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The fall months are peak hurricane season for the east coast. Periodically, storms can grow strong enough with hurricane winds and floods to create significant damage for physical properties and possessions but also take human life. Thus, states and counties have developed specific lists for hurricane preparation, as well as designated routes for evacuation.
Yet, there are always some residents who choose to avoid preparations and/or ignore evacuation calls by choosing to “ride out” the storm. People stay for a few reasons: 1) the storms aren’t as bad as predicted, 2) house evacuations are prime targets for looters, 3) humans don’t like upheaval.

Likewise, Israel/Judah have faced severe storms and catastrophic hurricane invasions of God’s judgment.^[1] And many are in the path of destruction with it being too late for evacuation. In fact, there are a remnant of Yahweh-worshipers who simply need to anchor their boats in the open space, secure their belongings, and hope to ride out the storm the best they can. And sadly, it was a lengthy storm.

• Evil reigned for many generations w/ multiple ungodly and violent kings.
• In these chapters of Kings: Hezekiah (29years, mostly good), Manasseh (55years, evil), Amon (2years, evil), Josiah (31 years, good), Jehoahaz (3months, evil), Eliakim/Jehoiakim (11years, evil), Jehoiachin (3months, evil), Zedekiah (11 years, evil).
• Proverbs 29:2 “when the wicked rule, the people groan.”
• God’s people endured slavery, uprooted lives, and the slaughter of many occurred during this time period.
• Israel was defeated by Assyria in 722BC, and Judah defeated in 586BC by Babylon. We’ll reflect upon Judah’s downfall next week, but today we will focus on Judah’s final godly king: Josiah (name means “Yahweh heals”).^[2]

EXAMINE  2 Kings 21-23   Find The Bible

Last week we reflected on the life of King Hezekiah. While his reign was mostly good for 29 years, his legacy was short-sighted. He gave up long-term strength for short-term success and comfort. So, the next generation did not sustain a godly heritage. Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, becomes king. His name meant “forgetful,”^[3] not because he repeatedly misplaced car keys and remote control, but because his worship was misdirected and he mismanaged the people of God. He had the longest reign of any Judean king. Yet, it was also the worst, as he is essentially to blame for Judah’s downfall and exile

2Kings 21:10-16 “¹⁰ And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, ¹¹ ‘Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, ¹² therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. ¹³ And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.’ ¹⁶ Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. (cf also 2 Kings 24:2-4 that describes Judah’s destruction from the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar due to Manasseh’s sins.). And lest you think – oh, a minor misstep or temporary setback, read

2 Chronicles 33:10-11 “The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.”

The Assyrians treated their subjects as animals. This is the shocking savagery of slavery; in that it dehumanizes individuals. The Assyrians pierced the nostrils of their slaves with a hook, and then placed a chain through a line of prisoners, having them march to their new destination. Israel’s/Judah’s exile separated them from their homeland, their family, but also of their identity. Enslavement seeks to eradicate the soul of individuals, so the person deems themselves as unworthy and having no value.  

Just as Manasseh was enslaved by his sin, so we can be too. Sin starts as a slip or stumble, but quickly spirals from temptation to dominion.  Compromise leads to unexpected chains and inescapable prisons, so that we are hopeless without rescue. Yet, that’s precisely why God sent Jesus to our world – to do what the first Adam could not, and to accomplish what every king and leader promises but fails to fulfill. Through faith in Jesus, our old self is crucified with him, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin but free in Christ; so consider yourself dead to sin but alive to God (cf. Ro 6:6-14).  We shall not listen to the thief who seeks to rob our joy and steal our salvation. Instead, we shall fix our eyes on the One who bled and died to grant us victory of sin, the serpent, and the grave.

Sin starts as a slip or stumble, but quickly spirals from temptation to dominion.  Compromise leads to unexpected chains and inescapable prisons, so that we are hopeless without rescue. Yet, that’s precisely why God sent Jesus to our world.

But how does this confident freedom and victory renewal occur? This is what we discover through King Josiah.

Renewals start by focusing forward, not right or left. (2 Kings 22)
¹ Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. ² And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

• Josiah became king during a time of national destruction & spiritual despair.
• Josiah’s father was Amon, who was assassinated after a two-year reign. His grandfather was the evil Manasseh. Josiah had few godly role models, especially becoming king at 8 years old, beyond his mother Jedidah. We don’t know anything about her, except her name means “God’s darling.”^[4] So, once again we see the monumental influence of a mother. 

Josiah did right in God’s eyes, and focused forward, not straying to the right or rebelling to the left.
Proverbs 4:23-27 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life… Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your feet away from evil.”

The majority sin of the right is self-righteousness; believing you’re the sole gatekeeper to all truth and morality, so you become arrogant, judgmental, demeaning, and prideful.

Jesus said to the right, “You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel… outwardly appearing righteous but inwardly full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Mt 23).

The majority sin of the left is self-authority; believing no one can make demands upon you, so you become impulsive, negligent of others, and violently wayward.    

Jesus said to the left, “Woe… judgment is on the horizon… bc you hear but don’t understand and your hearts are callous” (Mt 11:21; 13:14-15).  

The majority sin of the right is self-righteousness. The majority sin of the left is self-authority. Instead, we are to focus forward on Jesus who demands genuine repentance and radical obedience.

2 Chronicles 34:3-5 “For in the eighth year of Josiah’s reign, while he was yet a boy [16 years old], he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places and idols… he broke them into pieces an made dust of them… He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars to cleanse the land”

Focusing forward means you’re humble to admit your sins, and you’re ready to repent and make restitution from your actions. Josiah’s removal of idol altars displayed the seriousness to his relationship with God. Faith in Jesus demands genuine repentance and radical obedience.

