Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / 2 Chronicles 24:1-14 - Give Cheerfully, Not from Guilt or Obligation

Transcript

2 Chronicles 24:1-14 - Give Cheerfully, Not from Guilt or Obligation · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio, how do their friends and faithful listeners. Welcome
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: to the Bible Explain podcast on this lovely Monday morning.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: We're going to be in second Chronicles twenty four today
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: talking about the reign of King Joe Ash and what
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: we can learn about being a cheerful giver and servant
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: in God's kingdom based upon today's passage. Well, faithful listeners,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I hope you had a great weekend. I gotta tell you, guys,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I am having an absolute blast doing worship with my
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: husband on Sunday mornings. It has been so much fun
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to get up there once again and lead the audience
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: in worship. And it's not just me and my husband.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: We have a team of really excellent people. We've got
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of singers and some guitarists and a bassist
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: and drummers, and we even have a mandolin player, which
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: has been a lot of fun for my husband and I.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: So we've been having a blast doing all that. So
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: you guys got to tell me what's been going on
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: with all of you. You can find my contact information
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: listed in the description of this episode, and of course,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, if you ever have a prayer request, please
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: feel free to reach out anytime and let me know
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: what it is, and I will write you down in
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: my little prayer journal for the week. Now, faithful listeners,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: before we get into today's episode, please take a listen
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: to this quick message from a sponsor. All right, all
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: that being said, let's go ahead and read Second Chronicles
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: twenty four one through fourteen. As usual, I'll be reading
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: from the web. Joe Ash was seven years old when
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: he began to rain, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: His mother's name was Zibiyah of Beersheba. Joe Ash did
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: that which was right in Yahwai's eyes all the days
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: of Jehoida. The priest Jehoeida took for him two wives,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: and he became the father of sons and daughters. After this,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: joe Ash intended to restore Yaway's house. He gathered together
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: the priests and the Levites and said them, go out
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to the cities of Judah and gather money to repair
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the house of your God from all Israel from year
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: to year, see that you expedite this matter. However, the
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Levites didn't do it right away. The king called for Joheida,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: the chief, and said to him why haven't you required
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: of the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: the servant of Yahweh, and of the assembly of Israel,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: out of Judah and out of Jerusalem for the tent
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: of the testimony for the sons of Athalia, that wicked
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: woman had broken up God's house. And they also gave
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: all the dedicated things of Yahwah's house to the bales.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: So the king commanded, and they made a chest and
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: set it outside the gate of Yahwai's house. They made
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Yahweh the tax that Moses, the servant of God, laid
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: on Israel in the wilderness. All the princes and all
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the people rejoiced and brought in and cast into the
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: chest until they had filled it. Whenever the chest was
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: brought to the king's officers by the hand of the Levites,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: And when they saw that there was much money, the
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: King's scribe and the Chief Priest's officer came in and
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: emptied the chest and took it and carried it to
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: its place again. Thus they did day by day and
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: gathered money in abundance. The king and Jehoida gave it
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: to those who did the work of the service of
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Yahway's house. They hired masons and carpenters to restore y
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Alway's house, and also those who worked in iron and
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: bronze to repair y Always House. So the workmen worked,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: and the work of repairing went forward in their hands.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: They set up God's House as it was designed, and
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: strengthened it. When they had finished, they brought the rest
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: of the money before the King and Jehoida, from which
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: were made vessels for y Always House, even vessels with
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: which to minister and to offer, including spoons and vessels
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: of gold and silver. They offered burnt offerings in Yaoway's
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: house continually all the days of Jehoida. So if you
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: don't remember what happened in the last chapter, I highly
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: recommend going back and reading it for yourself and or
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: listening to the episode that we did on it last week.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: But essentially, joe Ash was seven years old when he
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: began to reign as king, which is stated here in
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: verse one of our passage for today, and the reason
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: he was so young was because all of his brothers
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: had gotten killed off by Athaliah, who was the wicked
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: queen of Judah, and she was a foreigner in a
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: sense because she was actually a Phoenician woman. She was
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel up north in Israel,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: so she had a Phoenician mother and a Jewish father.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: But her father could have been a Phoenician man just
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: due to the fact that he did not actually follow
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: any of the principles of Yahwism or Judaism at all,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: so he may as well have been Phoenician. It didn't
