The Book of 2 Chronicles, Chapter by Chapter

We want to take you through the book of 2 Chronicles chapter by chapter. If you have not read our study on 1 Chronicles we suggest you start there. Because 2 Chronicles picks up right where 1 Chronicles leaves off. 1 Chronicles ended with Solomon sitting “on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father” (1 Chronicles 29:23). 2 Chronicles starts with Solomon going to Gibeon to seek the LORD. We will tell you what each chapter is about and how it fits into the message of the book. And how it points us to the one God that is revealed in Jesus Christ.

2 Chronicles covers the same years as 1 and 2 Kings. From Solomon to the fall of Jerusalem. But it tells the story of Judah only. The northern kingdom of Israel is only mentioned when it has to do with Judah. And the writer spends most of his time on the temple and on the kings who sought the LORD or turned away from him. Six chapters on Solomon’s temple. Four chapters on Hezekiah’s revival. And then the book ends with something Kings does not have. The decree of Cyrus telling the Jews to go home and build the house of God again.

There are three things we want you to take away from this study. 2 Chronicles is about seeking God. Kings who sought the LORD prospered. Kings who forsook him fell. 2 Chronicles is about the house of God and the people called by his name. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face” (7:14). And 2 Chronicles is about God’s mercy. Even Manasseh the worst king of Judah was forgiven when he humbled himself. And even after the temple burned God raised up Cyrus to send his people home. We will explain these points as we go through the book. But we want you to keep them in mind as we begin.

We told you in our 1 Chronicles study that 1 and 2 Chronicles were one book. The Jews believed Ezra wrote it.¹ It was written after the people came back from Babylon. In the Hebrew Bible it is the last book. So the very last words of the Hebrew Bible are the words of Cyrus. “Let him go up” (36:23).

One word runs through the whole book. Seek. In Hebrew it is darash. Over and over the writer tells us whether a king sought the LORD or not.² And he shows us that God answered quickly. When a king sought God he prospered. When he forsook God trouble came. Azariah the prophet said it plainly. “The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you” (15:2).

2 Chronicles has two parts. Solomon and the temple (1–9). And the kings of Judah (10–36). We will break it down a little further than that. Solomon and the temple (1–9). Rehoboam to Asa (10–16). Jehoshaphat (17–20). Jehoram to Amaziah (21–25). Uzziah, Jotham and Ahaz (26–28). Hezekiah (29–32). Manasseh to Josiah (33–35). And the fall of Jerusalem and the decree of Cyrus (36). Many of these stories we covered in our 1 and 2 Kings studies. When we did we will tell you. And we will focus on what Chronicles adds. Just like in our other studies we will be using the KJV for our scripture quotations. And we will let you know where you can find the work of the scholars we reference.

2 Chronicles 1–2: Wisdom and Preparation

Solomon went to Gibeon where the tabernacle of Moses and the brazen altar were. He offered 1000 burnt offerings. That night God said “Ask what I shall give thee” (1:7). Solomon asked for wisdom and knowledge to judge God’s people (1:10). God gave him wisdom and riches and honour too. We covered this in our 1 Kings study.

Then Solomon sent to Huram king of Tyre for cedar and a skilled worker. Notice what he said about the house he would build. “And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods. But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him?” (2:5–6). Solomon knew no building could hold God. The house was not for God to live in like a man lives in a house. It was a place “to burn sacrifice before him” (2:6). Huram answered “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, that made heaven and earth” (2:12).

2 Chronicles 3–4: Mount Moriah

This is the only place in the Bible outside of Genesis 22 where Moriah is named.³ Abraham offered Isaac on a mountain in the land of Moriah. He said “God will provide himself a lamb” (Genesis 22:8). David built an altar here and the plague stopped (1 Chronicles 21). And now Solomon built the temple here. The place of sacrifice. All of it points to the Lamb God would provide.

The writer describes the house. The most holy place covered with fine gold. Two cherubims. And a veil “of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen” (3:14). That veil separated the people from the presence of God. When Jesus died “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Matthew 27:51). Two pillars stood before the temple. Jachin and Boaz (3:17). Chapter 4 describes the brasen altar and the molten sea and the lavers and the golden candlesticks and tables.

