I've had an opportunity in the last couple of days to spend some time up in the office catching up with some paperwork. This has enabled me to have the Old Testament scriptures being read on my computer while I am working. I have been listening to Kings and Chronicles and as you listen you can't help thinking that I've heard this before recently. There are a number of incidents that are covered in both books, often with a slightly different perspective. It would be interesting one day to try and create a parallel harmony of these 2 double books (perhaps with 1 and 2 Samuel as well) in the same way that you can get a harmony of the gospels.

However, that aside (and don't you find that it is so easy to get distracted and want to do another bit of research) what comes across again and again is how so many of the kings in both Judah and Israel blended a potent mixture of true worship and idol worship together (or at least thought that they could, as if hedging their bets). Some kings were just plain evil and routed out all the opportunities for worship and yet others saw the light and turfed out all the evil stuff and reestablished the role of worship in the temple as a king structured his kingdom around the book of the Law. And several times they started out well and got distracted at the end of their lives.

I suppose the reality is that nothing changes so we have no right to judge them , ultimately we all compromise in some way in our lives. However, the true king - the King of Kings - the Lord Jesus is the only one who is pure through and through. It is a good job that we are following Him. He will never let us down and we can absolutely guarentee that He won't fall at the last hurdle.