2 Kings Part 3 - Respond and Repent

  

   Hello! Life happened so I am sharing this a little late...but this was an interesting wrap up of 2 Kings. It is interesting to actually read everything that goes on as far as the history goes for the Old Testament. We tend to brush past a lot of the "middle books" so to speak...and is that really very good to do? Probably not, but we do it anyway, almost as if we think that there are more important books than others. It's all God's Word! : )

   On that note, let's dig in to the last chapters of 2 Kings. This is where we learn the why's and the how's of Israel's and Judah's capture/exile. Bottom line, they were doing some REALLY wicked stuff. Israel had kings that were consistently wicked...in fact, I don't remember any that were considered "good" in God's eyes. They may have been good political leaders, but they did not do things according to God's plan.

   Judah on the other hand, had some really good kings and some really bad ones. Josiah was the last king to be good...and he was practically the best king of all of Judah's history as a whole. That's who we will be focusing on today.

   Josiah became king when he was eight...so he had someone make decisions for him until he was eighteen (I'm pretty sure that's when they coronated him...they don't talk about him much until then). When he turned eighteen, Josiah had the high priest go through the temple, and the result shocked him so much, he tore his clothes. Now, you may be wondering why Josiah was so shocked. What did the high priest find? Rewind back to King Manasseh...basically the wickedest king of Judah's history. He was king after Hezekiah, who was a good king for the most part. Whatever Hezekiah had torn down in accordance with idols, Manasseh put them ALL back up again. Talk about someone undoing your work! On top of that, Manasseh offered his firstborn son to an idol and promoted the sacrifice of children. How would you feel if you were a child in that day? One day, your parents would love you; the next your parents would be killing you! To put the cherry on top, so to speak, he set up an idol in the temple. He didn't just build a temple to this god...he put it in God's dwelling place! Where God was supposed to be worshipped! All in all, Judah was doing everything wrong when Josiah came around.

   Now, Josiah was going through the temple, and he had plans to renew it anyway. Basically, he was trying to get everything out of there that didn't belong. The reason why Josiah tore his clothes as a result of renewing the temple was the fact that the high priest found the Book of the Law. This had at least the first five books of the Old Testament, if not more. The high priest read this book to Josiah, and he realized how much Judah had strayed from the path God had intentionally designed for them to walk. Thus, he made TONS of changes to the lifestyle of the people of Judah.

   When we realize our sin, does it shock us as much as it did Josiah? Granted, as saved people, the Holy Spirit gets a hold of us if we sin. But do we really repent as we should? Do we notice ALL of our sin, not just our "big" sins? That's what started Israel down the road of destruction...Solomon's act of idolatry in his later years. He compromised the truth for what seemed right in his own eyes. Little things add up to big things...and do we realize it?