Nahum 1-3

Assyria, once the world’s superpower, the most feared of nations: Where are you now?

The LORD is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
He knows those who take refuge in Him.
But with an overflowing flood
He will make a complete end of the adversaries,
and will pursue His enemies into darkness.
What do you plot against the LORD?
He will make a complete end;
trouble will not rise up a second time.

Nahum 1:7-9

Whereas Jeremiah assures Judah that the LORD will not make a full end there, Nahum tells Assyria just the opposite: The outcome for Assyria is most definitely a complete end. As Isaiah 10:5-27 makes clear, Assyria is the LORD’s instrument of judgment upon Israel and Judah — but unwittingly so, as Assyria’s own intent is evil. The LORD thus holds Assyria responsible for its arrogance and its brutality. And sure enough, Assyria’s descent from world domination to obscurity is remarkably swift at the hands of the Babylonians and the Medes — or, rather, by the LORD’s mighty hand.

Take heed, Russia. Take heed, China. Take heed, U.S.A.

Jeremiah 4-6

It is not looking good for Judah. Jeremiah’s message is not, “Don’t worry. Be happy!” Unlike Isaiah in Hezekiah’s day, Jeremiah does not tell the people of Jerusalem that the LORD will protect the city. On the contrary, he tells the people of Benjamin to flee Jerusalem because destruction is coming. (Jer. 6:1) But in the midst of this message of looming disaster, the LORD declares that He will not make a full end. In fact, He says this three times in today’s reading:

For thus says the LORD, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

Jeremiah 4:27

Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the LORD’s.

Jeremiah 5:10

But even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not make a full end of you.

Jeremiah 5:18

Yes, Judah, disaster is coming, a disaster of your own making, because of your persistent rebellion against the LORD, but the LORD is yet merciful and will not make a full end.

In all of that we should recognize that Jeremiah’s message — and that of all the prophets — is never simple condemnation, put a plea for repentance. The LORD is patient. He warns His people — again and again and again. But for the most part, His words fall on deaf ears (Jer. 5:21), both then and now.

Let’s not be so deaf.

Jeremiah 1-3

As I look at the history of both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, I tend to think of Israel as being worse than Judah. After all, the Bible’s assessment of each and every one of Israel’s kings is that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, whereas at least some of the kings of Judah are good like David and did what was right in the sight of the LORD, especially Hezekiah and Josiah. And then, of course, God’s judgment falls on Israel in the form of conquest and deportation by the Assyrians while Judah continues to survive. Surely Judah is better than Israel. But Jeremiah tells us something very interesting:

The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD.”

And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.”

Jeremiah 3:6-11

So I have things backwards. God’s assessment is that Judah is worse than Israel. Hmmm. That little phrase “in pretense” illuminates the entire scene. God sees the heart, not just the outward show. Hezekiah and Josiah (for example) may well be good kings, serving the LORD faithfully and leading the people in the right direction. And I am sure that there are any number of faithful people supporting those kings in their endeavors. But then there’s the general populace who apparently are acting in pretense, with no true devotion to the LORD at all. They’re just following the king’s commands, going with the flow. So when the winds change direction, they do, too. And that is not what the LORD desires.

So how about us? Is our church life just a big put on, just a show? Do we sing songs and lift our hands in worship while harboring sin in our hearts? How easily swayed are we by the world, by the news media, by politicians or other leaders? Are we devoted to the LORD with our whole heart? Or only in pretense?

Psalms 33, 66-67, 100

Many thanks to Fred for stepping into the gap to provide commentary for the past few days while I was traveling. As it turns out, we get to hear more from him today, too!

See:

• March 27 (2022) / Psalm 33:1-12
• March 28 (2022) / Psalm 33:13-22
• June 15 (2022) / Psalm 66
• June 16 (2022) / Psalm 67
• August 26 (2022) / Psalm 100

II Kings 23:1-27; II Chronicles 34:1-35:19

In today’s readings we have only one king, Josiah, and he is good – not a single bad word mentioned! He became king at 8 years old, he began to seek the LORD when he was 16, and he began his cleansing of Jerusalem and Judah when he was 20 years old (II Chronicles 34:2-3). He lived another 19 years and served the LORD with all his heart during his lifetime.

