I brought you up out of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness to give you the land of the Amorites. – Amos 2:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 31, 2019): Amos 2

Today we close the door on 2019. It seems that every year, in the mind of some, the year past is a candidate for the worst year ever award. Maybe that is because it is easy for the negative things to outshine the positives. 2019 will likely be remembered for its scandals. The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump will top that list, but also Rudy Giuliani and Ukraine, the Bidens and the aforementioned Ukraine, and the tour of a sixteen-year-old student named Greta Thunberg and her defense of the Environment. Thunberg seemed to bring a divide among us with her straightforward defense of the environment and her call for immediate action. Often we seem to forget the activist is only sixteen and probably deserves more of our respect than our disdain.

But it was also the year that AC/DC’s lead singer, Brian Johnson, and his wife sold a property for $335,000 and donated the money to a Local Children’s Foundation. It was the year that Northview Church in Indiana (all the Christian Church wants is money) paid off the medical debt for almost 6,000 families in the area to the tune of $7.8 Million. And the year that Dwayne Johnson sang the “Moana” song to a three-year-old boy fighting cancer. The positive stories of 2019 probably outweigh the negative ones, and yet we all seem to get to this point in the year and rush to turn the page to 2020 in the hope that it will be better. And 2020 might be a better year, but that result will probably depend on what we decide to do with the New Year.

 Amos speaking the words of God to Israel reminds them of the good that God had done in their past. Yes, there is plenty of negative that Amos speaks of to the Northern Kingdom, but he wants them to remember the good that God had done in their midst. The God of the Temple in Jerusalem was the one who brought them up out of Egypt. And it was this God who had led through the forty years in the wilderness. The people seemed to have forgotten the good and focused on the bad. And the reality is that when we focus on the negative, bad behavior is often the result.

2020 will hold both the good and the bad, but maybe we can endeavor in this New Year to let the good sit with us a while longer than we have in the past. Maybe in 2020, we can do what Paul encouraged us to do. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Amos 3

He said: “The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers.” – Amos 1:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 30, 2019): Amos 1

German theologian and martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote that “Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.” Too often, we seem to believe that anything that avoids confrontation is good. We preach about the benefits of compromise, and there is truth to a belief in compromise. But while there are times when compromise is essential, there are also times the only appropriate action is confrontation. I can’t crawl into the mind of the theologian, but I wonder if Bonhoeffer’s specific need for confrontation had to do with the reaction of the Christian Church in Germany to the reign of Adolf Hitler. From the outside, they seem to have believed that compromise with Hitler was appropriate. They may have even hailed him as the protector of the Christian faith and the conservative way of life. But Bonhoeffer believed that there could be no compromise with Hitler or any politician remotely like him. He was not a defender of the faith, but the destroyer of it. 

Amos denies being a prophet, but he was a missionary. Born in Judah, Amos leaves home to confront the Northern Kingdom concerning what he saw as their sin. In the mind of Amos, in this situation, there could be no compromise. Israel had set up centers of worship in Dan, Bethel, and Gilgal that were supposed to make Jerusalem unnecessary, at least for citizens of the Northern Kingdom. At the time of the split with Judah, Jeroboam had created two golden calves and declared that these calves were the gods of Israel. It was these calves who had brought Israel out of slavery and through their desert wanderings (1 Kings 12:28). There was no need to go to Jerusalem, the political, cultural, and spiritual center of the Davidic dynasties, to worship. Worship could be done at home just as well in Israel as in Jerusalem.

Amos goes to the Northern Kingdom and argues the reverse. God’s voice thunders in Jerusalem, and the pastures in Israel no longer provide food for the flocks. God’s voice roars in Jerusalem, and the refuge of the Northern Kingdom, Mount Carmel, no longer provides safety to those who go there. When God speaks in Jerusalem, he does not just talk for Judah, but Israel and the world as well.

Compromise was not needed in Israel. In their effort to compromise, they had left the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to follow false gods of their own creation. And the missionary Amos felt that he had been called by God to bring Israel back where they belonged.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Amos 2

Uzziah rested with his ancestors and was buried near them in a cemetery that belonged to the kings, for people said, “He had leprosy.” And Jotham his son succeeded him as king. – 2 Chronicles 26:23

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 29, 2019): 2 Chronicles 26

The Uzziah Tablet

In 1931, Professor E. I Sukenik of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem made a startling find at a Russian convent on the Mount of Olives. On display with other artifacts from the area was a plaque dated back to the first century C.E. The stone read in Hebrew “Here were brought the bones of Uzziah, King of Judah. Not to be opened.” Where the plaque originated, along with actual bones of Uzziah, were not documented, but someone found the plaque and moved it to this convent, possibly without understanding the importance of the find.

Since the plaque dates to the first century C.E., and not the eighth century B.C.E., we know that the plaque was not connected with the original Tomb of King Uzziah. The tablet might even be a first-century fake. But if it isn’t, then it might tell a fascinating story.

