Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

For a link to 2 Chronicles 29, click HERE.

Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. The king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month. They had not been able to celebrate it at the regular time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem. The plan seemed right both to the king and to the whole assembly. They decided to send a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. It had not been celebrated in large numbers according to what was written.
At the king’s command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read:
“People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your parents and your fellow Israelites, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their ancestors, so that he made them an object of horror, as you see. Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the Lord. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you. If you return to the Lord, then your fellow Israelites and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will return to this land, for the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.”
The couriers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but people scorned and ridiculed them. Nevertheless, some from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the Lord.
A very large crowd of people assembled in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month. They removed the altars in Jerusalem and cleared away the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.
They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the Lord. Then they took up their regular positions as prescribed in the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to them by the Levites. Since many in the crowd had not consecrated themselves, the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all those who were not ceremonially clean and could not consecrate their lambs to the Lord. Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing, while the Levites and priests praised the Lord every day with resounding instruments dedicated to the Lord.
Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites, who showed good understanding of the service of the Lord. For the seven days they ate their assigned portion and offered fellowship offerings and praised the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
The whole assembly then agreed to celebrate the festival seven more days; so for another seven days they celebrated joyfully. Hezekiah king of Judah provided a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep and goats for the assembly, and the officials provided them with a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep and goats. A great number of priests consecrated themselves. The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced, along with the priests and Levites and all who had assembled from Israel, including the foreigners who had come from Israel and also those who resided in Judah. There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. The priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, his holy dwelling place.

• 2 Chronicles 30:1-27

When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property.
Hezekiah assigned the priests and Levites to divisions—each of them according to their duties as priests or Levites—to offer burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, to minister, to give thanks and to sing praises at the gates of the Lord’s dwelling. The king contributed from his own possessions for the morning and evening burnt offerings and for the burnt offerings on the Sabbaths, at the New Moons and at the appointed festivals as written in the Law of the Lord. He ordered the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due the priests and Levites so they could devote themselves to the Law of the Lord. As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, olive oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything. The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the Lord their God, and they piled them in heaps. They began doing this in the third month and finished in the seventh month. When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw the heaps, they praised the Lord and blessed his people Israel.
Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the heaps; and Azariah the chief priest, from the family of Zadok, answered, “Since the people began to bring their contributions to the temple of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, because the Lord has blessed his people, and this great amount is left over.”
Hezekiah gave orders to prepare storerooms in the temple of the Lord, and this was done. Then they faithfully brought in the contributions, tithes and dedicated gifts. Konaniah, a Levite, was the overseer in charge of these things, and his brother Shimei was next in rank. Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath and Benaiah were assistants of Konaniah and Shimei his brother. All these served by appointment of King Hezekiah and Azariah the official in charge of the temple of God.
Kore son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the East Gate, was in charge of the freewill offerings given to God, distributing the contributions made to the Lord and also the consecrated gifts. Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shekaniah assisted him faithfully in the towns of the priests, distributing to their fellow priests according to their divisions, old and young alike.
In addition, they distributed to the males three years old or more whose names were in the genealogical records—all who would enter the temple of the Lord to perform the daily duties of their various tasks, according to their responsibilities and their divisions. And they distributed to the priests enrolled by their families in the genealogical records and likewise to the Levites twenty years old or more, according to their responsibilities and their divisions. They included all the little ones, the wives, and the sons and daughters of the whole community listed in these genealogical records. For they were faithful in consecrating themselves.
As for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who lived on the farmlands around their towns or in any other towns, men were designated by name to distribute portions to every male among them and to all who were recorded in the genealogies of the Levites.
This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.

• 2 Chronicles 31:1-21

For a link to 2 Chronicles 32, click HERE.

 Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

2 Chronicles 29-32 ‘Cleansing of the temple’: ”In Hezekiah’s reign, chapters 29 through 32, we find the fourth principle of restoration cleansing of the temple. By the time Hezekiah came to the throne, the nation had fallen on such evil days that the temple was filled with rubbish and filth. There was garbage strewn throughout the courts. Hezekiah ordered the cleansing of the temple, and the workers found so much filth that it took sixteen days to remove it.
“Once the temple was clean, Hezekiah restored worship and celebrated the Passover for the first time since the days of Solomon. What does this represent? It is the cleansing of the temple of our spirits. It symbolizes the act of putting away the filth that has accumulated and turning away from false ideas that have infected our minds. This cleansing allows us to return to the worship of the Lord.”

