July 2

OT -- 2 Kings 20:1-22:2
Just out of curiosity because Manasseh reigned so long (55 years), I looked on the web and found this great sermon by Charles Spurgeon.

Click here to read it.

I am going along and going along and cannot figure out why Spurgeon keeps referring to Manasseh as a reformed sinner. *MY* scripture says none of that. Then, I realize that Spurgeon is quoting from 2 Chronicles. Turn to that scripture and it is word for word on 2 Kings EXCEPT it adds this:

2 Chronicles 33:10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. 12 In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. 13 And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.

14 Afterward he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, west of the Gihon spring in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate and encircling the hill of Ophel; he also made it much higher. He stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah.

15 He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the Lord, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city. 16 Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. 17 The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

18 The other events of Manasseh’s reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are written in the annals of the kings of Israel.[a] 19 His prayer and how God was moved by his entreaty, as well as all his sins and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself—all these are written in the records of the seers.[b] 20 Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in his palace. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.

Now, why did 2 Kings leave this out? I know I keep harping on this but this is true in BibleLand just like it is true in History books, newspapers and radio newscasts. You have to know the bias and the reason BEHIND the work to understand why you get what you get.
2 Kings was written to explain why the Children of Israel were taken into captivity. Plain and simple. It suited the authors of 2 Kings to have an unrepentant Manasseh.
2 Chronicles is from a different group of rabbis who took 2 Kings and added their own commentary. When we read it in a few days, please don't say "I've already read that". You did. But what you should be looking for is the different. And for that, you can't skim. Tempting but you will miss.

Psalm 150
The last psalm in the Bible.
Tomorrow, we start over with the psalms and I have already heard this in my head so maybe you said it, too "Let's just not read those. Poems. Ick. I have had enough and especially when we are about to start the prophets....".

Well. I want you to watch Sarah Kay perform HER poem and then let's talk about poems.



Krista Tippett had Sarah Kay on her podcast On Being and on Thursday, I listened to this show that was a month old. Sarah is a spoken word poet. She spoke with Krista about how she tries to get high school students to rediscover wonder through poetry.
Here is the link to On Being. I used to know how to embed podcasts into Blogger but seem to have forgotten the knack. It is well worth downloading the podcast or just to listen to the whole show on your computer.

But for now, I want us to think of the Psalms as our imagery into the wonder and majesty that is shared human experience of God.
Let's do the next round of scripture reading differently.
Read it aloud. Change versions. Get someone to read it to you. Add your name every time the psalmist asks for personal help. Memorize one verse from each and see how long you can keep remembering psalm 1, psalm 2 etc.