Thanksgiving then and now

So, last night I shared this on Facebook  (that's Tuesday night real time), because of a memory FB thought I wanted to share...

Okay, so FB put up a memory of a post I wrote 4 years ago, about the things Scrappy was thankful for. It made me sad- and so did the comment from my best friend that was on that post- since we lost them both 2 weeks apart.

This morning on WBCL, Kim told a story about being angry with God for losing her Dad way too young to cancer. Finally she had a heart to heart with the Lord, and He asked her, "Did you like him?" Of course she replied, "I loved him! And I miss him. He was a great Dad." And the Lord answered, "He was MY idea."

Everything we loved and lost... everything we still have... everything we will have... it was HIS idea to put them in our lives.

And maybe after all this time... maybe... these tears can be tears of thanksgiving. Scrappy and Bob were great ideas. Laurie and Misty are great ideas. Isaiah and Grayson are great ideas. So are all of you. And somewhere along the line, so am I. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

And here, unlike there, I can actually share the link, since here I don't have to worry about the Zook thinking I'm spammy.   It is here.   

I am fighting an extremely stupid computer  tonight, and I don't know if I will ever get my original intent on this page.  But let me try.  When I posted that, I hit all the "tags" in the suggestion box, and would have hit more, but I was afraid I'd lose everything (much like tonight).  It was hard, even in Scrappy's voice, to read the honesty about his situation I packed into that post back then (in case you didn't check the link, that would be 4 years ago today as I type.)  Harder still to read the wise, caring voice in the comments- the voice of a friend who I lost within two weeks of Scrappy's passing.  Part of what he said was this:

---Remember that a JOY shared is twice a joy, while a SORROW shared is half a sorrow.

 

And that was my hope with my FB post last night, Tuesday, whatever.  I need to share, to help, to cheer, and I have struggled doing that.  I find myself struggling with things that should be long over and dead.  And it's keeping me from showing the love and the faith to everyone that I NEED to. Last night, I fought my way back out of the valley and onto the mountain.  Tonight, I said, "Dive! dive!" and went back down again.

I don't want that anymore.

I want to be the person God knows I am, not the one that I keep making myself.  One thing I have learned though- 

All the Devil knows how to do is tell me, "You are" when I'm not and "You do" when I don't.  The rest is all me.  But here's the thing, I have learned from praying through Proverbs that God the Father can be inserted where ever you read "Knowledge", the Spirit where ever you read "Wisdom", and Christ where ever it says Understanding.  And that's what He is.  He understands.  Not just because He is God, but because He was/is man.  I heard a Pastor today: "Where He saw purity, all we saw was a prostitute (Mary Magdalene).  Where he saw the founder of a church, we saw a bumbling fisherman (Peter).  Where we see ourselves, He sees a Child of God."  And 99% of my problem is I don't always see what He sees.  And when I do see it, Satan asks, "But that's not Billy Graham.  That's not your sister-in-law who volunteers at the rescue mission.  That's not" etc, etc.  

Today, I fought this battle again.  I asked, "But what is it I'm supposed to do?"  At that point, my two lady partners need help lifting a roll of fabric into place.  And He told me, "There you go."  Laughing, smiling, helping.  Period.

It's easy to see why this world is so extreme anymore, because Satan uses those extremes.  Oh, you're worthless- unless you tear your clothes, hop on a table, and pretend you're Paul.  Look at that, you misspelled three words just in that one sentence! (True story!)

So let me do this the way Scrappy did, and be thankful for what he had left- and is still leaving:

...Daddy has been so upset he couldn't give me my "best summer ever", but we done okay considering how bad we're both falling apart...

 

Thank you, God, for keeping me in reasonable health, despite all the pills I have to take.  For making me able to do my job- and giving me a job I can be good at, and support my family. 

...Here I am, stuck again!  I'm thankful for a patient Daddy!

Thank you, Jesus, that no matter how many times I fail,You get me unstuck.  I often get upset for the way You teach me Patience, but I'm so rarely thankful for Your patience with me.

...We saw a lot of deer this year!

Lord, you have blessed Misty and I with the gift of Your wonderful nature.  Thank you so very much!

...By summer, it was really hot.  I was really thirsty all the time, and Daddy was so sad this day.  He was wondering how many more walks I had left.  But I'm still here!

And so he was, for another 5 months.  And I am grateful for everyone of them, just like I am for all the moments with Misty.

...Daddy laughs, but I get so mad when my water holes are dry...

