Monday: -26 (continued) Wednesday: (continued) Friday:

 Was Amaziah blessed as the man of God had  What was the first thing did? Why do 32:4,30 “They blocked the springs.” They blocked Answers promised? you think Ezra focused on this? up the springs and diverted the water through a shaft that ran underground into the city. This shaft Monday was discovered about one hundred years ago.  Amaziah was not blessed. Note that even as the

 What recurring theme do we see in verse 5? northern army was returning home, Amaziah was What lesson does verse 5 have for us today?  In general, how did Hezekiah and the priests 32:31 “Envoys were sent by the rulers of .” gathering up the gods of the Edomites, planning on purify the temple and the people? (Hint: Note Ezra touches briefly on this account, which sadly worshiping them. the three things for which offerings were sacri- had a large role in how the Lord punished Judah for  As long as Judah and its king sought the Lord, the ficed, verse 21. See also verse 24.) its sins. See 2 Kings 20:12-19. Lord was with the people and gave them success. The Lord wants us to put our hope in the gospel and Tuesday: -28 rely on him for all we need. He will bless us. He will  What point does Ezra make: “After all that not necessarily increase our wealth or property, but 27:2 “The people, however, continued their corrupt Hezekiah had so faithfully done . . .”? (verse 1) he will give us spiritual understanding, strengthen practices.” By this time it must have been very diffi- our faith, and give us other spiritual blessings. cult for even a good king to curb idol worship. It Thursday: -31 Tuesday had become almost completely ingrained in the life  Jotham was a God-fearing king, doing right before of the people. Ch. 30 Hezekiah cleansed and rededicated the temple in the first month, but he was not able to  How did the Lord save ? the Lord. The Lord blessed him by making him pow- erful. celebrate the at its usual time, largely 28:3 “Sacrificed his sons in the fire”—This practice  He asked the Assyrians for help. But instead of help- because (as noted in 29:34) the priests had not was associated with Moloch, the god of the - ing , they only brought him trouble. Soon As- ites. It shows the depth to which the people of consecrated themselves. In other words, they had syria would lead the Northern Kingdom into captiv- Judah had fallen. not purified themselves according to ’ law. ity.

Wednesday 30:1 “Hezekiah sent word to all Israel.” Hezekiah Saturday:  Describe Jotham’s reign.  knew that if Israel’s worship life was in order, eve- He purified the temple from all the abominations  Make a list of the wicked things Manasseh did. brought on it by Ahaz. Ezra was also interested in rything else would fall into place. keeping the temple pure.

 Often sin and pride lead to other foolish  They purified the kingdom of Israel as a whole, the 31:16,17 “Three years old or more . . . twenty years choices. What foolish choice did Ahaz make temple, and the people of Judah by offering sacri- old or more”—The priests were taken care of from when the Edomites and Philistines attacked fices to God. when they were weaned; the , after age 20. and defeated him? What was the result of this Thursday choice in Ahaz’ lifetime? in the lifetime of his  He encouraged the people to return and seek the successors? Lord. He told the people of the Northern Kingdom  What encouragement and promise did Heze- that if they did this, the Lord would have mercy on kiah make in his invitation letter? How would  How might God’s treatment of Manasseh en- them and restore their exiles to the land. Ezra’s peo- this have encouraged the people of Ezra’s day? courage every Christian today? ple would take heart, for if they sought the Lord and did his will, they could be sure they would never Wednesday: 2 Chronicles 29 again be taken into captivity.  He did what was good and right. He sought the Lord 29:4 “He brought in the priests and Levites.” Ezra  How did the writer of Chronicles characterize and worked wholeheartedly. He prospered under the once again shows us the vital role Israel’s religious Hezekiah’s reign? Lord’s blessing. leaders played in serving the people. Their act of cleaning and sanctifying the temple after Ahaz’ abuse is what restored Israel to God’s favor and changed the course of their history. You can see how Ezra wants to apply this to his own people. Answers FAITH FULLY FIT Monday: 2 Chronicles 25-26 25:2 “But not wholeheartedly”—The writers of Friday Kings and Chronicles often described the kings as  Being faithful to the Lord does not mean he will never Weekly Spiritual My Spiritual Fitness Goals for this week: doing right or doing wrong. However, sometimes send hardships into our lives to test us. they had to qualify the reigns of kings with partial  An angel of the Lord destroyed the Assyrian army. approval and partial censure.

Sennacherib’s sons killed him in the temple of his god. Fitness Plan Ironically, his own god could not save him from the 25:5 “He . . . found that there were three hundred hand of his sons even though he was standing in his thousand men ready for military service.” In the god’s own temple! next sentence, we learn that Amaziah hired a hun-

Saturday dred thousand soldiers from the Northern King-  Verses 3-7a: He rebuilt the high places. He built altars dom, possibly because the size of his army was less to idols within the temple. He practiced the occult. He than that of previous kings. set up an idol in the Lord’s temple. Verse 9: He led the Introduction & Background people astray. Verse 10: He paid no attention to the to this week’s readings: 26:9 “At the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at Lord when the Lord spoke to him. the angle of the wall”—These places would have  No matter how much a person might sin, and no mat- been familiar to Ezra’s readers. Although they ter how severely the Lord might discipline him or her, Co-regencies among the Kings mean little to us today, mentioning them would the Lord is there with his forgiveness and mercy. And if it is his will, the Lord will restore his blessings to have drawn the Jews of Ezra’s day back in mind and that person. spirit to the days of and the victories God gave him. (See Nehemiah 3:13,24.)

(—Continued)

Week 38 - 2 Chronicles 25-33

Most of the questions and answers on the “Weekly Spiritual Fitness Plan” come from “The Whole Project” Bible studies. Background and Introduction information come from “The People’s Bible” commentary series and from “Book of Books,” both published by NPH.