2 Chronicles 28

2 Chronicles 28

2 Chronicles 28:1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in Yahveh’s sight like his ancestor David,

2 Chronicles 28:2 for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made cast images of the Baals.

2 Chronicles 28:3 He burned incense in Ben Hinnom Valley and consumed his children with fire, imitating the repulsive[1] practices of the nations Yahveh had dispossessed before the Israelites.

2 Chronicles 28:4 He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

2 Chronicles 28:5 So Yahveh, his God, handed Ahaz over to the king of Aram. He attacked him and took many captives to Damascus. Ahaz was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with great force:

2 Chronicles 28:6 Pekah son of Remaliah killed one hundred twenty thousand in Judah in one day– all powerful men– because they had abandoned Yahveh God of their ancestors.

2 Chronicles 28:7 An Ephraimite warrior named Zichri killed the king’s son Maaseiah, Azrikam governor of the house, and Elkanah, who was second to the king.

2 Chronicles 28:8 Then the Israelites took two hundred thousand captives from their brothers – women, sons, and daughters. They also captured a great deal of plunder from them and brought it to Samaria.

2 Chronicles 28:9 A prophet of Yahveh named Oded was there. He went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Notice, Yahveh, God of your ancestors, handed them over to you because of his wrath against Judah, but you slaughtered them in a rage that has reached the sky.

2 Chronicles 28:10 Now you plan to reduce the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, to slavery. Do you not also need reparation before Yahveh your God?

2 Chronicles 28:11 Listen to me and return the captives you took from your brothers, for Yahveh’s burning anger is on you.”

2 Chronicles 28:12 So some men who were leaders of the Ephraimites—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—stood in opposition to those coming from the army.

2 Chronicles 28:13 They said to them, “You must not bring the captives here, for you plan to bring the need for reparation on us from Yahveh to add to our sins and our need for reparation. For we have much need for reparation, and burning anger is on Israel.”

2 Chronicles 28:14 The army left the captives and the plunder in the presence of the captains and the congregation.

2 Chronicles 28:15 Then the men who were designated by name strengthened the captives and provided clothes for their naked ones from the plunder. They clothed them, gave them sandals, consumables, and drink, dressed their wounds, and provided donkeys for all the feeble. The Israelites brought them to Jericho, the City of Palms, among their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.

2 Chronicles 28:16 At that time, King Ahaz asked the king of Assyria for help.

2 Chronicles 28:17 The Edomites came again, struck Judah, and took captives.

2 Chronicles 28:18 The Philistines also raided the cities of the Judean foothills and the Negev of Judah. They captured and occupied Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, and Gederoth, as well as Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo with their surrounding villages.

2 Chronicles 28:19 For Yahveh humbled Judah because of King Ahaz of Judah, who threw off restraint in Judah and was unfaithful to Yahveh.

2 Chronicles 28:20 Then King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came against Ahaz, oppressing him and not strengthening him.

2 Chronicles 28:21 Although Ahaz plundered Yahveh’s house and the house of the king and the captains and gave the plunder to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.

2 Chronicles 28:22 At the time of his distress, King Ahaz himself added more unfaithfulness to Yahveh.

2 Chronicles 28:23 He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which had struck him; he said, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram are helping them, I will sacrifice to them so that they will help me.” But they were the downfall of him and all Israel.

2 Chronicles 28:24 Then Ahaz gathered up the utensils of God’s house, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of Yahveh’s house, and made himself altars on every street corner in Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 28:25 He made high places in every city of Judah to offer incense to other gods, angering Yahveh, the God of his ancestors.

2 Chronicles 28:26 Notice that the rest of his deeds and all his ways, from beginning to end, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

2 Chronicles 28:27 Ahaz lied down with his fathers and was buried in Jerusalem, but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son, Hezekiah, became king in his place.

[1] תּוֹעֵבָה = repulsive. 2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:2; 34:33; 36:8, 14.

links:

enough is enough
even more unfaithful
yet more faithless

The 2 Chronicles shelf in Jeff’s library

THE LAST DAYS

THE LAST DAYS

2 Timothy 3:1–9 NASB

¹But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. ²For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, ⁴treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. ⁶For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, ⁷always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. ⁹But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

Introduction

Every generation of Christians has asked the same question: Are we living in the last days? Paul’s answer is simple: Yes. The last days are not a distant, apocalyptic era. They began with the resurrection of Jesus and will continue until His return. Timothy was living in them. We are living in them. And Paul wants Timothy — and us — to understand what makes these days “difficult.”