I get so mad when my refreshment, my water, seems to dry up.  Thank you, Jesus for reminding me my refreshment is always available- even if the puddles are dry.

So, yeah, I have my problems, but I have a lot to be thankful for... hey, food's here!  See ya later!

Wednesday Bible Study: All the Kings, men part 15

 

Today I lead off by finishing the story of the kingdom of Israel.  But first, a coda to the story of Joash. The turning of Joash away from the Lord set the final clock running on Judah.  And yes, there was a signature event that started the clock...

2Ki 12:17  At that time Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and took it. But when Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem,
2Ki 12:18  Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred gifts that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred gifts, and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king's house, and sent these to Hazael king of Syria. Then Hazael went away from Jerusalem.

How many kings had been warned by now that God wasn't going to put up with them turning to money or foreign allies ahead of Himself?  Apparently this final indignity to the Lord set off Joash's servants, and they murdered him for his earlier crime of killing the son of the priest Jehoiada.  Not that things would be better in Israel.  Their own clock started with the first of God's '4 generations from Jehu' to fall.  His son Jehoahaz was next up, and he quickly abandoned God for the cult religion Jeroboam had established- until God sent the kings of Syria to piecemeal conquer the kingdom.  And then...

2Ki 13:4  Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them.
2Ki 13:5  (Therefore the LORD gave Israel a savior, so that they escaped from the hand of the Syrians, and the people of Israel lived in their homes as formerly.
2Ki 13:6  Nevertheless, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained in Samaria.)

That savior would take the form of his grandson Jeroboam (called Jeroboam II to avoid confusion with the original).  For Jehoahaz, though- much like us when we practice what I call "soap opera prayers", prayers only sent up in direst need while ignoring God any other time- the die was cast.  Ben-Hadad of Syria made mincemeat of his army, and things looked bleak indeed.  After Jehoahaz passed, his son Jehoash took over (and don't I wish they broke up these similar names a bit!).  He was a carbon copy of his dad, but in him the built up to that salvation promised Jehoahaz started.  He held his own against Syria; and when the concurrent king of Judah, Amaziah, needed a whupping, God gave him the job...

2Ki 14:8  Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, "Come, let us look one another in the face."
2Ki 14:9  And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, "A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife,' and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle.
2Ki 14:10  You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?"

But, the story goes on, Amaziah didn't listen, and Jehoash whupped him good- we'll flesh that out next time.  His looting of Jerusalem after the battle made a nice nest egg for his son, the aforementioned Jeroboam II.  Now, contained in the story of J2 is a familiar figure...

2Ki 14:25  He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.
2Ki 14:26  For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel.
2Ki 14:27  But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

Yes, that Jonah!  But the commentators point out that Jonah was one of the few prophets whose exact words were NOT quoted in the Books of Kings; whether this was due to the evil of J2 or his own disobedience in the matter of Nineveh, they don't speculate.  But that was the 4th generation, and now it begins to fall apart.  It was at this point that Amos began his prophecies announcing the coming fall of Israel; and generation 4, J2's son Zechariah, was murdered by a commander named Shallum just 6 months into his reign. Shallum, fared no better, there were two other commanders lusting for the throne, and Menahem won this contest, ending Shallum's 30-day reign with his murder, and committing gross barbarities in putting down the other.  

The good news for Menahem was, he was strong enough to end the string of anarchy; the bad news, the weakened and repentant Nineveh of Jonah had been replaced by the reborn monster led by Tilgath-Pilesar, and Menahem had to wring every last dollar he could out of his subjects to buy the Assyrians off temporarily.  He bought himself a reign of 10 years, and passed things off to his son, Pekahiah.  Which is the original Israelite kiss of death; if you exempt the 4 generations God gave Jehu, sons of kings had a bad track record as kings- 3 had been assassinated, one fell through a roof, and one died in battle- and Pekahiah became the 4th assassination. Two years in, his commander Pekah killed him, and the clock started moving in earnest.  Pekah had a 20-year reign, and it was late in that reign he allied himself with Syria to bring Judah into an alliance with them against Assyria, by force.

Judah had just acquired a new king, Ahaz, and he came to the Lord to get some help.  Isaiah the prophet lets us in on what happened next:

Isa 7:1  In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it.
Isa 7:2  When the house of David was told, "Syria is in league with Ephraim," the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
Isa 7:3  And the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field.
Isa 7:4  And say to him, 'Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.
Isa 7:5  Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying,
Isa 7:6  "Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,"
Isa 7:7  thus says the Lord GOD: "'It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.
Isa 7:8  For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.
Isa 7:9  And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.'" 

