Categoria: News

The list of genealogies continue in this chapter focusing on the main clans of Judah and Simeon. Initial emphasis was on the descendants of Judah whose prominent descendant was David. Of special note is the honourable Jabez who sought from God his blessing, freedom from harm and pain and increased territory, and God granted his request. The second section of the chapter highlights the descendants of Simeon and their territory in south Canaan within Judah. 

The list of genealogies continue in this chapter focusing on the main clans of Judah and Simeon. Initial emphasis was on the descendants of Judah whose prominent descendant was David. Of special note is the honourable Jabez who sought from God his blessing, freedom from harm and pain and increased territory, and God granted his request. The second section of the chapter highlights the descendants of Simeon and their territory in south Canaan within Judah. 

Yesterday we returned from the north-east of England to the south after a lovely weekend of ministry and services. We walked from the Premier Inn Hotel to Newcastle Airport and a strange thing happened when we went through security. For I was pulled aside and I was asked to open my laptop back. I presumed that they wanted to check my laptop, but no, they in fact wanted to check my Bible! They put a machine all over it repeatedly and went through its pages with a fine-toothed comb, before finally giving me the all clear! Anyway we had an excellent flight on a 50-seater Brazilian-built Embraer 145 jet which again gave us an impeccably smooth trip. Philip met us at the airport with a bunch of 15 red roses for Liz on her birthday.

When we got home a surprise birthday celebration for Liz awaited us! As Liz opened the door crackers went off, balloons were everywhere and they all shouted happy birthday to Liz around a birthday cake, cards and presents. It was absolutely beautiful.

This morning my music teacher sister Jean came round with Liz’s birthday card to have lunch with us. It is so nice to have these happy family moments.

Yesterday we returned from the north-east of England to the south after a lovely weekend of ministry and services. We walked from the Premier Inn Hotel to Newcastle Airport and a strange thing happened when we went through security. For I was pulled aside and I was asked to open my laptop back. I presumed that they wanted to check my laptop, but no, they in fact wanted to check my Bible! They put a machine all over it repeatedly and went through its pages with a fine-toothed comb, before finally giving me the all clear! Anyway we had an excellent flight on a 50-seater Brazilian-built Embraer 145 jet which again gave us an impeccably smooth trip. Philip met us at the airport with a bunch of 15 red roses for Liz on her birthday.

When we got home a surprise birthday celebration for Liz awaited us! As Liz opened the door crackers went off, balloons were everywhere and they all shouted happy birthday to Liz around a birthday cake, cards and presents. It was absolutely beautiful.

This morning my music teacher sister Jean came round with Liz’s birthday card to have lunch with us. It is so nice to have these happy family moments.

This chapter starts by listing the 6 sons born to David in Hebron in the 7 and a half years he was king of Judah. It then lists his next 13 sons born to him in Jerusalem when he was also king of Israel for a further 33 years. He also had sons with his concubines but these are not listed.

Then the genealogy continues with a record of Solomon’s sons who assumed David’s throne as his father was David and his mother was Bathsheba. Then the last part of the chapter traces the royal line of Solomon after the exile in Babylon. 

This chapter starts by presenting the sons of Israel (Jacob): Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

Then the focus is on Judah and the genealogical tree that leads to King David. God’s historical plan is traced through the tribe of Judah showing the faithfulness of God to his people. Caleb is emphasized too. 

The 2 books of Chronicles tell the story of Israel from Adam to the post-exile period in Babylon with much use of genealogies and records. Much focus is on King David, God’s covenant with Israel, the building of the temple by King Solomon and thus covers much history covered previously in the books of Samuel and Kings.

Chapter 1 starts with genealogical records starting with Adam then Noah and his sons. It mentions Enoch who never died and Methuselah who was the man who lived the longest of all. It then traces people to Abraham and his descendants, Isaac, Esau and Jacob (Israel) etc. These records helped post-exilic Israelites to trace their origins.

 In Zedekiah’s 9th year as king he rebelled against Babylon provoking a siege of Jerusalem which lasted 2 years causing great famine. Then a group of soldiers with the king broke out of the siege, but King Zedekiah was captured. They killed his sons in front of him, put out his eyes, put him in bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. Then the commander of Nebuchadnezzar’s imperial guard went to Jerusalem and set fire to the temple, palace and all important buildings, breaking down the walls of the city. He plundered all the utensils of the temple and the heavy bronze pillars. He captured the chief priest, the officer in charge of fighting men, 5 royal advisors and the chief officer in charge of conscriptions and executed them all in Babylon. Judah therefore was firmly in captivity in Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah to govern the remaining people left in Judah, but he was soon assassinated. In the 37th year of the exile King Jehoiachin was released from prison and was given a seat of honour by the new king of Babylon, eating regularly at the king’s table.

