Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / February 20 - 2 Kings 12

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February 20 - 2 Kings 12 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here, it's Thursday, it's the 20th of
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  February. Oh, and it is a very good day as
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  this week is drawing to a close just about, and I am delighted
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  to have reached this point because, well, I've been away
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  for the last couple of weeks in Canberra doing army things and
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  well, as much as it's great to be doing, oh work that's
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  fulfilling, Gee, I'm looking forward to getting home.
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  I hope you're going well friends, I hope that if you are
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  far from home that it won't be too long before you get to be
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  back at home with those you love.
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  Sleeping in your own bed with your own pillow.
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  Gee, that's hard to beat, isn't it?
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  Yeah, not too long. Only one more sleep and then
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  home tomorrow for me. And if you are home, enjoy being
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  home. Do it for me.
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  Go on, soak it up so that between the two of us, we can
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  enjoy a bit of home frontage today.
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  And one thing that we can be sure about is that our home is
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  not going to rise and fall with kings and their successors the
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  way that Israel and Judah sure did as we're reading through
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  this book. And we are going to continue
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  with these stories of the kings and them trying so hard to
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  succeed, but largely not doing very well.
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  Let's continue in this story as we hear the difference between
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  Jesus, our perfect king, and the best that humanity can offer as
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  we continue to read through Second Kings chapter 12.
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  Joash began to rule over Judah in the seventh year of King
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  Jehu's reign in Israel. He reigned in Jerusalem 40
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  years. His mother was Zebia from
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  Bathsheba. All his life Joash did what was
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  pleasing in the Lord's sight because Jehoiada the priest
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  instructed him. Yet Even so, he did not destroy
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  the Pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices
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  and burnt incense there. One day, King Joash said to the
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  priests, collect all the money brought as a sacred offering to
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  the Lord's temple. Whether it is a regular
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  assessment, a payment of vows, or a voluntary gift, let the
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  priests take some of the money to pay for whatever repairs are
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  needed to the temple. But by the 23rd year of Joash's
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  reign, the priests still had not repaired the temple.
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  So King Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests
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  and asked them, Why haven't you repaired the temple?
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  Don't use any more money for your own needs.
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  From now on, it must all be spent on temple repairs, so the
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  priests agreed not to accept any more money from the people, and
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  they also agreed to let others take responsibility for
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  repairing the temple. Then Jehoiada the priest bored a
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  hole in the lid of a large chest and set it on the right hand
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  side of the altar at the entrance of the Temple of the
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  Lord. The priests guarding the
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  entrance put all of the people's contributions into the chest.
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  Whenever the chest became full, the court secretary and the high
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  priest counted the money that had been brought to the Lord's
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  temple and put it into bags. Then they gave the money to the
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  construction supervisors, who used it to pay the people
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  working on the Lord's temple, the carpenters, the builders,
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  the Masons, and the stone cutters.
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  They also used the money to buy the timber and the finished
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  stone needed for repairing the Lord's temple, and they paid any
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  other expenses relating to the temple's restoration.
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  The money brought to the temple was not used for making silver
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  bowls, lamp snuffers, basins, trumpets, or other articles of
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  gold or silver for the temple of the Lord.
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  It was paid to the workmen who used it for the temple repairs.
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  No accounting of this money was required from the construction
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  supervisors because they were honest and trustworthy men.
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  However, the money that was contributed for guilt offerings
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  and sin offerings was not brought into the Lord's temple.
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  It was given to the priests for their own use.
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  About this time, King Hazael of Aram went to war against Gath
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  and captured it. Then he turned to attack
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  Jerusalem. King Joach collected all the
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  sacred objects that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ayaziah, the
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  previous kings of Judah, had dedicated, along with what he
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  himself had dedicated. He sent them all to Hazael,
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  along with all the gold in the treasuries of the Lord's temple
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  and the royal palace. So Hazael called off his attack
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  on Jerusalem. The rest of the events in
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  Joash's reign and everything he did are recorded in the Book of
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  the History of the Kings of Judah.
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  Joash's officers plotted against him and assassinated him at Beth
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  Millo on the road to Scylla. The assassins were Josika, son
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  of Shimiath, and Jehozabad, son of Shoma, both trusted advisers.
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  Joash was buried with his ancestors in the city of David.
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  Then his son Amasiah became the next king.
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  Our Lord. In the midst of this story, we
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  hear about these two construction supervisors who
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  people just trusted implicitly because they were honest and
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  trustworthy. Our Lord, thank you that you are
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  the ultimate example of a God who is trustworthy and a God who
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  when you speak, we know that what you say is the truth and
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  that you always, always, every single time come through with
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  what you have promised us. Our Lord, we are so used to
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  dealing with things of this world which come and go, which
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  ebb and flow, which are honest and then just a little bit
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  deceitful from time to time because human nature is so
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  broken. But you, you are different.
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  You are perfect and you show us a better way.
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  Lord, we can't live like this without your help.
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  We need your Holy Spirit to grow to the point that it becomes
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  stronger than our broken human nature.
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  So Jesus, I just pray that your Spirit grows in US and that the
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  fruits of your spirit grow in us too, so that we can be known
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  amongst our people as honest and trustworthy, and that that would
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  be reflected back to your goodness.
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  Thank you, Holy Spirit, for coming, for dwelling in US, and
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  for doing the long, difficult, and patient work of
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  transformation in our hearts. Continue that work in US and
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  help us to be more like Jesus. And we pray all of this in His
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  name, Amen.