Ezra 10: Ezra summons all the people to Jerusalem. There he tells them that everyone who married a foreign woman must send away their wives and children. They all agree as a community. That pretty much sucks!
12/13 Reading (Ezra 1-3; Ephesians 4)
Introduction to Historical Books section in NRSV: The following quote comes from the introduction to the historical books section in the NRSV study bible:
12/8 Reading (2 Chronicles 26-28; Ephesians 1)
2 Chronicles 26: Amaziah’s son, Uzziah, takes over as king. As with the two kings before him, his reign started well in that he followed God and did what he was supposed to do. Eventually, he failed to do this just like his two predecessors. His sin was that he went into God’s sanctuary and burned incense. Only priests who were descended from Aaron were allowed to do this. God inflicted him with a skin disease and he lived alone until he died.
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12/4 Reading (2 Chronicles 13-15; Colossians 1)
2 Chronicles 13: Rehoboam’s son, Abijah, takes over. He goes to war with the northern kingdom and wins, even though he is vastly outnumbered. In his speech to the people of the northern kingdom, he apparently pushed the narrative that David’s line is the only true royal line and the temple is the only legitimate place to worship. As with his father, he had a bunch of wives, 14.
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11/28 Reading (1 Chronicles 28-29; Romans 13)
1 Chronicles 28: As I read the notes to this chapter I was reminded of the fact that I’m surprised that there is so much difference between Chronicles and what was in Samuel and Kings. It’s most likely because the Chronicler wants to put people like David in a better light, but that doesn’t make it right. For example, the notes for this chapter point out that in 2nd Samuel, it wasn’t entirely clear at first who would succeed David. There was even an attempt of a rebellion by Adonijah. In 1st Chronicles, David apparently made it clear that Solomon would be his successor.
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11/17 Reading (1 Chronicles 1-3; Romans 6)
For Chronicles: Chronicles is a retelling with significant variations of the books of Genesis through Kings. It is likely that its author had some access to many external sources not found in our canonical Bibles, but the main feature of Chronicles is the remarkable way in which its author deals with sources, rewriting them to fit a particular notion of historical probability, namely, what really could have happened based on notions of how the world worked. (NRSV Study Bible, p. 315)
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11/15 Reading (2 Kings 22-24; Romans 4)
2 Kings 22: Josiah was good and did good things, not deviating at all from King David. I remember reading about Josiah earlier in either a sidebar or notes. I will need to look him up.
11/10 Reading (2 Kings 10-12; Romans 1)
2 Kings 10: Jehu continues his violent ways and kills Ahab’s family, cementing his rule over Israel. He then kills Baal worshippers, this eliminating Baal from Israel. However, he continues in evil ways and continues to sin against God. We continue to see the downfall of Israel.
11/7 Reading (2 Kings 1-3; Galatians 4)
Introduction to 2 Kings: Just a quick explanation of how Israel and Judah end.
11/2 Reading (1 Kings 13-15; Galatians 1)
1 Kings 13: This is a really strange story about Jeroboam and a man of God. We are never told his name. The man of God successfully predicts something in front of Jeroboam almost in what seemed to be an attempt to make him leave his evil ways. The man of God then leaves and refuses to eat or drink with Jeroboam because God explicitly told him not to. He then leaves town and is approached by another prophet who tricks him into returning to his home and eating and drinking. God gets angry and a lion kills the man of God on his way back home. The old prophet gets his body and buries him in his own grave and mourns his death.
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