God Blesses Humbled Hearts

Transcript

GRS 2-114
6/8/2008
God Blesses Humbled Hearts
2 Kings 20-22
Gil Rugh

We are coming to the closing Chapter if you will of Israel’s history as a kingdom, being able to live as an independent kingdom with its own king. The northern kingdom has been carried away into captivity, 10 of the 12 tribes have been conquered by Assyria. The key people, large numbers have been deported by the Assyrians to other places in their empire, foreigners have been brought from other areas of the Assyrian empire and resettled; the region of the northern 10 tribes. And you remember, out of that will come the intermixing of religion and the intermarrying of the Jews with the non-Jews.

So when you come into the New Testament you will have the Samaritan people that really come out of that mixture, and there was a divide there between the Jews and the Samaritans during the days of Jesus. We picked up with the southern kingdom which will continue for another 130 some years before it is carried away into captivity by the Babylonians. Chapters 18 to 20 are about the reign of Hezekiah over the southern kingdom because there is no northern kingdom any longer. He proves to be one of the most godly kings in the southern kingdom’s history that is of interest because he is the son of one of the most ungodly kings.

And you find this pattern that goes on and will be repeated with the son of Hezekiah as we will see shortly. What is found in Second Kings Chapters 18, 19 and 20 is also recorded in Second Chronicles Chapters 29 to 32 and also by the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah Chapters 36 to 39 so as you read some of these you put together some of -- what is going on and we are in the times of Isaiah the Prophet and his great ministry in Israel. We will pick up with Chapter 20 where we left off in our study and these records two episodes from Hezekiah’s life, they are not dated for us but the context would indicate they probably occurred before the issues with Assyria that resulted in 185,000 Assyrian soldiers being slain by the angel of the Lord to spare Hezekiah in the city of Jerusalem.

But they tell something of what went on in Hezekiah’s life and reign, serious events that have ongoing impact. The first is Hezekiah’s restoration from a mortal illness, the first 11 verses of Chapter 20; in those days Hezekiah became mortally ill and Isaiah the Prophet, the son of Amoz came to him and said to him thus says the Lord; set your house in order for you shall die and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord saying; remember now O Lord I beseech you, how I have walked before you in truth with the whole heart and have done what is good in your sight and Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him saying, so you see what has happened. Isaiah came in, gave the word of the Lord; this is fatal illness Hezekiah, you have time to set your house in order, you are going to die. Isaiah leaves and he is just in the process, he is not even out of the building yet, the compound and the word of the Lord came to him saying; return and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people. Thus says the Lord the God of your father David; I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears, behold I will heal you on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, I will add 15 years to your life and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the King of Assyria and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David sake and that statement in verse 15 about his sparing the city from the Assyrians, what would seem to indicate; this is an event that occurred before what we read in Chapter 19 where 185,000 Assyrian soldiers will die.

Hezekiah asks Isaiah; how I know that this is what the Lord is going to do for me. It is not taken as a sign of unbelief, he is not rebuked for this, the Lord honors the request. Hezekiah said to Isaiah; what will be the sign the Lord will heal me and I will go up to the house of the Lord the third day, so it is going to be a remarkable recovery here. In three days he is going to be well enough to go to the temple for worship. Isaiah said; this shall be the sign to you from the Lord that the Lord will do the thing that he has spoken. Do you want the shadow to go forward 10 steps or back 10 steps?

In other words like a sun dial, only here you have the time measured by the sun going down on the steps, where are we; well you could tell by how far down the steps you were in the day. God will accelerate the sun and it is going down or he will send it back to give you more time in the day. Hezekiah answered; it is easy for the sun to decline 10 steps but let the shadow turn back with 10 steps. That may be easy, I don’t think he could do it but he thinks it will be more of an impact and more clear to him if you could make the sun go back, so Isaiah the Prophet cried to the Lord and he brought the shadow on the stairway back 10 steps by which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

So the sign is clearly given, this is probably a local miracle that happens within the confines of Israel here; Judah for the benefit of Hezekiah. Sometimes in these things we find scientists going back thinking if they can validate the miracle by finding this extended time period, this happens on other occasions; Joshua’s day and so on. At any rate the evidence is clear, the sign is given to Hezekiah, it confirms it to his heart; God’s graciousness in dealing with him. No problem here, God told him he was going to die in verse 1 and then he responds to his prayer because God’s plan and purpose for Hezekiah and for Judah obviously included the repentance or the request of Hezekiah.

