:8-12
Shallum
2 Kings 15:13-15
Menahem
2 Kings 15:16-18
Assyrian invasion
2 Kings 15:19-20
Uzziah’s intrusion
2 Chronicles 26:16-18
Uzziah’s leprosy
2 Chronicles 26:19-21, 2 Kings 15:5

Amos has a nightmare vision: “Many, many bodies— flung everywhere! Silence!” This underlines how serious Israel’s situation is. They occupy a strategic area of fertile lowland, and the big empires to the north and south have always coveted it. If God removes his protection, they will be crushed.
There is instability in Israel after Jeroboam II dies, and three kings follow in rapid succession. Menahem is strong enough to resist another coup, but not strong enough to resist the Assyrian empire without paying a heavy tribute.
Meanwhile in Judah, Uzziah, who had started so well as a young man, let his pride get the better of him when he grew up. He was smitten with leprosy, and isolated for the rest of his life. His son Jotham did a lot of his duties. The fear of the Lord was still alive and well in Judah.

Day 175: Amos’ message

Amos wasn’t a professional prophet, he was a shepherd. But God sent him with a searing message to complacent people.
Israel is reproved
Amos 4:1-13
The call to seek the Lord
Amos 5:1-17
Warnings of judgement
Amos 5:18-27
The danger of luxury
Amos 6:1-7
Punishments for sins
Amos 6:8-14
Amos’ visions
Amos 7:1-9
Amos and Amaziah
Amos 7:10-17

Amos gives us a picture of people living in wealth and comfort in Israel. Mostly they are not aware that they are being unfaithful to God. In truth, they are ignoring God, not actively, but passively, living their own lives without regard to his ways. Amos is judging them by the standards of Deutoronomy: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates. When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you— a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant— then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD.” Dt (6:6-12)
Moses commanded the people not to forget God. That’s exactly what they have done.

Day 174: Jonah

Something strange is happening with the prophets. Through them we are discovering that God is interested in the other nations, not just Israel and Judah.
Jonah’s disobedience
Jonah 1:1-11
Jonah in the fish
Jonah 1:12-17
Jonah’s prayer and his deliverance
Jonah 2:1-10
Jonah at Nineveh
Jonah 3:1-10
His strange reaction
Jonah 4:1-11
Judgements against nations
Amos 1:1-15, 2:1-3
Judgements against Israel and Judah
Amos 2:4-3:15

I like Jonah. He’s a curmudgeonly old git, but wonderfully honest. After all, most prophets just write up what God said to them, but Jonah gives us his reactions to God’s instructions, even though they aren’t very inspiring.
He’s a depressive. He always assumes the worst. Even when Nineveh repents, he complains about it. Thinking about it, he was amazingly successful - after all, 120,000 people changed their ways because of him - none of the other prophets had anything like that success rate with Israel and Judah. But all he can do is moan that he didn’t get to see a fireworks display as God destroyed the city, thus denying him the pleasure of saying “I told you so.”
Amos also begins with a message of judgement against other nations. This is interesting and new - up to this point, it’s just been assumed that all the other nations were bad, and the attitude of God’s people has been either to stay away from them, or get sucked into their fascinating idolatry. But suddenly God seems concerned that they are not treating each other well - Moab is criticised for doing evil to Edom’s king. This seems to be the beginning of God extending his concern for justice and righteousness beyond his chosen people, to tall the nations of the earth. It seems to be the beginning of God letting Israel and Judah know that he is concerned with the whole world, not just his chosen people. Perhaps it’s the start of the awareness that Yahweh is God of all, not just the tribal god of Israel.
As Jonah said, “I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” All the sailors prayed to their own gods in the storm, but only the Lord was able to calm the storm. Elijah proved that Baal was powerless, and that the Lord is God.
What matters to God is not just having a faithful people who will serve him - he is interested in justice and righteousness the world over.

Day 173: Hosea’s message

What does God feel about Israel and Judah’s unfaithfulness? A prophet is going to give us a surprising answer.
Jeroboam
2 Kings 14:23-27
Amaziah’s death
2 Kings 14:18-20, 2 Chronicles 25:26-28
Uzziah becomes sole ruler
2 Kings 15:1, 2 Chronicles 26:6-15
Israel’s future restoration
Amos 9:11-15
Israel rebuked
Hosea 1:1-2:5
God’s judgements
Hosea 2:6-13
His promises to Hosea 2:14-23,
Israel restored
Hosea 3:1-5


The people of Judah won’t be lead too far astray. When Amaziah turns away from God completely, they hound him into exile and death, and put 16 year old Uzziah on the throne. Young kings can be controlled, and Uzziah’s early reign is positive.
At this time, the influence of the prophets was strong. The great heroes, Elijah and Elisha have gone, but plenty of others have raised their voices. Amos brings a word of hope - the damage and decay in the kingdom will one day be restored. And then for one of my favourite prophets, Hosea. He is the first of those who didn’t just speak, but lived his message. He appealed to people’s emotions by his lifestyle, maintaining a dignity when his wife committed adultery. A soap opera prophet, with a message intended to make the people guilty for their spiritual adultery. He even called his children Not-Pitied and Not-Loved.
But there is a promise with Hosea that it will not always be like this. One day, God will show his pity and his love to his people again. One day he will show them that he really is God.

