Rod's Recommended Resources for Kings and Chronicles:

Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, and Time Lines

Synopsis of the Old Testament

A Synoptic Harmony of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles: With Related Passages from Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezra

Print Outs (PR's favorites):

Kings of Judah & Israel

Kings of Judah & Israel (2)

00:00 It's Pastor PJ's Birthday!

01:10 Overview of Today's Bible Reading

01:27 The Tale of Four Kings in 1 Kings 15

02:24 Judah's Kings: Abijah and Asa

04:11 Northern Kingdom's Kings: Nadab and Baasha

06:35 God's Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

07:47 2 Chronicles 13: Abijah's Battle with Jeroboam

10:45 Asa's Reign in 2 Chronicles 14-16

15:21 Lessons from Asa's Reign

18:35 Conclusion and Prayer

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Happy Wednesday to you.

2

Welcome back Bible reader, and let's

just start with the elephant in the room.

3

Pastor PJ's not here and

yet he has the audacity.

4

To have a birthday.

5

How dare he.

6

He's gone.

7

We can't celebrate him right

now, but you still can.

8

If you have his cell phone number,

let me encourage you to take a few

9

moments a day to give him a text.

10

I know he would love to

receive a text from you.

11

Yes.

12

You the one who's listening.

13

So if you have that information,

please feel free to use it.

14

If you don't have it, I can't promise it.

15

I'll give it to you and I can't

even promise that I'll put it in

16

the show notes 'cause I know he

would absolutely hate if I did that.

17

As tempted as I am, I.

18

But you can, if you have his information,

text him or he has Facebook, I think you

19

can go there and say a few nice things

to him if you care about that, and I'm

20

sure he would appreciate it nonetheless.

21

So happy birthday, pastor pj.

22

Everyone here misses you.

23

We hope that you come back soon.

24

We hope that you have a great time

in California and we hope that you

25

come back several shades darker.

26

We think that'd be really fun.

27

And in fact, if you and I competed

for the darkest guy on staff,

28

I think that would be cool.

29

Just saying, okay.

30

Happy birthday, pastor pj.

31

For the rest of us, we still have

work to do, and in fact, we have

32

a lot of territory to cover today.

33

So let's jump on in Today we're gonna

cover Second Kings Today we're gonna

34

cover First Kings chapter 15, and

then second Chronicles 13, 14, 15, 16.

35

In one Kings chapter 15, we

actually have the tale of four

36

kings, two of them are from Judah.

37

Remember, Judah is the Southern Kingdom

comprised of Judah and Benjamin, and two

38

of them are from the northern kingdom.

39

The Northern kingdom is comprised

of the 10 other tribes of Israel,

40

and so you have a ten two splits.

41

Judah is the kingdom that

God has promised to bless.

42

They're the ones that

carry the Davidic promise.

43

The Northern Kingdom, on the other hand,

doesn't have the same things, which is why

44

you'll see that Judah has at least several

good kings in her lineage, where Northern

45

Kingdom Israel, on the other hand.

46

Yeah, everybody's bad.

47

A couple episodes ago

I said, I'm not sure.

48

I think there's nobody.

49

I'm confident.

50

I went and did my research.

51

I confirmed and double checked.

52

There is no one good in

the northern kingdom.

53

It starts off pretty poorly.

54

Jira Bo does not set them off in a good

trajectory, and of course no one behind

55

him really cares to do any better.

56

They all are pretty terrible.

57

And so in chapter 15, we have two

kings and in fact, the first two

58

kings, Abba Jim, also known as Abba Ja.

59

And Asa are kings that we're gonna see

a lot more of in second Chronicles.

60

So just a few brief sketches here.

61

A Baja here in One Kings 15, also

known as a Baja in Second Chronicles

62

says here he walked in all the sins

that his father did before him.

63

And his heart was not wholly

true to the Lord his God as

64

a heart of David, his father.

65

So this is the verdict

on his entire kingship.

66

He didn't do well.

67

In fact, if you go to any of the

Kings of Israel and Judah charts,

68

you're gonna see a thumbs down for

this guy because of words like this.

69

Even though he had a couple

potentially good things to his

70

name, he didn't do well overall.

71

Even still, verse four says, for David's

sake, the Lord gave him a lamp in

72

Jerusalem, setting up his son after him.

73

And this of course, is what God has

promised to do throughout the whole

74

kingdom of Judah, because they needed a

Davidic ruler to sit on David's throne.

