Prophets And Kings, Day 125. Jehoiachin King Of Judah

Prophets And Kings

Day 125

Jehoiachin King Of Judah

INTRODUCTION BY BELINDA
At Jehoiakim's death his son Jehoiachin becomes king.

"Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father had done." (2 Kings 24:8-9) Jehoiachin has a very short reign but even during that time he is wicked. The Lord said of him through the prophet Jeremiah, "'As surely as I live,' declares the Lord, 'even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would still pull you off." (Jeremiah 22:24) A signet ring was something a king never parted with. He sealed all his letters and official documents with it. Anything bearing the seal of the king carried all his authority. If he were parted with it, the bearer of the ring could use it with the same authority of the king. For example, Pharaoh gave Jacob's son Joseph his signet ring, meaning he trusted Joseph so much that he could give orders in the king's name. The Lord is so displeased with the character of Jehoiachin that even if he were the signet ring on the Lord's right hand, He would still pull the ring off and cast it from Him. 

The Lord is taking His protective hand off the king and off the nation of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has the Lord's permission to come and conquer them, taking them captive. "I will deliver you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear---Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and the Babylonians. I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country, and there you both will die. You will never come back to the land you long to return to.'" (Jeremiah 22:25-27) This prophecy comes true in our passage today, "At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it. Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his attendants, his nobles and his officials all surrendered to him. In the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner." (2 Kings 24:10-12) I can't help but wonder if the references to Jehoiachin's mother means she was a wicked person. We usually don't read much about a king's mother other than her name and where she was from, but in this case perhaps the Queen Mother was responsible for the godless heart of her son. 

The Lord declared through Jeremiah that Jehoiachin and his children would be cast out of the land and that he would never have a descendant to sit on the throne. (Jeremiah 22:28-30) This too comes true in today's passage because Nebuchadnezzar will appoint a ruler in Jerusalem: the uncle of Jehoiachin, the brother of his father. 

Nebuchadnezzar led at least three campaigns against Jerusalem and Judah before he completely conquered the nation. We saw yesterday he made an incursion against them during the reign of Jehoiakim, making King Jehoiakim his vassal until Jehoiakim rebelled against him. Jehoiakim was then either killed by the Babylonians or by his own people with his body thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem. Scholars are divided on this opinion but I tend to believe Jehoiakim's own people killed him and threw his body over the wall to distance themselves from his rebellion. The body was displayed so Nebuchadnezzar's troops could see the people had rejected their king and were setting up the king's son instead, a young man perhaps easier to control. If the people did kill their own king, it was likely to prevent Nebuchadnezzar from destroying them all for Jehoiakim's rebellion. The first campaign is the one in which many of the best and brightest of Judah were taken to Babylon, including Daniel and his friends Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego. 

Today we are reading about Nebuchadnezzar's second campaign. He takes the king and the royal family captive and plunders the temple of the Lord. He also takes captive everyone left in the land whom he considers useful to his kingdom.  "As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord. He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans---a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left." (2 Kings 24:13-14) The Lord warned the people in Jeremiah 7 that they were wrong to believe He would not let them be conquered because His temple was there. He said they had made His temple a den of robbers. He was rejecting both them and the house that bore His name because the people were so sinful, so idolatrous, so cruel and oppressive to their fellow man. 

After the second campaign of Nebuchadnezzar we never see the Ark of the Covenant again. But it is not mentioned in any Biblical list of the articles the Babylonians removed from the temple. It's my opinion that it was hidden when destruction seemed imminent. If Nebuchadnezzar cared not for the temple or the consecrated articles used in the services, he would not care for the Ark. It too would have been shattered or burned or even taken back to Babylon and presented to Nebuchadnezzar's gods. It would be bizarre for the men who wrote of the looting of the temple not to mention the loss of their most holy object. The authors take care to tell us what Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple and how he treated those objects. They even count the number of captives taken to Babylon. Would they not mourn the loss of the Ark if it too were captured? In addition, there is no Babylonian record of Nebuchadnezzar taking the Ark, something he would have bragged about had he done it. He may not have known of its existence and if he did he may not have been able to find it. The apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees makes the claim that the prophet Jeremiah hid it in a cave. Others believe it's hidden somewhere underneath the Temple Mount. We may never know and I believe it was God's will for this object to disappear from history. The people were beginning to think of Him as the gods of other nations: a God who lived in a temple or in a box and not the God who spoke all things into existence. They believed He would protect the temple for the sake of His honor and for the sake of the Ark, but He cared nothing about these objects or the sacrifices and offerings people were bringing out of obligation and not out of love and reverence for Him. God wanted their hearts, not their lip-service and their offerings given by the same hands that made offerings to false idols. It was for their own good He removed the temple and allowed the Ark to disappear. They needed to understand He was bigger than those things, bigger than the world, bigger than the universe itself.

"Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. He also took from Jerusalem to Babylon the king's mother, his wives, his officials and the prominent people of the land." (2 Kings 24:15) The author reiterates the horror of the loss of the royal family and the officials of the land.

"The king of Babylon also deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war, and a thousand skilled workers and artisans." (2 Kings 24:16) Only the very poor remain and they have no soldiers to defend them and no workers to help make repairs. The entire structure of their society, government, and economy is broken down.

"He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah." (2 Kings 24:17) We find the names of King Josiah's sons in 1 Chronicles 3:15. Zedekiah was the third son, listed by the Chronicler with the name Nebuchadnezzar gave him, not the name his father gave him.

Nebuchadnezzar leaves a ruler in the land whom he believes will remain subject to him, a man who will rule over a small and defeated people, one he feels will not dare rise up against him. Nebuchadnezzar will be wrong about that, for Zedekiah has a rebellious spirit toward his conqueror and toward God. Zedekiah will be the last king of Judah. 

Prophets And Kings, Day 124. Jehoiakim King Of Judah

Prophets And Kings

Day 124

Jehoiakim King Of Judah

INTRODUCTION BY BELINDA

Pharaoh Necho took King Jehoahaz captive to Egypt and put his older brother Eliakim in his place, whom he renamed Jehoiakim.

