Reading the Bible Through

2 Chronicles 25 - 29   But when King Uzziah  was strong,  he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the  Lord  his God.  The older I get, the more I begin to understand "pride comes before a fall." As I read these stories of the kings, I am reminded of the cycles in the book of Judges. Godly leaders bring Godly followers and Godly behavior. 

2 Chronicles 22 - 24   "the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah" I find this an interesting turn of phrase. What would it be like to be clothed with the Spirit of God? Other passages say that the Spirit came on them. I believe the Holy Spirit lives in me. To be clothed, seems much more to me. 

2 Chronicles 19 - 21   Jehoram  died  with no one's regret.  They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. No one regretted his death. That's pretty harsh. It seems to me that he must have done really bad jobs all the way around. 

2 Chronicles 16 - 18   King Asa did good, but did not end well.  I find the story of Micaiah interesting. What makes Jehoshaphat ask for another prophet? Why does Jehoshaphat go up with Ahab even after what Micaiah prophecies ? 

2 Chronicles 13 - 15   Now it looks to me like we are moving into a repeat of the books of Kings.  Here's a list of the kings:  List of Kings

2 Chronicles 10 - 12   Rehoboam does not seem to have the wisdom that his father, Solomon had. Here the kingdom splits. I am curious about when God says this thing is from me. What is not from God? Does this mean some things are random? 

2 Chronicles 7 – 9 Suddenly, this evening, I am struck by the parallels between the Queen of Sheba and Thomas the disciple. The Queen of Sheba did not believe Solomon's wisdom until she had seen it with her own eyes. Thomas did not believe Jesus was restricted until Thomas had seen  resurrected Jesus. 

2 Chronicles 2 - 6   Solomon builds the temple and prays a beautiful prayer of dedication.  Here is 3D video of what Solomon's temple might have looked like:  Solomon's temple in 3D   Here is a more in-depth video of the meaning behind Solomon's temple:  More about Solomon's temple Solomon's temple stood for almost 400 years. 

1 Chronicles 28 - 2 Chronicles 1   Today we move from 1 Chronicles to 2 Chronicles.  Here we seem to have 3 more lost books:  Chronicles  of Samuel the seer Chronicles of  Nathan the prophet Chronicles of  Gad the seer Here we see how much David had done to prepare for the building of the temple even though he was not the one who would build it.  As far as I can tell, 1 Chronicles tells some more details about David and has lists of lots of names. I'm glad that God knows my name in many names God knows, but reading lists of names is fairly boring.  We also have the famous story of Solomon asking God for wisdom and God was pleased with Solomon's request. 

1 Chronicles 25 - 27   "prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the  Lord." This is an interesting turn of phrase to me. How does one prophesy  with and instrument?  Also, I'm not trying to shout with all caps, I'm able to use a different font for some reason. 

1 Chronicles 22 - 24   Here it seems to me that we have the cliff notes of David's story surrounded by a bunch of names.  It is hard for me to understand why David could not build a house for the Lord because David was a "man of blood" yet he was also a man "after God's own heart." I do see here the David did get the ball rolling with building the temple and charged his son Solomon with building it. 

  1 Chronicles 19 - 21 I almost forgot this blog today. I try to do it in the morning, but this morning I wanted to take my car to the garage to get the brakes checked. I was focused on that. The brakes were fine. I need 2 tires though.  In today's reading, lots of battles won by David and his warriors.  Hanun the son of Nahash behaved for the sake of the short term, but didn't think through the long term consequences, it seems to me. He just pissed King David off. Not good.  I've always had trouble finding this 2nd giant beyond Goliath of Gath, but here he is with 6 fingers on each hand and 6 toes on each foot, as plain as day.  Why does Joab know that the census is not what the Lord wants, but David persists in numbering the people? I think I asked this when we read about this in Kings. 

