 I'm sorry it has changed position, okay good morning we'll begin. So we've been looking at the historical books, we looked at Samuel and Kings, we were not able to cover most of the stories which are there but at least we got a brief overview of those historical books. So today we will look at Chronicles Ezra and Nehemiah, these are the three books that we will be covering today. So Chronicles has the same events mentioned because the same Kings are being discussed. So in the Book of Kings and in the Book of Chronicles it talks about the same Kings but the perspective from which it talks about the Kings is different. In First and Second Kings it's more the history of those Kings, it talks about what they did, the wars they waged whereas in Chronicles the focus is more on the religious aspect. What were the Kings like? Were they followers of the Lord? Were they faithful or the evil and idolaters? So in Chronicles the focus is more on the religious history whereas in First and Second Kings it's more to do with the political scenario. Alright so that's the main difference between Kings and Chronicles and First Chronicles mainly focuses on the events which are mentioned in Second Samuel. Second Chronicles on the other hand focuses more on First Kings and Second Kings whatever is there matter in that so that that is more the focus. Let's very briefly look at the structure of First Chronicles. We can divide First Chronicles into two main sections. Chapters one to nine have a list of genealogies. The entire nine chapters are covering different genealogies of all the twelve tribes and then you have the genealogy of King David and you also have the Levites genealogy. All that is covered in First Chronicles chapters one to nine. Now chapters ten to twenty nine is where there's a more emphasis on David the preparations that he made for the temple and all of that so that is more the focus in chapters ten to twenty nine. Now why was Chronicles written? I mean they already have a history of the Kings. They have First Kings and Second Kings so why where was the need for them to write Chronicles? So Chronicles was actually written to encourage the people who came back from exile from Babylon so this was written much later. First Kings and Second Kings was written at an earlier time period whereas Chronicles was mainly written to encourage the people who have come back from the period of exile. Now when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and they took the people away as slaves to Babylon from there the Jewish people scattered to many other regions as well. They didn't stay or not everyone's to continue to live only in Babylon. They spread out to other regions such as Elam, Persia, Egypt and certain portions of Asia Minor so the Jewish communities spread out throughout the entire region and for 70 years the exile lasted and then at the end of 70 years when you know Cyrus gives the proclamation saying those who want to return back to their homelands they can do so. At that point of time you have some of the Jews coming back. Many of the Jews were now very very comfortable, very well established you know in these foreign nations where they have shifted because God told them that when they are living over there he will look after them, he will provide for them, he will bless them and just as he promised he took care of them even during that entire time of exile. In fact he took care of them so well that now the people are so comfortable living in those foreign lands that not many of them are willing to even come back to Jerusalem because Jerusalem is not the kind of well-established city that it used to be earlier. It's in a broken down state, it's not very popular so not many of the Jews were in fact even ready to come back and those faithful few who came back to the land were very discouraged to see the condition to which they had been reduced. Earlier they had their own kingdom, they had their own king, they had their own independence and identity and now they are just you know a bunch of exiles have come back and there's no glory you know in Jerusalem awaiting them. So at this time chronicles was written to remind them of how God worked in their past history. They were good kings, they were bad kings but the Lord had a plan where the things were whether the person on the throne was good or not the Lord was continuously at work in the background to fulfill his purposes. So chronicles was like a reminder to the people of what God had done for them in the past and what he can do for them once again you know now that they have come back so it was meant to encourage them. It was also meant to emphasize that the evil kings they did not really prosper it was the good kings you know that God lifted up that he established. So these were all spiritual lessons that were being conveyed to the returned people through the book of chronicles. So we need to look at this particular book you know through that perspective that it was meant to encourage them it was also meant to teach them the importance of spiritual values. Second chronicles like I said talks more about events which took place during the time of past and second kings and it doesn't really talk much about the northern kingdom of Israel at all because most of the exiles who came back to Jerusalem they are all from the tribe of Judah because it's after all the Judah people of Judah right who were taken away as slaves to Babylon. So the focus in chronicles is mainly upon the southern kingdom not so much on the northern kingdom and so second chronicles can be divided again into two sections chapters 1 to 9 focus on the rule of King Solomon it talks about his wisdom it talks about the construction of the temple it talks about all the other building projects that he had those are the things covered in chapters 1 to 9. Chapters 10 to 36 on the other hand talk more about the things which took place after the you know nation got split into two so in chapters 10 to 36 it talks about the 20 kings of Judah and how they ruled and what they