Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts. He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.
Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.
He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek. He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.
He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon. Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.
Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.
The king asked, “What is that tombstone I see?”
The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”
“Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord’s anger. Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.
Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger. So the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”
As for the other events of Josiah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo. Josiah’s servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done. Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died. Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments.
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done.

• 2 Kings 23:1-37

To read 2 Kings 24, click the link HERE.

To read 2 Kings 25, click the link HERE.

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

2 Kings 23:1-3 ‘Josiah – a hard worker’: “When Josiah learned that God wouldn’t bring his judgment on Judah during his reign, the young king could have simply said, ‘Whew;’ and returned to business as usual. Instead, Josiah was rightly zealous in his desire to please and glorify the Lord. Josiah was not managing his own kingdom; he was managing God’s kingdom. So, he wasn’t about to be negligent with regard to an opportunity he saw.
“Chapter 23 essentially records how Josiah rolled up his sleeves and set about destroying every vestige of false worship in the vicinity and establishing worship of the true and living God. First, the king gathered everybody in Judah at the temple where he himself read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant (23:2). (Revival among God’s people always begins with the Word of God.) Then, he led the people in making a new covenant promise before God to keep the law they had just heard. And all the people agreed to it (23:3). This public and corporate commitment would help the people to stand strong and hold one another accountable.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 23:4 ‘Cleaning the Temple’: “With God’s Word proclaimed and a fresh commitment of obedience made, Josiah was ready to begin his cleanup campaign. He started in the temple, which Manasseh had turned into a shrine to false gods. Hilkiah and other priests and temple workers brought out the things used to worship Baal, Asherah, and all the stars in the sky. Then, the king burned them. His efforts are a reminder that when you identify areas of temptation in your life, you are not merely to throw them in a closet or shove them under a rug. You must eradicate them.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 23:5 ‘constellations’: “The astrologers were also removed. See Is. 47:13.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 23:6 ‘wooden image’: “The idol of Asherah (see … 21:7). graves of the common people. The Kidron Valley contained a burial ground for the common people (cf. Jer. 26:23). Scattering ashes from the object of idolatry is said in 2 Chr. 34:4 to have been on the graves of those who sacrificed to that idol. The ‘common people’ had followed their leaders to apostasy, defilement, and damnation—all symbolized by the act of scattering the ashes.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 23:7 ‘booths’: ”Tents (called ‘Succoth Benoth’ in 17:30) used by women who were devoted to Asherah, in which they made hangings and committed sexual sins.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 23:10-15 ‘Topheth destroyed’: “Even with all of these reforms accomplished, Josiah was only getting started. He defiled Topheth, where worshipers of Molech practiced child sacrifice. He also eliminated items used to worship the heavenly bodies (23:10-11). The false worship sites Josiah destroyed even included some built centuries before by King Solomon after his heart was led astray (23:13; see 1 Kgs 11:1-6). Josiah went so far as to destroy the idolatry at neighboring Bethel, tearing down the altar and the high place that Israel’s King Jeroboam had built (23:15).”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 23:10 ‘Topheth’: “Meaning ‘a drum’ and identifying the area in the Valley of Hinnom where child sacrifice occurred (cf. Is. 30:33; Jer. 7:31, 32, 19:5, 6). Perhaps called ‘drum’ because drums were beaten to drown out the cries of the children being sacrificed.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 23:11 ‘Art Dedicated to Sun Worship’: “The sun can be compared to a flaming chariot traveling across the sky, and the horses of this chariot are convenient symbols of its daily journey. Small statues of horses decorated with solar disks have been excavated near Jerusalem. Live horses pulling chariots in processions honoring the sun may have been thought to be ‘dedicated to the sun’ (2 Kin. 23:11).”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