2 KINGS 24:1-7

"Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother's name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah." (2 Kings 23:36) When the author of 2nd Kings mentions the mothers of King Josiah's surviving sons, we will note that they were not all born of the same mother. In 1 Chronicles 3:15 we find a list of Josiah's sons: Johanan the firstborn (who is never mentioned again and is presumed to have died at an early age), Eliakim (renamed Jehoiakim) who we study today, Zedekiah (who will be king after Jehoiakim's son Jehoiachin), and Jehoahaz the youngest who was made king in his father's place but within three months was taken by Pharaoh to Egypt. (Jehoahaz is also known by the Chronicler and the book of Jeremiah as Shallum.) So we see that Josiah, though a godly man, practiced polygamy like David before him. And we know things didn't go so well in David's family. A man can't adequately raise children in multiple households. Rivalry occurs between wives and among children. All sorts of dysfunction occurs in the families of men in the Bible who had more than one wife because this was not God's best plan for marriage. Family dysfunction and the existence of a harem and several separate family units could help explain why Josiah's sons are not faithful to the Lord. They have not spent enough time in their father's presence being taught the ways of the Lord. 

The author says of Jehoiakim, "And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done." (2 Kings 23:37) Jehoiakim will reign longer than his brother before him but his kingdom will not enjoy the sovereignty or the peace that Josiah's kingdom enjoyed.

For a time Jehoiakim ruled only at the pleasure of Pharaoh Necho of Egypt as his vassal, forced to pay a heavy tribute to Egypt each year. The tribute was raised by levying heavy property taxation on the people of Judah which created a huge burden on the citizens. This was not a happy time in Judah. They are not truly a free people anymore. Their godly king Josiah whom they loved is dead and according to the book of Jeremiah they continue to mourn him, weeping for the good old days. As we studied yesterday, the Lord warned the people to stop weeping for their dead king and weep instead for the trouble that is coming. If they do not repent at the urging of the prophets many of them will perish also. Those who do not perish will be carried to a foreign land whose language they don't even speak. "I am bringing a distant nation against you---an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand." (Jeremiah 5:15) 

Egypt is currently at war with Babylon who has managed to remove Assyria from her status as a world power and is marching on toward domination of the entire area. During the time of Jehoiakim, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats Pharaoh Neco at Carchemish and Nebuchadnezzar comes and takes Jehoiakim in chains to Babylon for a short time before replacing him on the throne in Jerusalem as a subject of Babylon. After the king is restored to the throne, the prophet Jeremiah sends Baruch to read the word of the Lord aloud to the people at the temple. The officials are frightened when they hear the law, knowing the curses that will fall on them for not obeying it, and in their alarm they decide King Jehoiakim must see the scroll. He reads it and after he finishes each section he cuts it off and throws it in the fireplace. This is how little he reveres the word of the Lord, the word his father lived by. In addition he persecuted the prophets, attempting to have Jeremiah and Baruch killed, but the Lord hid them. Jehoiakim was responsible for the death of the prophet Urijah and possibly many others, for in the Scriptures the Lord condemns the cruelty and bloodshed of Jehoiakim. Had the king listened to any of the prophets and repented, I believe the Lord would have given Judah victory over Babylon and perhaps would have put off judgment during Jehoiakim's reign, but the king remained stubborn and unyielding, determined to reject the God of his father. 

He pays tribute to Babylon for several years until Egypt once again pushes back against Babylon and it briefly appears as though Egypt might gain the upper hand. Jehoiakim takes this opportunity to rebel against Babylon and regain Judah's sovereignty but he is not successful. "During Jehoiakim's reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he turned against Nebuchadnezzar and rebelled. The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by His servants the prophets." (2 Kings 24:1-2) The author makes certain we understand that this happens because it's the Lord's will, not because it's Nebuchadnezzar's will. 

It's the Lord's will to bring defeat on Judah because of her sins of idolatry and oppression and injustice. "Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord's command, in order to remove them from His presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive." (2 Kings 24:3-4) A few days ago we talked about Manasseh and how that he himself repented and was forgiven. It's the sinful practices he set in motion, which are still going on, that are not forgiven. During the first half of Manasseh's reign he had many prophets executed, prophets who, if they had been allowed to live, might by their sheer number have been able to convince the people of their sins and turn their hearts back to God. Jehoiakim has the same type of spirit Manasseh originally had, so opposed to the word of God that he wants to kill anyone who speaks of it. Jehoiakim is a ruthless king as Manasseh was before his conversion. Because sin was allowed to gain the upper hand during the years of Manasseh, many people did not truly convert during the reign of Josiah. They obeyed his laws and went to the temple and threw out their household idols, but as soon as ungodly kings reigned again, the people turned back to their old ways. The Lord is going to avenge the innocent blood shed on the streets of Jerusalem. He is going to restore the honor of His name which has been blasphemed and reviled. He is not willing to forgive the death of His prophets, men who stood for the truth even in the face of death, men who were willing to be martyred rather than renounce the name of their Lord. 

God is righteous. Every injustice will be judged someday. Every act of cruelty will be condemned. Innocent blood will be avenged. Sometimes on this earth it seems like justice is a long time coming. Sometimes it never comes. But we can rest in the assurance that there is a Judge sitting on an eternal throne who will face His enemies someday and He will enact the proper penalties. We see things in the news that break our hearts: abuse of children and dependent adults, horrifying neglect, murder of the innocent, the martyrdom of Christians in places of the world where allegiance to Christ carries a death sentence. No matter how many generations pass and whether or not any nation's justice system takes action, God will not forget the bloodshed of the innocent.

"As for the other events of Jehoiakim's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king." (2 Kings 24:5-6) The Bible doesn't specifically tell us about Jehoiakim's death but Jeremiah predicted that his body "will have the burial of a donkey--dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem". (Jeremiah 22:19) Some scholars believe the people of Jerusalem assassinated him and threw him over the wall. Others believe the raiders from Babylon and her allies killed him and threw his body out of the city.

