2 CHRONICLES - Introduction and Overview.

This Podcast is a project to complete an in-depth, daily study of the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. 

Episode Notes:

If you journeyed with me through 1 Chronicles, you’ll remember that the Chronicler walked us through genealogies, long lists of names, temple preparation, organisation, worship, and then closed with the final lessons David said he had learned at the end of his life.  It was a book about foundations, but also about identity, and God’s promises, and the careful preparation required for the work of the Lord.

 Now, as we turn the page to 2 Chronicles, the spotlight shifts.

 David has passed from the scene. Solomon now stands at the beginning of his reign, and the writer invites us to watch what happens when a king and a nation begin well.

 If 1 Chronicles asked, “What lessons should we have learned?”  

then 2 Chronicles asks, “Will we live in the light of those lessons?”

This book is spiritual lessons laid out in narrative form. It is a story of devotion then decline, of revival and then rebellion, of kings who seek the Lord and kings who forget Him. And through every chapter we see the Chronicler’s central theme:

 Seek the Lord — and He will be found.

Forsake the Lord — and you will falter.

 That theme will begin immediately when tomorrow we begin with the text of chapter 1, where Solomon steps into leadership with a request from God that many believers have asked across the centuries… “Give me wisdom.”

 So today, as we begin 2 Chronicles, we’re going to explore the spiritual principle that will guide the entire book:

Begin well — and seek the Lord.