did and all of that and also in the second portion of of second chronicles there are five revivals mentioned there were five kings who made an effort to talk to the people about how they should come back to God how they should be faithful to the Lord so there are five revivals spiritual revivals mentioned in the second portion of second chronicles so that would be under the rule of Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah and Josiah. These were the five kings who took the effort to try and bring about a spiritual revival among the people so that you know the Lord would be honored so this is just the basic structure of first chronicles and second chronicles. Now coming to some of the details which we can see in in chronicles. In second chronicles chapter 11 it talks about some of the you know the the stand taken by some of the northern Israelites maybe we can actually read out that and then we will discuss it very briefly second chronicles chapter 11 verses 13 to 16 if someone can read out second chronicles 11 13 to 16. Can I read faster? Go ahead. But all the priests and Liberties living among the northern tribes of Israel sided with the Rehoboam. The Liberties even abandoned their pastor lands and property and moved to Judah and Jerusalem because Zeroboam and his sons would not allow them to serve the Lord as priests. Zeroboam appointed his own priests to serve at the pagan shrines where they worshipped the God and calf idols he had made. From all the tribes of Israel those who sincerely wanted to worship the Lord the God of the Levites to Jerusalem where they could offer sacrifices to the Lord the God of their ancestors. Okay so in chronicles it's talking about the history of the kings the things which took place so here in second chronicles in this particular passage it's talking about what happened after the kingdom was divided into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom last class we saw how Zeroboam because he was so insecure in God he did not believe that the Lord would keep his promises towards him and so he therefore deliberately leads the people into idol worship. He you know he sets up carves golden carves in two places and he teaches the people to start following idol worship so that they will not go to Jerusalem so that they will not turn away from him so you know he Zeroboam brings in idolatry and this is the response of the godly people in the northern kingdom when this terrible thing happens. We see here it says that the priests and Levites from all their districts throughout is Israel they decide we cannot live in a place like this. Zeroboam is asking us to become priests of the pagan customs which he is introducing so it is better for us to leave this northern kingdom and go and live in the southern kingdom now this may seem like a small decision but think about the details the Levites did not have land of their own they were never given territory of their own they were given certain cities in each of the tribes where they were supposed to live and then you know they would be paid you know in the in the in the form of crops and property and things like that for their services so now if they are saying that they're going to leave the northern kingdom and move to the south they are not going to have any territory which they can call their own they're not going to have anyone supporting them backing them up they're basically going to be completely on their own if they come to the southern kingdom but yet they choose to make that choice it says here in verse 14 second chronicles chapter 11 verse 14 the Levites even abandoned their pastures lands and property and came to Judah and Jerusalem because they did not want to follow the pagan practices which Jeroboam had introduced so here were a people who are willing to give up even their property and they came over here with their families with their cattle not knowing who's going to support them not knowing how they're going to you know provide for themselves but they came to the south southern kingdom because as you know you can almost say like as if they were refugees they came over here because they were committed to the living God and they wanted to stay in a place where the true God is being worshiped it shows the great commitment of this people and then the other godly people in the northern kingdom when they saw what these priests and Levites were doing they were so inspired by this example that it says in verse 16 those from every tribe of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the Lord they also chose to leave the northern kingdom and come over here and settle down over here in the southern kingdom so these are all people who made sacrifices to honor God you know so this is the lesson that we can learn from them even though they would not be having steady income you know if they leave their own land and come over here they were willing to make that sacrifice so that because here they would have the freedom to worship Yahweh in the in the correct manner in the way that he has prescribed because over there in the northern kingdom Jeroboam is introducing all kinds of pagan customs and they did not want to be part of that are we willing to make sacrifices to that extent and you know even give up our source of income and our land and property to be committed and to remain loyal to the living God so the commitment that these people made is indeed something you know to be admired and appreciated another thing that maybe we can look at from second chronicles is the contrast that we can actually draw between two of the kings one is Joash and the other one is Josiah now when we were looking at first and second kings we just you know I just said in a couple of sentences that one of the important kings who is talked about in kings is Ahab but then you know we had no time to even go into any details regarding Ahab but it helps to know a little bit about that background you know from kings to understand some of the events which are mentioned over here in chronicles so we'll