Obadiah Overview

• Fun Fact: Obadiah, the shortest book in the Bible.
• Obadiah means ‘servant of the Lord’.
• Obadiah was speaking of the doom of Edom.

So who are the people of Edom? When did the “fighting” begin between the Edomites and the Israelites? Actually Genesis 25:19-

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. ²² The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” 

Ever since they shared a womb! The people of Edom were the descendants of Esau.  Esau (Edomites) and Jacob (Israelites).   The Edomites never passed up an opportunity to attack or invade God’s people.  This 21 verse book will predict that the Edomites will be destroyed forever.  And so it has been.  There are two themes in this short book, Justice and Pride.

As we just read the Psalms and Proverbs we recall that God countlessly reminds us that He will eventually bring Justice, in His timing.  And as far as Pride, the capital of Edom was Petra .  Petra was a rocky mountainside just south of the dead sea.

 The Edomites would attack enemies and then retreat to this city that was virtually impregnable (I like using that word…makes me sound smart 🙂 ) because of it’s topography.  Built on the cliff of a Red mountain (I find it ironic that it was red because Esau in Hebrew meant “red”.) So they were very confident and prideful that they could attack any nation and never be attacked back.  Here is a picture of Petra and the Book of Obadiah, a message from the Lord will address them and pronounce their destruction once and for all.

Prophets Overview

I wasn’t planning on doing a Prophets Overview, just an overview of each Prophet book, but as I started researching I found it so interesting so I thought I would share.  A few years ago I really don’t know much about the Prophet books so I assumed they were about “predicting the future”.  Well, that is not true.

Prophecy is a message from God, and a Prophet is a person who delivers the message.  There are 17 Prophecy books.  That does not mean there were only 17 Prophets.  Actually,  there have been hundreds. Originally the term prophet was used for military and judicial leadership, for example, Moses and Deborah.  Then it was used by people who heard directly from the Lord, like Samuel.  During the Monarchy they became advisers to the Kings (like Nathan to David), and now we begin this week with prophets like Elijah and Obadiah.

So there are 2 Categories of Prophets

•  Major Prophets
• Minor Prophets.

What is the difference? One is major and the other is minor!  (Just Kidding).  It has NOTHING to do with importance (which I thought) it has to do with SIZE of the book.  The Minor books may be short but POWERFUL!  SO don’t get up into Heaven and try to meet the Major Prophets first and snub the Minors.  They are equal in the importance of the message.  God’s word is Sovereign, Supreme, and Ultimate regardless of the length of the message.

The period of the Prophets in the recorded books (17 in the Bible) cover about 500 years which were the Dark Ages of God’s Chosen people.  The Prophets were men whom God raised up during the dark days of Israel’s history.    The Prophet’s job was to deal with moral and religious problems and disobedience.  Sometimes a Prophet would speak of the judgment of current sin and sometimes he would speak of the future if that was the message God gave him to speak. The message of the Bible is timeless and just as applicable today as it was the day it was written. (God knew what He was writing) So are these books relevant today??

• They are the message of God
• Written through real-life experience
• Speaks of human nature
• Addresses sin

Uhhhh I would say Yes!  The Prophecy books take up the same amount of “space” in the Bible as the New Testament.  I would say God thinks of them as pretty important.

So in conclusion, we know the Babylonian Exile  (captivity) is coming up,  so the Prophets can be divided into 3 categories:

1. Pre-captivity,
2. during captivity,
3. and after captivity

We would also divide them as to who the Prophet is addressing.

So the Prophets BEFORE the exile in Chronological order are Obadiah (so guess what we will be reading next), Joel, Jonah (cannot wait for the Big fish Big God story) Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah (not the bullfrog).

The Prophets DURING the exile (or captivity in Babylon) are Ezekiel and Daniel.

The Prophets AFTER the return are Haggai, Zachariah,  and Malachi.

The Prophets were fearless men who denounced the sins of their day. We are judged individually and collectively as a Nation.  That’s a scary thought isn’t it.

 

HALFWAY!!!!