We'll pick up the story of that battle next time; but note that prophecy of 65 years, because this is going to be one of those "the Lord really does what He says" moments.   It wasn't long after this, though that yet another conspiracy led by a guy named Hoshea killed off Pekah after a 20 year reign- and became the last king of Israel.  Now, the writer of Kings has an interesting evaluation of Hoshea:

2Ki 17:1  In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years.
2Ki 17:2  And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

The Bible doesn't say what it was that Hoshea did different; it is known at this time Hezekiah of Judah had invited the people of Israel to worship the True God in the Temple, and Hoshea may have green-lighted this.  The Book of Kings also throws in that there was a 9-year interregnum between Pekah's murder and the start of Hoshea's reign, that we have no more data on.  However, we do know that there was, at best, 21 years from Isaiah's prophecy and the destruction of Israel's kingdom by Shalmaneser of Assyria.  So what happened to 65 years?

The key is the way the prophecy was phrased.  The 65 years wasn't to the shattering of Ephraim as a KINGDOM- it was from being a PEOPLE.  And that 65th year was in the middle of the reign of Manasseh of Judah- right when Esarhaddon of Assyria attacked the entire area, exiled Manasseh to Babylon, and, it would seem, exiled the last of the Israelites from Samaria.  Much like the chronology of Quirinius in Luke, the dating that makes a skeptic go, "Ah-HAH!" is actually hidden just below the surface, by a misreading of the phrasing.  God warns you that He hides things from unbelievers.

And the ending to our story today... Hoshea did the oft-repeated diplomatic move that destroyed many a king; pretend obedience to Assyria, try to make a backdoor deal with Egypt.  But making an alliance with Egypt in those days was a lot like Germany making an alliance with Austria in World War I.  Hoshea was captured and disappears from history; and Israel disappeared as a people.

Why would God do such a horrible thing to His "Chosen" people?  Remember, Jesus told the pharisees, "I can make descendants of Abraham from these rocks!" Faith is the key to salvation.  Israel? Well, remember I mentioned Hezekiah's inviting them to worship at the Temple?  What I didn't mention was the response...

2Ch 30:10  So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them.

Next time, what we can learn from the last good kings of Judah.

M10 show week #49

 

Next week being Thanksgiving, I am officially declaring a mulligan next week- no post!  Which means today, I have to come up with something good... 

And didja? No...

Ah , but wait till you see what I do!  I perused sites that claimed they had the 'perfect' Thanksgiving song playlists... and I found some real head scratchers!  So tonight (or tomorrow morning for you readers), I am giving you- the 10 dumbest Thanksgiving song suggestions IMHO!  While I'm trying to rank the rank, introduce our fan(s) to the week's lone debut!

Sure,  Chris hadda hard time lookin' fer new stuff last night, too.  So he got checkin' out the Broken Bells' singles list- and finally found somethin' he didn't shut off halfway through!  Debutin' at #8... here they are, with Saturdays!

 

************************************************** 

 

Okay, so let me start this off with, I can kind of see some of these suggestions I wrote down (say, Celebration by Kool and the Gang), and there are a ton of togetherness connections (We Are Family, Shower The People).  A little more distant are the weather connections (Baby It's Cold Outside, Hazy Shade Of Winter).  But the ten I selected are the best of the head-scratcher selections.  So without further doo-doo... Song, act, site found on, and instant analysis...

10-  Happy- Pharrell Williams, found on the site Refinery29.  Yeah, I know, but this song annoys me to no end, and thus deserves inclusion.  If you LIKE this song, stay tuned, because it will only get worse.

9- Home Sweet Home, Motley Crue, found on Coldwell Banker, if you can believe that.  Seriously?  This song is about the long road trip, and the video is concert clips, including a chick that is THISclose to taking her top off.  Entertaining? Yes.  Thanksgiving material?  Let's play it at your church gathering and see what they think.

8- American Pie, Don McLean (or, presumably, the version we played here with Home Free), donated by Esquire.  I guess they figure you gotta have SOME kind of pie... (Note: Ray Charles' Sweet Potato Pie was suggested a couple of times.)

7- Eat It, Weird Al Yankovic. Another Coldwell Banker suggestion.  A lot of choices had to do with encouraging eating; this might be excessive even by Thanksgiving standards.

6- I Got You Babe, Sonny and Cher, first suggested by NoteBurner. I have absolutely no idea what the connection was here...

Mebbe it's so's ya get the munchies.  After all, Sonny says, "we don't have the pot..."