2 Chronicles 5: As One

The Levites brought the ark into the most holy place. And then this happened.

1 Kings 8 tells us the cloud filled the house. Chronicles tells us when. When the singers and trumpeters “were as one, to make one sound.” There were 120 priests blowing trumpets (5:12). When they were one the glory came. On the day of Pentecost “they were all with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1). About 120 of them (Acts 1:15). “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven” and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:2, 4). The same God filled his house when his people were one.

2 Chronicles 6: Solomon’s Prayer

Solomon stood on a brasen scaffold and knelt down and spread out his hands toward heaven (6:13). His prayer is almost the same as 1 Kings 8. “O LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth” (6:14). One God. “But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!” (6:18). We covered this in our 1 Kings study. God did come and dwell with men on the earth. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Chronicles ends the prayer with words from Psalm 132. “Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength” (6:41).

2 Chronicles 7: If My People

“Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house” (7:1). Fire from heaven. Just like at the tabernacle in Leviticus 9 and on David’s altar in 1 Chronicles 21. The people bowed with their faces to the ground and said “For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever” (7:3).

Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night. He said he had chosen this place. And then he said this.

This verse is not in Kings. It is the key to the whole book of Chronicles.⁴ Humble themselves. Pray. Seek my face. Turn. Over and over in this book we will see kings who did these things and kings who did not. Notice who the promise is for. “My people, which are called by my name.” God’s name was put on his people. In the New Testament James says the Gentiles are a people “upon whom my name is called” (Acts 15:17). James also talks about “that worthy name by the which ye are called” (James 2:7). That name is put on us when we are baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38).⁵ We are the people called by his name.

God also gave a warning. If they turned away and served other gods he would pluck them up out of the land. And this house would become “a proverb and a byword among all nations” (7:20). People would ask why. And the answer would be “Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers” (7:22). The rest of the book shows us both sides of that promise.

2 Chronicles 8–9: Solomon’s Glory

Chapter 8 tells us about Solomon’s cities and his workers and his ships. He moved Pharaoh’s daughter out of the city of David “because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come” (8:11). He offered on the feasts “according to the commandment of Moses” (8:13).

Chapter 9 tells us about the queen of Sheba. We covered this in our 1 Kings study. But notice one difference. In Kings she said God set Solomon “on the throne of Israel.” In Chronicles she said “Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God” (9:8). His throne. God’s throne. Just like 1 Chronicles 29:23. Then Solomon’s riches and his death. Notice that Chronicles does not tell us about Solomon’s wives turning his heart away. The readers knew it from Kings. The writer was focused on Solomon as the builder of the temple.

2 Chronicles 10–11: The Kingdom Splits

Rehoboam listened to the young men and told the people he would chastise them with scorpions. The northern tribes left. We covered this in our 1 Kings study. But Chronicles adds “the cause was of God, that the LORD might perform his word” (10:15). Rehoboam wanted to go to war. God said no. And he listened (11:4). Then Chronicles adds something Kings does not tell us. When Jeroboam made his calves and cast out the Levites they left their homes and came to Judah. “And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem” (11:16). The faithful from every tribe came to where God’s house was. All Israel was still there in Judah. And for 3 years Judah was strong because “they walked in the way of David and Solomon” (11:17).

2 Chronicles 12: Humbled Before Shishak

“And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him” (12:1). As soon as he got strong he forgot God. Shishak king of Egypt came up. Shemaiah the prophet said “Thus saith the LORD, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak” (12:5). The princes and the king humbled themselves. “The LORD is righteous” (12:6). Notice that word humbled. That is 7:14. God said “I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance” (12:7). They would serve Shishak for a while “that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries” (12:8). They would learn the difference between serving God and serving Egypt. The chapter ends “And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD” (12:14).

2 Chronicles 13: Abijah’s Speech

Kings tells us Abijah did evil. Chronicles tells us about one day when he stood up for the LORD.⁶ Jeroboam came against him with 800,000 men. Abijah had 400,000. Abijah stood on mount Zemaraim and preached to Israel. The LORD gave the kingdom to David “by a covenant of salt” (13:5). A covenant that would not go bad. And Israel came out with “golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods” (13:8). They cast out the priests of the LORD. Anyone with a young bull and 7 rams could be a priest of “them that are no gods” (13:9). “But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him” (13:10). “And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain” (13:12). Jeroboam set an ambush behind them. Judah cried to the LORD and the priests blew the trumpets. And God struck Jeroboam. Judah won “because they relied upon the LORD God of their fathers” (13:18).

