Respond and be humble – God will hear you

While studying about Josiah I was struck by a couple of phrases that are exactly the same in both 2 Kings 22:19 and 2 Chronicles 34:27.  Josiah had just heard the Book of the Law of Moses read for what appears to be the first time (2 Chronicles 34:18 and 2 Kings 22:10 ).  He responded with humilty – he tore his robes ( 2 Chronicles 34:19, 2 Kings 22:11) .  He took to heart what he heard.  He didn’t just shrug it off.  He sent men to “inquire of the Lord” ( 2 Chronicles 34:21, 2 Kings 22:13) for him.  Because his heart was responsive and  he humbled himself God heard him (2 Chronicles 34:27 and 2 Kings 22:19 ).

God requires the same of us today – have a responsive heart and be humble – then we can be assured that He will hear us.  We must guard against being hardhearted and proud.  Also, because of Jesus, we don’t have to send someone to inquire of God for us, we can talk to Him ourselves.  He’s eager to hear from us when we approach Him with a responsive heart and in humility.

Kings and Chronicles – During Josiah’s reign

Kings and Chronicles tell about what happened in the same time period and it is interesting to compare the two to get a more complete picture.  I’ve done this a number of times but have never done it in the detail that I have this time while studying about King Josiah. 

2 Kings 22;1-2 and 2 Chronicles 34:1-2 tell about Josiah becoming king and are almost word for word the same, except that the king’s passage tells about his mother.

2 Chronicles 34:3-7 tells us that in the 8th year of his reign Josiah began to seek the Lord and in the 12th year he began to purge the country.  2 Kings doesn’t mention anything about the 8th or 12th year.

2 Kings 22 starting at verse 3 and 2 Chronciles 34 starting at verse 8 tells the story of what happened in the 18th year of Josiah’s reign.  The main thing that seems to have happened in that year is the finding of the book of Law during the starting of the repairs on the temple.  I’m going to compare the passages almost verse by verse to see what we learn from them.  It’s almost like the Kings passage tells you what was instructed to happen and the Chronicles passage tell you what happened.

2 Kings 22:3 tells us that Josiah sent Shaphan, a secretary, to the temple.  2 Chronicles 34:8 tells us that he sent Joah with Shaphan and that they were sent to repair the temple.  In 2 Kings 22:4 Josiah tells them to go to Hilkiah, the high priest and have him get the money ready.  2 Chronicles 34:9 says that they went to Hilkiah and gave him the money.  Both passages say that the money was collectted by the door keepers.  In 2 Kings 22:5  Josiah tells them to entrust the money to supervisers to pay the workers.  2 Chronicles 34:10 tells us that they gave the money to the supervisers who then paid the workers.  2 Kings 22:6 lists carpenters, builders, and masons to be told to purchase material.  2 Chronicles 34:11 says they gave the money to the listed workers for purchases.  In 2 Kings 22:7  Josiah tells them there is no need for them to account for the money because they are faithful.  2 Chronicles 34:12-13 tells us that the men worked faithfully and lists the overseers.  One interesting thing in these verses is that the muscians had charge of the laborer and supervised their work!

According to 2 Chronicles 34:14, while they were bringing out the money “Hilkiah found the Book of the Law of the Lord that had been given through Moses”.  2 Chronicles 34;15 and 2 Kings 22:8 say that Hlikiah told Shaphan about the book and gave it to him.  The verse in Kings says that Shaphan read the book.  2 Chronicles 34:16-17 and 2 Kings 22:9 say that Shaphan went and reported to the king that things were proceeding as instructed.  2 Chronicles 34:18 and 2 Kings 22:10 are exactly the same and say that Shaphan told the king about the book and read it to him.  2 Chronicles 34:19 and 2 Kings 22:11 are also exactly the same and say “When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes”. 

 2 Chronicles 34:20-28 and 2 Kings 22:12-22 tell the same story but with some minor word differences so I’m just going to give a summary of what we learn from these passages.  Josiah gave orders to five men, including Hilkiah and Shaphan and the King’s attendent, Asaiah, to “go and inquire of the Lord”.  Josiah is sure that God is angry because what was written in the book was not obeyed.  The men went to speak to a prophetess, Huldah.  Her message was not good.  Josiah was right.  Goad was angry with the people, but God was pleased with Josiah because his heart was responsive and he humbled himself.  God promised Josiah that he would be buried in peace and wouldn’t see the disasters to come.  The men brought the message back to the king.

