Our Daily Scripture – 9/11/23 (Monday)

SCRIPTURE:  2 KINGS 23

JOSIAH RENEWS THE COVENANT (vs. 1-30)

King Josiah called together all the elders of Judah in Jerusalem, the priests, all the prophets, and all the people to go up to the temple of the Lord.  He read the words of the Book of the covenant and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord.  The people pledged themselves to the Covenant – to follow the Lord and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul.

WHAT JOSIAH DID:

  1. He 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 an all the starry hosts.  He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of  the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. (v.4)
  2. He did away with the pagan priests appointed by the kings of Judah(v. 5)
  3. 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. (v.6)
  4. He tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes, which were in the temple of the Lord and where women did weaving for Asherah. (v. 7)
  5. He brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. (v. 8a)
  6. He broke down the shrines at the gates – at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which is on the left of the city gate. (v. 8b)
  7. He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech. (v. 10)
  8. He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. (v. 11)
  9. 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 smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley.(v. 12)
  10. He 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 god of Moab and for Molech the detestable god of the people of Ammon. (v. 13)
  11. He smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones. (v. 14)
  12. He demolished the altar at Bethel made by Jeroboam and ground it to powder and burned the Asherah pole. (v. 15)
  13. He removed the bones on the hillside and burned on the altar to defile it. (v. 16)
  14. He removed and defiled all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria. (v. 19)
  15. He slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. (v. 20)
  16. He celebrated the Passover to the Lord. (v. 21)
  17. He got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods,  the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. (v. 20)

While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria  King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Neco faced him and killed him at Megiddo.   He was buried in his own tomb.  The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

JEHOAHAZ KING OF JUDAH (vs. 31-35)

Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months.  He did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  Pharaoh Neco put him in chain at Riblah in the land of Hamath.  Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim, son of Josiah king and changed his name to Jehoiakim.  He took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt and there he died.  Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Neco the silver and gold he demanded.  He taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessment.

JEHOIAKIM KING OF JUDAH (vs. 36-37)

Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem for 11 years.  He did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

THOUGHTS:

The Egyptian army was on their way to attack Assyria.  Josiah did not seek the mind of the Lord.  Instead, he marched out to meet him in the battle.  As a result, he was killed by Neco at Megiddo.

When Josiah rediscovered the Passover in the Book of the Covenant, he ordered everyone to observe the ceremonies exactly as presented.  The Passover celebration was to celebrate the entire nation’s deliverance from the slavery in Egypt.

HOW JOSIAH DEALED WITH SIN: 

  1. He recognized sin.
  2. He eliminated sinful practices.
  3. He attacked the causes of sin.

Today, aside from removing our sinful actions, we must also eliminate cause for sin – situation, relationship, routines and patterns – that lead us to the door of temptation.

Josiah is praised for his reverence and obedience towards God.  Hezekiah is greatest in trusting God with actions.  May we follow his examples of obedience and faith in God.