Today we are HALFWAY done with reading the Bible.  Tomorrow we will be closer to the end than the beginning.  YOU DID IT! A brief explanation of all that we have read so far:

• Genesis answers two big questions: “How did God’s relationship with the world begin?” and “Where did the nation of Israel come from?”
• The book of Job: Satan attacks a righteous man named Job, and Job and his friends argue about why terrible things are happening to him.
• Exodus: God saves Israel from slavery in Egypt, and then enters into a Covenant with them.
• In Leviticus God gives Israel instructions for how to worship Him.
• Numbers: Israel fails to trust and obey God, and wanders in the wilderness for 40 years.
• Deuteronomy: Moses gives Israel instructions (in some ways, a recap of the laws in Exodus–Numbers) for how to love and obey God in the Promised Land.
• Joshua (Israel’s new leader) leads Israel to conquer the Promised land, then divides out territories to the twelve tribes of Israel.
• Judges: Israel enters a cycle of turning from God, falling captive to oppressive nations, calling out to God, and being rescued by leaders God sends their way (called “judges”).
• Ruth: Two widows lose everything, and find hope in Israel—which leads to the birth of the future King David.
• 1 Samuel, Israel demands a king, who turns out to be quite a disappointment.
• 2 Samual: David, a man after God’s own heart, becomes king of Israel.
• 1 Kings: The kingdom of Israel has a time of peace and prosperity under King Solomon, but afterward splits, and the two lines of kings turn away from God.
• Song of Songs- A love song (or collection of love songs) celebrating love, desire, and marriage.
• A philosophical exploration of the meaning of life—Ecclesicaties.
• 2 Kings: Both kingdoms ignore God and his prophets, until they both fall captive to other world empires.
• In 1 Chronicles we read a brief history of Israel from Adam to David, with David commissioning the temple of God in Jerusalem.
• We also read 150 Psalms that Israel sang to God (and to each other)—kind of like a hymnal for the ancient Israelites.
• And meditated on the Proverbs: a collection of sayings written to help people make wise decisions that bring about justice.

We have 20 books (some very short, 1-day reads) left of the Old Testament and then we turn the page to the Gospel.

If you need a copy of the schedule because you hate waiting for me to post 🙂 Click here

There is a Handouts section on the website of any cool visuals we have used if you need to reference them at any time.

I know many of you are reading but don’t comment BUT if you want to make me smile, you will write in comments 1 thing you learned reading this year that you did not know before 2020 began,  I would be so happy.

 

2 Chonicles 19-23

• Click here to read
• Click here to listen

Yes, we are overlapping (repeating) stories again.  Same stories told from different views.

5 chapters today…but not hard!  You got this!

When we see it is just a Chronicles read, we know it is primarily going to concentrate on the tribe of Judah.  Remember Ezra is writing this book as a History lesson for the people that will return to rebuild a temple.  Looking back on the history they are going to want to trace the covenant line of “their” people, so that will be the tribe of Judah.

As I am reading I am doing some memory recall.  Just in case you jumped in late (or just need it) here are some things that make this reading crystal clear:

Chapter 19:

What makes sense now that we have read for 6 months:

• Jehosaphat lives in Jerusalem- He is the king of the tribe Judah, Judah and Israel split like a civil war.  Judah is the covenant line to bring forth the Messiah-so their capital in Jerusalem.  That makes sense. (the Northern tribe’s capital is Samaria.)
• He appointed Judges- Dueteromomy 16:18- The king is to appoint Judges to help him rule the land. Makes sense.
• Priests are only to be from the tribe of Levi. (Levites).  And the HIGH priest MUST come from Aaron’s family (Moses’ Brother) Makes sense. Click here for a visual handout.  Look for Amariah.

Chapter 20

• The Moabites and the Ammonites.  Who are they?  Go way back to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Genesis 19:30-18.  When Lot fled with his daughters, they did not have a man to create a family so they got him (their father) drunk and made a baby with him.  The children born grew the nations Moabites and Ammonites. Makes sense.
• When Jehoshaphat stood in front of the assembly he was committing the situation to God and recalled Solomon’s prayer from 2 Chronicles 6 and of course Psalm 136:

“Give thanks to the Lord,
    for his love endures forever.”

• The Bible never hides the faults of every man/woman God used (gives me hope for my own life).  Jehoshaphat was a fantastic king but he too had his faults.  He did make another alliance forbidden in the Law (Exodus 23), this time with Ahaziah, whose ways were wicked.  So what they built together God destroyed. Makes perfect sense.

