2 Kings 25:18-21 – Let's be responsible and faithful

In 2 Kings 25:8-17, we saw how Jerusalem was plundered and looted. The temple, palace, and houses, both great and small were set on fire and destroyed. Solomon’s temple which was so magnificently built was dismantled. The Babylonians took away much bronze smelted from the pillars of the temple, the bronze stands of the sea and etc were taken back to Babylon. On top of that, they also took with them all the ecclesiastical accessories of bronze, silver, and gold.  

Second Kings 25:18-21 tell us that the captain of the guard Nebuchadnezzar’s army took with chief priest Seraiah, the deputy priest Zephaniah, three temple officers, and some key officials of the city and brought them to King Nebuchadnezzar. Besides the priests and the three temple officers, Nebuzaradan also took some of Jerusalem’s key personnel of to the king of Babylon. Verse 19 enumerated them as “one official who was overseer of the men of war, five of the king’s advisers who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.” All these were brought to Nebuchadnezzar in Riblah and there had them struck down and killed. Fulfilling the word foretold o the nation, verse 21 said that Judah was brought into exile.

All that had happened to Jerusalem were not without a cause or reason. God had warned in Deuteronomy that if his people should break the covenant with Him, all these would overtake them. This was clearly stipulated in Deuteronomy 4:27. His warning was that "The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you.” However, God did not do it for fun. He did it to straighten them. Their experience was to get them to repent. In their exile, if they return to him, He promised to restore them. Deuteronomy 4:29-31 reads, “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.”    

What a glorious, merciful, and faithful God! The tragedy that had happened to Jerusalem was due to neglect. If every generation had made sure to pass down the warning faithfully, the neglect could have been avoided.  Somewhere along the line, the communication broke. And that led the subsequent generation to  have a careless disregard for God. Had every generation played their part responsibly, the rot could be averted. Herein is also a warning for us parents. If we failed to emphasize the importance of being faithful to God, the guilt and blood of our children will be on our hands. We need to teach our children to live responsibly and to cultivate a life of faithfulness toward God.  

 

2 Kings 25:8-17 – The devastating effect of sin

Sadly 2 Kings 25:8 onwards describe for us the demolition of Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon. The destruction took place in the 19^th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Nebuzaradan came to the holy city and razed it to the ground. Verses 9 said that he set fire to the house of the LORD - the temple, the house of the king - the palace,  all the houses of Jerusalem, both great and small, and burned and destroyed them all. The army of Babylon that was with Nebuzaradan broke the wall around Jerusalem and poured into the city. There they took everyone into exile in Babylon. Everyone left in the city, plus those who had deflected to the side of the king of Babylon, he took with him. But the poorest and insignificant people especially those who till the ground and took care of the vineyard he left behind.

The Babylonians did not only raze the temple, but they also looted all that was within. Second Kings 25:13-17 describe how the intricate work of Solomon’s temple which was wrought together with the help of skillful workmen of Hiram king of Tyre was destroyed. The army led by Nebuzaradan dismantled the bronze pillars, the sea, and its stands and took the bronze to Babylon. They also took away practically all the articles in the temple that were used for service with them to Babylon. The glorious structure of the temple and the vessels and even the last vestige that represented Solomon’s glory were all wiped out.

Jeremiah 52:17-23 describe the looting of the temple by the Babylonians in this way. Look at how Eugene Peterson paraphrased these verses. “The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze washstands, and the huge bronze basin (the Sea) that were in the Temple of God, and hauled the bronze off to Babylon. They also took the various bronze-crafted liturgical accessories, as well as the gold and silver censers and sprinkling bowls, used in the services of Temple worship. The king’s deputy didn’t miss a thing. He took every scrap of precious metal he could find.

The amount of bronze they got from the two pillars, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls that supported the Sea, and the ten washstands that Solomon had made for the Temple of God was enormous. They couldn’t weigh it all! Each pillar stood twenty-seven feet high with a circumference of eighteen feet. The pillars were hollow, the bronze a little less than an inch thick. Each pillar was topped with an ornate capital of bronze pomegranates and filigree, which added another seven and a half feet to its height.  There were ninety-six pomegranates evenly spaced—in all, a hundred pomegranates worked into the filigree.”