The list of his accomplishments is impressive and is described in detail in II Kings 23. First, you may recall from yesterday that the Book of the Covenant had been discovered when the workmen began to cleanse the Temple area. Josiah’s first order of business was to read from this Book with all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Then he continued that cleansing of the Temple area and all of Jerusalem and all of Judea and even all of Israel. These activities occupy almost all of II Kings 23. The details occupy a full 17 verses in that chapter, with substantial detail on all the evil that had been perpetrated by his father and grandfather and earlier kings – surprisingly, including even Solomon. Josiah’s purging was complete!

Finally, when Josiah was 26 he restores the Passover for himself and all of Judah and Israel. We move to II Chronicles 35 for those details. And the details are, in fact, overwhelming: 30,000 lambs and goats and 3,000 bulls from the king’s possessions; 2,600 lambs and 300 bulls from the chief officers of the Temple; and 5,000 lambs and goats and 500 bulls from other chiefs of the Levites. I can’t stop myself from adding those numbers up – 37,600 lambs and goats and 3,800 bulls offered for this Passover for Josiah and the elders and the people of Judah and Israel! Huge!!

So, what do we see from Josiah’s early reign?

1. Finding and reading from the Book of the Covenant
2. Cleansing the Temple area and all of Jerusalem through the destruction of all the altars and idols to foreign gods
3. Moving on even to the northern parts of Israel to cleanse all of the Promised Land of these foreign gods
4. Celebrating the Passover for himself and all of Judah and Israel.

Quite an accomplishment!! Would that my own seeking and serving the Lord could be so extensive!

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One more very important item…

Still the LORD did not turn from the burning of His great wrath, by which His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. And the LORD said, “I will remove Judah also out of My sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

II Kings 23:26-27

Josiah’s reforms, as great and extensive as they were could not undo the harm done by his father and grandfather and previous kings. Under Josiah, Judah’s cleansing had only begun!

II Kings 22; Zephaniah 1-3

I noted yesterday that Josiah was regarded as a good king. We see that today, right off the bat:

And [Josiah] did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

II Kings 22:2

Today we see Josiah concerned about the restoration of the Temple, an item that had been both ignored and blasphemed by his father and grandfather. We’ll read more about Josiah over the next few days. For now, Zephaniah…

Zephaniah is known as a “minor prophet”, one of twelve so named in the Old Testament. They are “minor” in length, not in importance and are less well known because they are shorter and are less often quoted. By contrast, we are more well acquainted with the major prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

The book of Zephaniah is mostly about condemnation. That’s all we see in the first two and one-half chapters, condemnation on Judah (Jerusalem), Moab, Philistia, Ammon, Cush (Ethiopia) and Assyria, then finally Jerusalem again. However, prior to those nations being named, Zephaniah speaks condemnation on the whole earth in the first chapter. He speaks of “the day of the LORD”:

Be silent before the Lord GOD!
For the day of the LORD is near;
the LORD has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
And on the day of the LORD’s sacrifice—
“I will punish the officials and the king’s sons
and all who array themselves in foreign attire.
On that day I will punish
everyone who leaps over the threshold,
and those who fill their master’s house
with violence and fraud.
… ”

Zephaniah 1:7-9

Zephaniah is not quoted explicitly anywhere in the Bible, but the “day of the LORD” is widely cited. One Internet reference listed 86 occurrences of that phrase in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Micah, Malachi, Daniel, Hosea, and Zechariah, in addition to a number of New Testament references. (https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Day-Of-The-Lord)

Zephaniah closes his book with hope. He sees the restoration of Israel’s remnant in Zeph. 3:9-20, a very different tone from the rest of the book. One verse in particular is known in music to many of us:

The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty One who will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness;
He will quiet you by His love;
He will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

Here are the lyrics:

The Lord your God is in your midst,
The Lord of lords Who saves;
He will exult over you with joy,
He will renew you in His love,
He will rejoice over you
With shouts of joy! With shouts of joy!
With shouts of joy! With shouts of joy!
With shouts of joy!

Ernie Rettino – Listen to an instrumental version on YouTube

Warning: You’ll have “shouts of joy” in your head the rest of the morning!!

So, a happy ending for Zephaniah!

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One more thing…

As church Treasurer I had to chuckle over II Kings 22:7, But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly. The workmen for the Temple restoration had been given the money, but no receipts were required of them. How different that is for us today, where church audits require that every dollar be accounted for!

