In this episode, we delve into the significant reforms undertaken by King Josiah as described in 2 Kings chapter 23. Discover how the rediscovery of the Book of the Law led to a nationwide call to return to God’s commandments and a bold dismantling of idol worship. Through the insights of Senator Kevin Grantham, we explore the spiritual and political courage exhibited by Josiah, who stood firmly for the restoration of true worship in Judah.
00:00:08 Introduction to Add Bible and Today’s Focus
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Allen J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
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Today we are in 2 Kings chapter 23. We’ll learn about the reforms of King Josiah after the book of the Lord was found and was read to him. So let’s listen in to Senator Kevin Grantham, our guest reader, on 2 Kings 23.
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2 Kings 23 And the king stood by the pillar and 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 this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant. And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places, at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations, and all the hosts of the heavens. And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron, and he burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on ones left at the gate of the city. However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the house of the Lord by the chamber of Nathan Melech, the chamberlain, who was in the precincts. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.” Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar, the high place, he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it. According to the word of the Lord, that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. Then he said, What is that monument that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel. And he said, Let him be. Let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem. 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 has 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, this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem. 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 all the law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him. 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 of which I said, My name shall be there. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? In his days, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo as soon as he saw him. And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done, And Pharaoh Necho put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. And Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho. Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebediah. the daughter of Padiah of Rumah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.
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From my journal in 1997, when I was 42 years old, I wrote about this chapter. Josiah was strong. He cleaned up Judah and eliminated idol worship and false gods. It would be like becoming mayor or governor and wiping out every non-Christian church And 14 years later, at 56 years old, in 2011, I wrote in my journal about chapter 23… We need a Josiah today, someone in leadership who will read God’s word and do it, who will clean out all the false gods and false priests and stand tall for God Almighty. What was the first thing Josiah did after he heard the word of the Lord? He read it to the people. Let’s look at the opening of chapter 23. Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the pillar and 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 this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant. That’s leadership. Once Josiah heard the word of the Lord, he shared it with everybody under his authority. And then he acted. First he gathered all the vessels out of the temple that were for Baal and the Asherah, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem. Next he disposed of the priests in the cities of Judah and in Jerusalem. He brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, and he burned it in the brook Kidron. He broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes. He broke down all the high places where false idol worship was occurring. He removed the horses that were dedicated to the sun, and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. He cleaned up his hometown of Jerusalem, and then he went out to the neighboring cities and did the same thing. He even went beyond Judah to Samaria, the capital of the rest of Israel. Look at verse 19. And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. Continuing in verse 20, And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem. After he cleansed not only his own nation of Judah, but also Samaria, the capital of Israel. He returned and instituted the Passover. Verse 22. 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. His reign is summarized in verse 25. 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 all the law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him. The word of God completely affected Josiah. And he was not just a hearer of the word, he was a doer. It was no easier for Josiah to cleanse his land than it would be for any of us. Josiah was willing, are we? Father, we ask you to raise up Josiahs in our day to day. Our land, our nations need cleansing. Will you proclaim your word in your houses of worship again? And will someone raise up and do according to your word? May you raise up preachers and pastors and priests who will teach, preach, and do your word. Will you raise up kings, governors, presidents who will hear the word of the Lord and obey? You did it in Josiah’s day. Will you do it in ours? We pray it in your name. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. It’s not too late to get your copy of the writings of the Old Testament historical books to follow along with this AdBible program. The book contains our studies on Job, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. We’ll be in those books for the next several weeks. The book has comments on every chapter, applications for your life, and a place for you to record your thoughts on each chapter of each book for future reference. Visit EzraProject.net and order the writings of the Old Testament historical books today so you can get more out of these radio programs and more out of your Bible. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