Sin has a devastating effect. It will make us pay more than what we can afford to pay.  Like leaven, only a little will bring about a huge consequence. No sin can be hidden for long because we are dealing with an all-seeing God.  Deal with sin immediately or it will bring the colossal damage we can ill afford.   Don’t trifle with sin, no matter how small it may seem!

2 Kings 25:1-7 – The great cost of disobedience

Second Kings 24:20 reveals that what Judah and Jerusalem were going through was due to the anger of the LORD, who would have them cast out of His presence.  We are also told that Zedekiah chose to rebel against the king of Babylon. In the previous siege, the more capable administrators were deported to Babylon. Those who were left behind did not have a good appreciation of the situation. They counseled Zedekiah to turn to Egypt for help in his rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar. This was something the Prophet Jeremiah had warned them not to do.

In Jeremiah 37:7-8, the prophet’s message from God to Zedekiah, who sent men to inquire of the prophet was: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come out for your assistance is going to return to its own land of Egypt.  The Chaldeans will also return and fight against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with fire.”  Jeremiah also told the king the word of the LORD saying, “Do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,’ for they will not go. For even if you had defeated the entire army of Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men left among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.”

Obviously, Zedekiah did not heed Jeremiah’s words. Both he and his people were steeped in their obstinacy. Second Chronicles 36:15-16 said that “The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people until there was no remedy. They left God with no option but to let loose the Babylonians against them.

What 2 Kings 25 describes was Nebuchadnezzar’s final siege of Jerusalem. The siege started in the 9^th year until the 11^th year of his reign. Verse 3 said that there was a famine that came upon them and there was no food in the land. Verse 4 said that the city was finally broken into, and all the men of war fled by night though the city was surrounded by the Chaldeans (The Babylonians). They escaped by the way of Arabah. Verse 6 implied that the king fled with his army, but he was overtaken by the pursuing Chaldeans in the plain of Jericho. With his capture, his army scattered from him. He was brought to the king of Babylon at Riblah to be dealt with. Cruelly, the Chaldean slaughtered all of Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. They also had his eyes gouged out Then they bonded him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.   

Zedekiah had an interesting conversation with the prophet in Jeremiah 38. In verse 20 Jeremiah literally pled with him to listen to the LORD. He pled with Zedekiah saying, “Please obey the LORD in what I am saying to you, that it may go well with you, and you may live.” What sound advice! Obedience is key to a believer’s well-being. Life’s painful experiences can be avoided by being obedient to the LORD. One thing we can be sure about being obedient is that it is less painful than regrets. Our greatest worship of God is best reflected in our total obedience to Him. Hear a wise counsel from Saint Augustine, “The cost of obedience is small compared to the cost of disobedience.”

2 Kings 24:17-20 – Live creditably to represent God

Mattaniah was the youngest of the sons of Josiah. His mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah (this Jeremiah was not the prophet who hailed from Anathoth). Second Kings 24:17 said that the king of Babylon i.e. Nebuchadnezzar made him the king of Judah in place of Jehoiachin his nephew. His name Mattaniah meaning “gift of God” was changed to Zedekiah meaning “Righteousness of God.” Whether it was Mattaniah or Zedekiah, both were great names. Unfortunately, he was far from being the person he was expected to be.   

Mattaniah or Zedekiah was 21 years old when he was made king and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. As wonderful as the meanings of his names were, he did not live up to them. Instead of demonstrating himself as God’s gift or the righteousness of God, 2 Kings 24:19 said he did evil in the sight of the LORD.

His attitude toward the LORD was exactly like that of his uncle Jehoiakim. Second Chronicles 36:12 said that “he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God; he did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the LORD.” In other words, he paid scant respect to God by not heeding the message from Jeremiah, His Prophet.

A person’s name reflects what his parent desires him to be. Josiah was probably humbled at the birth of Mattaniah, and he named him the “Gift of God.” But he was far from being the good gift his father expected him to be. Then Nebuchadnezzar renamed him Zedekiah, and he was also far from being the “Righteousness of God.” He would betray Nebuchadnezzar later and pivot to trust Egypt though he had sworn his allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar in the name of God (2 Chronicles 36:13).   