75

This is gonna be important

because ultimately Jesus is the

76

son of David who sits on David's

throne in the fullest sense.

77

He is the true king,

the true son of David.

78

In verses nine and through

about 24, you have Asa's reign.

79

Now Asa has a long tenure where

Aja only rules for three years.

80

AA rules for 41 years.

81

Can you imagine that a reign that long?

82

And he's not even the longest.

83

We're gonna get to a longer one in just a

few chapters, but it's a very long tenure.

84

And notice here in verse 11, ASA did

what was right in the eyes of the

85

Lord as his father David had done.

86

In fact, scripture likes him so

much that we're gonna spend several

87

chapters talking about his reign.

88

So we'll put a pause in that for a

second and just recognize that Asa is a

89

well-regarded king in the tribe of Judah,

in the line of the kingdom of David.

90

But we have two kings from the northern

kingdom in one Kings 15, and that's Nadab

91

and Beau Nadab is the direct descendant

of Jira Boem, the first Jira Boem.

92

Remember, he's the one who

initiates all these evil practices.

93

In chapter 14, he sets

up the golden calves.

94

He's the one who initiates his own feasts.

95

He does his own

thing, , not following God.

96

It's actually.

97

One Kings chapter 12, where

you see all this take place.

98

So after him, his son,

Nadab, takes a throne.

99

His row is his.

100

His reign is not very long.

101

It's just two years.

102

And notice in verse 26, he does what

is evil on the side of the Lord and

103

walked in the way of his father in the

sin in which he made Israel to sin.

104

And beha the son of Aja, of the house

of Issachar conspired against him.

105

So it's not long into NAB's reign.

106

This is naab, the son of Jeroboam.

107

Before we have a conspirator,

someone who wants the throne and

108

successfully deposes the king.

109

And he does.

110

So when the king is distracted,

and in verse 29, you find out that

111

beha, the new king to the throne

kills all the house of Jeroboam.

112

Now, this is important because just a

few chapters ago in chapter 14, verses

113

10 and 14, we have God's promise that

that's exactly what he was gonna do.

114

And so let me refer you back there.

115

One Kings chapter 14, verse 10.

116

Therefore, behold, I will bring

harm upon the house of ome and it

117

will cut off from ome every male,

both bond and free in Israel.

118

And I will burn up the house of ome as a

man burns up dung until it is all gone.

119

This in response to.

120

Jira Bo's wife asking AIA the prophet

whether or not her son would recover.

121

He says, no, he's not gonna

recover, but there's something

122

pleasing in him, remember?

123

And so he's gonna get a burial

where everyone else in Jira, Bo's

124

family line would not get that.

125

Well enter Beha in chapter 15.

126

He's the one who takes out

the whole house of Jira Beum.

127

This is a coup.

128

He takes over and he

installs himself as king.

129

But the verdict on NAB's

reign is a negative one.

130

He does not do well.

131

He ends poorly.

132

There's nothing to

commend about his reign.

133

Beha enters at the very end of chapter 15.

134

He's gonna reign over Israel at

Terraza, so he's in a different city.

135

He's inza.

136

But notice in verse 34, we already

know what to expect from him.

137

He does what's evil in the side of the

Lord and walks in the way of ome and in

138

his sin in which he made Israel to sin.

139

So nothing different there.

140

It's a new dynasty because he cuts

off JIRA's line, but the dynasty's

141

gonna be the same in that there's

gonna be sin to be expected.

142

What you see in a lot of these

uprisings and these changes of

143

the guard here is a couple things.

144

Number one, God is in control of

all these movements, even though

145

it can get a little confusing

about which kingdom we're talking

146

about and which King is doing what.

147

What I need you to see is God is

sovereignly, orchestrating all of

148

human history, especially his kings

and Judah and Israel, but all of

149

human history is under his control.

150

In fact, I think it's Proverbs 22,

maybe Proverbs 21, I can't remember

151

right now, says the King's heart is a

stream of water in the hand of the Lord.

152

He turns it wherever he will.

153

And what I'm trying to get to you is

that everything that's happening here,

154

even though it's terrible to read some

of this, it's under God's control.

155

Secondly, even though that's true, man is

responsible for what he does under God's

156

provision, under God's care and direction.

157

Therefore, even though these kings

are still under God's sovereign

158

purposes and under his control,

they are still fully responsible for

159

the works that they choose to do.

160

Their freedom to choose

is clearly evident.