 Join me today in 2 Chronicles and let’s begin this new season together.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Welcome back to the Bible Journey Daily Podcast, a project to work through the whole Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. It is simply wonderful to have you here with me again today as we begin what for us is a brand new season, season 23, as we today step into a new book in our Bibles, that of Two Chronicles. Now, if you journeyed with me last month through One Chronicles, you'll remember that the Chronicler walked us through genealogies, those long lists of names, and he talked about temple preparation, the organization of the nation, the organization of worship, and then he closed with recording for us the final lessons David said that he had learned at the end of his life and what he wanted to pass on to the people by gathering together in a great assembly and giving, delivering his last message to them. In a way, it was a book about foundations, but it was also about identity and God's promises and the careful preparation required for the work of the Lord in the world. And now as we turn the page to two chronicles, the spotlight shifts. David has now passed from the scene, and Solomon now stands at the beginning of his reign, and the writer invites us to watch what happens when a king and a nation begin well. If one chronicles asked what lessons should we have learned, then two chronicles, I think, asked, will you now live in the light of those lessons? This book is not just a history account, it is spiritual lessons laid out in narrative form. It is a story of devotion and then decline, of revival, but then followed by rebellion. It is a document of kings who seek the Lords, who seek the Lord and kings who forget about him, and through every chapter we'll see the chronicler's central theme. Seek the Lord and he will be found, forsake the Lord and you will falter. The theme will begin immediately when tomorrow you begin with the text of chapter one, where Solomon steps into that leadership role with a request from God that believers, many believers have asked across the century since Lord give me wisdom. It is a book about beginnings and how beginnings matter, but it is also a book about setting priorities and how priorities that we set can shape our destinies. It's a sort of leadership chapter. In the sense it says how true leadership should actually begin, should start with the leader on his knees. So today we begin Two Chronicles and we're going to explore the spiritual principle that I think guides the entire book. Begin well and seek the Lord. So join me in Two Chronicles and let's begin our brand new season together in the Bible Journey Daily Podcast. Okay, let me begin today by giving you a bit of a reminder of the background and the purpose of the book. Today we begin this book, Two Chronicles, a book that continues the story, obviously, that we've just traced through 1 Chronicles, but with a new emphasis. A new tone, maybe, a slightly different tone, actually, and a new spiritual agenda. 1 Chronicles was the book of preparing for the temple, but now 2 Chronicles is the book that documents the building of the temple. 1 Chronicles, of course, focused on David, but now 2 Chronicles will focus on Solomon and the kings who will follow him. If 1 Chronicles taught us the lessons that David learns, then 2 Chronicles asks us whether Israel in this case, and we today will live by any lessons that we do learn. The opening episode today is not going to be about us diving straight into the text. Not just yet, anyway. Today is about orientation, understanding the background, the authorship, and the meaning and the purpose of this remarkable book. Now it's useful to remember that originally one and two chronicles were one book. They were divided much later for practical reasons. Reasons to do with the length of it, the scroll size, the maximum amount of text they could handle in those days, and for ease of reading. The name Chronicles actually comes from Jerome's Latin Vulgate translation, which happened in the 4th century between 385 and 405 AD, where he called the work then Chronicon, meaning a sacred record of history. And that is exactly what Chronicles is. It is a theological story, a spiritual retelling, a God-centered interpretation of Israel's story that we have in fact already heard through Samuel and King's. But Chronicles is not simply repeating what Samuel and King said. It is reshaping it. It is reshaping the story to highlight God's faithfulness in that historical story, emphasizing this time the centrality of worship and the importance of the temple. Where Samuel and Kings emphasize political history, Chronicles chooses to emphasize, how shall I describe it, the spiritual history. Where Samuel and Kings showed this the failure of Kings, Chronicle highlights the hope of restoration that is offered to a community that really needed to hear that message, which is why it is particularly prescient to many Christians, I believe, particularly those living in the West today, where Christianity has become marginalized. Where Samuel and Kings traced the decline of the nation, Chronicles is more interesting in pointing forward to the future Son of David. So it's history with a pastoral purpose, a purpose to encourage and discourage people. So who wrote these books? The Chronicles. Chronicles is technically anonymous, but Jewish and Christian tradition strongly associates their writing with Ezra the priest. This of course is the same Ezra who has a book in his name and who led a return from exile and restored the reading of the law. And there are good reasons, I think, to hold that view. The writer is of course deeply concerned with the temple system, priests, Levites, and worship, and the language and style of Chronicles, Bible exwords would tell you, along with Ezra, are strikingly similar, and both books end with the same decree of Cyrus, and both books show a priestly pastoral heart. Furthermore, whoever wrote Chronicles demonstrates they had access to an extraordinary library of historical books. The book cites eight major sources, including the book of Nathan the Prophet, a book titled The Prophecies of Ahijah the Shilonite, the Visions of Ido the Seer, the Book of Shemiah the Prophet, the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel, those are the books we today still call one and two kings, the book of Jehu, the writings of Isaiah the Prophet, yes, the book of Isaiah, a book called The Sayings of the Seer, as well as many allusions to other minor works. And these are not just invented fictional works. Some of them we still have today. Some of them appear in our modern Bibles. They are all historical records from established prophetic archives, royal annals, and temple documents. And according to two Maccabees, a book written between the Old and New Testament, they tell us Nehemiah established a large library of such writings, and many modern scholars believe the writer of these books had access to that library. So the chronicler here, the writer of the book, is not inventing history, he's sort of curating what was already available to the people of the time and interpreting and in a way preaching through it. But why was it written? Well, it was written for a people, remember, who are returning from exile. A people who want to rebuild their identity, re-establish their worship, and really just revisit their and feel their sense of hope. They needed to know who they were and where they