Ecclesiastes 7:1 said that “a good name is better than good ointment.” Here Solomon was talking about a person’s reputation. Both Mattaniah and Zedekiah are good names but the person who was named thus had a bad reputation. He would have been a disappointment to Josiah his godly father and to Nebuchadnezzar who made him king in place of Jehoiachin. Most of all he was a disappointment to the Lord his God for he did evil in His sight. Here’s the lesson for us: being identified with Christ and called a Christian, each of us should now live up to the reputation of being one. It is needful that we  live up to our calling as Christian and be a real one than just being one in name only. God expects us to be true to our calling. Hence, we must Live worthy of the name of Christ each day of our lives!   

2 Kings 24:10-16 – The importance of living to please God

Jerusalem was first besieged by Babylon during the reign of Jehoiakim. Daniel 1:1-6 said that it took place in the 3^rd year of his reign. In this siege, Daniel and his three friends and others plus many valuable treasures from the house of the LORD were carried to Babylon. 

In 2 Kings 24:10-16 we see the description of the second siege of Jerusalem by Babylon. This time Nebuchadnezzar personally came to the city. Verse 12 tells us that  “Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.”

Verse 13 explicitly said that Babylon again took “all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD.” This happened exactly as the LORD had said would happen. Nebuchadnezzar was said to have carried from Jerusalem “all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths.” Those he did not carry away with him to Babylon were the poorest people of the land. Second Kings 24:15-16 then enumerate the number of people whom he carried into exile in Babylon. Besides, Jehoiachin the king, the list included his mother, his wives and officials, the leading men of the best of the land, 7,000 men of valor, 1,000 craftsmen and smiths, and 1,000 strong men, who were fit for war.

The nation’s predicament was due to its failure to honor its covenant relationship with God. They fail to acknowledge the importance of God to their national survival. Without God, the Kingdom of Judah was powerless and was at the mercy of the foreign nations. First the Egyptians and now the Babylonians. The fact that they could even survive until now was because of God’s mercy. He was giving them the opportunity time and again to return to Him, but they squandered them all. We can see that while God was patient toward them, they persistently disregarded His patience till it wore thin. Second Chronicles 36:17 said that “they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people until there was no remedy.” We must not adopt the example of those Judean. Instead, let us seek to leave behind a model on how to live life to please God. Don’t leave behind a litany of failures that had incurred God’s displeasure. So we must live to please Him with a life of obedience.  

  

 

 

2 Kings 24:6-9 – For goodness’ sake live for God

Though 2 Kings 24:6 unceremoniously said that Jehoiakim died, it did not record how he died. But the Prophet Jeremiah had this to say about his death. In Jeremiah 22:19, the prophet said that “He (Jehoiakim) will be buried with a donkey’s burial, dragged off and thrown beyond the gates of Jerusalem.” Then again in Jeremiah 36:30, “Thus said the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah…his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.” His son Jehoiachin also referred to as Coniah in Jeremiah 22:24 and 28 and as Jeconiah in Jeremiah 29:2, became king in his place.

Unfortunately, Jehoiachin only had a very brief spell on the throne. During his reign, Babylon was the dominant nation. Egypt which his father relied upon was defeated by Babylon at the battle of Carchemish. Here in 2 Kings 24:7, the Bible declared that all Egypt’s belongings were taken over by Babylon and that Egypt did not come to Judah again. But Jehoiachin was not better than his father. Second Kings 24:9 woefully declares that “he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.” He was 18 years old when he became king and warmed the throne in Jerusalem only for three months.

Second Chronicles 36:10 said that King Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin with all the valuable articles of the house of the LORD to Babylon. In Jeremiah 22:28-30, God through the prophet indicted him saying:

“Is this man Coniah (Jehoiachin) a despised, shattered jar?
Or is he an undesirable vessel?
Why have he and his descendants been hurled out
And cast into a land that they had not known?
“O land, land, land,
Hear the word of the Lord!

 

“Thus says the Lord,

 

‘Write this man down childless,
A man who will not prosper in his days;
For no man of his descendants will prosper
Sitting on the throne of David
Or ruling again in Judah.’”

Jehoiachin was no better than any of the evil kings of Judah. In his place, the Babylonians installed his uncle Zedekiah as a puppet king to rule Judah and Jerusalem. His ending was no different from all the other kings of Judah who had been described as evil in the sight of God. In his life, again the lesson that none who chooses the path of evil can escape divine retribution is reinforced. Let his life be an example for us not to choose an evil path and go against God. Instead let us heed the call of Jesus in Matthew 5:16 to “let our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father who is in heaven.”