King Uzziah was, for most of his life, a good king. He began his reign at the age of sixteen and reigned over Judah for fifty-two years. But Uzziah did not finish well. According to the biblical record, Uzziah ended his life living as a leper. The Bible connects the leprosy of the king with his decision that he should be able to burn incense to God in the Temple, a task that the Bible clearly assigns only to the priests.

Uzziah contracted leprosy immediately, and for the rest of his life, he lived separated from his family and people. Jotham began his co-reign during this part of Uzziah’s reign and Jotham was the visual ruler while Uzziah was kept behind the scenes. And when Uzziah died, his resting place was also separated from that of the other Kings. He rested “near them,” not “with them.”

At some point, maybe even during the first century, the bones were removed from their grave and taken somewhere else, likely to the place where this plaque was initially found. But the warning hints that it is possible that the people believed that Uzziah’s bones were still contaminated. The King that finished his reign in isolation, was buried in isolation, and his bones were isolated even further. The author of the Uzziah Tablet intended to strike fear into the reader. “Here lies the bones of the Leper King. Do not open [or you just might suffer his fate].”

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Amos 1

Menahem exacted this money from Israel. Every wealthy person had to contribute fifty shekels of silver to be given to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria withdrew and stayed in the land no longer. – 2 Kings 15:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 28, 2019): 2 Kings 15

From the 13^th until the 17^th century, Border Reivers traveled the 96-mile-long border between England and Scotland. The Reivers were made up of both Scot and English members, and they raided the farms situated along both sides of the border. Because the members of this group of raiders were both Scot and English, they did not play favorites. It did not matter what nationality you might be; the Reivers were coming for you. The only exception to the rule were those wealthy enough to afford protection from the raiders, and those who happened to be related to a member of the Border Reivers. All else lived in fear of those who patrolled the border.

Gradually, the Border Reivers discovered that they could make money a little more easily by agreeing to protect the farmers. Essentially, a farmer would pay a sum of money and the Border Reivers would place them under their protection. This protection meant that the Border Reivers would not raid those who gave them money. The monetary contract was called a “Black Mal.” “Mal” was an old Norse word that meant “agreement.” And this is the origin of our word “Blackmail,” although, as with many English words, the meaning of the term has changed since it first entered the English Language in 1530.

The Assyrian Empire initially had no desire to rule over the neighboring Kingdoms. They just wanted to subdue them. Essentially these nations became a buffer zone between the Assyrians and their enemies. So, much like the Border Reivers more recently in history, the Empire would send raiders into a land and leave the decision of what happened next up to the nation in question. The Assyrian Empire would defeat them and take their land. But what they wanted was for the country to pay them tribute, and then the Empire would withdraw their raiders, leaving the nation in peace. That peace would last as long as the state paid the Assyrians.

In Israel under Menahem, the burden of payment to the Assyrians landed squarely on the wealthy of the land. They paid for the peace of Israel, while Menahem essentially ruled over them with the backing of Assyria. These payments would have been an annual occurrence as Assyria slowly drained away the wealth of the nation.

Before we feel too sorry for the wealthy who were being destroyed by these payments, it might be useful to listen to the words of the Prophet Amos as he speaks a curse over the wealthy of Israel and how they became rich in the first place. Amos writes, “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria [Israel], you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks” (Amos 4:1)! The Assyrians had made the oppressors the oppressed, and the newly oppressed class received exactly as they gave.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 26

But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. – 2 Chronicles 25:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 27, 2019): 2 Chronicles 25

A few years ago, I had a friend that seemed to be in continual conflict. His relationship with his wife was in trouble and the kids seemed to be out of control. It appeared that every area of his life was embroiled in conflict. Eventually, the conflict in his life subsided, but that was when he seemed to start to search for conflict in other areas of his life. Oh, he would profess his hate for conflict, but almost without thought, he seemed to find another argument or fight into which he could throw himself. In his mind, the battles were unavoidable. Soon it became very noticeable that he seemed to be happy only when he was in the midst of a fight. He would never admit it, but it became apparent that his life now revolved around the various conflicts in his circle of influence. The disagreements that once were a shock to the system were now merely a necessary component of his life.   

Sometimes the fight is addictive. If we exist in a state of conflict too long, we find that we need the battle to live. Whether it is the chemicals that our body emits during times of stress - or that we learn to be comfortable in the conflict, our body begins to crave the argument – and we can find fights around every corner. It happens individually – but it also happens with organizations. Peace-loving people are mystically transformed into people craving just one more fight.

Amaziah is described as a man who did right in the eyes of God. He was the son of Joash, and it seemed that at the beginning of his reign, he possessed both the strengths and the weaknesses of his father. But then something happened. That ‘something’ was a fight against Edom – a battle in which he prevailed. And when the war was won, Amaziah appears to have built up a need for one more fight. Bolstered by his win over Edom, Amaziah turns his attention to his brothers in the North. But Jehoash, the King of Israel, was not looking for a fight.

