2 Chronicles

1 and 2 Chronicles go together. This is the second part. This book tells the story about Judah's kings. It begins with the rule of Solomon. And it ends with the exile. There are two main subjects. And each one affects the other. They are the Temple and the Throne.

The Chronicles’ editor wants us to agree with him. God should be first in our lives. That is the most important thing. Then, the result will be good. It will be good in three ways. God will receive honour. God will bless us. And other people will receive benefits too. It is foolish to forget God. It is like fighting against your true friend.

Solomon's Temple (Chapters 1-9)

In these chapters, the Temple is most important. All other interests are much less important. There is a reason for this. The people were in their own land again. They had their new Temple. And 2 Chronicles would be a guide for them. It would help them to think first about the Temple. There was a reason for this too. The Temple was a sign. The things of God must always have the most importance.

Compare two things. First, there was Solomon's determination (2:1). Second, there was David's appeal (1 Chronicles 28:10).

There is something sad about this book. It begins with the Temple equipment (3-4). Everything is wonderful. Everything is beautiful. But the book ends with an awful story (36:18-19). The Jews had enemies who did not respect the Temple. And they completely destroyed it.

The Chronicles’ editor was thinking about two things (7:16-22). They were the Temple and the Throne. The editor thought about Solomon's Temple all the time. So he did not always deal with Solomon's sins. The editor was the same about some of David's sins too. Here is an example about Solomon. The Chronicles’ editor did not mention two of Solomon's sins. First, there were his marriages with foreign women. Second, there was Solomon's idol worship. There was more reality in the prophet's record (1 Kings 11).

But the Chronicler does speak about wrong friendships. They lead to evil worship. They cause trouble. When the Jews returned from exile they sinned in this way. Nehemiah gave the example of Solomon. The king married wives who were not Jews. And this could lead to trouble (Nehemiah 13:26).

David's Throne (Chapters 10-36)

Notice the main subject here. It is David's throne. Something is most important. It is the fact that David's family were ruling. (Read 7:17-18; 10:16, 19; 13:8; 21:7; 23:3.) The Northern kingdom was Israel. The people in Israel were against David. And it seemed that the people in Israel were against God too. So the writer had no interest in their history.

But there were times when the writer did care. This was when the two kingdoms united. This happened on a few occasions. The two kingdoms fought the same enemy. But they fought each other too. And the writer thought that they should never unite. He emphasised this for a reason. It was because, when they united, the result was always trouble.

Read 18:1-3; 19:2; 20:35-37; 21:4-6, 12-15; 22:4-5; 25:27; 30:6-9.

This section tells us about the kings who came after David. There were 20 of them. First, there was Solomon's son. His name was Rehoboam. He had no wisdom. And he was proud. The last king was Zedekiah (36:11-12). He was stupid and proud. Both these kings were not humble. They refused wise advice. Their behaviour caused much trouble and it made many people very unhappy.

There is an important subject in Chronicles. It is this. People should want to obey God all the time. And they should always obey in a humble way.

Read 12:12; 30:8; 32:26 and 33:12, 23.

It is not easy to examine this section by chapters. In this section, a bad king often comes after a good king. But this does not always happen.

However, there are three important subjects.

The people's wicked behaviour increased. When bad kings ruled, the people got worse. God's people became even worse than their neighbours who did not know God (33:9).

The kings served God occasionally. Some kings were good. There are three examples: Jehoshaphat (17:3), Hezekiah (29:2), and Josiah (34:2).

God's final correction came. This is the last chapter's subject. The same things always happened. The king did evil things. And there is an account of God's punishment. Each king refused to obey God. Therefore, God had to punish each one (36:5-6, 9-10, 11-12).

There are six important ideas. There should be careful study of each one of them.

• The king and the people must rely completely on God. Read 13:18; 14:11; 16:7-9; 20:12-17; 25:8 and 32:7-8.
• The People must obey God's word. God gives his word. And people must listen to it. The prophets often spoke God's word to the people. But there was also Moses’ Law. God used the advice of priests and other people too. [Note: Remember that we have the whole Bible. These people only had Moses’ Law.] (Read 14:4; 20:20; 23:18; 25:4; 30:16, 22 and 34:14-31.)
• The people must leave any sort of idol worship. Read 14:3, 5; 15:8, 16; 17:6; 23:17; 24:18; 31:1; 33:15 and 34:3-4.
• There is a danger in power. Power leads people to rely on themselves. Read 12:1; 25:17-24; 26:11-18 and 32:24-25.
• God will bless people who really pray. If they do not, there will be serious results. Read 14:7; 15:4, 12; 16:12; 17:4; 18:31; 20:3-4; 26:5; 30:18-19 and 31:21.
• It is dangerous not to love God completely. And it is dangerous not to serve God completely. There are three examples. There was Jehoshaphat (18:1; 19:1-4). There was Amaziah (25:2, 14-16). And there was Jotham. He obeyed God. But he did not enter the Lord's Temple (27:2). These men did not love God completely. And they did not serve God completely. They kept something for themselves. They did not give themselves completely to God. And we must be careful that we are not like them.