• Ray C. Stedman, Adventuring Through the Bible

2 Chronicles 29:3 ‘first year … first month’: “Hezekiah addressed the spiritual problems first, which reflected his life priorities. Hezekiah correctly diagnosed Judah’s ills—she had abandoned the true worship of God. So the king stepped in to reverse the policy of his father (28:22—25) and to repair the temple and return proper temple worship as God had prescribed in His Word (vv. 3-7). He knew such a revival of devotion to God would turn God’s wrath away from Judah (v. 10).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 29:5 ‘we need revival’: “In the Old Testament it is recorded that after years of bad leadership that had brought Judah to her knees, a new king, Hezekiah, came to the throne.
“immediately he called the priests and Levites together and said to them, ‘Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. … And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron’ (2 Chronicles 29:5,16).
“It took a week to get rid of the junk, but when they had obeyed God there followed immediately a sunburst of revival; and the good effects lasted nearly thirty years.
“I do not wish to draw too close a parallel between conditions under Ahaz and conditions in the churches today, but every enlightened soul can see how we languish for fearless leaders and bold reformers who will dare to pass holy judgment upon the unscriptural goings on that are being substituted for New Testament Christianity in the majority of our churches.”

• A. W. Tozer, The Size of the Soul

2 Chronicles 29:15-19 ‘to cleanse’: “Beginning with the outer courts and working for eight days, they then went inside. But as the Levites were not allowed within the walls of the holy places, the priests had to bring out all the debris to be carted off. This took eight more days.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 30:1 ‘Israel’: “These would be the remnant of the ten northern tribes (vv. 6, 25) left in the land or escaped from the enemy after the northern kingdom was taken captive following the invasion by Assyria in 722 B.C. (2 Kin. 17:1-9). Ephraim and Manasseh were the leading tribes.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 30:6 ‘return’: “The nation was required by law to celebrate annually three feasts in Jerusalem: (1) Passover; (2) Pentecost; and (3) Tabernacles (cf. Ex. 23; Lev. 23; Num. 28; 29; Deut. 16). God would have returned to bless the people of the northern apostate and idolatrous kingdom of Israel, if they had returned to Him. Cf. 15:2; 20:20; 26:5; 31:21, where this recurring theme is affirmed.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 30:18-19 ‘Not under the Law, but with the right heart’: “It should be much to our joy that we do not serve under the ceremonial law or live within the legal dispensation. The legal economy exhibited to the people a multitude of types and figures, and consequently it laid down many rules and rituals, and these were enacted with such solemn and terrible penalties that the people were in constant fear of offending and found obedience irksome by reason of the weakness of their flesh and their unspiritual minds. We are not under the law, but yet we are not without the law of Christ; and concerning the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the privilege of the Lord’s freed ones, an order of the Lord’s house and a discipline of his family must by no means be set aside by the loving child. We are not slaves fearing the lash, but we are sons who have a filial fear of grieving our heavenly Father. The rules concerning the Passover and the right keeping of that high festival were plain and definite, and to break them would have been a great offense to the God of Israel. These rules required a certain ceremonial cleanness on the part of all who partook of the paschal lamb, and those who were defiled were kept back so they could not present the offering of the Lord in its appointed season. The sacred rite was not to be celebrated in heedless formalism but with a careful cleansing out of the old leaven that they might keep the feast aright. Concerning the memorial supper of the Lord, we have no rubric as to the bread or the wine and no prescribed regulation as to posture or manner of procedure. But we do well to follow certain notes of guidance with loving care. For instance, when we come to this table of the Lord, it should not be without a preparedness of heart for it: ‘Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup’ (1 Co 11:28). To come irreverently or with sinister motive is to secure condemnation. To come idly and carelessly is to lose the blessing. We should approach the table with hearts full of humility, gratitude, faith, and expectation. We should receive the bread and wine with sincere longing after fellowship with Christ, tender love to his blessed person, and great joy in his finished work. If we do not thus partake of the sacred feast, we will miss its high design.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

