2Chronicles 34-36
Wednesday Evening Bible Study
Introduction
The last chapter covered the reigns of two very wicked kings. Manasseh was the worst king and he had the
longest reign of any king, 55 years. He
brought great idolatry into the nation of Judah
2Chronicles 34
:1-7 Josiah’s early idol smashing
:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign
Josiah – Yo’shiyah – “whom Jehovah heals”
:2 walked in the ways of David his father
I like the fact that Josiah is compared to David and not to Amon or Manasseh.
:3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to
seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to
purge Judah
He begins to seek the Lord when he was sixteen. When he’s twenty years old, he begins this process of cleaning up the nation.
Note: He doesn’t have a copy of the Scriptures at this point. They won’t be discovered until his 18th year.
Lesson
The Work of the Spirit
I think this is a picture of how God will begin to work in a person’s heart even when they don’t know very much of the Word. This is the work of the Spirit.
When we come to the Lord, we begin a relationship with the Spirit of God. He will be at work in our lives helping us do the things that please the Lord:
(Rom 8:3-6 KJV) For what the law could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: {4} That the righteousness of
the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. {5} For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;
but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. {6} For to be
carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
You will see this in the life of a new believer. Even without people telling them what to do,
things will start to change in their lives.
They’ll start that process of “cleaning house”.
:5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah Jerusalem
This act of mixing dead bones and altars made the places “unholy”, it’s a way of destroying these altars.
:8-13 Temple
Josiah then proceeds to have the Temple
:12 the overseers of them were … all that could skill of instruments of music.
Lesson
Worshippers lead
For some of us, the idea of putting musicians in charge of anything is a joke.
Here’s some of those “musician jokes”:
How do you get two piccolo players to play in perfect
unison? Shoot one.
General Custer and his aide were in the fort. The aide
said, “General, I don’t like the sound of those drums.” From over in the hills
you hear a voice yell, “It’s not our regular drummer.”
The bass player came tearing out a club in hot pursuit of
another guy. The bouncer asked him, “What’s the problem?” Puffed the bassist “That
guy turned one of my tuning pegs, and he won’t tell me which one.”
Why are so many guitarist jokes one-liners? So the rest of the band can understand them.
What do you call a trombonist with a beeper? An optimist.
I tried to find jokes about piano players, but couldn’t find any! J
I think a better way of looking at this is that those who lead ought to be worshippers.
Some folks have the idea that the “music” is just “filler”. Some think it’s just for warming up the crowd for the real stuff, the preacher.
I know that worship is far more than music, and I don’t think you need to be able to play an instrument or sing on pitch to be a “worshipper”. But if you haven’t come to the point where you understand what it means to love, adore, serve, and honor our God, then I don’t think you’re ready for God’s kind of leadership.
:14-28 The book is found / The end of the story
:15 Shaphan the scribe,
scribe – caphar – enumerator, muster-officer,
secretary; learned man, scribe
Shaphan might have just been an educated fellow; a high cabinet officer
concerned with finance, policy, and administration. But this title “scribe” is also used for a
class of scholars who were learned in the Law of Moses.
In the parallel passage, we’re told that when Hilkiah gave Shaphan the
book, he read it (2Ki. 22:8).
:14-15 I have found the book of the law
Hilkiah didn’t find “a” book of the law.
He found “the” Book of the Law.
This use of the definite article (the word “the”) tells us that Hilkiah
found the five books of Moses, the “Torah”, also known as the “Pentateuch”.
:15 in the house of the LORD
You may wonder why Hilkiah seems surprised at this. Shouldn’t there be a copy of God’s Word in
the Temple
(Deu 31:24-26 KJV) And it came to pass, when Moses had made an
end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, {25}
That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the
LORD, saying, {26} Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark
of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness
against thee.
There was supposed to be a copy of the Law kept near the Ark
Yet under Manasseh and Amon, the Temple Temple Temple Temple Temple
It seems that there had been a period of time in which God’s Word was
missing from the Temple
Having grown up in good churches, this seems odd to me that someone would
be surprised to find God’s Word in God’s House.
Yet there are churches today where you will have difficulty finding
God’s Word. Perhaps some of you are
acquainted with places like this.