That's "we don't have A pot", dipstick!  Why don't you go ahead with the M10 now, and we'll get the top five dumb ideas as a closer...

Suits me!

10- Comes A Day by Built To Spill, and it might have got to that day, falling from 6.

9- Alvvays loses traction on their hits- Belinda Says drops 4 and lands here, and After The Earthquake slips one to #5.

7- Scorpions stuck here with Hammersmith.

6- Beach Weather an' Sex Drugs Etc, up 4.

4- Add dropping to Brooke Annibale's Social Anxieties, she slips a notch.

3- Talk and Run Away To Mars, up from 8.

2- BIG NEWS ALERT- After 5 weeks at the top, Broken Bells slip to 2 with Love On The Run.

Which gives us at the new #1....

 ...Lucius with The Man I'll Never Find!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Alright, a'ready, let's get the Flummoxing Five!

"The flummoxing five?"

Ah wuz tryin' to be funny...

That might be trying  a bit too hard, Buddy!  Anyway, in case you thought there weren't really any dumber suggestions for Thanksgiving songs...

5- Hungry Like The Wolf, Duran Duran, another Esquire suggestion.  The female moans at the end of the song would go particularly well with cranberry sauce, I suppose...

4- Waiting On A Friend, Rolling Stones, and I'm seeing that Esquire was really into the Christmas Cheer early when they did this list!  Because we all like to spend Thanksgiving standing in a doorway, watching girls go by.

3- Come Together, The Beatles, another one from NoteBurner...

Say whut? I don' get this'n... unless yer uncle goes by "Old Flattop"!

Can you say, "Throw key words into an algorithm and see what it spits out?" You would think the person who had to paste this all together would question  something like this...

2- The Boys Are Back In Town, Thin Lizzy, a suggestion from an outfit called SheKnows.

So, 'she knows' this has a bar fight and sexual harassment in it, right?

Well, you know how whacky we all get for the holidays... And the #1 head scratcher on the lists of songs for Thanksgiving is...

1- Family Affair, Sly and the Family Stone, a song I believe was on all 4 sites I went to- I know it's my go-to Thanksgiving anthem!

And here's some 'also receiving votes' songs...

From NoteBurner- Stevie Wonder, You Are The Sunshine Of My Life...

From Esquire- The NFL on Fox theme, Neil Young's Harvest Moon...

Refinery 29- Mashed Potato Time by DeeDee Sharp...

SheKnows- Supertramp, Give A Little Bit....

Remember, next week will have something Thanksgiving-y rather than the M10 Show, so see ya in 2 weeks!

Wednesday Bible Study: All the KIngs, men part 14

 

  1 Cor 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

 

This week I want to look at a handful of good kings, that followed the Lord for the most part- and the things that brought them down.  They couldn't seem to run the race to the finish, and their failures CAN become ours.   First up is Asa, grandson of Rehoboam of Judah- for perspective, I'm going to give their probable reign dates, and Asa reigned 913-873 BC.  Asa is the first king to get a glowing report from the Chronicler...

2Ch 14:2  And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.
2Ch 14:3  He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim
2Ch 14:4  and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment.
2Ch 14:5  He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him.

They make mention of the lack of war in Asa's days- but it wasn't all that easy...

2Ch 14:9  Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. 

This Zerah was most likely Osorkon II, ruler of a divided Egypt at the time.  Asa knew this battle was way beyond him, so he did the smart thing...

2Ch 14:11  And Asa cried to the LORD his God, "O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against you."
2Ch 14:12  So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

Part of the Lord's defeat of Osorkon may have been because of the Assyrians that he had marched up to attack.  Nevertheless, it brought peace to Judah- until his 35th year.  In the meantime, a prophet named Azariah, who told him he'd be blessed in all he did- so long as he followed the Lord with his whole heart.  So he did, even kicking his mother Maacah, the granddaughter of Absalom, out of the palace and tearing down her pagan idol.  But time goes on, and one day Baasha of Israel, the "Stinker" from last week, decided to hire the king of Syria to help him conquer Judah.  I believe we hit on the outcome last week- Asa outbid him, and Baasha turned tail.  But all was NOT well with how Asa did it...

2Ch 16:7  At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, "Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.
2Ch 16:8  Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand.
2Ch 16:9  For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars."

