Children’s Bible Program – Level 1: Lesson 54 “Jehoshaphat King of Judah”

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Featured Passage: 2 Chronicles 17-20

Many years had passed since King David died, and Israel had split into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. The kings of Israel turned the people away from God. They worshipped idols and acted in evil ways. For the Kingdom of Judah, some of the kings practiced evil, and some of the kings wanted to follow God like King David. Jehoshaphat was a king who wanted to seek God and did what he could to lead the people to obey God. Even though Jehoshaphat didn’t do everything perfectly, God was pleased with his attitude and protected him from harm. One day, King Jehoshaphat heard that some enemies were coming to start a war. Jehoshaphat and the people cried out to God for help. God told them that they would not even have to fight in the battle. They would only need some faith and some singers!

Richard Gunther (www.richardgunther.org) | FreeBibleImages.org

Discuss:

  1. Who was Jehoshaphat’s father? How do you think Jehoshaphat’s father helped him prepare to be a good king? How do your parents help you learn how to follow God?
  2. How did King Jehoshaphat become wealthy and powerful? 
  3. Why did God protect Jehoshaphat in the battle with King Ahab? Do you know of any examples where God has protected you or anyone in your family? 
  4. Why didn’t King Ahab listen to the prophet Micaiah who warned him of what would happen in the battle? 
  5. What did King Jehoshaphat do when he heard that some of his enemies were going to attack Judah? How were his actions and attitude different than King Ahab’s had been? What did the musicians do in the battle? 

Memory Challenge: 

2 Chronicles 20:15 

And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.’”

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Second Thoughts: “Weren’t the Egypt days great?”

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Author: Thomas White | Editorial Staff, Living Church of God

“Boy, things sure were better in the ’50s, weren’t they? People really took the Bible seriously back then, in the great Christian nations…

Sure, the Jim Crow stuff was a bit of a shame, and it was a pretty nightmarish time to be alive if you suffered from mental illness, I suppose—but seriously, weren’t the ’50s great?” 

“How ‘bout those 1700s? Those founding fathers, they knew what righteousness was. They went to church every Sunday, you know. Yes, yes, you might be hanged if you kept the Sabbath in New England, and you could usually get away with murdering someone as long as you called it a ‘duel,’ but hey—at least people didn’t watch TV so much! Weren’t the 1700s great?”

“Wow, do I ever miss Egypt. We had everything we needed—all we could eat, and since we worked it all off, we never got fat. Yeah, Pharaoh could be a bit of a hardcase, but at least the Egyptians were better than these horrible Canaanites we’re up against now. Weren’t the Egypt days great?” 

No. They weren’t.

Not from Wisdom

In his recent Assembly message, Mr. Mario Hernandez passionately warned against looking backward, longing for the way things used to be, because as soon as we do that, we’re no longer seeking first the Kingdom of God. We were created with eyes incapable of moving independently from each other, positioned at the front of our head—we can turn that head to look behind us, or we can keep it where it is and look ahead of us, but we can’t do both. Looking behind cancels out looking ahead.

Solomon had something to say about that: “Do not say, ‘Why were the earlier days better than these days?’ For it is not from wisdom that you inquire this” (Ecclesiastes 7:10, Modern English Version). I also like the simplicity in how the New Living Translation paraphrases it: “Don’t long for ‘the good old days.’ This is not wise.”

Of course, we’re all guilty of this on some level. Have you ever wished you were a blissfully ignorant ten-year-old again? I have. And it’s just as much of a mistake to think of the modern era as any better than “the earlier days,” since modern generations are definitely guilty of many atrocities that past generations were not—and Scripture is pretty clear that society is on a perpetually downward spiral (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

But do we ever catch ourselves comparing the Kingdom of God to some “enlightened” nation of history? Because that’s really quite insulting to the Kingdom, actually. Every single era of human history has belonged to Satan, and had his influence all over it—so when we look back fondly at any one of those eras, we’re essentially saying, “You know, I miss how Satan’s world used to be. His influence was once far more agreeable. It was still a world blinded by sin, but at least the sin didn’t offend me quite so much as it does now. Wasn’t spiritual Egypt great?”

Beyond All Comparison

We humans thrive on comparison. In many ways, it’s how we visualize reality, and that’s not a bad thing at all. I use analogies ad nauseam, so I certainly don’t consider myself exempt. 

