Reference links:
Old Testament
Jehoshaphat dies and his son Jehoram becomes king. That means that we have once again reached the series of names all of which start with ‘J’ or ‘A’. Sigh.
Jehoram’s reign only merits brief discussion in Kings. It does not even contain what sure seems like a rather important tidbit if it were true:
But when Jehoram had become solidly established as king, he killed all his brothers and some of the other leaders of Judah.
Both the author of Kings and the author of Chronicles find it worth mentioning that Jehoram married a daughter of Ahab (who was totally a bad influence). But apparently the author of Kings did not find these murders worth mentioning… unless they were made up by the author of Chronicles.
Jehoram comes to no good end. His kingdom is attacked, causing him to lose some territory and most of his family, and he dies of what my translation describes as a severe intestinal disease that caused his bowels to come out. Ewww.
After that the young Ahaziah briefly reigns as king. He is also evil and gets killed. His mother, Athaliah, kills the royal family and becomes ruler. Fortunately, Ahaziah’s nameless sister, saves Ahaziah’s infant son, Joash. Eventually, the priests hiding him declare him to be king and kill Athaliah.
Jehoiada the priest is pretty much running the show at this point and enacts a bunch of religious reforms. But the people are happy because it was an improvement over life under Athaliah.
New Testament
- Paul declares himself apostle to the gentiles.
- Extended analogy about grafting branches onto olive trees; point being that God can choose to use the rebellion of the descendants of Abraham to save the gentiles.
- All Israel will be saved, but their rebellion is what allows the gentiles to be saved.
- “God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.” Unclear whether this means everyone as individuals or everyone in the sense of people from all nations or something like that. Consistency with the potter analogy implies the later.
- Paul once again strings together verses from different parts of the Old Testament in a way which implies that were not separate. This seems especially deceptive when you realize he is writing for a largely gentile audience (i.e., not schooled in the Jewish scriptures).
Psalms and Proverbs
Nothing of particular note.