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May 5, 2025

Bible Survey: 2 Chronicles

by Jason Neill

Scripture reading: 2 Chronicles 6

The book of 2 Chronicles retells the story of Solomon and the history of the Southern Kingdom, Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem. Chapters 1–9 recount Solomon’s rise to the throne as king over a united Israel. A key chapter in this section is chapter 6, where Solomon first offers praise to the Lord (6:1–11) and then prays a powerful prayer of dedication for the Temple (6:12–42). Notably, Solomon’s prayer includes references to the Mosaic Covenant (see Deuteronomy 28), reminding the nation of their willing commitment to that covenant. By entering it, Israel acknowledged that God had the right to discipline them if they disobeyed His commands.

Chapters 10–36 shift focus entirely to Judah and its spiritual decline, though moments of revival are scattered throughout. The author devotes more attention to kings who led significant spiritual reforms, including Asa (14:1–16:14), Jehoshaphat (17:1–20:37), Hezekiah (29:1–32:33), and Josiah (34:1–35:27). The final chapters describe Judah’s downfall and the Babylonian invasion that led to the nation’s exile.

For a discussion of authorship and date, please refer to the blog post on 1 Chronicles.

Jesus in 2 Chronicles. In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the Temple in Jerusalem, which was a different structure from Solomon’s Temple—Solomon’s was destroyed in 586 B.C. Still, the significance of the Temple as the dwelling place of God’s presence remains central. Speaking to the religious leaders of his day, Jesus declared, “I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple!” (Matthew 12:6, NLT).

In Solomon’s Temple, God’s presence dwelled, but in Jesus, God’s presence was fully revealed—because Jesus was God in the flesh. Not everyone was able to experience the presence of God in the Temple; only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. In contrast, Jesus made the presence of God accessible to all who would come to Him in faith. He was not just a place where God’s presence visited, but the very embodiment of that presence. In this way, Jesus fulfills and surpasses the role the Temple once held.

Application. “For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without the Law to instruct them. But whenever they were in trouble and turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him out, they found him. During those dark times, it was not safe to travel. Problems troubled the people of every land. Nation fought against nation, and city against city, for God was troubling them with every kind of problem” (2 Chronicles 15:3–6, NLT).

The phrase that stood out to me in this passage was: “God was troubling them with every kind of problem.” Pain, it seems, can be one of the ways God gets our attention—jolting us out of complacency. We often live life on autopilot, going about our daily routines until some form of difficulty interrupts us. C. S. Lewis once wrote, “Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” It’s a striking reminder that pain has a purpose—it wakes us up, sharpens our focus, and redirects our hearts.

This doesn't mean that God delights in our suffering or is always the direct cause of it. But pain, perhaps more than anything else, has a unique way of capturing our attention. It humbles us. It reminds us of our vulnerability, our limitations, and our need for God. It drives us to prayer, to seek Him, and to re-center our lives around what truly matters.

Throughout Israel’s history, God sent prophets to urge the people to return to Him, but they often refused to listen. In many ways, we are not so different from them. And in those moments, God may allow hardship—not as punishment, but as a call to lift our eyes back to Him.