But even when I’m tempted to think that the Kingdom will be “Like the garden of Eden,” I’m forgetting that “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). The “heart of man” includes the hearts of Adam and Eve. Even after experiencing harmony with God before human sin ever entered the world, they still could not even fathom the beauty of the coming Kingdom.

Tomorrow’s world is impossibly wonderful. Let’s not insult it by longing for yesterday’s.

Thomas White headshot

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

Digging Deeper: The Plague of One’s Heart

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Author: Mr. Kenneth Frank | Faculty, Living Education

Estimated Reading Time: 5 min.

Did you know that there is a killer plague extant more dangerous than the novel coronavirus COVID-19 that will lead to, not only physical death, but spiritual death as well?

In recent months, the entire world has seen how quickly a before-unknown virus can work enormous suffering and death on defenseless humans. As tragic as this plague is, there is another even more deadly one. So insidious is this global pandemic that it has the potential of depriving people not only of mortal life but of eternal life in the kingdom of God. The good news is that there is a cure for it. Nonetheless, how difficult many will find its remedy.

King Solomon referred to this plague during his grand opening celebration of the first Temple. His father, King David of the United Monarchy, had arranged for the building materials but the project was completed by Solomon’s workers. The ceremony was held during the Feast of Tabernacles. In his dedicatory prayer, while he kneeled with his hands spread to heaven, Solomon blessed and thanked God, asked God to hear the prayers of the Israelites but he also accounted for the possibility that Israel would not always prove faithful in their covenant with Him, thereby incurring sin. 

Here is how he described each person’s guilt: “What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;) That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers” (1Ki_8:38-40 KJV throughout). 

Ethelbert Bullinger in his Companion Bible explained that the word plague here also has a sense of “punishment” since it is a figure of speech for the sin that produces it. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges noted that it was the “special infliction which is sent to him for his own correction, and for the relief of which he only can fitly pray.”

We have not only one account of this dedicatory prayer but two. The companion passage reads in part, “…when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house: Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)…”(2Ch_6:28-30). In this account the words “his own sore and his own grief” parallel “the plague of his own heart” from 1 Ki 8:38. The Hebrew word for plague (neh’gah) at times bore the sense of “wound.” It is the same word rendered sore in 2Ch_6:29. In each case, the word is used metaphorically for a sore or wound that afflicts one’s conscience.

Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible explained the plague of his own heart as perceiving “one’s sinfulness, or recognize one’s sufferings as divine chastisements, and sin as their cause.” John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible noted that it means to “be sensible of his sin as the cause of his distress, and own it, though ever so privately committed, which none knows but God and his own heart; and which may be only an heart sin, not actually committed; as all sin is originally in the heart, and springs from it, that is the source of all wickedness; it may respect the corruption of nature, indwelling sin, which truly deserves this name, and which every good man is led to observe, confess, and bewail, Psa_51:4.” Gill acknowledges that sin, even sin committed only in the heart, has the power to afflict our conscience to bring us to confess it and repent of it so that forgiveness may occur. In His Sermon the Mount, Jesus too described sinning in the heart (Mat 5:27-28).  

Gill continues by commenting on the companion verse: “In 2Ch_6:29 it is what particularly affects him, and gives him pain and sorrow, as every man best knows his own affliction and trouble, and so can best represent his own case to the Lord…” If we are honest with ourselves, we will recognize our nagging conscience and take action, unless our conscience is seared (1 Tim 4:2).

During the confrontation between God and the Pharaoh of Egypt the Book of Exodus, God announced the seventh plague of hail to fall upon the Egyptians by stating, “For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth” (Exo_9:14). God attempted to reach Pharaoh through his heart; however, repeatedly he and his servants hardened their hearts and sinned more (Exo_9:34).

Humans have been set apart from the animal kingdom by being afforded a conscience by their Creator. Pricking that conscience is one way God works on human minds to bring them to repentance of sin, as He did upon Saul of Tarsus who later became the Apostle Paul (Act_9:5). Solomon, who wrote and collected eastern proverbs, stated, “The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy” (Pro_14:10). 

