Ob and Int:
(1) Josiah's reform gave us a hint about the degree of corruption
A. Male prostitutes occupied a spot in the temple of the LORD
7 He tore down the quarters of the male cultic prostitutes in the LORD’s temple, where women were weaving shrines for Asherah.
(NAC) ...sacred prostitution, a common element in Baalism.
B. Idol worship was supported by kings, eunice v.11 and city official v.8
The idols or the pagan priests were set up by "the kings of Judah" v.5, 11, 12 and by Jeroboam/the kings of Israel v.15, 19
13 The king ruined the high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction, that King Solomon of Israel had built for the detestable Sidonian goddess Astarte, the detestable Moabite god Chemosh, and the horrible Ammonite god Milcom.
Reflection: Josiah was facing a giant, or a system that was built since king Solomon's time. He was facing the evil practice of Baalism. Do you feel like you are facing the giant today?
(2) Effort of Josiah
(NAC) Despite [the] prophetic message that predicts Judah’s doom, the king works to save the nation...[He tried to] redeem the time and the remnant and to offer the witness that God is worth serving under any and all circumstances.
v.1-3
(NAC) ...Josiah is not content with waiting for his own peaceful death. Rather, out of gratitude for God’s mercy in his own life he determines to attempt “to lead the whole nation to true conversion to the Lord...
Reflection: When we face the total corruption of our world, what effort have we try to lead our own family, our own SS class, or own church?
(3) Characteristics of Josiah's reform:
A. His effort to reform completely:
He summoned all the people to hear the words of the covenant v.1-3
23:1 The king summoned all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 The king went up to the LORD’s temple, accompanied by all the people of Judah, all the residents of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets. All the people were there, from the youngest to the oldestB. He burned the items related to idol worship and then smashed them to dust, and then removed the dust v.4, 6, 12, 15
6 He removed the Asherah pole from the LORD’s temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard.
C. After he smashed the idols he defiled the worship places with human bones v.14, 16, 20
14 He smashed the sacred pillars to bits, cut down the Asherah pole, and filled those shrines with human bones.
(BKC) Human bones rendered those sites unclean and unsuitable as places of worship thereafter.
D. He was the king of Judah, and he did not just clean completely his country v.8,, 24 but he went up to the Northern Kingdom territory to clean up their altars, too! v. 15, 19
E. He did not just removed the idol worship items, but he removed the pagan priests v.5
Josiah's effort was not only complete, but was also strategic. First he led the people to renew the covenant with the LORD. Assuming their hearts were ready he led them to "clean up" the temple, and then go over all the regions in his own country and then all the way to the northern kingdom. Also, he was not just removing the items, he completely destroyed them as well as removing the pagan priests.
Reflection: How do our leadership compare with Josiah's? Do we have his determination? Is our reform only removing the outward temptation, but never involving the heart issue? Is our reform only partial and we have never had a complete survey of our hearts?
Is there any "pagan priest" in our life that led us away from God?
Audrey
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