In Eastern cultures, hard conversations were often dealt with through the use of parables – and that is precisely what Jehoash decides to do here. His response to the invitation to do battle is both wise and diplomatic. He does not want conflict with his southern brother, but he also will not shy away from the fight. In the parable, he compares Amaziah to a thistle and himself to a cedar. Amaziah may be able to inflict some pain on the wild beast, but in the end, it would only be the cedar, Jehoash, that would continue to stand.

Amaziah would end up ignoring the parable and lose his freedom in the process. For Amaziah, the cedar of Lebanon would prove to be one fight too many.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 15

See Also 2 Kings 14:9

Yet he did not put the children of the assassins to death, in accordance with what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses where the LORD commanded: “Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.” – 2 Kings 14:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 26, 2019): 2 Kings 14

The alien cultures presented to us in the Star Trek Universe are not all that alien. These cultures are based on a Western understanding of Earth's civilizations. For instance, the Romulan culture is based on that of ancient Rome, right down to the hierarchy of command. Klingon culture began as a reflection of the Soviet Union in almost a cartoon sort of way.  Later, Klingon culture morphed into a representation of a Western-influenced interpretation of Japanese culture that placed honor above everything else. Within the Star Trek Universe, a change took place with Klingon alliances. The Soviet based Klingons were enemies of the Federation, the political unit that linked together Kirk and Spock and the others on the Starship Enterprise. But the Japanese version of the Klingons became allies of the Federation of Planets. Although the new partners of the Klingons usually failed to understand the concept of honor.

In Klingon culture, honor and dishonor were passed down from parent to child. In one episode, Worf, a Klingon serving on the Enterprise, learns that his father may not have died in the Khitomer Massacre, a Romulan attack on a Klingon outpost. Instead, Worf is told that the Romulans took his father prisoner. But this is not good news for Worf. The idea that his father did not “die gloriously in battle” meant that he had been dishonored, and that dishonor was translated down to him as the son of the father. In the episode, Worf travels to find the prisoners and realizes that his dad is not among them, but he begins to see the prisoners with Western eyes. In an unexpected moment, one prisoner comments that if their children did find them, she hoped – and here there is a pause in the dialogue. What did she hope? That their children would view them much as Worf had learned to, understanding their dishonor. But those were not the words that emerge from the Klingon lips. The prisoner’s hope was not to be released from her prison and welcomed back into Klingon society. Instead, she hoped that their children would have the courage to kill them, finally releasing them from their dishonor.

In the real world, the problem with honor-based cultures is that honor, but more specifically dishonor, is passed down from generation to generation. The result is that an insult to one generation can be responded to by the next. So the only safe response to honor is to kill both the parent and the child; to extinguish the guilty and the innocent at the same time. That is the safe response, but not a God-fearing one. Moses outlines this expectation of God clearly in his closing addresses found in Deuteronomy. “Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin” (Deuteronomy 14:16). So Amaziah does what is appropriate under the law. He punishes those who murdered his father, while protecting the children of the murderers. But while Amaziah’s focused response was God-honoring, it was unusual in a culture that would have argued that the children must die as well. If the children were left to live, they might rise to avenge the deaths of their fathers.

A similar argument took place at the close of World War II as the United States weighed whether or not they should use atomic weapons against Japan. Joseph Grew, the ambassador to Japan whose warnings about Pearl Harbor were ignored, argued in favor of the use of weapons of mass destruction.

I know Japan; I lived there for ten years. I know the Japanese intimately. The Japanese will not crack. They will not crack morally or psychologically or economically, even when eventual defeat stares them in the face. They will pull in their belts another notch, reduce their rations from a bowl to a half bowl of rice, and fight to the bitter end. Only by utter physical destruction or utter exhaustion of their men and materials can they be defeated.

Grew argued that Japan’s defeat needed to be total. Both combatants and non-combatants had to die. It was the only way that honor could be defeated. Because if just the guilty were punished, honor would drive the innocent to pick up a weapon and continue the fight.

It was those very sentiments that Amaziah rejected, firmly believing in God. Amaziah knew that his God had ordered that only the guilty should die. And so, Amaziah dismissed what was pragmatic and followed the dictates of the God to whom he prayed.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 25

The LORD provided a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram. So the Israelites lived in their own homes as they had before. – 2 Kings 13:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 25, 2019): 2 Kings 13

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. All of the prophecies, all of the hopes of the people, combined into one thought. Someday, maybe soon, the Messiah will come. This messenger sent from God would come in power, and he would shake the very foundations of the world. Of his era there would be no end. His fame would stretch from one end of the world to the other. And the rulers, especially those who dared to come against God’s chosen people, would shake with fear. And his kingdom would reign forever. And some believers in God are still waiting for the Messiah to come.  For this person of power and fame to set the world once again right. Waiting with hope that today might be the day that God would force a stop and make things the way that they were always intended to be.