1 Chronicles 16 - 18   And here we have a recap of David's rise to power. The song written here is beautiful. 

1 Chronicles 13 – 15   So, here, it seems we have more of the story of the reason the Lord killed Uzzah when Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark of the Covenant when the oxen stumbled. They had not followed the protocols for moving the Ark. 

1 Chronicles 8 – 12   And...I'm caught up again....for a little bit anyways...we shall see.. More genealogies... Now we get to the history of the kings again. Saul, David.  Uriah the Hittite is named in the list of the might men. I find that powerful and telling. David had Uriah killed because David knocked up Uriah's wife and there was no way to pawn it off as Uriah's kid. David does not take Uriah's due as Uriah remains listed among the mighty warriors. 

1 Chronicles 5 – 7   I am behind on this blog again.  Genealogies of ancient times are still boring to me.  Wait a minute! Why did somebody name their kid, Baal? Was this devotion to a false/foreign god?  I also note a daughter credited for building something. 

1 Chronicles 2 - 4   1 & 2 Chronicles tend to seem like a repeat of 1 & 2 Kings. Also, genealogies are boring except when I'm doing my own on Ancestry.com, lol. I do rejoice in the fact that the Lord knows my name, too!! 

2 Kings 24 - 1 Chronicles 1   As we began to read of Nebuchadnezzar, I find myself looking forward to the story of Daniel.  

2 Kings 21 - 23   Now, I'm caught up again for a hot second.  I did google how one can die from a boil. The general answer is that it may cause infection in the body. Fig poultices can be good for boils. Now my question is, did they know this? Had they tried it already for King Hezekiah? I remember some of the story of Josiah from Sunday School. He was a young king. A priest found the book of the covenant. Josiah was dismayed that the book of the covenant was not being followed. Josiah got all the people back in line. It is a story of learning, repentance and obedience. It is, to me, a beautiful story. I can also see reasons it was taught to children.  I do wish that after the age of children's bible stories, we would make an effort to return to some of the more "adult" stories. Perhaps, in a way, that is what I'm doing now. 

I'm a day behind again. It is hard to keep up even though it's kinda a habit for me. However, yesterday I had to be at a meeting to give a short presentation early in the morning, 7am. Hopefully, I will soon get caught up here.  2 Kings 18 - 20 I think King Hezekiah doesn't get enough billing even though he followed the Lord wholeheartedly as King David had done.  One question I do have, how can a boil kill you? Why did a poultice of figs help? 

2 Kings 15 - 17   Ripping open all the pregnant women is just gross!!! King Ahaz said the bronze altar was for him to "inquire by." What does this mean? How does one inquire by an altar for burnt offerings?  And this king and that king and then Israel fell. People worshipped the Lord, but other gods as well. It doesn't work like that. 

2 Kings 10 - 14   I am 1 day late in my reading. This should have been completed on Easter Sunday.  Jehu is cunning in whipping out the worshippers of Baal. It reminds me of the crusades which I find horrible. However, Jehu still worshipped Golden Calves erected by Jeroboam son of Nebat.  Carites? What are they?  What's with striking the arrows on the floor? How was the king to know the meaning? Why was Elisha angry? 

2 Kings 7 – 9   Part of today's reading reminds me of an economics lesson, also, how quickly circumstances may change especially when God is involved.  I really like the fact that the lepers shared the good fortune even though they had to shout it from a distance.  Also, it's not clear to me if it's the king that is trampled in the gate, his captain or both of them?   Someone told me that the story of Jezebel was their favorite. I am unable to understand that. The story does remind me to keep those near me on my side. 

  2 Kings 4 – 6 Elisha and the widow's oil is not a story I recall hearing in Sunday School. I find that interesting. God provided for them.  Elisha and the Shunammite Woman. I find it very interesting that it's the woman who is wealthy. She is the initiator. It seems that she is more the friend of Elisha than her husband.  At 4:42, we have a precursor to the loaves and fishes that Jesus feed the 5000 and the 4000. When a child tells Namaan who can cure his leprosy, the adults go through "proper channels" and think someone is picking a fight. Ya gotta know the backstory a lot of times! When the woman who was starving talked to the king on the wall, why did the king plan to kill Elisha? This doesn't make sense to me. 

