Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from 2 Chronicles
12 -16. Chapter 12 Now it came to pass when Raboam
had established a kingdom and had strengthened
himself, that he forsook the law of the Lord
and all Israel along with him. And it happened
in the fifth year of King Raboam that Shishak
king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem because
they had transgressed against the Lord. with
twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen,
and people without number who came with him out
of Egypt, the Lubim and the Sukim and the Ethiopians.
And he took the fortified cities of Judah and
came to Jerusalem. Then Shemaiah the prophet
came to Raboam and the leaders of Judah, who
were gathered together in Jerusalem because of
Shishak, and said to them, Thus says the Lord,
You have forsaken me, and therefore I also have
left you in the hand of Shishak. So the leaders
of Israel and the king humbled themselves and
they said, The Lord is righteous. Now when the
Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word
of the Lord came to Shemaiah saying, They have
humbled themselves, therefore I will not destroy
them, but I will grant them some deliverance.
My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem
by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless, they will
be his servants, that they may distinguish my
service from the service of the kingdoms of the
nations. So Shishak king of Egypt came up against
Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the
house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's
house. He took everything. He also carried away
the gold shields which Solomon had made. Then
king Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place
and committed them to the hands of the captains
of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king's
house. And whenever the king entered the house
of the Lord, the guard would go and bring them
out. Then they would take them back into the
guard room. When he humbled himself, the wrath
of the Lord turned from him, so as not to destroy
him completely, and things also went well in
Judah. Thus King Rehoboam strengthened himself
in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was 41
years old when he became king, and he reigned
17 years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord
had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to
put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah
and Ammonitess. And he did evil because he did
not prepare his heart to seek the Lord. The acts
of Raboam, first and last, are they not written
in the book of Shemaiah the prophet and of Edo
the seer concerning genealogies? And there were
wars between Raboam and Jeroboam all their days.
So Raboam rested with his fathers and was buried
in the city of David. Then Abijah his son reigned
in his place. Chapter 13 In the eighteenth year
of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.
He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's
name was Micaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.
And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
Abijah set the battle in order with an army of
valiant warriors, 400 ,000 choice men. Jeroboam
also drew up in battle formation against him
with 800 ,000 choice men, mighty men of valor.
Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemarim, which is
in the mountains of Ephraim, and said, Hear me,
Jeroboam and all Israel. Should you not know
that the Lord God of Israel gave the dominion
over Israel to David forever, to him and his
sons, by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the
son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son
of David, rose up and rebelled against his Lord.
Then worthless rogues gathered to him and strengthened
themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon,
when Rehoboam was young and inexperienced and
could not withstand them. And now you think to
withstand the kingdom of the Lord, which is in
the hand of the sons of David, and you are a
great multitude, and with you are the gold calves,
which Jeroboam made for you as gods. Have you
not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons
of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves
priests, like the peoples of other lands, so
that whoever comes to consecrate himself with
a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of
things that are not gods? But as for us, the
Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him.
And the priests who minister to the Lord are
the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to
their duties. And they burn to the Lord every
morning and every evening, burnt sacrifices and
sweet incense. They also set the showbread in
order on a pure gold table, and the lampstand
of gold with its lamps to burn every evening.
For we keep the command of the Lord our God,
but you have forsaken him. Now look, God himself
is with us as our head. and his priests with
sounding trumpets to sound alarm against you.
O children of Israel, do not fight against the
Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper.
But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind
them. So they were in front of Judah, and the
ambush was behind them. And when Judah looked
around, to their surprise the battle line was
at both front and rear, and they cried out to
the Lord, and the priests sounded the trumpets.
Then the men of Judah gave a shout, and as the
men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck
Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
And the children of Israel fled before Judah,
and God delivered them into their hand. Then
Abijah and his people struck them with a great
slaughter, so five hundred thousand choice men
of Israel fell slain. Thus the children of Israel
were subdued at that time, and the children of
Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord
God of their fathers. And Abijah pursued Jeroboam
and took cities from him. Bethel with its villages,
Jishana with its villages, and Ephraim with its
villages. So Jeroboam did not recover strength
again in the days of Abijah, and the Lord struck
him, and he died. But Abijah grew mighty, married
fourteen wives, and begot twenty -two sons and
sixteen daughters. Now the rest of the acts of
Abijah, his ways, and his sayings are written
in the annals of the prophet Edo. Chapter 14
So Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried
him in the city of David. Then Asa his son reigned
in his place. In his days the land was quiet
for ten years. Asa did what was good and right
in the eyes of the Lord his God. For he removed
the altars of the foreign gods and the high places
and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down
the wooden images. He commanded Judah to seek
the Lord God of their fathers and to observe
the law and the commandment. He also removed
the high places and incense altars from all the
cities of Judah. And the kingdom was quiet under
him. And he built fortified cities in Judah for
the land had rest. He had no war in those years,
because the Lord had given him rest. Therefore
he said to Judah, Let us build these cities and
make walls around them, and towers, gates, and
bars, while the land is yet before us, because
we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought
him, and he has given us rest on every side.
