I must confess, I'm getting quite addicted to studying about the kings of Judah and Israel! As I've studied the different Sabbath School lessons (which right now are all about the kings) there are just so many good stories! So yes, here I go again. A few weeks ago our lesson was on good king Jehoshaphat (Jay HOE sha FAT) of Israel. Clue: Jehoshaphat was Asa's son. There are just so many good lessons that we can learn from this king that I just felt like I had to write about him! So here goes...
Why don't you pause reading this for a minute and grab a Bible? We'll be using it a lot in this series, and while I will be posting various sections of Scripture in this article, it's always nice to be actually reading God's Word.
You got it? Good. Turn to 2 Chronicles 17, that's where we'll be spending a lot of time today. As I mentioned earlier, Jehoshaphat was Asa's son. Let's check out verses 1-2:
"Jehoshaphat his son succeeded him ask king and strengthened himself against Israel. He stationed troops in all of the fortified cities of Judah and put garrisons in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured."
And God blessed the new king because,
"Jehoshaphat...followed the ways of his father David before him. He did not consult the Baals but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. The LORD established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honor. His heart was devoted to the ways of the LORD; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah." ~verses 3-6
Jehoshaphat did what God wanted him to do, and God blessed him for that. The king became very rich, and God gave Judah peace on every side. Still, what I think is interesting is that Jehoshaphat was not lazy during this time of peace. You'll have to check it out for yourself, but verses 12-19 detail all the soldiers Jehoshaphat had at his command. Now that's a lot of soldiers! Jehoshaphat wasn't the only king to initiate a revival in Judah--you know, take away the high places, idols, altars, etc. But what Jehoshaphat did after he took away all the false worship is what makes him really stand out.
Let's continue reading the Bible:
"In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel and Micaiah to teach in the towns of Judah. With them were certain Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-Adonijah—and the priests Elishama and Jehoram. They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the LORD; they went around to all the towns of Judah and taught the people." ~verses 7-9
Don't worry about pronouncing those names--I can't do that either! But the point that I want you to get out of this is that Jehoshaphat was proactive in initiating revival. It's a simple fact that people will have some sort of god in their life. Many Judahite kings took away the idols, but do you think the people were happy with that? And how do you think they responded? You got it! They built up the idols again. But what Jehoshaphat did was after taking away the idols, he sent teachers into all of Judah and had these guys teach the law of God to the people. That way a large number of citizens became true believers in God.
This kinda reminds me of what my parents will say when we discuss thoughts and thinking: "If you try to stop thinking an unwanted thought, you must replace it with a wanted thought." In other words, if you take something bad out, you have to replace it with something good. This is exactly what Jehoshaphat did--not only did he take away the false idols, gods, etc., but he replaced it with teaching of the one true God. Perhaps I've been a bit verbose here, but I think that's really cool! Further on (see 2 Chron. 19:4-11) in his life Jehoshaphat continues this thread, by setting up godly judges throughout the land. They ruled fairly, and anyone who had a complaint or problem could come to them.
One of my favorite books is called Prophets and Kings, by Ellen White. It's a Bible commentary on much of Israel's (and Judah's) history, and I've learned some great insights from reading its' chapters. Here's what Mrs. White said about Jehoshaphat initiating the teaching of the then-Bible:
"If the teachings of God's word were made the controlling influence in the life of every man and woman, if mind and heart were brought under its restraining power, the evils that now exist in national and in social life would find no place." ~Prophets and Kings p. 192
WOW! Just think about that for a second. Actually, go back and read it again. That's powerful! And definitely gives one some serious mental food to chew on. That's amazing.
There's all sorts of ways to be proactive. The story of Jehoshaphat is just one example. Of course, most of us aren't kings! But the lessons we learn from Jehoshaphat are still very applicable for us. In what areas of our lives do we need to be proactive? Go out of our comfort zone a bit? Do something for God? It may be easy to tear down the idols, but our we in our own lives doing the equivalent of teaching the people about God? Pray to God, and spend some good time thinking this week about how you can be proactive for Him. You won't regret it!
To be continued...
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