Which made Asa mad, and he threw the prophet in prison for daring to tell him what went right was wrong.  His turning against the God he served so well before did him little good.  First he practically had to enslave his own people to tear down Baasha's fortifications and rebuild them elsewhere; then he was stricken with what was believed to be gout in his feet.  So mad at God still, he suffered the rest of his days with it, relying on doctors who couldn't relieve him rather than humbling himself before God.  He turned from the God that was blessing him because he didn't get his own way on one thing.   The pride of doing one thing without God consumed him.

This brings us to Jehoshaphat, Asa's son and successor (873-849 BC).  Again, Jehoshaphat was fully involved with the Lord...

2Ch 17:3  The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals,
2Ch 17:4  but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel.
2Ch 17:5  Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor.
2Ch 17:6  His heart was courageous in the ways of the LORD. And furthermore, he took the high places and the Asherim out of Judah. 

 

Jehoshaphat's problem before God was the company he kept. He made alliance with Ahab of Israel to fight the Syrians- in a battle which God had already determined Ahab would die in, and when Jehoshaphat insisted on a prophet of God to bless the mission, Micaiah the son of Imlah told him what would happen.  But at Ahab's urging, he ignored the prophet; he escaped with his life through God's will, while for the same reason, Ahab did not.  And he got chewed for it:

2Ch 19:1  Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem.
2Ch 19:2  But Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the LORD.
2Ch 19:3  Nevertheless, some good is found in you, for you destroyed the Asherahs out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God."

And he also had a miraculous save from God.  The Ammonites, Moabites, and Edom had rebelled against Judah, and briefly joined forces to overwhelm them.  Knowing he was in it deep, he turned to the Lord...

2Ch 20:3  Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
2Ch 20:4  And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

And after long heartfelt prayer, the prophet Jehaziel told them good news...

2Ch 20:15  And he said, "Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you, 'Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's.
2Ch 20:16  Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel.
2Ch 20:17  You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you."

And God caused the allies to fight each other, and when they were done cutting each other up, Judah finished them off. Now, just like with Asa, you would think this would be enough to get anyone to fully depend upon the Lord, especially after the lecture he got from Jehu the prophet.  But no, once again he let himself be talked into an alliance- a shipbuilding enterprise- with Ahaziah, son of Ahab.  And after another prophetic warning, God destroyed this venture as well.  Jehoshaphat would have done well to have known Paul's warning about being yoked unequally with unbelievers.

 

After Jehoshaphat, Judah would go to the trio we discussed last week- Jehoram, Ahaziah, and the woman usurper Athaliah.  In that time, Israel had Jehu the warrior (843-815 BC) take over by fulfilling Elijah's curse on Ahab's house.  But he did even more than that- he rooted out Jezebel's Baal worship once and for all...

2Ki 10:17  And when he came to Samaria, he struck down all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had wiped them out, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke to Elijah.
2Ki 10:18  Then Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much.
2Ki 10:19  Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all his priests. Let none be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live." But Jehu did it with cunning in order to destroy the worshipers of Baal. 

 
Jehu finished off all the worshipers of Baal, and all the children of Ahab, and was blessed for his zeal... but he wasn't quite in the clear...

2Ki 10:29  But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin--that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan.
2Ki 10:30  And the LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel."
2Ki 10:31  But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin. 

He left up the golden calves for the same reason Rehoboam had put them up- to make sure he didn't lose the people to Judah when they worshiped in Jerusalem. But it was a snare to him and his people- and would result, someday, in the removal of the tribe of Dan from the family of the Hebrews (as seen in Revelation 7), as Dan was the main center of Calf-worship.  Jehoshaphat had compromised in his choice of friends; Jehu had compromised in his choice of motive.  And the four generations? Well, Jehoahaz made it 13 years, Jehoash 16, and Jeroboam II 40; but his kid, Zechariah, was murdered after 6 months, and his killer Shallum got 1 month before he also was assassinated.

By this time, we've passed through evil Judah and Jehoiada the priest has put the son that Athaliah missed killing, Joash (800-783 BC), on the throne.  And the caveat with Joash becomes apparent right from the start:

2Ch 24:1  Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
2Ch 24:2  And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

This is not to say, as soon as the priest died, I'm doing what I please; Joash was motivated by God in the beginning...

2Ch 24:4  After this Joash decided to restore the house of the LORD.
2Ch 24:5  And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, "Go out to the cities of Judah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you act quickly." But the Levites did not act quickly.
2Ch 24:6  So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, "Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the congregation of Israel for the tent of testimony?" 

And he rode heard on the priests and Levites, until everything was restored and re-dedicated.  And all was well... in the same way all was well while Saul listened to Samuel.  But...

