Skip to main content

2 Chronicles 13:10-12 Abijah's challenge to Israel - Day 346

Another catch up for the day.  A difficult subject in many ways.  Divisions with God's chosen people of the OT are written as examples for us so that we don't make same mistakes.  While the division between the kingdoms was God's correction for Solomon's turning away, each nation retained moral responsibility for their actions.  When divisions in the Church occur over truth and error, the same accountability still exists.

Blessings,

Jeff

Part of King Abijah's speech to Jeroboam and the army of Israel.  Outnumbered 2 to 1, Abijah warns Israel not to fight against the Lord, the God of their fathers.  True to form, Israel doesn't listen and is soundly defeated not be the army of Judah but by God himself. 

The first part of his speech had been a denigration of the apostasy of Israel since the division.  This part claims the ceremonial purity of Judah. 

Makes me wonder about the division between Israel and Judah in light of NT passages such as And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13.  This was the verse for today in PrayerMate app.  Each side in this conflict has to give an account to God who sees all things.  While Judah may not be as pure as they thought they were, certainly the words of Abijah should have had some impact on Jeroboam and his army.  But they didn't.  Maybe more surprising is how the solid foundation of Judah starts to crumble.  Part of the accounting takes place in this life.  But only part.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Malachi 2:10-12 Here we go again!! Day 363

Good afternoon friends, As we draw to the end of the Old Testament, we see that Judah has rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but they are following in the footsteps of faithless fathers and not in the footsteps of Abraham and ultimately God.  The exile was a low point, but now a new low is about to happen.  The prophetic voice has once again become warning and not encouraging. Faithful reading and preaching of the word is all that keeps us from losing our way.  May we be faithful in our generation. Blessings, Jeff I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  The section summary, chapter and verse are not in the original language.  They are all rather modern inventions to help us.  For example, the section title here is "Judah profaned the Covenant".  That is OK as far as it goes, but which Covenant?  So let's take a look. Observations Starts with 3 questions but who is asking the questions and to whom are they addre...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 35:23-26 Lament for the last good king - Day 364

Good morning fellow exiles and pilgrims, One more day of devotions.  We are indeed exiles and pilgrims in this world as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  The 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks can serve as a reminder that this world is not our home. Blessings, Jeff The lamentations for Josiah written by Jeremiah.  However, the book of Lamentations does not include any reference to Josiah as they are focused on the fall of Jerusalem.  While these lost lamentations were "made the rule" there are only 4 more kings and none of them were good like Josiah and none died in Jerusalem.  The phrase "to this day" generally refers to the time of the author (post exile).  Taken together, it may be that these laments were for the last good king and during the exile the people were longing for the next good king. Zerubbabel in a way was the next good king as temple and Jerusalem were rebuilt. But Jesus truly was the next king and He...
Post a Comment
Read more