To Be Godly, Holy, Set Apart; 1 Kings 14 & 2 Chron. 12

May the mumbling commence!

I want to take a few words to let you know at the outset that I will be taking a vacation from technology for the next days.  I will be going to be a camp counselor and Bible Study leader at Camp Mount Hermon Junior Camp with a couple dozen or so fifth and sixth-graders.  I will still be doing my daily devotion and mumblings, but I will not be able to catch up the postings until this coming Saturday or Sunday (probably Sunday).  I appreciate your prayers as I seek to be leading the little ones to faith in Christ Jesus!

Anyways, today’s readings from 1 Kings 14 and 2 Chronicles 11 show that Israel was not alone in falling down in the Lord’s eyes.  The 1 Kings’ account is more descriptive about how Judah abandoned the Lord than the 2 Chronicles account.  It shows the bias for a favorable view of Judah in the Chronicler’s estimation.  The Chronicler only briefly mentions that Judah had abandoned the Lord and had been unfaithful to the Lord.  Read the descriptions of Judah misbehavior from 1 Kings 14:22-24 –

Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than their fathers had done.  They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.  There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.

Talk about being caught red-handed!  They were worse than their fathers were.  I guess that’s the drift that a good brother in the Lord of mine, Paul Hoffman, talks about.  Just as Israel, they had their high places and Asherah poles.  These must have been leftover practices of the peoples that God had driven out before his chosen people.  There were even male shrine prostitutes!  This dirty laundry list makes the Chronicler’s mention of wrongdoing pale in comparison.

But there is more to show the Chronicler’s bias!  The Chronicler not only mentions in passing the failure of Judah to follow the Lord, the Chronicler also dug for the silver lining in the cloud.  As Shishak was bearing down on Jerusalem, the Chronicler inserted a visit from the prophet Shemaiah that is absent from the 1 Kings witness.  Read about it below:

Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, "This is what the Lord says, 'You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.'" 

The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The Lord is just." 

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: "Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.  They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands." 

When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made.  So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.  Whenever the king went to the Lord's temple, the guards went with him, bearing the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom. 

Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the Lord's anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah. (2 Chron. 12:5-12)   

This just goes to show us a couple of things.  One: The victors write the histories; thus, the histories have the victor’s biases.  Two: Our concept of good is never good enough to please God.  We are called to be more than good; we are called to be godly!  We are called to be holy, set apart.

I give thanks this day for the grace and mercy of the Lord upon this pile of filthy rags that I would call a good life!

Enough mumbling for today…

Peace Out