Day 39: Josiah
2 Kings 23
- Josiah was one of the good kings in Judah who listened to the commands of the Lord.
- the first 20 verses in the chapter describe how Josiah had to go about cleaning up the mess that the previous kings had made. Destroying all the altars to other gods, killing all priests of Baal and other gods, removing unholy things from the temple of the Lord, desecrating all the high places set up for idol worship, etc.
- then he instructs the people to celebrate the passover feast which had not been done since the days of the judges.
- but the Lord was very angry with all that had happened and vowed to remove Judah from his presence just as he did with the rest of Israel.
- Josiah was killed in a battle against the Egyptians and buried in Jerusalem. He was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz.
- unfortunately, he did evil in the eyes of the Lord rather than good and only reigned 3 months. After that, Neco, pharaoh of Egypt at the time, imprisoned him and made Eliakim king (who was also a son of Josiah).
- Eliakim had his named changed to Jehoiakim and he ruled over Judah for 11 years. He also did evil in the eyes of God.
Looking at this timeline in my NLT study bible, there wasn't a single good king of Israel. All of them sinned greatly in the eyes of God. Judah was a bit better but not by much. Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash (early reign), Hezekiah and Josiah were all good kings out of the 20 kings of Judah. It seems that sinful human nature reigned supreme back then as it does now.
- Josiah was one of the good kings in Judah who listened to the commands of the Lord.
- the first 20 verses in the chapter describe how Josiah had to go about cleaning up the mess that the previous kings had made. Destroying all the altars to other gods, killing all priests of Baal and other gods, removing unholy things from the temple of the Lord, desecrating all the high places set up for idol worship, etc.
- then he instructs the people to celebrate the passover feast which had not been done since the days of the judges.
- but the Lord was very angry with all that had happened and vowed to remove Judah from his presence just as he did with the rest of Israel.
- Josiah was killed in a battle against the Egyptians and buried in Jerusalem. He was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz.
- unfortunately, he did evil in the eyes of the Lord rather than good and only reigned 3 months. After that, Neco, pharaoh of Egypt at the time, imprisoned him and made Eliakim king (who was also a son of Josiah).
- Eliakim had his named changed to Jehoiakim and he ruled over Judah for 11 years. He also did evil in the eyes of God.
Looking at this timeline in my NLT study bible, there wasn't a single good king of Israel. All of them sinned greatly in the eyes of God. Judah was a bit better but not by much. Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash (early reign), Hezekiah and Josiah were all good kings out of the 20 kings of Judah. It seems that sinful human nature reigned supreme back then as it does now.
Labels: Bible Characters
posted by Matt at 1:51 PM
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