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: really matter. But anyway, Athalia was their daughter, and she
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: married into the kings of Judah. So she became the
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: wife of King Jehoram, who was Jehashafat's son, and after
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: she became his wife, she encouraged him to do all
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: sorts of terrible things, including possibly kill all of his
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: siblings off. And she also encouraged her sons to do
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: very very bad things as well. That's actually mentioned very
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: briefly here in verse seven of our passage for today,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: it says for the sons of Athalia that wicked woman
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: had broken up God's house, and they also gave all
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: the dedicated things of Yahway's house to the Bales, So
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: we know that Athalia and her sons actually trampled on
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: God's house. They took all of the beautiful things out
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: of there that Solomon had made, and they gave all
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: those things to their idols, to their places of worship,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: and totally mistreated and destroyed Yahway's house, so it was
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: in disrepair for many many years under Athalia. Now, all
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: of Athalia's sons except for one, ended up dying off
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: very quickly because the Syrians had actually came in and
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: killed all of the king's sons except for one, the
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: youngest of all the sons, who was named Ahazia, whre
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Jehoram died. Ajazia became the next king, but he was
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: only king for one year. Because he was a terrible king.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: God did not bless his reign. He died very quickly,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: and when that happened, Atholia went nuts. Essentially, she killed
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: off all of her grandchildren and anybody who had claim
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: to David's throne because she wanted it for her family.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: She wanted it for herself, so she took it and
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: she reigned for close to seven years in Jerusalem. She
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: was the only queen that reigned in Judah's history, and
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: she was like the worst of the bunch, given a
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: bad name to women. But one of the babies, one
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: of her grandchildren, actually survived, and this baby was named
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: joe Ash. And the reason he survived was because joe
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Ash's aunt found him, Josepha says, among the corpses of
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: his brothers. And he was a very very young baby.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: He was still an infant. He still needed a nurse.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: So when the aunt found him, she took him and
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: hid him in temple because she was actually the wife
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: of the high priest Jehoida, who were going to talk
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: about here quite a bit. So little joe Ash lived
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: in the temple for seven years until Athalia was dethroned.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: She was dethroned because she was a terrible leader, and
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: essentially people had enough of her. When they found out
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: that there was an actual heir to the line of
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: King David, they wanted nothing more to do with Athalia,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: and that heir was little joe Ash that we're going
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: to read about today. So Athalia dies in the last
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: chapter and joe Ash becomes the king at seven years old. So,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: starting in verse one of Second Chronicles twenty four, it
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: says joe Ash was seven years old when he began
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: to reign, and he reigned a forty years in Jerusalem.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: His mother's name was Zibiyah of Beersheba. Now, we don't
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: know anything about joe Ash's mother other than her name,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: because she didn't seem to be part of the story
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: when it came to raising him, because he was hidden
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: in the temple for so long. Unless the mother just
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: did not know that her son was alive, that could
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: have very well happened. She thought that her son died
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: when Athalia went and killed all of the children, So
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: maybe she had a really exciting reunion with him after
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: he became the king. I don't know, or she could
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: have died herself, potentially because Athalia was a nutcase and
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: just killed all sorts of people. But regardless, joe Ash's
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: mother was named Zibia and she was a Jewish woman.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: It says that joe Ash did that, which was right
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: in Yaway's eyes all the days of Jehoida, the priest,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: now Jeheida was the high priest who helped raise joe Ash.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: He was Joash's uncle. Actually through marriage. It says Jehoida,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: the High Priest, took for joe Ash two wives and
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: he became the father of sons and daughters. Now, of course,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: we know that it is wrong for a king, or
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: really for anybody to have more than one wife, and
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: we know that based upon other scriptures in the Bible,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: that it is sinful and wrong to live in a
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: polygamous situation or a polygynous situation. So I don't know
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: what the high priest took two wives for joe Ash.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: It's actually a little bit shocking to me that he
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: thought that was a good idea. Now, it could be
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: that because of how corrupt the kings had become by
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: this point, you know, having tons and tons of wives,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: because wives were like a thing you collect back in
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: these days, it could be that Jehoida thought that this
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: was better than most kings because it was the social
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: norm for a king to have multiple wives. In fact,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: I would imagine that kings in these days, if they