2 Kings 24:1-5 – Live right and prevent needless suffering

Second Kings 23:36 said that Jehoiakim ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. He was said to have been placed on the throne by Pharoah Neco and had been paying yearly tribute to Egypt. And being a vassal state of Egypt, Judah was unwittingly drawn into the conflict Egypt had at the battle of Carchemish. According to Jeremiah 46:2. this was a battle that Egypt eventually lost to Babylon in the 4th year of the reign of Jehoiakim.

But in the 3rd year of Jehoiakim’s reign, Daniel 1:1-6 tells us that “…Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.” We are also told that “The LORD gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.” This was the time that some of the better-educated youth from Judah, including the Prophet Daniel, were deported to Babylon.

Second Kings 24:1 tells us having served Babylon for three years, Jehoiakim rebelled. This could mean that he refused to pay the tribute due to them. From the book of Jeremiah, we understand that Jehoiakim was depending on Egypt to come to their support. This was something that the Prophet Jeremiah objected to vehemently. Although Nebuchadnezzar did not deal with the rebellion immediately, he allowed Judah’s border to be raided by “bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites.” We are told in 2 Kings 24:2-4 that this was the LORD’s doing. He allowed them to be attacked for the sins that the kings and the nation had committed against Him. Although Manasseh was explicitly mentioned, God was not punishing Judah only because of his sin. He was used as an illustration of the evil the nation had conducted against God. His was the worst of all the evil that kings had done against God. Besides re-introducing idolatry, he was totally licentious. He allows witchcraft, medium, and spiritism to flourish in the nation. He not only permitted sodomy but also allowed child sacrifice and made his son pass through the fire.

What Jehoiakim and Judah went through was more painful considering that they were preventable. They reached where they were due to neglect and carelessness. They had forgotten how to be faithful to their covenant God. It was not as if they did not have a merciful God even when they had fallen. All they needed was to return and repent. What they went through is a lesson for us. We must not forsake our faithful God. The assurance of Isaiah 59:1-2 is that the LORD’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor His ear so dull that it cannot hear. The cause for why God would not respond to our call would be our iniquities. It is the blockage between God and us and would cause His face to be hidden from us. If we persist in our sins, judgment becomes inevitable to get our attention. Let’s remember if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.

 

2 Kings 23:35-37 – We are personally accountable to God

Jehoahaz who succeeded Josiah was deposed by Pharoah Neco and taken to Egypt where he was imprisoned. It was there that he eventually died. Neco made his brother Eliakim, whose name was changed to Jehoiakim as a puppet king in his place. Jehoiakim became the king when he was 25 years old and reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years. He was to pay the demands of 100 talents of silver and one talent of gold by taxing the people of Judah. What’s gloomier was the refrain that was attached to Jehoiakim. Verse 37 said, “he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.”   

Jehoiakim was the brother of Jehoahaz. He was made king while his brother was languishing hopelessly in a prison in Egypt. If he was sensible, he should have sought God and lived a life aligned with Him. But he did not. To say that he did evil in the sight of the Lord like his fathers was to say that he persisted in defying God like his fathers. Though nothing much had been said about him here, the Prophet Jeremiah in his Jeremiah 22:13-17 denounced his evil. Simply put, he was not only an oppressive king but one whose interest was only for himself.  Here's how Jeremiah 22:18-19 said of his death, “Therefore thus says the Lord in regard to Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah...‘He will be buried with a donkey's burial, dragged off and thrown beyond the gates of Jerusalem.’”

Everyone is individually responsible for his or her own life. N0 one can rely on the deeds of someone else to gain God’s acceptance. Though Jehoiakim was the son of the good king, Josiah, he could not rely on the merit of his father to escape God’s judgment for his misdeeds. God evaluates his life based on what he had done. In the same way, God will evaluate our lives individually. He will assess each of us based on our own personal relationship with God. The Bible is clear that God has no grandson or granddaughter, He only has sons and daughters. In other words, all of us are individually responsible and accountable for our own lives and conduct.

2 Kings 23:31-33 – Dealing with our sinful propensity

In 2 Kings 23:29, we were told how Josiah died. He was shot by an archer while he tried to confront Pharoah Neco who was on the way to Carchemish to deal with the king of Assyria. So he was brought from Megiddo to Jerusalem by his servants where he died and was buried there. According to 2 Kings 23:31-33 his son, Jehoahaz succeeded him on the throne. Second Chronicles 36:1 tells us that it was the people of Judah who had  made him king in the place of Josiah his father.

Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he was made king and ruled in Jerusalem only for three months. Those months allowed Neco of Egypt to finish what he went to Carchemish to do. When he returned from dealing with the king of Assyria, he deposed Jehoahaz and even imposed a fine on Judah. He made them pay one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. He also made his brother Eliakim King over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Then they took Jehoahaz and imprisoned him in Riblah in the land of Hamath. We are told in 2 Chronicles 36:4 that Jehoahaz was brought to Egypt. Jehoahaz was not a good king. we don’t have to guess why it was so short. The clue is given in 2 Kings 23:32. It says that he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.  The main sin of his fathers was idolatry. We would not be wrong to say that he became idolatrous.

Sin is inherent in man’s fallen nature. No one is immune to its influence or its corruption. Both the best and the worst of us have fallen prey to it. Besides, it is always seeking an opportunity to reassert itself. But we are grateful that God did not leave us to find a solution to it by ourselves. He has provided His Son. Jesus Christ as a remedy to our sinful nature. Hence it is so good to know who we are in Christ. Second Corinthians says that we, believers are God’s new creation. The old has passed away and we are given a new start in life. In Christ and through the Holy Spirit resides in each of us, we are divinely enabled to deal with our old nature.  Always keep short accounts with God.  Pause periodically and often to take a reality check and align. Don’t be done in by blind spots. Love God with your whole being. Seek to be sensitive to Christ in our every waking moment. Learn to identify and discern the voice of the Spirit of God.  Be Word-centred, read it, study it, meditate and memorize it, obey and act on it, and we will grow in by it.      

     

 

2 Kings 23:28-30 - Lessons from a tragedy

Second Chronicles 35:20-27 have a more elaborate account surrounding Josiah’s death than 2 Kings 23:28-30. The latter passage merely said that he was killed by Pharoah Neco  in Megiddo. And his body was brought in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem, where he was buried. The people then took his son Jehoahaz and made him the king in his father’s place. Second Kings 23:23 implied that all the things Josiah had done, and much more were recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.

The passage in 2 Chronicles tells us that he went to confront Neco in the Battle of Carchemish. Apparently, Neco was not coming against Judah, he was hastening toward Carchemish by the River Euphrates to confront the king of Assyria. He was not coming to attack Judah but was only using  a quicker route to his destination through Megiddo. So he sent a warning to Josiah not to interfere with his mission saying that it was prompted by God. But Josiah would not listen though it was said that warning was from God. So he persisted in confronting Neco at Megiddo and was shot by an archer. Immediately his second servants brought him into the second chariot to Jerusalem where he died. So they had him buried with his forefathers in that city.  The whole of Judah mourned for him that even Jeremiah the prophet lamented his passing with a chant. The chant about Josiah was sung by the male and female singers in their lament. Second Chronicles 35:25 said that even made them an ordinance in Israel.

Unfortunately, Josiah was confronted with much turmoil in his reign in that region. His death was in a sense untimely. Even then there must be some lessons that we can glean from his tragedy. The passage in 2 Chronicles was clear that Neco was not coming to attack Judah, he was just using a shorter route to Carchemish. Even when warned not to interfere, Josiah persisted and was shot by an archer and asked to be carried away from the battlefront. Firstly, we learn from this incident that it is dangerous to meddle in other people’s strife. If only Josiah had minded his own business, he would not have met his untimely demise. So the first lesson is: don’t meddle in the strife of others, just concentrate on minding our God-given business. Don’t trouble trouble, till trouble troubles you. Secondly, we learn that though the words of warning came from Neco, the passage in Chronicles in verse 22 made it clear that the message was from God. So the second lesson is: in the thick of life circumstances, we need to learn to discern and hear from God above the fury and sound of those circumstances.  Bear in mind that good advice can come from people we least expect or like. And the third lesson is: we must not take life for granted. Death can strike at a time we least expect. We must live the best we know how and make every moment count for God.   