During Jehoiakim’s reign in Judah King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Judah and Jehoiakim became his vassal during 3 years. Then Jehoiakim rebelled and suffered severe reprisals from Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders which was in fact judgement from God for all that Manasseh had done. Jehoiakim died and was replaced by his son Jehoiachin, aged 18, who reigned for just 3 months. At that time Babylon laid siege on Jerusalem and Nebuchadnezzar came in person leading to the surrender of Jehoiachin and all around him. Jehoiachin was taken prisoner, all the treasures of the temple and palace were plundered and 10,000 officers, fighting men, skilled workers and artisans were taken in exile to Babylon leaving only the poor behind. Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive to Babylon, plus his mother and wives, and he replaced him as king with his uncle Mattaniah whom he renamed Zedekiah. Zedekiah was made king at 21 years of age and reigned for 11 years doing evil before God.

Good news from Brazil is that a 7-year-old girl called Isabela, who is part of our Action School at Ibiara, has made a serious commitment of her life to Christ. The local pastor Naldinho and his wife Vera visited her parents telling them of her decision, and they have respected it and said they will take her to the services at church from now on. Please pray for Isabela and her parents.

A team from the Patos church went on Wednesday night to hold the first service at new convert Glória’s house near Green Pastures. She was converted recently at one of the weekly services we hold at Green Pastures.

Please pray for Jakeline from the Patos church who had a nasty fall in her home and broke an arm with a complete break. I have seen the X-ray and I would think it will need surgery. 

It is lovely to hear from our projects team of the uncontainable joy of the family at Tamandua Community in the municipality of Diamante who are in the process of having the first toilet/shower of their lives. The father José says: “Having a toilet for our family is a dream that God is fulfilling for us”!

I have just read the little book: ‘The Prayers of Jane Austen’. What a joy to feel the faith of such an extraordinary author and realize that she was such a sincere Christian, daughter of a pastor.

I have just eaten my second lot of fish and chips since being in the UK. This time it was cod whereas the first time it was huss.

We will be travelling up to the north-east of England tomorrow speaking at Hylton Castle Mission, Sunderland tomorrow evening. Then we will be speaking at Weir Valley Christian Centre on Sunday morning and at Great Lumley Evangelical Church on Sunday afternoon. We will return to Basingstoke on Monday, September 8th, which is Liz’s birthday.

Good news from Brazil is that a 7-year-old girl called Isabela, who is part of our Action School at Ibiara, has made a serious commitment of her life to Christ. The local pastor Naldinho and his wife Vera visited her parents telling them of her decision, and they have respected it and said they will take her to the services at church from now on. Please pray for Isabela and her parents.

A team from the Patos church went on Wednesday night to hold the first service at new convert Glória’s house near Green Pastures. She was converted recently at one of the weekly services we hold at Green Pastures.

Please pray for Jakeline from the Patos church who had a nasty fall in her home and broke an arm with a complete break. I have seen the X-ray and I would think it will need surgery. 

It is lovely to hear from our projects team of the uncontainable joy of the family at Tamandua Community in the municipality of Diamante who are in the process of having the first toilet/shower of their lives. The father José says: “Having a toilet for our family is a dream that God is fulfilling for us”!

I have just read the little book: ‘The Prayers of Jane Austen’. What a joy to feel the faith of such an extraordinary author and realize that she was such a sincere Christian, daughter of a pastor.

I have just eaten my second lot of fish and chips since being in the UK. This time it was cod whereas the first time it was huss.

We will be travelling up to the north-east of England tomorrow speaking at Hylton Castle Mission, Sunderland tomorrow evening. Then we will be speaking at Weir Valley Christian Centre on Sunday morning and at Great Lumley Evangelical Church on Sunday afternoon. We will return to Basingstoke on Monday, September 8th, which is Liz’s birthday.

Good news from Brazil is that a 7-year-old girl called Isabela, who is part of our Action School at Ibiara, has made a serious commitment of her life to Christ. The local pastor Naldinho and his wife Vera visited her parents telling them of her decision, and they have respected it and said they will take her to the services at church from now on. Please pray for Isabela and her parents.

A team from the Patos church went on Wednesday night to hold the first service at new convert Glória’s house near Green Pastures. She was converted recently at one of the weekly services we hold at Green Pastures.

