We move on into the lists of kings of Israel and Judah. The names will begin to blur after a while, becoming less and less memorable.
Abijah, king of Judah
1 Kings 15:1-2, 2 Chronicles 13:1-2
War between Jeroboam and Abijah
2 Chronicles 13:3-19
Abijah’s family
2 Chroniocles 13:21
His evil life
1 Kings 15:3-4
His death
1 Kings 15:3-4
Asa king of Judah
1 Kings 15:9-11
2 Chronicles 14:1-5
Nadab
1 Kings 15:25-6
Jeroboam’s death
2 Chronicles 13:20, 1 Kings 14:19-20
Asa’s cities and army
2 Chronicles 14:6-8
Nadab’s death
1 Kings 15:27-28,31
Baasha king of Israel
1 Kings 15:33-4, 29-30
Asa defeats Ethiopians
2 Chronicles 14:9-15
Comfort in distress
Psalm 77
Interesting differences between the two accounts: Kings and Chronicles. Kings gives a qualified thumbs up to Abijah and Asa, kings of Judah, while Chronicles is very much more positive about them, saying how the trusted in God and therefore were victorious in battle. Neither writer likes Jeroboam, and the Chronicler delights in spelling out how all his offspring are killed when Baasha seizes the throne. “I told you so!”
But the picture is getting more muddied. In the days of the Judges, Israel would lapse, get attacked by their enemies, be sorry, and God would rescue them. This cycle is repeated over and over. Although Chronicles wants to see events in the same way, it is not as clear that apostasy leads immediately to ruin. After all, Israel carries on for a long time before finally falling, and the kings in the north are going to get progressively worse.
The feel of these times is of successive kings grimly trying to hold on to a splintering identity, using all their military and political power to keep their nation together, but seldom relying on God to help them.
Psalm 77 harks back to an age when things were different, when people sensed God’s leadership. It’s not the same any more - God is in the background, if not absent from events altogether. As the saying goes: If God seems far away, who moved?
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