2Ch 24:15  But Jehoiada grew old and full of days, and died. He was 130 years old at his death.
2Ch 24:16  And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house.
2Ch 24:17  Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them.

Despite this, God sent prophets to Joash, to try to bring him back- and he ignored them.  Finally he brought Zechariah, Jehoiada's son, to warn him- and they had him killed.  But Zechariah had the last word...

2Ch 24:22  Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, "May the LORD see and avenge!" 

And so he did- once again, the Syrians came, sacked Jerusalem, killed the princes, and left Joash dying.  And then, in a final insult...

2Ch 24:25  When they had departed from him, leaving him severely wounded, his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

His own servants, more loyal to God than man, killed him, and he didn't even rate the burial that Jehoiada got.  So let's look at this.

One let pride get between him and God.

One let friends get between him and God.

One let expediency get between him and God.

And one let another man have his faith for him.

 

Weather in Indiana- just wait a day

 And that is the theme of this set of walks.  Friday we start out on a cloudy, 47 F morning...

...as you can see...

Uh-oh, the snowplow guides are up.  A portent of tomorrow.

Just us, the doggie walkers and the disc golfers this morning.

We're a hardy lot.

This butt brought to you by varmintage.

I saw a flash of white and looked over, and I saw these guys, all lined up like they were at the bar.

One of the drakes had just landed.  They got into a big argument, then settled down to breakfast.

Someone pulled this from the mud flats.

Misty has a stand off with Mr Squirrel.

"All right, I guess you pass."

Now we go to Saturday- and it's 34F and dropping...

Still, Kitty hangs at the pool.

We're getting light flurries here...

...not enough to see on the pic yet...

...but you can see it on the doggie!

Disc golfers, of course...

Getting heavier...

Like I said: Doggie walkers and disc golfers...

By the time we start for home, it's a-comin' down.

I guess we have to add two socceristas to the "hardy folk" tag...

Full fledged squall by the time we get home...

Later, Laurie films a video (you can see it at here, assuming I got that to work), but here's a still (assuming I get this to work)...

 And if I can do this, she took some shots of my grandpeanuts visiting...

Isaiah and Gampaw

Isaiah, Grayson, Daddy (KC), and Misty

"How soon do they go home?"

M10 show week #48

 

So, King, how was your vacation last week?

Elvis:  I dunno, man... kinda dead...

Speaking of which, we lost another Hall of Famer this week in Alabama lead guitarist Jeff Cook.  The country megagroup logged 33 #1s on that chart- and a good couple dozen I am very familiar with.  So I thought...

Uh-oh... here comes a contest, I'll bet...

Well, first I wondered how many bands there have been that had JUST the name of a state as their name, and Ranker came through with Alabama, Kansas... and in third place, Boston.

Um, that's a city...

I know, but I can't throw stones, because when I searched my mind, the first things that came up were Chicago (a city) and New England ( a region).  So throwing my hands up,  I thought, "We might as well do a "Spotify streaming challenge" here- despite the fact that I noticed last time, these lists are NOT in pageview order!  I guess they're still fun, and that's the name of the game!  But first, we have 2 new debuts- both of them off the alt station we've been tuning into here!  The first at #10 is currently at the #4 slot on Radiowavemonitor dot com- and I use that because, as you know, Billboard wants money and I'm cheap.  If I got this story straight, this song got put out there by some social media means and became a sensation on TikTok.  Somebody eventually told the band, who then signed up for TikTok (which they knew little about), and sure enough, there it was!  This is Beach Weather...

*************************************************

 (In case the copyright thing- this was Beach Weather with Sex Drugs Etc.)

Good message there... more ta life!

I thought so!  So let me hurry up and get the stream data and do this contest...

Slowpoke, ya shoulda had this done a'ready!

Yeah yeah, but here's the thing- if we go by the Spotify list, it ends up Kansas 10-0 because Spotify had NONE of the 'Bama songs that made the Hot 100 on their list!  So we are going to do their biggest pop chart hits against each other, and see how that comes out. Also, we're gonna have some fun with the scoring- double the regular points, so 10-40 get you 2 points, and below top 40 still gets ya one!  That said, here we go!

10-  Alabama, How Do You Fall In Love, at #82; Kansas, Lonely Wind (live) at #60, so 1-1.

9- A) Lady Down On Love, at #76; K) Fight Fire With Fire at #58, so 2-2.

8- A) When We Make Love, #72; K) Reason To Be, #52, so 3-3.

7- A) Keepin' Up at #69; K) Hold On, a #40 that deserved far better, so 4-5.