Please pray for Jakeline from the Patos church who had a nasty fall in her home and broke an arm with a complete break. I have seen the X-ray and I would think it will need surgery. 

It is lovely to hear from our projects team of the uncontainable joy of the family at Tamandua Community in the municipality of Diamante who are in the process of having the first toilet/shower of their lives. The father José says: “Having a toilet for our family is a dream that God is fulfilling for us”!

I have just read the little book: ‘The Prayers of Jane Austen’. What a joy to feel the faith of such an extraordinary author and realize that she was such a sincere Christian, daughter of a pastor.

I have just eaten my second lot of fish and chips since being in the UK. This time it was cod whereas the first time it was huss.

We will be travelling up to the north-east of England tomorrow speaking at Hylton Castle Mission, Sunderland tomorrow evening. Then we will be speaking at Weir Valley Christian Centre on Sunday morning and at Great Lumley Evangelical Church on Sunday afternoon. We will return to Basingstoke on Monday, September 8th, which is Liz’s birthday.

King Josiah led the people to renew the covenant with the Lord following his rediscovery of the Book of the Covenant in the temple. He then ordered the removal of all items allusive to Baal, Asherah and star, sun and moon worship, and burned them all outside Jerusalem. He also did away with all the pagan priests and tore down the quarters of the male shrine-prostitutes. He desecrated the place where child sacrifice was practiced so as to impede this and he removed the horses that had been dedicated to the sun. Josiah then commanded the celebration of the Passover which had long been forgotten. Josiah also got rid of all the spiritists and mediums, and the household gods and idols. Neither before or after was there king like Josiah who turned to the Lord with all his heart, soul and strength. Nevertheless God remained angry with Judah because of all that Manasseh and others had done. Josiah went out to battle with Egypt and Assyria united and he was killed. His son Jehoahaz replaced him as king. 

Jehoahaz came to the throne of Judah aged 23 and he only reigned for 3 months. The king of Egypt carried him off to Egypt where he died and Jehoiakim his brother took his place. Judah was now totally under the thumb of Egypt and Jehoiakim taxed the people in order to pay a large levy in silver and gold to Egypt. His reign started when he was 25 and he reigned for 11 years, but as mostly happened he did evil before God.  

Josiah was 8-years-old when he became king, he ruled for 31 years and he did what was right before God. In the 18th year of his reign he focused on repairing the temple and paying the workers. During this work Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law and this was reported to King Josiah. When he heard the words of the Book of the Law he tore his robes as the people had lived far from its standards. The word came from God through the priestess Huldah which was a message of judgement in the light of the sin of the people forecasting disaster for the place. However such judgement would not come in Josiah’s lifetime.

Josiah was 8-years-old when he became king, he ruled for 31 years and he did what was right before God. In the 18th year of his reign he focused on repairing the temple and paying the workers. During this work Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law and this was reported to King Josiah. When he heard the words of the Book of the Law he tore his robes as the people had lived far from its standards. The word came from God through the priestess Huldah which was a message of judgement in the light of the sin of the people forecasting disaster for the place. However such judgement would not come in Josiah’s lifetime.

 Hezekiah became seriously ill and Isaiah told him to put his house in order because he would not recover. Hezekiah wept in prayer to God reminding God of his faithfulness and wholehearted devotion to the Lord. So God sent Isaiah back to tell Hezekiah that he had heard his prayers and seen his tears and that he would heal him and add 15 years to his life. God gave a sign that all this would come to pass by moving the shadow backwards on the sundial!

At that time the son of the King of Babylon sent envoys with get-well wishes to Hezekiah and Hezekiah unwisely showed off all the vast wealth of his palace and kingdom to the envoys. Isaiah rebuked Hezekiah for this telling him that there would come a day when all this wealth would be carried off to Babylon as well as some of his descendants who would become eunuchs there. Finally then Hezekiah’s life came to an end and he was succeeded by his son Manasseh as king of Judah.

King Hezekiah was most distraught by King Sennacherib of Assyria’s ridiculing of the living God and he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. He then sent his palace administrator, his secretary and his leading priests to consult the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah for him not to be afraid of Sennacherib’s threatening words or the fact that he had surrounded Jerusalem. When Hezekiah received the message he prayed to God asking for his intervention on Judah’s behalf.

