2 Kings: 22:1-5; 23:2-3, 4, 24.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO 2 KINGS 22.
The Life Question in today’s lesson is “How can God’s people make a difference in an ungodly society?
The Biblical Truth is that God can transform societies when His people respond properly to His Word. (2 Chronicles 7: 14.)
BACKGROUND STUDY: THE SINS OF J0SIAH’S PREDECESSSORS, MANASSEH AND AMON (2 KINGS 21.)
Manasseh and Amon were respectively the grandfather and father of King Josiah. Manasseh reigned from 696-642. (He was co-regent with Hezekiah in the years 696-686), and Amon reigned from 642-640. Manasseh was among the worst of the Davidic kings. His father, Hezekiah, had sought to stem the growth of paganism, but Manasseh rebuilt the shrines Hezekiah had destroyed. He built altars for astral deities, promoted occult practices, and even engaged in child sacrifice (“he made his son pass through fire”).He also governed with a reign of terror, “shedding much innocent blood.”
Chronicles tells us Manasseh actually repented late in his reign. After taken prisoner by the Assyrians, he prayed to the Lord, was restored to Jerusalem, and tried to undo the damage (2 Chron. 33: 11-20). At his death, however, Amon led the nation back into paganism (2 Chron. 33:21-25). Together, Manasseh and Amon reigned for about 56 years. Long after Manasseh’s death, he was still held as a paradigm of evil and responsible for the sufferings of Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:26; 24:3). It appears that the lengthy tenure of Manasseh and Amon so accustomed the people to apostasy and immorality that repentance became all but impossible.
Hezekiah was one of Judah’s best kings (2 Kings 18-20). His son, Manasseh was one of the worst. Manasseh’s son Amon followed his father’s evil example (chp. 21), but he was assassinated after only two years.
Amon’s son Josiah was more like his great-grandfather. Manasseh reigned 55 years, so he had plenty of time to do all kinds of evil that Josiah faced. Manasseh rebuilt the highplaces of pagan worship. He worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. He built pagan altars in the temple that Solomon had dedicated to the Lord. He practiced child sacrifice. He helped purveyors of the black arts. He ignored the pleas of the prophets. He shed innocent blood in Jerusalem from one end to another.
Moral relativism has done its destructive work in many lives. Diligent believers want to do something to slow, halt, and even reverse that trend; but many don’t know how to do this. King Josiah is one who tried to make a difference in his society.
PLEASE READ 2 KINGS 22: 1-5.
The passage begins with the basic facts of Josiah’s reign. He was eight years old when he became king, which was about 640 B.C. The reason Josiah became king at such an early age is that his father, Amon (reigned 642-640), was assassinated by members of his court. Another faction, however, simply called “the people of the land” drove out the conspirators and enthroned Josiah (2 Kings 21:19-26.) We know nothing about the specific allegiances of these factions, but it is clear that there was significant conflict within the Jerusalem palace. Josiah reigned 31 years to 609 B.C.
Outside of Israel, the mighty Assyrian Empire was about to go into its death throes. The last great Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal, was entering the latter years of his rule. He spent the first half of his reign in civil war with his brother and the second half in conflict with a people called the Elamites, whose homeland was east of Babylonia. He would leave behind a depleted empire to a series of ineffective kings, and Assyria would utterly collapse in 609 B.C.
Meanwhile, other powers were restive. In Babylonia, whose homeland was east of Babylonia, a race called the Chaldeans was growing in power. An independent and powerful Babylon would in 626 B.C. begin to thrive under the rule of a Chaldean king named Nabopolassar. Further east, the Medes and the Persians were gaining power. Egypt, meanwhile, was under the vigorous Pharaoh Psamtik 1, who reunited Egypt, freed it from Assyrian control, and sought to restore it to glory. This was, to say the least, a dangerous and complicated time for Judah to be ruled by a boy. Josiah could have accepted the status quo. He inherited a spiritually decaying situation that had been more than 50 years in the making. Why bother?
But Josiah obviously had a great inner strength and a commitment to make a difference for God. He desired righteousness and would not accept things as they were.
Has the spiritual conditions of our society beaten us down? Are we tempted to think that revival is hopeless? Does the challenge seem overwhelming? If so, let’s, pray right now that God will strengthen us to look evil in the face, recognize unrighteousness and seek ways to implement righteousness.
