2 Chronicles starts with Solomon, follows the kings of Judah until their exile to Babylon and in the very last verses of the book tells of their return from exile under the Persian king Cyrus. 1 &2 Kings covered similar ground but those books had interspersed Israel kings with those of Judah. In terms of kingdoms, it is very unusual to have such a long sequence of kings from the same dynasty but this was God’s kingdom and David’s line was to be of utmost significance for the whole world. In verse 1 of chapter 1 we read that the preparation of David meant that Solomon’s reign was quickly established but note the “Lord his God was with him and made him exceedingly great”.
GOD’S SPECIAL PLACE
God had chosen Jerusalem that his name should be there and the ark of his covenant placed in the special house that he built. The rousing song on the singers lips was (5v13) that “he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever.” See (6v14) that God keeps his “covenant in steadfast love” but only for those who walk before Him “with all their heart”. Solomon realised that this place was only a doorway into God’s dwelling place in heaven (6v21) and it would be a place of confession of sin. It was a place of God’s forgiveness even when sin had taken the people into captivity and exile (6v36-39). It was a place where God’s eyes would be open towards and his ears attentive to the prayers made there (6v40;7v15).
Surely this place, where sacrifices were made, is symbolic of the cross and resurrection of Jesus where we find the doorway to his salvation (6v41) through forgiveness of our sins. This place is the place of the ark of his might (v41) and the place of his glory and presence (7v1-3). It is that place where God wants us to lay down our lives to him and become uninhibited worshippers, for his steadfast love endures for ever (v3, 6). God’s response to their worship was an appearance to Solomon in the night (7v12) to say He had chosen this place and (v14) “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land”. There follows a warning that if they go and serve other gods the people will be “plucked” from the land (v20) and the house “cast out” of his sight. 2 Chronicles then continues the history of the Judah kings, all descended from David, almost as an explanation of why God, reluctantly, had to pluck them out and cast his house aside. As we know from the book of kings, the Judah kings were, generally speaking, better than their Israel equivalents; there were some faithful ones among them, but even so God’s patience and wisdom was tested beyond his limits.
SOLOMON LEFT ISRAEL WEAK
Solomon had great success, honour, wisdom and prosperity but, in his marriage to an Egyptian queen, we see the beginning of his spiritual downfall. In 8v11 we see that he even moved his wife from the old city of David out of concern to keep that area holy. Even if she had converted to true worship it is probable that in her retinue of servants and possessions there were things that were ungodly. The queen of Sheba, on her famous visit, recognised that the Lord delighted in Solomon and wanted to bless his people (9v8). In his latter years we read in 1 Kings (11v4) that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. Unlike his father, David, Solomon did not leave Israel a kingdom under God’s rule and he did not leave a successor, his son Rehoboam, who honoured God. The true God, concerned by this, sent a prophet Ahijah (10v15) to prophesy that the larger kingdom of Israel would be split for ever when 10 tribes of Israel under Jeroboam rejected God’s rule from Jerusalem.The two kingdoms, often at enmity with each other, were to survive alongside each other for 260 years before Israel was effectively blotted out by the Assyrians. Israel had made an ungodly choice to appoint unauthorised priests for high places to worship goat demons and golden calves (11v15).
IF WE ABANDON GOD HE WILL ABANDON US
Through each of the kings that follow you find out something of God’s character and heart. In Rehoboam we learn that if we abandon God he will abandon us (12v5) but we can find some way back through repentance. Abijah knew that Judah was more powerful than Israel because they worshipped the true God (13v12).
THE LORD CAN EQUALLY HELP WEAK AND STRONG
Asa was a good king who did what was right in the sight of the Lord (14v2), took away all alternative religion and found that this brought great peace and stability to his country (v6) and a most remarkable victory over an enormous Ethiopian army of 1 million men (v9-15). He discovered that there was no difference for the Lord; he can equally help the strong or weak if only they cry out to him (v11). Azariah, the prophet, inspired him with the words (15v2), “the Lord is with you, while you are with him. If you seek him he will be found by you.”
Sadly Asa in the 36th year of his reign lost his way and made an alliance with king Benhadad of Aram (16v2,3). This brought him short term benefits but condemnation from Hanani the prophet because he should have relied on the Lord, rather than others (16v7). There is a powerful verse here (v9) which tells us that the “eyes of the Lord range throughout the entire earth, to strengthen those whose heart is true to him”.
DO NOT MAKE ALLIANCES WITH UNGODLY PEOPLE
Jehoshaphat also experienced the blessing of going God’s way and he enjoyed riches, honour (17v5) and security from his enemies (17v10). Sadly, like his father, he made a serious error of judgement and married his son into Ahab’s evil family (18v1). This dragged him into Ahab’s war at Ramoth-Gilead, where Ahab was killed by an arrow and very nearly resulted in his own death (18v31). We should be very careful to avoid relationships with wicked people (19v2). Interestingly, Jehoshaphat was to make a similar mistake later on his reign which resulted in his ship fleet being wrecked (20v35). This took place not long after a famous and remarkable victory when Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast and called out to the Lord (ch20); the people were praising God for his steadfast love while three enemy armies ended up destroying each other.