Then Isaiah sent another message to King Hezekiah communicating  God’s answer to his prayers. God rejected Sennacherib’s blasphemy and ridicule saying he will put his hook in his nose and his bit in his mouth making him return the way he came, not entering Jerusalem. God guarantees that he will defend the city. And that night the angel of the Lord put 185,000 Assyrians to death making Sennacherib withdraw and return to Nineveh. Then 2 of his sons killed Sennacherib and his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

When Hosea was in his 3rd year as king of Israel Hezekiah became king of Judah at the age of 25, and he reigned for 29 years. Hezekiah was an exception in that he lived correctly before God and he removed the pagan high places, smashed the pagan sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He also destroyed the bronze snake that Moses had made because it had become a focal point of idolatry. 

King Hezekiah trusted the Lord and was a supreme example of kingship in Judah. He remained faithful to God at all times and never gave up. So God was with Hezekiah at all times and his administration was completely successful. He resisted Assyria and defeated the Philistines in many places. In Hezekiah’s 4th year was when the Israelites were deported to Assyria. However 10 years later Sennacherib king of Assyria captured all the fortified cities of Judah, so Hezekiah paid him in silver and gold to withdraw. 

The paid deal between Hezekiah and Sennacherib didn’t last long because soon Assyria’s commanders were in Jerusalem pressurizing Judah into submission and ridiculing the power of God to be able to withstand the Assyrian army and ridiculing their pact with Egypt. The Assyrian commanders used a wide range of arguments to scare Hezekiah into surrender.

Hoshea became the last king of Israel and reigned for 9 years doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. He had been the vassal of Assyria but he rebelled and entered into an alliance with Egypt. Faced by this situation the King of Assyria besieged Israel’s capital city of Samaria for 3 years! Therefore King Shalmaneser of Assyria imprisoned Hoshea and in the 9th year of Hoshea’s reign, in approximately 722 BC, Samaria was captured and the Israelites were deported to exile in Assyria.

The text goes on to say that all this happened as punishment for Israel’s idolatry, paganism, child sacrifice and stiff-neckedness leaving God’s warning messages through the prophets unheeded.

Then the King of Assyria replaced the Israelites bringing people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria. These immigrants took over Samaria and lived in its towns. The immigrants did not worship the Lord so God sent lions to kill them. Thus the King of Assyria sent for an Israelite priest to teach the settlers the ways of the Lord. Nevertheless this was only partially successful and a syncretistic mixture ensued including polytheistic paganism and child sacrifice which implanted a Samaritan sub-culture which long remained at loggerheads with orthodox Judaism.  

Ahaz, son of Jotham, assumed the throne of Judah aged 20 where he reigned for 16 years in a perverse sinful regime. He introduced child sacrifices and even sacrificed one of his own sons! Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel besieged Jerusalem but Ahaz managed to resist. So Ahaz sought out an alliance with King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria to resist the pressure from Syria and Israel, paid him with all the silver and gold of the royal palace and temple, and the alliance was formed. This alliance became totally syncretistic when Ahaz went to Damascus now captured by Syria. He was impressed by a pagan altar there and had it copied to replace the Lord’s altar in Judah! Ahaz then offered every sort of sacrifice on this pagan altar in the temple! In deference to the King of Assyria Ahaz told Uriah the priest to make multiple alterations to the temple. Ahaz died leaving Judah in total apostasy and his son Hezekiah succeeded him to throne.

Ahaz, son of Jotham, assumed the throne of Judah aged 20 where he reigned for 16 years in a perverse sinful regime. He introduced child sacrifices and even sacrificed one of his own sons! Then King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel besieged Jerusalem but Ahaz managed to resist. So Ahaz sought out an alliance with King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria to resist the pressure from Syria and Israel, paid him with all the silver and gold of the royal palace and temple, and the alliance was formed. This alliance became totally syncretistic when Ahaz went to Damascus now captured by Syria. He was impressed by a pagan altar there and had it copied to replace the Lord’s altar in Judah! Ahaz then offered every sort of sacrifice on this pagan altar in the temple! In deference to the King of Assyria Ahaz told Uriah the priest to make multiple alterations to the temple. Ahaz died leaving Judah in total apostasy and his son Hezekiah succeeded him to throne.

 Azariah became king of Judah when he was 16-years-old and he reigned for 52 years. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord yet he allowed pagan rituals in the high places to continue. He lived in a separate house owing to his skin disease so his son Jotham took charge of the palace and government and then officially succeeded him when he died.

Zechariah assumed the throne of Israel during the 38th year of Azariah’s reign in Judah but he only reigned for 6 months when he was assassinated and replaced by Shallum. Further violence saw Shallum replaced even quicker after a month! He was assassinated and replaced by Menahem, and when Menahem was refused entry to Tiphsah he sacked the city and ripped open all its pregnant women! Menahem reigned in Israel for 10 years and did evil before God. When the king of Assyria invaded Israel Menahem bribed him with silver to withdraw, and when he died his son Pekahiah replaced him and reigned in Israel for 2 years. Pekahiah again sinned against God like his predecessors until he too was assassinated and replaced by Pekah. Pekah was king of Israel for 20 years and also practiced evil. At this time the king of Assyria came and conquered various parts of the land and deported people to Assyria. Then Hoshea assassinated Pekah and replaced him. 

