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cover of episode Day 217 (2 Kings 22-23, 2 Chronicles 34-35) - Year4

Day 217 (2 Kings 22-23, 2 Chronicles 34-35) - Year4

2022/8/5
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Tara Lee Cobble
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Tara Lee Cobble: 我正在回顾犹大南国最后的时光,这段时期以八岁的约西亚国王登基为开端,距离以赛亚预言的巴比伦人征服犹大国已经不远了。约西亚是一位好国王,长大后,他命令仆人希勒家为修复上帝的殿宇做财务安排。在修复过程中,希勒家发现了律法书,这很可能指的是申命记的卷轴。律法书在圣殿中被发现,长期以来无人阅读或反思律法,人们过着各自的生活,没有神的指引。约西亚读了律法书后,意识到他们偏离了正轨,之前的国王们也使百姓误入歧途,忘记真理会使人心迷失。约西亚寻求神的指引,并咨询先知女忽勒大,忽勒大预言了灾难,但因约西亚悔改,他会免于灾难。约西亚与百姓在神面前立约,承诺全心全意顺服神。约西亚清除圣殿中的偶像,处置邪恶的祭司,驱逐巫师和通灵者。约西亚毁坏偶像崇拜场所,并将这些场所改造成墓地,这与希西家将巴力庙改造成厕所的做法类似。约西亚全心全意地跟随神,恢复了逾越节的庆祝,这次的逾越节是按照神的吩咐进行的。约西亚是犹大唯一一位始终忠于神的好国王,他的死因是参加与埃及法老尼哥的战斗。约西亚死后,他的儿子约哈斯继位,但他是一位邪恶的国王,最终被尼哥带到埃及并死在那里;尼哥随后立约西亚的另一个儿子以利亚敬为王,并改名为约雅敬。约西亚的死因是未听从埃及法老的劝告,这让我感到震惊。神可以使用任何人和任何事来指明他自己和他的真理,这应该使我们更加谦卑和明辨是非。我们不应该因为不喜欢说话的人就否定其话语的真实性,神可以通过任何途径向我们说话。我们需要智慧来辨别哪些事情符合神的话语的真理,寻求神是寻求真理的最佳起点。我鼓励听众分享他们从圣经中学习到的东西,并鼓励他人阅读圣经。

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Eight-year-old King Josiah's reign begins in Judah. Hilkiah, while repairing the temple, discovers the Book of the Law, leading to Josiah's realization of Judah's straying from God's path. This discovery highlights the consequences of neglecting God's word.
  • Josiah's young age at ascension
  • Discovery of the Book of the Law in the temple
  • Judah's straying from God's commandments
  • The consequences of forgetting God's word

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Translations:
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. We're continuing to wrap up the final days of the southern kingdom of Judah. We're not too far off from the days prophesied by Isaiah where this kingdom will be overthrown by the Babylonians. But as for now, we've got eight-year-old King Josiah on the throne. Forgive me, but I can't help but picture a little half-sized throne made of Legos.

Josiah is a good king. Once he grows up a bit, he tells his servant Hilkiah to make financial arrangements for the house of God to be repaired. And at some point during the process of restoration, Hilkiah finds the book of the law, which is likely a reference to the scroll of Deuteronomy.

It's somewhere in the temple. We don't know exactly where he found it, but given the state of the temple, it's probably shoved behind some idol somewhere and covered in dust. It's been a long time since anyone has read or reflected on the words of the law. Most people have probably forgotten what it says or maybe even that it exists at all. It seems like no one was looking for it or felt distraught that it was missing. They were all just doing their own thing, living their lives and fighting their wars and making their decisions all without the guidance of God.

Hilkiah passes the book along to the secretary who reads it, then brings it to Josiah and reads it to him, and Josiah is wrecked. He realizes just how far off track their hearts and lives are, and how the kings before him have led the people astray for generations. As it turns out, what you don't know can hurt you. When we forget that truth exists, when it gets covered in the dust of our busyness, our hearts can't help but go astray.