EVIL HAS CONSEQUENCES
His son Jehoram, the one who married Ahab’s daughter, followed the ways of his in-laws-killing his own brothers and other evil. God put up with the bad kings because of his promise to David (21v7) but things did not work well for the country; their enemies oppressed them, there was a great plague and Jehoram himself was to die a slow painful death with a bowel disease (21:18,19). “He departed with no ones’ regret” (v20). He had only one son who was not captured by Arabian raiders, Ahaziah, another evil one, who eventually lost his life to king Jehu of Israel. There followed a ruthless period when his mother Athaliah (22v10) killed those in line to make herself queen. Through divine protection one of the young sons, Joash, was hidden in the house of God for 6 years (22v11). The priest Jehoiada prepared a surprise anointing of Joash (23v3), covenanted with the people to be the Lord’s people (23v16) and destroyed the Baal worship that Athaliah delighted in. There followed a joyful restoration of God’s house. Sadly when the good priest Jehoiada died as an old man we see that without his influence Joash listened to other officials and abandoned God (24v17,18); he forsook God so God had to forsake him (v20). Amaziah in chapter 25 did what was right yet “not with a true heart” (v2) and a promising start ended in disaster. Uzzah, his son succeeded him and “as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper” (26v5) but “when he had become strong he grew proud, to his destruction” (v16) and he ended up afflicted with leprosy. Jotham was a good king (ch27) but his son Ahaz indulged in abominable practices (28v2-4), he closed God’s house (v24) and the kingdom was oppressed by enemies on all sides yet his paganism knew no bounds.
RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION
Hezekiah could have not been more different and he arranged for God’s house to be repaired and cleansed (ch29), then re-instituted the sacrifices and worship (v25). The festivals were started again (ch30) and he even sent couriers to invite the remnant of Israel (most had now gone into exile) but most laughed them to scorn and mocked them (v10). He destroyed high places (ch31), encouraged giving to the Levites, and because he did this with all his heart, he prospered as a result (v21). When king Sennacherib (ch32) came against Judah, expecting success as usual, Hezekiah knew (v7) that there was “one greater with us than with him”. Hezekiah and the great Isaiah (v20) cried out to the Lord and the Lord who sent an angel to decimate Sennacherib’s forces (v21) and, when he returned in disgrace to Assyria, he was assassinated by his own sons (v21). Hezekiah was “exalted in the sight of all nations from that time onwards” (v23). He became sick but God healed him (v24); he did fall into pride but, unlike others, he was willing to repent and humble himself (v26). During his reign there was an amazing sign done in the land when the sun shadow was brought back 10 intervals and this was noticed by the other nations (v31).
UNGODLINESS LEADS TO DISASTER
Manasseh was only twelve when he came to the throne and he reigned for 55 years, many filled with evil. Chapter 33 catalogues his misdeeds which included a carved idol set in the house of God. It was not until he was put in chains by the king of Assyria that he saw the error of his ways (33v12) and God in his graciousness restored him. Amon his son was evil and did not last long but there was still time for his brother, the good boy-king Josiah. At the age of 16 he began to seek God (34v3) and spent 6 years cleansing the land before he started getting God’s house in order. It was then that when they found the book of the law, and read it, Josiah was so shocked at how far they had gone away from its words (19-21). Josiah sought out prophets to seek God’s view on the matter and it was Huldah’s task to bring bad news that disaster would follow (v24-25). For his repentance, Josiah would be spared and not see the tragedy himself. He re-instituted a great Passover feast (ch35) but came to grief against King Neco of Egypt when he joined a battle which was not his. It appears that God’s words were actually spoken by the Egyptian king but Josiah did not listen and was shot by archers (v23). The final chapter 36 outlines the end. One king, Jehoahaz was carried into Egypt by Neco (v4) and king Nebuchadnezzar took the next king, Jehoiakim, bound with fetters (v6), to Babylon. His son Jehoichin was only 8 when he became king but old enough to do evil in the sight of the Lord (v9).
Nebuchadnezzar came again when he was only 11 and took him to Babylon. His brother Zedekiah, king for eleven years, was unrepentedly evil, rejected Jeremiah’s word and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and the Lord; so did the leading priests and leaders.
THE LORD’S COMPASSION
We read that the Lord (v15) kept on sending them prophetic messengers because of his compassion on his people and his dwelling place but they kept on despising his words and scoffing at the prophets until (v16) “the wrath of the Lord against his people became so great that there was no remedy.” At God’s beckoning the king of the Chaldeans (v17) was brought up to administer a judgement that included total destruction of the house of the Lord, its contents and the wall of Jerusalem. Those who escaped the sword were taken to become servants in Babylon.
NEW HOPE
There they would stay until the new kingdom of Persia was established and King Cyrus sent a herald through all his kingdom with an amazing message that God had charged him to build God’s house in Jerusalem (v23). The land had virtually lain desolate for 70 years; enjoying the sabbath rest that it had been denied for a so long.