In the 18th year of Josiah’s reign (622 B.C.) when he was 26 years old, the king ordered the royal scribe Shaphan to oversee the repair of the Jerusalem temple. The temple was in terrible shape after years of abuse by Manasseh and Amon. A tax was levied on all citizens who came to the Jerusalem temple, and Shaphan was to work with Hilkiah, the high priest to see to it an accurate accounting was kept of the income and that it was budgeted toward temple repair and restoration.
This provides support for two principles taught elsewhere in the Scriptures. One is the duty and responsibility to provide a suitable place of worship. The other principle is the need to pay workers for their work.
Josiah desired righteousness, but he knew that this comes from a right relation with God. Therefore, he began to restore the place of worship to its proper place in the people’s lives.
We know little about Shaphan beyond that he and his family were supporters of the prophet Jeremiah and of Josiah’s religious reformation.
Shaphan also had, a good and just man named Gedaliah whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, appointed as governor of Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B. C. Tragically, Gedaliah was murdered by some vicious Jewish partisans, but he had maintained the faithful legacy of his grandfather Shaphan, throughout his life. We can learn these lessons from 2 Kings 22:1-5.
1. Even when up against a seemingly hopeless set of circumstances, the basic rules still apply: Fear God and keep His commandments. 2. Unexpected blessings come when we set about serving God.
PLEASE TURN TO 2 KINGS 23
PLEASE READ 2 KINGS 23: 2-3.
Hilkah the high priest was also a strong supporter of Josiah’s reformation. He is most famous for having brought to Josiah’s attention that the workers had found a copy of the scroll of the law of Moses and read from it. As the king listened to Shaphan’s reading from the scroll he tore his clothes. He was concerned that Judah had not obeyed what was written.
Josiah was doubly convinced of how badly Judah had sinned against God and was fearful that judgment was about to come down on the nation. Josiah even sent a delegation, including both Hilkiah and Shaphan, to the prophetess Huldah to inquire about whether divine punishment was in the near future
They took the scroll to Huldah the prophetess. She confirmed that judgment was coming to the people because of their disobedience, but she spoke more agreeable words to Josiah, promising that it would not be in his lifetime. As for Hilkiah, one of his descendents was none other than the greatest of all scribes, Ezra. (Ezra 7:1)
Then the king gathered all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the Lord. The congregation included all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem…all the people, both small and great.
Josiah was determined that all the people should hear the book of the covenant that had been found in the Lord’s temple. His purpose, we may suppose, was twofold. First, he wanted the law to bear witness against the people of Jerusalem, even though God had taken note of Josiah’s piety (2 Kings 22:8-20). As for
The prophetess Huldah had predicted that God was about to bring calamity on and by hearing the words of the law, the people could have no doubt as to why God’s wrath would come, and they would be without excuse. Second, however, Josiah must have entertained hope that the people could yet repent and wrath could be averted.
Josiah made a covenant in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments: His decrees, and His statutes with all his mind and with all his heart, and to carry out the words of the covenant that were written it this book. Everyone was there, and Josiah read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant: All the people agreed to the covenant. This thus was another renewal for a new generation.
What was “the book of the law” or the book of the covenant? This has been a hotly contested topic of debate among Bible commentators. There are at least three possibilities. Some hold that it was the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses, which are called “Books of Law.”
Others believe it was the Book of Deuteronomy because the language used to describe the book of law sounds like parts of Deuteronomy. Still others think it was one scroll containing parts of Deuteronomy. Whatever it was, it communicated God’s will in areas in which the nation had disobeyed God.
The big disagreement among Bible scholars is over the scroll’s time of composition. One school of scholars has promoted the theory that it was written in the time near its discovery. According to this view, a prophetic group wrote it to call people of their day back to God. The view of conservative scholars is that the scroll went back to the time of Moses. This is the view taken in this lesson. One obvious question then is, how could an ancient sacred writing become lost until a copy was found in the temple?
For one thing, it was a hand written manuscript written years before the age of printing; so there were not as many copies as we have of the Bible. We can be grateful to those heroes who gave their all to put the Bible in every person’s hand in his or her own language and that this became possible because of the invention of the printing press.
Another factor was that for over 50 years of evil kings had ruled. They no doubt destroyed many copies of God’s Word. When the inspired prophecies of Jeremiah were read to Josiah’s son King Jehoiakim, he cut them up with a knife and burned them. (Jeremiah 36:21-24).