David Guzik’s Commentary adds these further details about 1Ki_8:38: “Solomon recognized that some plagues are easily seen, but other plagues come from our own heart. Many are cursed by a plague that no one else can see, but lives in their own heart. Solomon asks God to answer such a plague-stricken man when he humbly pleads at the temple.” When people finally yield to their castigating consciences and repent before God they will find that “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy” (Psa_103:8). Only He has the cure for the plague of one’s heart.

Kenneth Frank headshot

Kenneth Frank was born and raised in New Jersey, USA, and attended Ambassador College, graduating in 1973. He served in the Canadian ministry from 1973-1999, after which he returned to the USA to pastor churches in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina for 15 years. Having earned a BA degree from Ambassador College he later earned a MA degree from Grand Canyon University before being assigned to the Charlotte office to teach at Living University, now Living Education. Currently, he teaches the Survey of the Bible course to the on-campus students and writes the Digging Deeper column for our online Bible study program. He is married, has four children, and seven grandchildren.

Second Thoughts: Blessed With Disruption

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Author: Thomas White | Editorial Department, Living Church of God

Raise your hand if your 2020 hasn’t gone exactly according to plan.

If typing with one hand weren’t really annoying, I’d be raising mine even as I write. Wherever we are in the world, we all had plans for this year—but thanks to humanity’s insane proclivity to eat everything it can fit in its mouth (from bats, to squirrels, to Tide Pods), the majority of those plans have now been flushed down the worldwide toilet that is COVID-19.

Mr. Rod McNair’s recent assembly, however, drew attention to the undeniable good that has come of this situation—more people seem to be taking the Scriptures seriously, for one thing, which is reason enough for just about any crisis to occur. Many are becoming more adaptable, too, and accounts of people being genuinely selfless toward one another in this time of nearly universal hardship prove that though this is definitely Satan’s world, “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5, The Scriptures 2009).

A Comforting Warning

And frankly, none of that good has been according to our shortsighted human plans either, which has me pondering the biblical truth that “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). We usually read that as a warning: “Don’t treat your plans like sureties, because God’s in control, not you.” We can also read it as the humbling reminder that “You might make plans, but you’re never the one who accomplishes them—only God has that power.”

But as we know (though probably not deeply enough), “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). So if our heart is what plans our way, what does that say about our plans?

Jeremiah 17:9 actually lends profound comfort to Proverbs 16:9. Since the heart, which we use to make our plans, is actually deceitful and wicked, this proverb ends up reassuring us, “Your plans are pretty terrible, but don’t worry—God is going to completely disrupt them. He’s the one actually directing your life.”

His Plans Are Better

In the midst of a disruption of life as hefty as what we’re all going through right now, it’s hard to imagine that our plans being so thoroughly upended is actually a good thing. But when we peruse our pasts, almost all of us can recognize times when God mercifully rescued us from our own plans. I am nowhere near where I thought I would be five years ago—and I need to thank God for that, because looking back, His blessing my life with disruption after disruption was keeping me from making a horrendous mess of it all.

Does that mean we should never make plans? Of course not. Frankly, we couldn’t stop making plans even if we tried—it’s our nature to try to manage our futures in some capacity, and if we didn’t, we’d all basically end up as human furniture. From a big-picture perspective, we all have to plan on being in God’s Kingdom, and from a little-picture perspective, we all have to plan on getting out of bed tomorrow.

But amidst of all that essential planning, let’s try to remember that for the most part, we humans aren’t very good at it—and we usually only recognize how bad our plans are in hindsight. That being so, we can take comfort in the midst of trials like this, knowing that when our plans grind to a halt, what we’re seeing is the hand of our loving Father, subtly blessing our lives with disruption.

Thomas White headshot

Thomas White was one of the onsite Living Education students for the 2018-2019 semesters. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in English. Thomas currently works as an Editorial Assistant for the Living Church of God. According to his wife, he eats pizza in entirely the wrong way.

Recommended Reads: The Ghost Map

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Digging Deeper: First Give Yourself to Christ

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Author: Mr. Kenneth Frank | Faculty, Living Education

Estimated Reading Time: 4 min.

Did you know that several of the largely Gentile churches the apostle Paul established in Greece generously gave to needy Jewish brethren in Jerusalem and Judea even while they were in need themselves?