spend a little time looking at Ahab who he was what exactly you know was his past background and based on that we will come into the story of Joash and then later on we'll also if there is if time permits we'll also look at the story of Josiah so to look at a little bit of background so this background information is found in kings not in in chronicles but we are looking at this background to better understand the events which are mentioned later on in chronicles so in second kings the first few chapters is where we get details about Ahab we get to know that in the northern kingdom Ahab was the one who was ruling and he had chosen to marry a pagan wife you know Jezebel so Ahab and Jezebel were not interested in honoring God they were evil on the other hand in the southern kingdom in Judah you had a godly king Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat truly loved the Lord honored the Lord but he made a very serious mistake which in fact led to the destruction of many generations his one mistake his one wrong decision not only affected him and his immediate family it even affected future generations so even though we may be godly even though we may love the Lord sometimes the decisions that we take you know so lightly we take those decisions it can affect entire generations so this man Jehoshaphat who is a godly person he decides to enter into a political alliance with the northern kingdom with Ahab I mean it is the most foolish decision a person can make Ahab has no respect for the Lord no honor for the Lord and here is a godly man saying I'm going to make an alliance with this other kingdom and that is why in the New Testament we are very clearly warned and told do not yoke yourself with unbelievers if we form partnerships with them it may cause us to you know go into wrong things which are against the Lord so here we see Jehoshaphat doing this he chooses to enter into an alliance with Ahab and the idea is that he will give you know Jehoshaphat's son the crown prince the one who is going to climb onto the throne he is going to marry somebody from you know Ahab's family that is the decision so we see that Jehoram the crown prince of Judah he marries Ahab's daughter whose name is Atalaya and Atalaya stories later on covered in chronicles all right so now Ahab and Jezebel had no respect for the Lord so you can imagine what their daughter must have been like Atalaya had absolutely no godly values and a person like this marries Jehoram and that is when you know the backsliding and the destruction and the downfall starts so Jehoram marries Atalaya and then he also Jehoshaphat also has one more son named Jehu Jehu decides to leave his own southern kingdom and he decides to go and become a commander in Ahab's army so you also you see not only have a marriage alliance you also have a kind of military alliance being formed where the next son Jehu he chooses to go to the northern kingdom and become a commander in Ahab's army and so we see in 2 Kings chapter 9 maybe verse 14 onwards in we get to know that Elisha comes to Jehu Jehu is not a godly person he has no real interest in the things of God but you know God decides to use him as an instrument of judgment and so Elisha comes to Jehu and this is what Elisha says to Jehu he says if you are willing to destroy Ahab's family and bring judgment upon them then God is willing to make you the king of Israel even though you're from the southern kingdom even though you're from Judah even though you have only come over here to be a commander in Ahab's army I will God says I will make you to the king of of northern of the northern kingdom if you are willing to destroy Ahab's family Jehu is more than willing to do that and so we see that Jehu he you know he assassinates the king who is there in the northern kingdom that is actually one of the you know sons of Ahab so he kills him and then he also kills you know his brother who is Jehoram so on both sides the okay he does not kill Jehoram he kills Jehoram's son okay Joram Joram is the name of the person so Ahazaya Ahazaya is the name of the king on the the son of Jehoram so he kills Ahazaya the king of Judah and he kills Joram the king of northern Israel Jehu kills both the kings so basically what happens now is that there is no king on the throne of the northern kingdom there is no king on the throne of the southern kingdom and so here in the southern kingdom basically you know Ahazaya is now dead and his mother Atalaya you know the one who married Jehoram she decides that she wants to be on the throne and so now she takes a decision we see all of this in second kings chapter 11 where it says that she decides to murder all her grandchildren because he she doesn't want any of them to climb onto the throne she decides that she would like to sit on the throne and so she has all her own grandsons murdered so that she can ascend to the throne that is the kind of person that she is you know the kind of evil person that she is and this is the background that we get from kings so when we come to second chronicles chapter 23 that is where you have the story of Joash you know being mentioned exactly who is Joash among all these grandsons who are being murdered you know by Atalaya among all of them the last grandson is actually Joash at that time he's still a he's just a small baby he's still a one-year-old baby and so when she's having all the grandsons murdered the his her daughter decides to save this little child so she is not like her mother she she becomes a godly person because she marries a priest named Jehoi Yadda okay so Atalaya is evil Atalaya you know wants to murder her grandsons and ascend the throne but her daughter is a godly person because she has married a priest named Jehoi Yadda and so she and Jehoi Yadda they decide to adopt this little you know baby Joash and protect him and so Joash basically grows up in the temple complex you know the temple consisted of of course of the main temple buildings you know you have the holy place the most holy place you have the courtyard