Select: First Reading Second Reading Bible Background
First Reading: 2 Chronicles Chapter 13 and 142 Chronicles 13
13:1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam, Abijah became king of
Judah, 2 and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother's name was Maacah,
a daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.
There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3 Abijah went into battle with a
force of four hundred thousand able fighting men, and Jeroboam drew up a battle
line against him with eight hundred thousand able troops.
4 Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, in the hill country of Ephraim, and said,
"Jeroboam and all Israel, listen to me! 5 Don't you know that the LORD,
the God of Israel, has given the kingship of Israel to David and his descendants
forever by a covenant of salt? 6 Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, an official of Solomon
son of David, rebelled against his master. 7 Some worthless scoundrels gathered
around him and opposed Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young and indecisive
and not strong enough to resist them.
8 "And now you plan to resist the kingdom of the LORD, which is in the
hands of David's descendants. You are indeed a vast army and have with you the
golden calves that Jeroboam made to be your gods. 9 But didn't you drive out
the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and make priests
of your own as the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to consecrate himself
with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods.
10 "As for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him. The priests
who serve the LORD are sons of Aaron, and the Levites assist them. 11 Every
morning and evening they present burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the
LORD. They set out the bread on the ceremonially clean table and light the lamps
on the gold lampstand every evening. We are observing the requirements of the
LORD our God. But you have forsaken him. 12 God is with us; he is our leader.
His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. Men of
Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you will
not succeed."
13 Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to the rear, so that while he was in
front of Judah the ambush was behind them. 14 Judah turned and saw that they
were being attacked at both front and rear. Then they cried out to the LORD.
The priests blew their trumpets 15 and the men of Judah raised the battle cry.
At the sound of their battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before
Abijah and Judah. 16 The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them
into their hands. 17 Abijah and his men inflicted heavy losses on them, so that
there were five hundred thousand casualties among Israel's able men. 18 The
men of Israel were subdued on that occasion, and the men of Judah were victorious
because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.
19 Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took from him the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah and
Ephron, with their surrounding villages. 20 Jeroboam did not regain power during
the time of Abijah. And the LORD struck him down and he died.
21 But Abijah grew in strength. He married fourteen wives and had twenty-two
sons and sixteen daughters.
22 The other events of Abijah's reign, what he did and what he said, are written
in the annotations of the prophet Iddo.
2 Chronicles 14
14:1 And Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.
Asa his son succeeded him as king, and in his days the country was at peace
for ten years.
2 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God. 3 He removed
the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down
the Asherah poles. 4 He commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers,
and to obey his laws and commands. 5 He removed the high places and incense
altars in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him. 6 He
built up the fortified cities of Judah, since the land was at peace. No one
was at war with him during those years, for the LORD gave him rest.
7 "Let us build up these towns," he said to Judah, "and put walls
around them, with towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we
have sought the LORD our God; we sought him and he has given us rest on every
side." So they built and prospered.
8 Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, equipped with large
shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin,
armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting men.
9 Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with a vast army and three hundred
chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. 10 Asa went out to meet him, and they
took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.
11 Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one
like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God,
for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O
LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you."
12 The LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled,
13 and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of
Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the LORD
and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder. 14 They
destroyed all the villages around Gerar, for the terror of the LORD had fallen
upon them. They plundered all these villages, since there was much booty there.
15 They also attacked the camps of the herdsmen and carried off droves of sheep
and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.
Hebrews 3
3:1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts
on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was faithful to
the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3
Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder
of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built
by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a
servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future.
6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if
we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in
the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, 9 where your fathers
tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. 10 That is why I was
angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.' 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They
shall never enter my rest.'"
12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that
turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long
as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence
we had at first. 15 As has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in
the rebellion."
16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out
of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those
who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18 And to whom did God swear that
they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see
that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
HEBREWS
Part 3 of 3
In chapters 6 and 10 of Hebrews there are strong warnings about turning against Christ after acceptance of his atonement. The book of Hebrews encourages and exhorts perseverance in faith in Christ in the face of trials and persecutions. Chapter 11 is known as the faith chapter and defines faith in the first verse:
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)
Chapter 11 also tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God:
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
A section that summarizes the book of Hebrews is found in chapter 10:19-25:
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Select: First Reading Second Reading Bible Background