Good morning, let’s begin by asking God for wisdom as we look at 2 Chronicles 9-11.
Overwhelming
The queen of Sheba wasn’t just impressed with king Solomon. All he possessed and their way of conducting affairs overwhelmed her. (2 Chron 9:4)
She was a queen. The opening verse said she arrived with a very great caravan. We can assume she had travelled and met other dignitaries. Nothing compared to all she saw when she met Solomon.
Things have impressed me, but only one overwhelmed me.
Around 2009, I took my wife and son to New York City for Christmas.
We were only there for three days and went to see the Statue of Liberty.
The cab driver dropped us off near the site of the twin towers, which were brought down by terrorist in 2001.
The site was under construction, but workers had excavated it.
I have seen the Grand Canyon, so the size of the pit did not strike me. But the heaviness of the grief was palpable. An ominous sadness filled the entire job-site.
My employer sent me to Chicago in 2003 to train employees of a partner company on all our products. This was a six-month assignment.
I grew up in Tucson, Arizona. During my childhood, it was a town of one hundred thousand people.
When I was seventeen, they built the Bank of America Plaza. It was our tallest building. It stood two hundred-sixty-two feet tall.
My company rented me an apartment in the Presidential Towers, which are four hundred sixty-one foot tall. I lived on the forty-eight floor.
Less than a mile away is the Willis Tower, then called Sears Tower. It stands one thousand seven hundred twenty-nine feet.
When I stood at the base and looked up, I felt dizzy. It impressed me with its magnitude.
While I was living in Chicago, theaters released the movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” (1) I attended it alone.
As the actor, Jim Caviezel, portrayed Jesus, it was almost more than could watch. Each time he was being beaten and tortured, I could only think of how casually I had taken sin in my life.
Each time the hammers struck the nails, which were being driven through his hands, I felt like crying for causing Him that pain.
While I knew this was a cinematic portrayal, I also knew it happened.
This was God. He could have stopped it. He should have. I am not worth it.
To Him, I am. That overwhelmed me.
In verse 9:6, she says, “I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes.”
Thomas, the apostle, had to see the holes in Jesus’ hands, and put his finger in his side, before he would believe (see John 20:27-31)
666 Talents
The yearly rate of 666 talents of gold in verse 9:13 troubled me. This is the sign of the beast in Revelation 13:18.
Gold is money. Jesus said you can’t love money and God (Matt 6:24). So I assumed there was a connection.
I have researched this and find no connection.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges claims there was a numbering system used at that time by the Assyrians, which would suggest this is a round number. (2)
Things are not always what they seem.
Discernment
Therefore, we must be discerning. If we hear someone quoting scripture, this does not make them a man of God. Remember, even demons believe in God (Jam 2:19). They believe, but they don’t know Him.
We see other false prophets throughout scripture.
In 2 Chron 11:14-15, Jeroboam puts his own priests in place. They worshipped the goat and calf idols he had made. This was a sin.
Like many today, he preferred to hear a message that tickled his ears.
Any gospel that does not cause you to confront your sin is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
What overwhelms you? If it is your troubles, you are not focusing on Jesus.
If it is not how Jesus would take the punishment you deserve, then you haven’t understood how sinful you are.
Tomorrow we will read 2 Chronicles 13-17
1. Mel Gibson, “The Passion of the Christ,” 127 min (Pyrmont, NSW: Warner Home Video, 2004
2. Matthew. In A. F. Kirkpatrick (Ed.), The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1907).