II Chronicles 32-33; II Kings 21

Today, as in the past we have readings from Chronicles and Kings. If you are reading from The Chronological Study Bible you’ll have to move forward a few pages after II Chronicles 32 and II Kings 21 to get to II Chronicles 33. In between is material that we will cover in the next few days.

Today’s readings… For the past few days we have been reading about Hezekiah, one of the good kings of Judah. Today’s II Chronicles 32 closes out his life, then II Chronicles 33 introduces his son and grandson, Manasseh and Amon, respectively. Actually, we both introduce and close out both of their lives in II Chronicles 33 and in II Kings 21. Surprisingly though, we see different records of Manasseh in the Chronicles and Kings accounts. Kings has nothing good to say about Manasseh:

And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them … And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger. And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of … the LORD…

II Kings 21:2-3, 5-7a

The Chronicles account, however, also details Manasseh’s repentance and humility. After he had been captured by the king of Assyria and taken to Babylon,

…when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to Him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

II Chronicles 33:12-13

Seemingly his repentance was solid:

And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. He also restored the altar of the LORD and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.

II Chronicles 33:15-16

So Chronicles leaves Manasseh on a good note.

Following Manasseh and Amon we will move on to another good king, Josiah. So what we see (and as The Chronological Study Bible comments) is Ahaz bad, Hezekiah good, Manasseh and Amon bad, Josiah good. It struck me in a small way that this chronology is a picture of our own lives – certainly mine! We repent and turn it around, then go back to where we were; we repent and turn it around, then go back… Thankfully our Lord is ever-merciful and ever-forgiving! “Oh God, be merciful to me, the sinner.”

II Chronicles 29-31

Rewind. We get another look at the reign of Hezekiah, this time from the Chronicler’s perspective. Here we see that, right out of the gate, in his first month as king, Hezekiah initiates a complete 180-degree reversal from the practices of his faithless father, Ahaz, who had shut up the Temple and devoted himself to idolatry, including sacrificing his own sons to false gods. Hezekiah’s reforms are extensive, beginning with the total cleansing, consecration, and rededication of the Temple (II Ch. 29) and proceeding to the observance of the Passover (II Ch. 30) and on to the destruction of centers of idol worship throughout Judah and even Israel (II Ch. 31:1).

Here is a man dedicated to the LORD, a man of faith, and of faithfulness. Is he perfect? No, but he is at least pointed in the right direction, and the LORD shows him favor. We would do well to learn from Hezekiah’s example.

As individuals we may not be able to direct the policies or practices of an entire nation like Hezekiah. We may not even have much influence within a town, for that matter. But we each have some sphere of influence, even if that sphere includes only one person, oneself. So here’s the question: Within your sphere of influence, is there anything on which you need to do a 180?

Isaiah 25-27

A tale of two cities…

In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city;
He sets up salvation
as walls and bulwarks.
Open the gates,
that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on You,
because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
For He has humbled
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,
casts it to the dust.
The foot tramples it,
the feet of the poor,
the steps of the needy.”

Isaiah 26:1-6

There is the strong city where the LORD sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. The righteous live there, those who keep faith and who trust in the LORD. And there is the lofty city, with its proud inhabitants, whom the LORD humbles. He lays this city low to the ground, casts it to the dust so that even the poor and needy can trample it underfoot.

I have yet to read Augustine’s The City of God, so I am a bit reluctant to bring it up, but speaking from ignorance has not stopped me before. Let’s just say that Augustine describes two systems at war with one another. One is holy, the other unholy. One is the City of God, the other the Earthly City. One is the work of the LORD, the other the work of man.

We see this conflict throughout our reading today. The LORD is extolled for making one city a heap of ruins, never to be rebuilt. (Isaiah 25:2) But He is a stronghold for the poor and needy. (Isaiah 25:4) We see the LORD laying out a feast for all peoples on “this mountain” (presumably Zion, Jerusalem). (Isaiah 25:6) But we see Moab trampled down in judgment. (Isaiah 25:10-12) We see the path of the righteous made level and the world learning righteousness. (Isaiah 26:7-9) But we see that the wicked do not so learn. (Isaiah 26:10-11)

Two different “cities”. Two different ways of relating to the LORD. Two different destinies.

In which city are you living?