6/28/2011
8:33:38 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: They lost their independence
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference:
2Ki. 23:29-33; 2Chron. 35:20-36:4
Message of the verses: “29 In
his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river
Euphrates. And King Josiah went to meet him, and when Pharaoh Neco saw him he
killed him at Megiddo. 30 His servants
drove his body in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem and
buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son
of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.
“ 31 ¶ Jehoahaz was twenty-three
years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and
his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 He did evil in the sight of the LORD,
according to all that his fathers had done. 33
Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he
might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a fine of one hundred
talents of silver and a talent of gold.”
“20
¶ After all this, when Josiah had set
the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at Carchemish on
the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him. 21 But Neco sent messengers to him, saying,
"What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming
against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has
ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is
with me, so that He will not destroy you." 22 However, Josiah would not turn away from him,
but disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the words
of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of Megiddo.
23 The archers shot King Josiah, and the
king said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am badly wounded."
24 So his servants took him out of the
chariot and carried him in the second chariot which he had, and brought him to
Jerusalem where he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah
and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25
Then Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah. And all the male and female
singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations to this day. And they made
them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are also written in the Lamentations.
26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah
and his deeds of devotion as written in the law of the LORD, 27 and his acts, first to last, behold, they are
written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
“1 ¶ Then the people of the land
took Joahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in place of his father in
Jerusalem. 2 Joahaz was twenty-three
years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 Then the king of Egypt deposed him at
Jerusalem, and imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and
one talent of gold. 4 The king of Egypt
made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to
Jehoiakim. But Neco took Joahaz his brother and brought him to Egypt.”
I
have to admit that these last chapters of 2Kings and 2Chronicles with all of
their difficult names to pronounce and name changes leaves me pretty much
confused, but it is part of Scripture and therefore I must launch into it. This SD begins the last chapter in “Be
Distinct,” the commentary that I have been reading to help me to understand
2Kings and 2Chronicles that was written by Warren Wiersbe. I am thankful for the ministry of Warren
Wiersbe especially all of his “Be” books that he has written as commentary on
the different books of the Bible. He
entitles this last chapter in “Be Distinct” “The End has Come,” and of course
the end he is referring to is the nation of Judah. He begins this chapter by quoting a British
political leader by the name of Richard Cobden:
“Every great nation fell by suicide.”
This was certainly true of Judah and it certainly looks like it is going
to be true of the USA, for how all of the other great nations committed suicide
was that they decayed from the inside through morally and spiritually
falling. God began the nation of Israel
to be a light to the lost world yet when Solomon became king he began to bring
the world into the nation of Israel by most of the 700 wives that he had
married for this was done for a political reason and this was wrong for it led
the nation of Israel into idolatry through these many wives for they all had
their own idolatrous religions. Dr.
Wiersbe writes in this section that the church throughout its history has done
the same thing, making itself like the world around it and not making itself
distinct like the Scriptures teach it should.
I wish to quote from some different places in the Scriptures of the New
Testament showing that the Church is to be in the world but not part of the
world. 2Timothy 2:4 “No soldier in
active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he
may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” James 1:27 “Pure and undefiled religion in
the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their
distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” 1John 2:15-17 “15 Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. 16 For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not
of the Father, but is of the world. 17
And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the
will of God stays forever.”
In
order to help understand the names of Josiah’s sons, for they were changed, I
wish to quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary.
“According to 1Chronicles 3:15-16, Josiah had four sons: Johanan; Eliakim, who was renamed Jehoiakim;
Mattaniah, who was renamed Zedekiah; and Shallum, also known as Jehoahaz. We know nothing about Johanan and assume he
died in childhood. When Josiah died, the
people put Josiah’s youngest son Jehoahaz on the throne and bypassed the other
two brothers. His given name was Shallum
(Jer. 22:11) and Jehoahaz was the name he was given when he took the
throne. Jehoahaz and Zedekiah were full
brothers (2Ki. 23:31; 24:18). It’s
obvious that the Jeremiah mentioned in 23:31 isn’t the Prophet Jeremiah since
he was unmarried (Jer.16:1-2).”
After
the death of Josiah his son Joahaz was set upon the throne, but he would be a
puppet king for only three months for as the title of this section indicates
Judah would lose her independence to the nation of Egypt, for Egypt would take
over Judah during this time and not much later Babylon would take over Judah
for they would conquer Judah fully in 586, but begin in 605. It was not his best move for Josiah to tackle
Egypt but as I stated yesterday I believe this was in the plan of God for this
to happen so that He would fulfill the covenant that He made with Israel. The covenant that I refer to is found in
Deuteronomy 28 and some have called this the “Palestinian Covenant,” and it was
an unconditional covenant that God made with Israel. If Israel would walk in the way of the Lord
then they would be blessed but if they did not then the curses of the covenant
would come upon them. That is what is
happening at this point in Judah’s history as they lose their independence and
soon their land and would not fully get it back until May 5, 1948.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: This one is very personal for it brings back
the memories of almost a year ago when I felt it necessary to leave GBC and the
reason was that I believe and still do that Greg Whiting is making GBC into a
“seekers church.” As I have been
reminded in this SD the church is to be distinct, for there is to be now
compromise with the world, and yet that is what many churches are doing in
today’s culture for they are trying to be a part of the world in order to
attract the world and that totally goes against the Scriptures as seen from the
quotations above.
I
don’t want to compromise my faith and look like the world and perhaps I did
when I read a book recently, for although there were subtle things in this book
that showed it was of the world a few years ago it would have been a book that
would have been looked at differently than today as the morals in this country
are going down the drain and someday soon we may be getting what Judah got in
these chapters that I am studying now.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Psalm 139:23-24
2.
Ephesians 6:10-18
3.
Romans 12:1-2
4.
Philippians 4:11-13
5.
Proverbs 3:5-6
6/28/2011
9:24:03 AM
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