Meanwhile Jotham came to power in Judah whilst Pekah was in his second year in Israel.  Jotham came to the throne aged 25 and he reigned for 16 years doing better before God without however eliminating the pagan high places. He did rebuild the upper gate of the temple, and when he died his son Ahaz replaced him as king.

This chapter summarizes Joash’s 40 year reign under the mentorship of the priest Jehoiada. In general Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but he did not remove the pagan high places where the people still offered pagan sacrifices. 

Joash’s principal concern seems to have been the repair of the temple. He organized a collection box or chest to collect money for this at the entrance to the temple, and the money collected was used to buy timber and blocks of dressed stone, and to pay the carpenters, builders, masons and stonecutters. They did not use the money to purchase expensive items of gold and silver. 

Then Hazael king of Aram turned to attack Jerusalem after having captured Gath, but Joash appeased Hazael by giving him the gold and silver from the temple and the palace so that Hazael went away. Later Joash’s officials betrayed him and murdered him and his son Amaziah succeeded him as king.

When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son had been killed by Jehu she proceeded to kill all the remaining members of the royal family in order to make herself queen. However what she didn’t realize was that one baby son of Ahaziah by the name of Joash was hidden away with his nurse during the 6-year reign of Queen Athaliah. In the 7th year of her reign Priest Jehoiada organized the revealing of Joash’s existence, with strong security measures, so as to dethrone Athaliah. So it was that at 7-years-of-age Joash was crowned king and Athaliah was executed. Then they tore down the temple of Baal, smashed the pagan altars and idols and killed Mattan the priest of Baal.

These chapters of 2 Kings are particularly gory with large numbers of people reaching gruesome deaths. I understand this to be God revealing himself within primitive aggressive cultures of millenniums ago. 

Jehu challenged Ahab’s children’s guardians to place the best that they had on the throne and fight for it. However in fear and trembling of Jehu they refused to do this. So Jehu took the opportunity to request the heads of all 70 of Ahab’s sons and they were all slaughtered accordingly and 2 piles of heads were placed at the entrance to the city gate. Jehu then proceeded to slaughter too 42 relatives of Ahaziah and he also killed all remaining members of Ahab’s family.

Next Jehu contrived a plan to annihilate the servants of Baal from the land. For Jehu pretended that he was to be a Baal worshipper and he summoned all Baal’s servants and priests to come to a great sacrifice making absence punishable by death. They all crowded into the temple from far and wide and Jehu posted 80 men outside to allow nobody to escape. The guards then attacked all the Baal priests and servants and killed them all, and they turned Baal’s temple into a public toilet. 

God rewarded Jehu’s ruthless action with the promise of a 4 generation dynasty, but he was not totally faithful because he adhered to the worship of golden calves. Because of this God began to reduce the size of Israel, and Jehu died after a reign of 28 years, with his son Jehoahaz succeeding him as king.

The renowned author Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born and lived in the area of Basingstoke. This year the 250th anniversary of her birth is being celebrated and we went to visit her home in the village of Chawton where she lived for 8 years whilst she wrote some of her novels. Her famous novels are: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion – all of which have been made into films or TV series. It was a very interesting visit together with a visit to Jane Austen’s brother’s estate and their old little church. 

Yesterday we went on a wonderful 2-hour boat ride on sea and river thanks to an invitation from Pearl Skivington who is Liz’s cousin. The boat called the Alison Macgregor left the Hythe Marina at 10.30 am and took us to see all 5 cruise ships in Southampton Docks at the time, plus container ships and ferries. We also saw the Southampton Football Stadium going up the River Ichen. Along the way we saw a number of Cormorants/Shags, enormous quantities of Common Terns and other gulls I don’t know how to identify, and we even saw a Black Swan. After our trip we went to Hazel and Dave Flowers’ house together for a lovely lunch.

QPR beat Charlton at home 3 x 1 and are now 18th in the Championship out of 24! Well done Rangers! 😀

Today we ministered at the Lighthouse Community Church in the town of Hardley near Southampton. It was the church of Pastor Frank Dyer and his wife Ivy and is today pastored by Roy Dyer. It was a lovely service followed by a fellowship lunch together.