The Bible Recap - Day 215 (2 Chronicles 32-33) - Year 5

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Today we step into another perspective on the final days of King Hezekiah. Then we're done with him for good. I bummed his story had to end like it did. I had such high hopes for him. Yesterday, we read about how God extended his life an extra 15 years, but he wasted that blessing. Those personal details aren't included in this version of the story, because as we've talked about before, chronicles his concern more

Starting point is 00:00:36 with the high-level details, not the behind-the-scenes information. In the chapters immediately before today's reading, there are lots of stories of Hezekiah's faithfulness. Then, chapter 32 opens with an attack from an enemy nation, a Syria. Just a reminder that we've read this before, so if it felt familiar to you, good, that means you're retaining things. At the start of today's reading, Hezekiah is still a wise leader. His demise hasn't yet begun.

Starting point is 00:01:02 He's just living faithfully in Jerusalem and serving God and the people of Judah. Then, Assyria and its King Sinakirib decide to attack Jerusalem. Hezekiah makes a plan to outsmart them. He cuts off the water supply to the city as a deterrent. He builds up the wall around the city, fortifies their towers, stalks up on weapons, and organizes his army.

Starting point is 00:01:24 Then he gives a pep talk to the army, encouraging them with reminders that God is on their side. He doesn't fixate on all the work he's done to defend the city or to prepare them for battle. He centers his encouragement on the fact that God is with them. That is where their hope lies. This is a big distinction we see in Scripture versus what the world teaches us. There's a lot of believe in yourself talk out there today. We don't see that in Scripture. In Scripture, the message is believe in your God. He's at work within you. We see posts on social media that say things like, you've got this, but Scripture's angle on this is usually more along the lines of, you're hopeless on your own

Starting point is 00:02:05 unless God helps you. True encouragement, the kind Hezekiah gives here, doesn't put the focus on our own abilities, but on gods. It might make for a clunky or mantra or a less exciting Instagram post, but at least it doesn't miss the point. After Hezekiah encourages the leaders who follow him, a few of the leaders of Assyria come

Starting point is 00:02:25 to intimidate the people of Judah with some trash talk. You probably remember this scene. We talked about it on days 200 and 205. But while the Assyrian leaders are busy crying out to the people of Judah, Hezekiah is busy crying out to the Lord. Assyria thinks they're fighting a physical battle, but Hezekiah knows it's a spiritual one. And God sends his answer in the spiritual realm as well.

Starting point is 00:02:47 He sends an angel, which Isaiah 37-36 tells us is the angel of the Lord, to fight the battle on behalf of Judah. And of course, nothing trumps the angel of the Lord because, as we've talked about before, he's almost certainly a manifestation of God himself. Then we hit what seems to be a noteworthy verse. 32, 23, says, Many brought gifts to the Lord to Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiah, King of Judah,

Starting point is 00:03:15 so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from that time onward. I can't help but think that this is somehow connected to what happens next. In my Bible, the section heading immediately after that verse says, Hezekiah's pride and achievements. Hezekiah sought God's help in the battle, and God provided it. But then people brought gifts and praise to Hezekiah. Yes, they brought gifts to the Lord too, but Hezekiah is the one who was exalted in the side of

Starting point is 00:03:43 all the other nations. And His pride seems to lead to his downfall, which we read more about yesterday in 2 Kings 20. All that wealth he showed off, I have to wonder how much of it came from the gifts people brought to him. How much of what he was flaunting was treasures given to him as a result of God winning a battle that Hezekiah didn't even show up to fight. This kind of pride takes down kings and spiritual giants, if they forget their source. That's why I always try to frame encouragement and even receive encouragement, by focusing on who is truly doing the work in and through us all. One other cool thing about King Hezekiah before he wrap up his story for good. Not long ago,

Starting point is 00:04:27 archaeologists discovered his ancient clay seal, the kind used for signing royal documents. It was found near the temple mount in Jerusalem, so we have tangible proof of his reign. Chapter 33 tells us all about the reign of his son, Manasseh, after his death. He was a terrible king, which is often a given when you start ruling at age 12, but he wasn't just bad, he was evil. As a reminder, he reversed some of the best work of his father undoing the good parts of his legacy. He burned his senses and offering, sought help from mediums and fortune tellers, and set up an idol in the temple.

Starting point is 00:05:04 And this is where my God shot came from today. In verses 10 through 11, God speaks to Manasseh and the people, but they don't listen at first. So God brings some drastic measures to get his attention because God's desire is to bless him. And it turns out that he actually ended up living the reverse story of his dad, Hezekiah. Hezekiah started out strong but lost his way,

Starting point is 00:05:27 and Manasseh started out evil and repented. And the turning point in both of their stories was the direction of their eyes. Hezekiah turned his eyes inward. We call this naval gazing. He grew prideful and he wandered from God. Manasseh turned his eyes upward and humbled himself, and God redeemed his story.

Starting point is 00:05:49 God is in the business of changing hearts and moving eyes, and I love that he's brought our eyes to the pages of his word today because he's where the joy is. Tomorrow we'll be reading the book of Nehun. It's three chapters long. We're linking to a short video overview in the show notes that you're going to love. Check that out if you've got five minutes to spare. The whole TBR team and I love hearing from you about how TBR has impacted your life.

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Starting point is 00:06:39 based on what you say. But also, here's the other great thing. The more ratings and reviews that we have that are better, the further it pushes us up into the algorithm so that people who maybe aren't even looking for Jesus might bump into him by accident. Your rating and review might be the tool God uses to help change someone's eternity. So let's get to it. Why delay? Review today. Hey Bible readers, you and I might feel competent in a Bible trivia game, but how well do you know popular one hit wonders?

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The Bible Recap - Day 215 (2 Chronicles 32-33) - Year 5

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