The difficulty does not come from wars, earthquakes, or political turmoil. Paul does not mention any of those things. The difficulty comes from people — from the moral collapse of society and the spiritual corruption of false teachers. The danger is not merely outside the church but inside it. And Paul writes with urgency because Timothy must be prepared to stand firm when others fall away.

This passage is not meant to frighten us. It is meant to steady us. It is meant to give us discernment, courage, and clarity in a world that is drifting from God.

I. The Reality of the Times (v. 1)

Paul begins with a sober statement:
“In the last days difficult times will come.”

The word “difficult” means dangerous, fierce, or violent — the same word used to describe the demoniac in the Gospels. Paul is saying that the last days will be spiritually chaotic and morally unstable.

But notice what he does not say. He does not say, “Difficult times might come.” He does not say, “Difficult times will come someday.” He says, “Difficult times will come,” and the implication is that Timothy is already facing them.

The last days are not a calendar prediction. They are a spiritual condition — a world increasingly resistant to God, increasingly hostile to truth, and increasingly enslaved to self.

Paul wants Timothy to understand the times so he can minister faithfully in them.

II. The Character of the Culture (vv. 2–5)

Paul now gives one of the most devastating descriptions of human behavior in all of Scripture. It begins and ends with the word love — but the wrong kind of love.

A. Lovers of self (v. 2)

This is the root of all the other sins. When self becomes god, everything else collapses. Self‑love replaces God‑love, and the world becomes disordered.

B. Lovers of money (v. 2)

Greed replaces gratitude. Possessions replace people. The heart becomes a marketplace instead of a sanctuary.

C. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (v. 4)

Pleasure is not evil, but when it becomes ultimate, it becomes idolatry. A society that worships pleasure will always drift from God.

Between these three “loves,” Paul lists a cascade of relational and moral breakdowns: arrogance, disobedience, unholiness, slander, brutality, treachery, and lack of self‑control. It is a portrait of a world unhinged from God.

But the most dangerous trait is found in verse 5:

D. A form of godliness without power (v. 5)

This is not atheism. This is religion without transformation.
It is the appearance of spirituality without the reality of the Spirit.

This is the most frightening line in the passage because it describes people who look religious, talk religious, and act religious — but deny the power of the gospel to change the heart.

Paul tells Timothy: “Avoid such people.”
Not because he is unloving, but because their influence is deadly.

III. The Corruption of False Teachers (vv. 6–8)

Paul now moves from the culture at large to the specific danger of false teachers.

A. They prey on the vulnerable (v. 6)

Paul says they “creep into households.”
They do not come boldly. They slip in quietly.
They target the weak, the wounded, and the unstable.

False teaching is not merely wrong — it is predatory.

B. They produce perpetual learners who never arrive (v. 7)

“Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

This is the tragedy of our age.
Information everywhere.
Truth nowhere.
People drowning in data but starving for wisdom.

False teachers create people who are fascinated by spiritual ideas but resistant to spiritual obedience.

C. They resist the truth like Jannes and Jambres (v. 8)

These were the magicians who opposed Moses in Pharaoh’s court.
They mimicked God’s power with counterfeit signs.
They looked impressive, but they were corrupt.

Paul says false teachers are the same:

They oppose the truth.
Their minds are corrupted.
Their faith is counterfeit.

The danger is not that they are outside the church.
The danger is that they are inside it.

IV. The End of Their Progress (v. 9)

Paul ends with a word of hope:
“They will not make further progress.”

False teaching may spread for a time.
Deception may gain influence for a season.
But God will expose it.

Just as Jannes and Jambres were eventually revealed as frauds, so also false teachers will be unmasked. Their folly will become obvious. Their influence will be limited. Their end is certain.

This is not a call to panic.
It is a call to confidence.
God will vindicate His truth.

V. The Message for Today

Paul’s words to Timothy are God’s words to us.

Expect difficult times — but do not fear them

The church has always thrived in difficult days.
God is not surprised by the times we live in.

Guard your heart from the culture’s loves

Self.
Money.
Pleasure.
These are the idols of the age — and they are subtle.

Beware of powerless religion

A form of godliness without power is more dangerous than open unbelief.
We need the Spirit’s transforming work, not religious performance.

Stand firm in the truth

The Word of God is the antidote to deception.
The gospel is the anchor in a drifting world.

Conclusion

Paul paints a dark picture — but he does it to shine a bright light.
The world may be unstable, but God is not.
False teachers may deceive, but God will expose them.
Difficult times may come, but God equips His people to stand.

The church does not survive by blending in with the world.
The church survives by clinging to the truth, resisting deception, and trusting the God who will bring all things to light.

