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March 12 - 2 Kings 23 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello, friends. It's Sean here.
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  It's Wednesday. It's the 12th of March.
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  Great to have your company. We have hit hump day the middle
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  of the week. No matter how tricky it's been,
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  you're pretty much halfway there.
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  Well done. And after today, it's all
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  downhill. And well, that is pretty much a
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  very good summary of how we're going to go in our Bible reading
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  as well. Today we will see Josiah working
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  hard to reform everything that's happening in the land of Judah
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  to be according to God's will and God's teaching and God's
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  law. And then they'll go over that
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  hump and then it all goes to pot.
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  And and it will until the end of the week when we will see
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  Babylon come and destroy it all. Oh dear.
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  Good thing just did not last in that place, did it?
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  So let's hear about the high point and then the descent as we
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  read together. Second Kings chapter 23.
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  Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem,
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  and the king went up to the temple of the Lord with all the
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  people of Judah and Jerusalem, along with the priests and the
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  prophets, all the people from the least to the greatest.
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  There the king read to them the entire book of the covenant that
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  had been found in the Lord's temple.
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  The king took his place of authority beside the pillar and
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  renewed the covenant in the Lord's presence.
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  He pledged to obey the Lord by keeping all His commands, laws
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  and decrees with all his heart and soul.
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  In this way he confirmed all the terms of the covenant that were
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  written in the scroll, and all the people pledged themselves to
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  the covenant. Then the king instructed Helkia,
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  the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the
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  temple gatekeepers to remove from the Lord's temple all the
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  articles that were used to worship Baal Asharah and all the
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  powers of the heavens. The king had all these things
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  burned outside Jerusalem on the terraces of the Kidron Valley,
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  and he carried the ashes away to Bethel.
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  He did away with the idolatrous priests who had been appointed
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  by the previous kings of Judah, for they had offered sacrifices
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  at the Pagan shrines throughout Judah and even in the vicinity
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  of Jerusalem. They had also offered sacrifices
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  to Bal and to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all
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  the powers of the heavens. The king removed the Asharapole
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  from the Lord's Temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the
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  Kidron Valley, where he burned it.
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  Then he ground the ashes of the pole to dust and threw the dust
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  over the graves of the people. He also tore down the living
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  quarters of the male and female shrine prostitutes that were
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  inside the Temple of the Lord, where the women wove coverings
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  for the asharapole. Josiah brought to Jerusalem all
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  the priests who were living in other towns of Judah.
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  He also defiled the Pagan shrines where they had offered
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  sacrifices all the way from Giba to Bathsheba.
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  He destroyed the shrines at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua,
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  the governor of Jerusalem. This gate was located to the
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  left of the city gate as one enters the city.
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  The priests who had served at the Pagan shrines were not
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  allowed to serve at the Lord's altar in Jerusalem, but they
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  were allowed to eat unleavened bread with the other priests.
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  Then the king defiled the altar of Topheth in the valley of Ben
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  Hidam, so no one could ever again use it to sacrifice a son
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  or daughter in the fire. As an offering to Molech, he
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  removed from the entrance of the Lord's temple the horse statues
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  that the former kings of Judah had dedicated to the Son.
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  They were near the quarters of Nathan Molech, the eunuch, an
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  officer of the court. The king also burned the
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  Chariots dedicated to the sun. Josiah tore down the altars that
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  the kings of Judah had built on the palace roof above the upper
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  room of Ahaz. The king destroyed the altars
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  that Manasseh had built in the two courtyards of the Lord's
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  Temple. He smashed them to bits and
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  scattered the pieces in the Kidron Valley.
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  The king also desecrated the Pagan shrines east of Jerusalem,
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  to the South of the Mount of Corruption, where King Solomon
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  of Israel had built shrines for Ashtoreth, the detestable
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  goddess of the Cydonians, and for Kimosh, the detestable God
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  of the Moabites, and for Molech, the vile God of the Ammonites.
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  He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the ashrupoles.
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  Then he desecrated these places by scattering human bones over
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  them. The king also tore down the
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  altar at Bethel, the Pagan shrine that Jeroboam, son of
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  Nibat, had made when he caused Israel to sin.
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  He burned down the shrine and ground it to dust, and he burned
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  the ashrupole. Then Josiah turned around and
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  noticed several tombs in the side of the hill.
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  He ordered that the bones be brought out, and he burned them
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  on the altar at Bethel to desecrate it.
