May
10th 2
Kings 23 Josiah brings reforms
1: And the king
sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of
Jerusalem. 2: And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and
all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him,
and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and
great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the
covenant which was found in the house of the LORD. 3: And the king
stood by a 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 their heart and all their soul, to perform the
words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the
people stood to the covenant. 4: 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. 5: And he put down
the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn
incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places
round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to
the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of
heaven. 6: And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD,
without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook
Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof
upon the graves of the children of the people. 7: 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. 8: And he brought all
the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places
where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and
brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in
of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's
left hand at the gate of the city. 9: Nevertheless the priests of the
high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but
they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren. 10: And he
defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom,
that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the
fire to Molech. 11: And he took away the horses that the kings of
Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the
LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in
the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12: And
the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which
the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made
in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down,
and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the
brook Kidron. 13: And the high places that were before Jerusalem,
which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which
Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination
of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites,
and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king
defile. 14: And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the
groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. 15: 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,
and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of
Bethel. 18: And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So
they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out
of Samaria. 19: And all the houses also of the high places that were
in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to
provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them
according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. 20: And he slew
all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars,
and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem. 21: And
the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the
LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. 22:
Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the
judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of
Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; 23: But in the eighteenth year of
king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in
Jerusalem. 24: Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the
wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that
were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put
away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written
in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
25: And like unto him was there no king before him, that 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; neither after him arose
there any like him. 26: Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the
fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled
against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had
provoked him withal. 27: And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also
out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this
city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My
name shall be there.
Josiah
dies
28: 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? 29: In his days
Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to
the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew
him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. 30: And his servants carried
him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and
buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took
Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in
his father's stead.
Jehohaz
King of Judah
31: Jehoahaz was
twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned
three months in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the
daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32: And he did that which was evil in
the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
33: And Pharaoh-nechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of
Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a
tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. 34:
And Pharaoh-nechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of
Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took
Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.
Jehoiakim
King of Judah
35: And Jehoiakim
gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to
give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted
the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one
according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaoh-nechoh. 36:
Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and
he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was
Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37: And he did that which
was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers
had done.
2 Kings 24
1: In his days
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his
servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. 2: And
the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the
Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of
Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the
word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets. 3:
Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove
them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all
that he did; 4: And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he
filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not
pardon. 5: Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he
did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings
of Judah? 6: So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his
son reigned in his stead. 7: And the king of Egypt came not again any
more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the
river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the
king of Egypt.
Jehoiachin
King of Judah
8: Jehoiachin was
eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in
Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the
daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9: And he did that which was evil
in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.
10: At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came
up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11: And
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his
servants did besiege it. 12: And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went
out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and
his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in
the eighth year of his reign. 13: And he carried out thence all the
treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's
house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king
of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.
14: And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all
the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the
craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the
people of the land. 15: And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon,
and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and
the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from
Jerusalem to Babylon. 16: And all the men of might, even seven
thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong
and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to
Babylon. 17: And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's
brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
Zedekiah
King of Judah
18: Zedekiah was
twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the
daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19: And he did that which was evil in
the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20:
For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and
Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah
rebelled against the king of Babylon.
2
Kings 25 Jerusalem falls to Babylon
1: And it came to
pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth
day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and
all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they
built forts against it round about. 2: And the city was besieged unto
the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 3: And on the ninth day of the
fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread
for the people of the land. 4: And the city was broken up, and all
the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two
walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against
the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. 5:
And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him
in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.
6: So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon
to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. 7: And they slew the sons
of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and
bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. 8: And
in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the
nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came
Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon,
unto Jerusalem: 9: And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's
house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house
burnt he with fire. 10: And all the army of the Chaldees, that were
with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem
round about. 11: Now the rest of the people that were left in the
city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with
the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzar-adan the captain of the
guard carry away. 12: But the captain of the guard left of the poor
of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. 13: And the pillars of
brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the
brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break
in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. 14: And the
pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the
vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. 15: And
the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in
gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.
16: The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made
for the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without
weight. 17: The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the
chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three
cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter
round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar
with wreathen work. 18: And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the
chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers
of the door: 19: And out of the city he took an officer that was set
over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's
presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of
the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men
of the people of the land that were found in the city: 20: And
Nebuzar-adan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the
king of Babylon to Riblah: 21: And the king of Babylon smote them,
and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried
away out of their land.
