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Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey. Family. Welcome to day 356. We are diving into the book of second chronicles. That's right. Now we can finally say welcome to the last book of the Bible. Come on. We've got literally, I mean, just days left until the end of the year. And I'm just so, so, so proud of every single person who's gotten to date 356 shout out to you. You've made an amazing investment here into yourself by spending the last 355 days with the Lord through his word. And so we're about to get another day done. It's going to be amazing. If you've already done the reading for the day, if you've already read 2 Chronicles chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4, then I'm glad that we get to dive into today's episode. If you haven't done the reading, then you can stop the video, pause the audio, go get the reading done, done, and then come on back so that we can dive into context clues, nerdy nuggets, and our timeless truth for the day. All right, for those of us that have done the reading, let's dive in. Big, big, big, big, big context. Obviously not much is changing in terms of the context from 1st Chronicles to 2 Chronicles. Okay? But a big transition. It's, it's a like, logical place to split the book of Chronicles in half because David has now died. All right, We've come to the end of his 40 year reign as king over the United Monarchy and now he's transitioned power to his son. His son is gonna build, he's gonna start the building of the temple. We've transitioned power and so we open up two Chronicles and Solomon is in charge. All right, so literally the first words of 2 Chronicles, chapter 1, verse 1. Solomon son of David established himself firmly over his kingdom for the Lord his God him, and made him exceedingly great. Exceedingly great. That sets us up to just give a big overview of what the book of Second Chronicles is doing. Because we're going to cover a lot of history in the book of 2 Chronicles and it's kind of want to give you two big like umbrella ideas. Okay. The Book of Chronicles is going to go from excellence to exile. Excellence to exile. The word says here, exceedingly great. Okay? Solomon, under Solomon's reign, the kingdom, the united Kingdom of Israel and Judah. Israel in the north, Judah in the south are gonna experience excellence, abundance, wealth. They are going to flourish, but the book is gonna end with them going to exile. Okay? So the book as a whole is gonna go from excellence to exile. And the reality is this. Your life, my life, anybody's life could go from excellence to exile. When we neglect the laws of God, when we neglect the house of God, when we neglect the temple, when we neglect our first love, who should be the Lord, who we're loving with our hearts, our soul, our minds, and our strength. Okay? So 2 Chronicles is a book that is taking us from excellence to exile, which should be a word of caution for anybody whose life is marked by excellence. And excellence doesn't have to mean opulence or riches or wealth, but excellence should mean love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, genderness, you know, self control, all the fruits of the spirit being evident in your life. All right? The other, you know, if you want more, just like, verbiage, I would love for you to just be able to immediately, like somebody say two Chronicles and you go from excellence to exile. Right. The other one that I'll give you, maybe it's easier, is from quality to captivity. They're experiencing a quality of life. The people of Israel are going to experience a great quality of life. They're in the golden age under Solomon's reign. They're going to be the wealthiest they're ever going to be. So they're experiencing quality. But it eventually leads to captivity. They go from quality to captivity. So what is the context of the book? The content. Sorry. The context is that the book is gonna start with excellence, but it's gonna end with exile. It's gonna start with quality. It's gonna lead to captivity. Now I'm gonna compare how Kings and Chronicles kind of line up, because obviously Chronicles exist within the context of scripture. So it's important to note how Chronicles is gonna compare with what the counter stories are in Kings. So the story of Solomon in Kings is very, very different than the story of Solomon in Chronicles. The story of Solomon in the Book of Kings is actually framed by two statements. 1 Kings 3:3 and 1 Kings 11. 1:1 Kings 3:3 says this Solomon loved Yahweh, Solomon loved Yahweh. And then it's framed by 1 Kings chap. 11:1, which is this Solomon loved many foreign women. So we get 1 Kings, chapter 3 says Solomon y Solomon loved Yahweh. And then we're going to get 1 Kings 11. One that said Solomon loved many foreign women, which the author of the Book of Kings is definitely letting you know that Solomon has declined. He started out loving the Lord, but, man, now he. He love. He love of girls, bro. He love women. So the story of Solomon is therefore how he got from his first love to his last. It is a story of Solomon's fall, his failure, his downfall, of which the Temple plays a part. But the main focus is how Solomon fell and so became a cause of the split of the kingdom. Chronicles is not telling that story. Now, aspects of that story will emerge. Solomon's wisdom, his wealth, his wives, et cetera. But they are never what the story is about like they are in Kings. Okay? Instead, Solomon's story is dominated even more by the Temple. He. His reign covers nine chapters, and chapters two to seven are all about building of the temple. And far more detail is written about it, the building of the actual temple that we have in Kings. Okay, now here's something that is really, really important. This is 1 Chronicles, chapter 29, verse 29. 