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GOOD MORNING SIBLINGS!
Today we finish up the book of 2 Chronicles with chapters 35-36!
Click here to ready today’s passages at Biblegateway.
Rabbit Trails
A Passover unlike any other ever kept by a King of Israel!!!
We spend the better part of chapter 35 being told all of the details and great pains Josiah went to in order to ensure Passover was kept according to the Word of YHWH. It appears that this was the first Passover since the book of the Law was found and Josiah makes every effort to keep it according to God’s Word. This makes my heart soar!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Whenever I think of YHWH’s appointed times I imagine these as a special party that He has thrown at set times each and every year, since they were first decreed by Him for all of His followers in perpetuity. I envision the Father setting this big banquet and scanning the crowd with hopeful eyes, wanting to see all of His children honoring Him on a day that is so special to Him. With that in mind, knowing all of the time in which YHWH’s people had not been keeping Passover, to then see this grand Passover unlike any other makes me so very happy!
Interesting note: While there are seven appointed times of YHWH (Eight counting Sabbath, which is also an appointed time, but held weekly), three of them take place at the time of Passover. Many don’t realize they are actually three separate moedim, or appointed times. Passover is a single meal event and then it is followed by a weeklong Feast of Unleavened Bread. Amid all of this is First Fruits. So 3 of the 7 appointed times take place back to back.
There are many verses in the Bible where YHWH’s people, Messiah, and the Disciples keep Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread and looking these up would be a great rabbit trail for you!
I encourage you to look up every single one if you can. However, note that in Acts 12:4 in the King James translations, the word “Pesach”, meaning Passover, is errantly translated as “easter”. This only takes place in the King James translations as far as I know. In the rest of the Bible (and in other translations) Pesach is always translated as Passover.
Click here for an introduction to the Biblical Feasts.
~Josiah dies~
It is heartbreaking to read such a righteous and God pleasing king dying so young. The Bible does not give us clear reasons why he insisted on taking part in that battle but his death was foretold as a mercy from YHWH (2 Kings 22:20) as we are about to enter into a time of decline and judgement against Judah and this prophesy from Isaiah comes to mind:
“The righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart; merciful men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. He shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.” ~Isaiah 57:1
The Father’s ways are perfect and we can trust in Him in all things.
We end 2 Chronicles with YHWH rising up against His own people, because they refused, time and again, to repent from their wickedness and persisted in mocking His messengers and warnings.
Breaks my heart for God’s people then, throughout history, and now. This reading reminds me, yet again, to take personal inventory over my own walk.
And as we come to a close, YHWH stirs the spirit of a new King and rebuilding begins.
Click here to get the 2 Chronicles Focus Sheet
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Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21
We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!
May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!
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