Gedaliah
Governor of Judah
22: And as for the
people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler. 23: And when all the captains of
the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had
made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even
Ishmael the son of Nethahiah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and
Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son
of a Maachathite, they and their men. 24: And Gedaliah sware to them,
and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of
the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and
it shall be well with you. 25: But it came to pass in the seventh
month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the
seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he
died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah. 26:
And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the
armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the
Chaldees.
Jehoiachin
restored to honour
27: And it came to
pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin
king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day
of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon in the year that he
began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out
of prison; 28: And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above
the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon; 29: And
changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before
him all the days of his life. 30: And his allowance was a continual
allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the
days of his life.
Today we see the
reforms of Josiah and all the good that he did. Then we have Jehohaz,
Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah - Kings of Judah. Finally
Jerusalem falls to the Babylonian army. Gedaliah is put as governor
of Jerusalem on behalf of the Babylonians. And finally Jehoiachin is
restored to honour. But let’s get back to Josiah. We saw last time
that Josiah found the scroll of the Law now he gathers all the people
and especially the leaders and he has the law read to the people.
Then the king stood and made a solemn covenant to serve the Lord
faithfully, to keep the commandments and testimonies and statues with
all their heart and soul. And all the people stood to make the
covenant. Then he commanded that everything that had anything to do
with the worship of Baal and he had them all burnt. And he executed
all the priests of Baal that taught the people to worship Baal
(Mars), the sun, the moon and the planets and all the stars. He
destroyed totally the groves dedicated to Idolatry. And he smashed
the homes of the homosexuals that were next to the house of the LORD.
He also defiled the Topheth. (Probably a drum that was used to drown
the sound of sacrificed children) He removed the horses dedicated to
the sun god. and the destroyed all the chariots of the sun. And he
destroyed all the high places where Judah offered to demons. There
was a lot of idolatry to destroy. There wren a great deal of
executions of all the idolatrous priests. Then he said keep the
Passover!! The Passover had been forgotten. Whenever Israel or Judah
forsook the Lord they left off the Passover. He destroyed all the
occult satanic worshippers and the witches and wizards. Then in the
end Josiah died and is son Jehohaz took his place. He was 23 when he
began to reign but he reigned only 3 months. He was an evil king. The
Egyptian interfered in the life of Israel capturing the king and
appointing his own king over them. Then Jehoiakim reigned on behalf
of Pharoah-nechoh. He taxed the land heavily and did evil in Gods
sight. Finally Nebuchadnezzar came to Judah to capture all the
people. First he made Judah his servants for 3 yrs. and then he
rebelled but the Lord sent all the nations against Judah because of
the sins of Manasseh. Because of all his murders, because he filled
Jerusalem with the murder of innocent people. The Lord would not
forgive him of this. Then we have the reign of Jehoachin. Who was
enthroned when he was 18 yrs and lasted 3 months. He was an evil
king. When Nebuchadnezzar came the king went out to meet him and gave
him everything he had and all his family and children (Daniel was one
of them) in the end only the poor were left. (The poor inherited
everything.) The king left Mattaniah king but changed his name to
Zedekiah. He reigned for 11 yrs but he was an evil king. Zedekiah
rebelled against the discipline of the LORD and so the Lord sent
Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem. Eventually the city came to an
end and they tried to escape but Nebuchadnezzar took the kings sons
and killed them In front of him and then they blinded him. Later the
king came and removed everything from the temple of Solomon and took
it all the Babylon. Then the king put Gedaliah over the land of
Judah. The Babylonians said obey us and all will be well. But they
were so afraid that they left wholesale to live in Egypt. Then a very
unusual thing happened Jehoiachin was taken from his prison and made
head of the kings of Babylon and he gave him an allowance all his
life. And so ends one of the most horrendous times in the history of
Israel and Judah. Israel the northern kingdom was totally scattered
into the nations but Judah had been all taken to Babylon. They would
be there for 70 long years where the people would weep by the rivers
of Babylon.
- What were the reforms that Josiah did?
- What were the circumstances of the Babylonian invasion?
- What do we learn about Gods estimation of these kings of Judah?
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