Day 172: Israel and Judah

Things are settling into a bit of a pattern. Life is hard, enemies come raiding frequently, and true faith is hard to come by.
Jehoash visits Elisha
2 Kings 13:14-19
Miracle in tomb
2 Kings 13:20-21
Amaziah
2 Chronicles 25:1-4, 2 Kings 14:1-6
Syria’s defeat
2 Kings 13:23-25
Amaziah gathers army
2 Chronicles 25:5-10
Amaziah’s victory
2 Kings 14:7, 3 Chronicles 25:11-12
Cities plundered
2 Chronicles 25:13
Amaziah’s idolatry
2 Chronicles 25:14-16
Jerusalem plundered
2 Kings 14:8-14 2 Chronicles 25:17-24
Uzziah (Azariah) becomes co-regent
2 Kings 15:2, 2 Chronicles 26:1,2-5
Jehoash’s death
2 Kings 13:12-13, 14:15-16
Amaziah’s last years
2 Kings 14:17, 22 2 Chronicles 25:25, 26:2

So Elisha dies, and Jehoash mourns him as Elisha had mourned Elijah. But Elisha’s last prophecy is that Jehoash will be half-hearted in defeating his enemies.
The new king of Judah, Amaziah, seems a warlike fellow, and he challenges Jehoash, after a successful campaign against the Edomites. Foolish, because he is badly defeated by Jehoash and Jerusalem is plundered. Chronicles blames it on his decision to worship the gods of the people he defeated, and on bad advice from his counsellors.
It is interesting that even now, Judah and Israel still think of God as their god - still they have a territorial understanding of the heavenly places. We’ve got our god, you’ve got yours, and our god is bigger than your god. It will be fascinating to try and spot when this understanding begins to change, and Judah and Israel start to believe that their God is the God of everything and everywhere.

Day 171: Joel’s prophecy

Today, the lyrical prophecies of Joel, harbinger of doom, and messenger of hope.
God’s judgements
Joel 2:1-11
Exhortation to repent
Joel 2:12-17
Results of repentance
Joel 2:18-27
The great promise
Joel 2:28-32
Nations judged
Joel 3:1-17
Judah’s restoration
Joel 3:18-21
Jehoiada’s death
2 Chronicles 24:15-16
Princes backslide
2 Chronicles 24:17-19
Joash bribes Hazael
2 ings 12:17-18
Jehoahaz’s death
2 Kings 13:8-9
Jehoash
2 Kings 13:10-11
Zechariah slain
2 Chronicles 24:20-22
Judah defeated
2 Chronicles 24:23-24
Joash slain
2 Chonicles 24:23-24
Joash slain
2 Chronicles 24:25-7, 2 Kings 12:19-21

Joel speaks about the Day of the Lord - a common phrase among the prophets, but the first time I have heard it. You might think it’s good news - God’s going to come and sort things out, but it’s a great and terrible day. The locusts have become a human army now, poised to attack, and people need to cry out to God for mercy, then perhaps they will not attack.
Amidst the gloom Joel has the most amazing promise: God will repay his people for all the locust years - all that has been lost and devoured, and then he will pour out his spirit on everyone, young and old, slave and free. He finishes with a promise of restoration, invoking Jehoshapaht’s name, as the last good king.
Returning to history, we read about Joash’s fall from grace. As soon as the old priest Jehoiada dies, things go wrong. Jehoiada is buried with the kings, and rightly so, for he was the power behind the throne. Without him, things swiftly go wrong, and Joash even murders his son. Revenge is taken on him, and the Arameans launch a devastating attack. The locusts are coming.

Day 170: Joash’s godly reign

So, the first of the reforming kings of Judah sets about undoing the damage of the past.
Revival under Jehoiada
1 Kings 11:17-20, 2 Chronicles 23:16-21
Joash’s family
2 Chronicles 24:3
Jehu’s death
2 Kings 10:34-36
Faithless priests
2 Chronicles 24:4-7, 2 Kings 12:4-8
Jehoahaz
2 Kings 13:1-2
Syria’s oppression
2 Kings 13:22, 3-7
Joash repairs the Temple
2 Kings 12:9-16, 2 Chronicles 24:8-14
Plague of insects
Joel 1:1-20

The Temple has fallen into disrepair, and so had the zeal of the priests and Levites. At first, Joash expects that the priests will get back to working properly, but they don’t. Eventually, he takes direct action and the Temple is restored. Jehoiada the chief priest is his inspiration.
Meanwhile, Syria is harrying the northern kingdom, and eventually Jehoahaz the new king has a stroke of good sense, and asks God for help. God bails them out, but there is no turning back to God as there is in the south.
The testing times are pictured by Joel as a plague of ravening locusts devouring the land and bringing misery. Doubtless he hoped that his graphic description of trouble would lead to a turning back to God like that of Jehoahaz. We know little of Joel, to know whether his words succeeded.

