In 2 Chronicles 12, we read of the remainder of Rehoboam’s reign. After he had established himself as king in Judah, he abandoned the ways of the LORD. The result of that is never positive, and in the case of Judah and Rehoboam, the LORD subjected them to the rule of Shishak, king of Egypt. When they saw what they had done, Rehoboam and his leaders humbled themselves before the LORD, and He relented, but even so, Shishak came and took away all the gold shields from the Temple, and caused them to feel the yoke of slavery. We can learn a vital truth from this situation: Put God first–period. Never let your position, whether great or small cause you to turn from following Him.
2 Chronicles 13 records the brief reign of Abijah, the son of Rehoboam. He reigned only three years, and the Chronicler doesn’t tell us whether he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD or not. What he does tell us is Abijah confronted Jeroboam and with 400,000 troops, and trust in the LORD, they took on Israel’s 800,000 troops and decimated them, killing 500,000 troops. While we aren’t given as much detail as usual about King Abijah, we see he put his trust in the LORD, which is always the right choice.
In 2 Chronicles 14 we read of the reign of King Asa, Abijah’s son. Asa was a good king, who not only did what was right in the LORD’s eyes personally, but also had all of the high places torn down, and destroyed any of the places of idol worship. He went to war against Ethiopia, and called on the LORD, because his troops were vastly outnumbered. The LORD responded and destroyed the entire army of the Ethiopians who had a million troops. Judah carried away much spoil and the fear of the people of Gerar came upon them. Again, we see how important it is to put our trust in the LORD. He always responds to those who trust and obey him.
As we turn to Matthew 23, Jesus confronts the scribes and Pharisees with a number of woes, and calls them hypocrites repeatedly. The Greek expression translated “woe” is a strong curse and could even be translated “Damn you!” Jesus realized the time was rapidly approaching for His arrest and crucifixion, and far from avoiding a confrontation with the leaders who would be arresting Him soon, He took them on. His major points of challenge with them was while they spoke the truth, they didn’t live it. In addition, they led their proselytes astray. Jesus never had problems with any group of people, but the religious leaders. Their hypocrisy was something He couldn’t tolerate, because being so gracious Himself, He expected them to act graciously. We do well to remember Jesus always forgave the “sinners” who admitted their sin and came to Him. The only group He confronted time after time were the religious leaders who thought they were better than He was. Jesus was perfect, so we’re never going to be better than He is. Far better for us to humble ourselves before Him, admit our shortcomings, and live in His mercy and grace.
So much to take in and learn from this!