Apparently sometime around Christmas, one of the churches in Orange
County
“We take the Bible seriously, not literally.”
I have a problem with seeing how you can take the Bible seriously if you
don’t take it literally.
:17 …and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers…
Before Shaphan tells the king about the book, he gives the report that the
king is expecting about the progress of the work in the Temple
:16-18 …Shaphan read it before the king.
What did he read?
I’d like to think that Shaphan read the entire Torah to Josiah (Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).
Others have suggested that he only read the book of Deuteronomy. Either way, at the end of this reading, the
thing that is impacting Josiah’s mind is the ending to the book of
Deuteronomy. You can see it in his
reaction to the reading.
I want you to think about what is going on in Josiah’s mind. Imagine that you’ve never read God’s Word
before. You’ve heard about the Lord. You care about the Lord. But you’ve never heard God’s Word.
As Shaphan reads through the Law, Josiah hears each law spelled out and he
realizes that he and the nation are way out of line with God’s standards. And then he hears the warnings at the end of
Deuteronomy:
(Deu 28:15-20 KJV) But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not
hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his
commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these
curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: {16} Cursed shalt thou be in
the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. {17} Cursed shall be thy
basket and thy store. {18} Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit
of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks
of thy sheep. {19} Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt
thou be when thou goest out. {20} The LORD shall send
upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest
thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish
quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken
me.
(Deu 28:25 KJV) The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten
before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven
ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
(Deu 28:32 KJV) Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given
unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them
all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.
(Deu 28:36 KJV) The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over
thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there
shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
Josiah’s grandfather, Manasseh had already been taken captive to Assyria
for a brief time. Perhaps Josiah wonders
if he’s next.
(Deu 28:49-53 KJV) The LORD shall bring a nation against thee
from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth;
a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; {50} A nation of fierce
countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young:
Judah
{51} And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy
land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn,
wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks
of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. {52} And he shall besiege thee in
all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege
thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath
given thee. {53} And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of
thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the
siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies
shall distress thee:
This has already happened in the northern kingdom. Is Josiah’s kingdom next?
Moses went on to write a song (Deu. 32) that Israel Israel Egypt
(Deu 32:16-30 KJV) They provoked him to jealousy with strange
gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. {17} They sacrificed unto
devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up,
whom your fathers feared not. {18} Of the Rock that begat thee thou art
unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. {19} And when the LORD saw
it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his
daughters. {20} And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what
their end shall be: for they are a very froward (perverse)
generation, children in whom is no faith. {21} They have moved me
to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with
their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a
people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. {22} For a fire is
kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume
the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
{23} I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend
mine arrows upon them. {24} They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with
burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts
upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. {25} The sword without, and
terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling
also with the man of gray hairs.
(Deu 32:29-30 KJV) O that they were wise, that they understood
this, that they would consider their latter end! {30} How should one chase a
thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them,
and the LORD had shut them up?
Lesson
God is pretty serious about doing
things His way
Perhaps we don’t take God’s warnings too seriously because some of the
warnings we see around us are kind of silly:
Illustration
These are actual product labels:
On a blanket from Taiwan
On a Sears hairdryer - DO NOT USE WHILE SLEEPING.
On a Korean kitchen knife - WARNING KEEP OUT OF CHILDREN.
On an American Airlines packet of nuts - INSTRUCTIONS - OPEN PACKET, EAT
NUTS.
On a string of Chinese-made Christmas lights - FOR INDOOR OR OUTDOOR USE
ONLY.
On a child's superman costume - WEARING OF THIS GARMENT DOES NOT
ENABLE YOU TO FLY.
On a hotel provided shower cap in a box - FITS ONE HEAD.
On packaging for a Rowenta iron - DO NOT IRON
CLOTHES ON BODY.
On Boot's "Children's" cough medicine - DO
NOT DRIVE
On Nytol sleep aid - WARNING MAY CAUSE
DROWSINESS.
Sometimes when you talk to people about God, you kind of get the feeling
that they think that we’re the ones that decide what’s important or not.
You’ll hear things like, “I don’t believe it’s that important which
religion you follow, as long as you’re happy”.
