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Josiah
The Last Good King Before the Fall of the Kingdom of
Judah
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Repairing the Temple of the LORD |
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Josiah is
eight years old when he takes over from
his father Manasseh. He reigns
thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His
mother's name is Jedidah, daughter of
Adaiah of Bozkath.
He pleases the LORD and conducts himself
unswervingly just as his ancestor David
had done.
In his eighteenth year, King Josiah
sends the scribe Shaphan, head of a
prominent family, secretary to the king,
to the temple of the LORD with orders to
go to the high priest Hilkiah. Josiah
orders Hilkiah to smelt down the
precious metals that had been donated to
the temple of the Lord, which the
doorkeepers had collected from the
people.
These are to be consigned to the master
workmen in the temple of the LORD, who
should then pay them out to the
carpenters, builders, |
and
lumbermen making repairs on the temple, and for the
purchase of wood and hewn stone for the temple
repairs.
However, Josiah does not demand any accounting of
the funds consigned to them, because they hold
positions of trust.
The Book of
Law
The high priest Hilkiah informs the scribe Shaphan
that he has found the book of the law in the
temple of the LORD, which he gives to Shaphan to
read.
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Then the scribe
Shaphan goes to the king and reports that they
have smelted down the metals available in the
temple and have consigned them to the master
workmen in the temple of the LORD. He also
informs the king that the priest Hilkiah had
given him a book, and then reads it aloud to
the king.
When the king had hears the contents of the
book of the law, he tears his garments in
extreme grief. He then orders Hilkiah to
consult the LORD for the king and for the
people of Judah, about the stipulations of the
book. He tells the priest that the anger of
the LORD has been set furiously ablaze against
them, because their fathers |
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did not obey the
stipulations of this book, nor fulfill their
written obligations.
The Prophetess Huldah
So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan,
and Asaiah go to the Second Quarter in
Jerusalem, where the prophetess Huldah
resides. Upon hearing their mission, she tells
them that the LORD says that He will bring
upon this place and upon its inhabitants all
the evil that is threatened in the book which
the king of Judah has read. |
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She tells
them that this is because they have
forsaken the LORD and have burned incense
to other gods, provoking Him by everything
to which they turn their hands. His anger
is ablaze against this place and it cannot
be extinguished.
But she tell them to inform the king of
Judah who sent them that the LORD, the God
of Israel has heard that he is heartsick
and has humbled himself before the LORD
when he heard His threats and therefore He
will therefore gather him to his
ancestors. He shall go to his grave in
peace, and his eyes shall not see all the
evil He will bring upon this place.
This they report this back to the king.
Josiah’s
Covenant
The king then summons all the elders of Judah
and of Jerusalem together before him. |
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The king goes
up to the temple of the LORD with all the men
of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
priests, prophets, and all the people. Then he
has the entire contents of the book of the
covenant that had been found in the temple of
the LORD, read out to them.
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Standing by
the column, the king makes a covenant
before the LORD that they would follow him
and observe his ordinances, statutes and
decrees with their whole hearts and souls,
thus reviving the terms of the covenant
which were written in this book. And all
the people stand as participants in the
covenant.
Cleaning up
Judah
Then the king commands the high priest Hilkiah,
his vicar, and the |
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doorkeepers to remove from
the temple of the LORD all the objects that had
been made for Baal, Asherah, and the whole host
of heaven. He has these burned outside Jerusalem
on the slopes of the Kidron and their ashes
carried to Bethel.
He also puts an end to the pseudo-priests whom
the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense
on the high places in the cities of Judah and in
the vicinity of Jerusalem, as well as those who
burned incense to Baal, to the sun, moon, and
signs of the Zodiac, and to the whole host of
heaven. |
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From the temple of the LORD he also removes the
sacred pole, to the Kidron Valley, outside
Jerusalem. There he has it burned and beaten to
dust, which are then scattered over the common
graveyard.
He tears down the apartments of the cult
prostitutes which were in the temple of the
LORD, and in which the women weave garments for
the Asherah.
He brings in all the priests from the cities of
Judah, and then defiles all the high places
where they had offered incense. He also tears
down the high place of the satyrs, which is at
the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, governor of
the city.
He destroys the
altars for the sacrifice by fire of sons and
daughters in honor of Molech. He does away
with the horses at the entrance of the |
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temple of the LORD
which the kings of Judah had
dedicated to the sun and destroys the chariots
of the sun by fire.
He destroys and
demolishes all and everything that is not
dedicated to the LORD including the altar at
Bethel built by Jeroboam who caused Israel to
sin.
When Josiah sees the graves on the mountainside,
he orders the bones taken and burned on the
altar, in fulfillment of the word of the LORD
which the man of God had proclaimed as Jeroboam
was standing by the altar on the feast day. When
the king looks up he sees the grave of the man
of God, who came from Judah and predicted the
very things he has done to the altar of Bethel.
Josiah orders to let his grave untouched and his
bones unmoved.