 

2 Kings 23:21-27 – Avoiding the wrath of God

On top of destroying the high places and also removing all the idols and Baal and Asherah, Josiah got rid of all the corrupt priests. Second Kings 23:21-27 then said that he reinstituted the Passover as it was recorded in the book of the covenant discovered in the temple. Sadly, this important event to commemorate God’s deliverance of Israel from bondage was totally forgotten, ignored, and disregarded. It was God Himself who in Exodus 12 instituted this memorial feast and instructed it to be celebrated yearly. The clear instruction in Exodus 12:14 was “Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generation, you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.” This important event was only neglected, it was totally forgotten.  Woefully, 2 Kings 23:22 said that the “Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah.” Now in the 18^th year of Josiah’s reign, it was observed to the Lord in Jerusalem.

Josiah also made another important move. He had all the mediums, the spiritists, the teraphim, the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem removed. Verse 24 said that he did it “…to confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.”  Josiah was the finest king that Israel and Judah ever had. Verse 25 said that among the kings of both north and south of the nation, no other king before or after him had turned to the Lord the way he did. He turned to the Lord “with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses.” What a passion for God? This is one thing worthy of our emulation.  

 

Despite all that he had done, the seething anger and wrath of the Lord were not abated. What Josiah had done could not avert God’s impending judgment for all the sins they had committed. Many of the kings especially Manasseh had severely provoked the wrath of God and it burnt fiercely against Judah.  So God declared in verse 27 saying, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”

It's a frightening thought to have God hardened His resolve against us. Not even a good king like Josiah and all that he had done could soothe God’s wrath against Judah. Here’s a warning that offending God will always exact a price, there is nothing we can do humanly to avoid it. Thankfully the Bible reveals that in Christ, God had graciously provided us a way out of His wrath.  Christ is our atoning sacrifice. It is true that there is no other way or any other name given under heaven by whom a person could be saved, except in the Lord Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is God's provided Passover lamb for the atonement of our sin. In Him and Him alone can the wrath of God against us be averted. Let us draw near to Him and gratefully live and love Him with our hearts, minds, souls, and might.        

 

2 Kings 23:4-20 – Be zealous for God

Josiah’s reform was extensive. He actively went about to right the offenses his predecessors had committed against the Lord. In 2 Kings 23:4, we are told that Josiah resorted to using the associate priests led by Hilkiah the one priest whom he could fully trust. This is a subtle indication of how corrupt the priesthood had become over the years. Josiah's reform shows a zeal for the Lord that was uncommon. And it all started when he heard the word of the book of the covenant discovered while repairing the temple. This tells us the extent a truly convicted person inspired by the Word of God could do.

Second Kings 23:4-20 describe how massive Josiah’s reform was. Simply put, he went about uncompromisingly destroying all the religious relics, and paraphernalia and removing the priests that were involved in idolatrous worship. From southern Judah  to northern Israel, Josiah carried out his reform. Then he even went to Bethel, the place Jeroboam installed one of the golden calves for worship. There verse 15 said that “… the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah.” There he spotted a monument built to honor godly prophets who came to Samaria to denounce the idolatry practice there, He ordered that their bones should not be disturbed.

What should inspire us was how energetic and zealous Josiah was for his covenant God. He was not only determined to reform the nation but was also thorough in his reform. What about us concerning the things of God. Are we as energetic, zealous, determined, and thorough? Let us be consumed with a zeal for God! For God's sake, don't live life nonchalantly 

2 Kings 23:1-3 – Don’t live life myopically

Second Kings 23:1-3 describe the response of King Josiah when it was reported to him what the prophetess Huldah had said. Apparently, he was not discouraged by the message at all. He clearly understood the heart of God. Instead of being despondent over what he had heard he intensified his resolve to reform the nation. Although the message explicitly said that the disaster would not occur in his lifetime, he was still concerned about what would happen to the nation. How unlike King Hezekiah was he! Second Kings 20:19 shows us a somewhat similar situation. The Prophet Isaiah had warned Hezekiah of a future judgment that would come upon Judah because of his pride. He had shown some envoys from Babylon all that the nation possessed. When warned that the nation would be carried into exile in Babylon in the distant future, Hezekiah was somewhat nonchalant. His thought and attitude were, “if it would not happen during my watch, it is alright with me.” What a myopic man!