So, we pray:

Lord, keep us faithful in difficult days.
Guard our hearts from the loves of this age.
Give us discernment to recognize deception.
Fill us with the power of true godliness.
And make us steadfast in Your truth until the day Christ returns.

2 Chronicles 27

2 Chronicles 27

2 Chronicles 27:1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerushah, daughter of Zadok.

2 Chronicles 27:2 He did what was right in Yahveh’s sight just as his father Uzziah had done. In addition, he didn’t enter Yahveh’s sanctuary, but the people still behaved corruptly.

2 Chronicles 27:3 Jotham built the Upper Gate of Yahveh’s house, and he built extensively on the wall of Ophel.

2 Chronicles 27:4 He also built cities in Judah’s hill country and fortresses and towers in the forests.

2 Chronicles 27:5 He waged war against the king of the Ammonites. He outstrengthened the Ammonites, and that year they gave him 7,500 pounds of silver, 50,000 bushels of wheat, and 50,000 bushels of barley. They paid him the same in the second and third years.

2 Chronicles 27:6 So Jotham strengthened his position because he did not waver in obeying Yahveh his God.

2 Chronicles 27:7 Notice, the rest of Jotham’s reign, including all his wars and ways, are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

2 Chronicles 27:8 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 27:9 Jotham lied down with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. His son, Ahaz, became king in his place.

links:

in his shadow
the shadow

The 2 Chronicles shelf in Jeff’s library

2 Chronicles 26

2 Chronicles 26

2 Chronicles 26:1 All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father, Amaziah.

2 Chronicles 26:2 After King Amaziah lied down with his fathers, Uzziah rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah.

2 Chronicles 26:3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 26:4 He did what was right in Yahveh’s sight just as his father Amaziah had done.

2 Chronicles 26:5 He sought God throughout Zechariah’s lifetime, the teacher of the fear of God. During the time that he sought Yahveh, God gave him success.

2 Chronicles 26:6 Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines, and he tore down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod. Then he built cities in the vicinity of Ashdod and among the Philistines.

2 Chronicles 26:7 God helped him against the Philistines, the Arabs that live in Gur-baal, and the Meunites.

2 Chronicles 26:8 The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for God made him very strong.

2 Chronicles 26:9 Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the corner buttress, and he strengthened them.

2 Chronicles 26:10 Since he had many cattle in the Judean foothills and the plain, he built towers in the open country and dug many wells. And since he cared about the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and fertile lands.

2 Chronicles 26:11 Uzziah had a powerful army equipped for combat that went out to war by division according to their assignments, as recorded by Jeiel the court secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the authority of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains.

2 Chronicles 26:12 The total number of family heads was 2,600 powerful warriors.

2 Chronicles 26:13 Under their authority was a powerful army of 307,500 equipped for combat, a powerful force to help the king against the enemy.

2 Chronicles 26:14 Uzziah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and slingstones.

2 Chronicles 26:15 He made skilfully designed devices in Jerusalem to shoot arrows and catapult large stones for use on the towers and the corners. So, his fame spread even to distant places, for he was wondrously helped until he became strong.

2 Chronicles 26:16 But when he became strong, his heart grew arrogant, which led to his devastation. He acted unfaithfully against Yahveh, his God, by going into Yahveh’s sanctuary to burn incense on the incense altar.

2 Chronicles 26:17 The priest Azariah, along with eighty powerful priests of Yahveh, went in after him.

2 Chronicles 26:18 They took their stand against King Uzziah and said, “Uzziah, you have no right to offer incense to Yahveh—only the consecrated priests, the descendants of Aaron, have the right to offer incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have acted unfaithfully! You will not receive the reward from Yahveh God.”

2 Chronicles 26:19 Uzziah, with a firepan in his hand to offer incense, was enraged. But when he became enraged with the priests, in the presence of the priests in Yahveh’s house beside the altar of incense, a skin disease[1] broke out on his forehead.

2 Chronicles 26:20 Then Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests turned to him and noticed that his forehead had a rash.[2] They rushed him out of there. He also hurried to get out because Yahveh had afflicted him.

2 Chronicles 26:21 King Uzziah had a rash until his death. He lived in quarantine with a serious skin disease and was excluded from access to Yahveh’s house, while his son Jotham ruled the king’s house and governed the people of the land.

2 Chronicles 26:22 The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, wrote about the rest of Uzziah’s reign, from beginning to end.

2 Chronicles 26:23 Uzziah lied down with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the burial ground of the kings’ cemetery, for they said, “He has a rash.” His son Jotham became king in his place.

[1] צָרָעַת = skin disease (not leprosy). 2 Chronicles 26:19.