161

God doesn't say, well, I made

them do the evil thing and

162

therefore they're not guilty.

163

We see here that God does

hold them accountable.

164

They do what's evil.

165

God judged them for their evil

and they're turned over largely.

166

That's true in the Northern Kingdom.

167

A little less so in the southern

kingdom, although we will see that.

168

Two Chronicles chapter 13.

169

Here we have Aja.

170

We're gonna have a little more

to read about Aja because there's

171

more to say about him here.

172

Well, there apparently was a

fight, a war between Aja and Jbo.

173

This is Jira Bo the first.

174

So we're going a little

bit back in history here.

175

Aja has a fight with Jira, and it seems

like Jira Bo is the aggressor because

176

he kind of has his stump speech here.

177

He gets up and he starts preaching,

he starts speaking to the, the people

178

of Israel and says, essentially, do

not fight against the Lord, the God of

179

your fathers, for you cannot succeed.

180

That's what he says in verse 12.

181

But little did he know as

he's giving his stump speech.

182

In verse 13, JIRA Bow had sent an ambush

around to come upon them from behind.

183

So there's troops in front of Judah

and the ambush was behind them.

184

And when Judah looked, behold the

battle was in front and be behind.

185

Now, at this point in time, they

might be tempted to throw their hands

186

in the air and perhaps surrender.

187

But notice in your Bible, they cried to

the Lord and the priest blew the trumpets.

188

Then the men of Judah raised the

battle shout, and when the men of

189

Judah shouted God defeated Jira Bowman

all Israel before Eja and Judah.

190

This is interesting because they

showcase the kind of faith that

191

I think God still wants from us.

192

When we see ourselves surrounded by the

enemy, by evil, our first reaction should

193

not be to react with terror or fear, at

least not all by itself, but to react with

194

a deference to God, crying to the Lord.

195

Letting the Lord know what's happening.

196

Now, he knows he's not oblivious to what's

happening in your life, but to turn to

197

him and to call to the Lord and say, Lord,

we need your help, Lord, please help me.

198

A lot of people do this quite

naturally, even atheists.

199

You heard the saying, there's no such

thing as an atheist in a foxhole.

200

I.

201

But I wonder if often we can

practically live as atheists because

202

we don't give the Lord the kind

of attention that he deserves.

203

In fact, we see here that in verse 15,

the men of Israel fled before Judah

204

and God gave them into their hand.

205

God responded to their

prayers of desperation.

206

Now, God doesn't always

respond in this way.

207

The response may not be positive.

208

I.

209

At least positive as we see it,

but it'll be positive in the

210

way that God understands that we

think of Romans eight, verse 28.

211

He works all things together for the

good of those who love him, to those who

212

are called according to His purposes.

213

Everything that happens in the

believer's life, therefore is for our

214

good, even if we cannot immediately see

what that good is or even define it.

215

We trust that God is doing all things

for his glory and for our good.

216

They call out to the Lord.

217

God delivers them.

218

Aja is protected.

219

And it says in verse 18, Judah

prevailed because they relied on

220

the Lord the God of their fathers.

221

And so God's commentary on

his short reign, even though

222

ultimately was considered a bad

reign, was that he did good here.

223

This is one of the highlights for Eja

and for Judah, they trusted the Lord.

224

God delivered them.

225

That's the point for us.

226

We ought to see that God is faithful

to his people that trust him.

227

God loves, and he's even

attracted to humility.

228

God looks to the humble.

229

He cares about , their plight,

and he intercedes on their behalf.

230

Now Asa gets one to three chapters.

231

Asa gets second Chronicles 14

all the way through chapter 16.

232

So a couple quickies here in chapter 14.

233

You notice that ASA starts

off his reign with rest.

234

God blessed him by giving

him rest for 10 years.

235

This is just a foretaste and a

hint of the rest that Christians

236

will get as we trust in Christ.

237

There is a future rest to be enjoyed, but

here there is a rest that is physical.

238

And this is in part

because God bless them.

239

Verse two, ASA did what was good and

right in the eyes of the Lord, his God.

240

And he demonstrates this by taking away

the altars, breaking down the pillars,

241

the Asim, and he commanded Judah.

242

Notice this in verse four.

243

He commands Judah to seek the Lord

the God of their fathers and to

244

keep the law and the commandment.

245

And so consequently, verse six,

here, the Lord gave him peace.

246

The Lord interacts on their behalf.