2 Chronicles 30:26 ‘nothing like this’: “This is a telling statement about the spiritual degeneracy of the divided kingdom since the time of Solomon over 215 years earlier.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 31:1 ‘To be there for the Passover…’: “One almost envies the men of Hezekiah’s time. We might almost wish we could be carried back some thousands of years so that we might have been there to see the solemn sacrifices, to behold the priests as with joyous countenances they sang the praises of God, and to have mingled in that countless throng. But when that scene had vanished and the multitude had gone to their homes, Hezekiah might have sat down and wept if there had not been a fitting effect from so great a gathering. Isaiah the prophet was undoubtedly one of the most glad in the entire crowd. But sad indeed would his heart have been, notwithstanding all the delightful excitement of the day, if he had not seen some glorious consequences result from the services and from the great gatherings of the people. Hezekiah’s Passover might end, but not its blessed effects.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

2 Chronicles 31:6 ‘tithe’: “Since the priests and Levites served the nation, they were to be supported by the people through the taxation of the tithe. According to Leviticus 27:30-33 and Numbers 18:21, 24, the people were to give the tenth (tithe) to supply all the needs of the Levites. They were robbing God when they did not give the tithe (Mal. 3:8). Deuteronomy 12:6, 7 called for a second tithe that was to support the nation’s devotion to the temple by being used for the national festivals at the temple in Jerusalem. This was called the festival tithe. Deuteronomy 14:28, 29 called for a third tithe every three years for the poor. The sum of this tax plan totaled about 23 percent annually.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 31:19 ‘common-lands’: “This refers to the forty-eight Levitical cities (cf. Josh. 21:1—42). The tithe taxes collected from everyone were used not only for festivals at the temple, but also for regular daily support of the priests living and leading throughout the Land (see note an v. 6).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Chronicles 31:21 ‘Worship with earnest fervor’: “It seems to be the general rule of the moral universe that those who do their work with all their hearts prosper, while those who go to their labor leaving half their hearts behind them are almost certain to fail. Who are the young people who rise in the establishment? Not the people who sleep behind the counter, who are glad to avoid a customer. Who are the merchants who succeed? The lazy slackers? No. Those who are diligent in business, who do what they do with both their hands, who breast the current with all their strength, refusing to be carried downstream to the water fall of bankruptcy. People do not go to bed and wake up in the morning to find themselves famous, at least not until they have encountered many stern labors. God does not give harvests to idle people except harvests of thistles, nor is he pleased to send wealth to the one who will not dig in the field to find its hidden treasure. It is the same in religion as it is in other things. We must not treat religion as though it were a business, but we should put as much force and power and energy and heartiness and earnestness into religion as ever we do into business, and it deserves far more. Under God the Holy Spirit, our only hope for the increase of the church and for the conversion of the world, lies in the development of energy within us, in the bringing out of earnestness in Christian souls. It was not scholarship that converted the heathen world at first; for on the slabs in the catacombs, we have decisive evidence that the first Christians could scarcely spell their own names. It was not the pomp of learning, the pride of philosophy, or the power of eloquence that made the early confessors so mighty; it was their singular earnestness. The church was all on fire. She was like a volcano; she sent forth earnest truths of God like streams of lava that covered all the lands. Christians in those days were Christians, indeed. They believed what they professed; they knew what they spoke; they testified what they had seen; and they spoke with an unconquerable, untamable energy that defeated even the iron power of Rome and dashed it into splinters. So must it be today.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