So it is not that God doesn’t know what he is going to do and oh no, I feel bad that Hezekiah is going to die, I guess I have to change my plan but it does give Hezekiah an opportunity to manifest his godliness, shows his trust in the Lord. He knows the Lord can give him life and extend his life, interestingly the Lord not only tells him he will extend his life, he tells him how long he has and this will become a factor probably with his son because his son is going to become co-regent with him for the last 10 years of his life which is not a surprise because Isaiah knows he has -- Hezekiah knows he has 15 years. So after 5 years he will make his son co-regent with him and that will prepare for the transition when he does die.

So that is the first account recorded here out of Hezekiah’s life. The second is a less pleasant account and this has to do with Hezekiah exalting himself and bringing serious consequences on the kingdom at a future time. Representatives are sent from the King of Babylon because he has heard that Hezekiah was ill so in this gesture he sends representative and a present for Hezekiah and when they come Hezekiah shows them all the treasure stores of his kingdom. That is an act of arrogance and self exaltation on Hezekiah’s part and here you see a godly man but he hits a low point here, be chastened by the Lord for it and brings serious consequences on his descendants.

Verse 12 says; at that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, King of Babylon sent letters and a present to Hezekiah for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. Merodach-baladan was king in Babylon on two separate occasions from 722 BC to 710 BC, he ruled as King of Babylon then he was dethroned by Sargon II, King of Assyria. Remember at this time Assyria is the dominant power still, so the King of Assyria removed Merodach-baladan from being king. Then after Sargon died Merodach-baladan again assumes the throne in 703 and 702 BC.

Then Sennacherib the new King of Assyria deposes him again and he is done. So interesting, some of the secular references that can be identified from secular history as well that speak of this time. Hezekiah listened to them, showed all the treasures, house, the silver, the gold, the spices, all the armor, all that was found in his treasuries, there was nothing in his house nor in all these dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. Then Isaiah the Prophet came to Hezekiah and said to him; what these men say and where they come. Hezekiah said; they come from a far country, from Babylon. What did they see in your house? They have seen everything. Isaiah verse 16 says; hear the word of the Lord, now these prophets had interesting lives and interesting ministries.

He has to come and tell the king; he is going to die then he has the joy of coming to tell the king; the Lord will give him life, now he has to come and tell and rebuke the king for what he has done. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, all that your fathers have laid up and stored to this day will be carried to Babylon, nothing shall be left says the Lord. Some of your sons who shall issue from you; whom you will bear, they will be taken away; will become officials in Babylon in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Remember Daniel and his three friends; carried away by Nebuchadnezzar and will be in Babylon, so some of the impact. Hezekiah said to Isaiah; let’s see, he like a little more out him on this occasion. The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good for he thought; is it not so if there will be peace and truth in my days. I mean the good thing about what Isaiah has said is; it is not going to happen to me and the coming generation will have to take care of themselves. So I accept that word of the Lord, that is a good word Isaiah, I’m glad to get out of this with my skin.

The rest of the acts of Hezekiah; they are recorded, he slept with his fathers, Manasseh became king in his place. Turn over to Second Chronicles, Chapter 12 before we move on. Second Chronicles Chapter 32 and you may leave a marker here because we may be jumping back to this portion of Chronicles in our next chapters. I can get there, Second Chronicles, Chapter 32 down verse 31. Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon; who sent to him to enquire of the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him that he might know all that was in his heart. This is one of the tests that the Lord brought into Hezekiah’s life to see if he would be faithful.

Hezekiah did not pass this test at a time of pride, you would think he is at a time of being -- having been humbled, all the remorse, all the sorrow when the Lord told him; he is going to die and he besought the Lord on the basis of the fact he had been faithful to the Lord, that the Lord might spare him. And you read earlier verse 24; in those days Hezekiah became mortally ill, he prayed to the Lord, the Lord spoke to him, gave him a sign but Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received because his heart was proud, therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem, however Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart; he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so the wrath of the Lord did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.