2 Kings 23:13 ‘Cleaning Out Solomon’s High Places’: “Josiah achieved fame as the king responsible for reforming Judah’s cultic worship (2 Kin. 23:25). Part of his reform involved purging the temple and temple precincts of pagan images (see … 2 Chr. 34:33). Yet another part of the reform linked the famous Josiah with another king who, more than 300 years earlier, had also attained great fame–Solomon. Josiah destroyed the high places east of Jerusalem that Solomon himself had built (2 Kin. 23:13).
The Hebrew word translated ‘high place’ refers to a sanctuary; what Solomon did was to build temples to foreign gods in the vicinity of Jerusalem. In the ancient Near East any temple, sanctuary, or shrine constructed by the rightful ruler was a state religious site. So Solomon had officially included foreign gods in the religion of Israel. Furthermore, his sanctuary construction was extensive; he actually built such shrines for ‘all his foreign wives’ (1 Kin. 11:5–8).
“Three gods–Ashtoreth, Chemosh, Milcom–are recorded by name as having a high place constructed for them by Solomon (2 Kin. 23:13). Ashtoreth (or Astarte) was the patron goddess in Sidon, a very powerful Phoenician city-state. Chemosh was the patron deity of Moab. An inscription set up by the Moabites around 850 B.C. tells about the defeat of Israel by Chemosh and his chosen Moabite king, Mesha. Milcom (or Molech), the god of Ammon, required human sacrifice. The famous Solomon allowed these deities into Israel; now the famous Josiah cleaned them out.”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

2 Kings 23:16 ‘tombs’: “Seeing tombs nearby, perhaps where idolatrous priests were buried, Josiah had their bones removed and burned on the altar at Bethel to defile it. This action fulfilled a prophecy given about the altar approximately 300 years before (1 Kin. 13:2).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 23:21-25 ‘Josiah Keeps the Passover’: “The historian of Kings describes Josiah’s religious reforms in some detail, and in 2 Kin. 23:25 gives Josiah by far the most complimentary evaluation of any of Judah’s kings. Josiah’s reign brought great hope to Judah, first to the priests and prophets who hoped to see a genuine renewal of worship. The celebration of the Passover in 622 B.C. formed a climax to Josiah’s religious reforms (2 Kin. 23:21–23).
“Josiah’s reign also gave hope to Judahites with more secular goals. There were evidently many who dreamed of reunifying Israel. Josiah began to expand Judah’s borders into what had been the northern kingdom of Israel before Assyria captured it. In these efforts, Josiah was helped by the sharp decline of the Assyrian Empire, which created a power vacuum in the area of the former northern kingdom. Among other actions, Josiah destroyed the idolatrous Israelite shrine of Bethel from which the prophet Amos had been expelled over a century before (Amos 7:10–17).”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

2 Kings 23:26-27 ‘Judah’s Judgment Impending’: “Although Josiah has renovated the temple, rediscovered the book of Deuteronomy, reinstituted Passover observance, and brought about numerous other reforms, the Lord’s previous prophecies of Judah’s judgment are still reiterated.
“The Babylonian conquest and captivity is depicted in 2 Kings 24:10-25:21 and 2 Chronicles 36:1-21.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

2 Kings 24:1 ‘Nebuchadnezzar’: ”Nebuchadnezzar II was the son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon from 626–605 B.C. As crown prince, Nebuchadnezzar had led his father’s army against Pharaoh Necho and the Egyptians at Carchemish on the Euphrates River in northern Syria (605 B.C.). By defeating the Egyptians, Babylon was established as the strongest nation in the ancient Near East. Egypt and its vassals, including Judah, became vassals of Babylon with this victory. Nebuchadnezzar followed up his victory at Carchemish by invading the land of Judah. Later, in 605 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar took some captives to Babylon, including Daniel and his friends (cf. Dan. 1:1–3). Toward the end of 605 B.C., Nabopolassar died and Nebuchadnezzar succeeded him as king of Babylon, 3 years after Jehoiakim had taken the throne in Judah (Jer. 25:1). Nebuchadnezzar reigned from 605–562 B.C. three years. Nebuchadnezzar returned to the W in 604 B.C. and took tribute from all of the kings of the W, including Jehoiakim of Judah. Jehoiakim submitted to Babylonian rule from 604–602 B.C. In 602 B.C., Jehoiakim rebelled against Babylon, disregarding the advice of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 27:9–11).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 24:7 ‘Pharaoh Necho Battles the Babylonians’: “Pharaoh Necho II, who reigned from 610 to 595 B.C., was the second king of the 26th Dynasty of Egypt. He is known for his defeat of Judah and killing of King Josiah at Megiddo in 609 B.C., and for his own defeat at the hands of Babylon at Carchemish in 605 B.C.
“During the last years of the Assyrian Empire, Necho assisted the weakened Assyrians in their struggles against the rising power of the Babylonians. Accadian sources relate that in 609 Necho was moving his army north to help the Assyrians recapture Haran from the Babylonians. On the way, he encountered Josiah. In 605, Babylon completely annihilated Necho’s Egyptian army at Carchemish.
“The pharaoh was successful in repelling a Babylonian invasion deep into Palestine in 601 B.C. This evidently caused Judah’s king Jehoiakim to rebel against Babylonian control (2 Kin. 24:1). Apparently Necho’s forces could not recover from the 601 battle in order to conduct future campaigns: Necho ‘did not come out of his land anymore’ (2 Kin. 24:7). After 601, it appears that Egypt and Babylon were not hostile, but nothing more is mentioned about Necho, who died in 595 B.C.”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