2 Chronicles 14–15: Asa Seeks the LORD

Asa did right. He took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places. “And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment” (14:4). Then Zerah the Ethiopian came against him with a million men and 300 chariots (14:9). Asa had about half that. He prayed.

“In thy name we go.” Just like David went against Goliath “in the name of the LORD of hosts.” God struck the Ethiopians and they fled. Then the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded. He told Asa “The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you” (15:2). He said Israel had been a long time “without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law” (15:3). Asa took courage. He cleaned out the idols. The people made a covenant “to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul” (15:12). He even removed Maachah from being queen because she made an idol (15:16). “And he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about” (15:15).

2 Chronicles 16: Asa Forgets

But late in his reign Baasha king of Israel came against Judah. And this time Asa did not pray. He took silver and gold out of the house of the LORD and paid the king of Syria to help him (16:2–3). It worked. But Hanani the seer came. “Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand” (16:7). He reminded Asa of the Ethiopians. God gave him that victory because he relied on God. Then he said this.

God is looking for people who will trust him. Asa was angry and put the seer in prison (16:10). Then he got a disease in his feet. “Yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians” (16:12).⁷ The problem was not going to a doctor. The problem was that he did not seek God at all. The king who started by telling Judah to seek the LORD ended without seeking him himself.

2 Chronicles 17: Teaching the Law

Jehoshaphat “sought to the LORD God of his father, and walked in his commandments” (17:4). In his 3rd year he sent princes and Levites and priests through all the cities of Judah. “And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the LORD with them” (17:9). He did not just tear down idols. He put the word of God in front of the people. And “the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat” (17:10).

2 Chronicles 18–19: The Wrong Friends

Jehoshaphat made a marriage alliance with Ahab. He went with Ahab to Ramothgilead. This is the story of Micaiah. We covered this in our 1 Kings study. In the battle the Syrians thought Jehoshaphat was Ahab. “But Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; and God moved them to depart from him” (18:31). Ahab died.

When Jehoshaphat came home Jehu the son of Hanani met him. “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD” (19:2). But he also said there was good in him because he took away the groves and “prepared thine heart to seek God” (19:3). Jehoshaphat went out among the people “and brought them back unto the LORD God of their fathers” (19:4). He set judges in every city. He told them “Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the LORD” (19:6). “For there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts” (19:7).

2 Chronicles 20: The Battle Is Not Yours

Moab and Ammon and others came against Judah with a great multitude. Jehoshaphat was afraid. “And set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah” (20:3). The people came from every city to seek the LORD. Jehoshaphat stood in the house of the LORD and prayed. “O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?” (20:6). He reminded God of Solomon’s prayer. “If, when evil cometh upon us … we stand before this house … and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help” (20:9). Then he said “we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee” (20:12). All Judah stood there with their wives and their little ones.

Then the Spirit of the LORD came on Jahaziel a Levite. “Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (20:15). “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you” (20:17). Just like Moses said at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:13). Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground. And the next morning he said “Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper” (20:20).

Then he did something no general would do. He put the singers in front of the army.⁸ They went out “to praise the beauty of holiness … and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever” (20:21). “And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir” (20:22). The enemies turned on each other. When Judah got to the watchtower they were all dead. It took 3 days to gather the spoil. On the 4th day they gathered in the valley of Berachah. Which means blessing. “For there they blessed the LORD” (20:26). They went back to Jerusalem with harps and trumpets. The battle was won by praise. Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises at midnight and the prison doors opened (Acts 16:25–26).

The chapter ends with Jehoshaphat joining with Ahaziah king of Israel to build ships. A prophet told him “Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works” (20:37). The ships were broken. A good king with a bad habit of the wrong friends.