There is another truth. It is the one that we know and proclaim on this day. The Messiah has come. He came into the world, not as a mighty warrior sent from heaven, but as a child born in weakness. His origins are that, while the child was a descendant of David, he was born into an unknown family far from the places of power. And instead of a cradle in a palace, the first place where he laid his head was a manger in cold cave, a place where the animals were driven to shield them from the elements. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

There had been hints along the way that maybe it would be this way. The “Suffering Servant Passages” of Isaiah indicated the coming of a different kind of Messiah. And then there was the deliverer in this passage. Maybe we could call him (or perhaps even her) a mini-Messiah. He wasn’t the one who was promised, but he was sent at time when Israel needed to be delivered. At a moment in time when the people of Israel were being oppressed by the King of Aram, an area that occupied part of modern-day Syria, including the city of Damascus, Jehoahaz, the King of Israel, cried out to God for help. And God sent someone who set everything right once again, and the people were able to return to their homes without fear. But we don’t even know his or her name. Just that it happened.

Today we celebrate the birth of someone who was just as much an unknown as the deliverer of Israel was during the time of Jehoahaz. Except that we know his name. He is Jesus, who was born in a cave among the animals to an anonymous couple, who grew up to become a miracle worker who taught us about his Father in Heaven, and who died the death of a criminal to set us free form the sins that we have committed. We are no longer waiting. The Messiah has come, even if it wasn’t supposed to be this way. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 14

I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land. – Joel 3:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 24, 2019): Joel 3

I love Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” And one moment in the book that has stuck with me is her comparison of a man with a bible and one with a bottle of whiskey.

“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)... There are just some kind of men who - who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.”

Maybe it goes further than the fact that sometimes we are “so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.” Sometimes, we seem so focused on the judgment of this world in which we live that we lose sight of compassion and love. While God has reacted to us and our situations with grace, we cheer on the judgment of God extended to those who are not like us. Maybe it is those of a different sexual orientation or religion, those who wrong us, or sometimes just those who disagree with us. Judgment, in our minds, will be visited on these people, and, as a result, we will be vindicated, even though we, too, are scarred by sin.

 At the close of Joel’s prophecy, he speaks of a gathering in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. To our best knowledge, there has been a valley in Israel, or even in the Middle East, that has been labeled the “Valley of Jehoshaphat.” So this is probably not the location of the meeting, but instead it symbolizes something else. The name Jehoshaphat means “The Lord Judges,” and so this “Valley of Jehoshaphat” has come to point at a time of judgment, when the enemies of God get what it is that they deserve.

But as we edge closer to Christmas Day, we need to recognize that Jesus, and his ministry, were unexpected. Instead of a Messiah born to power, he came as a baby, born in a manger to a family that was without power. Instead of a powerful instrument of God’s vengeance, Jesus became the one who criticized those who were secure in their religion and stood beside the sinner, eventually dying for their sin. Instead of fighting for a national agenda, he stood as the one who wanted to unite the Jew and the Gentile or non-Jew under his banner and purpose. We get a hint of who Jesus was to become in the words of Simeon when the baby was only eight days old.

Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,

    which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel” (Luke 2:28-32).

Jesus came for all nations, which includes you and me. And his judgment was different than many might have imagined. When he extended his judgment to the soldiers who wronged him, nailing him to the cross, it sounded like this; “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). For Jesus, this might be the way that the “Valley of Jehoshaphat” might look.

That kind of judgment begins tonight, so let me welcome you to The Valley. It just might not be judgment the way that you imagined it to be. It is judgment extended from the one who has walked with us and died in our place because of his love for us. So, go and spread that love as part of your judgment on the world around you. Have a great Christmas Eve.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 13

And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls. – Joel 2:32

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 23, 2019): Joel 2

According to Epiphanius, the Bishop of Salamis ministering in the fourth century C.E., in 68 C.E., a group of Christians received a vision from God. The group of Christians were known as “the Nazarenes.” Essentially, at the time, the term simply indicated that they were followers of Christ, without reference to any racial origin. The Nazarenes would become, by the fourth century, a group of legalistic Christians who were primarily Jewish and who observed the letter of the Jewish law. But when the vision occurred in 68 C.E., they were just a group of Christians.

The vision that the Nazarenes received was one of Jesus calling them out of Jerusalem. The fall of the city was imminent, and Jesus wanted his people out of harm’s way. After all, during his ministry, Jesus already had seen this day of disaster coming. According to Luke, this was the prophecy of Jesus:

“If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you” (Luke 19:42-44).

The city of Jerusalem would be rebuilt, but first, it had to fall. The Nazarenes heard the call of Jesus and left the city, heading for Pella in Jordan.

And all of this is seen by some as a fulfillment of the words of Joel. Jesus called on the Nazarenes in Jerusalem, and they were saved. The Nazarenes left their Jerusalem homes and followed their Savior to Pella. They survived the tragedy only because they heard the voice of the one who called them, and they were numbered among the survivors “whom the Lord calls.”