In 2 Kings 23:1-3, we see how different Josiah was. Although he was told that the disaster that would happen to Judah would not occur in his lifetime, he took steps to reform the nation. He immediately summoned all the elders from Judah and Jerusalem. He also went up to the house of the Lord and called an assembly. All the men of Judah, all the inhabitants who dwell in Jerusalem with him, the priests, and the prophets, and all the people regardless of status came together at the temple. They came to hear the content of the book of the covenant made known to them. Josiah wanted them to know the basis of the reform he would undertake. So there at the gathering, the king and all the people renewed their commitment and covenant with the Lord. Verse 3 said, “The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.”

Josiah had shown himself to be an unselfish king. He could have said to himself since the disaster would not happen in my lifetime, why worry! But he obviously was not.   His primary concern was to get the nation in the right relationship with God and to walk obediently to all His instructions. His aim was to get them to amend their wrongs. He himself would set the pace for the change and get the reform going. What an attitude to emulate! Like Josiah, our concern must always be for God and His desire. We must seek to bring about the best attitude of people toward God. May the word of Paul in Philippians 2:3-4 shape our attitude towards God and one another. May it be that we will “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

2 Kings 22:14-20 – Being pliable in God’s hand

In total Judah had 19 kings and one queen who ruled over her. Josiah was the 16^th king. The fourteen kings and one Queen (Athaliah) who ruled before him were a mixed bag of good and bad ones. It must be said that there were more bad kings than there were good ones. Among the total of 19 kings and one queen, only eight of them were considered good. The last two before Josiah, namely  Manasseh and Ammon were deplorable. Both were described to have sabotaged Judah’s national relationship with God. Second Kings 21 shows us how bad these two were. So bad were they that when they died, they were not buried in the city of David but only in a garden.

For a long time, the book of the law was disregarded.  This was evident by the fact that it was hidden somewhere in the temple and only discovered by Hilkiah the priest during the repair of the temple. Had Josiah not commissioned the repair, the book of the law would be tucked somewhere unknown to the king or the nation.  This underscores their contempt for God. But then the book was found and read to Josiah. Immediately he commissioned a council to inquire of the LORD concerning the content of the book. He was affected by what was read to him, especially how they as a nation had lived with careless disregard for God’s instructions, evident by how they treated the book of the law. In how they treated God and His laws, they were an affront to Him and had kindled His wrath.    

In 2 Kings 22:14-20, the board of commission that the king had convened went about their inquiry. Verse 14 said that they consulted Huldah a prophetess. Though at this point they could have consulted more prominent prophets like Jeremiah, they did not. Instead, they consulted Huldah probably because of her immediate availability. For she was said to be living in Jerusalem and her husband was the keeper of the king's wardrobe. Verses 15-20  are the verdicts of Huldah.

Firstly, she highlighted the impending disaster God had installed for the nation for their waywardness.  Here precisely words in verses 16-17 were, “Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched.’” As a nation, their incorrigible conducts were insufferable making the impending disaster unavoidable.

Secondly, Huldah revealed that God had seen the penitent heart of Josiah. God had seen his tenderness and tears, and how he had humbled himself in contrition. He saw the moment he tore his clothes and wept and had heard what he said to Him. So God made a promise to Josiah that he would not experience the disaster during his reign. He would die peacefully, and the disaster would only happen after he had gone to his grave in peace. He would not live to experience the impending judgment. So Josiah’s board of commission brought the words of Huldah to the king.  

This passage affirms what Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” We must approach God with a tender and contrite heart. It will make us keenly sensitive to Him. We become more pliable in His hand. It is true that God will resist the proud but give grace to the humble.  Borrowing David’s words in Psalm 51:10., let us pray that God will create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us.

    

 

 

    

 

 

2 Kings 22:8-13 – The danger of neglecting God’s Word

Shaphan was like the Secretary of State of king Josiah. He was instructed to relay the king's desire for the repair of the temple to Hilkiah the priest. The latter was told how the fund collected by the gatekeepers of the house of the LORD was to be used for the repair of it. While repairing the temple, we learn in 2 Kings 22:8-10 that the priest found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. He then gave it to Shaphan, who read it. Verse 9 then said that Shaphan returned to report to the king how he had carried out his order and how the fund was delivered to the workmen. While reporting, he also made known to Josiah that Hilkiah had given him a book that was found while repairing the temple. Shaphan then had it read to the king.  