Nebuchadnezzar has been successful in putting down the rebellion of Jehoiakim and the rebellion of Pharaoh, "The king of Egypt did not march out from his own country again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River." (2 Kings 24:7)

Judah is on a downward spiral. The prophet Isaiah predicted the rise of Babylon in a time when Assyria dominated the region, in a time when the rise of Babylon seemed impossible, in a time when it appeared the forces of Assyria, Egypt, Israel, and Judah would have easily been able to defeat anyone who came against them. But since Isaiah made his prophecies, Assyria conquered Israel and in turn has been downtrodden by Babylon. Egypt too is beaten down by Babylon and now Nebuchadnezzar crouches at Jerusalem's door. What God has foretold by His prophets, many of them martyred for their preaching, is coming true. We can trust a God who keeps His word, even when that word includes judgment. We can trust a God like this to right all our wrongs.

Prophets And Kings, Day 123. Jehoahaz King Of Judah

Prophets And Kings

Day 123

Jehoahaz King Of Judah

INTRODUCTION BY BELINDA
The people crown Jehoahaz, Josiah's youngest son, as king at the death of Josiah.

2 KINGS 23:31-35

"And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father." (2 Kings 23:30b) Jehoahaz was not Josiah's oldest son and we don't know whether this is the son Josiah would have chosen to succeed him. I think Josiah expected to live for many more years and may not yet have prepared any of his sons to become king. I tend to believe Jehoahaz never expected to be king but if he did, he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

"Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah." (2 Kings 23:31) The Jeremiah mentioned here is not the prophet Jeremiah because the Lord instructed him, "You must not marry and have sons and daughters in this place." (Jeremiah 16:2) Jeremiah was not to have a family because of the devastation coming upon Judah. Jeremiah was a contemporary of Josiah and his sons but he is not the father of Hamutal.

Josiah, for all his godliness and the wonderful examples he set, has raised a wicked son. The author tells us this about Jehoahaz, "He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done." (2 Kings 23:32) I always want to know why the sons of godly kings go astray. Jehoahaz would have been born when Josiah was only sixteen but that was the year we are told, "In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David." (2 Chronicles 34:3a) So there was no point during Jehoahaz's life when his father was not following the Lord. I don't believe we can blame Josiah for not bringing his son up in the faith. Hamutal's name and her father's name indicate they were Hebrews, but since many people of Judah had fallen into idolatry before Josiah made reforms, we don't know whether or not she was a follower of the Lord when she married Josiah. I doubt Josiah would have allowed his wife to teach their son any pagan practices even if her heart still clung to idols instead of to the Lord. 

I think it's possible neither Josiah nor his wife Hamutal did anything wrong in their upbringing of Jehoahaz but that instead he was the type of character David wrote about, "Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge people with equity? No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands meet out violence on the earth. Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies." (Psalm 58:1-3) In the past psychologists attempted to blame every behavior on upbringing and they were especially hard on mothers. But now we know that, in some cases, there are those who seem to go astray from the beginning no matter what their home environment is like. There are some who appear to feel no compassion even from toddlerhood and become career criminals or in some cases murderers and serial killers. We don't know why such things happen but upbringing doesn't look like it has anything to do with it. I think this could be the case with Jehoahaz.

One other possibility occurs to me though. Could Jehoahaz have been bitter toward God for allowing his father to die? He knew his father was a godly man who sought the Lord with his whole heart. He grew up watching his father set an example for the whole nation. He talked the talk and walked the walk. Jehoahaz knew Josiah was the real deal, a genuine follower of the Lord, in both national matters and personal matters. And yet, in his prime, at the height of his power, Josiah was struck down while doing what seemed right to him: defending the sovereign borders of Judah. Because Jehoahaz lacks spiritual discernment he is unable to see that this was God's mercy on his father. Judgment is at the door of Judah and the Lord kept his promise to remove Josiah from the scene before the awful destruction comes. It could be that, young and unprepared to lead a nation, Jehoahaz turns his back on the God of his father because he believes God didn't protect Josiah. He may have thought to himself, "What good was all the worship my father gave to the Lord? All the prayers and the offerings and the sacrifices? He is still dead in the tomb, cut down in the prime of his life. He might as well have served the gods of the nations instead. Maybe if he had served those gods instead of tearing down their altars they would have protected him. So I will cling instead to the gods of the Assyrians and the Egyptians and ally myself with them. Maybe they will protect me from the threat of Babylon."

If Jehoahaz ever thought any of those things, he was gravely mistaken. The Lord warned the nation through Jeremiah, "You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria." (Jeremiah 2:36b) Assyria has become too weak to give aid because she is under attack from Babylon. Egypt is no friend to Judah now that Josiah has opposed him and Josiah's youngest son has been unexpectedly brought to the throne. "Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold." (2 Kings 23:33) It's not as if the Lord didn't try to warn Jehoahaz. In the first half of Chapter 22 of the book of Jeremiah we find the Lord sending the prophet to the palace to urge Jehoahaz to turn back to the law of God, to sit on the throne of David and rule from it as David would. We learn from Chapter 22 that Jehoahaz was unjust and oppressive to the people, ruling greedily, concerned with making the palace finer and refusing to pay the laborers for their work. The Lord accuses Jehoahaz of not defending the poor and needy, of gaining wealth dishonestly, and shedding innocent blood. Jehoahaz manages to accomplish much evil in his three months as king, during which time the citizens are still mourning the death of the good king Josiah. The Lord tells them to stop weeping for him. Josiah is at peace with the Lord but trouble is on it's way to Judah. There will be much more to weep about in the coming days. "Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss; rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled, because he will never return nor see his native land again." (Jeremiah 22:10) Jehoahaz will never return to Judah after being taken captive by Pharaoh. And a time is coming when King Nebuchadnezzar will take many citizens of Judah captive and they too will not return. The Lord is saying, "Weep for yourselves, people of Judah. There's no need to weep for Josiah, a man who fought the good fight and is resting in My presence forever. Weep for yourselves because if you don't return to Me, I will cast you from this land and you will never see it again."

"Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died. Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments." (2 Kings 23:34-35) There doesn't seem to be any firm historical evidence regarding why Jehoahaz met Pharaoh at Riblah and was taken prisoner. Some think he may have attempted to oppose Pharaoh just as his father did. Others think Pharaoh summoned him there for a meeting on the pretense of making an alliance with him but instead intended to take him captive. After doing so, Pharaoh makes Jehoahaz's older brother Eliakim (now called Jehoiakim) king. Was Jehoiakim intended, as the older son, to have reigned after his father? Had he been Josiah's choice but the people took Jehoahaz and anointed him instead? There was a son older than Eliakim, named in 1 Chronicles 3:15 as Johanan, He may have died before his father did and therefore couldn't reign. There was another son between Jehoiakim and Jehoahaz named Zedekiah and we don't know why the people chose Jehoahaz over him. He will reign later for a time when Nebuchadnezzar sets him on the throne. But I would be willing to bet Jehoiakim considered himself the rightful king of Judah over Jehoahaz, being older than him. Pharaoh may have felt the same way. In putting Jehoiakim on the throne, Pharaoh now has a man who feels beholden to him. He has a puppet king who will pay all the tribute he asks. He has a king who is willing to subject himself to Egypt in order to sit on the throne. 

Necho changes Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim which means something quite similar. Eliakim means "God will develop" or "God will raise up". Jehoiakim means "Yaheweh will raise up" or "Yahweh will establish". Ancient kings often changed the names of those they conquered. It was a way to completely degrade and humiliate them. One commentary speculated that the Hebrew word "Yah" sounds similar to the Egyptian word "Aah" which stands for Egypt's moon-god and that Necho chose it for that purpose. There are even others who believe Necho insisted on a name change because he had conquered Eliakim but that he allowed Eliakim to choose his own name and so he chose one that meant the same as the original. Either way, it would seem that both Pharaoh and Eliakim are asserting that Eliakim should have been the successor to Josiah, that he is the one "raised up by Yahweh", that Yahweh has deposed his younger brother and put Eliakim in his place.

Sadly, Eliakim/Jehoiakim will be just as wicked as his younger brother, just as wicked as the kings of Judah before him who followed other gods. Because he does not turn to the Lord for help as the prophets are desperately urging him to do, during his reign King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon will invade the land and take him captive.

Prophets And Kings, Day 122. Josiah King Of Judah, Part 5

Prophets And Kings

Day 122

Josiah King Of Judah

Part 5

INTRODUCTION BY BELINDA
Today we conclude ours study of Josiah with the circumstances of his death.

2 KINGS 23:28-30a, 2 CHRONICLES 35:20-25
"As for the other events of Josiah's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria." (2 Kings 23:28-29a) The author of 2nd Kings points us to the book of Chronicles for further details, "After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle." (2 Chronicles 35:20)

The Bible doesn't tell us why Josiah opposed Pharaoh Necho but many scholars assume it was because Pharaoh's army had to pass through Josiah's territory, evidenced by the fact that the author of 2nd Kings will say that Josiah faced him in Megiddo. At this time the power of Assyria was quickly fading as Babylon rose in greatness. Babylon and her allies had already conquered the Assyrian capitol of Nineveh as predicted by the prophet Nahum, "The Lord has given a command concerning you, Nineveh: 'You will have no descendants to bear your name. I will destroy the images and idols that are in the temple of your gods. I will prepare your grave, for you are vile.'" (Nahum 1:14) "An attacker advances against you, Nineveh. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal your strength!" (Nahum 2:1) The prophet goes on to describe the troops coming against Nineveh, how mighty they are, how frightful in appearance, and the Lord decrees, "The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses." (Nahum 2:6) The Lord lists the charges against that wicked city: the idolatry, the injustice, the cruelty. And He assures Nineveh that nobody will be sorry to see her fall, "Nothing can heal you; your wound is fatal. All who hear the news about you clap their hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty." (Nahum 3:19)

Pharaoh Necho has just recently come to the throne. During the time of his father, Egypt threw off the shackles of Assyria and refused to pay tribute to her. But Necho probably allied himself with Assyria because he considered Babylon a greater threat to his national security. As the saying goes, "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't." He would rather become subject to Assyria again than be conquered by Babylon, a nation that seems intent on dominating the entire region. If the nation of Assyria falls, Babylon will sweep in to take over and there will be no stopping them.

So why did Josiah attempt to stop Necho's army from crossing his territory to assist Assyria? Maybe because in Josiah's day Judah was no longer subject to Assyria and he didn't want to become entangled with her again. If Assyria and Egypt are successful in pushing Babylon back, Assyria may again become powerful enough to oppress her neighbors. It could be Josiah relished the thought of Assyria's fall, for the Lord said through Nahum that everyone around Nineveh had felt her endless cruelty. Maybe, as king, he would have opposed any army that came through his territory. It's not as if Necho asked his permission. Suddenly a huge army appears and perhaps Josiah doesn't know if they come in peace or if he can trust their excuse for passing through. For all he knows, Egypt and Assyria may turn and attack him after they push Babylon back. In the time of his forefather Hezekiah, Judah was allied with Babylon and Josiah may feel some loyalty to that nation. Or maybe he feels safe in refusing entrance to Pharaoh because the prophetess Huldah had assured him he would die in peace, without Judah being at war, and he believed turning Necho away would bring no harm to him. He's only thirty-nine years old when this event occurs and likely expects to reign for many more years. He has been ruling the nation according to the word of God, doing what is right in God's eyes, and he has no reason to believe he's doing wrong in insisting Necho respect his borders and keep Judah out of the conflict with Babylon.

"But Necho sent messengers to him, saying, 'What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or He will destroy you.'" (2 Chronicles 35:21) Necho says, "You and I are not enemies so why are you refusing to let my army through? I have nothing against you. My troops are not there to attack you. I am at war with the enemy of my ally Assyria. In addition, God Himself has told me to attack Babylon and you are standing in the way of God's will by opposing me." Necho claims to have received battle orders from God Himself but there's no reason for Josiah to believe God would speak to a pagan king. If God were going to give orders to a king, wouldn't He give them instead to a godly king like Josiah? Wouldn't He have instructed Josiah ahead of time to let the Egyptian troops through? I can't blame him for not believing Necho. Necho isn't the first king to assert he's acting on God's orders. Remember when King Sennaccherib came against Judah in the days of Hezekiah and claimed to be there on God's orders, saying God had turned against Judah and wanted her destroyed? We know that the Lord supernaturally delivered Judah from Sennacherib's army, so we know Sennacherib lied when he boasted of God's blessing on his attack. Josiah assumes Pharaoh is lying as well, invoking the name of the God of Israel in order to obtain Josiah's cooperation.