How would you like it if you planned for a vacation in Hawaii Columbia Hawaii
We may like to think that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as
you’re happy, but we’re not the ones who decide what the criteria is for going
to heaven. We’re not the one standing at
the door deciding who to let in. God is.
Suppose you were throwing a birthday party at your house for one of your
children and a total stranger shows up at your front door with dark glasses, a
red and white checked scarf around his face, and explosives strapped to his
chest. He says he wants to come to your
party. He doesn’t care whether or not
you know him; he wants to come in so you should let him in. Are you going to let him in? Who decides who gets in the door, you or the
stranger at the door?
Under the Old Covenant, the Law of Moses, the Jews were required to keep
the Law. Under the New Covenant, there’s
a different criteria:
(John 10:1 KJV) Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a
robber.
(John 10:6-10 KJV) This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they
understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. {7} Then said
Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep. {8} All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep
did not hear them. {9} I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be
saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. {10} The thief cometh not,
but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have
life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Under the New Covenant the criteria is Jesus. But the point is still the same. God is pretty serious about us taking His
criteria seriously. You only get in the
door if you come God’s way – through Jesus.
:19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that
he rent his clothes.
Lesson
Understanding the times
Josiah understood the severity of his situation. He realized how far they had gone from the
Lord. He realized the warnings of God’s
judgment were for him.
Even though Josiah had already begun to clean up the nation, he really
hasn’t scratched the surface. When you
look at the parallel passage, the things he does after having read God’s Word go much farther than the things he did
before reading God’s Word. He’s done a
lot, but he knows there is much to be done.
In a way, we are in a time very similar to Josiah’s. He was at the end of one of the chapters in
God’s History. As he heard these
warnings he realized that he was very close to the end.
We too are living at the end of one of God’s chapter’s of History. Jesus is about to come back.
Just as Josiah was living in a time that seemed to be described pretty well
by the words in Deuteronomy, think about how Jesus’ words describe what our
world is like:
(Mat 24:3-14 KJV) And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the
disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?
and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? {4} And
Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. {5} For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. {6}
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see
that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is
not yet. {7} For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
{8} All these are the beginning of sorrows. {9} Then shall they deliver you up
to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for
my name's sake. {10} And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one
another, and shall hate one another. {11} And many false prophets shall rise,
and shall deceive many. {12} And because iniquity shall abound, the love of
many shall wax cold. {13} But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall
be saved. {14} And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Jesus tells us how we ought to respond when we see these things happening:
(Mat 24:37-51 KJV) But as the days of Noe
were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. {38} For as in the days
that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the
ark, {39} And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall
also the coming of the Son of man be. {40} Then shall two be in the field; the
one shall be taken, and the other left. {41} Two women shall be grinding at the
mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. {42} Watch therefore: for ye
know not what hour your Lord doth come. {43} But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief
would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be
broken up. {44} Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not
the Son of man cometh. {45} Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his
lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? {46}
Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. {47}
Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. {48}
But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; {49} And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; {50}
The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh
not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, {51} And shall cut him
asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.
As you’ve read some of Matthew 24 this morning, do you have a sense that we
might be at the end of one of God’s chapters?
We ought to be getting ready for our Master’s return. Perhaps we ought
to respond a bit like Josiah.
:21 Go, inquire of the LORD for me
Josiah wants to know what God is thinking.
He wants to know what God thinks of Josiah.
vs. 22-23 Josiah will send his delegation to a prophetess named Huldah. She will
have a message for Josiah from the Lord.
:24-25 …my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be
quenched.
Lesson
God is just
God will not allow sin to go unpunished.
Sometimes we can think that because God has waited this long before judging
the world, that perhaps it isn’t going to happen.
Just because God is patient doesn’t mean that He’s not just.
For us, there will be a time coming very soon when God will judge the
earth. It will happen.
(2 Pet 3:9-11 NLT) The Lord
isn't really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No,
he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is
giving more time for everyone to repent. {10} But the day of the Lord will come
as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible
noise, and everything in them will disappear in fire, and the earth and
everything on it will be exposed to judgment. {11} Since everything around us
is going to melt away, what holy, godly lives you should be living!
:26-28 neither shall thine eyes see all the evil
Lesson
You can miss the judgment
Because of his heart, Josiah would not see the judgment.
