Saturday, November 30, 2019

Year 9, Day 334: 2 Chronicles 36


Theological Commentary: Click Here



The last chapter in the book of Chronicles is the final chapter in the saga of the kings of Judah.  After the events of this chapter, it would be several thousand years before the Hebrew people are their own nation again.  In this respect, it is a sad chapter.



What is the point of this chapter?  The kings are rebellious.  They rebel against the Lord and He punished them.  They rebelled against other human leaders and they punished the Hebrew people.  Rebellion, when it is not ordained as proper by the hand of the Lord, ends in punishment.



The sad thing is that there isn’t any need for the rebellion.  The king of Egypt is content to have them as a vassal.  The Lord seems to be content to have them in that position.  The people, though, don’t want to be underneath someone else’s authority.  They rebel.  The same is true under the Babylonian king.  The people rebel because they are underneath a ruler that they don’t want.



What does their rebellion ultimately grant?  The people are deported.  The people are sent into captivity.  Rebellion can only be tolerated for so long before it must be crushed.  God sends His own people into exile because rebellion lives in their heart.



The Chronicler doesn’t end his story on a poor note, however.  After 70 years, the people are allowed to go back and rebuild.  Like the generation after the rebellious generation of the exodus, a new generation arises and is allowed to come back to the Promised Land.  With God, there is always hope.  God is a God of forgiveness.  He is always willing to forgive and try again. 



We’ve seen it time and time again in this book.  Evil king follows evil king until there is a resurgence of faith.  Then the spiral of decline comes again until there is a resurgence of faith.  God is always open to trying again when our rebellion sinks us low enough that we are able to repent and try again in earnest.



<><

No comments:

Post a Comment