Small Group Guide

HOW TO BUILD GOD’S CHURCH

The Church at Brook Hills Matt Mason November 9, 2014 2 Kings 22-25

Use this resource as a tool to help Christ-followers move forward in their spiritual growth. To do this well requires that the Small Group Leader is building a relationship with the individuals in the small group and has identified where the people are in their relationship with God. Are they Christ-followers? Are they growing in Christ? If so, in what areas do they need to grow further? As disciple-makers, Small Group Leaders shepherd people to know the truth of Scripture, to understand why it matters, and to apply it to their lives. Small Group Leaders come alongside those whom they disciple to discover how loving God, loving each other, and loving those not yet in the Kingdom should shape how they live. The structure of this resource coincides with moving people from knowledge (Main Truth) to understanding (Why It Matters) to application (Now What Do We Do?). Utilize this Small Group Guide as a flexible teaching tool to inform your time together and not as a rigid task list.

GETTING STARTED

Before Small Group

Weekly Readings for November 10-16

2 Kings 23-25, 1 Chronicles 1-8, and Hebrews 5-11

Where We Are In The Story ~ Old Testament (2 Kings)

Background of 2 Kings: The events of 1 & 2 Kings covers a span of 400 years, and neither book name their author(s). 1 Kings picks up with Solomon’s ascent to the throne, which was approximately 970 B.C, and 2 Kings concludes with the description of King Jehoiachin’s thirty-seventh year in exile by the Babylonians, which would have been around 560 B.C. So 1 & 2 Kings would have been completed around this time. 2 Kings describes the events leading up to the Northern Kingdom’s exile by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. After the Northern Kingdom was taken captive, the question became whether or not Judah would learn from Israel, repent of their idolatry, and turn to the Lord, but 2 Kings records the fall of Judah to the Babylonian Empire in 586 B.C. Although Judah would return to the Promised Land seventy years after their exile, the Northern Kingdom never returned to the Promised Land after the Assyrian captivity.

This Week in 2 Kings: 2 Kings 23 continues with the reign of Josiah and describes the reforms he enacted after Hilkiah the high priest discovered a scroll in the temple containing the “Book of the Law” (22:8). Questions arise as to how such important content went missing in Israel as well as what portion of Scripture was contained on the discovered scroll. It likely included at least a portion of Deuteronomy, if not the entire Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy), and it is possible that, in an age before printing presses, other scrolls with the same content either were destroyed by wicked kings such as Manasseh or disintegrated over time. Yet God in His sovereignty safeguarded a scroll that would come to light in Josiah’s reign and lead to reforms in the nation. Such reforms included leading the people in a covenant renewal service (23:1-4) and destroying the high places and idolatrous worship sites in the land (23:5-20). As Josiah defiled the altars at these idolatrous sites with the bones from priestly graves, he fulfills the prophecy by the unnamed prophet in 1 Kings 13:1-10, which had been made over 300 years before this event.

Josiah also led the people in restoring the Passover celebration (23:21-27), and 2 Chronicles 35:18 clarifies that the country had not celebrated such a grand, lavish Passover since the days of Samuel. King Josiah even donated 30,000 of his own lambs and goats as well as 3,000 bulls to be used in the worship service. While we do not know the exact length of time that had lapsed between the previous Passover celebration and the one Josiah initiated, Hezekiah (Josiah’s great-grandfather) is the last king who ruled when a Passover celebration is mentioned (2 Chron. 30), but Josiah’s Passover follows the Law’s prescriptions more closely than Hezekiah’s Passover. Interestingly, Josiah does all of this after receiving the prophecy from Huldah that God would judge the nation for their idolatry (2 Kgs. 22:14-20). As Paul House states in his commentary on 1 and 2 Kings:

Josiah’s emphasis on the Passover is one more attempt on his part to take the covenant nation back to their roots. It is as if he believes the nation has a chance to survive if the people will return to basics like an emphasis on God’s Word, on covenant keeping, and on ceremonies that pass the faith from one generation to another. Despite Huldah’s prophetic message that predicts Judah’s doom, the king works to save the nation. In this way he acts like Moses, who serves God and Israel even after he knows that neither he nor his people will reach Canaan. Both leaders work to redeem the time and the remnant and to offer the witness that God is worth serving under any and all circumstances.

Because of its location, Israel got caught in the crosshairs of conflict as Egypt went to assist Assyria against the Babylonians, and as Josiah engaged Pharaoh Neco II of Egypt in Megiddo, the Egyptians killed him (23:28-35). The people named Josiah’s son Jehoahaz as their king, but he only reigned for three months before the Egyptians captured him and named Eliakim (a.k.a. Jehoiakim who was also a son of Josiah) as the puppet king who paid tribute to Pharaoh (23:31-35). Both Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim were evil kings, and within twenty-two years of Josiah’s death, Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar (the same king whom the prophet Daniel served) conquered the Assyrians and the Egyptians, establishing Babylon as the dominant world empire. When Babylon conquered Egypt, Judah transitioned from being a vassal state of Egypt to being a vassal state of the Babylonian Empire (23:36-24:1).

