Day 123, 2 Kings 22-25

Josiah Reigns in Judah

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for thirty-two years in Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the ways of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Josiah Repairs the Temple

In the eighteenth year if King Josiah, Hilkiah the high priest, was required to count the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold had collected from the people. The money would be given into the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of the Lord and were repairing it. That is to the carpenters, builders, and masons, and for buying timber and quarried stone.

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law

Hilkiah the high priest, found the book of the Law in the house of the Lord, and he told Shaphan the secretary and he read it. Shaphan then reported to the king and read it before him. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. The king had all of his servants inquire of the Lord for him, for his people, and for all of Judah, concerning the words of the book.

For great wrath of the Lord had been kindled against them, because their fathers had not obeyed the words of the book, and did not do according to what was written in it.

His servants went to Huldah the prophetess, and they talked with her. She said to tell the man who sent them there that the Lord would bring disaster upon that place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. Because they had forsaken him and made offerings to other gods, and provoked the Lord to anger. The Lord’s wrath would be kindled against them and would not be quenched.

But specifically to the king Of Judah, she was to tell him that the Lord saw the way his heart was penitent, and how he humbled himself before the Lord, when he heard how the Lord spoke against that place and its inhabitants; and how he tore his clothes and wept. Therefore, he would be gathered to his fathers and to his grave in peace, and his eyes would not see all the disaster that the Lord would bring upon that place. And they brought back word to the king.

Josiah’s Reforms

Then the king sent for all the elders and leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. They all went up to the house of the Lord, along with all the inhabitants of both places. The king read to them all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord; to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in the book. And all the people joined the covenant.

The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the rest of the priests, and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields and carried their ashes to Bethel.

And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places. He also brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook and beat it to dust and case the dust upon the graves of the common people.

He broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings. He broke down the high places and destroyed any altars that went against the words of the Lord.

Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place was pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. What about the one at Dan?

He also burned the Asherah. As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were on the mount, and he took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord.

Josiah saw a monument and asked what it was. He was told that it was the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted the things that he had done against the altar at Bethel. Josiah said to let him be, and no man would move his bones.

Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Restores the Passover

The king commanded all the people to keep the Passover to the Lord their God, as it was written in the Book of the Covenant. For no Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or Judah. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah the Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem.

Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. The Lord said that he would remove Judah from his sight as he had done to Israel. And the Lord would cast out the city that he had chosen, Jerusalem, and the house that he put his name on.

Josiah’s Death in Battle

In these days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him as soon as he saw him. His servants carried him dead in a chariot back to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.

Jehoahaz’s Reign and Captivity

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds so he could not reign in Jerusalem, and laid a tribute on the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away to Egypt and he died there. Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold and money to the Pharaoh, from taxing the land.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. The Lord sent bands of the Chaldeans and Syrians and Moabites and Ammonites, against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke to the prophets.

Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. And the king of Egypt did not come again out of is land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the him.

Jehoiachin Reigns in Judah

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

Jerusalem Captured

At that time the servants of the king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. The king of Babylon went to the city, and Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to him, along with his mother, servants, and his officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign, and carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house, as the Lord had foretold.

He carried away all of Jerusalem, the officials, and mighty men, and 10,000 captives, and all the craftsman and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land. And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah Reigns in Judah

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Fall and Captivity of Judah

In the ninth year of his reign, the king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and they built siegeworks all around it. So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

There was a famine in the city that was so severe, there was no food for the people of the land. They made a breach in the city, and all the men of war fled by night. Except the Chaldeans were around the city. They pursued them and overtook them in the plains of Jericho, and all his army scattered from him.

They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon and they passed a sentence on him. They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and then put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.

In the nineteenth year of the king of Babylon, they had burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem. And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters were carried into exile. Some of the poorest of the land were left to be vinedressers and plowmen.

The Babylonians took everything that they could in gold, silver, and bronze. The pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord were broken into pieces and carried to Babylon. And all the bronze work that Solomon had made.

The chief priest, second priest, keepers of the threshold, officers from the city, secretary, and sixty men of the people who were found in the city were all taken to the king of Babylon. And the king struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken to exile out of its land.

Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah

Over the people who remained in the land of Judah, after the king of Babylon had left, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, governor. Men came to see him when they heard that the king of Babylon had appointed him. Gedaliah told the men not to be afraid because of the Chaldean officials. They could live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and all would be well.

But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah and put him to death along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him. Then all the people arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Released from Prsion

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, Evil-merodach king of Babylon began to reign; and graciously freed Jehoiachin from prison. And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon.

So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments, and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table. And a regular allowance was given to him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.