1st Chronicles 29. 29. And I hope this will help, because obviously Kings and Chronicles are talking about the same events, but giving different perspectives. And I think that Ezra knows that, right? Like, Ezra's not trying to trick anybody. So here's what ezra writes in First Chronicles, chapter 29, verse 29, he says this. As for the events of King David's reign, like, other things that I left out, okay? As for the events of King David's reign from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the Seer. So literally, straight up, Ezra is telling you, go read Samuel. Like, there are other books of the Bible to read if you want to go find out about him. Like killing Uriah and sexually assaulting Bathsheba. Like, you can go read about that. That's not the story I'm telling. I'm focused. I have an assignment. I have an agenda. I have an audience, okay? And my audience needs to focus on this temple. All right? The issue with my audience is not looking at women who are bathing and being tempted. And, like, that's not. That's not the issue with my aud. That's not the variable that Ezra is solving his equation for. Okay? But Ezra's literally like, hey, if that's what you need, go. You should really go see the record of Samuel the Seer. Go read the book of Samuel. It's dope. Five out of five, man. Five star. Review. Ezra's gonna give Samuel's records a five star review. Go see that. If you're struggling with a woman named Bathsheba, you should really go read Samuel. That's not the story I'm telling. Okay? So obviously my goal is to help you to reconcile what's happening in Chronicles versus what's happening in Kings so that you can trust the Bible, so that you know, man. Okay, there's a discrepancy here. What's going on? Okay, I want to answer that question. That's all the context that I think we need for the day. Obviously, Solomon is now in charge and there are a couple nerdy nuggets that I want to focus on. First, nerdy nugget is that the tabernacle, okay, that Moses built is at Gibeon. Now, this may be a little confusing for you, or maybe you didn't even realize that there's a discrepancy here. Okay. When David brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, okay, the only part of the tabernacle that he has is the Ark of the Covenant, which, low key is the most important part. But the tabernacle, like the actual tabernacle that Moses built, is at a place called Gibeon, which means there's a tabernacle out at Gideon with no Ark of the Covenant. And then you have an Ark of the Covenant that David has made a tent for. That. That. That's all it is. It's just. And people are burning offerings at both places. And Solomon is going to burn, sacrifice burnt offerings to the Lord at Gibeon for sure. At no point does the Bible say that the tabernacle at Gibeon is a sin at all. But 2 Chronicles 1:4 is definitely going to like, just make us aware that the Ark of the Covenant is not there. And here's what it says. Now, David had brought up the Ark of God from Kiriath dream to the place he had prepared for it, AKA Jerusalem, because he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. So I want you to begin to understand there's a tent for the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem, but the actual tabernacle, like the real deal tabernacle, is out of Gibeon. Why they didn't go get that tabernacle and replace the tent with the actual tabernacle, I have no clue. Don't know why they didn't do that. I was there. I. I didn't ask any questions. So just want to make you aware that that's a reality. Okay? All Israel, we're going to see in 2nd Chronicles, chapter 2, verse 1, all Israel is going to get named. It's going to get said. Which again, the same way that all Israel was in support of David, who's a temple preparer, all Israel is also in support of Solomon, the temple builder, which what is Ezra trying to communicate to his audience? He's trying to communicate that anyone who's all about building the Temple, all Israel should be in support of that person. Okay? So all Israel, all the same way. All Israel was in support of David, the same way that all Israel was in support of Solomon, all Israel should be in support of anyone who's in support of the temple. Third thing, there is a difference between how Solomon asked for wisdom in 2 Chronicles 1 versus first kings, chapter 3. Okay? And the big difference is a he asked for wisdom, which in and of itself is. Is going to be one of our timeless truths for the day. Because he could have asked for wealth, he could have asked for property, he could have asked for anything. He asks for wisdom. And I want you to ask yourself a hard question. Like if the Lord essentially said is a blank check, I'm going to put my signature on it. You put the amount. Would. Would wisdom be the thing that you wrote in the amount line? Wisdom? Or would you ask for money, you know? Or would you ask for, who knows, you know, possessions or. But God says this in 1st Chronicles chapter 1. The Lord is pleased that Solomon asked for wisdom, says this. Give me wisdom. This is Solomon. Give me wisdom and understanding that I may lead this people. For who is able to govern this great people of yours? Not great people of mine. Great people of yours. Solomon is acknowledging God. These people are your people. These are your people. That's healthy. By the way, God said to Solomon, since this is your heart's