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Re-Instituting the Passover
The king issues a command to all the people to
observe the Passover of the LORD, as it was
prescribed in that book of the covenant. No
Passover such as this had been observed during
the period when the Judges ruled Israel, or
during the entire period of the kings of Israel
and the kings of Judah, until the eighteenth
year of King Josiah.
Further, Josiah does away with the
consultation of ghosts and spirits, with
the household gods, idols, and all the
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other horrors in the land of Judah and
in Jerusalem. Before him there had been
no king who turned to the LORD as he
did, with his whole heart, his whole
soul, and his whole strength, in accord
with the entire Law of Moses; nor could
any after him compare with him.
Yet, because of all the provocations that
Manasseh had given, the LORD does not desist
from his fiercely burning anger against Judah.
In his time Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, goes up
toward the river Euphrates to the king of
Assyria. King Josiah sets out to confront him,
but is slain at Megiddo at the first encounter.
His servants bring his body on a chariot from
Megiddo to Jerusalem, where they bury him in his
own grave. Then the people of the land take
Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, anoint him, and
proclaim him king to succeed his father. |
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Conquest by the
King of Egypt
However, Jehoahaz does evil in the sight of
the LORD, just as his forebears had done.
Pharaoh Neco takes him prisoner at Riblah in
the land of Hamath, thus ending his reign in
Jerusalem. He imposes a fine upon the land
of a hundred talents of silver and a talent
of gold.
Pharaoh Neco then appoints Eliakim, son of
Josiah, king in place of his father Josiah
and changes his name to Jehoiakim while he
takes Jehoahaz with him to Egypt.
Jehoiakim gives
the silver and gold to Pharaoh but taxes the
land, exacting silver and gold from the
people, from each proportionately to raise
the amount Pharaoh demanded.
Again, he did evil in the sight of the LORD,
just as |
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his forebears had
done.
Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon
During his reign Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, conquers Judah and Jehoiakim becomes
his vassal for three years. Then Jehoiakim turns
and rebells against him.
The LORD lets loose bands of Chaldeans,
Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites against him
and Judah to destroy it, as the LORD had
threatened through his prophets.
Jehoiakim dies, and his son Jehoiachin succeeds
him as king. Again, he does evil in the sight of
the LORD, just as his forebears had done.
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Now the
officials of Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, attack Jerusalem, and the city
comes under siege. Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, arrives at the city while his
servants are besieging it. Then Jehoiachin,
king of Judah, together with his mother, his
ministers, officers, and functionaries,
surrender to the king of Babylon, who, takes
them captive.
The king of Babylon then carries off all the
treasures of the temple of the LORD and
those of the palace. He breaks up all the
gold utensils that Solomon, king of Israel,
had provided in the temple of the LORD, as
the LORD had foretold.
He deports all Jerusalem, the officers and
men of the army, the craftsmen and smiths,
leaving no one among the people of the land
except the poor. |
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He deports
Jehoiachin to Babylon, and also leads captive
from Jerusalem to Babylon the king's mother and
wives, his functionaries, and the chief men of
the land. The king of Babylon also leads captive
to Babylon all the men of the army. He trains
craftsmen and smiths as soldiers.
In place of Jehoiachin, the king of Babylon
appoints his uncle Mattaniah king, and changes
his name to Zedekiah.
He also does evil in the sight of the LORD, just
as Jehoiakim had done.
The LORD'S anger falls on Jerusalem and Judah
and He casts them out from his presence.
The Fall
of Jerusalem
In the tenth month of the ninth year of
Zedekiah's reign, Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, and his whole army advances against
Jerusalem, encamps around it, and builds
siege walls on every side.
He continues the siege of the city until the
eleventh year of Zedekiah. Eventually,
because of the siege, famine grips the city.
The people run out of food and the city
walls are breached. Then the king and all
the soldiers leave the city by night through
the gate between the two walls near the
king's garden. Since the Chaldeans had the
city surrounded, they go in the direction of
the Arabah. |
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But the
Chaldean army pursues the king and
overtakes him in the desert near
Jericho, where he is abandoned by his
whole army.
The king is then arrested and brought to
Riblah to the king of Babylon, who
pronounces sentence on him. He has
Zedekiah's sons slain before his eyes.
Then he blinds Zedekiah, binds him with
fetters, and has him brought to Babylon.
On the nineteenth year of
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard,
comes to Jerusalem as the representative
of the king of Babylon. He burns the
house of the LORD, the palace of the
king, and all the houses of Jerusalem,
destroying every large building by fire.
Later
his troops tear down the walls that
surround Jerusalem. Then Nebuzaradan
leads into exile the last of the people
remaining in |
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the city,
and those who deserted to the king of
Babylon. But Nebuzaradan leaves behind
some of the country's poor as
vinedressers and farmers.
The
Chaldeans carry all the treasures made
of bronze, gold and silver from the
temple of the LORD, to Babylon, as
predicted by the prophet of the LORD.
The captain of the guard also takes
Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the
second priest, and the three keepers of
the entry. And from the city he takes
one courtier, a commander of soldiers,
five men in the personal service of the
king who were still in the city, the
scribe of the army commander, who
mustered the people of the land, and
sixty of the common people still
remaining in the city, and arrests them.