That’s as far as I’ve managed to get.  I’m really enjoying comparing these passages.

Contemplating

I’ve been reading the passages about Josiah today but I’m not ready to really post about them yet.  I’m taking my time to compare the passages and get my thoughts all together.  There’s an awful lot there to take in.  Hopefully I’ll get it all together and post soon.

Josiah – King of Judah

The story of Josiah is found in 2 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 34.  I’ve only just started studying it and it may take a few days to get through it, but I’ll post what I’ve learned so far and add to it over time.

2 Kings 22:1&2 and 2 Chronicles 34:1&2 are almost word for word the same, except that the Kings passage includes information about Josiah’s mother but the Chronicles passage doesn’t.  From these two passages we learn that Josiah became king when he was 8 years old and he reigned in Jerusalem for 31 years.  Josiah’s mother was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath, and that’s all I know about her.  We learn about his father, Amon, in 2 Kings 21:19-26 & 2 Chronicles 33:21-25.  Amon was 22 when he became king, reigned 2 years and was killed by his servants at 24.  The people made Josiah, who was 8, king.  This would mean that Amon was 16 when he had Josiah.  Amon did evil and his servants hated him but the people must have liked him because they killed his servants for killing him and then made his son king in his place.  Josiah, however, did not following in his father’s evil example.  These passages say that he did what was right in the sight of the Lord.

2 Chronicles 34:3 tells us that “in the 8th year of his reign”, so when he was 16, “he began to seek the God of his Father David”.  I found it interesting that this is the same age his father, Amon, was when he made him.  I started wondering how many years or generations it was from Josiah to David and how Josiah came to seek David’s God.  I went on a little bunny trail – I’ll post about that in another post – and discovered that there were 16 kings between Josiah and David and 382 years.  Though Josiah’s father, Amon, and his grandfather, Manasseh, were evil kings somehow the stories of David managed to get through to Josiah.

That same verse also tells us that in the 12th year of his reign, so when he was 20, be “began to purge Judah and Jerusalem”.  He didn’t stop at just those cities, however.  Verse 6 tells us “so he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali and all around”.    It’s interesting that it was 4 years after he began to seek God that he began to purge, it didn’t happen right away.  The purging involved getting rid of things associated with evil practices that the people were involved in.  Verse 3 mentions high places, wooden images, carved images, and molded images.  Some of these same things are also mentioned in verse 4 and 7.

That’s as far as I got today.  More another time. 

Jeremiah – the book

Jeremiah is an Old Testament book that is divided into 52 chapters. 

We get the time setting of the book in verses one to three of chapter one.  It takes place during the reign of three kings of Judah – Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah.  My own paraphrase of verse 2-3 – “The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the 13th year of the reign of Josiah, through the reign of Jehoiakim, down to the 5th month of the 11th year of Zedekiah’s reign, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.”  This time period covers approximately 48 years.  

Here’s how I came up with the 48 years.  2 Chronicles 34:1 tells us that Josiah reigned 39 years.  Jeremiah started during the 13 year of his reign so it was 26 years during Josiah’s reign.  2 Chronicles 36:5 says that Jehoiakim reigned 11 years.  There was another king between Josiah and Jehoiakim and also between Jehoiakim and Zedekiah but both of those kings only reigned 3 months.  So, ading together the 26 years of Josiah’s reign, the 11 years of Jehoiakim’s reign, and the 11 years of Zedekiah’s reign you get 48 years.

To get a feel for the setting of the book you have to find out about that time period.  That sends you into the books of Kings and Chronicles.  I’m off on a bunny trail to learn about the reigns of these three kings. 

Troubles and Side Trips

I haven’t posted here in a while because I’ve been having some computer troubles.  It’s very frustrating!  Anyway…..