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Let’s break down chapter 21…You can’t make this stuff up!!

Look at the drop from Jehoshaphat to Jehoram…the apple fell FAR from the tree.  The new king of Judah marries Ahab and Jezebel’s daughter.  What??  Ohhhh the humanity!  His father brought a huge revival to the nation by teaching the scriptures and trusting the Lord and his son marries the daughter of the most notorious Baal worshiper? (I am going to skim over 21:8 Edom and Libnah revolt, we will talk about that later this week)

Elijah the prophet writes him a letter. This is the only record we have of a prophet from the Northern Kingdom rebuking a king of the Southern Kingdom. (All the other prophets God sent to the Judah were from Judah). The letter stated:

1. You have not followed in the footsteps of your father or grandfather
2. You instead followed the ways of your horrible in-laws-Ahab’s family
3. You murdered your whole family, and they were better than you
4. The Lord will punish you by striking down your family (all except 1)
5. And Last but not least, you are going to sit on the “throne” and poop the rest of your days.

Look at #4.  Why except 1?

 Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah, the youngest.

God made a Covenant in 2 Samuel 7 that the line of David will bring the Messiah.  If the Lord had not left him one son to carry the kingship…the Covenant would have been broken.

Jehoram- end of the chapter:

 He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

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Chapter 22 and 23:

I refer to this visual a lot obviously (worth printing in the handout section).  How can his sons be worse???

Ahaziah, who is his mother?

His mom is Athalia.  His grandmother is Jezebel.

“He too followed the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him to act wickedly. ⁴ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father’s death they became his advisers, to his undoing. ⁵ He also followed their counsel when he went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead.”

The irony!  Their grandfathers made an alliance and did the same thing at the same place years ago!

Then I read this:   He was brought to Jehu and put to death….While Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s relatives, who had been attending Ahaziah, and he killed them. 

If he killed his sons who will be king?  What will happen to the Davidic Covenant??

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THIS IS CONFUSING (for me) so let’s break it down:

When Athaliah (Jezebel’s daughter) the mother of Ahaziah  saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah (so her family line would survive and not the line of Judah). ¹¹ But Jehosheba,^[e] the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash (her brother) son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba,^[f] the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him. ¹² He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

So for 6 years the heir to the throne, Joash,  was hidden while Jezebel’s daughter ruled the line of Judah.  (Gives me great hope that in the mess of 2020 I know God is behind the scene knowing everything comes in His time for His glory).

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OK, I lied.  I said this was not a hard read.  My head is spinning with names, but I think I drew enough arrows to have it in my head.

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Chapter 23:  Picture the Priests of the Temple, huddled up making a plan (in my head it looked like a coach and his football players)

EVERY detail was planned out to make sure the House of David Survived, even down to making sure no blood came near the Temple.  THE LINE OF DAVID SURVIVES!!!

WOW!  What a daily read!!!

 

1 Kings 22 and 2 Chron 18

• Click here to read
• Click here to listen

Today we end 1 Kings:

Last week we read about several kings but we ended with Jehosapaht on the side of Judah.

 

When you read this last chapter you can view it from a human standpoint “I think that is a great idea Jehoshaphat, making a treaty with Israel to overtake Aram.” OR you can look at it from God’s point of view (not just the head but the heart) and maybe see it a little different.  Even though Jehoshaphat in chapter 17 started a revival for Judah we now see him 3 years later waiting and waiting for Ahab to be killed just like the Lord had promised OR Ahab to conquer Aram completely.

Jehoshaphat reigns in Jerusalem and Ahab in Samaria.  It makes strategic sense on Jehoshaphat’s part to use the Samarian capital to have Ahab killed and to Barack Aram (in Ramoth Gilead).  Look at the map.

 

Anyway, Ahab is told to seek the Lord,  so he calls up 400 prophets.  TIME OUT.  Think about this for a moment.  His wife is Jezebel…she went through great efforts to kill all the prophets, remember they even hid in caves.  So who are these men?  Oh….these are smart enough to “prophesize” only what she wants to hear.  Jehoshaphat wasn’t born yesterday so he says “Ummm can we get a real prophet please”.

¹⁵ When he arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or not?”

“Attack and be victorious,” he answered, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”

(He was being Sarcastic! He was repeating the false prophets!)

¹⁶ The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?”

