Man, is Chronicles ever boring. I wasn't hugely interested in the succession of kings the first time around, so reading through it again is just brutal.
Today's reading took us from Solomon to Jehoshaphat. The events of Solomon's reign were mostly unchanged, with a few details omitted here and there. Most interestingly, the Chronicler omits the chapter of negative things that Solomon did; he is presented as a pretty flawless king, akin to his father David.
Chronicles ignores the northern kingdom (Israel), focusing only on Judah. Perhaps because the kings of Judah were collectively more adept, and perhaps because it is simply his intention, the Chronicler's depiction of the successive monarchs seems more sympathetic. Rehoboam, who was no great shakes back in Kings, does not seem nearly as incompetent here. His mistakes are still acknowledged -- for instance, Judah is invaded by the Pharaoh, King Shishak, and the Chronicler considers this to be divine punishment -- but Judah is still said to "enjoy prosperity" (2 Chronicles 12:12) under Rehoboam.
Meanwhile, Jeroboam's ascension in Israel is barely touched on. The rival northern kingdom simply appears in the text without much explanation, with a line mentioning that Jeroboam "rose in rebellion against his lord, and certain worthless scoundrels gathered round him" (2 Chronicles 13:7). Of course, by "certain worthless scoundrels" the Chronicler means "10/11ths of the Palestinian population."
Chapter 13 concerns Abijah, who does a decent job as a ruler, and chapters 14 through 16 follow with a more detailed account of his son Asa. For the most part, Asa is a good king, although he makes the dumb mistake of aligning himself with the king of Aram to fight the northern kingdom, which is a no-no because he "relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord" (2 Chronicles 16:7). He also becomes crippled as an old man because he goes to physicians about his foot disease instead of praying to be healed.
The last four chapters of today's reading deal with Jehoshephat. As you may remember, Jehoshephat aligned himself with Ahab in order to fight the Aramaeans, and during this war, the Israelite king was killed. What a bummer. There are a few other battles mentioned in the tome, and Jehoshephat triumphs because he loves God and so on and so forth.
Sorry for being so flippant in my summary, but I AM SO SICK OF THESE STUPID KINGS. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME. READ IT YOURSELF IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW.
Have a great day!!
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