desire and you have not asked for wealth, possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies. And since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king. Therefore, wisdom and knowledge will be given to you and I will give you wealth, possessions and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have. This reminds me of a New Testament scripture that says, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well, which lets me know it's not that God has an issue with wealth or possessions or with honor. It's God has an issue with idolatry and with motives and with greed. And once we prove to him that Nope. Wisdom is the number one thing I want. Not only does he give wisdom, but he also gives Solomon wealth, honor, and possessions. And so seek first my kingdom, my righteousness. If you sacrifice all these things to get the one thing that matters, God typically actually gives you all these things. But if you seek first all these things, you don't get those things or his kingdom. It's a counterintuitive idea. It's a nerdy nugget, but it's also a timeless truth. Now, the difference is that when you go back to First Kings, chapter three, after Solomon asked for wisdom, you're then going to get a story of two women who are arguing over a baby. And Solomon has the wisdom to judge the case. We'll split the baby in half, cut the baby in half, and each one of you gets half. And by doing this, Solomon reveals who the real mom is. And the real mom says, no, no, no, no, no. Absolutely not. Just give her the baby. She would rather the baby live and belong to somebody else than for her to have it. But have a dead baby who's cut in half. And that's how Solomon knew who the real mom was. Who's willing to live without their child as long as their child is alive. That's a testimony. Parent. Anyway, I won't even get into that. Okay, so wisdom. Wisdom is the chief thing. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold. Literally. Today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble or you can go to a Books A Million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of Scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. Then we're going to start getting into Hiram, King of Tyre. Okay. Hiram, King of Tyre is going to send artisans, but also lumber for the building with the construction of the temple. Now, this is an example of a benevolent gentile king. And why would Ezra write into the story a benevolent gentile king? Well, I'll tell you exactly why. Because Cyrus and Xerxes are benevolent Persian kings. They're benevolent Gentile kings. And so whereas there's this narrative through Ezra and Nehemiah of like, rejecting the help of foreigners. Right? Remember when they get to Jerusalem, other. Other. The people of the land want to help them build. And they're like, absolutely not. They're men who are married to foreign women. And they're like, this is ridiculous. And then there's other characters who want to help build a wall. And it's like, absolutely, no, you cannot. So it's like, where do you draw the line? Who do we accept foreign help from? And so the text is actually showing us something, and it's revealing to us that Hiram, King of Tyre, is a character that is very much like Cyrus. He's a benevolent Gentile king. Okay? So it's not an issue that Israel is accepting help from Cyrus because Israel historically has received help from benevolent gentile kings. All right, then there's a little clue that Ezra has thrown in, is a little hint. In 2nd Chronicles, chapter 2, verse 17 and 18, 2 Chronicles, chapter 2, verse 17, it says this. Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel after the census his father David had taken, and they were found to be 1, 153,600. So these are foreigners. Okay, 150,000. More than 150,000 foreigners. He assigned 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 of them to be stonecutters in the hills and 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working. So this is not good that. So the foreign help from. From King Hiram, not an issue. Foreign slave labor. Ooh. This is not how foreigners are to be treated by the people of Israel. And this is just a tiny. Like the. The Bible is so slick with how it starts to show you issues that it has with the characters, because you'd have to then know what the Bible has to say about how to treat foreigners dwelling amongst you. Next. Nerdy nugget. In 2 Chronicles, chapter 3, there is so much gold. Okay. We'll actually get to the gold in our timeless truth. But what I do wanna touch on is the construction of the temple. Okay. The construction of the temple and temples in the ancient world had a very particular design. An outer court, an inner court, and a holy of holies. Okay. Israel's sanctuary is not the only sanctuary in the ancient world to be a throne. Three in one design. All right? They had a basic three level design holy shrine, sanctuary, and then an outer court. And this is what we see in the Temple, okay? Holy of holies. And then an inner court, and then an outer court. This design is based on the ancient world view of the cosmos. Now, this is huge. Heaven, earth, sea. Heaven, earth, sea. The heavens would be the sky, the earth is the earth, okay? And the sea is actually the abode of the dead. All right? So three realms of existence. The heavens, the earth, and beneath the earth. This is an often repeated phrase in the scriptures. Heaven, earth, sea. Heaven, earth, sea. Heaven, earth, sea. This, then, is what the temple represents. The holy of holies is heaven, where Yahweh is enthroned, dividing the holy of holies. And