6- A) Close Enough To Perfect, #65; K) Point Of Know Return at #28, so 5-6.

Hm... not alot of diff'rence so far...

No, and what really bites is the top songs that didn't make the cutoff were my favorites for each band- Alabama's Mountain Music at #101, and Kansas's Portrait (He Knew) at #64!  As for the Spotify lists, we've hit NONE of their Alabama choices, and for Kansas, Hold On (8) and Point Of Know Return (4).  But right now...

Order food!

Okay, okay, and here's the second debut at #8.  The guy dresses funny, but I love this song- and it might be the only thing on my chart that can prevent another "Iron Ceiling" from forming!  He calls himself Talk- and he's at #10 on the alt charts this week...

***************************************************************

(Again, this is Talk with Run Away To Mars)

Talk says this was an "awake at 3 AM and feeling very lonely" song, and it works great for that!  And back to the contest we go...

5- Alabama (and I'm just waiting for my dumb butt to mis-spell this!), The Closer You Get at #38; Kansas, People Of The South Wind at 23, so 7-8.

4- A)  God Must Have Spent A Little More Time With You at #29; K) All I Wanted, #19, so 9-10.

3- A) Feels So Right, #20; K) Play The Game Tonight, #17, so 11-12.

2- A) Take Me Down, #18; K) Carry On Wayward Son, #11 so 13-14.

And now... here's Elvis with the M10!

9- Up one spot fer Melody's Echo Chamber an' Norfolk Hotel...

7- Up 2 fer the Scorps an' Hammersmith...

6- Back up a spot to 6 fer Built To Spill an' Comes A Day...

An' the top five hold their places...

5- Alvvays an' Belinda Says...

4- Alvvays again with After The Earthquake...

3- Brooke Annibale an' Social Anxieties...

2- Lucius an' The Man I'll Never Find...

and only the second song to make five weeks at the top...

 

 ...Broken Bells an' Love On The Run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

And that brings us to the end of the interstate rivalry game- but first, what DID Spotify have for Alabama, Bud?

At 10, a live version of Okie From Muskogee; 9, 6, and 3, differ'nt versions of Dixieland Delight; 8, High Cotton; 7, Born Country; 5- If You're Gonna Play In Texas (You Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band); 4- Mountain Music; 2- I'm In A Hurry (And Don't Know Why); an' #1, Song Of The South.

My question is, where's 40-Hour Week?

Don't ask me, I only got 25 1/2 because of inventory!  So that leaves us with our contest winners...

For Alabama, their top charter on the pop side was Love In The First Degree at #15; for Kansas, Dust In The Wind at #6, so our final is Kansas by 14- 19!

Mebbe cities next time?

Yeah I can just see someone commenting, "Didn't you ever hear of Pink Floyd, Wisconsin?"  Thank you, no!

Wednesday Bible Study: All the kings, men part 13

 

 

 

The story of the kings of Israel and Judah is a very convoluted read- even if you don't lose your mind going back and forth between the Books of Kings and Chronicles, can handle the 'who begat who's (which became a problem this week with Athaliah), or get distracted by the stories of Elijah and Elisha that get woven in.  But God gave me a big pointer this week.  It's basically a story of evil and its children, and good and its children.  And you more from good than evil.

But there are some lessons to be learned from the evil ones.  I will touch them briefly, and move on to the good.  And any lesson in evil starts with Ahab, son of the usurper Omri.

1Ki 16:29  In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.
1Ki 16:30  And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him.
1Ki 16:31  And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.
1Ki 16:32  He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria.
1Ki 16:33  And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

Now I have no intention to go through all of Ahab's sorry story, except for three things.  First, he was not a strong man, and the above described Jezebel ran his life.  I find it curious that "Jezebel" has become a byword for sexual sin and adultery- but her story is not sexual adultery, but the spiritual adultery of her Baal worship that she forced on Israel.  Hers was a lust for religious power; and we contrast this with her daughter (or perhaps granddaughter), Athaliah.  Jezebel was quite content to be 'queen mother' after Ahab's death; when we get to Athalia here in a minute, we find her quite a different creature.

Second, I want to show you two statements of Ahab's that are symbolic of how evil sees good.  And in them you'll see why Christians are treated as they are in today's world.

1Ki 18:17  When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is it you, you troubler of Israel?"
1Ki 18:18  And he answered, "I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals.