> Confession of sin is risky but it’s the only means to God’s mercy (cf. Pr 28:13; Jam 5:16; 1Jn 1:6-7). When we confess our sin, we are removing the mask of hypocrisy to breathe the air of healing. Do this today.

> Confession leads to re-creation with the put off/put on spiritual disciplines.
Colossians 3:5-10 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 

Col 3:12-17 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Renewals are sustained with godly disciplines. (2 Kings 22:8-13)

³ In the 18th year of King Josiah [now 26 yrs old], the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, ⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. ⁵ And let it be given 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 at the house of the Lord, repairing the house ⁶ (that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons), and let them use it for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. ⁷ But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.” ⁸ And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. ⁹ And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. ¹¹ When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. ¹² And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, ¹³ “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

Josiah begins reforms by repairing the temple. Apparently, the priests were not trustworthy with the offerings. So, Josiah audits the treasury and then gives the money to the workers: carpenters, masons, plumbers, electricians 🙂 because they’re more trustworthy than the priests. Then, as the High Priest and secretary were cleaning up, they found the Book of the Law. Most likely, this was at least the book of Deuteronomy.[5]

Dt 24 “If you obey God’s commands, the LORD will set you high above all the nations of the earth and blessings shall come upon you… but if not, the LORD will send curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake, until you are destroyed and perish because you have forsaken the LORD”

After reading the Law to King Josiah, he tears his clothes – he’s grieved. He immediately recognizes the spiritual drift of God’s people and pending judgment upon the land. Josiah’s obedience could not erase God’s pending judgment, but he obeyed anyway. Manasseh’s prolonged leadership of the people toward idolatry, immorality, callousness, cruelty, and child sacrifice necessitated a response from a holy God. But Josiah’s obedience wasn’t based on what he could get from God, but what he could give.

 1Jn 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

James 1:25 “whoever looks intently into God’s perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it… they will be blessed in what they do.”

Ps 1:1-3 “Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked; nor stands in the way of sinners; nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but your delight is in the law of the LORD, meditating day and night. You will be like a tree planted by streams of water that yields fruit in its season and its leaf never wither. In all that you do, you will prosper.

In further obedience and attempt to avert the wrath of God, Josiah reinstituted the celebration of the blood of the lamb.

2Ki 23 ²¹ And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ²² For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah.

The last recorded national Passover was mentioned in Josh 5:10–12. So, clearly moved from reading Dt 16, Josiah believes this was an important step to lead the people to fear the LORD.

Christians are called to regular disciplines that train them in humility and holiness. Unmistakable disciplines are repentance, reading God’s word, and heeding God’s prophetess (which spared his life, cf. 2Ki 22:14-20. But, not to be missed is a celebratory feast.

Usually, we think of feasting as a self-indulgent guilty pleasure. But Josiah’s reinstitution of the Passover helps us to understand the lost art of feasting. [6]

Feasting is holy if it’s not all about food. A true feast points beyond the menu and orients the guests to gratefulness above and around. Josiah’s leading the people to feast brought the people closer to the LORD but also to each other. Grateful hearts gathered around a sacrificial lamb with a prepared table and a promised home inspired hope. The whole Bible entices readers with fruit from a tree, fresh bread, living water to quench a thirst, flavorful wine, and a marvelous banquet table in the presence of God.

> Feast regularly with your family.
> Feast with friends.
> Feast w/ church through Communion. To intentionally and frequently abstain from Communion is to push away from fellowship with God and God’s people, which is very dangerous spiritually. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Feasting is primarily about our Father’s gift of grace.

Feasting is holy if it’s not all about food. A true feast points beyond the menu and orients the guests to gratefulness above and around.

Overall,
2 Kings 23:²⁵ Before Josiah there was no king like him, who 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, nor did any like him arise after him. ²⁶ Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷ And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

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 Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him. ³⁰ And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb.

Josiah was a wise and worthy king. Yet, he was not able to fully save God’s people. In fact, he died from a senseless murder and was buried in a tomb.

Six centuries later a descendant of Josiah lived a wise and worthy life. He joyfully obeyed God’s commands and served God’s people to the fullest extent possible. Likewise, this descendant also was murdered without truth or justice, and then buried in a tomb. The difference about this descendant is that He did not stay dead.

This king rose from the grave and established His kingdom with a forever reign. He charged citizens of His kingdom to continue the legacy of humble obedience and joyful service. And this king protects us from the exile to come. Nothing can separate us from His presence – neither rulers, nor powers, not even death itself can harm us, for our life is secured in the salvation of Jesus Christ, the king of kings and lord of lords.  

APPLY/TAKEAWAY

One last item that is missing in Kings but present in Chronicles. 2 Kings likely doesn’t report this information because it made no practical difference to change Judah’s history. Yet, Chronicles describes the event since it happened.

In 2 Chronicles 33:12-19, we see that Manasseh arrived in Babylon as a slave, and was broken over his wrongdoing and wickedness. Manasseh repented. And God heard his prayer and forgave him.

No person is too far gone for God to save. God’s grace can reach the deepest holes and darkest hell.

Will you put your faith in Jesus?
He won’t let you down.
He won’t fail you.

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^[1] Illustration adapted from Dale Ralph Davis, 2 Kings: The Power and the Fury, Focus on the Bible Commentary (Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2005), 301.

^[2] M. Stephen Davis, “Josiah,” ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 954.

^[3] Chad Brand et al., eds., “Manasseh,” Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 1073.

^[4] Chad Brand et al., eds., “Jedidah,” Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 874.

[5] For the phrase “Book of the Law” see Deuteronomy 28:61; 29:21; 30:10; 31:26; Joshua 1:8; 8:31, 34; 23:6; 24:26.^[5]

[6] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-lost-art-of-feasting