6/25/2011
10:28:38 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Josiah—humbled
by God’s Word Part –3
(Covenanting with the Lord)
Bible Reading
& Meditation
Reference: 2Kings 23:1-3;
2Chronicles 34:29-33
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and
of Jerusalem. 2 The king went up to 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 hearing all the words of the book of the covenant
which was found in the house of the LORD. 3
The king stood by the 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 his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this
covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the
covenant.”
“29
¶ Then the king sent and gathered all
the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30
The king went up to the house of the LORD and all the men of Judah, the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites and all the people, from the
greatest to the least; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book
of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD. 31 Then the king stood in his place 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 his heart and with all his soul,
to perform the words of the covenant written in this book. 32 Moreover, he made all who were present in
Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand with him. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did
according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. 33 Josiah removed all the abominations from all
the lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in
Israel to serve the LORD their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn from following the LORD God
of their fathers.”
I
would suppose that one could call this a revival of the people of Judah,
Benjamin, and those in Jerusalem, a revival that began in the heart of Josiah,
and then it spread to those who attended this meeting in Jerusalem at the
temple of the Lord. This was not some
sort of “civil religion,” but something that sprang from the reading of the
covenant that the Lord had made with Israel.
Hebrews 4:12 will help explain how this happened: “For the word of God
is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to
the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Dr. Wiersbe points out that this sort of
thing “renewing of the covenant” happened several times in the history of the
nation of Israel. Moses did this before
the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River the first time to enter the
Promised Land, and this is recorded in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy means the “renewing of the Law.” It happened again with Joshua (Joshua 8:34
and following), and again it is recorded in 1Samuel (7:2ff; 12:1ff). When the remnant returned from Babylon
Nehemiah records this happening in Nehemiah chapters eight through ten.
Reforming the land (2Kings 23:4-20;
2Chronicles 34:33): 4 ¶ Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high
priest and the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers, to bring out of
the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, for Asherah,
and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the
fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 He did away with the idolatrous priests whom
the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the
cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, also those who burned
incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to
all the host of heaven. 6 He brought out
the Asherah from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron,
and burned it at the brook Kidron, and ground it to dust, and threw its dust on
the graves of the common people. 7 He
also broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house
of the LORD, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah. 8 Then he brought all the priests from the
cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned
incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates
which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city,
which were on one’s left at the city gate. 9
Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar
of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.
10 He also defiled Topheth, which is in
the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter
pass through the fire for Molech. 11 He
did away with the horses which the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the
entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the
official, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun
with fire. 12 The altars which were on
the roof, 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, the
king broke down; and he smashed them there and threw their dust into the brook
Kidron. 13 The high places which were
before Jerusalem, which were on the right of the mount of destruction which
Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the
Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the
abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled. 14 He broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut
down the Asherim and filled their places with human bones. 15 Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel and
the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made,
even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he demolished its
stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah. 16 Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves
that were there on the mountain, and he sent and took the bones from the graves
and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the LORD
which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. 17 Then he said, "What is this monument
that I see?" And the men of the city told him, "It is the grave of
the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have
done against the altar of Bethel." 18
He said, "Let him alone; let no one disturb his bones." So
they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from
Samaria. 19 Josiah also removed all the
houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings
of Israel had made provoking the LORD; and he did to them just as he had done
in Bethel. 20 All the priests of the
high places who were there he slaughtered on the altars and burned human bones
on them; then he returned to Jerusalem.”
“33 Josiah removed all the abominations from all
the lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in
Israel to serve the LORD their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn from following the LORD God
of their fathers.”
This
is a very sad commentary of what the children of Israel had done since the time
of Solomon many years before Josiah. As
I read through this section of Scripture and then the commentary by Dr. Wiersbe
there were some things that Dr. Wiersbe had made more clear to me. For instance the Levitical priest that served
at the high places he allowed to come to Jerusalem and eat the food of the
sacrifices, but not serve in the temple. One of the other things that were made clearer
to me was about the horses that were spoken of and these horses were to serve
the sun god. Josiah actually took his
campaign of making sure that the covenant with the Lord was being followed all
the way up to Samaria and fulfilled a prophecy that was made some 300 years
earlier concerning the priest of Bethel that was recorded in 1Kings
13:31-33 “31 After he had buried him, he spoke to his
sons, saying, "When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is
buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32
"For the thing shall surely come to pass which he cried by the word
of the LORD against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high
places which are in the cities of Samaria." 33 After this event Jeroboam did not return from
his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the
people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Here is what I see for my life that I learned
from this section of Scriptures. My body
is the temple of the Holy Spirit and from time to time I sin and pollute this
temple and so I need to renew myself to the Lord as Josiah did when he had the
covenant of the Lord read to him and also after that conviction I need to tear
down any idols that I have built up, for it will do little good to just confess
my sin without doing something about it, and replace it with the things in the
Word of God.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Psalm 139:23-24.
2.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain
me with a willing spirit. (Ps. 51:12)
3.
Philippians 4:11-13
4.
Romans 12:1-2
5.
Ephesians 6:10-18
6.
Proverbs 3:5-6
6/25/2011
11:35:18 AM
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