“The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations 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”
~ 2 Kings 23:3
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you think that it would be like for you if your dad was a king? Do you think that you would have a lot of fun if your dad was a king? The Bible has two books that are called Kings. The author of what was once a single book recorded the reigns of Israel’s and Judah’s kings. The first book of Kings begins with Solomon assuming the king role over God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids. Because a couple of guys wanted to be Israel’s king after King Solomon died, Israel’s land became divided into two countries – Israel and Judah. Israel and Judah covered the same land area which God had given to His specially chosen guys, gals and kids to always to have to live in as their very land. Judah was overrun by the Babylonian army 683 years after the Israelite people group – God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids, moved into the land area that God had told them that they would always have to live in as their very own land. Do you know how long the United States has been a country? 664 years ago Columbus arrived by ship to a land which is now the United States. 362 years after God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids crossed through Jordon River’s dry riverbed into Canaan – the land area which God was giving to His specially chosen guys, gals and kids to always to have to live in as their very land, God’s specially chosen guys and gals got their wish to have a king. 270 years after Columbus discovered a new land, George Washington was elected to be the President over a developing land area that became known as the United States. Your grandpaa believes that there are parallels between what took place in Israel and what is taking place in the United States. Do you know what happened to the guys, gals and kids who were living in Israel and Judah? The guys, gals and kids who were living in Israel and Judah were taken away to be slaves by enemy nations. Assyria captured the guys, gals and kids who were living in Israel’s land area while Babylon captured the guys, gals and kids who were living in Judah’s land area. If the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids were God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids, why do you think that God allowed Israel to become divided into two countries and then be taken away to be slaves by enemy nations? After everything that God did for them, God’s specially chosen guys and gals began living for themselves. God allowed His specially chosen guys and gals to have kings after they complained to Him about not having kings like other countries around them had. God wanted His specially chosen guys and gals to trust only in Him – not in kings. Israel’s guys, gals and kids were taken captive first. Israel barely was a country for 200 years. Judah was allowed to be a country for another 136 years. Do you think that Judah learned from the mistakes that Israel made? There were better kings in Judah than there were in Israel. Israel had one bad king after another. About eighty years after Israel was plundered by the Assyrians, Josiah was made Judah’s king. King Josiah was Judah’s king for over thirty years. King Josiah followed a king – King Manasseh, who had been Judah’s king for fifty-five years. King Manasseh was a really, really bad king. 2 Kings 23 tells you what kind of king Josiah was.
The chapter before this chapter tells you that King Josiah was a good king – that King Josiah followed in David’s ways. One of the things that King Josiah decided to do was to clean up the temple. King Josiah had been Judah’s king for eighteen years when King Josiah decided to clean up the temple. While the high priest – Hilkiah, was doing what he had been asked to do, Hilkiah found a dusty old copy of the book of the law. This chapter begins with the reading from this book of the law in front of the guys and gals who were living in Judah. After the book of the law had been read, what do you think happened? Verse 3 says “The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations 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 guys and gals who were living in Judah would now live their lives for God – instead of living their lives for themselves. What do you think that these guys and gals did to show that they were living their lives for God – instead of for themselves? These guys and gals destroyed everything that they found out that God did not want them to have. These guys and gals started with the temple by removing all the things that had anything to do with two idols – Baal and Asherah, that these guys and gals had been worshipping. King Josiah then got rid of all the pagan priests who were burning incense to the false gods, he destroyed all the high places where false gods were being worshipped, he demolished the sacred stones that were found in Judah and he saw to it that all the priests who sacrificed on the high places were killed. King Josiah really did want to be obedient to God. No matter how much good though that King Josiah did, the guys and gals who were living in Judah still had to face the consequences of what King Manasseh did while he was Judah’s king. When Egypt decided that its’ army would help Assyria’s army stand up against another country – Babylon, King Josiah may have tried to stop Egypt’s army from passing through Judah. King Josiah ended up being killed by Egypt’s Pharaoh Neco’s army.
As you read through the Kings Books, your grandpaa hopes that you will learn from the lives of the different kings. The two Kings Books tell you what bad kings did and what good kings did. The Kings Books reminds you of the blessings that you will receive when you are obedient to God and the punishments that you will receive when you are not obedient to God. God desires that you serve Him versus pursuing a lifestyle that will not please Him.
2 Kings 23 (101)