So you get something of the context here that Hezekiah is acting in pride and arrogance when he is showing all the treasure stores of his kingdom to these Babylonian representatives. He is doing it to exalt himself and he is not honoring the Lord, he is not giving credit to the Lord and so on in all of that. So he is humbled and you are told down in verse 31; what was going on is part of the test the Lord brought into Hezekiah’s life. So you could see his faithfulness or the lack thereof to the Lord. We will come back to Second Kings Chapter 21. We have this pattern which is no pattern, you can have a godly father and a godly son in this line of kings, you can have an ungodly king followed by a godly one or vice-versa.

Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father was a very ungodly king, Hezekiah is one of the most godly kings. Hezekiah’s son will now assume the throne; he will be the worst ruler in the southern kingdom’s history. Perhaps the most godly king is followed by his son, the most ungodly king over Judah. So a sad state of affairs, Manasseh will be so wicked that he will be a key reason for the Babylonian captivity, not the only reason, but a key reason. Turn over to Jeremiah the Prophet. Jeremiah Chapter 15, the chapter opens up and what he is talking about here is the necessity of judgment on the southern kingdom for their unbelief.

Then the Lord said to me even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not be with this people. Send them away from my presence and let them go, what a testimony for Moses and Samuel as God’s intercessors. These two great intercessors would come on behalf of Israel they could not turn around -- turn away my determination to pour out my wrath on them. Come down to verse 4; I will make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, the King of Judah for what he did in Jerusalem.

You see the vileness of Manasseh is so terrible that it will be a key factor in the coming Babylonian captivity, tell you something of the character of Manasseh and what evidenced his rule. John Wickham, who has ministered here on occasions, some of you appreciate his writings in your study, wrote this; cultured and even godly homes are no guarantee of high quality among children because each child begins at zero spiritually speaking. God may have children according to the riches of his grace but not grandchildren and that is a fact we have been reminded of again and again as we move through this history.

That is our desire as parents, we want to be godly parents, do all we can to nurture our children in his word but you understand you cannot change your heart, I cannot change your heart, I can pray for them, I can share the truth with them, I can to the best of my ability model godliness but I can’t change their heart because I’m godly doesn’t mean they will be godly. On the other side of that is if I’m ungodly doesn’t mean they have to be ungodly. Each generation has to experience the power of God’s grace in their lives as they come to believe in him.

So we begin Chapter 21; Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king, he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem, 55 years, the longest reign of any king; northern or southern kingdom, the longest king period. David reigned 40 years, it is the longest reign of any king, and sad to say he is the worst of the worst. As I mentioned during the last 10 years of Hezekiah’s reign his son Manasseh served as co-regent with his father and that is to be expected because Hezekiah knew about his time line, he had 15 years from when he was sick so after 5 years he thinks it is time to begin to prepare Manasseh, so when Manasseh is 12 years old he has really become co-regent with his father.

There is date I think you need to change if you have the list of Judah’s kings, on number 14 you have Manasseh, I have that down to 695 that should be 697 if you have tried to add those 55 years up. So there is a two year error there, I’m sure I had it right when they printed it, somebody got it wrong. 697 to 642 for Manasseh. We go on in Chapter 21, the first 9 verses tell you about the sin of Manasseh. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, verse 2, according to the abomination of all the nations which the Lord had dispossessed before the sons of Israel, he built the high places which his father had destroyed, he erected altars for Baal, made Asherah as Ahab king of Israel, husband of Jezebel had done.

He worshipped all the host of heaven and served those, he built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord had said in Jerusalem; I will put my name. This is as blasphemous as you can get. He goes into the temple and constructs altars to pagan gods in the very temple where the God of Israel has said that he would put his name, he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he offered his son as a living sacrifice to these pagan gods. He used witchcraft and divination, dealt with mediums and spiritists; he did much evil in the sight of the Lord provoking him to anger.

Then he set the carved image of Asherah that he had made in the house of the Lord which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon; in this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel I will put my name for ever. Becomes a forerunner of the ultimate abomination of desolations, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, referred to by Christ in Mathew 24:15, will be set up ultimately by the anti-Christ in the temple in Jerusalem. So here Manasseh, as ungodly a man as you can get and not just a man who has rejected the Lord but is almost set and bent on doing all he can to flagrantly defy the Lord and show his disdain for the God of Israel.

