Sunday 23rd June
Read Psalm 62
If you don’t have a bible at home you can find the readings on a website such as www.biblegateway.com or an app such as YouVersion
Psalm 62 is another of those Psalms in which David is reflecting on his life’s situation amidst troubles caused by others. It’s true that the majority of our anxieties come from awkward or difficult relations with others. It may be at home with members of our families or at work with not very nice bosses or colleagues or it make be in dealings with businesses or institutions or medical staff, whatever it is we can acknowledge David’s situation and we need to see how he deals with it.
He feels he is like a leaning wall or tottering fence and that others want to push him over (v3) but he finds rest in God who he characterises as his rock and salvation. He realises that all the affairs of his life are not in his hands or those of his opponents but in God’s alone and if that is the case, and his trust is in him, then all will be well.
Easier said than done, you might say. True, but there is no other way to peace. What is required is much time with God, setting aside the troublesome things that cause us anxiety. A Sunday is a good time for that.
READINGS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
At this time the Northern kingdom of Israel was now under Baasha who had assassinated Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, and there was war between the two kingdoms. Baasha had gained the upper hand and was building up Ramah as a bulwark to keep Judah hemmed in. He also had the backing of Ben-hadad of Aram who was ruling in Damascus and so Asa felt much under the cosh of these enemies. He set on a plan whereby, gathering a large amount out of the Temple and his palace, he sent it with envoys to Ben-hadad wanting to break his alliance with Baasha and make a treaty with him. Ben-hadad agreed and attacked various cities of Israel causing Baasha to withdraw from Ramah and give up his fortifications there. Asa then used the material from Ramah to build up his own defences instead.
The close of his life is mentioned with a little bit about diseased feet which seems strange just left there but 2 Chronicles 16 gives us a bit more detail telling us that Hanani the prophet came to Asa telling him that because he had relied on the king of Aram instead of the Lord his God he had acted foolishly. Asa was angry with him and put him in prison but he suffered from an increasing malady in his feet but even though this happened, “he did not seek the Lord only the physicians” (2 Chronicles 16:12). So, a good king, but a bit of a failure at the end. Always pray that the Lord keeps you faithful to the end.
Having dealt with the Solomon’s line and the southern Kingdom of Judah (Kings – Rehoboam, Abijah & Asa) the writer now turns to what happened in the breakaway kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam. He reigned 22 years but due to his sin God had said that his family would not survive. His son Nadab became king of Israel but continued in his father’s evil ways and Baasha, a man from the tribe of Issachar, killed him while he was engaged in battle against a Philistine town, Gibbethon. He had only reigned for two years. However not only did Baasha kill Nadab, he embarked on slaughtering his whole family – a not uncommon thing in trying to leave no avenger or rival for the throne. The writer reminds us of the words of the prophet Ahijah that this would be the destiny of Jeroboam’s family. (Chap.14:7-10)
Baasha reigned 24 years following in the footsteps of his predecessors in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and also engaging in constant war with Asa of Judah. This is now half a century since the split in the kingdom sparked by Rehoboam’s intransigence in not easing the burden of service he required of the people.
Baasha had a visit from Jehu who came with a word from the Lord that because Baasha had continued in the ways of Jeroboam, his house would be wiped out like that of Jeroboam’s and though he died naturally and was buried, his son Elah would not be so lucky.
You will see that the writer juggles between kings of Judah and Israel often telling which year in terms of one king the other king came to the throne. Here we see that Elah the son of Baasha, became king of Israel in the 26th year of Asa who was on the throne of Judah. He was not on the throne long though.
We read of another assassination. Zimri one of his officials came into a drunken party and killed Elah then succeeded him as king. Similar to Baasha, Zimri killed all the Baasha’s family. Zimri’s reign was even shorter however because the Israelites heard of the assassination and withdrew from one of their campaigns against the Philistines to attack Tirzah where Zimri had been proclaimed king. The Isaelites meantime had also changed heads because they made Omri, the commander of their army, king as they headed over to Tirzah. And so came the end of Zimri under defeat at the hands of the Israelites.
We come now to another king after a struggle for supremacy between two rivals. Omri won the struggle over Tibni and set about making a new capital for Israel by buying the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver. Thereafter Samaria becomes the capital, its name sometimes being used in the Old Testament as a shorthand for the northern kingdom so that the two are often referred to as Judah and Samaria.
Omri is spoken of as not only one who did “evil in the eyes of the Lord” but as one who sinned more than all those before him (V25) – quite some statement ! He becomes the founder of a dynasty whose members are a nasty lot as we shall see. Ahab his son married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of the Sidonians and who introduced Baal worship to Samaria building a temple to Baal and making an Asherah pole. Asherah was the Canaanite fertility goddess and mother of Baal according to the idolatrous ideas of the peoples. Like his father he is spoken of as arousing the anger of the Lord more so than all the kings of Israel (v33).
A tailpiece to the chapter mentions the city of Jericho being rebuilt by Hiel of Bethel fulfilling a prophecy from history after its destruction that whoever rebuilt it would do so to the loss of his sons (Joshua 6:26).
Friday 1Kings 17:1-6
The figure of Elijah steps on to the stage of Old Testament history like an actor from left stage, no introduction, no history, no background, but with an impact that is going to be felt for the rest of the book. His name means “My God is Jahweh” which tells us that he is not part of the idolatrous Israelite drift from Jahweh to Baal and Asherah, and his introduction tells us of a man of God full of bravery, ready to state the truth in the midst of generations of declension.
He comes to king Ahab and tells him of a coming drought that will last as long as he says so and then he departs to the East, over the Jordan river, to hide in a place in the Kerith Ravine where he will be fed and watered by God’s provision. (v4) The judgement of God can, and here does, fall suddenly with little warning except that it happens.
Elijah is seen as one of the two principal characters in the Old Testament along with Moses, being the two who met with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration in the New Testament. They indicate the Law and the Prophets both of whom prefigure the coming of Christ. Elijah is seen as a man instantly obedient to the word of God in what he does and one who is provided for by God through faith.
We find the tale of what Elijah did whilst the drought was coming on the land. When the brook where he was staying dried up, he went to Zarephath in the region of Sidon to seek a woman whom God said would supply him with food. The woman did not live in Israel or Jordan – a thing Jesus alluded to in Luke 4:25-30 – so God was using a foreigner to care for his prophet.
Reading the story we see that the woman’s needs were cared for by God as well as Elijah’s. God is no man’s (or woman’s) debtor. However something happened that made the woman doubt her help for Elijah – her son died. Neither the woman nor Elijah could understand or explain why this had happened. Here is something for us to take on board that there are times when there is no explanation for troublesome things happening in our lives. If Elijah was baffled how can we imagine that we will know all? God did give an answer to the woman though in bringing her son back to life through Elijah’s prayers and actions. It was through this that the woman said, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.” (v24)
When Jesus reminded the Jewish leaders of the story that someone such as this Syro-Phoenician woman should be blessed by God it enraged them because she was an outsider.