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: didn't have multiple wives, would be very much looked down on.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: So maybe Jehoiita was thinking in those terms that if
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Josh only has two wives and that's it through the
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: rest of his life, he's doing better than most kings,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: while still upholding the social norm. But still a sin
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: is a sin, as we know in Deuteronomy chapter seventeen
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the rules for kings. Kings were not supposed to multiply
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: wives to themselves. A multiple is more than one, and
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: I will say that every single time we talk about
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: the king's marrying more than one woman. But anyway, joe
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Ash is getting older, and it says in verse four
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: that after this, joe Ash intended to restore Yahweh's house. Now,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: based upon his story that we discussed very briefly, think
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: about why he would want to do that. He lived
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: in the temple for the first seven years of his life,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and I don't know about you, but those are really
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: formative years. Like I remember my old address as a
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: little kid. I even remember my phone number as a
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: little kid. You know, the house you grow up in,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: if it's a healthy environment, is a very special place
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: to a child. And I can imagine that joe Ash
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: felt that way about the temple that was actually his
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: home for the first seven years of his life. So
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: he has a special connection to the House of God.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: And he saw growing up the problems that were happening
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: in the temple. He saw what Johoida had to deal with,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: He saw how the temple was in disarray. Maybe he
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: saw Thalia's henchman coming in and taking things out of
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: the temple. So he decides he wants to repair the temple.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: So in verse five, it says he gathered together the
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: priests and the levites, and he said to them, go
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: out to the cities of Judah and gather money to
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: repair the House of your God from all Israel from
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: year to year. See that you expedite this matter. Now,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: notice that joe Ash gathers It says both the priests
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: and the levites together. Priests were always levites, but levites
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: were not always priests, so there were two different classifications
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: of people associated with the temple. But the Levites did
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: generally have jobs in the temple, not necessarily as priests,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: but in other roles and other tasks. So the levites
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: that weren't priests were also very important to the functionality
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: of the temple. So joe Ash gathers both the priests
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: and the levites together, and he tells them go out
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: into all of Judah and in Jerusalem and gather money
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: so that the temple can be rebuilt after all this time.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: And then it says in verse five, however, the Levites
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: didn't do it right away. And I love that verse
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: because the author of Second Chronicles is throwing shade on
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: the Levites. He's like, yeah, the priest did it, but
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: the Leevites, you know, they took their time, even though
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: the king said that they needed to go fast. So
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: the author blames the Levites, which is kind of funny.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: And it could have been, you know, I don't know
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: why the Levites didn't expedite the matter. It could be
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: that they felt awkward going door to door to ask
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: for money to rebuild the temple. It could be that
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: the people's trust in the Levites and also in the
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: priests was very low at this time. It's kind of
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: talked about a little bit more in Second Kings twelve,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: verse six. It says, but it was so that in
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: the twenty third year of King joe Ash, the priests
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: had not repaired the damage to the house. Then King
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: joe Ash called for Jehoida, the priest, and the other
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: priests and said to them, why aren't you repairing the
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: damage to the house now? Therefore, take no more money
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: from your treasurers, but deliver it for repair of the
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: damage to the house. So the priests consented that they
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: should take no more money from the people and not
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: repair the damage to the house. So second King actually
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: does say that the priests indeed collected money from the people.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: So it is true that the Leevites, for whatever reason,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: we're struggling to complete this task, either through fear of
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: going door to door and asking for money, which would
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: be my problem. There is no way I'd want to
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: knock on somebody's door and ask them to give money.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: I can understand that. But it could also be for
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: whatever reason, you know, the Leevites were disorganized, possibly corrupted
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: at this point, or just downright lazy, quite honestly. Going
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: back to Second Chronicles twenty four, it says in verse six,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: the king called for Jehoida, the Chief, and said to him,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: why haven't you required of the Levites to bring in
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the tax of Moses, the servant of Yahweh, and the
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: assembly of Israel out of Judah and out of Jerusalem
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: for the tent of the testimony. So he asks Jehoida,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: the high Priest, He's like, why haven't you done this?
