I
have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord. (2 Kings 22:8)
Hezekiah’s
great-grandson Josiah became king of Judah when he was only eight years old.
The writer of 2 Kings tells us he did
what was right in the eyes of the Lord (22:2). Whereas Hezekiah had to strip
gold from the temple doorposts to pay Assyria tribute, Josiah authorized a
capital funds campaign to restore the temple to its original condition.
It
was during the renovation process that Hilkiah the High Priest found the Book
of the Law (possibly Deuteronomy), and passed it on to the king. Josiah was
grief-stricken upon hearing God’s commandments, and implemented a sweeping
reform of Judah. It is in reading of this reform (chapter 23) that we see how
far Judah’s downward spiral had progressed in just two generations, due to the
evil influences of Josiah’s grandfather Manasseh.
Josiah
had never met his great-grandfather, but had probably heard stories. No doubt
because of his mother Jedidah (the writer carefully includes her name), he
developed a heart for God. So the question is: Did the discovery of the Book of
the Law fan into flame this passion for God? Or did God reveal his Word to
Josiah because he knew Josiah was already primed to do something about it?
Just
goes to show what we could be missing when we neglect our Bibles.
Has
finding your dust-covered Bible ever felt like digging up a long lost archaeological treasure?
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 all the Law of Moses.
ReplyDelete26 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. 27 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.’”
I was pretty surprised that with all that Josiah had done - completely ridding the land of all the gods and temples and alters and worship areas, as well as reinstating the Passover feast, that God would not forgive them. Many times previolusly it was stated that if the people repented and called upon the name of the Lord, he would forgive them and take them back. It sounded like Josiah did everything possible to bring Judah back into compliance with God's laws and yet God did not forgive them. Do you know why? I understand God was not willing to forgive what Manasseh did, but was there anything else Josiah could have done to avert the disaster about to fall on Jerusalem and Judah?
Merry,
DeleteExcellent question. I think maybe it was a case of too little, too late on Josiah's part. He certainly had a heart after God, but I'm not sure the rest of the kingdom felt the same way. I think maybe the infection was too widespread by this time,and that the course of events was already set. This is not to say God couldn't have changed the course of events, but you know that a murderer who finds God still has to serve his time.