A third factor is that both rejection and neglect can cause the Bible to become lost to a person, a family, or a nation. Amos 8: 11-12 predicted a famine not of food but of the Word of God. The Bible is attacked in many ways and in many places. It is ignored in even more. There are homes that have a Bible but never open it to read, to study, or to meditate. Some times they have multiple copies all gathering dust.
It is possible to lose the Word of God---lose it “in the temple.” One way is by unbelief that denies that the Bible is God-breathed. Scripture…Even those with a high view of Scripture can “lose” it. When we make our own experiences or the claims of powerful teachers more authoritative than the Bible, we have “lost” it.
When we pay lip service but make little effort to understand it and apply it, we have “lost” it. When we apply sophisticated arguments to explain why it doesn’t really say what it clearly does say, or to explain why modern culture has antiquated it, we have “lost” it. Until we “find” God’s Word in the modern church, “We will not have made the spiritual renewal we do so desperately need.”
Renewing our relationship with God involves renewing our commitment to know and to live by God’s Word. God’s Word leads to conviction, repentance, faith, and obedience.
Before Josiah tried to institute needed reforms, he read God’s Word to the people. A revival of interest in the Bible is a key step in coping with the sins of a wicked society. When great spiritual awakenings have taken place, they have been inspired by the power of God’s Word.
PLEASE READ 2 KINGS 23: 4.
Hilkiah…the priests…and the keepers of the door served in the temple. The king told them to clean out the temple. That is, they were to remove things of false religion from the temple. These were some of the pagan things placed in the temple by Manasseh, whose purpose had been to desecrate the temple and make worshiping the Lord impossible. Baal was the male fertility god of the religion of the Canaanites and others in the ancient world. The grove refers to Asherah, Baal’s female consort. Each had images and idols associated with their worship. As fertility gods, they promised good crops and healthy children.
Baal religion was promoted by Jezebel in the Northern Kingdom, but this perverted paganism also had power in the Southern Kingdom, especially during Manasseh’s evil reign. Baal worship often included sex with temple prostitutes. (Both male and female).
All the hosts of heaven refers, to all that was involved in worshiping the sun, moon, and stars and the deities associated with them. This included astrology, one of the oldest pagan superstitions. Such “worship” was forbidden in God’s law in Deut. 4:19. “When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars---all the array of heaven---do not be led astray to bow down and worship them.”
Josiah ordered that these pagan things be taken outside the city and be burned. Then the ashes were to be taken to Beth-el, where the Northern Kingdom had had an altar that had been in competition with the temple at Jerusalem. Only by removing these pagan things could the temple be cleansed and made usable for worshiping the Lord.
Verses 5-20 lists specific items and people that had contributed to the terrible idolatry under the reigns of Manasseh and Amon. Among the people removed were the idolatrous priests and the prostitutes.
Josiah dealt not only with the temple but also with the high places where pagan religion was often practiced. He defiled the place where child sacrifice had been practiced. Returning to the temple, he destroyed the ornamental horses dedicated to the sun. He defiled roof-top altars and the high places built by Solomon for his pagan wives.
Josiah extended his reform to the area once belonging to the Northern Kingdom, destroying the altars at Bethel and in the high places. Dumping the ashes from the burning of the pagan gods in the Kidron Valley in Bethel defiled the region and made it unsuitable for pagan worship. He desecrated the graves of false priests and protected the grave of a true prophet.
Josiah’s reforms were not all negative. He commanded that Passover be held as described in the book of the covenant. See this in Ex. 12:1-11 and Deut. 16: 1-8.
PLEASE READ KINGS 23: 24.
Josiah removed the mediums, the spiritists, household idols, images, and all the detestable things. The mention of mediums and spiritists reminds us how prevalent simple magic and superstition was in Judah at this time. The practice of magic was very common in the ancient Near East. Rituals, amulets, and charms were used for everything from curing illness to warding off demons, ghosts and the “evil eye.”
Black magic (invoking evil powers against a person) was also practiced, but even pagan nations imposed the death penalty on people who engaged in this.
The words translated as mediums and spiritists actually refer to the spirits of the gods whose help one might seek. The words might be translates as “familiar spirits and channeled entities.” Of course, to “remove” them, Josiah would need to get rid of the human mediums.
The household idols were minor gods who supposedly watched over individual families and whose images would be in the form of statuettes or masks. They might also be consulted about the future, using divination.
The terms images and detestable things refer to all kinds of physical objects used for magical protection or as representations of gods as objects of prayer. These objects might be idols, amulets, or ritual paraphernalia, and they were often made of wood, clay, stone, or metal. The O.T. regards all such images as disgusting because of their magical purposes but also because they often took the form of either human sexual organs or of bizarre or unclean animals.