2 Kings 1 – 3   Elijah's response to the messengers is interesting. We don't have to respond to authority for it's own sake. Also, the 3rd Captain was humble and asked for his life, but after that, God told Elijah not to be afraid of him. Was it fear that Elijah was feeling when he called fire down and killed the other captains and their men? I guess it kinda makes sense. If Elijah had got up and went with the first 2, he would have been in their power. In going with the 3rd captain, who asked for his life, Elijah went willingly.  I wonder what the phrase "the sons of the prophets" means? Did they prophesy, too? If so, wouldn't they be called prophets?  Here we see water parted again so that Elijah & Elisha could go over on dry ground. Just 2 men this time, not all of Israel. I was kinda bothered by this. Now I see that Elisha goes back with the cloak that Elijah had used to part the waters. Elisha does the same thing and walks through on dry ground. Elis...

1 Kings 20 - 22   Here we start to hear of Samaria. I've never quite understood how Samaria came about. A quick google says it was the capital of the kingdom of Israel. Eventually, Israel took on the name Samaria. Trumping up charges to get Naboth killed reminds me of Jesus being with high priest and false witnesses testifying against Jesus.  Ahab was the most evil king, and the Lord honored his repentance. This is joyous! I can be forgiven. We all can.  It strikes me that false prophets and "yes men" have a lot in common. 

1 Kings 17 - 19   Today we meet Elijah. We've met several prophets already that don't get as much billing as Elijah, Nathan and Gad come to mind.  I remember learning about Elijah and the widow's oil and the raising of the widow's son in Sunday School. After reading this far and seeing God angry many times, telling this in Sunday School kinda seems a like trying to make God look good. I feel trepidation saying that, but I mean it more as a critique of Sunday School than a judgement of God. His ways are not our ways. God is just and merciful.  I wonder if the Obadiah here is the same Obadiah that has a book of prophecy named after him?  Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to see who is God. This is another story I heard in Sunday School. Even after this happens Elijah must flee from Jezebel.  Here we see that God speaks in what I know as "the still, small voice." The calling of Elisha is unclear. Did he kiss his father and mother good-bye? Did Elijah have re...

1 Kings 14 - 16   As I read about Jeroboam, I noticed that Abijah son of Jeroboam did please the Lord. Abijah dies and is buried. The rest of Jeroboam's house would not be buried it is prophesied here.  I am also struck by those trying to fool a prophet by deception. If prophets were easily fooled, how could they be prophets?  And here we have another lost book:  Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel Then we have a quick run through the kingdom dividing and the kings of each, most of whom were evil. 

1 Kings 9 - 13   I enjoy hearing of Solomon's wisdom and his visit from the Queen of Sheba. I also think how splendid and luxurious Solomon's palace and temple must have been.  It is beyond sad that Solomon falls away from the Lord for lusting after woman.  Here we first meet Jeroboam son of Nebat. If my memory serves me correctly, Jeroboam turns out to be a bad choice because he worships other gods and does evil.  Whatever happened to this book of The Acts of Solomon? Rehoboam starts off with a very bad decision: to be harsher than his father. This evening this reminds me of the "Great Resignation" and the desire for work/life balance.  Jeroboam son of Nebat starts out by making golden calves to worship. They've been tripping up Israel since they came out of Egypt.  Why does the old prophet lie? What is the point of this? Then the old prophet gets the body of the other prophet mourns him and buries him stating to be buried beside him? Why? What does this a...

1 Kings 6 - 8   This strike me as the "happily ever after part." The prophecies have been fulfilled.  I was looking for an image of Solomon's temple, but I didn't find any that I really liked. Perhaps someone has made a model in a video that one could virtually walk through. That would be neat.  I am touched by Solomon's prayer here and saddened to know that Solomon himself later strays from the Lord.