So did the Lord tell Pharaoh to help Assyria fight against Babylon? We can't know for certain. Some scholars believe it was God's will for Egypt to ally herself with Assyria against Babylon because it was His will for Babylon to become such a great nation that she will be able to carry Judah away as predicted by the prophets. Babylon will become stronger than either Assyria or Egypt and will be able to defeat them and march on to Judah. The Lord has already condemned Judah to captivity for her idolatry and He intends to use Babylon to carry the sentence out. He is going to first allow Egypt to gain control over Judah after Josiah's death and then Babylon will invade the nation at the end of our study of Kings.

Josiah does not listen to Pharaoh when he boasts he is passing through on God's orders. Josiah has been criticized for not seeking God's instruction in this matter. I can't say whether or not Josiah sought advice but I tend to believe that things turn out here in Chapter 23 exactly as God intended them to turn out. We can safely assume the Lord intended to bring about the death of Josiah before judgment falls on Judah because He has already assured Josiah that it won't happen in his lifetime. And we will see in the coming days that Judah's fall is coming swiftly. The time to take Josiah on to heaven is now and I believe if it had not happened in battle it would have happened some other way at around this same time. God intends to remove Josiah from the scene before bitter troubles come upon the nation. "Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Necho had said at God's command but went to fight him on the plain at Megiddo." (2 Chronicles 35:22) The Chronicler seems to be saying that Necho really was there on God's command and one commentary I studied states that God probably intended for Josiah to oppose Pharaoh in order to delay Pharaoh's army from reaching Assyria in time to prevent Babylon from conquering the Assyrian territory of Haran. It was God's will for Babylon to become the great force she became because He intends to use her as the instrument of Judah's discipline.

"Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, 'Take me away; I am badly wounded.' So they took him out of his chariot, put him in his other chariot and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him." (2 Chronicles 35:23-24) The author of 2nd Kings puts it like this, "King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo. Josiah's servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb." (2 Kings 23:29b-30a) This is not a contradiction of the Scriptures because the Hebrew word translated here as "body" (or in some versions translated as "dead body") can also be translated as "dying body". Josiah received a mortal wound in battle and he knew it. His life was slipping away as the chariot raced toward Jerusalem but he didn't breathe his last until he arrived there.

Josiah was promised by the Lord through the prophetess Huldah that, "I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place." (2 Kings 22:20) The peace the Lord promised him wasn't the peace of living a life without conflict. It wasn't even the peace that assured him he wouldn't die of battle wounds. It was a promise that the downfall of Judah would not occur in his lifetime. The curses that would fall on Judah for breaking God's laws wouldn't be poured out on her while Josiah reigned. I can't say whether or not Josiah was in God's will when he opposed Pharaoh. It's quite possible if he had not that he would have died peacefully in his own bed of natural illness. But either way, the Lord intended to take Josiah home before disaster fell on Judah and the Lord keeps His promise. Judgment is running toward Judah on swift feet and the Lord is not going to hold it back. The time to gather Josiah to his ancestors is now and the Lord is faithful to His word. Josiah will never have to see the fall of the nation he loved and tried to rescue from her idolatry. Josiah has done all that is humanly possible to turn the hearts of his people back to her God.

Josiah was such a good king that, "Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers commemorate Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the laments." (2 Chronicles 35:25)

As we said yesterday, the words the Apostle Paul spoke of himself in 2 Timothy 4:7 can also be applied to King Josiah. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." Josiah fought the good fight. He died with his boots on, bravely defending his nation against an arrogant Pharaoh who believed he could disregard the sovereignty of Judah and march through her borders without permission from her king. He has fought the good fight like a soldier of God. Josiah has finished the race today, dying of his wound, being mourned by his people, given the full honors he deserves for ruling Judah by the righteous laws of God. He has kept the faith. From a very young age Josiah sought to know the Lord and he spent his life growing in the knowledge of his Redeemer. We mourn the loss of his life but at the same time we rejoice knowing that as he breathed his last on this earth he entered the eternal presence of his Lord, forever to behold the One he served. Another verse spoken by the Apostle Paul can also be applied to King Josiah, for after Paul spoke of having fought the good fight, having finished the race, and having kept the faith, he said, "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness."

Rest in peace, King Josiah, soldier of God.

Below is a link to a gospel song that always inspires me to fight the good fight, to go out with my boots on, to be a faithful soldier of God.
I'm Going To Die On The Battlefield

Prophets And Kings, Day 121. Josiah King Of Judah, Part 4

Prophets And Kings

Day 121

Josiah King Of Judah

Part 4

INTRODUCTION BY BELINDA
Josiah celebrates Passover, which had not been celebrated for quite some time. And he continues his campaign to rid the land of all idols. But we find out that the revival in Judah will be temporary, lasting only as long as Josiah is on the throne, and the Lord still intends to let Judah go into captivity.

2 KINGS 23:21-27

Josiah has just finished ridding the land of idols and has taken everything out of the temple that desecrated it. Now, in his eighteenth year as king, at the age of twenty-six, he celebrates Passover. "The king gave this order to all the people: 'Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.' Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem." (2 Kings 23:21-23) The Chronicler puts it like this, "The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem." (2 Chronicles 35:18) Josiah is so exuberant in the faith that even the remnant left in the northern kingdom of Israel celebrates Passover with him. Not since the prophet Samuel stood before the people had a Passover been celebrated so enthusiastically. 

"Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord." (2 Kings 23:24) Josiah is obedient to the word of the Lord from the book of Deuteronomy which says, "When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God." (Deuteronomy 18:9-13) 

The Lord drove out the people of Canaan for the sins listed above and planted Israel in the land. It was His intention for Israel to completely expel the Canaanite tribes from the territory but they failed to fully carry out His instructions. So they ended up socializing with them, intermarrying with them, having business dealings with them. And eventually many in Israel were corrupted by them. They were seduced by the very practices that caused the Lord's anger to burn against the Canaanites. It's easy for us, in our times, to shake our heads and wonder what God's people were thinking when they adopted pagan religions. If these practices enraged the Lord against the Canaanites, would they not also enrage Him against the twelve tribes of Israel? Is He not also able to pluck Israel from the land? But throughout history and on up into our times, there has always been a pressure to conform to the ways of the world. There has always been a spirit of antichrist which persecutes the faithful, which mocks those who obey the Lord, which puts down the word of God as outdated and irrelevant. We all have to continually swim against the stream in order to live godly lives but thanks be to our Lord, He is able to give us that strength. If He were not able to help us stand firm He wouldn't say in the Scriptures, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2a) Our Lord is able to daily renew our minds and refresh our spirits.

"Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did---with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with the Law of Moses." (2 Kings 23:25) Josiah obeys what the Lord Jesus said is the greatest commandment of all, "Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question: 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.'" (Matthew 22:34-37) Jesus quoted the Law that Moses read in Deuteronomy 6:5, when Moses was instructing the people and cautioning them to, "be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." (Deuteronomy 6:12) Josiah knows the people did forget the Lord. He knows the Lord has pronounced a curse on Judah for her disobedience. It could be he hopes all the reforms and the resulting revival will last and the Lord's wrath will turn away. Or it could be, as we said yesterday, he suspects Judah will fall back into idolatry but he doesn't intend to let it happen while he sits on the throne. As king, he is the spiritual leader of the nation, and he sets a godly example like no king before him, not even David. David loved the Lord with all his heart, soul, and mind but he had some weaknesses of the flesh that we are not told Josiah had. As far as we know, there was no sin in Josiah's life that could compare to the sins of David's life.

"Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of His fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse His anger. So the Lord said, 'I will remove Judah also from My presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, 'My name shall be there.'" (2 Kings 23:26-27) We know that Manasseh repented somewhere in the second half of his reign after the Lord humbled him by allowing him to be taken captive by Assyria. Manasseh attempted to undo all he had done against the Lord in Judah. But a great deal of damage was already done that couldn't be undone. As king, like Josiah he should have been the spiritual leader of the nation, setting the example for everyone to follow. Instead, for a good part of his reign, he worshiped everyone and everything except the one true God, the God who brought them out of Egypt and settled them in the promised land. He turned the temple into a brothel, filling it with prostitutes who served the fertility goddess Asherah. He set up idols in the courtyard of Almighty God, useless idols incapable of hearing a prayer or bringing deliverance. And if all this blasphemy weren't enough, he cared so little for his own flesh and blood that he burned at least one of his children, and possibly more than one according to the Chronicler, to the detestable and unspeakable pagan god Molech. Manasseh was almost as bad an influence on the people as Satan himself and his repentance appears to have been too little too late to change the hearts of the people or even the heart of his son and successor Amon. This is the environment most of the generations alive during the time of Josiah grew up in. And though while Josiah lived and enforced the law of God they experienced a turning back to the truth, something in their hearts longed for the old ways of sin. Something in them was not fully committed to the God who had always been fully committed to them. 

The Scriptures are not saying that the Lord didn't forgive Manasseh. I believe Manasseh truly repented of all his sins. I believe he was saved by grace through faith. The Bible tells us he humbled himself greatly and the Lord heard him. His actions after repentance prove to us that his conversion was real. The Lord forgave Manasseh. The Scriptures tell us the Lord's anger burned against Judah because of what Manasseh had done, because the sins Manasseh set in motion are still ongoing in Judah. The people's hearts yearn for their fertility shrines and for the household gods and for the practices of divination. Their carnal natures don't want to let go of the things they enjoyed during the idolatrous years of wicked kings. The sex cults appeal to the flesh, to a longing to belong to a society where anything goes and faithfulness to a spouse is unimportant because the orgies serve their goddess. The witchcraft and spiritism and seances appeal to a wrong type of spirit in them, a spirit that wants to speak to the dead and learn the future instead of consulting the word of God. The appeal that the horrifying cult of Molech held for them tells us something was desperately wrong with them at the very core, that they would have so little regard for innocent life, for the lives of their very flesh and blood. Manasseh was indeed forgiven by God but these ongoing sins against Him are not forgiven because a majority of the nation does not really repent. Many are giving nothing but lip-service to God. They are going with the flow so long as Josiah reigns and makes it illegal to possess idols. They are obeying the law of the king but in their hearts they are not obeying the law of the Lord. We know this because the Lord said to the prophet Isaiah, "These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is based on merely human rules they have been taught." (Isaiah 29:13) 

Josiah does all he can possibly do during his life to save Judah from a terrible fate but none of us is capable of changing another person's heart. All he could do was live out his faith in the sight of the people and make the law of the Lord the law of the land. That's all any of us can do. We are called to live as Christ would have us live, loving God and our fellow man, setting an example to follow. But we can't make anybody follow the Lord. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. At one point I was consumed with the desire to make somebody's heart change until the Lord made it clear to me that it took the Holy Spirit to change my own heart. Why did I think I had the power to change someone else if I hadn't been able to change myself? When the Lord drove this point home to me, it was a huge relief. It was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. We are called to be the light of the world, to live for Christ in the sight of our fellow man, to intercede in prayer for them, and to share the gospel with them. The rest is up to God. He will plead with people's hearts but they still retain the ability to refuse Him. He won't force anyone to accept Him. Josiah fulfilled his duties in the Lord but he knew he couldn't change people's hearts. He knew, because the prophetess had said so, that a time of judgment was coming upon the nation sometime in the future. He knew this would happen because, even though the Lord pleaded with His people for hundreds of years, many would refuse to hear Him. But it can never be said of this king that he failed. It can never be said of him that he didn't share the word of God with the people or that he didn't live a godly life before them or that he didn't make clear what their God expected of them. Like the Apostle Paul, Josiah fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7) That's all each of us can do. That's all our God requires of us. That simple statement is the statement of a life well-lived. 

Prophets And Kings, Day 120. Josiah King Of Judah, Part 3

Prophets And Kings

Day 120

Josiah King Of Judah

Part 3

INTRODUCTION

The king has heard the message of the Lord from the prophetess Huldah about the future destruction of Judah. He also knows the Lord won't bring it about in his lifetime. Josiah doesn't let this message discourage him about Judah or make him lazy about his own spiritual life.