¹⁷ Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’”

¹⁸ The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?”

In the end, Elijah’s prophesy comes true and Ahab meets his fate of death and his blood being licked by dogs.

Overall Jehsaphat was an accomplished leader and considered a “Good King” following the ways of the Lord (except for removing all the “high places” (altars fr worship to false gods).

Next on our checklist, we see

• Judah King: Jehoram
• Israel King:Ahaziah–⁵² He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, because he followed the ways of his father and mother and of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. ⁵³ He served and worshiped Baal and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, just as his father had done.

Does anyone know the significance of tomorrow???

1 Kings 20-21

Click here to read

So I found chapter 20 to be a very hard read (I hope I wasn’t the only one).  We already know we don’t like Ahab and in our heads think well God must not like him either.  That could not be further from the truth.  God will use or turn the heart of anyone He chooses.  In this case, there are 3 world powers rising up:

• Aram
• Assyria
• Babylon

Ben0Hadad the king of Aram attacks Samaria (which we know is the new capital of the Northern tribes, Israel.  What we see in this story is when people, even an Ahab, just in the Lord, he brings victories.  Ahad defeats Aram.  The Lord sends a message to Ahab warning him that this will happen AGAIN next year.  And it does!

Until….

³² Wearing sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says: ‘Please let me live.’”

The king answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

The answer should have been NO! But he says “He is my brother”, meaning….he too is a king like me….so of course I will let you live.  What???? NO!  All that work from the Lord to bring victory and he caves like that….was a wimp!  He makes the Treaty.  So God went a message:

“This is what the Lord says: ‘You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.’” Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went to his palace in Samaria.

Chapter 21 was an easier read for me.  In short, Jezelebl wears the pants!  (I was going to say something else but I will be appropriate).   Naboth was following the Law when he would not give the land (Numbers 27)

So after you read this horrible outcome of bringing false accusations and having Naboth killed,  the Lord sends a message of doom to Ahab…

BUT WAIT!  What was Ahab’s response??  Did he get angry?  Did he pout (like usual)? Nope….he humbled himself before the Lord for the first time.

God is a just God and even though someone repents does not take away the consequence that was set in motion by the sin

Numbers 14:¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’

1 Kings 21:²⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: ²⁹ “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.”

 

1 Kings 20-21

Click here to read

Good Morning.  Many of you know we live in a “Lost” world.  We have people at work, in our neighborhood, or that occasional family member.  Well, I am reminded today that I live in a very lost world.   My daughter graduated last night and we have friends and family in and out of our house.  My husband and I are both Christians but most of our friends and family are not.  This has been one of the best weekends of my life and spiritually the hardest to control my tongue.

I have not read today BUT I will make up for it this week with extra study time.  BUT the more I slack, the more you realize you don’t need a blog!    TODAY, I need you to write a blog for me….If you were me, what would you write after today’s read?

1 Kings 17-19

• Click here to read
• Click here to listen

In 1 Kings 16 we were introduced to Ahab.  It said in verse 31: he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. ³² He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria.

First, Ahab and Jezebel was probably a political marriage to bring strength to Israel.  This marriage would combine Israel and Sidonia because there was a growing threat from the people of Damascus taking over.

The Sidonians (current day Lebanon) were known for worshipping Baal, a fertility god.  However, their god was specifically a storm god who controlled the rain.  I have to keep reminding myself that these kings are from the 12 tribes of Israel.  It’s mind-blowing.

The first verse in today’s read is:

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

Elijah begins our journey into the scriptures from the Prophets.  A prophet a person which the Lord uses to bring a message to the people, most often a warning.  It is a very dangerous job to carry out.  In chapter 18 we read that Jezebel was on a mission to kill as many prophets as she could find.  Meanwhile, Obadiah, a prophet himself, was trying to hide as many others as possible in caves to save their lives.  The Lord tells Elijah….(para)”Go and talk to Ahab, the horrible man with the crazy wife who has been looking for you JUST to kill you”.  What??? Ummmm no thanks!!  BUT HE DOES.

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Chapter 18.  Sarcasm is my love language-so Elijah and I would be good friends for sure.  If you know this story: read it with fresh eyes…God will show you a new detail every time.  IF this is your first time reading it, God is in the details.