where you have the altar you have that's the main temple area around this main temple area you have many other buildings you have the quarters where the priests are living you have storage places where all the grain you know which is brought as tithes all that grain is stored you have you have rooms where they they store you know the utensils which are used for the sacrifices so you have a whole bunch of other buildings which are around the actual temple building and so this entire thing is basically called a temple complex so Jehoi Yadda and his wife they protect Joash from being murdered by Atalaya and they bring up this boy like Asafi is their own child you know so and so finally when he's six years old then they decide it's the right time to do the coronation ceremony you know where he will be declared as the rightful king so Atalaya has been sitting on the throne for about five years now and now you know in God's timing Jehoi Yadda he takes the help of some of the temple guards and with their assistance and with some of the faithful people who have you know continued to stay faithful along with their support they take this young child to the temple to you know coordinate him as the king and to establish him on the throne so in 2nd Chronicles chapter 23 we see that they you know appoint him as king and when the celebration is going on Atalaya hears the noise of the celebration and she comes over there to find out what's going on and when she gets to know that one of her grandchildren is still alive that Joash is alive and now he's been appointed as the king she is very very upset and then she tries to you know escape but then they capture her and she is killed so once Atalaya is killed now Joash is you know safe on the throne so he becomes the king under the guardianship of Jehoi Yadda the priest who brings him up in godly ways and Jehoi Yadda and Joash together they do extensive repair work on the temple they try to restore you know all the sacrifices which were being neglected up to that time so there's a kind of spiritual revival which is brought about in the land through Jehoi Yadda priest and Joash you know who's now growing up so as long as Jehoi Yadda the priest is alive Joash stays faithful to the Lord but once Jehoi Yadda the priest dies he goes back into idol worship which basically brings out one basic truth you see he never really had any transformation on the inside just because a godly person was you know advising him and you know mentoring him and helping him from the outside he continued to be good as long as that godly influence was there but once the godly influence was removed once the priest died we see that Joash goes off into idol worship he backslides so it is easy for us to be very very spiritual when we are in a godly atmosphere in a godly environment where we have you know people who are able to mentor us and disciple us and talk to us but are we just relying upon the external environment to stay godly or on a daily basis are we building our own personal relationship with the Lord that is very very important you know to use an example you know all of us who are here in the Bible college it's very easy to be spiritual in the Bible college because we have teachers who are constantly you know advising us guiding us we have times of prayer we have times of you know worship we are in a very godly environment it is easy to be spiritual when the environment around us is you know compatible but what will happen tomorrow when you go back to your own places when there is nobody you know guiding you and telling you you know let's have a time of prayer or let's have one day of fasting you know let's spend some time together discussing the Bible what will happen on that day when you go back and you are no longer in a godly environment at that time have you become strong enough on the inside to remain in the Lord if you have been building up your own personal relationship with the Lord during this time when you go back you'll be strong enough on the inside to continue living in the Lord even if the environment around you is no longer good because you have built yourself up on the inside Joash did not do that as long as Jeho Yadav was there to you know guide him and lead him he stayed faithful to the Lord but the minute that godly influence was removed there was nothing on the inside he had not bothered to build himself up in the Lord and so he fell away he back slid and you know so Jeho Yadav's son who has now become the priest you know his name is Zechariah in 2nd Chronicles chapter 24 Zechariah comes to to Joash and he says what you are doing is not good the Lord is not pleased with the way you have gone into idolatry now let's remember who Zechariah is Joash grew up in the home of Jeho Yadav and his wife they brought him up from childhood they in fact saved his life because he would have been killed by Atalaya if they had not rescued him when he was a baby so he grew up in the home of Jeho Yadav which means he would have literally grown up along with Zechariah they would almost be like brothers in the same house you know and now when he's a grown-up man Zechariah comes to him and says what you have done what you have what you're doing by going back into idolatry it is not honorable to the Lord and what is Joash response he actually has Zechariah murdered I mean there is no gratitude at all for what Jeho Yadav and his family did for him we see this in 2nd Chronicles chapter 24 maybe we can actually read out these verses so 2nd Chronicles chapter 24 if we can have someone read out for us verses 22 25 all the way from 20 up to 25 2nd Chronicles chapter 24 verses 20 to 25 in the spring of the year the Aramian army marched again as Joash they invaded Judah and Jerusalem maybe 2nd Chronicles 24 because 2nd Chronicles 24 verses 20 to 25 go ahead yeah that was how King Joash repaid Jeho Yadav for his loyalty by killing his son Zechariah's last words as he died war made the Lord see what they are doing and avenge my death in the spring of the year the Aramian army