247

But in verse nine zero, the

Ethiopian comes out against

248

him, but Asa cries to the Lord.

249

The Lord responds.

250

We saw this in the last chapter.

251

The Lord loves to.

252

Help the humble.

253

And so he says, help us.

254

Oh Lord, our God, we rely

on you and in your name.

255

We have come against this multitude.

256

And of course in verse 12, God defeats

the Ethiopians on their behalf.

257

Juda survives.

258

They live to see another day

because they relied on the Lord.

259

They cried to the Lord.

260

And this is the point.

261

Yet again, we see that God is

helping those who are humble.

262

He's helping his kings who rely on him.

263

Again, God loves, he's attracted to

the humility that he sees in people.

264

In chapter 15, the spirit of the Lord

came upon Azariah, the Son of ODed.

265

God sends him a messenger to give him

a message of encouragement, and that's

266

exactly the effect that takes place here.

267

Azariah says, the Lord is with

you while you are with him.

268

If you seek him, he will be

found by you, but if you forsake

269

him, he will forsake you.

270

This is basically

boilerplates old covenant.

271

This is how God interacted with them.

272

The Davidic covenant is with you.

273

The Abrahamic covenant is with you.

274

If you'll obey.

275

If you'll do the right thing, if you'll

seek the Lord with all your heart.

276

And in fact, this is what Asa does.

277

He sought him and he was found by them.

278

Verse four says, as soon as Asa heard the

words of Azariah, he took courage and he

279

goes in earnest to take care of all the

idols of the land of Judah and Benjamin.

280

And he encouraged all the people that were

from the land of Israel who joined them

281

in the Southern Kingdom to do the same.

282

He asked them, he encouraged them

to seek the Lord with all their

283

heart and with all their soul.

284

Verse 12.

285

And that's what they do.

286

Verse 15 says, all Judah rejoiced over

the oath where they had swarm with all

287

their heart and had sought him with their

whole desire, and he was found by them,

288

and the Lord gave them rest all around.

289

Notice the connections that are being

made across multiple chapters here.

290

God loves humility.

291

God loves obedience.

292

That is wholehearted whole life

and God blesses these things.

293

These are still true for us today.

294

It is not exactly the same as Christians.

295

Obviously, we're not luck.

296

We're not talking about land.

297

We're not talking about the kind

of blessings that Israel or Judah

298

enjoyed, but God does still bestow

blessings on those who are humble,

299

who seek him with their whole heart

and their whole life and their whole

300

soul, and this is what Asa does.

301

So valiantly, he's great at this.

302

In fact, in verse 16, he's even willing

to depose Meka his mother, which is

303

actually technically his grandmother.

304

Removes her because she was

the one encouraging idolatry.

305

And so he says, you know what?

306

Even though I love you, grandmama,

you gotta get out, you can't be here.

307

And I love that.

308

And this is what Jesus says

in the New Testament, right?

309

If you're gonna love father or

mother, sister, or brother more

310

than me, you're not worthy of me.

311

And here Acea showcases what it

looks like to put Christ first.

312

Obviously, that's an anachronism.

313

Christ wasn't around at this point

in time, but to put your faith in God

314

as first and foremost, and so he was

willing even to remove grandmama in order

315

to fulfill faithfulness to the Lord.

316

Verse 17, but the high places

were not taken out of Israel.

317

So there's a, a spot on his reign.

318

It's not perfect.

319

He says, nevertheless, the heart

of AA was wholly true all his days.

320

So God is blessing him

because of his humility, his

321

obedience with the whole heart.

322

He enlists all the people.

323

And so God looks favorably upon his reign.

324

But with that, even though he had

such a great season of faithfulness.

325

Even the most faithful can have

periods of stumbling and of faltering.

326

Sadly, that's what Chapter

sixteen's about in the 36th

327

year of the reign of Asa means.

328

He's been at this a long time.

329

He's been doing the thing that he's always

been doing, and I wonder if he got tired.

330

Well, here's what happens.

331

Beha, the King of Israel went

up against Judah and built Rama.

332

Rama is north in the Southern Kingdom.

333

I think it's in the territory of Benjamin.

334

And so he was trying to block people from

entering in or coming out of Judah, and

335

so he's trying to constrict the travel

between the two by going to a major city

336

and doing what he can to prevent that.

337

Here's the Asa's fatal flaw.

338

He doesn't cry out to the

Lord like he did previously.

339

He doesn't seek God with his whole

heart like he did previously.

