2 Chronicles

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I read through Chronicles and felt like it was Groundhog's Day.  If you have ever read through the bible, you may know that a lot of the books are a separate account of the same stories and events.  This book is a recount of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings primarily.  Most of the beginning of this book is lineage again.  I am so lost on lineage now.  I could devote a year just to making a lineage chart, which, for some strange reason, I think I would like!  Hmmm, weird!

I am still baffled at the kings and their inability to see what we never get to see.  God deliberately told them to do what he says and they deliberately did the opposite!  I could recap the stories that I read, but I just want to point  out a few things here as I feel like I am beginning to repeat myself a little.  All too often, we cry out for help when we need it.  They did too.  Just like the Israelites coming out of Egypt,  the kings cried out for help when things were not going so hot, yet they turned to their false idols and illegitamate ways as soon as things were smooth.  I do not mean to belittle the details that you read throughout these books (Samuel, Kings, Chronicles) because I could retell you a lot of the stories, but I am finding a common theme.  It is a historical and factual account with a common root. The truth for the kings of Judah is concurrent in everybody's life: obeying God and truly worshiping him brings blessings even if they are not to your specific satisfaction, (like, say, becoming rich), while the denouncing of God and resorting to false gods and idols will bring death.  Not death in the 6 feet under sense, but death in the sense of spirituality.   It also struck me that some of these kings started off so well and failed to finish off life spiritually.  This shows the difficulty a ruler or equivalent, in our terms, faced in doing what is right.  That turns my eyes to our own world leaders in wonderment of their ability to follow what is the moral path. It broke my heart as I read about the sad end of kings who started off so strong.