2 Chronicles 21: A Letter From Elijah

Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram killed all his brothers when he became king (21:4). He married Ahab’s daughter and walked in the ways of Ahab. “Howbeit the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a light to him and to his sons for ever” (21:7). We saw this light in 2 Kings 8:19. Edom revolted. Libnah revolted. Then a letter came to Jehoram from Elijah the prophet (21:12).⁹ Because he walked in the ways of Ahab and killed his brothers who were better than him God would strike his people and his family. And he would get a disease in his bowels. It happened. He died in great pain. “And departed without being desired” (21:20). No one was sorry he was gone.

2 Chronicles 22–23: Athaliah and Joash

Ahaziah reigned 1 year and was killed by Jehu. His mother Athaliah destroyed all the seed royal. But Jehoshabeath hid the baby Joash. Chronicles tells us she was the wife of Jehoiada the priest (22:11). He was hidden in the house of God 6 years. Then Jehoiada crowned him king and Athaliah was killed. We covered this in our 2 Kings study. One baby kept the line of David alive. Jehoiada made a covenant “that they should be the LORD’s people” (23:16).

2 Chronicles 24: Zechariah Stoned

Joash did right “all the days of Jehoiada the priest” (24:2). He repaired the house of the LORD. The people gave gladly into a chest at the gate (24:10). Jehoiada died at 130 years old. They buried him among the kings “because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house” (24:16). A priest buried with kings.

Then the princes of Judah came and bowed to Joash. And he listened to them. “And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols” (24:18). God sent prophets. They would not listen. Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada. He stood above the people and said “Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you” (24:20). They stoned him in the court of the house of the LORD. On the king’s orders. The son of the priest who saved Joash’s life. “The LORD look upon it, and require it” (24:22).

Jesus talked about this. “That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar” (Matthew 23:35).¹⁰ Abel is the first murder in the Hebrew Bible. Zechariah is the last martyr named in the last book of the Hebrew Bible. Jesus was saying from the first to the last. Within a year a small Syrian army came against Judah. “For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers” (24:24). Joash was killed by his own servants for the blood of Zechariah (24:25).

2 Chronicles 25: The Gods of Edom

Amaziah did right “but not with a perfect heart” (25:2). He hired 100,000 men from Israel to fight Edom. A man of God said “let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the LORD is not with Israel” (25:7). Amaziah was worried about the money he already paid. The man of God said “The LORD is able to give thee much more than this” (25:9). He sent them home. And God gave him the victory.

Then he did the strangest thing. He brought back the gods of Edom. The gods of the people he just beat. “And set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them” (25:14). A prophet came. “Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?” (25:15). Amaziah told him to be quiet. Then he challenged Joash king of Israel. And lost. Jerusalem’s wall was broken. From the time Amaziah turned away from the LORD people plotted against him. He was killed at Lachish (25:27).

2 Chronicles 26: Uzziah’s Pride

Uzziah was 16 when he became king. He reigned 52 years. “And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper” (26:5). He won wars. He built towers. He loved farming. He made machines to shoot arrows and great stones (26:15). “And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction” (26:15–16).

He went into the temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. Only priests could do that. Azariah the priest and 80 priests went in after him. “It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron” (26:18). Uzziah got angry. And while he was angry leprosy rose up in his forehead (26:19). He was a leper until he died. He lived in a separate house and was cut off from the house of the LORD. No king of Judah was allowed to be both king and priest. But Zechariah prophesied of one who would “sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne” (Zechariah 6:13). Jesus is our King and our High Priest (Hebrews 7:1–3).

2 Chronicles 27: Jotham

Jotham did right like his father. But he did not go into the temple (27:2). “So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God” (27:6). A short chapter for a faithful king.

2 Chronicles 28: Ahaz and the Good Samaritans

Ahaz did not do right. He made molten images for Baal. He burned his children in the fire (28:3). So God gave him to the king of Syria and the king of Israel. Pekah king of Israel killed 120,000 men of Judah in one day. And Israel carried away 200,000 women and children as captives to Samaria (28:6–8).

Then something amazing happened. A prophet named Oded met the army. He told them God gave Judah into their hand because God was angry with Judah. But they killed them “in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven” (28:9). And now they wanted to make their own brothers slaves. Send them back. Some of the leaders of Ephraim stood up and agreed. Then look what they did.

Men from Samaria clothed their enemies and fed them and anointed them and put the weak ones on donkeys and took them to Jericho. Jesus told a story about a man on the road to Jericho who fell among thieves. A Samaritan came and bound up his wounds “pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast” (Luke 10:34).¹¹ Many have noticed how close these two stories are. Mercy can come from the people you least expect.