2 Kings 24:8-17 ‘Jehoiachin’: “Jehoiakim’s death brought his son Jehoiachin to the throne in Jerusalem for a brief, three-month, evil reign (24:8-9). Meanwhile, Nebuchadnezzar had sent troops to besiege Jerusalem because of Jehoiakim’s rebellion, but, apparently, by the time the Babylonian king arrived in 597 BC, Jehoiakim was gone and Jehoiachin was ruling (24:10-11). Undeterred, Nebuchadnezzar took captive Jehoiachin and many other officials and took them to Babylon, along with a haul of treasures-a total of ten thousand people in all (24:12-14), including the prophet Ezekiel. Nebuchadnezzar left another puppet king named Mattaniah, a son of Josiah, on the throne in Jerusalem and changed his name to Zedekiah (24:17).”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 24:10-17 ‘Jehoiachin is Taken Captive’: “The new king Jehoiachin had little time to enjoy his throne. The Babylonian Chronicle reports that Nebuchadnezzar left Babylon in December, 598 B.C. in a campaign against Judah and besieged the city. Jeremiah’s call to submit to Babylon was finally obeyed, though unwillingly, when it was clear that defeat was inevitable. In March, 597 B.C., Jehoiachin and his mother went into exile, and Mattaniah, another son of Josiah’s and therefore uncle to Jehoiachin, was placed on the throne, changing his name to Zedekiah.”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

2 Kings 24:17 ‘Mattaniah … Zedekiah’: “Mattaniah was a son of Josiah and an uncle of Jehoiachin (cf. 1 Chr. 3:15; Jer. 1:3). Mattaniah’s name, meaning ‘gift of the LORD,’ was changed to Zedekiah, ‘righteousness of the LORD.’ Nebuchadnezzar’s changing of Zedekiah’s name demonstrated his authority as lord over him (see … 23:34). See … 2 Chr. 36:11–21.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 24:18-19 ‘Zedekiah’s Alliances’: “While the exiles, including King Jehoiachin, were taken to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar placed Jehoiachin’s uncle Mattaniah on the throne, no doubt with clear instructions to remain faithful to Babylon. Mattaniah was given the throne name ‘Zedekiah.’
“Although Zedekiah was placed on the throne in Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and certainly swore fidelity to Babylon, his was a weak allegiance. Like his brother Jehoiakim before him, Zedekiah was often tempted by promises from Egypt. As far as Israel’s political alliances were concerned, Zedekiah could just as well have been Jehoiakim again.
“The final chapter of the Book of Jeremiah (ch. 52) appears to have been taken almost word for word from 2 Kin. 24:18–25:30. Some scholars suggest that a later editor, noting how the Book of Jeremiah jumps back and forth in time, felt the need to provide a chronological overview of Jeremiah’s times.”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

2 Kings 25:1-7 ‘Zedekiah’s Rebellion’: “Zedekiah’s rebellion against Babylon (24:20) was the historical event God used to destroy Judah. Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem brought hunger to the people and caused the city’s defenders, including Zedekiah, to try and escape at night when the Babylonians (Chaldeans) broke through into the city in 586 BC (25:1-4). Nevertheless, the invaders easily captured Zedekiah. They took him to Nebuchadnezzar at his field headquarters in Riblah, where his fearful sentence was carried out (25:6). There, the king of Judah watched his sons get executed before being blinded. He was finally taken to Babylon in bronze chains (25:7).”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 25:6-7 ‘Assyrian Cruelty’: “The cruelty of the Assyrians is proverbial. Their inscriptions boast of how they abused, mutilated, and killed their prisoners taken in war, whether soldiers or civilians. Their sculptural reliefs depict scribes taking notes while the condemned hang exposed on stakes near the city walls. The Babylonians, while not the military nation that Assyria was, could still be cruel in war (Ezek. 23:25; 2 Kin. 25:6, 7).”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

