Thoughts on the Bible Readings September 6th (2 Kings 11, 12; Ezekiel 2; 2 Corinthians 8, 9)

In our two chapters from 2 Kings 11 and 12 we have the story of the faithful boy king, Joash, who came to the throne at the age of seven. We also have the elimination of the remnants of Ahab's household in Judah - that is of Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. The treacherous Queen thought she had destroyed all the seed Royal in Judah. But the faithful high priest Jehoiadah, together with his remarkable and equally faithful covenant wife Jehosheba (Joash's aunt) hid and protected the heir to the throne in the temple of Yahweh). Upon the heir reaching 7 years of age the high priest set in train events that saw Athaliah's destruction, and the true monarchy restored. The remainder of the chapter records the covenant that Jehoiadah made with the people in concord with the king to remove Baal worship from Judah. Joash rules faithfully for forty years because of the faithful influence of his uncle on him. However, despite the removal of Baal worship, idolatry still persisted with many of Judah. Under Joash's influence he arranged for the temple to be repaired from funds voluntarily placed in a wooden box. The workers were paid from this, and accounting was not required due to their honesty. Joash bought time for the Kingdom of Judah from becoming subjects of Ben-Hadad and by paying tribute. The servants of Joash conspire against him and replace him with his son, Amaziah. In Ezekiel 2 we read of the prophet's commissioning as a priest. Ezekiel is called 'son of man' - a frequently used title of our Lord Jesus Christ. This title is emblematic of one, the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose mission would be so difficult, and so critically strategic to Yahweh's saving of the world from sin, that it necessitated that God be his Father in order for him to have the capability to successfully undertake the mission, without ensuring his success in any way, from his own love and complete trust and obedience of his Father. Ezekiel's mission was, as was Christ's, to a rebellious people who would refuse to listen. Ezekiel is told by the LORD that he will be savagely opposed by his people, but he is not to be afraid as the Almighty will be with him. In the test of time as Ezekiel's words from his Sovereign come to pass the nation will know that Yahweh's prophet will be vindicated in their midst. In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 Paul encourages extreme generosity in giving support to the poor believers of Jerusalem. Paul had seen the need for this fund for some time and had arranged for the Gentile ecclesias to share their material wealth in the same way that God had blessed the Gentile believers in Christ in partaking of the Hope of Israel - the gospel that had been preached to Abraham and his seed. The Apostle says that generosity is of our Heavenly Father, who provides unstintingly for all of His children. Consider this, all we have is God's anyway; and not our own. When we give it is only what He has first given us. And if we feel we cannot give then think again. Our Heavenly Father is always able to recompense faithful service. But our greatest reason for giving is out of our gratefulness to Him for what He has given us in His Son. Chapter 9 verses 15 ESV read aloud - "Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!" Pause and Ponder. We too can show our gratitude to our Father by generously supporting through prayer and contributing of our abundance to our needy brothers.
Thanks for joining us - we pray you found these comments helpful in your appreciation of God's words, join again tomorrow at

 https://christadelphianvideo.org/christadelphian-daily-readings/