Ahaz did not learn. He sent to the king of Assyria for help. Assyria troubled him instead (28:20). “And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz” (28:22). The writer points at him. This is that king. He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus. “Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel” (28:23). Then he cut up the vessels of the house of God. “And shut up the doors of the house of the LORD” (28:24). The worst thing a king of Judah could do. He closed God’s house.

2 Chronicles 29: The Doors Opened

Kings gives Hezekiah 3 chapters. Chronicles gives him 4. And it starts with something Kings does not tell us. “He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them” (29:3). The very first thing. His father shut the doors. Hezekiah opened them. He called the priests and Levites. “My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him” (29:11).

They cleaned the house of the LORD for 16 days and carried out all the filth to the brook Kidron (29:16–17). Then they offered sin offerings “for all Israel” (29:24). Not just Judah. All Israel. Then the singing started. “And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel” (29:27). The sacrifice and the song began together. “And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly” (29:36). Revival can come fast when the doors are opened.

2 Chronicles 30: The Great Passover

Hezekiah sent letters to all Israel and Judah. Even to Ephraim and Manasseh in the north. The northern kingdom had just been carried away by Assyria. Only a remnant was left. “Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you” (30:6). “For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him” (30:9). Most of them laughed at the messengers. “Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem” (30:11).

They could not keep the Passover in the first month because not enough priests were clean. So they kept it in the second month. Just like the law allowed in Numbers 9. Many of the people from the north had not cleansed themselves the right way. And they ate the Passover anyway. Then Hezekiah prayed.

God looked at the heart.¹² They prepared their heart to seek God. That mattered more than the ritual. Not that the ritual did not matter. But God was gracious to people who were coming back. This is 7:14 again. Humbled. Prayed. Sought. And God healed. They kept the feast 7 more days because they were so glad (30:23). “So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem” (30:26).

2 Chronicles 31: Heaps of Tithes

After the Passover the people went out and broke down the images and the groves in Judah and Benjamin and even in Ephraim and Manasseh (31:1). Then they brought their tithes. So much that they laid them in heaps (31:6). Azariah the chief priest said “Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty” (31:10). Then the writer says this about Hezekiah. “And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered” (31:21).

2 Chronicles 32: An Arm of Flesh

Sennacherib king of Assyria came. Hezekiah stopped the springs outside the city so the Assyrians would not find water. He built up the wall. Then he spoke to the people.

Sennacherib’s servants mocked the LORD. They “spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man” (32:19). They put the one God in the same group as the idols. Hezekiah and Isaiah prayed. And God sent an angel who cut off the mighty men of Assyria. Sennacherib went home in shame and was killed by his own sons in the house of his god (32:21). We covered this in our 2 Kings study.

Then Hezekiah got sick and God healed him. But Chronicles adds this. “But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up” (32:25). He humbled himself and the wrath did not come in his days (32:26). When the ambassadors came from Babylon “God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart” (32:31). Even good kings had to be tested. Hezekiah died and all Judah honored him.

2 Chronicles 33: Manasseh Humbled

Manasseh did everything his father tore down. Baal altars. Groves. Altars to the stars in the house of the LORD. He burned his children in the valley of Hinnom. He used witchcraft and familiar spirits. “So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen” (33:9). God spoke to him and he would not listen. We covered this in our 2 Kings study. But here Chronicles tells us something Kings does not.¹³

The worst king in the history of Judah humbled himself. And God heard him. And brought him home. “Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.” Not one god among many. The God. The same confession the people made on mount Carmel. Manasseh took away the strange gods and the idol from the house of the LORD. He repaired the altar of the LORD and told Judah to serve the LORD (33:15–16). If God would forgive Manasseh he will forgive anyone who humbles himself. Paul said “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).

His son Amon did evil like his father did at first. “And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself” (33:23). His servants killed him after 2 years.