When we turn to Jesus for help, we too pass out of the place of judgment.
When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the penalty for our sins. He satisfied God’s requirements for us to be
forgiven.
(Rom 3:25
NLT) For God sent Jesus to take the
punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made
right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life
for us.
(John 3:16-18 KJV) For God
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. {17} For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through him might be saved. {18} He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.
We are getting close to the time of God’s judgment on the earth. Jesus said we could escape the Tribulation:
(Luke 21:36 KJV)
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of
man.
We believe that the way of “escape” is the coming Rapture of the church,
when Jesus will come and snatch us away from this place.
Are you ready for the end of the story?
:29-33 A new commitment
:30 he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the LORD.
This might have been done because God specifically commands the kings to be
one of those most familiar with God's Word:
Deut. 17:18-20 And it shall be, when he sitteth
upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a
book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read
therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God,
to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: 20 That his heart be not lifted up above his
brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand,
or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and
his children, in the midst of Israel.
Josiah isn’t keeping this to himself. He’s sharing it with the nation.
:31 to keep his commandments…with all his heart
This seems to be Josiah’s personal commitment to the Lord.
I like the idea that Josiah is making a commitment to the Lord in front of everyone.
:33 And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.
Lesson
Cleansing and the Word
Now that the Scriptures had been rediscovered, Josiah finds he has lots of more to do when it comes to cleaning house.
More housecleaning was done at this time –
There was still stuff hidden in the
(2 Ki 23:4 KJV) And the king commanded Hilkiah the high
priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to
bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for
Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them
without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto
Bethel.
There had been idolatrous homosexual
male-temple-prostitutes living next to the
(2 Ki 23:7 KJV) And he brake down the houses of the
sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings
for the grove.
This is when the
(2 Ki
There was all kinds of stuff that needed cleaning up, even things that dated all the way back to Solomon:
(2 Ki 23:11-13
KJV) And he took away the horses that
the kings of
Jesus said to His disciples:
(John 15:3 KJV)
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
We know that Jesus cleanses us as His Bride, through His Word:
(Eph 5:25-26 KJV)
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and
gave himself for it; {26} That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the
washing of water by the word,
I think that this cleansing is accomplished in two different ways.
First, just putting God’s Word into your mind brings cleansing. Instead of having worldly thoughts occupying your mind, you have God’s thoughts on your mind. When you read the Word, you just feel cleaner.
Secondly, there is the practical aspect. Not only are we to be “readers” of the Word, but also “doers” of the Word. One of the aspects of being a “doer” of the Word involves cleaning house – dealing with things that need to change in your life.
We need both the work of the Spirit in our lives as well as the cleansing
of the Word.
Lesson
A sense of destiny
There’s something else that takes place at this time that is highly
unusual. It is connected with an ancient
prophecy that was given about four hundred years earlier, right after Jeroboam
split the northern kingdom off from Rehoboam and then he set up his golden
calves in Bethel Jerusalem Jerusalem
When Jeroboam began his false religion, a prophet from the southern kingdom showed up.
(1 Ki 13:1-2 KJV) And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah Bethel
This is exactly what would happen when Josiah went north to tear down these altars.
(2 Ki 23:15-20 KJV) Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and
the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had
made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high
place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. {16} And as Josiah
turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent,
and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and
polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed,
who proclaimed these words. {17} Then he said, What title is that that I see?
And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which
came from Judah Bethel Samaria Jerusalem
I would imagine that it must have been a trip for Josiah to find out that
he had even been named by name as the one who would tear down this altar in Bethel
Even though we might not have our names recorded in the Bible, we too have a sense of destiny with the Lord.
(Eph 2:10
KJV) For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them.
before ordained – proetoimazo (“before” + “to prepare”) – to prepare before, to make ready beforehand
Lesson:
Outward reforms don't always tell what's going
on inside.
During Josiah’s time, the nation got rid of lots of idolatry, it had to, it
was the law of the land.
Josiah would rule for 13 more years from this point until his death (he
ruled for 31 years, this is his 18th year ...)
But after Josiah was gone, the people went back to what they REALLY wanted
to do.