For whatever reason, Jehoiakim rebelled against the Babylonian Empire, and God sent judgment on Judah in the form of attacks from various nations (24:1-7). When Jehoiakim died, his son Jehoiachin assumed the throne and ruled for only three months before giving himself up as a prisoner to the Babylonians (24:8-12). This first deportation of Israelites by the Babylonians occurred in 597 B.C. and included the royal family, officials, military leaders, and Ezekiel the prophet. During this time, the Babylonians plundered the temple and put the vessels in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace, and they made Zedekiah (a.k.a. Mattaniah, another son of Josiah) the ruler over Judah (24:16-17). Because of Zedekiah’s rebellion, the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem for two years, which led to a famine so severe that the people became cannibalistic (Lam. 4:10), and the Babylonians burned Solomon’s temple and other parts of the city and its wall, raped many of the women, pillaged Jerusalem, and deported more of the people, leaving only the poorest of the land (25:12). All of this occurred by 586 B.C.

Although 2 Kings concludes with a depressing report of Judah’s defeat, exile, and judgment, it ends with a note of hope. Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, releases Jehoiachin from prison and included him in his government (25:27-30). Yes, the people of Judah were dispersed throughout the eastern Mediterranean world, but a king of Judah, a descendant of David, remained to perpetuate the Davidic line as God had promised (2 Sam. 7:7-17). Judah’s exile lasted seventy years with the people being allowed to return to Canaan in 538 B.C., and with this remnant, God starts over with the people of Israel. God judged His people for their sin as He promised, but He also planned to restore them. He disciplines because He is just and righteous but also because He is a God who loves His people (Heb. 12:5-11).

Where We Are In The Story ~ Old Testament (1 Chronicles)

Background of 1 Chronicles: Scholars do not know the identity of “the Chronicler” God used to write 1 and 2 Chronicles, but the content of the book suggests that it was written after the people of Judah returned to the land after the Babylonian captivity (see 2 Chron. 36:21-23), which means that the earliest possible date for these books is 538 B.C. Chronicles follows the reigns of the Davidic kings and provides a theological interpretation of the nation’s history, demonstrating that God’s plans for the nation had not failed. For this reason, it acts as more than a supplement to Samuel and Kings, for it addresses the theological questions of God’s people after returning from exile and provides insight into the character of God, worship that pleases Him, and His covenant with His people.

This Week in 1 Chronicles: 1 Chronicles 1-9 contains two distinct genealogies: Adam to Jacob (1:1-2:2) and the twelve tribes of Israel from their development to their return from exile (2:3-9:34). By starting with these genealogies, the Chronicler reminds the people of Israel of who they are as God’s people and how God formed them for His purpose. Before the creation of the first man, He chose them. He formed Adam, chose Noah, selected Abraham, and ordained the twelve tribes (the descendants of Jacob). Therefore, the genealogies provide a zoomed out view of the nation’s formation and identity.

Two tribes are omitted from the genealogies– the tribes of Dan and Zebulun, and three tribes receive an inordinate amount of description – Judah, Levi, and Benjamin. In 1 Chronicles 4, the Chronicler begins the genealogies of the twelve tribes with Judah, Jacob’s fourth son, instead of Reuben who was Jacob’s firstborn. As prophesied in Genesis 49, Judah’s descendants would be kings, and the Davidic kings including the Messiah came from the line of Judah, which is why it receives such prioritized attention. The genealogy of the tribe of Levi stands as the longest genealogy given by the Chronicler (6:1-80) and it is included in the middle of the tribal genealogies much as the tribe was also in the physical center of the camp during Israel’s wilderness years, with Levi encamped around the tabernacle and the other tribes encamped around Levi. As Richard Pratt notes in his commentary on 1 and 2 Chronicles, “The worship of the Lord and the servants of that worship were to be the focus of hope for the traveling Israelite community, and the Chronicler reflected this symbolism in his model of the post-exilic community by setting the genealogies of Levi in the center of his description of the sons of Israel.”

In between Judah and Levi, the Chronicler lists the tribe of Simeon then the tribes that existed east of the Jordan River – Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (4:24-5:26; see also Josh. 22), and between Levi and Benjamin, the Chronicler includes six brief sections on Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Asher (7:1-40). A short record of Benjamin is given in 1 Chronicles 7 with an extended version taking up 1 Chronicles 8, and the additional attention has to do with this being the tribe of Israel’s first king, Saul. Also, the tribe of Benjamin later became absorbed into Judah after the split of Israel and Judah, so the tribes of the Northern Kingdom are sandwiched by the two tribes of the Southern Kingdom in the Chronicler’s descriptions.

Interspersed in the genealogies of the tribes are remarks about covenant fidelity. Manasseh “broke faith” with God by worshipping false gods, which led to the Northern Kingdom’s exile by the Assyrians (5:23-26), and Judah was taken into exile by the Babylonians because of the people’s “breach of faith” (9:1). Even references such as the death of Judah’s son Er because of his wickedness point to God’s judgment of sin (2:3-4), and all of this reminds readers that God punishes the wicked and blesses the faithful (although such blessings are not always in the form of material things).