Day 169: Jehu & Joash

Today is a day of reformation. Evil and idolatry is being swept away, and there is a new optimism. But, there’s an awful lot of killing, and a nagging sense that Things Aren’t What They Used To Be.
Judgement on Ahab
2 Kings 10:1-11
Jehonadab spared
2 Kings 10:15-17
Jehu destroys Baal worship
2 Kings 10:18-28,30
Joash becomes king
2 Kings 11:4-12, 2 Chronicles 23:1-11
Jehu’s backsliding
2 Kings 10:29, 31-33
Athaliah executed
2 Kings 11:13-16, 2 Chronicles 23:12-15
Joash’s good life
2 Chronicles 24:1-2, 2 Kings 11:21, 12:1-3


Jehu’s idea of being faithful to God is to become a killing machine. He murders everyone in Ahab’s family, every prophet of Baal he can lay his hands on, every friend, every relative, every hanger on he can find. He is completely ruthless. But the verdict on him is “Could do better.” He didn’t remove the golden calves Jeroboam set up. The writer of Kings isn’t interested in life or death, he’s interested in idolatry. This leads me to suppose that the book has been written (or reached its final form) many years or centuries later, when no one is bothered about the lives of people, just the issues. Or the issue, perhaps I should say, since everything is seen through the lens of do you worship Yahweh with all your heart? If not, you’re bad. Why do Kings and Chronicles make this stark judgement? We’ll find out when we read about the events that took place nearer to their time.
Meanwhile in Judah, the short and evil reign of Queen Athaliah is ended in murder, and the seven year old Joash is put on the throne. All this is done by the decisive action of Jehoiada, the chief priest. He’s the power behind the throne, and ensures that young Joash does right in the eyes of the Lord.

Day 168: Royal killings

Blood on the carpet today. The red carpet. Ha ha.

Ahaziah and Joram
2 Kings 8:28-20, 2 Chronicles 22:5-6
Jehu anointed king
2 Kings 9:1-13
Jehu slays Joram
2 Kings 9:14-26, 2 Chronicles 22:7
Ahaziah’s death
1 Kings 9:27-28, 2 Chronicles 22:9
Royal family slain
2 Kings 11:1-2, \2 Chronicles 22:10
Joash spared
2 Kings 112:2-3, 2 Chronicles 22:11-12
Jezebel
2 Kings 9:30-37


Blood letting on a prodigious scale. Today the prophecies of doom that Elijah uttered come to pass. Joram, Ahaziah, and finally the evil Queen Jezebel meet their fate as Jehu cuts like a whirlwind through the royal families of Israel and Judah. It’s almost like a passage out of Judges, and indeed perhaps that’s not a bad comparison, because back then the remembrance of God was fading, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
It remains to be seen whether Jehu will stay true to God, and whether Elisha’s influence for good will prevail, as the great Judges succeeded in hauling Israel back to faithfulness.

Generation Web at Sacred Heart School

Last night at Sacred Heart school in Ware, I learned a few new things.
One thing was a game that is new to me, called Moshi Monsters. Fairly innocent stuff, all about caring for your very own monster. The problem is, if you don't look after your monster, it will die, and if you're away from your computer for more than a day, you're in trouble. This leads to children sharing their passwords with each other so that they can look after each other's monsters, and then getting upset when someone misuses their account.
It seems like a gentle children's introduction to all that's bad in social networking - inappropriate sharing, online bullying, pressure to spend money to keep up with your friends ... or maybe the parents were only telling me the bad bits!
Last night, it seemed that the old advice was the best - spend real time with your children, do what you can to ensure that they have a rich relationship with you in the real world, then they won't be so keen to find fulfilment in the online world.
There is no substitute for the costly sacrifice of spending time with your children.
Sorry parents - the internet brings no shortcuts and saves no time in the business of bringing up children and, above all - it is a bad babysitter.

Day 167: The siege of Samaria

God seems to be forgotten by his own people, and remembered by foreigners in today’s chapters.
The Syrians’s defeat
2 Kings 6:8-23
Ahaziah
2 Kings 9:29, 8:25
Siege of Samaria
2 Kings 6:24-33, 7:1-20
Shunammite land restored
2 Kings 8:3-6
Ahaziah’s evil reign
2 Kings 8:26-27, 2 Chronicles 22:2-4
Ben-Hadad’s death
2 Kings 8:7-15

God is still fighting for the Israelites, despite their desperate situation. Besieged by the Syrian army, starving and on the point of defeat, God fills their enemies with fear, scatters them and lifts the siege. What is missing is any sign of thankfulness to God. I can imagine David calling a national day of rejoicing if something like this had happened, and dancing with reckless abandon to the praise of God. Solomon would have sacrificed a million bulls on the altar to the Lord. But the current occupier of the throne of Israel does nothing. It’s not even recorded whether he’s grateful to God. There is no faith among the people that they will be rescued, and it falls to a motley group of lepers to discover that the enemy camp is deserted.
Meanwhile Elisha’s reputation in Aram is such that he is a kingmaker. He intervenes in affairs in such a way that Ben-Hadad is killed and Hazael seizes the throne. There seems to be more faith in God in this foreign country than there is in Israel.