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Like I thought you were pretty gung ho about restoring
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: the temple, and yet you haven't required the levites to
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: actually do this thing that I commanded all these years ago.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: So now the king is like, this is going to
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: get done. He says in verse eight. The king commanded,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: and they made a chest and set it outside at
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: the gate of Yahweh's house. They made a proclamation through
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for Yahweh the tax
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: that Moses, the servant of God, laid on Israel in
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: the wilderness. Now this could be talking about the Temple tax,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: which is discussed in Exodus chapter thirty, verses fourteen through sixteen,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: which says everyone who passes over to those who are
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: counted from twenty years old and upward, shall give the
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: offering to Yahweh. The rich shall not give more, and
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: the poor shall not give less than half the shekel.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: When they give the offering to Yahweh to make an
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: atonement for your souls. You shall take the atonement money
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: from the children of Israel and shall appoint it for
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: the service of the ten of meeting, that it may
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: be a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: to make atonement for your souls. So that is what's
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: called the Temple tax, and it was instituted during the
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: days of the kings, and I believe when the Israelites
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: came back from the Babylonian takeover, they also reinstituted the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: temple tax. And there's also evidence of it happening in
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the days of Jesus as well, because one of the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Pharisees goes up to I believe one of Jesus's disciples
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: it might have been Peter, and demanded the temple tax
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: from them. So right here it could be that joe
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Ash was requiring the people to do the temple tax
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: that had been talked about in Exos chapter thirty. But
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I actually am not sure if that's what this is
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: because it says in verse ten that all the princes
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and all the people rejoiced and brought in and cast
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: into the chest until they had filled it. And usually
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: people don't get all that excited about taxes, like required taxes,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: so I kind of am not sure that's what this
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: is talking about. It could actually be talking about the
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: gifts that were given to Moses when he was first
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: going to build the ten of Meeting. In Exodus thirty five,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: verses four through nine discuss this. It says Moses spoke
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: this is the thing which Yahweh commanded, saying, take from
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: among you an offering to Yahweh, whoever is of a
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: willing heart, let him bring it as Yahweh's offering, gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: fine linen, goat's hair, ramskins, dyed red sea cow hides,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: acasha wood oil, for the light spices, for the anointing oil,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: and for the sweet incense, onyx stones and stones to
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: be set for the ephod and for the breastplate. So
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: that was a willing offering that the people in the
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: wilderness were to give for the completion of the ten
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: of meeting. So it could be that that is what
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Joe Ash is talking about here when it says in
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: verse nine of our passage that the people were to
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: bring in for Yahweh the tax that Moses, the servant
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: of God, had laid on Israel in the wilderness. It
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: was a willing gift, and that is why the people rejoiced,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: because they saw that the king was actually serious about
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: fixing up the temple, and the people were excited. And
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: it actually said that they did in fact bring their
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: money to this chest which was sitting right next to
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: the altar, and it sounds like anybody could give. Any
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: person that wanted to bring money could bring as much
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: as they wanted for the renewing of the temple. But
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: everybody was so excited that it actually implies that it
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: was filled every single day verse eleven. Whenever the chest
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: was brought to the king's officers by the hand of
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: the levites. And when they saw that there was very
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: much money, the King's scribe and the Chief Priest's officer
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: came and emptied the chest and took it and carried
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: it to its place again. They did this day by
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: day and gathered money in abundance. So that's how excited
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: the peace people were. They were bringing money and filling
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: this chest every single day, and they gathered money in abundance,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: is what it says. So the king followed through. He
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: didn't just take this money for himself. He actually gave
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the money to Johoida, who gave it to the work
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: of the service of Yahway's house, is what it says
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: in verse twelve. They hired masons and carpenters to restore
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Yahway's house, and also those who worked on iron and
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: bronze to repair Yahway's house. So the workmen worked and
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the work of repairing went forward in their hands. They
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: set up God's house as it was designed and strengthened it.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: So now the temple is back to its original design.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Its original design was made during the days of King Solomon.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Remember we talked about that at the beginning of Second Chronicles,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: how beautiful the temple to God actually was, just overlaid