During Paul’s evangelistic journeys, he learned that the mother church in Jerusalem was in dire need. Paul communicated to his Greek churches during his third journey that it would be fitting if they donated their material things to the mother church as an act of unity and gratitude for all its spiritual gifts in sending out the apostles to preach the gospel to the world. This dire situation is first introduced in the Book of Acts by its author, Luke, one of Paul’s traveling companions. More is gleaned about this situation by reading Paul’s epistles to the Romans and the Corinthians. 

When Jews in Jerusalem accepted Jesus as the Messiah, they were often ostracized by their unbelieving relatives and friends. No doubt, some lost their jobs. To make matters worse, famine stuck their region. Many of God’s original church found it difficult to meet their daily needs. As time progressed, relations between the Jewish community and the Roman government were deteriorating, resulting in the First Jewish War in the 60s AD. Tensions built over many years, causing deprivation in the Jewish community. Because of their newly-found faith, many Jewish Christians suffered even more. Paul reminds the Greek brethren of their Christian duty to be generous in such a time of need. 

Macedonia was the northern Roman province in Greece. Here Paul established churches in the mid-50s AD in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and probably other cities. The southern Roman province was called Achaia, where was located the Church of God at Corinth. From afar, Paul wrote his first epistle to this church in which he dealt with several church problems while also requesting that they donate to their needy brethren in Judea. Paul’s protégé, Titus, had begun organizing this donation in Corinth. However, a year later it still was not completed. Paul writes another epistle to them in which he says he will send Titus to them again to complete the collection. While doing so, he reminds them of the sacrificial generosity of their underprivileged northern brethren in Macedonia. The brethren in Corinth were faring much better than brethren elsewhere but had become negligent in this donation due to internal problems. Now that these were more under control, Paul urges them to finish the collection. 

2 Corinthians 8 provides an appealing account of Paul’s diplomacy and leadership to encourage the Corinthians to complete the job. Verses 1 and 2 describe the great trial of affliction, seemingly from persecution, that the Macedonians endured resulting in their deep poverty. Nonetheless, they found a way to give generously to their Judean brethren. Verse 3 explains they gave even beyond their ability  – they needed no prompting. They donated more than Paul expected (v. 5). So enthusiastic were they that they implored Paul to receive their gift so he could transport it to Jerusalem. Paul calls this “the fellowship of the ministering to the saints” (v. 4). 

The secret of their generosity was that they first gave themselves to Christ and then to Paul by God’s will (v. 5). V. 6 refers to their gift as a grace because one of the meanings of this word in the Greek New Testament text is a gift. In v. 7, Paul urges the Corinthians to abound in this relief gift as they do in other aspects of their Christian experience (v. 7). Paul does this as a result of the readiness of the Macedonians and to test the Corinthians in their expressed promise to contribute (v. 8). Paul reminds them of how Jesus left behind some of his divine traits to come to earth that through his humble condition we Christians might become rich by His grace (v. 9). Jesus’ self-emptying is known in theology as the kenosis (Phil 2:6-8).  In v. 11, Paul reminds the Corinthians they had begun this project about a year earlier – it was high time they complete it. Yet, Paul did not expect brethren to give what they did not have, but rather from what little they did have (v. 12), like the Jerusalem widow who gave her two mites (small coins) into the temple treasury, as described in the gospels. 

The secret of giving is depicted in v. 5, teaching us Christians to first give ourselves to Christ and to each other before we prepare our contributions for others in need, or when we prepare offerings to God and his Work. Offerings are not a set amount, in contrast to tithes, which are a set percentage of our earned income. Christians decide how much they will give in offerings. What moves us to be generous even in times when our incomes are reduced is reflecting on how much our Savior gave up coming to earth to provide us God’s salvation. Through His poverty we become rich (v. 9). Once we give ourselves to Christ and to each other, giving offerings naturally follow. 

Kenneth Frank headshot

Kenneth Frank was born and raised in New Jersey, USA, and attended Ambassador College, graduating in 1973. He served in the Canadian ministry from 1973-1999, after which he returned to the USA to pastor churches in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina for 15 years. Having earned a BA degree from Ambassador College he later earned a MA degree from Grand Canyon University before being assigned to the Charlotte office to teach at Living University, now Living Education. Currently, he teaches the Survey of the Bible course to the on-campus students and writes the Digging Deeper column for our online Bible study program. He is married, has four children, and seven grandchildren.

Weekly Update Apr. 18, 2020

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