2 Chronicles 34: Josiah Seeks God

Josiah was 8 when he became king. “For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father” (34:3). He was 16. Four years later he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places and groves and images. He went all the way into the north and did the same (34:6). In his 18th year they found the book of the law in the house of the LORD while they were repairing it. Josiah tore his clothes. Huldah the prophetess said judgment would come. But not in his days “because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God” (34:27). Humbled again. Josiah made a covenant and “all his days they departed not from following the LORD” (34:33). We covered this in our 2 Kings study.

2 Chronicles 35: The Passover and Megiddo

Josiah kept the Passover. He told the Levites to put the ark back in the house Solomon built. They did not have to carry it on their shoulders anymore (35:3). He gave 30,000 lambs and kids for the people (35:7). “And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet” (35:18).

Then Pharaoh Necho came up to fight at Carchemish. Josiah went out against him. Necho sent messengers. “What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day … for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not” (35:21). Josiah would not listen. He disguised himself and fought. He “hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God” (35:22). Archers shot him. He died in Jerusalem. “And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah” (35:25). Even a good king can make a fatal mistake when he does not seek God’s will.

2 Chronicles 36: Until There Was No Remedy

The last chapter moves fast. Jehoahaz reigned 3 months. Pharaoh took him to Egypt. Jehoiakim reigned 11 years and did evil. Nebuchadnezzar bound him to take him to Babylon (36:6). Jehoiachin reigned 3 months and was taken to Babylon. Then Zedekiah reigned 11 years. “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD” (36:12). Humbled not. That was the problem from the beginning. Then the writer tells us why it all happened.

Notice why God kept sending prophets. “Because he had compassion.” He did not want to destroy them. He sent messenger after messenger. Rising up early. But they mocked them. Until there was no remedy. Jesus told a parable about a man who sent servant after servant to his vineyard and they beat them and killed them. “But last of all he sent unto them his son” (Matthew 21:37). God did not send another person. He came himself. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

The Chaldeans killed the young men in the house of their sanctuary. They had no compassion on young or old (36:17). They took the vessels of the house of God. “And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem” (36:19). The rest were carried to Babylon. “To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years” (36:21).¹⁴ We saw this in our Leviticus study. God said if they did not let the land rest he would take them out and the land would rest without them (Leviticus 26:34). And Jeremiah said it would be 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11).

2 Chronicles 36:22–23: Let Him Go Up

But the book does not end with the fire. It ends with this.

The LORD stirred up the spirit of a pagan king. Isaiah named Cyrus more than 100 years before he was born. “That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built” (Isaiah 44:28).¹⁵ And in the very next chapter God said to Cyrus “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me” (Isaiah 45:5–6). God raised up Cyrus so the whole world would know there is one God.

The very last words of the Hebrew Bible are “let him go up.” The exile was not the end. God was faithful. He kept his word to Jeremiah. He kept his word to David. The house of God would be built again. And one day the Son of David would walk into that house and say “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19).

We have gone through 2 Chronicles chapter by chapter. Here is what we can conclude. First 2 Chronicles is about seeking God. The kings who sought the LORD prospered. Asa when he relied on God. Jehoshaphat when he set himself to seek the LORD. Uzziah as long as he sought God. Hezekiah who did everything with all his heart. The kings who forsook God fell. Rehoboam. Joash after Jehoiada died. Amaziah who bowed to the gods of Edom. Ahaz who shut the doors. “If ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you” (15:2).

Second 2 Chronicles is about the people called by God’s name. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (7:14). We saw this promise kept over and over. Rehoboam humbled himself and God did not destroy him. The people from the north humbled themselves and God healed them. Even Manasseh humbled himself and God brought him home. Today God’s name is called on his people in Jesus Christ (Acts 15:17). The same promise stands.

Third 2 Chronicles is monotheistic. Solomon said “great is our God above all gods” (2:5). He prayed “there is no God like thee in the heaven, nor in the earth” (6:14). Abijah called the golden calves “them that are no gods” (13:9). Jehoshaphat prayed “art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen?” (20:6). And Manasseh after all his idols “knew that the LORD he was God” (33:13). The God of Chronicles is the one God. And he filled his house with glory when his people were one. Just like he filled the church on the day of Pentecost.

2 Chronicles ends the Hebrew Bible with a burned temple and an open door. “Let him go up.” God had compassion on his people. He sent his messengers. And at last he came himself in the person of Jesus Christ. The next book tells us what happened when the people went up. That is where Ezra begins.