Modern counterparts to the things Josiah sought to eradicate obviously include the paraphernalia of séances, the magical objects of Wicca and of other modern forms of witchcraft, trinkets that supposedly contain “spiritual energy,” materials related to astrology, and contemporary mediums. Idols and images of every kind, including those that relate to the Christian faith, are also analogous.
More broadly, counterparts to Judah’s ancient apostasy would include false religious texts that seek to supplant the Bible, such as the Koran or the Book of Mormon.
What Josiah did in trying to purge the land of all these religious counterfeits was not of itself going to change the hearts of people and put an end to their apostasy. It was, nevertheless, an important and valid action on Josiah’s part. By removing the idols, he at least temporarily removed a source of temptation and bore witness to the people that what they were doing was evil.
He gave them an opportunity to change by giving them freedom from domination, for a brief time, by so many objects of evil. He could not force them to repent, but he did what he, as king of Judah, had the right and power to do. How can we legitimately imitate what Josiah did? Obviously we can seek to persuade and we can be examples of godliness. We cannot and should not seek legislation that governs people’s personal religious lives, but we can be a presence in the public square and speak out on the legislative issues of the day, such as marriage, from a Christian perspective.
We also can educate people about the dangers posed by those who do seek to legislate religion, as illustrated by the gradual encroachment of Islam upon the legal system of Europe. We can maintain a vigilant watch on the agendas and curricula of our public schools. Such action will not guarantee that people’s hearts will turn to Christ: nevertheless, it is the right thing to do.
We cannot command people to throw out things associated with false religion, but we must make a clear stand.
We need to eliminate, as much as possible, the situations and patterns of life that lead us into temptation.
PLEASE READ 2 KINGS 23: 26-27.
These are disappointing verses. We could, with justification, call Josiah’ reformation a failure. In response to the heinous evil of Manasseh, Josiah’s grandfather, God had issued a verdict about Judah: “I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.” That verdict was not reversed, and God still intended to “wipe Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl” because of all the provocations of Manasseh. In addition the people were unrepentant. The Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath and anger.
Josiah’s reading of the newly discovered book of the law, his renewal of the covenant, and his efforts to purge the land of idolatry had not substantially changed the hearts of the men and women of Jerusalem. Josiah died in 609 B.C., and within a quarter of a century Jerusalem was a smoking ruin and its people were either dead or taken captive.
This doesn’t mean that Josiah’s work was all in vain. Many people repented and found a new relationship with God. The Word of God was rediscovered by many. Josiah proved to be a righteous man who was a worthy son of David. He broke up (at least for his reign) some of the evil and ungodly practices of his day.
Some people must have had their hearts changed due to the work of Josiah and his supporters. Most importantly, Josiah was vindicated before God for having done what is right.
When engaged in a struggle against evil and false religion, we must never delude ourselves with the idea that if we fight the good fight we are certain to win. The example of Josiah, a godly man who struggled courageously against evil but who in the end by all appearances “lost,” has been repeated many times in the Bible and in Christian history.
Perhaps we need to recover the ides of the believer bearing a cross and of an apocalyptic view of history. First, Christians are not called to win every cultural war but to bear the cross. This may involve seeing our warnings go unheeded, or watching in sadness as people gleefully embrace lies, or mourning as the worlds we once knew and cherished collapses around us, or enduring persecution faithfully.
Jesus failed to convince the majority of the Jews of His day to repent and follow Him, and He wept as He contemplated the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the slaughter of its people.
Yet his suffering brought about the redemption of the world, and His witness was vindicated by God in the resurrection. In the same manner, our suffering for the truth is redemptive and we, too, will ultimately be vindicated by God. We are called to be faithful; we are not commanded or expected to win every battle. Sometimes darkness grows so strong that it seems to have snuffed out the light. But God is not defeated.
The Second Great Awakening reshaped America in the early years of the nineteenth century. In the first four decades of the century, America’s population increased fourfold; church membership increased tenfold! God’s Word was the spark of revival, the prayer of God’s people the fan, and practical obedience the fuel.”
Great times of moral reform do not guarantee spiritual renewal. Spiritual renewal leads to lasting changes in some individuals but not in societies as a whole.
NEXT WEEK WE BEGIN A 5 LESSON STUDY IN THE BOOK OF DANIEL
A.V. Daugherty altav@swbell.net http://www.theweeks.org/av