Going on with the Lord he said to Solomon, in this house, the end of verse 7, and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel I will put my name forever and I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land, which I gave to their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all I have commanded them, according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them, what a simple requirement. I will plant you in the land permanently if you will only be obedient to me, but they did not listen. Now remember the Kings, First and Second Kings would have been written under the direction of the spirit during the time of the Babylonian captivity and it would have been explaining to the Jews in captivity why it was necessary.

What a clear statement, that God had to bring judgment on his people. Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel. Remember when the Lord finally sent Israel into the land of Canaan it was because the time was ripe for judgment and now the people of God are doing worst things than the Canaanites had been guilty of, almost unbelievable; the depths to which they have sunk. Now the Lord spoke through his prophets, servants, the prophets saying; because Manasseh King of Judah has done these abominations, has done wickedly more than all the Amorites who were before him, has also made Judah sin with his idols therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel; behold, I’m bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it both his ears will tingle.

I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of the Ahab, I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish; wiping it and turning it upside down. My judgment is going to be severe; I’m going to clean up with you. I will abandon the remnant of my inheritance deliver them into the hands of their enemies, they will become a splendor and spoil to their enemies because they have done evil in my sight, have been provoking me to anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt to this day. This is the culmination but is not the beginning; it is not that it was good until the days of Manasseh.

Israel has constantly turned from the Lord ever since they come out of Egypt, what they do, they are complaining in the wilderness. They spend 40 years wandering why, unfaithfulness to the Lord, this goes back, it is just a history and in that sense you can understand humanely speaking why people say God would have to be done with Israel. I mean you are going to add to this the crucifixion of the Messiah, his son, his sins to rule over them. What more can the Lord do but the Lord cannot violate his promises and the promises to Israel would be fulfilled but what terrible judgments they have experienced and the worst is yet to come.

Verse 16 to 18 tells about the conclusion of Manasseh’s reign. Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin with which he made Judah sin in doing the evil in sight of the Lord. The rest of the acts are recorded elsewhere, Manasseh died, his son Amon became king in his place. We have to jump over to Second Chronicles 33. Second Chronicles Chapter 33 and verse 9 of Chapter 33 summarizes what we have already read; Manasseh mislead Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Then the verses that follow expand on the sins of Manasseh, therefore the Lord brought the commanders, verse 11, of the army of the King of Assyria against them, they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. God’s judgment comes severely on Manasseh and the Assyrians come back to Jerusalem, and they take Manasseh another’s captive and Manasseh is led to Babylon like an animal with a hook through his nose, carried off to Babylon as a conquered person as a slave. Babylon during this period of time functions as a second capital for Assyria, Assyria’s capital, main capital Nineveh of course is further away but this carries them up further and closer and it becomes a second capital.

Ashurbanipal, all these names that you love, the Assyrian King also used Babylon during this time as his capital and ruled as king over Babylon as well as Assyria during this time 648/647; this probably when Manasseh is carried captive. It is amazing what happens here, here you have the worst of the worst, the judgment comes upon him, he is carried away as a slave to Babylon with hooks, that means; they have would put through the nose and in chains. When he was in distress he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. When he prayed to him, he was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem, to his kingdom, then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.

Amazing, the conversion of Manasseh, the worst king to ever rule; in the north or the south, the man who brought more evil and paganism into Judah than the Canaanites had before Israel came into the land and he gets converted. If I was the Lord; I wouldn’t have listened to one peep out of this, guy; let him rot in the dungeon in Babylon but the Lord’s grace is great, the worst of sinners can be saved by the grace of God. Manasseh humbles himself, in other words getting near to the end of his reign, he may have ruled for 50 years by now yet the Lord not only forgives him he restores him to the throne in Judah.

We are not told the details of how this occurs or what but he is restored to his kingdom. Now after this he built the outer walls; the city of David, verse 15; he removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord as well as all the idols – altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem he threw them outside the city, he set up the altar of the Lord sacrificed peace offerings, thank offerings and he ordered Judah to serve the God of Israel.

