1 Chronicles 16:25-26 “For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.”
1st and 2nd Chronicles
- 1st Chronicles begins with multiple genealogies or “family trees” from Adam to Abraham to Saul to David.
- Then, these 2 books retell the story of the Kings of Israel, beginning with King David and ending with the destruction of both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.
- After King Solomon’s death, Israel was split into 2 kingdoms as a result of his sin of worshipping false idols. No sin is without consequence, remember.
- The Northern Kingdom, 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel, never had a righteous king, not even 1- yikes!
- The Southern Kingdom, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, had 8 righteous kings (out of 20)- still a yikes!
- Due to their lack of obedience to God’s commands, both kingdoms came to a violent end. The Northern Kingdom was overthrown by the Assyrian Empire. Later, the Southern Kingdom was destroyed by the Babylonian Empire and the people were taken onto captivity.
- Jerusalem, capital of the Southern Kingdom, was burned to the ground and the temple of God was destroyed.
- Several of the Lord’s prophets are also written about in these books. They urged the Kings and citizens to worship God alone, they warned of war, predicted victories and losses, and even sent la letter to one king, who sinned against the Lord to tell him that he would be punished by God in a very painful way.
-> For 20 years the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah warned the people of God’s coming discipline in detail. They were told that their disobedience would result in 70 years of exile until King Cyrus of the Persian Empire was in control.
Ezra
- In 538 BC, King Cyrus released Israel from captivity (just as prophesied). 50,000 Jews, led by Sheshbazzar, arrived back in Jerusalem and begin to rebuild the temple. It took them 20 years.
- Their neighbor, Samaria, had taken over Israel’s land, including Jerusalem. They tried to stop the rebuilding of the temple.
- However, the new King of Persia, King Darius, found the decree from King Cyrus which freed the Jews and backed their efforts to rebuild the temple.
- Some time later, there was a priest named Ezra who was still living in Babylon. The Persian King at that time, Artaxerxes, sent Ezra back to Jerusalem so he could teach the Jews about God’s Law.
-> When he returned to Jerusalem, he discovered that the men had disobeyed God’s command and married foreign women, like King Solomon had.
-> Ezra prayed to God and confessed their sin. The people followed his lead, repented of their sin, turn backed to God, and sent the foreign women home to their families.
Phew! We covered a lot of ground! Did you notice how God’s prophecies always came true and that He even uses unbelievers in His plan? The Lord is truly amazing! The more we read our Bibles, the more we learn about God, His promises, and His faithfulness. We then learn to trust in Him for all things. We become grateful for Him and His Word, knowing He is always true and can always be trusted! We are so blessed to have God!