came from and what God had promised and how God had acted in the past. But they also desperately wanted to know what kind of future God intended for them, and the chronicler writes to remind them of that. And I believe with us reading it today to remind us of some very central truths. The core one being that when God's people seek the Lord, he responds, but when God's people forsake the Lord, they falter. And that theme runs throughout the entire book. It will begin with Solomon seeking wisdom in the opening chapter, and it will continue with the glory of the temple being established in chapters five through seven, and it will appear in the revivals that we will witness under those better kings, under Asa, Jehosaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah, but it will also appear in the failures of those kings, the ones who are described as having turned away, but it culminates at the end, thankfully in the hope of restoration. The chronicler is teaching us the same lesson that Jesus taught in his New Testament teaching, saying seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And it's the same lesson that James would write about when he encourages to draw near and he will draw near to you. And indeed it's the same lesson Jesus gave to the churches in Revelation. He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says. Two Chronicles, as I said, is not just history. It is living theology. It is in fact a call for anyone who reads it to seek the Lord. And if the first book of Chronicles was about preparation, Two Chronicles is about the actual construction, but not only of the temple, but of a whole life of worship. And through it all the chronicler will keep pointing to this ultimate son of David, which we know Jesus Christ, who can be and is both those things. He is the warrior king like David, the one who conquers his foes, and he is also the peaceful king like Solomon, the one who builds his people up, builds them up under a New Testament context into a living temple. As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, you are God's building, and the Spirit dwells in you. Two Chronicles is the story of how God can build something and how God can also restore something that is lost. But with all books, not just Bible books, but all books, it's really important who the book was written for, who were the recipients, who first heard and read this book. Now there's no question that Two Chronicles was written after the exile. The final verses of Two Chronicles end with that decree of Cyrus. He was the king of Persia, who finally allowed the Jewish exiles to return home, and that decree officially ended the exile, making it clear that Chronicles is writing from a point after that event, after the return. And the genealogies within it will also confirm that for us. In 1 Chronicles, verses 3, chapters 3, do you remember verses 17 to 24? The line of Zerubbabel is seen to stretch towards a period late in the lives of Ezra and Nehemiah. And 1 Chronicles 9 describes the resettling of the remnant in Jerusalem, a scene that matches the list given in Nehemiah chapter 7 and 12 and Ezra chapter 2. All of this places the writing of the Chronicles, therefore, between 450 and 430 BC. And who were the recipients? Well, they were simply that weary remnant, freshly returned from Babylon, rebuilding their homes, but also rebuilding their identity, rebuilding the worship, and most importantly, rebuilding the temple that David had prepared for. These were a people who had known judgment, displacement, and loss. They had just lived under foreign rule. They had walked through 70 years of discipline, and now they stood before a ruined city with a ruined temple, and they were the people who needed hope, direction, and reassurance. And Chronicles is written for them, but it is also written for anyone today who has ever needed or wanted to rebuild their life with God. It is a book for the discouraged. It can also be a book for the dislocated, but ultimately it is a book for anyone who is repentant, a book for anyone who wants to be hopeful again. It is a book that boldly says your story wherever you find yourself is not over. God is still faithful, seek him and he will find you. So what is the message? Well, if one chronicles was about preparing the temple, then historically two chronicles documents the building and the consecrating of the temple. So the subject is the temple, but not merely as a building, but as a symbol of God's living presence among his people. The first nine chapters will focus on Solomon his wielding and the actual building of the structure of the temple and in the glory that filled it when it was completed. But then from chapters ten through to the end of the book, chapter thirty six, it will focus on the ongoing subsequent queens of Judah, but only those connected to the temple. The kings of the Northern Kingdom are omitted entirely, and that is because Bible experts say they serve no purpose because they have no ties to temple worship. You see, the chronicler is always making his big theological spiritual point in everything that's recorded. He is saying that where God is and God is present and acknowledged, his blessings are experienced, and where God is neglected, the blessing fades. And this is the core message of the book, but it also reiterates the promise God gave Solomon several times without it. It will say in chapter seven verse fourteen, If my people who are called by my name, may humble themselves and pray and seek my face, then I will hear from heaven. It's anticipating what Jesus specifically when he told us to seek the kingdom of God. The message of two Chronicles is simple but still deeply relevant today. When God is present and acknowledged, his blessings are experienced, and when he's forgotten, well life may unravel for you. Now the structure of the book is also important, but rather than list the structure in a sort of series of verbal bullet points, let me just try and walk through it with a sort of narrative overview of how the book unfolds as we work through it. The book of opens with Solomon's inauguration as king, and then in chapters one to nine he is presented as a young king, newly enthralled, and he goes to Gibeon to worship, and there he asks God for wisdom, and God grants it. So Solomon's reign begins with humility and a real sense of devotion, and from there the chronicler leads us into the heart of the book, the building of the temple. We will together over the next month or two watch Solomon gather materials, organize workers, and follow the spirit given plans that were originally handed down by given to David and then handed down by David. We see the temple rise stone by stone, we hear the prayers of dedication, and we witness the moment when the glory of God fills his house so powerfully that the priests cannot even stand to minister at that point. After the temple is consecrated, the writer briefly recounts Solomon's fame, his wealth, his wisdom, the answer to that prayer for wisdom he asked for, his international influence, and then in chapter nine we actually see Solomon's life come to an end. And the second half of the book traces the story of Judah's kings and the temple during the reigns of the kings of Judah, and that is the whole second half of the book. Well, the whole two thirds, second two thirds of the book really, but it's only listing those connected to the temple. As I said, the northern kings are admitted because their worship had been corrupted. And we'll walk through the