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joel 3

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. A nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. – Joel 1:5-6

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 22, 2019): Joel 1

On January 27, 1941, Joseph Clark Grew, the Ambassador of the United States to Japan, sent off a secret message to his superiors in Washington. The cable read, “There is a lot of talk around town to the effect that the Japanese, in case of a break with the United States, are planning to go all out in a surprise mass attack on Pearl Harbor.” The warning was ignored. A Japanese attack on the Hawaiian Naval Base seemed to be a remote possibility. The warning was ignored when it was first released. It was ignored when the American Navy lost track of a massive Japanese Armada leaving Asian waters around the beginning of December 1941. And it was ignored yet again when an unidentified sub was spotted near Honolulu at 3:52 a.m. on December 7, 1941. The attack on Pearl Harbor began a few hours later. At just a little before eight in the morning, December 7, 1941, just as Grew had heard “around town” in Japan over ten months earlier. Sometimes, even with all of the information that we have, we just can’t put the pieces together in time. We don’t see how everything fits until after the event has taken place.

The best date that we have for the prophecy of Joel is 835 B.C.E.  The prophecy is intended to be a wake-up call for the nation. But Joel is not necessarily describing what will happen, but rather what has already taken place. The invasion of Judah was not impending. It had happened six years earlier. Six years before the prophecy, King Ahaziah, the son King Jehoram and his Queen, Athaliah of the Kingdom of Israel, had died in battle. It was at this time that the invasion of Judah had occurred. The invasion was really a palace coup. Athaliah had put to death all of the successors to the throne of Ahaziah and had taken the throne for herself. She was the only non-descendant of David to rule over Judah. For six years, a foreign queen ruled over the Kingdom in place of the descendants of David. She had eaten away at all that was good in Judah, leaving only the dry husks that were tossed by the wind. Athaliah was the queen of the locusts, and her army was indeed “without number” because she had co-opted some of the Judean people into her reign of evil.

Complacency had taken over the land. The people were drunk and unable to stand against the invader. They had fallen asleep and were not even aware that a foreign power had defeated them. And Joel needed to wake them up.

The same year that Joel wrote his prophecy, another significant event happened. It was in 835 B.C.E. that Jehoiada revealed that not all of the claimants to the throne of Ahaziah had been killed. Joash, the grandson of Athaliah, still lived, and the rightful King of Judah was now seven years old. Is there a connection between the prophecy and crowning of Joash? Maybe. It might be possible that it was the push of Joel’s prophecy that forced Jehoiada to reveal the young King to an awakening nation. Or, maybe, the Prophet and the Priest worked together on the reveal of Joash. Joel’s prophecy allowed the people to be ready for the change was on its way. It was a warning for all of Judah, much like the ignored message of Joseph Grew should have been a warning to the United States. The nation had been invaded by a foreign Queen who did not want the best for the people of Judah. Joel’s prophecy woke up the drunkards of Judah so that they could welcome their new king, and oust the foreign invader, Athaliah, in the process.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joel 2

His officials conspired against him and assassinated him at Beth Millo, on the road down to Silla. – 2 Kings 12:21

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 21, 2019): 2 Kings 12

Beginnings often don’t reveal the end. Or as Yoda (Star Wars) phrased it, “Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.” The problem with the future is that it is heavily influenced by the actions that we take today. The smallest decision, for the good or bad, moves the future by vast distances. It is why what we do today matters so much. Today sets up tomorrow and pushes it in a way that is either beneficial or detrimental to the rest of our lives.

The reign of Joash began with the cheers of the people. After the violence that took place during the reign of Athaliah, Joash’s grandmother, a respite was needed. Joash ascended to the throne of Judah at the age of seven. In those early years, he had possessed the benefit of the priest Jehoiada, and together they had set the nation on a path that honored God. But then Jehoiada died. And the reign of Joash, which had begun with such promise, turned. Joash began to listen to the princes and members of the Royal family more than the priests. So Joash descended so far into evil that he even had the high priest Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, executed in the Temple where he served. It might have been this very issue that Jesus was referencing in Matthew 23. Speaking to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, Jesus is recorded to have said: “And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar” (Matthew 23:35). While the name matches the prophet who lived more than three hundred years after the son of Jehoiada, some scholars wonder if it could be an error in the copying process or if this Zechariah might also have been the son of Berekiah, and maybe the grandson of Jehoiada, and it was this Zechariah about whom Jesus was speaking.

But regardless of the question of identity, rabbinical literature says that it was the death of Zechariah that caused the palace officials to turn gains the King. And a reign that began with the people cheering for the new king ended with his assassination. The future had moved to a point that no one could have predicted in the beginning.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joel 1

Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years of Jehoiada the priest. – 2 Chronicles 24:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 20, 2019): 2 Chronicles 24

We tend to reflect the ideals of those with whom we spend time. Mom’s worry about the friends that we hung around with as kids was justified. Because what they do will rub off on us. And as we age, that never really seems to change. This tendency might actually be a form of groupthink. Groupthink occurs when conformity is the overarching requirement for a social group, regardless of the size. As a result of this drive for conformity, critical evaluation of the situation is minimized or absent. The members of the group accept the moral code of the leader. Sometimes, groupthink occurs in reasonably large groups of people. Contemporary political parties are often driven by groupthink. The actions of the leader are accepted in an attempt to maintain conformity. No one questions the actions of the leader. And as long as the leader is present, the others fall in line.