Look for details like:

I have about 5000 details I want to talk about in this reading, but I have a house full of people at my house from out of town for Elliot’s graduation and I just cannot concentrate.  I know I am breaking Commandment #5 but I would rather have a root canal than be in this house right now.😯

 

 

1Kings 15:25-16:34 and 2Chron 17

• Click here to read
• Click here to listen it (starts at the beginning of the chapter, sorry)
  • 1 Kings
  • 2 Chronicles

If you like a good checklist to see what we will pick off our “Honey Do” list: Click here.  Looking at it you will see that we are coming up in Elijah (pretty familiar name) and the book of the Prophets, starting with Obadiah. (completed is the *)

Today we switch to the Northern tribes that Jeroboam led to break off from the line of David.

• • Nadab
  • Baasha
  • Elah
  • Zimri
  • Omri
  • Into to Ahab

• Kings in Blue
• Chronicles in Red 

Nadab-²⁵ Nadab son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the ways of his father and committing the same sin his father had caused Israel to commit. (that pretty much summed it up)]

Baasha-Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years. ³⁴ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the ways of Jeroboam and committing the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. (I am seeing a pattern)

Elah- Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah two years……they aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by their worthless idols.

Zimri-Zimri reigned in Tirzah SEVEN days. He must have been busy to commit so many sins in just 7 days!  But Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord and sinned more than all those before him. (Good grief)

Omri- After a short tribal split (again) Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned twelve years.  

• Omri’s reign is significant because he purchased and builds the capital of Samaria, a strategic location.   This fortified capital lasts the rest of the Northern Kingdom. (we will also talk about it a lot when we get to the New Testament)

Finally, we get to Ahab.  I remember the first time I read this book I about fell over when I found out Jezebel was a person in the Bible.  I thought it was just a nickname for a “bad girl”.  Who knew!

“Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years.” (See, now reigned in Samaria makes sense).³¹ He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. ³² He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. ³³ Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him. 

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When we switch to 2 Chronicles we are switching back to the South/Rehomboma/Judah- Jehoshaphat

³ The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals ⁴ but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel.

 ⁹ They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the Lord; they went around to all the towns of Judah and taught the people.

1 Kings 15:1-24 and 2 Chronicles 13-16

• Click here to read
• Click here to listen

In the sidebar (at the bottom if you are on your phone) I put 2 new handouts from the other day.  It might help to print them so you know if the king we are reading about is from Judah or Israel now that we have a divided kingdom.  Print whichever one works for you:

Click here for this one

Click here for this one

If neither of those work for you: I like this one too-

Click here to print: (I like them all!)

1 Kings 15 v:1-24 only

Look below: this is interesting!  This is a common view of the Bible.  This is JUST the Kings from Judah. None of them were good from the side of Israel.  So track along (I will repost this visual as we read about them). For the life of me cannot remember the names so I keep this visual on my computer screen as a read:

As we read today (2 Chronicles gives more detail) we will see why the line graph moves up from Rehoboam to Abijah and significantly higher for Asa.

• 1 Kings is in Blue
• 2 Chron is in Red

Abijah- v.3 “He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been.” (All the kings will be compared to David.  David may have sinned many times BUT he never worshipped any other God than the Lord).  So why was he better than Rehoboam? v.5-⁵ Don’t you know that the Lord, the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt?   Abijah is referring to the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samual 7.  He is talking to Jeroboam and saying “You idiot!  Don’t you know you have split yourself off from the line of the Covenant, God will take his hand off your people,  you even let ANYONE become a priest, even if they are not a Levite…that’s horrible”.

Asa– v.11 “Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. ¹² He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made.” ……v.14-¹⁴ Although he did not remove the high places( only the ones in Judah), Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. (this was his mistake, he did not remove the pagan altar’s)  v.11-¹¹ Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. (You can see why on the line graph he moved up to the GOOD section.)  BUT….not Revival….why?  He did not fully trust the Lod in what he JUST said-16:2 ^“Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. ³ “Let there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.”  WHY MAKE A TREATY?? AND WHY GIVE THEM THE CONSECRATED TEMPLE GOLD?  Oh Asa….close but no cigar.

Kings can be confusing so I hope this helped as we picked off the first 2.  Good Stuff…I could have cut and pasted all of 2 Chronicles!!  Use your visuals!  If you want one in color, but don’t have a color printer, let me know, I will mail you one.