I’ve been taking some side trips from my studying of Haggai.  While studying Haggai I discovered that the book of Ezra is about some of the same time period as Haggai so I decided to have a look at Ezra.  I did a quick perusal of the book looking at how many chapters and title divisions in my Bible but I got sidetracked in the first verse when I decided to start studying it.  The first verse mentions Jeremiah and I had to go check out the book of Jeremiah and what that was all about.  I’ve taken a few noted on but Ezra and Jeremiah but haven’t posted anything because of the computer troubles.  I’m also trying to decide how I’m going to go about posting it and keeping it somewhat organized.  Anyway, that’s where I’ve been lately.

I think I have decided to start with the book of Jeremiah for a while, but even starting there I end up going back to Chronicles and Kings for some understanding of the time period.  I love seeing how interconnected the book are.  Hopefully my computer troubles are over and I will be able to get back to posting, but don’t be surprised if I do some jumping around for a bit from book to book.

Another message from the Lord – I am with you.

In verse 13 there is another message from the Lord.  I believe this message is in response to the people’s obedience.  God gives them reassurance by telling them that He is with them.  That’s His message – “I am with you”. 

I’m not entirely sure about the timing of this message.  Verses 14 and 15 say that the people began to work on the house of the Lord on the 24th day of the 6th month in the 2nd year of King Darius.  I’m not sure if that is the same day that God gives them this message or if that is the day they started to work on the house.  

Verse 14 says that God stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the whole remnant.  He didn’t just stir up one person.  He stirred them all up.  He didn’t just give them instructions and leave them alone.  He stirred them up.  I believe this means that he gave them strength, courage and direction to do what He asked them to do.  They weren’t on their own.  He was with them.

God doesn’t give us instructions and then leave us on our own to do things in our own strength.  He stays with us and gives us the strength to do whatever He asks us to do.  What a blessing it is to know that!

Response to God’s message

Verse 12 of Haggai 1 tells about the response to the message of God.  Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the “whole remnant of the people” obeyed the message.  What was the message?  Verse 7 & 8  “Give careful thought to your ways.  Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored.” 

The whole remnant obeyed!  How awesome is that!  Oh that that would be the response to the voice of God today.    They went up into the mountains, they brought down timber and built the house.  God was pleased and honored.  Oh that God would bbe pleased and honored with us today. 

Wny did the people obey?  Verse 12 says because they feared the Lord.  I don’t think this means a scary fear, but a respectful fear.  We need a renewal of that fear of the Lord in our world. 

Help me, O Lord, to give careful thought to my ways and to give please and honor you.

Secure Fortress and Refuge for Children

I’ve been wandering through Proverbs the last couple of days and today I came across a verse that brought me great comfort.  I’ve read it before many times but it resonated in my being today.

Proverbs 14:26  “He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge.”  Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in all the struggles and troubles around me and I fear for my children’s futures but this verse gives me peace.  I do fear the Lord, not a fear as in a bad fear, but a fear as in I respect Him and want to serve Him with all my heart.  God will look after me and my children.  The most important thing that I can do for them is to fear the Lord.  I like that.

Haggai’s first message from God

In Haggai the first message from God is in chapter 1 verses 2-11.  I see three parts to the message.

1.  verse 2 God tells them what they have been saying.

2.  verse 3-4 God asks them a question.

3.  verses 5-11  God tells them to consider their ways.

The people were planning to rebuild the temple but they didn’t think now was the time for it, they would get to it eventually. (“The time has not yet come” verse 2)  God, however, has other thoughts on the timing for things (Is it a time…? verse 4).  The people’s concentration had gone from rebuilding the temple and instead they were working on their own houses and making them quite fancy.  God is not impressed.

I think verses 6 and the first part of first 9 describes where I am, and where a lot of others are today.  “You have planted much, but have harvested little.  You eat, but never have enough.  You drink, but never have your fill.  You put on clothes, but are not warm.  You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”  (verse 6)  “You expected much, but see it turned out to be little.” (verse 9)  I definitely feel like my purse has holes in it and everything falls well short of my expectations. 

Why?  Why is it like this?  In Verse 9 God asks and answers that question.  “What you brought home, I blew away.  Why?”  “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.” 

Oh how easy it is to get caught up in things!  God must be first.  We must carefully consider our ways.  Our ultimate goal must be to honor God and bring pleasure to Him (verse 8 )

The book of Haggai tells about a certain time and it’s a message to a particular people at that time, but really it’s message is timeless and universal.