Post by Les Brewer on Oct 27, 2023 15:22:28 GMT
Good Soil By: Mike Wittmer
Click here for the Audio Message
His people made no funeral fire in his honour, as they had for his predecessors.
2 Chronicles 21:19
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Chronicles 21:4–7, 16–20
In the hit musical Hamilton, England’s King George III is humorously portrayed as a cartoonish, deranged villain. However, a new biography on King George said he was not the tyrant described in Hamilton. If George had been the brutal despot that some said he was, he would have probably attempted to stop the American nation’s drive for independence with more extreme, scorched-earth measures. But he was restrained by his “civilized, good-natured” temperament.
Who knows if King George died with regret? Would his reign have been more successful if he’d been harsher and more ruthless?
Not necessarily. In the Bible we read of King Jehoram, who solidified his throne by putting “all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel” (2 Chronicles 21:4). Jehoram “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (v. 6). His ruthless reign alienated his people, who neither wept for his gruesome death nor made a “funeral fire in his honour” (v. 19).
Historians may debate whether George was too soft; Jehoram was surely too harsh. A better way is that of King Jesus, who is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Christ’s expectations are firm (He demands truth), yet He embraces those who fail (He extends grace). Jesus calls us who believe in Him to follow His lead. Then, through the leading of His Holy Spirit, He empowers us to do so.
Reflect & Pray
Who are you responsible to lead? How might you show both grace and truth to them?
Dear Jesus, I aim to lead others by following You.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
First and Second Chronicles cover the history of the Jewish people and monarchy in the Southern Kingdom of Judah from the death of Saul until the Babylonian exile—the same period covered in 2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings. Written after the Babylonian exile, the author of 1–2 Chronicles (Jewish tradition identifies Ezra) seeks to assure postexilic Jews that though they were unfaithful, Yahweh remains faithful to the His covenant. In 2 Chronicles 21:7, the chronicler affirmed that God kept His promise that there would always be a descendant of David on the throne (see 2 Samuel 7:12–17), a promise that has its final fulfilment in Jesus ( Matthew 1:1).
K. T. Sim
2 Chronicles 21:4-7
King James Version
4 Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel.
5 Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
7 Howbeit the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.
2 Chronicles 21:16-20
King James Version
16 Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians:
17 And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
18 And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.
19 And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.
20 Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
Click here for the Audio Message
His people made no funeral fire in his honour, as they had for his predecessors.
2 Chronicles 21:19
Today's Scripture & Insight:
2 Chronicles 21:4–7, 16–20
In the hit musical Hamilton, England’s King George III is humorously portrayed as a cartoonish, deranged villain. However, a new biography on King George said he was not the tyrant described in Hamilton. If George had been the brutal despot that some said he was, he would have probably attempted to stop the American nation’s drive for independence with more extreme, scorched-earth measures. But he was restrained by his “civilized, good-natured” temperament.
Who knows if King George died with regret? Would his reign have been more successful if he’d been harsher and more ruthless?
Not necessarily. In the Bible we read of King Jehoram, who solidified his throne by putting “all his brothers to the sword along with some of the officials of Israel” (2 Chronicles 21:4). Jehoram “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (v. 6). His ruthless reign alienated his people, who neither wept for his gruesome death nor made a “funeral fire in his honour” (v. 19).
Historians may debate whether George was too soft; Jehoram was surely too harsh. A better way is that of King Jesus, who is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Christ’s expectations are firm (He demands truth), yet He embraces those who fail (He extends grace). Jesus calls us who believe in Him to follow His lead. Then, through the leading of His Holy Spirit, He empowers us to do so.
Reflect & Pray
Who are you responsible to lead? How might you show both grace and truth to them?
Dear Jesus, I aim to lead others by following You.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
First and Second Chronicles cover the history of the Jewish people and monarchy in the Southern Kingdom of Judah from the death of Saul until the Babylonian exile—the same period covered in 2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings. Written after the Babylonian exile, the author of 1–2 Chronicles (Jewish tradition identifies Ezra) seeks to assure postexilic Jews that though they were unfaithful, Yahweh remains faithful to the His covenant. In 2 Chronicles 21:7, the chronicler affirmed that God kept His promise that there would always be a descendant of David on the throne (see 2 Samuel 7:12–17), a promise that has its final fulfilment in Jesus ( Matthew 1:1).
K. T. Sim
2 Chronicles 21:4-7
King James Version
4 Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel.
5 Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
7 Howbeit the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever.
2 Chronicles 21:16-20
King James Version
16 Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians:
17 And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king's house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
18 And after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.
19 And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.
20 Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
