20250216

right choices

2 Chronicles 36:1-23

2 Chronicles 36:1 Then the common people took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.
2 Chronicles 36:2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:3 The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and fined the land seventy-five hundred pounds of silver and seventy-five pounds of gold.
2 Chronicles 36:4 Then King Neco of Egypt made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took his brother Jehoahaz and brought him to Egypt.
2 Chronicles 36:5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of Yahvehhis God.
2 Chronicles 36:6 Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked him and bound him in bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.
2 Chronicles 36:7 Also Nebuchadnezzar took some of the articles of Yahveh’s temple to Babylon and put them in his temple in Babylon.
2 Chronicles 36:8 The rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim, the detestable actions he committed, and what was found against him, are written in the Book of Israel’s Kings. His son Jehoiachin became king in his place.
2 Chronicles 36:9 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in Yahveh’s sight.
2 Chronicles 36:10 In the spring Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon along with the valuable articles of Yahveh’s temple. Then he made Jehoiachin’s brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:12 He did what was evil in the sight of Yahveh his God and did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah at Yahveh’s command.
2 Chronicles 36:13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God. He became obstinate and hardened his heart against returning to Yahveh, the God of Israel.
2 Chronicles 36:14 All the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, imitating all the detestable practices of the nations, and they defiled Yahveh’s temple that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:15 But Yahveh, the God of their ancestors sent word against them by the hand of his messengers, sending them time and time again, for he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.
2 Chronicles 36:16 But they kept ridiculing God’s messengers, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, until Yahveh’s wrath was so stirred up against his people that there was no remedy.
2 Chronicles 36:17 So he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their fit young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He had no pity on young men or young women, elderly or aged; he handed them all over to him.
2 Chronicles 36:18 He took everything to Babylon– all the articles of God’s temple, large and small, the treasures of Yahveh’s temple, and the treasures of the king and his officials.
2 Chronicles 36:19 Then the Chaldeans burned God’s temple. They tore down Jerusalem’s wall, burned all its palaces, and destroyed all its valuable articles.
2 Chronicles 36:20 He deported those who escaped from the sword to Babylon, and they became servants to him and his sons until the rise of the Persian kingdom.
2 Chronicles 36:21 This fulfilled the word of Yahveh through Jeremiah, and the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation until seventy years were fulfilled.
2 Chronicles 36:22 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of Yahveh spoken through Jeremiah, Yahveh roused the breath of King Cyrus of Persia to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and also to put it in writing:
2 Chronicles 36:23 This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: Yahveh, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the land and has appointed me to build him a temple at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up and may Yahveh his God be with him.

We have followed the chronicler as he has retold the story of the kings of Judah. He took us through the good and the bad – mostly bad – times. Even the best of the kings did not look well when scrutinized by his omniscient-like reflection. The human heroes of the works turn out to be two people who were not kings of Judah: Jeremiah the prophet who predicted restoration, and Cyrus, king of Persia whose spirit was stirred up by the LORD to allow it. Both books are revealed to be less about the bad choices the kings of Judah made, and more about the opportunity that the readers have to make the right choices.

LORD, help us to make the right choices… ones that honor you and extend your kingdom.