2 Kings 25:18 ‘Seraiah’: “Seraiah was the grandson of Hilkiah (22:4, 8, 1 Chr. 6:13, 14) and an ancestor of Ezra (Ezra 7:1). Even though Seraiah was executed, his sons were deported (1 Chr. 6:15).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 25:21 ‘Judah … carried away captive’: “Exile was the ultimate curse brought upon Judah because of her disobedience to the Mosaic Covenant (cf. Lev. 26:33; Deut. 28:36, 64). The book of Lamentations records the sorrow of Jeremiah over this destruction of Jerusalem.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 25:22-24 ‘Gedaliah’: “Nebuchadnezzar still needed someone in Judah to govern the poor and the other stragglers he had left behind. So, this time he appointed Gedaliah, the grandson of Shaphan, who had been one of Josiah’s officials (25:22). Gedaliah was apparently a good man, who befriended the prophet Jeremiah (see Jer 39:14). He obviously believed Jeremiah’s counsel that the people left in the land should serve the king of Babylon so that it might go well for them (25:24; see Jer 39:11-14; 40:6, 9-10). But, there were still those left in Judah who (unwisely) wanted to fight the Babylonians.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

2 Kings 25:25-26 ‘Assassins’: “A man named Ishmael led a band of assassins to murder Gedaliah and his associates, including some Babylonians, at Mizpah north of Jerusalem where he had set up his headquarters (25:25). The people then fled to Egypt in fear of Nebuchadnezzar’s reprisals (25:26).”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

My Thoughts

Josiah renewed the covenant with the Lord and had the law read to the people and they pledged themselves to the covenant.

Then Josiah set to work.  He destroyed the things dedicated to Baal and Asherah.  He got rid of the priests who offered incense at the high places.  He burned down the Asherah poles and ground the ashes, pouring the ashes on the graves of the common people (as assumed in the scholarly comments to be the common people who worshipped those false gods).

He destroyed the high places, some of which Solomon had built.  Josiah desecrated Topheth.  Topheth is mentioned 9 times in the Bible: once here, once in Isaiah, and seven times in Jeremiah.  It is where the child sacrifices were performed by Manasseh in the Valley of Ben Hinnom.  It became the name of a vile, horrible place.  And in watching some Bible studies on video, it is considered still stained by the innocent blood that was shed.

He went to the altar at Bethel.  He took bones from the graves and had them burned on the altar after he had destroyed the images dedicated to Baal and the Asherah poles.  But when he came to the tomb of the prophet who prophesied against the altar at Bethel and the false worship there, Josiah told them not to disturb his bones.

In reading how to conduct the Passover, it had not been done the proper way since before the days of the judges.  He celebrated Passover properly for the first time.

Although Josiah had done so much to bring the people toward repentance, God had already prophesied that the nation would go into exile.  Yet, for Josiah’s sake, it would not be while he was king.

Pharoah Necho went against Babylon, and Josiah went out to face against Necho at Megiddo.  He was killed and his son Jehoahaz became king.  Jehoahaz was placed in chains by Necho and served as king in Riblah, not allowed to reign in Jerusalem.  He only reigned for three months.  Eliakim was placed on the throne by Necho, but his name was changed to Jehoiakim.  Jehoiakim was also a son of Josiah.  He reigned for eleven years.

Jehoiakim’s Judah was invaded by Babylon and Judah became a vassal state of Babylon until Jehoiakim rebelled.  Jehoiachin, his son became king.  Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and Jehoiachin and his entire court surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar.  Ten thousand were taken into exile.

Mattaniah, another son of Josiah was made the puppet king, a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar.  Again the Babylonians changed his name.  He became Zedekiah.  He also reigned for eleven years, and like Jehoiakim, his brother, he rebelled against Babylon.  When he was captured, he was made to watch while all his sons were killed.  Then his eyes were blotted out and he was taken into Babylon in chains.  Jerusalem was burned to the ground.  And even more were taken into exile.  Only the poorest of the poor remained.

Of the last four kings, vassals of other countries, all did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  And all but Jehoiachin were sons of the good king Josiah.  Jehoiachin was a grandson.