[2] צָרָע = have a rash. 2 Chronicles 26:20, 21, 23.

links:

spheres of influence
the gift of limitations
too big for his breeches

The 2 Chronicles shelf in Jeff’s library

2 Chronicles 25

2 Chronicles 25

2 Chronicles 25:1 Amaziah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 25:2 He did what was right in Yahveh’s sight, but not wholeheartedly.

2 Chronicles 25:3 As soon as the kingdom was caught, he executed his slaves who had struck down his father, the king.

2 Chronicles 25:4 However, he did not put their children to death, because– as it is written in the instruction, in the book of Moses, where Yahveh commanded — “Fathers are not to die because of children, and children are not to die because of fathers, but each one will die for his sin.”

2 Chronicles 25:5 Then Amaziah gathered Judah and assembled them according to ancestral households, according to captains of thousands, and according to commanders of hundreds. He numbered those twenty years old or more for all Judah and Benjamin. He found there to be three hundred thousand fit young men who could serve in the army, bearing spear and shield.

2 Chronicles 25:6 Then for 7,500 pounds of silver, he hired one hundred thousand powerful warriors from Israel.

2 Chronicles 25:7 However, a man of God came to him and said, “King, do not let Israel’s army go with you, for Yahveh is not with Israel—all the Ephraimites.

2 Chronicles 25:8 But if you go with them, do it! Be strong for battle! But God will make you stumble before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to make one stumble.”

2 Chronicles 25:9 Then Amaziah said to the man of God, “What should I do about the 7,500 pounds of silver I gave to Israel’s division?” The man of God replied, “Yahveh is able to give you much more than this.”

2 Chronicles 25:10 So Amaziah separated[1] the division that came to him from Ephraim to go home. But their nose ignited[2] with Judah and returned home in a fierce rage.

2 Chronicles 25:11 Amaziah strengthened his position and led his people to the Salt Valley. He struck down ten thousand Seirites,

2 Chronicles 25:12 and the Judahites captured ten thousand living. They took them to the top of a cliff where they threw them off, and all of them were dashed to pieces.

2 Chronicles 25:13 As for the men of the division that Amaziah sent back so they would not go with him into battle, they raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon, struck down three thousand of their people, and captured much plunder.

2 Chronicles 25:14 After Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the Seirites and set them up as his gods. He worshiped before them and burned incense to them.

2 Chronicles 25:15 So Yahveh’s nose ignited against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who said, ‘Why have you sought a people’s gods that could not strip their people from you?”

2 Chronicles 25:16 While he was still speaking to him, the king asked, “Have we made you the king’s counselor? Stop. Why should you lose your life?” So the prophet stopped, but he said, “I know that God intends to put an end to you because you have done this and have not listened to my advice.”

2 Chronicles 25:17 King Amaziah of Judah took counsel and sent word to Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, challenging him: “Come, let’s meet face to face.”

2 Chronicles 25:18 King Jehoash of Israel sent word to King Amaziah of Judah, saying, “The thistle in Lebanon sent a message to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then, a wild animal in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.

2 Chronicles 25:19 You have said, Notice, I have struck Edom down,’ and your heart has become overconfident that you will get glory. Now, stay at your house. Why stir up such trouble so that you fall and Judah with you?”

2 Chronicles 25:20 But Amaziah would not listen, for this turn of events was from God in order to hand them over to their enemies because they went after the gods of Edom.

2 Chronicles 25:21 So King Jehoash of Israel advanced. He and King Amaziah of Judah met face to face at Beth-shemesh, which belonged to Judah.

2 Chronicles 25:22 Judah was routed before Israel, and each man fled to his tent.

2 Chronicles 25:23 King Jehoash of Israel captured Judah’s King Amaziah, son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh. Then Jehoash took him to Jerusalem and broke down two hundred yards of Jerusalem’s wall from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.

2 Chronicles 25:24 He took all the gold, silver, all the utensils that were found with Obed-edom in God’s house, the treasures of the king’s house, and the hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.

2 Chronicles 25:25 Judah’s King Amaziah, son of Joash, lived fifteen years after the death of Israel’s King Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz.

2 Chronicles 25:26 Notice, the rest of the events of Amaziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

2 Chronicles 25:27 When Amaziah turned from following Yahveh, a conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. However, men were sent after him to Lachish, and they put him to death there.

2 Chronicles 25:28 They carried him back on horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.

[1] בָּדָל = separate. 2 Chronicles 25:10.

[2] חָרָה = ignite. 2 Chronicles 25:10, 15.

links:

bright shiny spoils
our bright shiny spoils

The 2 Chronicles shelf in Jeff’s library