Week 17 from Pentecost

Weekly Summary

This week’s Old Testament lectionary readings cover chs. 22-26 in 2 Chronicles. The New Testament readings will continue to go through 2 Corinthians, this week going through chs. 3-8. The readings in the Psalms will go through Psalms 73-78.

The Eight Commandment WLC 140-142, WSC 73-75 OT: 2 Chronicles 22-26 NT: 2 Corinthians 3-8 Psalms 73-78

Daily Summary

Sun	The Eight Commandment WLC 140-142, WSC 73-75
Mon	OT: 2 Chronicles 22 NT: 2 Corinthians 3 Psalm 73
Tues	OT: 2 Chronicles 23 NT: 2 Corinthians 4 Psalm 74
Wed	OT: 2 Chronicles 24 NT: 2 Corinthians 5 Psalm 75
Thurs	OT: 2 Chronicles 25 NT: 2 Corinthians 6 Psalm 76
Fri	OT: 2 Chronicles 26 NT: 2 Corinthians 7 Psalm 77
Sat	NT: 2 Corinthians 8 Psalm 78

Reading Notes

The Old Testament readings for this week cover the reigns of Ahaziah, Athaliah, Joash, Amaziah, and Uzziah. What might not be readily apparent from the text is that the reign of Athaliah marked the darkest point in Judah’s history prior to the Exile. Ahaziah’s father, Jehoram, had married Athaliah, the daughter of the Northern Kingdom’s most wicked rulers, Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Ahab’s house in Israel would be utterly destroyed by one of Jehoram’s commanders, Jehu. In the course of wiping out Ahab’s house, Jehu also ended up killing Ahaziah of Judah, who had only been on the throne for a year. With his death, Athaliah then seized the throne of Judah for herself and tries to kill all of the house of David. Athaliah was as deeply committed to Baal worship as her mother Jezebel had been. Had she succeeded, it would have nullified God’s covenantal promise to David that he would perpetually have a descendant on the throne. It would have also broken God’s promise going back to Eve that there would be a Seed to come that would redeem the world. These chapters show how God preserved the line of David by having Ahaziah’s son, Joash, hidden in the Temple for several years until the high priest Jehoiada was able to unveil him. The people of Judah would not have known, however, that an heir had been hidden until Joash was publicly presented; to them it would have looked like God’s purposes had been thwarted. The reality was that God maintained His promises.

The reigns of Joash, Amaziah, and Uzziah are case studies in covenantal faithfulness and unfaithfulness. The Uzziah mentioned in chapter 26 is the same Uzziah that the prophet Isaiah notes at the beginning of his own prophetic ministry and upon whose death he has the vision of the throne room of Heaven (Isaiah ch.6).