Josiah tells his leaders to seek God and see how they should proceed. So the priests and his team go to a local prophetess named Huldah. She tells them that God is going to bring disaster on Judah for its sin, but that God will spare King Josiah since his heart was repentant. He will die before the disaster comes. Josiah's heart is so burdened by the whole thing that he gathers all the elders and priests and prophets and people and has them come to the temple where he reads the book of the covenant to them.

Then he makes a covenant before God to obey him with all his heart and soul, and the people join in.

At some point during all this, he sets out like a man on a mission. He removes and destroys all the idols in the temple. He fires a bunch of wicked priests and gives the death penalty to some others and banishes the mediums and necromancers. By the way, we've been seeing that word a lot lately, and if you aren't familiar with it, it just means a wizard or a warlock or someone who practices a kind of magic that's specifically related to communicating with the dead.

Josiah also desecrates all the places of idolatry. And in my favorite move of all, he turns those places into graveyards. 23.14 says, This reminds me of when Hezekiah turned the house of Baal into a bathroom in 2 Kings 10.

Josiah follows God with all his heart and mind and soul, according to 2325. He reestablishes the Passover feast, which has once again fallen by the wayside. You may recall that King Hezekiah celebrated the Passover too, but he did a makeshift Passover since it was the wrong time of year and the people were unclean. But for Josiah, it's all happening according to God's commands and schedule.

The people of Judah follow God for as long as Josiah is alive. He's the one good king we've read about so far who never has a phase where his heart turns away from God. He remains faithful, unless you consider his final actions to be motivated by pride, which some do. His death comes in a strange and unexpected way. Here's how it goes down. While the Egyptian pharaoh Necho is coming to join forces with Assyria and confront the Babylonians, Josiah decides he wants in on the action.

The Pharaoh warns him to stay away, but Josiah disguises himself and goes up to the battle anyway, where Pharaoh Necho fatally wounds him. More on that in a minute. Josiah is the last good king Judah will have. After he dies, his son Jehoahaz replaces him on the throne. Jehoahaz is a wicked king, and he's eventually captured and taken back to Egypt by the same Pharaoh who killed his dad. He dies there in captivity.

The Egyptian pharaoh kind of rules the roost at this point, so he appoints another one of Josiah's sons to be king instead. His given name is Eliakim, but Pharaoh Necho is like, I don't like that name. Let's call you Jehoiakim instead. Jehoiakim isn't a great king either. He's Necho's puppet now, taxing the people to send money back to Egypt. What was your God shot today? Mine was in the events surrounding Josiah's death.

Who would have seen it coming that one of Judah's best kings would be taken out because he didn't listen to an Egyptian pharaoh? Not me. I would have been like, whatever the pharaoh says, disregard it. But according to 2 Chronicles 35-22, Pharaoh Necho was actually speaking the truth. This reminds me of how God used the pagan king Cyrus as his servant too.

It all serves as a reminder that God can even work and speak truth through the mouths of those who oppose him. He's not limited to working through just those who are his kids. He can use anyone and everyone to point to himself and his truth somehow, which should make us both more humble and more discerning.

I'm not saying we should go around receiving everything anyone says as truth from God. Rather, I'm noticing that what this text reveals is that we can't dismiss something as a lie just because we don't like the person who said it. You may remember that God spoke to Balaam through his donkey. And today, God spoke to Josiah through a pagan. First of all, I love that he wants to speak to us.

Because of that, I pray He gives us wisdom as we try to discern what things line up with the truth of His Word. Seeking Him is the best place to start when we're seeking truth. He's where the joy is. We're starting a new book tomorrow, Zephaniah. And as usual, we want to give you a short video overview that will help it all come together for you quickly. We've linked to that five-minute video in the show notes today.

Okay, Bible readers, it's time for our weekly check-in. How are you doing? If you ask me, I think you're doing pretty great. You're here today. Regardless of when that's happening for you, you're here. You haven't given up. And not only that, but you're almost two-thirds of the way through the Bible. What's your favorite thing you've learned so far? Paradigm shifts have happened in how you look at God or His Word or the story.

Tell somebody about those things today. Sharing is caring. It might even encourage and create some interest in someone else who might be struggling to read their Bible. You could be the catalyst God uses to draw them near.