marched again as Joash they invaded Judah no no no yeah I actually wanted verses 20 up to 20 okay fine it's all right we actually got the main portion you know in verse 20 you have the warning being given by Zechariah who when he says why do you disobey the Lord's commands you will not prosper because you have forsaken the Lord he has forsaken you and the King Joash is not pleased with this and so he plots against Zechariah and Zechariah is stoned to death in the courtyard of the temple the very temple complex where he grew up the very temple complex where he had been shown so much mercy by Jeho Yadav you know in that same place he has Zechariah murdered and so it says over here in verse 22 2nd Chronicles chapter 24 verse 22 it says King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah's father Jeho Yadav had shown him but killed his son and so Zechariah when he's dying he says may the Lord see this and call you to account okay so Zechariah says you know may the Lord punish you for what you have done you know and so we see that later on when the Aramian army yeah which is what you know Anusha was reading out when the Aramian army comes to fight against Joash he's very severely wounded in the battle and then later on he's assassinated by some officials of his okay so Joash even though his life was saved in a miraculous way even though he grew up in such a godly environment his life did not go well on the other hand you have Josiah who is mentioned in 2nd Chronicles chapter 34 we see a great contrast between these two men Josiah also comes to the throne when he's very very young Joash if you remember he was coronated as king at the age of six on the other hand Josiah when when did he become king his father is assassinated so when Josiah's father is assassinated he comes to the throne at the age of eight okay so he's just an eight year old boy when he becomes the king but look at the way that Josiah develops himself spiritually um if someone could read out 2nd Chronicles chapter 34 versus three maybe verse three should be enough 2nd Chronicles chapter 34 verse three yeah if you if you could read out 2nd Chronicles 34 verse three during the eighth year of his reign while he was still young Josiah began to seek the god of his ancestor David then in the 12th year he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem destroying all the pagan shrines the ashric poles and the curved idols and cast images it says over here that unlike Joash who never bothered to really grow in god here we see Josiah at the age of eight he came to the throne at the age of 16 eight years later at the age of 16 which is what in today's terminology it would be a person maybe who has just you know is maybe in the 11th standard 12th standard at that age he begins to seriously seek the god of you know of his father David it says and when he's 20 years old he starts purifying that entire region he starts breaking down all the temples which have been built he starts removing all the idols which have you know been um established in all these places in around in and in and around Judah and Jerusalem so here is a man who is passionate for the things of god and then it goes on to say that not only is he trying to you know straighten up and purify Judah he even wants to go into the go into the Israelite region and break down the idols over there it's not enough for him that only Judah should follow the Yahweh he wants even the northern Israelite people to also follow Yahweh that is his passion so here is a man who's basically doing Old Testament evangelism he's literally going from place to place you know and he's sending out officials and priests and Levites to teach the people the things of God so he was highly committed to the Lord and why was he able to go into the northern kingdom and break down the idols over there because you see is in the time of his grandfather Hezekiah is basically when the Assyrians come and they conquer the northern people and take them away into slavery so at this time the northern kingdom is again back with the southern kingdom okay because the region which was you know the northern territories are now back under the control of the southern kingdom simply because the king has been removed the Assyrians came and conquered the northern kingdom and took away most of the people as slaves so those who are left behind who have who are still continuing in Jeroboam's idolatry he chooses to go into all those regions and try to bring even those people back to the Lord and so it says in 2 Chronicles 34 verse 6 in the towns of Manasseh Ephraim and Simeon as far as Naftali and in the ruins around them he tore down the altars you know and he tries to bring even those people back to Yahweh all this he is doing at the age of 20 you know he is passionate for the Lord and then it says when he was 26 years old he starts to again do a lot of repair work that was near there was you know pending for the temple have you noticed again and again they need to do repair work on the temple what does it tell us about the people it tells that they are neglecting the temple of God so much that it actually needs repair work from time to time they are so busy following pagan idols that they had not even focusing on Yahweh and the things of Yahweh that's the level of backsliding that's going on in the land and so after the time of Jeho Yadai when he had done repair work after that nobody had bothered to do anything for the temple and so now Joash and Josiah sorry Josiah now takes the effort to again do you know to clean up the temple premises and repair the temple and all of that and while he is doing that he discovers a book of the law that is mentioned in your second chronicles chapter 34 verse 14 onwards maybe we can have you know someone read out second chronicles chapter 34 verses 14 and 15 yeah second chronicles 34 14 and 15 please can i read sister go ahead yeah now when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the lord hiltia the priest found the book of the law of the lord given by moses