2 Chronicles 32:8 ‘Hezekiah’s life matched his teaching’: “With a ring of triumph in his tone, Hezekiah told them that with Sennacherib there was only an arm of flesh. Though it was a powerful arm, yet with them was the omnipotence of God, and therefore they had more with them than did the Assyrians. The past glory of his reign and the evident depth of his own faith added weight to his words, and the people believed his testimony. In such a time of great difficulty—when people are apt to mutiny, to find fault with their leaders, and to break up into cliques and parties—they still held to their king and comforted themselves with the assurance he had given them of help in God. They were not distressed because of invasion, nor did they despair of their cause. They were, of course, conscious of their great danger, but they had found peace, even in their extremity, by quoting to themselves and to one another the emboldened language of their king. People will put great trust in the words of one whose life agrees with his teaching. It they can detect something inconsistent in his character, the person’s power is ended. But if one is evidently carried away with the one idea of being and doing good—and consumed with the purpose of glorifying God—then his utterances have power. It is not what is said but the one who says it that makes the impression. It is the life behind the words, the holy confidence exhibited in God every day, the calm restful walk with God that everybody can see in his face that, to a thoughtful person, makes his feeblest accent more powerful than the most furious declamation of a mere rhetorician. The one in whose words we are likely to find rest must be a good person. Hezekiah, from all we read of him, was evidently such a man. When greatness and goodness are blended, as in his case, a wide influence is sure to be exerted. When eminence of ability as well as eminence of character is found in a person, it often follows that what is described in this verse is true.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

2 Chronicles 32:24 ‘Hezekiah Given an Extension of Life’: “Isaiah informs the gravely ill King Hezekiah of the Lord’s directive to set his affairs in order, for the king would not recover from his illness (2 Kings 20:1). ln response, Hezekiah cries out to the Lord for an extension of mercy (2 Kings 20:2-3). Before Isaiah departs from the palace, the Lord, referencing the Davidic Covenant, tells his prophet that Hezekiah would indeed receive divine mercy, and would be healed from his disease. Indeed, an extension of 15 years is granted to Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:4-6). God grants the king miraculous confirmation by reversing a shadow that is cast along a palace stairway (2 Kings 20:8-11). Second Chronicles 32:24 briefly summarizes these events.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

2 Chronicles 32:31 ‘In the wilderness’: ”The Gospels report that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matt. 4:1). So the temptation does not begin with the Father arming the Son with all powers and weapons, so that he can win the battle. No, the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness, into solitude, into forsakenness. God removes from his Son all human and creaturely help. The hour of temptation is supposed to find Jesus weak, alone, and hungry. God leaves human beings alone in temptation. Thus Abraham had to be completely alone on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22). Yes, God himself abandons people in the face of temptation. This is what it means when we read in 2 Chronicles 32:31: God left Hezekiah in order to test him; or when the psalmist calls to God again and again: Do not forsake me (Pss. 38:21; 71:9, 18; 119:8).
“ ‘Do not hide your face from me. … Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation!’ (Ps. 27:9).
“What must remain incomprehensible to all human, ethical, and religious thought is that in temptation God does not reveal himself as the one who is gracious and near, who arms us with all gifts of the Spirit. Rather, God forsakes us and is quite distant from us. We are in the wilderness.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional compiled from several of his writings

My Thoughts

Hezekiah’s life was very interesting.  The very first month of his reign, he repaired the doors to the temple.  The priests and Levites would have to be the ones to go further.  It took them sixteen days to become consecrated and enter the temple to remove all the detestable things within the temple.  There was so much detestable stuff it took them eight days to reach the portico of the Lord.  Hezekiah made a covenant with God to restore proper worship.

The consecrated priests then consecrated the altar.  They also made a sin offering for all Israel, doing so in the method prescribed by King David, with singing and music playing.  Of all the various offerings, he sent out a decree for a free will burnt offering.  There were so many, that the priests could not handle it all.  The Levites were consecrated, but the priests had lagged behind.  Rev. MacArthur suggests that it may be that these were the same priests that worshipped the Baals.

Then Hezekiah wanted to celebrate Passover, something that had not been done on a national scale since Solomon.  There had been several good kings, but Passover had fallen by the wayside.  But, they decided to have the Passover a month late in that there were still not enough priests that were consecrated and they needed to get the word out so that all Judah and even Ephraim and Manasseh would be invited.

We should take courage in 2 Chronicles 30:10.  The couriers went to Ephraim and Manasseh.  They were scorned and ridiculed, but some people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun came for the Passover.  They were not ceremonially clean, and they ate the Passover meal while not ceremonially cleansed.  Hezekiah prayed for them for they had not performed the ceremony properly, and God healed them.  The lesson is that our world will scorn us more than they will listen, but the couriers delivered the message. and some people came, better than none.  Then, it had been so many generations since they had celebrated the Passover that these people from Israel did not know what to do.  They took shortcuts, but Hezekiah reminded the Lord that at least they showed up.