the holy place, or the sanctuary, is the veil, which represents the firmament, the dome that separates the place of life from beyond. The holy place represents Earth, where priests serve God as humans serve him on Earth. Like the earth, it is full of clouds, smoke from the incense altar. Like earth, it has lights to see. That's the golden lampstand. Like the earth, it has food to eat, the table of showbread. Outside the holy place are the two pillars. Okay? So Solomon is going to install two pillars outside the main sanctuary, called Jakin and Boaz. And they're topped with carved pomegranates. You may be thinking to yourself, that was not in the tabernacle, but it's in this temple. And there's a reason that it's in the temple, okay? Because they are just symbolized, the pillars of the earth, the pillars that hold up the land. And in the courtyard is the sea. I don't know if you realize this, but when Chronicles talks about the laver, it talks about it as the sea, okay? Not laver, but the sea. Why? Well, it's because the outer courtyard is representing the realm of chaos outside of God's order. It's the sea. The temple is a model of the world which declares that Yahweh is seated enthroned above or over the whole earth. He rests and rules in Jerusalem as he does over the cosmos. It is declaring the sovereignty of Yahweh over all creation. The temple itself, that is what the design is declaring. But it is more than that because of the temple text connected to this Genesis, chapter one, which declares that the whole world is the temple of God. So Jerusalem's temple is a model of the world, but it is also saying that the world is a model of Jerusalem. The temple is a model of the world, but the world is a temple itself. Whoo. And that, to me, is higher. Like that is dope. Okay, chapter four. We're gonna get into more construction of the temple. And now let's go into our timeless truth. I think that's enough for you to interpret what's going on in second chronicles chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4. Now, the timeless truth, which I think is Chef's kiss, I think this is a dope timeless truth. Okay, I don't know if you realize this, but the Holy of holies, okay, is basically a golden cube. Like, it is literally a gold room. Like, the floors are gold. The Ark of the Covenant's gold. Everything's gold. Everything in there is gold. What's even more remarkable about that is the amount of gold in the Holy of Holies, which was basically a golden cube with a golden throne inside covered with two golden cherubim. And get this, no light source and only one person each year could even enter. So even when someone was in there, he would not see the golden glory. All that gold, all that expense, all that glory, and no one ever saw it. The most expensive thing was invisible. Just think about that. And you being a temple of the Holy Spirit, you have an outer court, an inner court, and a holy of holies. Your outer court is your physical body. I hope that your physical bodies are the best part about you. And then your inner court, that's your soul, your mind, your emotions, your will, your personality. I hope that that's not the best part about you. But then your holy of holies is your spirit. The spirit that is alive on the inside of you. Not just the Holy Spirit, not just God's spirit, but your spirit. I used to say, you have a body, you are a spirit, you have a soul, you live in a body. I used to say that. And then I repented to all the kids in my youth group that I used to say that to. And I began to say, you are a spirit, you are a soul, you are a body, you are spirit. And I hope that your spirit is the best thing about you. I hope that your spirit is a place in your Holy of Holies. That's gold, but it's totally invisible. That. That what we offer the Lord. The best parts of what we give God should be the. The. The best, but they should also be invisible. I hope your best worship doesn't happen publicly. I hope your best prayers don't happen publicly. I hope the best moments that you have spiritually aren't in public worship settings. I hope they're in private. I hope that you have a gold cube somewhere with a gold throne and gold cherubim that never sees the light of day, that no one ever lays their eyes on. I want my wife to be able to say when she sees me preach publicly, man, no one knows that this isn't even the best part of him. The best part of him is when he's alone with me and when he's alone with our children. I hope that my wife would not say the opposite, which is, this is the best thing he does, because when he's at home, he's a terror. You know, I want to always present God with a golden box. The most expensive thing should be the most invisible thing. This kind of gets into Jesus in the New Testament when he says, if you're generous, don't talk about it like it should be a secret. Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Anyone who prays out loud, you've already gotten your reward. But those who pray in private, you've gotten your reward. And that reward is that the Father knows you. So I hope that that's not just relevant for Solomon and the building of the temple, but that it's relevant for you and for me because I think it's a timeless truth. Tomorrow we got day 357. We're going to be in second chronicles chapters five, six, seven, and eight. I can't wait. I'll be right here tomorrow, same time, same place. I can't wait to continue our trek through the last book of the Bible. I love you guys. Proud of you. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram @thebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.