Verse 18; now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, even as he prayed to his God the words of the seers who spoke to him, prophets who came in the name of the Lord, they are among the records of the Kings of Israel. His prayer and so on, they are written in the records of Hozai; the end of verse 19 which we don’t have to reference, we just have what God wanted recorded here. The details of how this all came about; we don’t know about. Manasseh does what he can with the short time left for him but the damage has been done. Judah doesn’t really turn back to the Lord, when the King requires something to be done it will be done, they have followed Manasseh in his degradation, but basically the nation does not follow him as he tries to bring about a restoration in this closing time of his reign but it is remarkable.

We don’t give up on anyone, who would have thought Manasseh could be saved; just the little bit we have read but by God’s grace we will see him in heaven and he is restored to his throne. Come back to Kings, Second Kings 21 verse 19, the end of verse 18 told us Amon, Manasseh’s son became king upon his death. Amon was 22 years old when he became king; he reigned two years in Jerusalem. Verse 20; he did evil in the sight of the Lord as Manasseh his father had done, he walked in all the way that his father had walked, served the idols that his father had served, worshipped them, he forsook the Lord, the God of his fathers, did not walk in the way of the Lord.

The servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house and he will be succeeded by his son Josiah and Josiah will be a godly king. The pattern, what happens; you have Hezekiah followed by Manasseh, followed by Amon and now behold Josiah comes on the scene. Every generation is responsible to the Lord and accountable to him and has to experience his salvation or be lost. He is succeed by his son Josiah, the conspirators who killed Amon are themselves killed, verse 24, and they put Josiah as king in his place.

So Chapter 22 begins unfolding the reign of Josiah and he reigns as you have on your list from 640 to 609. His reign is also recorded in Second Chronicles, Chapters 34 and 35. So you have that parallel account. He is a great king, he is a godly king, he was 8 years old when he became king. He reigned 31 years in Jerusalem; he did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left. God’s grace still manifest to the nation in the conversion of Manasseh and even in that brief attempt of Manasseh, the closing part of his reign; to bring about an undoing of his wickedness then his son reigns for two years and attempts to undo even the good that Manasseh had tried to do but he is removed now Josiah will reign for 31 years.

His reign will be one of political independence and also one of economic prosperity; it is a time of great spiritual revival or reformation maybe I should say in the land of Israel, in Judah. He is very young, eight years old, what happened here; the people rise up we are told in verse 24 and killed those who had conspired against King Amon and they made Josiah, you understand we have a line here; the line of David, so you want a legitimate heir of David on the throne and so even though he is young, 8 years old, he will be surrounded by counselors, older men, who in effect are administering the affairs of the kingdom as his representatives till he comes of age to be able to function more independently.

He is the fourth of what are known as the reformers among Judah’s kings; Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, four kings who were used to bring about reformation in the nation if you will to stop the slide or at least slow the slide, going down and you have a plateau here where there is a restoration, the calling of the nation back to the God of Israel. So Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and now Josiah; four prominent reformers among the kings of Judah who helped delay God’s judgment if you will on the nation by God’s grace. Josiah’s reforms are the most extensive perhaps because of the damage done by Manasseh there was more reformation than was needed.

Two prophets carry on their ministry during Josiah’s reign, Jeremiah the Prophet and Zephaniah, there may be more other prophets during this time but these are two well known prophets, two of the writing prophets maybe I should say, whose prophecies have been recorded for us in the word of God. Second Chronicles, turn over to Second Chronicles 34, we get some additional details on Josiah’s reign in Second Chronicles 34. Just summarize a few of these, the first is a repetition in verse 1, he was eight years old when he became king, we saw that already in Second Kings 22:1.

We are told further in verse 3 that at 16 years of age he began to seek the God of his father David, in the eighth year of his reign which would have been when he was 16 because remember; he began to reign when he was 8 years old. Now eight years into his reign when he is 16, while he was still a youth he began to seek the God of his father David. So perhaps here you see the conversion if you will of Josiah where his heart is turned to the Lord perhaps under the influence of the godly counselors that have been administering the kingdom as his representatives and his caretakers or overseers. At 20 years of age he begins the reformation to cleanse the land of idolatry, we are told that in the middle of verse 3, in the 12th year; so that would have been when he was 20, he started when he was 8.