Second Kings 22:11 describes how moved Josiah was when the content of the book was read to him. When he heard what was written in the book “he tore his clothes.” What Josiah did was an indication that he realized how much the nation had failed the LORD. It revealed the careless disregard the priests and kings before him had for the LORD. They, the custodians of the law did not take care to rightly handle the LORD’s instructions. The priests who were supposed to teach it had obviously neglected their duties. Hence, the kings were oblivious of the instruction resulting in many of them conducting their lives deplorably towards their covenant God.

Josiah immediately commissioned an inquiry board comprising “Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah.” Their task outlined in verse 13 was: “Go, inquire of the LORD for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the LORD that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” The king realized how the whole nation had disobeyed God and incurred His wrath. Seeing how Josiah responded when the law was read to him, we guess that his intention was to make right where the nation had failed.

From this passage, we can see how convicting the Word of God can be when we approach them with a receptive heart. “The Law of the Lord,” according to Psalm 19:7, “is perfect reviving the soul.” And “All Scripture (the Word of God) says Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” The underpinning message of this passage is that we must not neglect the Word of God.  We neglect it at our own peril. But when we receive and obey it, there is no telling of how much we will be revived and used by the LORD. So do what Paul urges us in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”  

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 Kings 22:3-7 - Honoring God's dwelling place

Josiah became a king young and as a youth, he already had a deep hunger for God. So the first part of 2 Chronicles 34:3 said that “…in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David.” In the same verse, we are told that in the 12^th year of his reign he started religious reform. It was said that he “began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images.”

Since he began so early in life seeking the true God and removing false worship, we surmise that it was his desire to restore genuine worship in Judah.  Hence, it is not strange to read in 2 Kings 22:3-7 that in the 18^th year of his reign he started repairing the temple so that worship could be made central in the community. He got his scribe, Shaphan to the house of the Lord to speak to Hilkiah the priest.  The instruction was for the fund collected from the worshippers to be used for the repair of the temple.  Hilkiah was to count take the money collected by the doorkeeper and give it to the supervisors of the workmen of the temple. They in turn would give the money directly to the workmen who were responsible for the different tasks of repairing the temple. In other words, the funds were directly given to the carpenters, the builders, and the mason so that they could get the building materials for their job.  Josiah trusted the integrity of the workmen for they had dealt faithfully.   

 

Having removed the idols and cleansed the temple, the next important task was to have the broken parts of the temple rebuilt. That was what Josiah did.  In the same way, we who have turned our back on the world, need to build our relationship with God. Like Josiah, the place that we should start is the altar of our life where we honor and worship God. Hear what Paul has to say in 1  Corinthians 6:19. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? It matters how one treats his or her body for 1 Corinthians 6:20 tell us that a believer’s body belongs to God. We have been bought with a price: therefore we must glorify God in our bodies.

 

 

 

 

2 Kings 22:1-2 – Never too young to have a heart for God

Josiah coming to the throne was like a breath of fresh air after two evil and wicked kings who had led the people down the road of destruction. Second Kings 21: 24 tells us that he was made king by the people of the land after they had Ammon, his father’s assassins killed and removed. He was only eight years old when he ascended to the throne and ruled in Jerusalem for 31 years. His mother was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozketh. And we are told in 2 Kings 22:2 that “He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David, nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left.”

It is not difficult to imagine that many people he was called to lead were way beyond his age. He was just a kid when he was called into an assignment and it’s not an exaggeration to say that the expectation demanded of him was gargantuan for that age. We are not told what he did in the early days of his reign, but in 2 Chronicles 34:3, we are told that when he was young about 16 years old, he began to seek the God of his father David. This is exactly what the verse says. “For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David…” In other words, Josiah was seriously seeking God when he was a youth.

This tells us that age is not an issue when serving God. We can never be too young for God to use. Remember, David was a youth when God used him to kill Goliath. The more critical issue: does one have a heart for God. No youth should entertain doubts that God wants to use him or her to do great exploits if one's heart is tender toward Him. He can use anyone in a person’s growing years. What He is looking for is a heart that is entirely for Him.

We should never despise a young person seeking to serve the Lord in any leadership capacity. Here are two pieces of advice. The first is from Ecclesiastes 12:1 which says, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them.” The second is from the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:12. He said, “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.” Let us encourage our sons and daughters to factor God into their lives when they are young. It’s never too early to start them on the spiritual journey rightly. There is no telling of what great exploits God can use them to do.