GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 16:7-9
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7 In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah. 8 Along with them he sent these Levites: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, along with the priests Elishama and Jehoram. 9 They taught in Judah. They took the Book of the Law of the LORD with them and traveled around through all the cities of Judah, teaching among the people.
The “third year of his reign” may have been the first year that Jehoshaphat was on the throne by himself, following the death of his father. This is one of many details of chronology that confounds some readers. It seems that the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, did not use the same calendar, nor the same way of calculating a king’s reign. So while Jehoshaphat is said to have become king in “the fourth year of Ahab” (king of Israel, which would be 869 BC), it is also described as being the thirty-ninth year of his own father Asa (872), who lived a couple of more years, dying in his forty-first year. Recalling the disease in Asa’s feet, we are not surprised to conclude that Jehoshaphat was co-ruler with his father for a few years.
The new king had strengthened the borders, increased the number of troops, and he had also smashed the pagan shrines and high places. But now Jehoshaphat did something more; much more. He sent out teachers to instruct the people about the Word of God.
The document was the Book of the Law of the Lord– the scrolls of the five books of Moses. By this time, the hand-written originals would have been more than five hundred years old. It is just possible that they were still kept intact in a room in Solomon’s temple, but Jehoshaphat would have sent out his teaching teams with newer copies. Sixteen men went out: five court officials, nine Levites, and twe priests. Since the Law of Moses has historical sections, gospel promises, and three types of law (civil, moral, and ceremonial) it’s possible that the men specialized somewhat it what kind of teaching they did, especially letting the laymen (the court officials) handle the civil law. Whether the Levites and priests divided their duties or not is beyond our means of speculation, but it certainly seems like a very wise way to handle the teaching of the people, Perhaps they broke into two groups of eight or four groups of four, especially to teach large numbers in the cities. They could also have split into eight pairs to teach in the villages in the countryside.
Other kings made military improvements. Still others smashed idols and pagan shrines. But Jehoshaphat sent out qualified men to teach. It reminds me of the way Jesus sent certain of his disciples to teach, making them into “apostles.” That word means to send someone on a mission with authority, and it’s even in the Greek translation of verse 7 (ἀπέστειλεν, apesteilen), he “apostled them.” So Jehophaphat shows himself to foreshadow Christ by being a king who sent out apostles to teach the word of God to the people.
Parents have the same task. Parents are the first line of the teachers God uses in the lives of children. He says, “Train a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6). I’m always a little concerned when I see posters of this verse that feature a train engine. A pun is not the best way to teach children. Perhaps the posters should have young people doing jumping jacks, or situps, or studying at desks. But what we really need to remember is to train them, body and spirit, for service to God. First, we bring them to be baptized. Then we show them the gospel of the forgivenesss of sins. We teach them the law of God, right from wrong, and beginning (because they are children) with “Honor your father and mother.” Luther explains: “Parents should consider that they owe obedience to God, and that, above all, they should earnestly and faithfully discharge the duties of their office, not only to provide for the material support of their children, servants (and so on), but especially to bring them up to the priase and honor of God. Therefore do not imagine that the parental office is a matter of your pleasure and whim. It is a strict commandment and injunction of God, who holds you accountable to it” (Large Catechism).
This is the sort of thing we would expect from the teaching teams Jehoshaphat sent into the cities and towns of Judah. Let us take his example to the kitchen table and the bedrooms of our homes.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 17:7-9 Teaching in the villages