The reign, 12 years into his reign when he is 20 years old, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images, the molten images, he tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, the incense altars that were high above them he chopped down, the Asherim, the carved images, the molten images he broke in pieces ground to powder, scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. Then he burned the bones of the priest on their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem and he begins this when he is 20.

Interestingly one year later when he is 21; Jeremiah the Prophet begins his ministry and so you have the ministry of this great Prophet here if you will to support the ministry of Josiah. Turn over to Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah 25 verse 3; Jeremiah is talking about his ministry and he is speaking to all the people and telling them about his prophetic ministry and so he says in verse 3; from the 13th year of Josiah the son of Amon, King of Judah, even to this day these 23 years the word of the Lord came to me and I have spoken to you again and again but you have not listened to me. The Lord sent you all his servants the Prophets again and you have not listened.

We note in the 13th year of Josiah when he began his reign, these reforms when he was 20, in the 12th year of his reign Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry, began receiving the word from the Lord in the 13th year of Josiah when Josiah was 21. Come back to Chapter 34 Second Chronicles; his reforms extend up into the realm of what was the northern kingdom, who are the remnants of the northern 10 tribes. Because I remember not every Jew had been deported but all the leaders, key people and large numbers but significant numbers would have been left also to intermingle with new people resettled there.

So you are told in verse 6 of Chapter 34; and the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon even as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding ruins. So these reforms extend that far as the influence of what is going on in Judah is carried on up there during this time of relative freedom from outside domination. He also tore down the altars, beat the Asherim, carved image into powder, chopped down the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel then he returned to Jerusalem. Here you have the zeal of a young man, 20 years of age and his passion to see that we restore things.

It is a serious matter, you can stir up quite a bit of opposition among the people as they become attached to their gods and their pagan worship but you see Josiah is committed to the Lord, do what it takes to clean up the land and it is a part of his responsibility as the surviving king in Israel since the northern kingdom doesn’t exist as a kingdom, to carry his reforms even into what is left of the northern 10 tribes as well as in the southern kingdom. So he is a man of great impact and his reforms go beyond what others have been able to do.

Okay we will go back to Second Kings, Second Kings Chapter 22. Look at verse 3; now in the 18th year of King Josiah; the king sent his representatives to the house of the Lord saying, verse 4,go up to Hilkiah the high priest that he may count the money brought into the house of the Lord which the door keepers have gathered from the people and you have to take this money, you have to turn it over to the workmen and the workmen are to begin the repairs of the house of the Lord to restore it to what it must be as the center of the worship of the God of Israel.

Repair the damages to the house, at the end of verse 5, timbers, the stone, they don’t even need, the workmen don’t need to give an accounting. They are faithful workers, you give them the money they need because the people of course brought their tithes, their offerings to the temple, they are entrusted by their priest, the money that has been stored up there now is going to go for the restoration of the temple. We won’t go back to Second Chronicles 34 but we are told there that the northern tribes in verses 8 and 9 Second Chronicles 34 contribute as well to this restoration. Verses 8 and following remarkable things, the Law is rediscovered, then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe; I have found the book of the Law in the house of the Lord.

During the renovations of the temple they find a copy of the Law, evidently during the time of Manasseh’s godless rampage the copies of the Law had been destroyed and so they have word of mouth if you will, but to actually read the details of the Law as God gave it to Moses they don’t have a copy. So we are not told beyond this. Interesting how unbelieving men down to our day deal with the scripture. In the 19th century; down getting nearer our time, a German scholar named Wellhausen, Julius Wellhausen. You may be familiar with documentary hypothesis JEPD, well out of this Wellhausen concocted the idea that someone during this time made up a copy, wrote the book of Deuteronomy, just created it at this time and then gave it to Josiah and claimed it was part of what God had given and so it was a whole hoax.

Now the amazing thing is that became the dominant idea in critical scholarship and its influence continues right down to our day. Nothing in the passage, someone just comes up with the idea, oh someone really just did something here, he wrote a copy and buried it in the rubbles of the temple so that Josiah would think that this was an actual copy, where you ever get this. Somebody just sitting down and writing ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and the so called great scholars in theological universities in Europe and United States adopt this.

