Episode 157: From Solomon to Asa

2 Chronicles 1-16

1 ^1-17 God makes Solomon wise and rich (1 Kg 3:5-15, Ep. 133)

2 ^1-16 Materials for God's house (1 Kg 5:1-12, Ep. 133)

^17-18 Solomon's census of strangers

3 ^1-7 Solomon builds a house for God (1 Kg 6:1-38, Ep. 134)

4 ^1-22 Decorations for God's house (1 Kg 7:23-51, Ep. 134)

5 ^1-14 The ark is brought into God's house (1 Kg 8:1-13, Ep. 134)

6 ^1-42 Solomon's speech (1 Kg 8:12-61, Ep. 134)

7 ^1-11 Solomon's animal sacrifice (1 Kg 8:62-66, Ep. 134

^12-22 God threatens Solomon ( 1 Kg 9:10-281 Kg 9:1-9, Ep. 134)

8 ^1-18 The acts of Solomon (1 Kg 9:10-28, Ep. 134)

9 ^1-12 The Queen of Sheba visits Solomon (1 Kg 9:1-19, Ep. 134)

^13-31 King Solomon's stuff (1 Kg 10:14-29, Ep. 135)

10 ^1-19 The people of Israel rebel against Rehoboam (1 Kg 12:1-20, Ep. 136)

11 ^1-4 God tells everyone to go home (1 Kg 12:21-24, Ep. 136)

^5-12 Rehoboam builds 15 cities

^13-17 Rehoboam's priests

Rehoboam's wives, concubines, and family

²¹ Rehoboam loved Maachah, the daughter of Absalom, more than all of his other wives.

(He had 18 wives, 60 concubines, 28 sons, and 60 daughters.)

God makes Judah Shishak's slave

12 ¹ Rehoboam and everyone in Israel disobeyed God's laws. ² So God sent Shishak, the king of Egypt, to destroy them. ³ Shishak had 1200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and more soldiers than could be numbered. ⁴ He conquered the cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem.

⁵ Shemaiah, Rehoboam's prophet, came to him and said,

This is what God says: "You have forsaken me, so I sent Shishak to destroy you."

⁶ So King Rehoboam and the princes humbled themselves, and said, “God is righteous.”

⁷ God saw that they humbled themselves, so the word of God came to Shemaiah, saying

They've humbled themselves, so I won't destroy them.

⁸ I'll make them Shishak's slaves instead.

⁹ So Shishak came to Jerusalem and took all the treasures in God's house, and in the king's house, along with Solomon's gold shields.

¹² Because Rehoboam humbled himself, God didn't completely destroy him. And things in Judah went well.

¹⁴ But Rehoboam did evil, because he didn't seek God. ¹⁵ Rehoboam died, and Abijah, his son, became king of Judah.

God helps Abijah kill a half-million Israelites

13 ² There was a war between Abijah of Judah and Jeroboam of Israel. ³ Abijah had 400,000 chosen men. Jeroboam had 800,000 mighty men of valor. ¹⁴ The men of Judah cried out to God, while the priests blew their trumpets. ^15-17 And God smote Jeroboam and the men of Israel, killing 500,000 chosen men.

God kills Jeroboam

²⁰ And then God killed Jeroboam.

Abijah waxes mighty and marries 14 wives

²¹ But Abijah waxed mighty, married 14 wives, and fathered 22 sons and 16 daughters.

God helps Asa kill a million Ethiopians

14 ¹ Abijah died, and his son, Asa, became king of Judah.

⁸ Asa had an army with 300,000 men with spears from Judah, and 280,000 mighty men with bows from Benjamin. They were all men of valor.

⁹ Zerah the Ethiopian had an army of one million men, with 300 chariots. ¹⁰ As Asa went out to fight him, he said to God, “Help us fight against all these guys.”

¹² So God killed the Ethiopians. ¹⁴ And Asa's army smote all the surrounding cities (for the fear of the Lord came upon them) and took all their stuff.

15 ^1-19 Asa enforces religious intolerance (1 Kg 15:9-15, Ep. 139)

16 ^1-11 Asa's war with Baasha (1 Kg 15:16-22, Ep. 139)

Asa’s foot disease

¹² Asa had a foot disease. He didn't rely on God to fix his feet, but on physicians. ¹³ So he died.