6/23/2011 7:41:57 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time
Focus: Josiah—humbled
by God’s Word PT. 1
(Cleansing
the land)
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 2Chronicles 34:1-7
Message of the verses: “1 ¶ Josiah was eight years old when he became
king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2 He did right in the sight of the LORD, and
walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or
to the left. 3 For in the eighth year of
his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father
David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the
high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images. 4 They tore down the altars of the Baals in his
presence, and the incense altars that were high above them he chopped down;
also the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images he broke in pieces
and ground to powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed
to them. 5 Then he burned the bones of
the priests on their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem. 6 In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon,
even as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding ruins, 7 he also tore down the altars and beat the
Asherim and the carved images into powder, and chopped down all the incense
altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.”
Josiah
was king in Judah from 640-609 and he was eight years old when he took over for
his father Amnon who was not a good king as he turned the kingdom into
worshiping idols and now Josiah will turn it back to worship the Lord and tear
down the idols that were put up by his father.
He began to seek the Lord at age sixteen and by age twenty was ready to
rid the land of all of the idols, and even went up to the northern tribes to
rid them of idols too.
Repairing the temple 2Kings 22:1-7;
2Chronicles 34:8-13: “ 1 ¶
Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned
thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter
of Adaiah of Bozkath. 2 He did right in
the sight of the LORD and walked in all the way of his father David, nor did he
turn aside to the right or to the left. 3
Now in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the
son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam the scribe, to the house of the LORD
saying, 4 "Go up to Hilkiah the
high priest that he may count the money brought in to the house of the LORD
which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. 5 "Let them deliver it into the hand of
the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the LORD, and let them give
it to the workmen who are in the house of the LORD to repair the damages of the
house, 6 to the carpenters and the
builders and the masons and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the
house. 7 "Only no accounting shall
be made with them for the money delivered into their hands, for they deal
faithfully."
“8
¶ Now in the eighteenth year of his
reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of
Azaliah, and Maaseiah an official of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the
recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. 9 They came to Hilkiah the high priest and
delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites,
the doorkeepers, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the
remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem. 10 Then they gave it into the
hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and the
workmen who were working in the house of the LORD used it to restore and repair
the house. 11 They in turn gave it to
the carpenters and to the builders to buy quarried stone and timber for
couplings and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had let go
to ruin. 12 The men did the work
faithfully with foremen over them to supervise: Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites
of the sons of Merari, Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites,
and the Levites, all who were skillful with musical instruments. 13 They were also over the burden bearers, and
supervised all the workmen from job to job; and some of the Levites were
scribes and officials and gatekeepers.”
I
wish to quote a part of the first section from Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary
on 2Kings and 2Chronicles: “Josiah’s
eighteenth year as king was indeed a stellar one. He repaired the temple of the Lord where the
Book of the Law was discovered; he made a covenant with the Lord; he carried on
further reforms in the land, and he hosted a great celebration of
Passover.” Yes indeed this was a stellar
year for King Josiah.
The
portion that comes from 2Kings does not include the cleansing of the land, but
only begins with the cleansing and repairing of the temple. There was money in the temple that the people
had brought for tithes and offerings and now Josiah instructs Shaphan who was
the father of a remarkable family to head up this work on the temple. Shaphan’s son Gemariah would join with others
to encourage Josiah not to burn up the scrolls that contained the Law of the
Lord. It was Shaphan’s grandson Micaiah
who heard someone reading the 2nd scroll of Jeremiah in the temple
and reported it to the king’s secretary.
(Jer. 36:11ff) Shaphan’s son
carried Jeremiah’s letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylon (Jer.29:1-3). Shaphan’s son “Ahikam was among the men who
consulted Huldah the Prophetess about the book of the Law (1Kings
22:12-20). After the fall of Judah and
Jerusalem, Shaphan’s grandson Gadaliah was named governor of Judah. The only disappointing son of the four was
Jaazaniah who worshiped idols in the temple of the Lord (Ezek. 8:11-12).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I noticed from the 2Kings portion of
Scripture in today’s SD that there was no need to keep records of the money to
be used by the officials who were over the repairing of the temple. Dr. Wiersbe writes the following about
this: “Leadership is stewardship, and
leaders must see to it that the work is done with integrity and God’s money is
used wisely.” This is something that is
not done on a regular basis in 21st century America as greed is what
mostly goes on today. Being a good
leader is something that I have always tried to be.
Dr.
Wiersbe also pointed out that it wasn’t enough just to destroy the idol worship
in the land; the temple had to be available for the worship of the true and
living God. How true this is when
leading someone to know the Lord for that is where discipleship has to come
into the lives of that person.
I
was impressed by the family of Shaphan and how three of his sons turned out to
be great and faithful workers for the Lord.
I am blessed by our children whom the Lord has impressed upon them to be
faithful his calling. God has surely blessed
our family and for this I am very thankful.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Romans 12:1-2.
2.
Psalm 139:23-24.
3.
Philippians 4:11-13.
4.
Ephesians 6:10-18.
5.
Proverbs 3:5-6.
6/23/2011 9:05:17 AM
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