2 KINGS 23:1-20

"Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets---all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord---to follow the Lord and keep His commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant." (2 Kings 23:1-3) It was customary for a priest to read the covenant before the king and the people, then the king would pledge himself to the covenant, after which the people would pledge themselves to the covenant. But Josiah is likely the most godly man in Judah at this time, more so than the priests, and in a sense he is a Moses-type figure to them. Moses read the covenant for the first time to the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy because he served as an intermediary between God and the people during all those years in the wilderness. Josiah too is serving as an intermediary. 

Also I believe the word of the Lord burns in Josiah's heart and he reads it with such emotion that the nation is moved by his faith. No other man in Judah could have read it to them with as much power of the Spirit. And so all the people, stricken to the core by the word of the Lord and their awareness of guilt, turn from their sins and pledge themselves to the Lord's covenant. The Chronicler tells us, "As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors." (2 Chronicles 34:33b) The sincere faith of Josiah inspires the people to stay true to their God during the king's lifetime. 

"The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem---those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and all the starry hosts. He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah." (2 Kings 23:4-7) When we looked at portions of 2nd Chronicles a couple days ago we saw some of these things mentioned in regard to Josiah's reforms. We see that even the temple of the Lord had been turned into a house of sin before Josiah came to the throne. There was prostitution going on in the house dedicated to the Lord. It's hard to imagine anything more blasphemous than that. Josiah puts all these things out of the temple and out of the land. He even spreads the ashes over graves in the valley in order to desecrate the ashes so no one will scoop them back up for further use. Such things ought to have made the people realize there is no god but the God of Israel. If Baal were a god, could he not prevent his altar from being torn down? If Ahserah were a goddess, could she not keep her idol intact? The fact that Josiah is able to grind these false gods to powder should have been proof that they were not gods at all, yet after his death the people will turn once again to useless idols.

"Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests." (2 Kings 23:8-9) The gateway is where legal cases were heard and even that had been defiled by idol worship. Cases were being ruled on according to whatever the judges felt the gods were saying to them, not according to the rules set forth by God.

"He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molech. He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun." (2 Kings 23:10-11) The Assyrians used horse and chariot imagery in their sun cults.

"He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption---the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the people of Ammon. Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones." (2 Kings 23:12-14) The author reminds us that it was Solomon, son of the godly King David, who first introduced these unholy altars to Israel. Solomon wanted to please his foreign wives and did not require them to convert to his own religion but instead built altars and shrines and idols for them to keep on worshiping their own gods. We find it hard to imagine a man like David producing a son who would do such a thing, but Josiah himself will produce a wicked son. This leads me to wonder whether some in the nation were following their king more than they were following their God. Maybe they lost a sense of security when the king died because they trusted in him more than in the Lord. Without strong leadership and a godly example on the throne, things tended to fall apart.

"Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin---even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things." (2 Kings 23:15-16) This fulfills the prophecy of 1 Kings 13 when Jeroboam was sacrificing on the altar and an unnamed prophet came and pronounced a curse against the altar, stating that a man named Josiah would be born to the house of David who would defile the altar by burning bones on it.

"The king asked, 'What is that tombstone I see?' The people of the city said, 'It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.' 'Leave it alone,' he said. 'Don't let anyone disturb his bones.' So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria." (2 Kings 23:17-18) In 1 Kings 13 the unnamed prophet went home with an elderly unnamed prophet to eat, an elderly prophet who was no longer receiving messages from the Lord because he had become discouraged by idolatry and had given up. The Lord had told the younger prophet not to return to the city but he disobeyed the Lord by eating with the older prophet and he died the same day. The old prophet had the other prophet's body placed in his own tomb. When the old prophet later died he was buried in the same tomb with the other man. These are the men who are spoken of in this passage. Their bones were left undisturbed because they were prophets of God, even though both had made mistakes. 

"Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord's anger. Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem." (2 Kings 23:19-20) Josiah is able to do these things in the northern territory of Israel because the people have been conquered by Assyria and taken captive. There is nothing but a remnant of Israelites left in the land. The king of Assyria settled Israel with subjects loyal to him but they are either too weak to prevent Josiah's actions or they care nothing for Canaanite gods or the priests who serve at their altars. 

Josiah's zeal for the Lord reminds me of these words written by David, "the zeal of Your house consumes me". (Psalm 69:9a) David's words were later attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ by the Apostle John when Jesus cleansed the temple of the money changers and the sellers of sacrificial animals in the temple courts. "His disciples remembered that it was written: 'Zeal for Your house will consume Me.'" (John 2:17) The zeal for the Lord's house consumed Josiah. He knows what the Lord has said through the prophetess but it may be he hoped to turn judgment away from Judah if the people all turned back to God and stayed true to Him. And if they had done so, I think the Lord would have had mercy on them, but their revival was temporary. Either way, Josiah doesn't intend for these ungodly things to happen on his watch, not while he is king of Judah. He is saying, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15b)

We can't control what children do once they grow up and leave our households. We can't control what our descendants do after we are gone. Neither could Josiah. But he could control what happened in his household and in his kingdom while he lived and so he endeavored to set the best example possible. The generations alive during his reign could never claim they never heard the words of the Lord and didn't know the right way to live. Josiah both read the word to them and lived it out in their sight. That's all we can do while we are here. So let's be like Josiah, striving to be the best example possible.

Prophets And Kings, Day 119. Josiah King Of Judah, Part 2

Prophets And Kings

Day 119

Josiah King Of Judah

Part 2

INTRODUCTION BY BELINDA
Hilkiah the high priest found the Book of the Law during temple renovations. Upon hearing the law, King Josiah tore his robes in grief over his own sins and the sins of the nation. Today he sends trusted officials to a prophetess to inquire of the Lord about what will happen to them for breaking the law.

2 KINGS 22:14-20

Yesterday Josiah commissioned Hilkiah the priest, Shaphan the secretary, Shaphan's son Ahikam, along with his officials Akbor and Asaiah to inquire of the Lord regarding the Book of the Law. Having heard the law, Josiah knows he has not kept it. He knows the people of Judah have not kept it. He has read the curses destined to fall upon them for not keeping the law and wants to know how things will go for the nation. He wants guidance from someone more spiritually mature than himself. The high priest Hilkiah, because the nation has neglected the law for so long, doesn't possess the insight needed. His own son Jeremiah is a prophet during this period of history but he resided at Anathoth and the urgency of the mission required the men to seek help from a closer source in Jerusalem. In this case, the prophet available happens to be a woman. She is not the only prophetess in the Bible. Isaiah's wife was also a prophet and the Bible mentions several other prophetesses besides these two: Deborah in the Old Testament, Miriam in the Old Testament, Anna in the New Testament, the daughters of Phillip in the New Testament, and various other women known only as women of God. The spirit of prophecy temporarily came upon several other women who were not known as prophetesses but who spoke of future events such as Rachel, Hannah, Abigail, Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist, and Mary the mother of Jesus. 

"Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Akbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophet Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter." (2 Kings 22:14) Huldah's husband was responsible for the king's wardrobe. In our day we would call him a tailor or clothing designer. He was likely assigned to Josiah as soon as he became king and was in and out of the palace on a regular basis over the course of many years. I think we can safely assume Shallum was a godly man. If he weren't, he might not have lasted long in the godly Josiah's employ. Plus he would have found living with a prophetess intolerable. This man may have had a lot of influence on Josiah through the years as he custom-made his clothes. He would have had to spend a great deal of time in the presence of the king, measuring him for clothing, pinning the clothing, consulting him about designs and materials and enjoying the type of friendly chatting that goes on at such times. I like to imagine them as friends in the faith. 

The men come to Huldah and make the king's request to her. He has read the words of the law, the covenant the Lord made with the people by the hand of Moses. He knows the blessings the Lord promised to those who keep the law. He also knows the curses the Lord has promised to those who break the law. Because he and the nation have sinned in not reading or keeping the law, he fears for the future of Judah. 

Josiah is wise to fear the curses of Deuteronomy for they include such things as trouble in the country and in the city, the failure of crops and flocks and herds, the inability of their wives to bear children, plague and drought and famine, the failure to be successful in work, defeat in battle, and finally the ruin of the nation and captivity in a foreign land. You can find these curses in all their horrifying detail in Deuteronomy 28. No wonder Josiah is shaken to the core.

The prophetess gives the men the answer they seek and it's a mixture of good news and bad news. "She said to them, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read.'" (2 Kings 22:15-16) Huldah sets about delivering the bad news first. God will indeed call the people into account for their backsliding, for their idolatry, for their sins, for their complete disregard for His law. God is just and righteous; He cannot be anyone other than who He is. The curses He pronounced for setting the law aside are the penalty for Judah's disobedience. He is going to keep His word regarding this penalty. I imagine the hearts of the men sinking when they hear what Huldah has to say.

But if God's word can't be trusted, where is our hope in His faithfulness? Where is our hope in His justice? We can compare this situation to our faith in the justice system of our country. We expect our judges to follow the laws on the books and to enact the penalties appropriate for breaking the laws. Don't we feel cheated and angry when justice isn't carried out? Don't we lose faith in our leaders when they give someone special treatment because of who they are or because of how much money they have in the bank? We cry out, "This is wrong! This is unfair!" God is not an unjust judge who turns a blind eye to sin because of someone's social status or because He just doesn't care about the crime and feels like going easy on the offender. God set forth His laws and His penalties for breaking those laws. If He failed to enforce the law wouldn't we feel cheated and angry? Wouldn't we raise our voices in protest? Our hearts long to see mercy on Judah because these events happened so long ago but if the things that happened during the reigns of some of the kings of ancient Judah were happening in our times (the turning of the temple into a brothel, the idols on every hilltop and under every large tree, the child sacrifice to the Canaanite god Molech, the rampant injustice toward widows and orphans and those too poor to bribe a judge, and complete disregard for anything to do with the Lord) we would feel differently. 

Huldah points out the righteousness of God's judgment. The people are guilty of the crimes of which they stand accused. The Lord says through her, "Because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods and aroused My anger by all the idols their hands have made, My anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched." (2 Kings 22:17) Imagine we are in God's shoes. He has been a Father to Israel, bringing her up in His truth and grace. He has been her Deliverer, the one who took her by the hand to lead her out of slavery in Egypt. He has been her Provider, the one who sustained her in the wilderness. He has been her Mighty Defender, the one who plucked up the idolatrous tribes of Canaan and planted her in their place. He has been her Redeemer, the one who chose her as His own out of all the nations of the world. He has been her Husband, faithful to her for all these years. Yet she has rejected Him in favor of idols made by human hands. She has spit in His face, turned her back, and walked away to commit adultery with false gods. She has worshiped the creature and not the Creator. She has served the flesh and not the Spirit. God must impose the penalty on her or she will never understand that He is God and He is the only God. It would be doing her a disservice if He didn't. For her own sake, He has to prove to her who He is: her only hope, her only help. 

Huldah now delivers the good news. I don't know about you, but if somebody asks me whether I want the bad news or the good news first, I always choose the bad news, hoping that the good news will make me feel better. "Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard: Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people---that they would become a curse and be laid waste---and because you tore your robes and wept in My presence, I also have heard you, declares the Lord. Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.' So they took her answer back to the king." (2 Kings 22:18-20) 

The Lord won't bring the downfall of Judah during Josiah's lifetime because the king is at peace with Him. The king is saved by grace through faith. Because he has a heart for the Lord, a heart like David's, the Lord is going to let him go to his grave with the nation of Judah still intact.

We will find later on that Josiah dies of a wound received when he tries to prevent Pharaoh Necho from crossing Judean territory to assist Assyria, but he will die of the wound in his own bed at Jerusalem. Pharaoh has no quarrel with Judah and is no threat to her at the time, so when Josiah perishes Judah is still secure, granted a reprieve by the mercy of God. 

The faith of one godly man held off the judgment of God for a season. For Josiah's sake, the Lord has mercy on Judah during his lifetime. The Lord says in verse 19, "Because you have heard Me, I have heard you," which reminds me of what the Lord's brother James said, "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16b) James urged those in Christ to confess their sins and pray for each other because God hears the prayers of those who belong to Him. He hears the sincere and heartbroken prayers of the repentant. He hears the entreaties for mercy from those who are faithful to His name. How many disasters through history have been averted because God's people prayed? How many might be prevented in the future if God's people pray? The prayer of the heart that clings to God is powerful. It has an effect on events because God intervenes on behalf of those who love Him.