2 Kings 23:3
“Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow 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 took a stand for the covenant.”
The stories recorded in the Bible are designed to impact our lives and affect out behaviors. Here we find Josiah the king making a public commitment to follow the Lord. While his actions were public they were in no way political. This was not an attempt to raise his approval rating or get in good with the special interest groups. He was choosing to stand against what was popular, accepted and even politically correct and choose to commit himself and his reign to the Lord. Two things stand out to me regarding his decision.
First, it took place while standing by a pillar. I think if we were writing the story we would have Josiah at the altar or kneeling before the veil but it simply did not happen that way. Standing next to a pillar he devoted himself to His God. Wherever you are is the right place to commit yourself to Christ. I have heard testimonies of believers who pulled their car off the road while listening to Christian radio and devoted themselves to Christ, others who were in hotel rooms where they found a strategically placed Bible in the nightstand. I even met a woman who in the middle of the night, alone at her home prayed to devote herself to the Lord, then went down the hall and baptized herself in the bath tub. Wherever you are it is the right time and place to commit yourself and your ways to the Lord. Don’t wait for it to become popular or acceptable. Give yourself completely to Christ today.
Secondly, I notice that Josiah’s commitment had a tremendous affect on others. When he devoted himself to the Lord others followed and eventually the nation was impacted. Often we neglect to be committed because we don’t want to stand out or be the only one. It is not uncommon in marriages that one person desires a deeper walk with Christ but holds back because they are uncertain how their spouse will respond. I think we should keep in mind the fact that others are looking for an example to follow. Your home will be transformed when you devote yourself more completely to Christ. Your decision will impact your spouse, your children and ultimately your world.
Pastor Jim
Sometimes it is difficult to uncover the meaning behind a biblical text or to make proper application for our lives. Other times, there is no difficulty at all. Three times in this text we read the same phrase,
Since the opening chapters of 1 Chronicles are designed to give us an accurate genealogical account of Israel, very little commentary is given. When that pattern is broken, our attention should be grabbed. In the case of Achar, we find a brief reference to his story alongside his name. Achar, or Achan, lived during the conquest of Canaan. He was among those men who followed Joshua across the Jordan, into the promised land. His situation gave him opportunity to be heroic, until greed got a hold of him.
The final chapters of 2 Kings tell the story of the death of a nation. After having a glorious beginning, and being miraculously sustained for a thousand years, the nation of Judah is defeated, the Temple destroyed, and the people taken as prisoners of war. These chapters record their collapse from heaven’s perspective. It was not caused by economic failure, a weak foreign policy, or because Babylon was a superior foe. Judah’s demise was simply a consequence of national sin, “…because of the sins of Manasseh…”
Imagine sitting on Mount Scopus, just a little northeast of Jerusalem, as the Babylonian forces surrounded the city. Before long, the walls were penetrated, and the city taken. First the leaders were gathered and executed, then the city was plundered and burned. What had once been a glorious testimony to the goodness of God, now told an entirely different message. All who watched the city fall should have learned the devastating effects of sin. Even after a contingency returned to rebuild the temple, Jerusalem would still bear scars from its fall.
Josiah was the youngest king to reign over the nation of Israel. At eight years old, his father died and he ascended the throne. We read very little of the early years of his reign, but at eighteen, he began a campaign to reform the nation, and turn the people back to the Lord. Josiah would go on to become one of the greatest kings in the nation’s long history. His success is summed up in three simple statements: he did what was right, he walked in the ways of the Lord, and he did not allow himself to become sidetracked by other things. As his story unfolds, we see the application of each of these points.
Manasseh, king of Judah, will go down in history as the king who caused the fall of the nation. It was not his foreign policy, his economic plan, or his tax code, that killed the nation. Instead, it was his view of God and his stance regarding sin that would weaken the nation, and lead to its collapse. Later we read,
Imagine what this promise meant for Hezekiah. First, he was ill, so it meant he would be healed. Second, it meant he would have more time. Third, it meant a clock started that night, giving him an expiration date. Fifteen years from this promise, Hezekiah would breath his last. This promise has often made me wonder, “What I would do with fifteen more years?” How would you react, if suddenly you were given an expiration date? Let’s take a look at what Hezekiah did.
Assyria was on a campaign to conquer the world. Their armies were sent out to defeat any nation that showed the least resistance. Judah had watched as their neighbors Israel and Syria were defeated, and the people taken away as slaves. Now, with the Assyrian army at their doorstep, it seemed as though Judah would be the next to fall. Delegates, representing the king of Assyria, came to Jerusalem and openly threatened the people, in order to destroy what little confidence they might have had in the Lord. These delegates reminded the people that no other nation had been able to resist the Assyrian conquest, and Judah would be no different. It was here, they made their biggest mistake. They thought Israel’s God was no different than the manmade gods of other nations.
Webster’s dictionary defines secret as, “kept from view or hidden.”mIt goes on to speak of something as “being covert or stealth,” implying that great pains are taken to avoid detection.
Jim Gallagher 