Sometimes groupthink is possible with as few as two people. A mother and daughter might share a united front against the world, strictly following mom’s moral ideals and view of the world. And everything flows towards a common purpose until mom is removed from the equation. Suddenly, the daughter is adrift. She has not thought through any of her beliefs, and without mom, she realizes that she has no beliefs that are hers, and what follows is often a time of moral ambiguity as the daughter searches for someone else with whom she can conform. The only ideal that she has accepted for her life is the idea of conforming to the beliefs of someone else.

It seems that this is precisely what happens in the life of Joash. Joash is rescued as a toddler from the murderous rage of his grandmother, Athaliah. He lives in close association with the priest, Jehoiada, and Joash conformed to the belief structure of the priest. Jehoiada even chose two women for the King to marry and with whom Joash could produce an heir. And the author of Chronicles says that Joash pleased God “all the years of Jehoiada the priest.”

But the words signal something darker. Without Jehoiada, Joash would look for someone else with whom he could conform. And that someone else would not carry Joash in the same direction as Jehoida had for the first years of his life. The reality was that the only value that Joash had internalized was that of conformity, and without a man of God with whom he could conform, the King would be morally lost. So while Jehoida was alive, the King would do good. But when Jehoida was removed from the situation, he found that he could just as easily do evil in the sight of God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 12

She looked, and there was the king, standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and musicians with their instruments were leading the praises. Then Athaliah tore her robes and shouted, “Treason! Treason!” – 2 Chronicles 23:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 19, 2019): 2 Chronicles 23

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” The words belong to John F. Kennedy and reflect a line of political thought that seems to be almost totally absent in our contemporary world. We live in a world of pain and revenge. We look for guardians of conservatism and liberalism rather than commit ourselves to the best idea regardless of where the idea might have found its origins. And it never ceases to amaze me the way that we can refuse to take responsibility for our actions and what those actions might mean for our future. A journey into social media reveals a parade of innocent people; the negative situations that are present in their lives are never their fault. They have no money, not because they refused to take care of their finances, but because of the greed that exists in the world.  The blame is never mine; it is always someone else’s. In the Calvin Harris song “Blame,” it isn’t even a person that is to blame for the singer’s bad behavior. It is just the inanimate “night” that is at fault. The chorus repeats the lines, “Blame it on the night, don’t blame it on me; don’t blame it on me.” Our innate ability to shift blame is impressive.

Athaliah was a power-hungry woman. I can’t imagine someone being evil enough to be able to commit the crimes of Athaliah. After the death of her son, Ahaziah, Athaliah killed the rest of her family, including her own grandchildren, so that she could reign as Queen of Judah. Athaliah was the only Queen to have solo reign in either Judah or Israel, and the Queen’s reign lasted six years. But, unknown to her, she did not kill all of her grandchildren. One grandson remained; a little boy named Joash. Joash was hidden away while Athaliah frittered away her time on the throne. But when the time was right, Joash was brought out in front of the nation and crowned the King of Judah.

Athaliah was angry. The boy was surrounded by guards, protected like the crown jewel that he really was. And Athaliah couldn’t do anything about it. She has no defense for the evil that she has done, and Athaliah cannot deny that Joash’s claim to the throne of Judah was stronger than hers, so instead, she levels the charge of treason against all of those who had conspired against her by saving the life of this grandson, the future king. In her mind, somehow she was not responsible for this turn of events. She had deceived herself into believing that somehow the throne was hers and I am not sure that anyone has been able to understand that logic. It was not treason that she had killed her family, including all of the princes of Judah, so that she could reign as Queen. It was treason that someone had dared to hide this grandson, and rightful heir to the throne, away from her in a place where she could not get at him and kill him.

Ultimately, what happens next was nothing more than a result of all that Athaliah had built. This was the future that her scheming had prepared for her — a future for which she refused to take responsibility. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 24

See Also 2 Kings 11:14

The people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehoram’s youngest son, king in his place, since the raiders, who came with the Arabs into the camp, had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. - 2 Chronicles 22:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 18, 2019): 2 Chronicles 22

If you have a pulse, they will take anybody. The words are often floated more like an accusation than a recommendation. Those people over there, they will take anybody. They are not particular about the who; as long as you are alive, you are accepted. As I write these words, I admit that this is the way the church should act. No matter what, here you can find acceptance and forgiveness. Or, as one saint said, we don’t care what is in your past, as long as you are willing to make God your future. But even that is not quite “if you have a pulse” terminology. Maybe the church is more like a rehab center. We want you to be with us, but you have to want to get better. If you're going to explore the possibility of God, then we want to explore it with you. We love you if you don’t want to go down that path, but truthfully we are not much help to you. We find our purpose and our future in the things of God.

Chronicles starts off its discussion of the reign of Ahaziah almost with an apology. “This is how the reign of Ahaziah came about. Ahaziah was not qualified to be King; he did not have the temperament to be King. He had no desire to follow after the things of God, but he had a pulse. He was the youngest prince, and all of the older ones were dead. And so the people made Ahaziah King because they had no other option.”