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: with gold and so many beautiful instruments in it, and
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: how everything was just built and constructed to the highest
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: degree of excellence. That is what King joe Ash did
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: for God's temple. So it says in verse fourteen, when
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: they had finished, they brought the rest of the money
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: before the King and Jehoida, from which were made vessels
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: for Yaway's house, even vessels with which to minister and
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: to offer, including spoons and vessels of gold and silver.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: They offered burnt offerings in Yaway's house continually all the
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: days of Jehoida. So there are certainly a few things
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: that we can take away from this passage for today.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: The first thing we can take from this is obviously
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: that it's good to give with a cheerful heart. God
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: does not want us to give because we've felt guilted
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: or manipulated in some way. He wants us to give
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: willingly and cheerfully. That is what scripture tells us that
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: God says. He says, I love a cheerful giver. And
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: you can see here how everything changed when people started
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: giving cheerfully. At first, you know, years are going by
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: without any money getting collected for the temple because the
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: priests were going door to door and the levites weren't
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: even doing their jobs, and people weren't giving willingly. It
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: sounds like it almost felt more forced. You know, when
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: a priest shows up at your door and it's like, hey,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: are you willing to give? That feels a little bit
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: more guilt induced, right, And so they weren't gathering funds
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: in that way. It wasn't until they put an optional
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: box next to the altar that is when they started
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: getting donations because people gave cheerfully and not out of obligation,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: but out of a willing heart. And what was also
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: really good about that is the people were going to
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: the temple and seeing the problems with it. You know,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: the priests weren't just going door to door and talking
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: about the problems. The people were seeing them with their
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: own eyes, and I'm sure the priests were saying like, yeah,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: we need to fix up this temple. Like look at
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: this hole in the wall over here. Look how we
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: don't have any more candlesticks or spoons. Look how they've
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: all been taken and given to the bails. We've got
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: nothing here for y'all. And when the people saw with
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: their own eyes what was happening, they wanted to give.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: They gave cheerfully, And that's very, very important. You know,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: people don't want to give out of obligation. They want
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: to give willingly and cheerfully, and that's what God wants
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: us to do as well. So we need to find
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: that cheerful heart to give and not feel guilted or
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: manipulated into giving. Each person should give what they want
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: to give to God. So that's the main thing we
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: can learn from our passage for today. Now, faithful listeners,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: there's one last thing I think we can learn from
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: today's passage, which I will talk about right after a
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: word from our sponsor. Now, the last thing I want
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: to say about today's passage is it kind of reminds
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: me of Matthew nine thirty five through thirty eight. This
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: is from the ESV version. It says, and Jesus went
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: disease and every affliction. When he saw all the crowds,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: out laborers into his harvest. That versus discussing how there
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: are so many things that could be done for God's kingdom,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: for like the advancement of God's kingdom, but very few
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: people to actually accomplish the task. And the reason there's
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: very few people is because very few are willing to
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: do it, just like the Levites discussed in our passage
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: for today, who were unwilling to go door to door
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, whether it was a good reason or
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: a bad reason, they were unwilling to do it. They
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: were not true workers and that's what Jesus talks about here.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: He says the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: out laborers into his harvest. So not only do we
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: need to learn to be cheerful givers, but we also
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: need to learn how to be cheerful laborers as well.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: We need to be people that are willing to go
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: out and advance God's kingdom, however that might look, whether
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: it's volunteering at your church on Sunday mornings, or evangelizing
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: to somebody, whatever it might be. There are not enough
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: laborers out there for how plentiful the harvest could be.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: So we need to pray for other people to become
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: cheerful givers and cheerful laborers and servants. And we also
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: need to pray for ourselves that we become cheerful givers
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: and cheerful laborers and servants. Well, Faith listeners, I hope
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: you have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: rest of your Monday. I will see all of you
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: guys tomorrow for the last episode of two Timothy, Happy Listening,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: and God bless. I just want to take a second
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: you go to audio dot com you will find dozens
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.