The prophet Jeremiah tells us that after Josiah died, the people simply went back to their evil ways because that’s what they wanted to do all along (Jer. 26).
Are the changes in your life real, or are they “enforced”?
What do you do when nobody’s around?
This is why we need a little reserve in our response when a person “accepts”
the Lord.
We hope and pray that it’s a true conversion.
The test is what happens over time, and whether or not the person actually
allows God to make changes in them.
2Chronicles 35
:1-19 Josiah’s Passover
:3 Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel
It appears that the Ark of the Covenant was not in the Temple
Was the Ark Temple
One possibility is that it had been removed during the reign of Manasseh
because of the stuff that Manasseh had brought into the Temple
(2 Chr 33:7 KJV) And he set a carved image, the idol which he
had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon
his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem Israel
Now that Josiah has thoroughly cleansed the Temple Ark
:9 …gave unto the Levites for passover offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.
Lesson
Setting the example of grace
Josiah was a good leader who had learned to give to his people.
But he’s not the only one who gives – now the rest of the leaders give as well.
:12 And they removed the burnt offerings
They took the animals that were set aside for burnt offerings and divided them among all the families that were present so everyone could offer burnt offerings.
:14 therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.
(2 Chr 35:14 NLT) Afterward the Levites prepared a meal for
themselves and for the priests, because the priests had been busy from morning
till night offering the burnt offerings and the fat portions. The Levites took
responsibility for all these preparations.
We already read that the Levites were told to
(2 Chr 35:6 KJV) …kill the passover,
and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according
to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
Lesson
Helping others do their ministry
The Levites seemed to have a responsibility of helping others do their ministry.
It seems that the priests had their hands full taking care of the burnt offerings that they had not had time to make dinner. The Levites help them out.
Deacons – Acts 6
(Acts 6:1-7 KJV) And in
those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a
murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were
neglected in the daily ministration. {2} Then the twelve called the multitude
of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the
word of God, and serve tables. {3} Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you
seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may
appoint over this business. {4} But we will give ourselves continually to
prayer, and to the ministry of the word. {5} And the saying pleased the whole
multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,
and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor,
and Timon, and Parmenas,
and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: {6} Whom they set before the apostles: and
when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. {7} And the word of God
increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem
:15 And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun
The system of worship leaders that David had set up is still in place.
:18 And there was no passover like to that kept
in Israel
Though Hezekiah’s Passover was very special (2Chr. 30) because it had been the first time that both the northern and southern kingdoms celebrated since the time of Solomon, this one was considered better.
Apparently this Passover was better because of the care that was taken to do things in strict accordance with the Law of Moses.
:20-27 Josiah’s tragic mistake
:20 Necho king of Egypt Euphrates
Carchemish Euphrates River Turkey Euphrates
River Syria Mesopotamia , and Anatolia (Turkey
The word Carchemish
:21 forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.
By now, 609 b.c., Assyria
had become so weak that she had lost practically all her empire, especially to
the Babylonians (or Chaldeans).
Nineveh Assyria )
had fallen three years earlier, in 612, and the Assyrians had moved their
forces around the cities of Haran Carchemish Euphrates
River
The Babylonians decided to it was time to completely wipe out the
Assyrians, and advanced to attach at Carchemish
Egypt Babylonia than Assyria ,
and launched an attack through Palestine Assyria 's assistance at
Charchemish.
This would be one of the great battles of history with the fall of the
leading world power to the upcoming world power.
Josiah apparently like the Babylonians best (kind of a pennant race), and
decided to do a little warring of his own, trying to trip up the Egyptians on
their way to rescue the Assyrians.
He met Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo valley
of Jezreel Israel
But instead of helping the Babylonians, Josiah ended up dead.
Necho proceeded after his brief interruption with Josiah, on up to Carchemish
Lesson
Shaking your preconceptions
Think about this question - Was God
with Necho?
It appears that God certainly didn’t want Josiah interfering with Necho because God allowed Necho to conquer Josiah.
If you looked at the exterior of this conflict, which person would you think that God was “with”? Was God with this pagan ruler Necho, or was God with this good, godly king Josiah?
Yet Josiah would lose.
It appears that he should have paid attention to what Necho was saying.
And Necho was a pagan man.
