Day 177 (1 Kings 16, 2 Chronicles 17) - Year 7
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Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Today we read two chapters, the first focused on the northern kingdom of Israel and the second focused on the southern kingdom of Judah. Let's go up north first. When we open with 1 Kings 16 today, Basha is still king in Israel, but a prophet named Jehu shows up to speak a word against him.

Jehu's dad is the prophet Hanani, the same prophet we met yesterday, who called out Asa for his sin and then got thrown into prison. Things go considerably better for Jehu in his confrontation. He prophesies that Basha's people will be wiped out, and they are, starting with Basha himself. Next, enter King Basha's son Elah, who only reigns for two years before his servant Zimri murders him while he's drunk. Then Zimri takes over the throne.

But if you think two years is a short reign, Zimri's like, watch this, and wraps up his reign in seven days. I've had leftovers last longer. He does accomplish something important, though. He fulfills Jehu's prophecy against the house of Basha by wiping them all out. There's an interesting Hebrew word that shows up in 1613 regarding the sins of Basha and his family. It says, "...they sinned and made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols."

The word idol here is the Hebrew word hevel, which is the same word we saw over and over again in the book of Ecclesiastes. There, it was translated as vanity. It's the idea of something being worthless and fleeting. The text is ultimately pointing out that Basha leads people to chase after worthless things, to spin their wheels, worshiping something that won't last. That is terrible leadership.

As Zimri is in the early and late stages of his short reign, so like day five or so, word gets back to the Israeli army that he has killed their king. They're none too pleased about it, so they chase him down. He realizes the jig is up, and he sets his own house on fire while he's inside. Meanwhile, Israel has appointed Omri as their new king. I'm not sure where he's going to live, though. Things are off to a rocky start for Omri.

Not only is his palace a smoldering crime scene, but half the people of the Northern Kingdom don't support him. They want to follow another guy named Tibney, whose name I've already forgotten because he's just a blip on the radar before he dies and disappears entirely. Okay, King Omri it is. Omri is a bad king too. But you already knew that because he's a king in the North, and all their kings are bad, without exception. Fun fact about Omri...

Archaeologists have found a 9th century BC obelisk with his name engraved on it. So his reign is actually recorded outside of Scripture as well, which means he was probably a fairly wealthy, successful king even though he didn't follow God's laws. The same obelisk also records the name of the king who succeeded Omri, King Ahab. Also in the north, also terrible. And you may not know much about him, but you've probably heard a few things about his wife Jezebel.

There's a good chance that whatever you've heard about her is probably wrong, unless you heard it in Scripture. But don't worry, we'll get to her soon enough. A couple things of note about Ahab himself. First, 1633 says, Yikes. That's a terrible epitaph.

Second, during his reign, one of his guys started rebuilding Jericho, the first city the Israelites conquered when they entered the Promised Land. And you may recall that Joshua pronounced a curse on anyone who rebuilt it. That curse is recorded in Joshua 6:26, and it says, "Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.

And that's exactly what happens to the man who rebuilds it. The text seems to indicate that his oldest and youngest sons die as a result of his endeavor. Now let's move down south and see what's happening in Judah. Jehoshaphat takes over for his dad Asa after he dies from the foot disease. God was with Jehoshaphat because his reign was similar to David's. He sought God and kept his laws. And 17.4 points out that the southern kingdom of Judah as a whole is honoring God, while the northern kingdom of Israel is not.

This will continue to be a theme. During the entirety of the divided kingdom, the only righteous kings are in the southern kingdom of Judah. Jehoshaphat tears down the high places, and he even sends officials and priests all throughout the land of Judah teaching people God's truths wherever they went, like seminary takeout.

And another astonishing feature of his reign is the way his enemies are turned into allies. Because guess who shows up on their doorstep with an apple pie and a bunch of silver? The Philistines, aka Goliath's people, aka the people who stole the Ark of the Covenant, aka the arch enemies of the Israelites. Wow. Even his enemies are impacted by the way he rules with dignity and honor. Judah loves King Jehoshaphat. They bring him lots of gifts too.

And it's easy to see why he's so beloved and respected as their king. 17.6 says, Now that is a great epitaph. But he's not dead yet, so there's still time for him to make some less-than-wise decisions. Stay tuned.

What was your God shot today? Mine was in the southern kingdom during Jehoshaphat's reign. 1710 says, The fear of the Lord always catches my eye, so I dug into this a little bit. Was God turning the hearts of these enemy nations toward himself?

As it turns out, no. The Hebrew word for fear that's used here is different than the word often used to describe the good fear of the Lord. This word means dread. Bummer. So as it turns out, what was happening here was that the nations around Judah saw that God's hand was with them, and they were afraid of them and of God in the way that drives you away from something.

That's why Judah had peace. Not because their enemies were falling in love with Yahweh, as I'd hoped, but regardless which scenario had played out, the thing I see about God here is the same and it encourages me nonetheless. He's sovereign over the hearts of our enemies. This is encouraging to me because whether He turns those hearts toward Himself or just away from me, it's the good and right thing and it serves His purposes. Either way, His people are protected and His plan is accomplished.

He's a bigger God than I realize sometimes, accomplishing far more than meets the eye, because He does a lot of His work at a heart level. He's sovereign over hearts, and He's where the joy is. ♪

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