And when I was a student we studied Wellhausenism and documentary hypothesis not because we believed it but because you had to know it, because all the critical commentaries depend on it and if you read some of the commentaries, some of your teachers holding Old Testament studies, you read in them and they refer to the JEPD, all comes out of somebody who read this and let their imagination run wild and because he was considered a scholar impacts the world. What really happened is; the copy of the Law or you think Manasseh was happy to have the Law present, no, so he would have done all he can do to destroy it.

There is a copy discovered in the rubble of the temple, it is brought to Josiah the King, your servants have emptied out the money, delivered it to the hand of the workmen and Hilkiah the priest has given me a book, verse 10, and he read it in the presence of the king, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law he tore his clothes and he tells Hilkiah the priest; go and inquire of the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book to do according to all that is written in it.

Josiah is a godly man, he reads this and he says; we are in trouble, all the curses that God has said that will come upon Israel for not obeying, we are under the wrath of God. I mean he has seen the northern kingdom, he knows what has happened to them, he realizes; we are in a terrible state because we have not honored the Lord. So he manifests great humility and he sends the priest to go and inquire of the Lord; what do we do, I can’t undo what has been done, where do we go from here, ask the Lord; what we should do.

So Hilkiah the priest and those with him went to Huldah the Prophetess. My grandmother’s name was Hilda. Huldah the Prophetess, she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter, they spoke to her and she said to them; thus says the Lord, God of Israel, tell the man who sent you to me; he was the king. Thus says the Lord, behold I bring evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the King of Judah has read because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore my wrath burns against this place and it shall not be quenched.

But to the King of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord thus you shall say to him, thus says the Lord, God of Israel regarding the words which you have heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I have truly heard you declares the Lord, therefore behold I will gather you to your fathers, you will b gathered to your grave in peace, your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place.

So they brought the word back to the king. God is gracious, almost like, such a gracious God, he is glad for the opportunity to delay his judgment. Josiah’s response is used of the Lord all of this in God’s plan to delay his judgment and give Israel opportunity to repent but they have no desire. Who do the Prophetess; she is one of four prophetesses in the Old Testament as you are aware, Miriam the first Prophetess mentioned in Exodus 15:20, Deborah in the time of the Judges, Judges Chapter 4 verse 4 and then Isaiah’s wife in Isaiah Chapter 8 verse 3; I went to the Prophetess his wife, child is conceived. So those three along with Huldah are the only four prophetesses mentioned by name in the Old Testament.

And Huldah’s message is God will bring all the judgments that he promised in the law for disobedience to his law upon the nation Israel. I’m talking about the nation; here is people, the Jews. The northern kingdom has already experienced judgment; the southern kingdom cannot escape the judgment. God in his grace will respond to the humbling of Josiah, Josiah’s humbling of himself before the Lord, that delays judgment, it is too late to stop the judgment. It is going to come but I will honor Josiah and spare them. Turn back to Jeremiah the Prophet; remember he is carrying on his ministry in these days.

Jeremiah Chapter 3, you have just a portion here but good for you to go to Jeremiah Chapter 3 verse 6; the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the King, have you seen what faithless Israel did and talks about what Israel did. Verse 7; I thought after she has done all these things she will return to me, she did not return, her treacherous sister Judah saw it, so here you have the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom and Judah has opportunity to observe what her sister did, in other words the northern 10 tribes. And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I sent her away, gave her a writ of divorce, the northern 10 tribes were carried away into captivity yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, she went with the harlot also.

Because of the lightness of her harlotry she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart but rather in deception declares the Lord. You find out what is going on. Josiah is a godly king, the king is leading the way here, the people have to conform but they are doing it with a deceptive heart, their heart is not in it. They are under pressure to conform to what the king is requiring but their worship of the God of Israel is one of deception. There is no change in their heart so that striking statement; they did not return to me with all their heart but rather in deception declares the Lord.

So he sees the heart later Jeremiah will say; the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things who can know it, I the Lord searched the heart, try the reins, he knows what is really going on in Judah at this time. So even though we are talking about Josiah being the greatest reformer, he understands it is not penetrating down with any depth among the people in spite of what they have seen in the northern kingdom. So from God’s perspective they had just compounded their guilt, made it greater than the northern kingdom because they had the opportunity to observe what he did to the northern kingdom for their unfaithfulness, they didn’t learn anything. So that is the spiritual condition of the nation at this time, so judgment will come.