He brings them all to the king of
Babylon at Riblah.
There the king puts them to death. Thus
was Judah exiled from her land.
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Enslavement of Judah
As for the people whom he allowed to
remain in the land of Judah,
Nebuchadnezzar appoints as their
governor Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of
Shaphan.
Hearing that the king of Babylon had
appointed Gedaliah governor, all the
army commanders with their men come to
him at Mizpah: Ishmael, son of Nethaniah,
Johanan, son of Kareah, Seraiah, son of
Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and
Jaazaniah, from Beth-maacah.
Gedaliah gives the commanders and their
men his oath. He tells them not to be
afraid of the Chaldean officials. He
tells them to remain in the country and
serve the king of Babylon, and all will
be well.
But in the
seventh month Ishmael, son of Nethaniah,
son of Elishama, of royal descent, comes
with ten men, attacks Gedaliah and kills
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him, along
with the Jews and Chaldeans who are in
Mizpah with him.
Then
all the people leave with the army
commanders and go to Egypt for fear of
the Chaldeans.
In the thirty-seventh year of the exile
of Jehoiachin, king of Judah,
Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, in the
inaugural year of his own reign, raises
up Jehoiachin, king of Judah, from
prison.
He speaks kindly to him and gives him a
throne higher than that of the other
kings who are with him in Babylon.
Jehoiachin takes off his prison garb and
eats at the king's table as long as he
lived. |
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Thus begins the
period of Captivity. |
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The Chariot of Israel: Exploits of the Prophet of Elijah
THE CHARIOT OF ISRAEL: When Elijah was caught up
to heaven, his disciple Elisha cried out, "the
chariot of Israel, and its horsemen." Elisha was
referring not to the chariot but to the prophet.
This study of Elijah’s life will captivate you
as it walks you through a pivotal period in
Israel’s history, and illustrative maps will
give you a better picture of the physical
geography of this ancient land. |
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The First Book of Kings (Cambridge Bible Commentaries on the Old Testament) This
volume of commentary on the New English Bible text of the First Book of Kings
follows the pattern of the now well-established series on the Old and New
Testaments. The main divisions of the text are those provided by the New English
Bible itself, but these are further subdivided for the purposes of the
commentary, which is printed in short sections following the relevant portion of
the text. |
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Canon Robinson suggests that the editors of I
Kings compiled their history in order to teach
the Hebrews that their existence as Israel, the
covenant people of God, depended upon their
continuing loyalty to their own religious
traditions, and their refusal to exchange them
for the very different traditions of the
Canaanites among whom they lived.
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I & II Samuel: A Commentary (Old Testament Library)
First sentence in
the book:
""THE BOOKS OF SAMUEL contain that
part of the history of Israel which describes
the foundation of the State, running from the
close of the period of the Judges to the
establishment of the united kingdom." |
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Samson and Delilah and Other Old Testament
Stories (Discovering the Bible)
(Hardcover) by Victoria Parker (Author), Retold
by Victoria Parker (Author)
This book provides known Bible stories from
Israel in the Promised land to the Story of
Ruth. It has the stories we grew up with but it
adds historical and religious facts to each
story. It tells the stories gearing them toward
elementary school children. |
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Moses Great Lives Series: Volume 4 ,
by Charles R. Swindoll. This book presents the
Bible's real Moses-the Moses who tried to
decline his assignment from God; the Moses who
dazzled Pharoh; the Moses who received the Ten
Commandments; the Moses who was disobedient and
weak; the Moses who was the greatest leader of
God's people in all of history. Through his
faith and selfless dedication, Moses continually
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seemingly impossible situations.
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Jacob and Esau
by Harriette Augusta Curtiss and F. Homer
Curtiss (Paperback - Dec 30, 2005) |
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The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction &
Commentary
by J. A. Motyer
Recipient of a Christianity Today 1994 Critics
Choice Award! Among Old Testament prophetic
books no other equals Isaiah's brilliance of
style and metaphor, its arresting vision of the
Holy One of Israel and its kaleidoscopic vision
of God's future restoration of Israel and the
world. Now, after over three decades of studying
and teaching Isaiah, Alec Motyer presents a
wealth of commentary and perspective on this
book. |
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Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons, and Feasts
(Paperback)
by Leonard Foley (Editor), Pat McCloskey
(Editor) |
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Lives of the
Saints You Should Know by Margaret R. Bunson,
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New Illustrated Book of Saints
Author: Catholic Book Publishing Company |
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One Hundred Saints: Their Lives and Likenesses
Drawn from Butler's
This is a coffee-table collection of 100 popular
saints illustrated with art works taken from
international galleries. The saints are listed
alphabetically in a valuable table of contents,
with a larger list of patron saints following
the text. Inclusion is based on popularity
within the Christian world and the
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availability of
atypical art works. Entries are generally based
on the 1926-38 edition of Butler's Lives of the
Saints, with the length of each entry varying
from one-half page to several pages. Short
entries giving written insight into the lives of
pious individuals are combined with depictions
rendered by artists such as Raphael and El
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more appropriate for gift-giving than for
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