So they built and prospered, and Asa had an army
of three hundred thousand from Judah who carried
shields and spears, and from Benjamin two hundred
and eighty thousand men who carried shields and
drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.
Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them
with an army of a million men and three hundred
chariots, and he came to Marasha. So Asa went
out against them, and they set the troops in
battle array in the valley of Zephata at Marasha.
And Asa cried out to the Lord his God and said,
Lord, it is nothing for you to help, whether
with many or with those who have no power. Help
us, O Lord our God, for we rest on you, and in
your name we go against this multitude. O Lord,
you are our God, do not let man prevail against
you. So the Lord struck the Ethiopians before
Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa
and the people who were with him pursued them
to Gerar. For fear of the Lord came upon them,
and they plundered all the cities, for there
was exceedingly much spoil in them. They also
attacked the livestock enclosures, and carried
off sheep and camels in abundance, and returned
to Jerusalem. Chapter 15 Now the Spirit of God
came upon Azariah the son of Oded. And he went
out to meet Asa and said to him, Hear me, Asa,
and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with
you while you are with him. If you seek him,
he will be found by you. But if you forsake him,
he will forsake you. For a long time Israel has
been without the true God, without a teaching
priest, and without law. But when in their trouble
they turned to the Lord God of Israel and sought
him, he was found by them. And in those times
there was no peace to the one who went out, nor
to the one who came in, but great turmoil was
on all the inhabitants of the lands. So nation
was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for
God troubled them with every adversity. But you,
be strong, and do not let your hands be weak,
for your work shall be rewarded. And when Asa
heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the
prophet, he took courage and removed the abominable
idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin,
and from the cities which he had taken in the
mountains of Ephraim. And he restored the altar
of the Lord that was before the vestibule of
the Lord. Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin,
and those who dwelt with them from Ephraim, Manasseh,
and Simeon. For they came over to him in great
numbers from Israel when they saw that the Lord
his God was with him. So they gathered together
at Jerusalem in the third month in the fifteenth
year of the reign of Asa. And they offered to
the Lord at that time seven hundred bulls and
seven thousand sheep from the spoil they had
brought. Then they entered into a covenant to
seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their
heart and with all their soul. And whoever would
not seek the Lord God of Israel was to be put
to death, whether small or great, whether man
or woman. Then they took an oath before the Lord
with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets
and ram's horns. And all Judah rejoiced at the
oath, for they had sworn with all their heart
and sought him with all their soul. And he was
found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all
around. Also he removed Macca, the mother of
Asa the king, from being queen mother, because
she had made an obscene image of Asherah. And
Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed
and burnt it by the brook Kidron. But the high
places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless,
the heart of Asa was loyal all his days. He also
brought into the house of God the things that
his father had dedicated and that he himself
had dedicated, silver and gold and utensils.
And there was no war until the 35th year of the
reign of Asa. Chapter 16 In the 36th year of
the reign of Asa, Basha king of Israel came up
against Judah and built Ramah, that he might
let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries
of the house of the Lord and of the king's house
and sent to Ben -Hadad, king of Syria, who dwelt
in Damascus, saying, Let there be a treaty between
you and me, as there was between my father and
your father. See, I have sent you silver and
gold. Come, break your treaty with Basha, king
of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.
So Ben -Hadad heeded king Asa and sent the captains
of his armies against the cities of Israel. They
attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel, Maim, and all the storage
cities of Naphtali. Now it happened when Basha
heard it that he stopped building Ramah and ceased
his work. Then King Asa took all Judah and they
carried away the stones and timber of Ramah which
Basha had used for building. And with them he
built Geba and Misbah. And at that time Hanani
the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to
him, Because you have relied on the king of Syria
and have not relied on the Lord your God, Therefore
the army of the king of Syria has escaped from
your hand. Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim
not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen?
Yet because you relied on the Lord, he delivered
them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord
run to and fro throughout the whole earth to
show himself strong on behalf of those whose
heart is loyal to him. In this you have done
foolishly. Therefore from now on you shall have
wars. Then Asa was angry with the seer and put
him in prison, for he was enraged at him because
of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people
at that time. Note that the acts of Asa, first
and last, are indeed written in the book of the
kings of Judah and Israel. And in the 39th year
of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet
and his malady was severe. Yet in his disease
he did not seek the Lord. but the physicians.
So Asa rested with his fathers. He died in the
forty -first year of his reign. They buried him
in his own tomb, which he had made for himself
in the city of David. And they laid him in the
bed, which was filled with spices and various
ingredients, prepared in a mixture of ointments.
They made a very great burning for him. I hope
you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did.
And I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow
to continue on our journey. God bless you and
have a great day.