It is not exactly a ringing endorsement for a new king. But when all you have is Ahaziah, then you make Ahaziah king. It was a dark time for the nation anyway. And in reality, the one year that Ahaziah sat on the throne was really the first year of the reign of his mother, Athaliah.

Ahaziah was unworthy of the honor of being the King of Judah and sitting on the throne of David, but the people could see no other possibility. And it might have been men like Ahaziah that worried God about this idea of having a king in the first place. The nation would be better off without a king than to have to suffer through reigns like that of Ahaziah because no guardian is often better than a bad one.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 23

All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was calm, because Athaliah had been slain with the sword at the palace. – 2 Kings 11:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 17, 2019): 2 Kings 11

Before the coming of the vampire, there was a king who bore the name Dracula. Dracul means dragon, and the king’s father had received that nickname after becoming a member of the “Order of the Dragon.” His son, Vlad, loved to sign his letters Dracula, meaning Son of the Dragon. But Vlad had another name. It was Vlad the Impaler, a reflection of his habit of impaling his enemies, or probably even those who he thought might be his enemies. According to historians, he liked to drive a stake up through the buttocks of his victims until the stake emerged from the person’s mouth. It is estimated that Vlad the Impaler executed twenty percent of his kingdom, Wallachia, part of modern-day Romania, during his reign.

Dracula’s reign came in three segments. First, upon the murder of his father, the original Dragon, Dracula ruled over Wallachia for parts of October and November 1448, before he was deposed by the man who likely had killed “The Dragon.” Dracula returned to rule over Wallachia from April 1456 until mid-1462. His last opportunity to rule came for a short period near the end of 1476. Vlad the Impaler, or Dracula, was killed in battle either in late December 1476 or early January 1477.

His legacy today is mixed. Some argue that he was a reformer whose violent acts were necessary to protect his kingdom. For others, he is a nightmare that we wish only existed in our dreams. If Vlad the Impaler was as bad as history makes him out to be, it is hard to imagine that the people who lived under his rule, the eighty percent that Dracula hadn’t executed, didn’t breathe a sigh of relief on the day that Vlad the Impaler died. Somehow, when the sun rose the next morning, it seemed to be just a little brighter.

Dracula might have people wanting to rewrite his history, but Athaliah does not. Athaliah was the only non-descendant of David to rule over Judah. And her reign, from the very beginning, was marked with violence. Athaliah was the wife of Jehoram, the King of Judah, and the daughter, or maybe sister, depending on the biblical passage, of Ahab, the King of Israel. When Jehoram died, her son Ahaziah ascended to the throne of Judah, and Athaliah became the Queen mother. But when Ahaziah died, Athaliah decided to take the throne for herself. In the process, she murdered anyone who had any claim to the throne, including her own children and grandchildren. One grandson, Joash, who was only one-year-old at the time of Athaliah’s massacre, and was successfully rescued and hidden from her, and allowed to live and grow in secrecy. But the rest of his family was killed.

Athaliah’s reign was marked with the idolatry of the Northern Kingdom. The worship of Yahweh was prohibited. Athaliah intended to transform Judah in her own image. Until the day when the now seven-year-old Joash was revealed to the people. Athaliah stormed in to finish the job she had started six years earlier by killing her grandson but was stopped by soldiers loyal to the new king.

On that day, Athaliah was executed, and all of Judah breathed a sigh of relief. And, maybe, the sun shone just a little brighter after the death of Athaliah; as the reign of Joash was set to begin.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 22

Know, then, that not a word the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The LORD has done what he announced through his servant Elijah. – 2 Kings 10:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 15, 2019): 2 Kings 10

The 1970s and 80s comedy television series M*A*S*H was known for its poignant moments. And one of them was first aired on February 8, 1982. The episode was entitled “A Holy Mess” and it chronicled the story of a troubled AWOL soldier taking sanctuary with Father Mulcahy in the Mess Tent, the eating area, that served on Sundays as the company church. With officers on the outside of the Mess Tent clamoring to get their hands on the AWOL soldier, Father Mulcahy declares the Mess Tent to be a holy place of worship, and therefore a sanctuary where the soldiers on the outside are not allowed to enter. The episode chases the idea of sanctuary, and what is needed to exercise sanctuary. Colonel Potter knows his priest and is willing to let the plan play out, but in the end the Mess Tent is declared to be just a place for eating, and not a sanctuary because it is not permanent. Mulcahy reacts against the decision. M is for Mobile and nothing in the camp is permanent.

It is at that moment that the sanctuary claiming soldier grabs a gun and points it at the Father. Mulcahy is irate. How dare anyone violate the sanctuary of God by aiming a gun at another person. The priest bravely stares down the soldier, walking into the barrel of the rifle that is pointed at Mulcahy’s chest. The soldier had used God when it benefited him and then threw him away when God was no longer convenient. The moral of the story is summed up by one line of Father Mulcahy’s dialogue. The priest tells the soldier that “a faith of convenience is a hollow faith.” The soldier collapses, sobbing in the priest's arms while Mulcahy gently says, “I know, I know.”

