In 2 Chronicles 32 we read a long account of King Hezekiah’s additional faithfulness before the LORD, which caused the LORD to fight for him in the matter of Sennacherib, King of Assyria. Sennacherib made the mistake of speaking blasphemies about the LORD and comparing Him to the gods of other nations, rather than recognizing and worshiping Him as the one, true and living God. Even with the great deliverance God provided for them, Hezekiah became proud in his later years. He amassed a large fortune and showed everything in the Temple to visiting ambassadors from Babylon. While the Chronicler is always gentler with the wrongs of Judah’s kings than the record we find in 2 Kings, he makes it clear that because of Hezekiah’s pride, Judah would one day fall. Because Hezekiah humbled himself, the punishment would be transmitted to a future generation, but the punishment was going to come. Ordinarily, future generations are not punished for the sins of the fathers, but in this case, God makes an exception. The last lines of 2 Chronicles 32 tell us of Hezekiah’s death and his being replaced by his son, Manasseh.
2 Chronicles 33 records the evil of King Manasseh. We’re told his evil was like that of the people who lived in the land before Israel and Judah had moved into the land. That included sacrificing his own sons to foreign Gods. The result of this behavior was God put Judah in bondage to the Assyrians. In that condition Manasseh cried out to the LORD, and as usual, the LORD heard his prayers and delivered them. After Manasseh’s reign ended, his son Amon became king. Amon also did evil in the sight of the LORD and ruled Judah for only two years. Amon’s servants assassinated him, but the people of the land struck down all who had been involved in the assassination, and put Josiah, his son, in place as king.
2 Chronicles 34 records the reign of King Josiah, Manasseh’s son. Josiah became king when he was only 8 years old, but he was a great king who did what was right as his “father” David had done. When he was still a teenager, he implemented reforms in Israel and when He was twenty, he started to implement repairs and restoration of the Temple, along with faithful worship. He removed the high places and caused people to worship God in the right ways. As the Temple restoration was taking place, Hilkiah the priest found a copy of the Law of Moses. When Josiah read it, he tore his clothes, because he realized the people of Judah had caused God’s anger and would be judged. He sent Hilkiah to a prophet to see what the outcome would be. The prophetess Huldah told the priests God would avenge Himself on Judah, but not until a later generation. He would honor the repentance of Josiah, and His work to restore proper worship to Israel. This serves as a vital reminder to each of us, when we recognize our own sin, how vital it is that we repent and return to the LORD not only that we might be forgiven, but also that others might do so as well.
As we turn again to Matthew 1, we recall the long genealogy of Jesus’ line, which starts with Abraham. It doesn’t go all the way back to Adam, because Matthew was of Jewish background, and wanted to establish for his readers that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. Following this we have the beginning of the record of Jesus’ birth. As we have said before only Luke and Matthew have birth narratives for Jesus, and in the Matthean account, we’re given the vital detail that Joseph wanted to put Mary away after he found out she was pregnant and they had not yet “come together,” but an angel appeared to him in a dream and confirmed Mary was not unfaithful. The Holy Spirit was the “father,” and Jesus would be called the Son of God. As we read this record again, we’re reminded of how hard it must have been to be in Joseph’s sandals, and what a godly man he must have been to recognize the dream was more than just a dream but was actually God speaking to him. In our lives, we do well to remember God wants to use us to continue advancing His Kingdom, and we need to be ready for whatever He has in mind for us whether miraculous or mundane.