340

Instead, verse two gives us an

impression that he simply ran to his

341

neighbor, Ben Hayad, king of Syria.

342

Worse yet.

343

He took all the silver and the gold

from the treasures of the house of the

344

Lord, which means that the temple, he

took it out and he's like, let me just

345

give this to this foreign king and let

me ask him to break his covenant with

346

Beha King of Israel and let me ask him

to protect me and to partner with me.

347

And that's exactly what happens.

348

Beha King of Israel, listen to the king.

349

He stops his partnership

with Israel, and he begins to

350

focus his efforts against him.

351

And this successfully stops beha

from building Rama he f flees.

352

And at that time, God sends

another messenger to let him

353

know what he thought about this.

354

So Hanani the seer came to King Asa

and said to him in verse seven, because

355

you relied on the king of Syria and

did not rely on the Lord or God.

356

The army of the king of

Syria has escaped you.

357

In other words, you

partnered with the enemy.

358

This was not a guy that you were

supposed to be in partnership with.

359

You were supposed to be, you were

supposed to be in league only with me.

360

We were reminded in Second Corinthians

chapter seven, not to be unequally yoked.

361

This is one of those examples.

362

He's not yoked to the right partner.

363

God reminds him, haven't

I taken care of you?

364

Didn't I show that I was faithful to

you when not when you relied on me?

365

He says in verse nine, something

that's super important.

366

You ought to highlight this one for the

eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout

367

the whole earth to give strong support to

those whose heart is blameless toward him.

368

This is what I was talking about earlier,

and there's this verse that I had in

369

mind as I was encouraging you to seek the

Lord with the whole heart and be humble.

370

The eyes of the Lord run to and

fro throughout the whole earth.

371

He's searching.

372

He's looking to do what?

373

To give strong support to those

whose heart is blameless toward him.

374

Blameless does not mean perfect, but

it does mean that there's a clear

375

conscience because there is a humble

submission and a humble repentance

376

that characterizes your life.

377

God is looking to support that person.

378

He's on the prowl.

379

He's eager to lend support

to that kind of person.

380

I wonder if you would consider yourself

one who is hard, is blameless toward him.

381

Well, Hanani tells him,

you've done foolishly.

382

This is not a good thing Asa

because he's the king gets

383

angry and says, you know what?

384

For this information I'm

gonna put you in stocks.

385

And he does exactly that.

386

Asa inflicted cruelties upon some

of the people at the same time.

387

So ASA spirals out of control.

388

He is now lost It.

389

And in the 39th year of his reign, ASA

was disease in his feast and the disease.

390

This and the disease became severe.

391

Yet even in his disease, he did

not seek the Lord, but sought

392

help from the physicians.

393

He sought help from Ben, Hey dad.

394

He sought help from the physicians.

395

He did not seek the Lord.

396

Oh, Christian man, if you are

struggling, if you feel like God is

397

opposed to you, I wonder if maybe he is.

398

Maybe he is.

399

Maybe it's time to repent of your

sin and to seek the Lord not to rely

400

on the physicians, not to rely on

the bank account, not to rely on the

401

clientele, but to rely on the Lord.

402

That really is one of the

predominant themes in Asa's reign.

403

When he was humble and

wholehearted man, things went well.

404

'cause the Lord was with him.

405

It's when he turned and he

began to rely on outside.

406

Help Ben, Hey Dad, the physicians

that things began to crumble for him.

407

He did not rely on the Lord.

408

Lemme challenge you today.

409

Make sure your heart is relying on

the Lord and not in anything less.

410

Alright guys, thank you

so much for joining me.

411

Let's pray this out.

412

God, we want to be

humble and wholehearted.

413

I can't think of anybody who

calls himself a Christian who

414

doesn't want that, and yet.

415

Lord, we know how difficult that is.

416

Please tenderize our hearts,

draw us to you in love and in

417

faithfulness, and never let us go.

418

Help us to remain humble and

wholehearted before you all of our days.

419

In Jesus name, amen.

420

Thank you for joining me today for another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

421

I am honored to have you.

422

Thank you for letting me lead you

through the Bible, and I'll pray

423

that you come back and join me

tomorrow for another round yet again.

424

Have a great day.

425

I'll see you soon.

426

PJ: thanks for listening to another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

427

This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

428

You can find out more information

about ourChurch@compassntx.org.

429

We would love for you to leave a

review to rate to share this podcast

430

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be listening on, and we will catch

431

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