But Mulcahy’s words have stayed with me. “A faith of convenience is a hollow faith.” There is nothing untrue that Jehu tells the people in this passage. Elijah did prophecy that disaster would fall on the house of Ahab. God, speaking through Elijah, declared that “I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free” (1 Kings 21:21). The people are absolved from the killing of the innocent children of Ahab, just as Jehu declares that he is innocent of the atrocity. The murder of the innocents is something that “God has done.” But while the words might be valid, the problem is that Jehu really doesn’t care. He has no intention of following the God of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is just that, in this situation, the prophecy of Elijah, speaking the words of God, is convenient. God's words, in this case, absolve Jehu of any guilt.

But that is a hollow faith. And unlike the soldier in Mulcahy’s Mess Tent, Jehu has no intention of apologizing for anything that comes next. He will use the words of God when they are convenient and discard them when they are not. His faith is hollow, and therefore it cannot save either him or Israel.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 11

The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of olive oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. – 2 Kings 9:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 15, 2019): 2 Kings 9

I have never been very fast. I also have no middle gear. My two speeds have always been as fast as I can go and a dead stop. I remember playing football and having three-quarter speed drills; I never did master that talent. All I had was everything or nothing. It is still that way. But I don’t want to leave the impression that I am fast. My full speed is probably slower than most people’s three-quarter speed. (Although there are a couple of times, when the adrenaline was pumping, that I surprised even myself.)

Elisha needs someone to go to Ramoth-Gilead to anoint Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat of Israel, King over Israel. But he needs speed. So he calls a man, likely one that he thought was fast, to go to Ramoth-Gilead where Jehu and all of Israel was defending the city against the advances of the King of Aram. The phrase “tuck your cloak into your belt” indicates the need for speed. The act of tucking your cloak into your belt was the only way that someone could run. It got the garment away from the legs of the person so that he would not trip while he was running. The drawback was that it was a very undignified way to move because your legs would be exposed. It is one of the reasons why we see great love shown between the father and his youngest son in Jesus’s story of “The Lost Son.” Luke clearly says that the father ran to his son when he saw him on the horizon (Luke 15:20). That means that the father would have tucked his cloak into his belt to get to his youngest son as fast as possible. It was a very undignified way for an older man of means to move.

So a man from the company is found and given a flask of oil for anointing Jehu and told to run to Jehu, the commander of army at Ramoth-Gilead, and then turn and run away from him as fast as possible (2 Kings 9:3). It is likely that Elisha knew the prophet that he was giving this task to, and believed that the prophet would follow Elisha’s orders to the letter. What Elisha needed at this moment was obedience. And he chose a young prophet who Elisha believed would give that to him.

We are not told who this mysterious prophet might be who was given this task to run to, and then away from, Ramoth-Gilead. But rabbinical literature gives us an interesting suggestion. The rabbis believe that this prophet, who was sent to Ramoth-Gilead by Elisha, was none other than Jonah, the son of Amittai. If this is true, it makes Jonah disobedience when God sent him to Nineveh even more critical. Jonah was not a Prophet known for his independent thinking. He was one who was trusted by Elisha to obey even in the most sensitive of situations.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 10

Elisha answered, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly recover.’ Nevertheless, the LORD has revealed to me that he will in fact die.” – 2 Kings 8:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 14, 2019): 2 Kings 8

Do you have time for a holiday riddle? Try this one around the Christmas dinner table. “You will find me in December, but not in any other month.” The answers to the riddle seem endless. It can’t be snow, at least not where I live. We have recorded snow at some point in history in every calendar month of the year, although the most common times for accumulation of the cold white stuff is between October and March or early April. The Holidays of Christmas and Hanukkah are only found during December, but neither of these are the answer to the riddle. My favorite Christmas movie, “Die Hard,” takes place in December, but once we get past Die Hard II the franchise moves on to other seasons.  December has thirty-one days. But so does January, March, May, July, August, and October. There are just as many months that possess a thirty-first day as there are months that lack it.  So what is it that December has that no other month possesses.

Riddles can be fun, and often the answer is relatively simple. And Elisha has one for Hazael. The servant of Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, is sick, and he sends Hazael to Elisha to discover if this sickness will end in death. Elisha’s response is in the form of a riddle. “Tell the king that he will live, and yet he will die.” Assuming that Elisha is being truthful, that is a hard thing to understand. How can the king both live and die? But Hazael understands the answer to the riddle. Ben-Hadad is not sick enough for the illness to mean his death, but he is not well enough to fend off an attack by a deceitful servant. Ben-Hadad was going to die, but not because of disease. Ben-Hadad would be murdered by the one that he trusts, Hazael. Ben-Hadad’s focus was on the wrong danger that was threatening his life. It was not the illness that was the threat; it was Hazael. 

So, you have had a moment to think about our December riddle. What is it that December has that no other month possesses? The letter “D” of course. You will not find that letter in any other month's name on the English Calendar. Only December has a “D.”

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 9