reigns of Rehobohim, the one who divides the kingdom, Abijah Anasa who seek the Lord, Jehosaphat who prays and sees God fight his battles, Joash, Amaz, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, all those kings who rise and fall, and Hezekiah the one who leads a great revival. Manasseh, we also see, is the one who falls deeply, but then repents profoundly, a lesson for us all there. And Josiah, who restores the temple and renews the covenant, and then finally the tragic last kings, one after the other, Jehoshaz, Jehoakim, Jehoiakin, and Zedekiah. And through each reign the chronicler is always highlighting one theme. When the king seeks the Lord, the nation is blessed and flourished, and flourishes, and when the king forsakes the Lord, the nation falters and fails. The book ends with the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the temple, a truly heartbreaking climax, but it does not still ultimately end right at the end with despair, because the final verses record the decree of Cyrus inviting the exiles to return and rebuild. So the very last word of this book is hope. Now the purpose of Chronicles is clear in that, consistent, intensely spiritual. When Israel is obeying God's ordinances, especially those ordinances around worship, they experience God's presence and God's blessing. Now, where the book of Kings covered the same historical period, it's centered on the throne. The books of the Chronicles centers on what's going on at the temples. Kings also highlighted the prophets, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah and the like. Chronicles chooses instead to highlight the priestly line, the Levites, those who serve in the temple as singers, the gatekeepers, and the worship leaders. So Kings, in a sense, tells the political story. Chronicles tells the spiritual story, and that is intentional. The chronicler is not ignoring the Northern Kingdom out of spite. He doesn't even mention Saul. He is excluding them because they stand outside the line of those who worship faithfully. In the Northern King, those kings in the Northern Kingdom ultimately rejected the temple. They rejected Jerusalem, which means they rejected the covenant promise of God. So they are extraneous to the author's purpose here. Elijah only appears once in this book, and Elisha not at all, and the northern kings are all effectively completely passed over. Why? Because the chronicler is writing a book about worship and God's presence among us and our obedience towards him. And the northern kingdom had effectively abandoned all three of those things, and that account of that abandonment is already described in Kings. Yet the chronicler is not choosing to hide evil here. It's important to say that. And then, as I said, in one of the most hopeful endings in all of the Old Testament, Two Chronicles closes with the edict of Cyrus, inviting anyone in exile to return and to rebuild the temple, to rebuild our temple. So that last, very last word of the book is actually about, well, it's a call for restoration. So the purpose of Chronicles is pastoral, it's spiritual and overall deeply encouraging. God is present with his people, it says, but he's present when they acknowledge him, and when they acknowledge him, his blessings are experienced. When they seek him, the promises he responds, and when they worship him with a right sense of worship, he can dwell with them. That is the purpose of the book. And it's pr echoing the promise. That we hear explicitly made in it, where it says, If my people seek my face, then I will hear from heaven. This is anticipating Jesus' teaching on the Sermon on the Mount, when he said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And it aligns with Paul's teaching, where we see him speaking in acts and saying, In him we live and move and have our being. Chronicles is a book about presence, about God's presence among his people. Now, if I were to summarize the message of Two Chronicles in one sentence, it would simply be this God blesses those who obey him, especially those who seek his presence through worship. And the writer, and as I said, most likely Ezra wrote to the returning remnant, those taking advantage of the decree of Cyrus to remind them of their history. God blessed David when he sought the Lord, God blessed Solomon when he built the temple, God blesses Isa, Jehosaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah when they restored worship, but God withdrew his blessing when those kings turned away from him. But still, among them God still restored his blessing for some of those ones when they repented. The chronicler is teaching that faithful remnant and us today, friends, that God is faithful, God is present, and God will respond to worship will respond to worship and obedience, and God will always restore the repentance. In other words, it's not just Israel's story, it can be the story of every believer still today. Paul tells us in Romans that everything written in the Bible is written for our instruction. And Jesus said himself, true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. And Chronicles is calling us all to be those types, to be those types of worshippers. So my friends, as we begin season 23 and we step into the second book of Chronicles, remember this. Ultimately, this is a book written to discouraged people. This is a book that can help rebuild hope. A book written to restore in the reader a sense of worship. A book written to show that ultimately God can still be present with us, and a book written to remind us that obedience is the thing that brings blessing. Now in our next episode tomorrow, we'll finally enter the text of Two Chronicles, beginning naturally with chapter one, where we see Solomon begin his reign and begin it with worship, humility, and a request that has shaped Christian prayer for centuries. Give me wisdom, Lord. But now for today, let this overview just settle in your spirit a little. And remember God is still present, God is still faithful, and God is still near to those who seek Him. And I hope you find that helpful. Also, sort of re-establish their identity through their worship. And we've seen that the book's message is clear, friends. When you acknowledge God, his blessings are experienced. When you seek God, he draws near to you. And when you worship God, his presence can fill your life and your, in a sense, temple. And we've seen the structure of the book. This book is designed to teach us that same lesson and to do it again and again. Seek the Lord, obey the Lord, worship the Lord, and if you find him, stay faithful. That is still a good spiritual instruction for every believer today. True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. And Chronicles is a calling to be those types of worshippers. True worshippers. So join me tomorrow because in our next episode we finally step into the text of this book and we see Solomon begin his reign. We hear that prayer for wisdom. It is one of the most beautiful beginnings of a book in Scripture and one of the most important lessons for anyone who wants to lead well or just simply live well, or ultimately just walk closely with God. So join me tomorrow as we watch Solomon seek the Lord and discover what happens when a king and a people begin well. But until then, friends, remember, God is still present today. God is still faithful today, and God still, when we acknowledge him, we can experience his blessing. And thanks be to him for that, I say. Thank you for joining me today. Bye-bye for now.