1 Chronicles

Wow!  I went through 1 Chronicles pretty quickly.  I actually read it all in one day.  It was easy considering the first nine chapter are constant genealogy.  It's something that can be very interesting if you put a lot of study into it, but what I found the most interesting about it was in the middle of chapter four the genealogy suddenly stopped for two verses and mentions Jabez.

1 Chronicles 4: 9-10
"Jabez was more honorable than his brothers.  His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain."  Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!  Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain."  And God granted his request."

I'm sure that some of you remember a few years ago when the prayer of Jabez was everywhere. There was a book, plaques, pictures, mugs and even hand towels with the prayer etched on it.  It was very popular for a short while there.  I even bought the book during the craze but I didn't read it until about a year ago.  We don't know anything about Jabez other than what is written in these two verses, but we knew that he asked God to bless him and enlarge his land and keep him safe and God granted his request.  What I learned is that if you are faithful to God you can ask things of Him.  It's ok to ask.  It's ok to ask to be blessed and safe and for more, but you also have to do your part and remain with God.  It's pretty simple if you really think about it.

So, moving on, 1Chronicles covers again David's reign from Saul's death to his own.  It shows how the Israelites were divided up, what their jobs were and lists much of the genealogy through each of the tribes.  It's turns out that most of this book consists of hundreds of names of people who was the father of this son and that son of that father.  It goes on and on and on.  But over all it was very interesting.  It goes through a little more detail of the the what David did in running his kingdom without going through all his faults.  This is a place where you can really see that David loved God and had him in mind with the decisions of his kingdom.  I'm excited now to move on to 2 Chronicles and really see how Solomon ran the kingdom and then into the kingdom split.

2nd Kings

Finally, finally, finally I have finished reading 2nd Kings. I've been a super slacker on my Bible reading over the last couple of months, but today I am done.

Honestly, reading 2nd Kings was exhausting, there is so much information and so many kings and people and prophets that they talk about it's hard to keep up. I did take a few notes on a couple of things that I found interesting, but did not stay on top of it like I did when reading 1st Kings.

Let's start with 2nd Kings 6:1-7

This talks about when Elisha went with the prophets and they started to build a new place to live and one man had an ax that he was borrowing from someone. As he worked, mid-swing, the axhead flew off and landed in the water of the Jordan. The man was upset because it was not his, so Elisha helped him to retrieve it by causing the axhead to float.

I know that this story seem completely insignificant to the other things we learn in the Bible, almost like this passage wasn't worth reading but it made me think about how God is in the little things, like helping someone to retrieve an axhead from the bottom of a river.

Then in the same chapter we see verses 24-29. This talks about how the famine in Samaria was so bad that it caused many of the people to turn to cannibalism. If the Israelites hadn't been so separated from God this would never even be a consideration. I mean in all honesty, it grossed me out. It's unfortunate and disgusting.

We finally reached the death of Jezebel in 2nd Kings 9:30-37. She was thrown from a window, trampled on by horses and then devoured by dogs and all that was left of her was her skull, her hands and her feet. Pretty graphic, I know.

There were few great kings and many evil ones. I guess many just found it easier in life to turn away from God. Many kings worshiped and sacrificed to idols, even their own children. God gave his people many chances to follow him before letting the Assyrians take over Israel and the Babylonians taking over Judah.

There is a lot more that happens within these chapters, a lot to take in. Next time I read it, I'll have to take it slower and do some cross referencing to really help it soak in, but for now, on to 1st Chronicles.