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The "IT" of God (2)
“Our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book…”
What would you do if you found out that your parents and grandparents had been wrong religiously? King Josiah faced such a decision (2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chronicles 34-35).
“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem…He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left…” (1 Kings 22.1-2).
Josiah repaired the Temple (vv. 3-7). During this process, “the Book of the Law” (of Moses) was found and read before the king (vv. 8-10). We read Josiah’s reaction in vv. 11-13: “When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
Josiah’s Repentance and Commitment to Faithfulness
“Then the king…gathered…all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem…and went up to the houses of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem…and he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant (Law of Moses) that had been found in the house of the Lord…and the king…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 perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book…then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers” (1 Chronicles 34.29-33).
Josiah Restored the Passover Feast
“And the king commanded all the people, ‘Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.’ For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 23.21-23).
The Conclusion of Josiah’s Story
“Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to the law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him” (2 Kings 23.24-25).
Consequences (Punishments) Were Not Averted
“Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. And the Lord said, ‘I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house which I said, “My name shall be there”’” (2 Kings 23.26-27).
Lessons For Us
Josiah’s Motivation. We find that Josiah’s efforts to return the people were motivated by his setting his heart to serve God fully and faithfully (2 Chronicles 34.3: “While he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father…”).
Diligence. “…And he did not turn aside to the right or to the left” (2 Kings 22.2).
When he found that the nation’s worship was not as it ought to be, he made a most difficult decision: He recognized that anything less than a return to the commanded pattern would be futile. There were religious errors that existed in his day. He took action against them - the proper action! Go back and follow only the Bible (the “Book of the Law/Covenant - i.e., the Law of Moses)! See again 2 Chronicles 34.31-33.
Josiah recognized that his parents and ancestors had been wrong religiously (2 Kings 22.13). Amon (Josiah’s father) “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord…he forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord “ (2 Kings 21.20-22). Manasseh (Josiah’s grandfather) “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord“ (2 Kings 21.2).
Josiah did not do as his father and grandfather. He had the courage to follow God in spite of the condemnation it meant regarding his relatives. This alone is more than most are willing to do today. What of your relatives? What if they are wrong, even though religious? What do you need to do?
You will not change God’s will in removing the punishment for sin. However, you can do something about the sin. In doing something about the sin, you can avoid the punishment. You can save others by your decision also. Do you believe God? Do you care for your relatives? If you truly cared for them and for yourself, you would do as Josiah did.