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  This happened just as the Lord had promised through the man of
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  God when Jeroboam stood beside the altar at the festival.
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  Then Josiah turned and looked up at the tomb of the man of God
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  who had predicted these things. What is that monument over
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  there? Josiah asked, and the people of
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  the town told him. It is the tomb of the man of God
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  who came from Judah and predicted the very things that
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  you have just done to the altar at Bethel.
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  Josiah replied. Leave it alone, don't disturb
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  his bones. So that did not burn his bones
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  or those that the old prophet from Samaria.
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  Then Josiah demolished all the buildings at the Pagan shrines
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  in the towns of Samaria, just as he had done at Bethel.
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  They had been built by the various kings of Israel and had
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  made the Lord very angry. He executed the priests of the
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  Pagan shrines on their own altars, and he burned human
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  bones and the altars to desecrate them.
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  Finally, he returned to Jerusalem.
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  King Josiah then issued this order to all the people.
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  You must celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God as required
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  in this book of the covenant. There had not been a Passover
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  celebration like that since the time when the judges ruled in
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  Israel, nor throughout all the years of the kings of Israel and
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  Judah. But in the 18th year of King
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  Josiah's reign, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in
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  Jerusalem. Josiah also got rid of the
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  mediums and psychics, the household gods, the idols, and
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  every other kind of detestable practise, both in Jerusalem and
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  throughout the land of Judea. He did this in obedience to the
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  laws written in the scroll that Hilkia the priest had found in
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  the Lord's temple. Never before had there been a
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  king like Josiah who turned to the Lord with all his heart and
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  soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses, and there has
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  never been a king like him since.
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  Even so, the Lord was very angry with Judah because of all the
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  wicked things Manasseh had done to provoke him.
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  For the Lord said, I will also banish Judah from my presence,
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  just as I've banished Israel, and I will reject my chosen city
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  of Jerusalem and the temple where my name was to be
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  honoured. The rest of the events in
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  Josiah's reign and all his deeds are recorded in the Book of the
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  History of the Kings of Judah. While Josiah was king, Pharaoh
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  Neko, king of Egypt, went to the Euphrates River to help the king
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  of Assyria. King Josiah and his army marched
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  out to fight him, but King Neko killed him.
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  When there met at Megiddo, Josiah's officers took his body
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  back in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in
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  his own tomb. Then the people of the land
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  anointed Josiah's son Jehoahaz and made him the next king.
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  Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king, and he reigned
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  in Jerusalem three months. His mother was Hamut al, the
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  daughter of Jeremiah from Libna. He did what was evil in the
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  Lord's sight, just as his ancestors had done.
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  Pharaoh Niko put Jehoahas in prison at Ribla in the land of
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  Hamath to prevent him from ruling in Jerusalem.
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  He also demanded that Judah pay 7500 lbs of silver and 75 lbs of
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  gold as tribute. Pharaoh Nikko then installed
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  Eliakim, another of Josiah's sons, to reign in place of his
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  father, and he changed Eliakim's name to Jehovah Kim.
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  Jehovah has was taken to Egypt as a prisoner where he died.
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  In order to get the silver and gold demanded as tribute by
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  Pharaoh Nikko, Jehovah Kim collected a tax from the people
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  of Judah requiring them to pay in proportion to their wealth.
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  Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned
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  in Jerusalem 11 years. His mother was Zebedah, the
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  daughter of Pedaya from Rumah. He did what was evil in the
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  Lord's sight, just as his ancestors had done.
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  Ah, Lord, it's heartbreaking when we see all this incredibly
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  thorough work that Josiah does. I need to have it undone in a
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  matter of months. By sons, our Lord, it can be so
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  disheartening when we toil away in the right direction and we
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  see evil just take away all of our hard work, or we see the
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  tide turn against the work that we've been patiently and
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  diligently persevering with. Our Lord, I pray that you
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  continue to give us your staying power, to give us your
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  perseverance, so that small step by small step, we can continue
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  in your direction even even when the tide is pushing everything
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  back faster than it seems that we're able to move.
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  Oh Lord, we live in a broken world, but we serve a glorious
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  God. Continue to draw US ever nearer
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  to You, step by step, day by day, moment by moment, sometimes
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  so that we can emulate Jesus through the power of the Holy
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  Spirit to bring your Kingdom ever nearer here on earth as it
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  is in heaven. And we pray all of this in your
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  name, Jesus, Amen.