Alright we are going to have to save the rest until our next study. We are going to talk about the reforms that Josiah did bring about but just a couple of observations from what we have looked at in these chapters. What we have said repeatedly and this connects to Manasseh, godly parents may have ungodly children and the other side of that; ungodly parents may have godly children. Because Hezekiah has Manasseh and Manasseh has Amon but Amon has Josiah, so again every generation, that is why we want to bring the word of God to our children but that is why we want to be careful. Not have our children grow up thinking they belong to the Lord because their parents know the Lord.

They belong to the Lord because they attended a church that believed in the Lord that is why we want to be careful about things like baptism by assuring them they are saved. We want to present the truth and encourage them to trust the Lord but I realize he will see where their heart is as they mature and become responsible adults. Secondly, the most ungodly of men may be saved that ought to be an encouragement to all of us. God’s grace is so great, you think of the Apostle Paul who said; God saved me the chiefest of sinners, then he can save you. Who do you look to in the Old Testament; God can save Manasseh, he can save you.

He saved Nebuchadnezzar; he will save you, think of the worst case, the case you have given up on. The last person that you know that you would think whatever returned to the Lord and you think Lord your grace would be that great. Third, we should never lose hope for the salvation of our children. In great trial brought about by his wicked life Manasseh gets saved. I don’t want to pray that my children will have an easy life, and pray to Lord to do whatever in their life that will result in their coming to know him, right. Sometimes easy for us, as believers we settle in to the good life of a believer with God’s blessings, we know the Lord and God has blessed us, now all we want is our children to have a good life, an easy life an enjoyable life.

I pray for my kids that their life we get is hard, as miserable as bad it needs to get for them to be saved. I don’t want them to have a miserable life, I don’t want my grandchildren to have a miserable life, we would like to spare them all the hardships and heartaches but you know what really matters is that they get saved, all it really mattered for Manasseh is he got saved, that is so important. I don’t want to lose track of what matters, so we encourage, we don’t give up on our children, on our friends and I realize trouble, it can be good. When Manasseh is being led away with a hook in his nose and chains around his hands and feet, that is wonderful.

May have broke his mother’s heart but it was wonderful because that would be used of the Lord to cause Manasseh to turn from his self and turn to the Lord. So we want to be sure our focus is right, ultimately more than anything we want to see whatever is necessary to bring our children to the Lord and if it takes trial, it takes pain, then Lord bring whatever you will use for their salvation. But we have to note here another point; salvation does not undo the damage of a wicked life, the impact of Manasseh on Israel and Judah. We have read what Jeremiah said; God said because of Manasseh’s wickedness I’m going to take them into Babylonian captivity. He couldn’t undo the ungodliness, that doesn’t excuse Judah’s responsibility obviously. But I want to realize, as long as they get saved # there will be consequences for wickedness in a life.

Other points here from Josiah and maybe I better leave Josiah’s point and I will summarize them because we are not done with Josiah, we will pick him up next time, but we ought to be encouraged. A young person, a very young person 16, 20, 21 has a great impact for the Lord, don’t have to wait till you are 50, but can begin to make a difference for the Lord very early in life and that’s our desire.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for your grace, thank you for the history of Israel that has been unfolded for us. Lord, we read the history of your people, the people that you chose for yourself, the people that you desired to bless, that you promised to keep and protect, provide for, and they are the people who constantly rebelled against you, turned away from you. Lord; what tragedy, but your grace kept calling them back and Lord when there was a humbling submission to you, you bestowed grace, you delayed judgment and Lord when the final chapter is being written, your grace will be triumphant and the nation will be restored.

Lord, we are encouraged and challenged to live godly lives, be faithful to you, to recognize the greatness of your grace that brings about salvation in the worst of sinners, causing us to marvel at our own salvation and to have hope for family and friends that are yet to come to know you. Use us in the days of the week before us. Lord, may we fear sin that we be careful to walk faithfully in obedience to your word, that you might indeed bless us and use us to bring honor to yourself, we pray in Christ’s name, amen.