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July 8th

The bible reading today is in 2 Kings 15 and 2 Chronicles 26.

In these mirror chapters today, the text is filled with the evil of 5 kings of Israel, including murders, assassinations, and rampant idolatry from the throneroom throughout the 10 tribes.

Over and over the following phrase is found in the text describing these 5 kings...” he did not depart from the sins of Jereboam.”

So what were the sins of Jereboam? He had two golden calves made. Set one in Bethel and the other in Dan. Then he ordered the worship of those idols throughout Israel.

The 5 Israeli kings in our text today continued to order the people to worship the golden calves as their God. Wow...kings not only guilty of idol worship themselves but leading their people to do the same. That’s evil indeed.

One more time our texts in Kings and Chronicles boldly show what Samuel prophesied about Israel wanting a king over them like other nations. They traded God’s righteous rule for men’s sinful selfish and satanic rule. And it would not end well for them.

Before I wrap up this podcast there are a couple of lessons to be learned in the 16-year reign of young Jotham in Judah. “In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. “And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord”, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord.”

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭15:32-35‬ ‭

The record says that Jotham built the “Upper Gate” of the House of the Lord. The Upper Gate was a direct passage between the Temple and the King’s Palace. It was to be a visual aid to remind visitors to Jerusalem that there was a clear and unfettered connection between Judah’s earthly king and their heavenly King. The power in the palace came not from the skills of Jotham, but rather from the magnificent glory of God.

One more thing on this...The Upper Gate passageway could also have been a visual aid for Jotham himself. You see his father, Uzziah, disobeyed God’s word concerning his relationship with the House built for God’s name the Temple and leadership in corporate worship.

Uzziah began thinking way too highly of himself and his kingship. So one day he entered the holy place intent on offering a gift of incense upon the altar of incense, something that only the priest was allowed to do after the morning and evening sacrifice for atonement. Uzziah was usurping God’s laws.

O How many times have I traded places with the world to do what I wanted to do instead of what I knew God wanted for me. God forgive me.

Uzziah’s sin was not just the fact that he intended to usurp the place of the High Priest but he also intended to offer incense without the corresponding sacrifices. Sacrifices that would speak of his humble gratefulness to God for his own atonement for sin. Uzziah was not worshipping the Lord. He was worshipping himself.

So perhaps Jotham built the passage Gateway from the Palace to the Temple to always remind him of his humble dependency upon God and His grace for his life and his life’s work for the glory of God and not his.

Be sure to look for the “nevertheless” passage in Jotham’s biography. And remember, we all have one. And we thank Jesus for atoning for our “nevertheless” stuff too.

Have a great day