Where We Are In The Story ~ New Testament (Hebrews)

Background of Hebrews: Written by an unnamed author to second generation Christians (2:3; 4:2), Hebrews provides encouragement to believers to endure in their commitment to the gospel despite their persecution and to hold to the truth of God’s Word (2:1-4; 10:32-39; 13:7-9). This book was written more as a sermon to be read to the intended group of believers rather than a letter, which accounts for the lack of salutation that is included in all of the Pauline epistles. The title of the book does not necessarily mean that the intended audience was primarily Christian Jews, although that could have been the case. The author does presuppose that his intended audience has considerable familiarity with the Old Testament, for he exegetes the Old Testament in order to demonstrate the supremacy of Christ and how He fulfills the Old Testament.

This Week in Hebrews: Hebrews 5:1-6 builds on Hebrews 4 in showing how Jesus is the same as the Levitical high priests in that He was appointed by God for the role and that He’s human and can, therefore, identify personally with the weakness and suffering of those for whom He intercedes. But Hebrews 5-9 also touts that Jesus’ priesthood is greater than the Levitical priesthood because He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Being from the tribe of Judah, Jesus was not from the priestly tribe of Levi and therefore, could not function as a high priest according to Mosaic law. But God made Him a high priest “after the order of Melchizedek” who was the King of Salem (Jerusalem) mentioned in Genesis 14 (5:10). Melchizedek functioned as both king and priest, and because Scripture introduces him without reference to his lineage (7:1-3), comparison is made between him and Christ who has no beginning or end and who rules as king and priest forever. Because Melchizedek came before Moses and because argument can be made that “Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham” (7:4-10), the order of Melchizedek is considered superior to the Levitical priesthood (7:11-22).

Unlike the Levitical priests who die, Jesus is eternal (7:23-25); therefore, His priesthood is perpetual. It does not end. Unlike the Levitical priests who must first offer sacrifices for their own sins (7:26-28), Jesus has no need to do so because He is sinless; in fact, He offered Himself and became the sacrifice that pardons sinners. Unlike the Levitical priests who came about because of a divine command (Ex. 28:1), Jesus became a priest because of a divine oath (Ps. 110:4; Heb. 7:20-22, 28).

Jesus, our high priest, currently sits “at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in heaven” and serves in the “true tent” of worship established by God (8:1-2). The author of Hebrews shows that God originally intended to make two covenants (8:6-13), and the author describes how the tabernacle that was built during Moses’ lifetime followed the pattern of a greater tent (8:2-5). With this, it is important to note that the same pattern exists for the Garden of Eden, the tabernacle/temple, and the New Jerusalem (Gen. 2:4-14; Ex. 25-30, 36-40; Rev. 21-22). In the tabernacle, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and this only occurred once a year on the Day of Atonement when the high priest offered a sacrifice for the sins of the nation and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant (9:1-10; Lev. 16). But Christ’s blood supplanted the blood of any sacrificial animal, and by being both the high priest and the sacrifice, He mediates a new and greater covenant (9:11-28).

The author of Hebrews uses these descriptions to explain how the old covenant was never sufficient to “make perfect those who draw near” (10:1), for “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (10:4). The people of the Old Testament era were never saved by the guilt offerings, Passover celebrations, festivals, or the Law itself, for this would mean that salvation is by works rather than by grace. Hebrews 10:12 states that “when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,” which is a contrast to Levitical priests who never sat but always stood and served because their duties were never completed since sacrifices always had to be offered. But Christ’s sacrifice was perfect and final. As F.F. Bruce states in his commentary on Hebrews,

A seated priest is a guarantee of a finished work and an accepted sacrifice. The heavenly high priest has indeed a continual ministry to discharge on his people’s behalf at the Father’s right hand; but that is a ministry of intercession on the basis of the sacrifice presented and accepted once for all; it is not the constant or repeated offering of his sacrifice.

In reading so much doctrine, it can be easy to get caught up in the attainment of knowledge or, especially in Hebrews, the connections you make between the Old and New Testaments. But do not forget that such doctrine should lead to doxology and to duty in our lives. For example, what are the implications of Jesus being our high priest and how can this knowledge fuel our worship of Him? Think about the implications for our lives if Jesus was not our high priest. Praise Him for how He is fully human and, therefore, knows our weaknesses and our battle with temptation and can sympathize with our frailty (2:14-18; 4:14-5:4). Praise Him for being a perfect and sinless high priest who is eternal and is always interceding on our behalf (7:23-28; 10:11-15). Praise Him for providing unhindered access to God (4:16); we get the privilege of coming directly to God at any time because of Christ. Praise Him for securing our eternal redemption by the means of His own blood, being both our high priest and the sacrifice itself (7:25; 9:11-10:15). Praise Him for making our forgiveness and reconciliation with God even possible!