Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Snapshots of Two Kings

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Well, well.  Last week I glanced ahead at my list of 'desert' verses and, just based on the spacing I'd used writing the verses down, thought that I had 3 verses referencing desert clustered up in 2 Chronicles 24, so I thought I'd have a little coherent narrative. Today I opened my notebook and realized it was two separate references...24: 9 and 26:10. 

So...not a narrative.  But a couple of interesting snapshots from the reign of two different kings.

First up is Joash, who became king at the tender age of seven.  There is a long story for that, as he was the only surviving great-grandson of the righteous king Jehoshaphat....due to Jehoshaphat's incredible blunder of marrying his son Jehoram to Jezebel's daughter Athalia.  When Jehoram succeeded Jehoshaphat, he immediately killed all his brothers, along with some other men of royal blood.   He reigned for eight years, and then died a miserable death.  Raiders had killed all but his youngest son, Ahaziah, who became king after him, with Athalia still retaining some degree of power as the queen mother.  But Ahaziah was a buddy with his cousin, Joram, who was Ahab's grandson and king of Israel, and was with Joram when Jehu came into camp and slaughtered the remnants of the house of Ahab to become king of Israel.  When Athalia heard that her son the king was dead,  she immediately began killing off the royal family.  Oh, by the way...it was her own grandchildren she was killing.  The youngest, a baby named Joash, was hidden away by his aunt, who happened to be the wife of the high priest Jehoiada, and survived the slaughter.  At the opportune moment six years later Jehoiada sprung a coup and ousted Athalia, who was executed, and anointed Joash as king.

So, if you're counting, that's three different rulers between Jehoshaphat and Joash who were complete pagans.  The temple Solomon buit had been neglected and used for pagan worship and was in a state of disrepair, and eventually Joash decided it was time to restore it.  The Levites, however, were not keen on going around the country and collecting the temple tax.  So...

At the king's command, a chest was made and placed outside, at the gate of the temple of the LORD.  A proclamation was then issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God had required of Israel in the desert.  All the officials and all the people brought their contributions gladly, dropping them into the chest until it was full....the royal secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place.  They did this regularly and collected a great amount of money.   (2 Chron. 24:8-11). 

With the offerings that the people freely brought, they were able to restore and repair the temple (v. 13) and with the rest of the money they made utensils and and articles for service, so that worship was once more restored in the nation.    I have a cross-reference in my Scofield for the 'tax' ..it refers to Ex. 30:11- 16, but I'm not sure that's quite what was meant, because THAT passage refers to the redemption fee to be collected each time they performed a census.  But I did find this verse in Exodus referring to collections for the tabernacle: 'The LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering.  You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give." (Ex. 25:1-2)...and, when they actually got to the point where the people were bringing their offerings, they brought so much that Moses finally told them to quit (Ex. 36 : 3b -7), because they had more than enough. 

Joash had problems later on in his reign, but at this point he was serving God and the people were glad to contribute towards the repair and upkeep of the temple.

The final mention of 'desert' in 2 Chronicles involves Joash's grandson, Uzziah (who was also called Azariah, for some reason), who became king at age 16.  Uzziah made a terrible decision later in his reign, but  early on he restored cities and lands to Judah, winning battles against the Philistines and Arabs who lived around them (Aside:  Curious, I looked in my concordance and found that this is only the second time 'Arabs' are mentioned in the Bible; the first was just a few chapters earlier, in 2 Chron. 17:11).

Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the angle of the wall, and he fortified them. He also built many towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain.  He had people working  his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.  (2 Chron. 26:9-10)

I had never really noticed this before.  Here was a king with the heart of a farmer.  He loved the soil; he built cisterns in the desert so there were water sources for his livestock and towers for their protection.

Two kings: one who went back to history that happened in the desert for guidance and one who made provision in the desert for the future.