Solomon’s Dedication of the Temple
-After building the Temple and saying a prayer of dedication, fire came down from Heaven and consumed the burnt offering and sacrifices as the glory of the Lord filled the Temple
The Death of Jehoiada at 130 Years Old
-The priest who died at the age of 130 years old and was buried with the kings in the City of David because of the good he had done in Israel for God and His Templ
King Hezekiah’s Opening of the Temple
- In the first month of his reign, Hezekiah opened and repaired the doors of the Temple of the Lord
- He brought the priests and the Levites and called them to consecrate themselves and the Temple
- The priest brought out of the Temple everything unclean and the Levites took it to Kidron Valley
- So the Service of the Temple was reestablished
- All the people rejoiced because of what God did for His people and how “it was done so quickly” (2 Chronicles 29:36)
King Hezekiah’s Celebration of the Passover
- After the revival of the Temple, Hezekiah invited all Israel, Judah, Ephraim and Manasseh to the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover
- Although some people scorned and ridiculed them, some from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves greatly and went to Jerusalem
- “There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David King of Israel there had been nothing like [the Passover Celebration] in Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 30:26)
King Hezekiah’s Illness
- Brought him at the point of death
- He prayed to God to spare him
- God cured the deadly boil and Hezekiah lived 15 more years
The Destruction of Jerusalem
- God sent many messengers to His people but since they would not listen but in fact were mocked and scoffed- there was “no remedy” (2 Chronicles 36:16)
- God brought up against them Nebudchadnezzar, King of the Babylonians
- He destroyed the city of Jerusalem, burned its walls, and tore down the Temple, as God was no longer with His people
Jeremiah’s 70 Year Prophecy
- Jeremiah prophecies this in Jeremiah 29:10 and Daniel reiterates this prophecy in Daniel 9:1-2
- He prophesied that the destruction of Jerusalem and their exile in Babylonian would last for 70 years
- This date is taken from 606 BC when Daniel was taken into captivity till the first year of King Cyrus in 536 BC
- (There were three exiling’s- 606 BC, 597 BC and 586 BC)
- When Cyrus began to reign, God moved his heart to let the Jewish people go back from Babylon to Jerusalem to start rebuilding the Temple and their city
Rebuilding the Foundation of the Temple
- Returning from Babylon to Jerusalem, the Israelites were led by Zerubabbel the governor and Jeshua, the High Priest
- In just their second year, the Israelites, despite their fear of the people around them, built the foundation of the Temple
- After the foundation was laid, the older people who had seen the former Temple wept aloud while the others shouted for joy
- “The sound was heard far away!” (Ezra 3:13)
Completion of the Temple
-The Temple was completed in 516 BC spurred on by the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah
Ezra’s Prayer About Intermarriage and the People’s Confession of Sin
- The leaders of Jerusalem came to Ezra to notify him that the people of Israel had intermarried with “neighboring peoples” (Ezra 9:1)
- Upon hearing this, Ezra tore his tunic and cloak and even pulled hair from his head and beard
- He sat “appalled” (Ezra 9:4) the entire day
- Then in tears, he poured out his heart to God about intermarriage with Gentiles and many joined him in prayer, fasting and confession
- He called those in sin to take an oath to send away their foreign wives and children and to separate themselves from the peoples around them
Nehemiah’s Prayer for the Remnant of Jerusalem
- For days Nehemiah mourned and fasted and prayed to God after hearing the news that the wall of Jerusalem remained broken down and its gates still in disrepair because of fire
- He remembers in his prayer the instruction God gives Moses: God will scatter the unfaithful, but He will gather (to the place of His name) those who return to Him and obey
- Nehemiah was broken because he saw himself as unfaithful, because he was not among the Jewish exiles in Jerusalem
Rebuilding the Wall: The Plan
- Nehemiah inspects the wall and develops a plan to rebuild it
- Nehemiah then appointed different groups to rebuild each of the sections of the wall- from gate to gate
- After much opposition, the wall is completed in just 52 days
The Opposition Building the Wall
- The main opposition leaders were: Sanballet the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arah
- They all schemed to distract, threaten and harm Nehemiah
- Nehemiah fought with prayer and “posted a guard day and night to meet this threat” (Nehemiah 4:9)
Neglect of the House of God: No Tithe
- Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem after 12 years of being in Babylon
- He discovers that the people were not giving their tithes and that the Levites returned to their fields, thus stopping ministering at the Temple
- Nehemiah rebukes the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” (Nehemiah 13:11)
- After this, all of Judah brought their tithes
Casting the “Pur” (Lot) for the Date of the Annihilation of the Jews on Adar
-Haman cast lots for the month and day of the annihilation of the Jews- the 13th day of the month of Adar
Purim
-A two-day Jewish holiday that commemorates the saves of the Jewish people that was set by casting the “pur”
Job’s Friends Advice Verses Elihu’s Advice
- Eliphaz advised that Job must have sinned and that he needed to present his case before God
- Bildad advised Job that he needed to admit his sin so that his suffering would stop
- Zophar tells Job that he deserves more punishment than he is receiving and advises him to repent
- Elihu on the other hand tells him that God was using his suffering to teach, discipline and refine him
The Blessing at the Latter Part of Job’s Life Versus the Early Years
- The latter part of Job’s life was blessed more than the former part
- After his sufferings, Job was blessed exactly double of what he had in the former part of his life
- As well, God gave another seven sons and three daughters
The Ark Brought Into the Temple
- After Solomon finished building the Temple, he brought the ark to Jerusalem
- The entire assembly of Israel gathered and they sacrificed “so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted” (2 Chronicles 5:6)
- The Levites brought the Ark into the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and suddenly, the Temple was filled with the cloud of the glory of God