The Asherah poles and false god altars were then destroyed in Judah and the few who attended the Passover did the same in Ephraim and Manasseh.  This is near the time when Hoshea was king of Israel and Assyria conquered Samaria.  If these people who had gone to Passover did this against those who were running the country, it shows how weak Samaria was in their last years.  When we turn from God, it is often a decay over many, many years before the one last straw causes the total collapse.  We are seeing the decay in many countries around the world, and many of us can look in the mirror to see it all around us.  Do we take a stand?

The rest of the chapter talks about the tremendous amount of gifts given beyond the tithe.  The tithe was used to repair and maintain the temple and feed the priests, but there was too much.  Storerooms were built in the temple to stow the excess, and used to distribute to the Levitical cities, so that no one was living without their needs.

Then Sennacherib laid siege.  By this time, he had defeated Samaria.

Hezekiah’s response was to divert the springs so that the Assyrians army would have to search for water.  Hezekiah reinforced the city, rebuilding some of the damaged towers.  He set up an army and he instructed them to not be afraid for while Assyria had a strong arm of flesh, Judah had God.  Sennacherib sent people to spread propaganda that God could not save them.  Sennacherib taunted God because no other nations had survived their attacks, and Hezekiah could not save them, nor could God. He tried to cast fear upon the guards on the wall, but Isaiah and Hezekiah prayed.  The Assyrian army was destroyed by an angel of God.  Sennacherib went home, worshipped his false god, and his own family killed him by the sword.

Then, two events that are given in much more detail in 2 Kings are mentioned briefly.  Hezekiah became ill, but God cured him.  Hezekiah became proud, and that brought great shame.  But what the text says about Hezekiah’s reaction is instructive.  Hezekiah was sick.  Hezekiah became proud.  Hezekiah and the people of Judah humbled themselves and repented.  God heard their prayers.  We, as the nations of this earth, could do the same, but will that happen?  If not, God’s wrath will be coming.

There is much said today about Hezekiah’s waterway, found in archaeological digs.  It is mentioned here, diverting from the Gihon Spring to Jerusalem.

But as all of us do, Hezekiah died and was buried with his ancestors, but then, Manasseh became king.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

2 Chronicles 29: 1. What do you learn from this chapter about Hezekiah’s character? His leadership? ls there anything you see in him that you would like in your own life?
“2. Hezekiah seems to link right worship with God’s blessing. Do you agree? What evidence would you give from your own life pro or con?
“3. What in your life, is God leading you to rededicate to him? How might these elements of the rededication service outlined here be reflected in what you do? Why not do so right now’?
2 Chronicles 30:1-31:1 Hezekiah Celebrates the Passover 1. If you had been an Israelite in Hezekiah’s time, what would have moved you to travel to Jerusalem for the Passover? What would have impressed you the most about it?
“2. ls it okay to ‘bend’ some of the rules to include people in your church or group? Which ones?
“3. What ritual meal in the New Testament takes the place of Passover for us? How could this chapter help us to better celebrate that meal?
“4. In what ways are modern missionaries like Hezekiah‘s couriers? How are the responses to their message like Jesus‘ parable in Mark 4:1-9?
2 Chronicles 31:2-31:21 Contributions for Worship 1. What kinds of organizations or people do you regularly contribute to? Why these?
“2. Are some things better caught than taught? How do these verses illustrate this to you?
“3. Does obedience to the Lord insure prosperity for an individual? A church? A nation’? Explain.
2 Chronicles 32:1-23 Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem 1. Facing any Sennacheribs in your life right now? How are you preparing to defend yourself?
“2.Has God ever miraculously rescued you from a terrible situation or person? How did it happen?
2 Chronicles 32:24-33 Hezekiah’s Pride, Success and Death 1. Hezekiah is criticized for his pride. ls pride always bad? What can make it so objectionable to God?
“2. How do you measure greatness in life? How does God measure it?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There is one set of questions for 2 Chronicles 29.  Second Chronicles 30-31 have two sets of questions as noted.  Second Chronicles 32 also has two sets of questions as noted.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.