then hiltia answered and said to shaffan the scribe i have found the book of the law in the house of the lord and hiltia gave the book of shaffan so when he's doing the repair works they find a scroll of the Torah you know the first five books and when he starts reading it he realizes that you know he has not kept many of the laws of the lord he was not even aware of them whatever a little bit he knew he was honestly following that and he was being sincere in following the lord but there are so many things which he was not even aware of and so it says in verse 19 when he when he heard the words of the law he tore his robes he was very very repentant and he realized that even though he had been trying so hard to be a godly person what he had been doing was not enough and there are so much so many more things which god had actually ordered the people to follow so look at the heart of this man even though he was he did not really have a full copy of the Torah whatever little bit he knew about the lord he decided to seek the god of his father david and he and it says that he began to you know take care of uh reformation work he did a lot of repairs he did all that and now when he's when he when when the law of moses is read out to him and he discovers that he has not kept many of those laws his attitude is not oh i've done enough okay i did not know about all these laws but i've already done enough for the lord that was not his attitude he tears his robes and he immediately goes to a prophetess named hulda which is mentioned in your verse 22 he approaches hulda and he asks what should we do we have not kept the law of the lord in the way it's supposed to be kept we only found out now after the scroll was you know accidentally discovered it shows how much the people had gone into idolatry that they did not even have us have a copy of the scroll imagine and now when they have discovered the scroll it's like a new discovery for them which means for centuries people have not even been bothering to learn what the law of moses has taught there was serious backsliding going on in the entire nation so we see um jossiah coming to prophetess hulda and asking what to what do we do now because we have not been sincere in obeying the lord and this is what hulda the prophetess says um you know um this is the message which she conveys to uh to the king jossiah uh if we can in the same chapter chapter 34 itself um if someone could read out for us versus 23 maybe 23 up to verse 27 yeah 23 to 27 if you could read out please can i read faster yeah go ahead please she said to them the lord the god of israel has spoken go back and tell the man who sent you this is what the lord says i'm going to bring disaster on this city and its people all the curses written in the scroll that was read to the king of juda will come true for my people have funded me and offered sacrifice to pagan gods and i'm very angry with them for everything they have done my anger will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched but go to the king of juda who sent you to seek the lord and tell him this is what the lord the god of israel says concerning the message you have just heard you you are you are sorry and humbled yourself before god when you heard his words against this city and its people you humbled yourself and tore your clothing in this space and wept before me in repentance and i have indeed heard you says the lord okay so the law the the message which the prophetess conveys to jossiah um the lord says because you have humbled yourself and repented even though yes judgment is going to come upon juda it will not happen during your time your eyes will not see the destruction you will be able to you know uh live in peace so when we are godly when we are following the lord when we are doing our best to obey him what should be our response when god brings correction when he points out things in our life which are still not pleasing we can have two attitudes we can say oh i've done so much for the lord so it's all right you know god will excuse me that could be one attitude on the other hand we can be like this man jossiah he didn't boast and say oh i went all the way to northern israel and i tore down the temples over there it's okay no i didn't know about this loss in the scroll so it's not my fault that was not his attitude he immediately humbled himself he tore his robes in fact he went to a prophetess and inquired of the lord and said what do we do how do we repent teach us we want to know and the lord says because of the attitude which you have i will see to it that even though judgment is coming upon the land it will not happen during your time and so it is this we see a great contrast between joe ash who had nothing on the inside on the on the other hand we have jossiah who is constantly building himself up in the lord and when god points out his mistakes to him he humbles himself and he's willing to repent further so um uh so you know we need to be like this second king like jossiah rather than joe ash uh so uh just as god promises uh the judgment does not come upon judah in the time of um jossiah it comes later on in the time of jihoyakim so three times nebuchadnezzar comes and takes away people as captive the very first time that nebuchadnezzar comes and attacks that is in 605 bc so when he comes for the first time he takes away jihoyakim the king and during that time he also takes away daniel okay so during the very first attack daniel the king jihoyakim and others are taken away the second time that nebuchadnezzar attacks that would be in 597 bc so the second time when he comes the king is now jihoyakim okay the first one was jihoyakim this is a jihoyakim so the second time he comes he takes away jihoyakim and this time he uh ezikil is also taken away as a slave the third time of course is in 586 bc so uh yeah these are just some details that we could very briefly go through uh from the book of chronicles so when we come back from the break uh we look at ezra and nehmaya all right yeah thank you