Someone who reigns as king needs to have good servants to raise the children properly.  Two of David’s sons set themselves up as king before David died.  Amnon raped his half-sister.  I have heard many speak of “Where was David as a Dad?”  Hezekiah was a great good king, but his son Manasseh was the most evil of any of the kings of Judah, yet repenting late in his life.  And then, the greatest reformer in the kingdom was Josiah, but three of his sons were king, none of them able to maintain the reforms Josiah had made.  Being an absentee Dad is not a good thing.  It might be understandable with a nation to rule over and enemies on all sides.  But David, Hezekiah, and Josiah do not look like model fathers, although each were good kings of the nation.

Gedaliah became governor, but a man named Ishmael came with a group of assassins and killed him.

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile, Jehoiachin was released from prison.  He was allowed to eat with the other exiled kings at the Babylonian king’s table.

All this was prophesied prior to this.  God’s wrath was satisfied.  This ends the history of the kings.  More details are recorded in the two books of the Chronicles.  Esther speaks of their time as exiles.  Ezra and Nehemiah speak of the remnant returning to Jerusalem.  All points to the everlasting reign of the King of kings, Jesus.

And the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the people and their rebellion against God coming true, we know that God will fulfill the remaining prophecies.  Jesus defeated Satan and sin on the cross, but we must accept Jesus into our hearts and repent of our sins.

God fulfills the prophecies of His true prophets, and He keeps His promises also.  We must trust Him.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

2 Kings 23:1-30 Josiah Renews the Covenant 1. What nearly fanatical extremes have you gone to in your efforts to live a pure faith: Attend Bible study nightly? Burn your rock records? Boycott a business? Would you do such actions again?
“2. Know any public architecture that would come down quickly in a real revival? How would your church fare in the remodeling?
“3. Do you feel it’s time to renew your commitment to God (again)? How can you and your group renew your covenant with each other and with God?
“4. Once your faith is in order, what will you do in concert with others to spread revival? Or is revival dependent all and only on God?
“5. If psychics, astrologers and channellers are doing the same things as ‘mediums and spiritists’ were in Josiah’s day, should these people be wiped out today?
2 Kings 23:31-24:7 Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim Kings of Judah 1. Jehoiakim goes from one problem to the next. Are you like that? When did you last vow: ‘I’ll never do that again!’ Was it a bad business venture? Rejected by the opposite sex? Trying to help someone who didn’t want it?
“2. What lessons do you learn from repeated mistakes, indecision and stubbornness.
2 Kings 24:8-20 Jehoiachin and Zedekiah Kings of Judah 1. When hope for survival dims, how do you cope? What role does faith play in that?
“2. Is forgiveness ever beyond reach? Explain. Is the ‘snowball effect’ sometimes impossible to stop, as in the last days before the fall of Jerusalem?
“3. Why do the poor care the least who holds power? Why do you care about who’s in or out of government?
2 Kings 25:1-26 The Fall of Jerusalem 1. This conflict story poses a dilemma: Is surrender ever honorable? Is resistance always noble? In what way do you need to surrender? To keep fighting? How do you know when to do what?
“2. Which do you feel should be illegal: (a) Military invasion? (b) Sentencing without trial? (c) Torture? (d) Capital punishment? (e) Assassination? What can you do to stop these in your country and around the world?
“3. Is God still angry today? Over the same things? Does God judge nations and bring disaster on them? Why or why not?
“4. Have you ever witnessed a violent death? How is it different than the endless ‘deaths’ on TV or in movies? Has violence in the media desensitized us to the horror of murder?
“5. Has God ever pulled everything out from under you? Without your last crutch or means of support, what happened when you fell? Do you dread falling again? Are you less afraid now?
2 Kings 25:27-30 Jehoiachin Released 1. Do you need to be released? How long has your exile been? Are there any signs that relief is on the way?
“2. Can you live ‘one day at a time’? Does the past drag you down, or the future worry you? If expectations and obligations set your agenda, what do you have to give up to truly experience the present moment? How can the group help?
“3. Does the violent history of Israel’s First Commonwealth confuse you? Disturb you? Instruct you? Insightful? What view of God does the author hold? With what do you agree? Disagree?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Second Kings 23-24 have three sets of questions as noted.  Second Kings 25 has two sets of questions.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.