Evil sees Christians as the cause of all the trouble in the world.  Just go to the Freedom From Religion lot and you'll see that.  Or the ACLU and their constant attempts to drive people and ideas of faith from the public square.  The passage above, you might recognize from the story of Elijah and his destruction of the priests of Baal.  This next one you might not; it comes after Jezebel talks Ahab into having a man murdered to gain his property...

1Ki 21:20  Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" He answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD.

Twice, Ahab spoke to Elijah- and this second time, he names him his PERSONAL enemy.  It will always be personal when evil attacks good.  That's why our politics has become so much more than one group of policies against another.

The third thing to see from Ahab himself is that evil drives you to fear.  Instead of the intense hatred for Elijah that Jezebel had, Ahab listened...

1Ki 21:21  Behold, I will bring disaster upon you. I will utterly burn you up, and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel.
1Ki 21:22  And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you have made Israel to sin.
1Ki 21:23  And of Jezebel the LORD also said, 'The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel.'
1Ki 21:24  Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat..."

1Ki 21:27  And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly.

And because he humbled himself, God brought the main of the calamities upon his successors; still, because evil is personal, the personal predictions on Ahab and Jezebel came true.

Next thing to learn about evil: it catches up to you.  Here is the story of not one, but two kings named Ahaziah.#1 has Ahab's son, who reigned for one year.  And then...

2Ki 1:2  Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, "Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness."

But Elijah stopped the messenger with this statement:

2Ki 1:15  Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be afraid of him." So he arose and went down with him to the king
2Ki 1:16  and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron--is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?--therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.'"

And so he did, and that was that for Ahaziah #1.  #2 was the grandson of Jehoshaphat of Judah, and he was the son of Jezebel's daughter.  God determined that #1's evil brother (and successor) Joram was to die in battle with God's avenger, Jehu; #2 blunders into the aftermath of his defeat and execution and Jehu kills him, too.  Now, before I get too far afield, I need to step back, and tie up some loose ends regarding Jehu and the ladies.

Jehu was picked by God to carry out Elijah's curse on the House of Ahab. He was yet another soldier, so after 22 years of basically civilian rule (Ahab is the only non-army commander to rule Israel for any length of time since Jeroboam), another commander was sent by God to take over. After killing Joram and Ahaziah, he came for Jezebel, and her fate was fulfilled... 

2Ki 9:30  When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. And she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window.
2Ki 9:31  And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, "Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?"
2Ki 9:32  And he lifted up his face to the window and said, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs looked out at him.
2Ki 9:33  He said, "Throw her down." So they threw her down. And some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her.
2Ki 9:34  Then he went in and ate and drank. And he said, "See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter."
2Ki 9:35  But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. 

 

Because the dogs had indeed ate her.  I wonder how they liked all her makeup she put on to "impress" Jehu.  And now, on to her daughter (or granddaughter- she is described both as the daughter of Ahab in one spot, and Omri in another), Athaliah.  Her gig wasn't religious- she wanted political power.  After she married Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram, she taught him the Sidonian way to secure power:

2Ch 21:1  Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.
2Ch 21:2  He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.
2Ch 21:3  Their father gave them great gifts of silver, gold, and valuable possessions, together with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn.
2Ch 21:4  When Jehoram had ascended the throne of his father and was established, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and also some of the princes of Israel. 

Another example of evil catching up to you comes with the end of Jehoram: Elijah predicted his downfall, which included a small party of Arabians who broke into Jerusalem and killed all his sons but the youngest (Ahaziah #2) first, and then...

2Ch 21:18  And after all this the LORD struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease.
2Ch 21:19  In the course of time, at the end of two years, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great agony. His people made no fire in his honor, like the fires made for his fathers.

So #2 became king in Judah, and after his short and bumbling reign, Athaliah tried the "Sidonian way" herself:

2Ch 22:10  Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family of the house of Judah.
2Ch 22:11  But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king's sons who were about to be put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada the priest, because she was a sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not put him to death.
2Ch 22:12  And he remained with them six years, hidden in the house of God, while Athaliah reigned over the land. 

 

Let me close this week with a couple of points here:  Satan has ALWAYS tried to destroy God's plan in the crib- and always failed.  And here, the line from David survives in the child Joash, just as Jesus survived Herod's murder of the innocents, and Moses survived Pharaoh's slaughter of the Hebrew boys.  Not also that rather than continuing to play "queen mother" as she had with weak-willed (And by the Jehu story, quite possibly stupid) #2, she took the reigns of power herself.  And third, despite her rule, the scribes never named her "queen", only saying "she reigned".  And next time, we'll deal with the good- and what we'll learn from Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehu, and Joash.