Day 110: 2 Kings 22-25

(The previous post covered Hezekiah's prayer against God's Will and the reigns of Manasseh and Amon.)

2 Kings 22

(This chapter covered Josiah finding the Book of the Law.)

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.
² And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

(Josiah reigned over Judah. He was only eight years old when he became king. Josiah did right before God and did walk in all the ways of David. Josiah was Hezekiah’s great-grandson.)

³ And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of Jehovah, saying,
⁴ Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the money which is brought into the house of Jehovah, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people:
⁵ and let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen that have the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and let them give it to the workmen that are in the house of Jehovah, to repair the breaches of the house,
⁶ unto the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house.

(Josiah was going to repair the temple.)

⁷ Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand; for they dealt faithfully.
⁸ And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

(Hilkiah (the high priest) told Shaphan (the king’s scribe) that he found the book of the Law. Shaphan read it.)

⁹ And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen that have the oversight of the house of Jehovah.
¹⁰ And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
¹¹ And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.

(Shaphan told Josiah about the book and he read it before the king. Josiah tore his clothes after hearing the words.)

¹² And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,
¹³ Go ye, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found; for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

(Josiah sent men to inquire of God concerning the words in the book of the Law because their fathers had forsaken God. Josiah was contrastive. He was willing to consider himself and his fathers had been wrong.)

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they communed with her.

(Josiah's men inquired of God through Huldah, the prophetess.)

¹⁵ And she said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Tell ye the man that sent you unto me,
¹⁶ Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read.
¹⁷ Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.

(God said He would curse the people of Judah because they had forsaken God and followed other gods.)

¹⁸ But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: As touching the words which thou hast heard,
¹⁹ because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before Jehovah, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith Jehovah.
²⁰ Therefore, behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

(Huldah told Josiah's men that because Josiah's heart was soft and he humbled himself (considered he was wrong) before God, his eyes would not see the evil which God would bring upon that place. God gave Judah mercy and lovingkindness because of Josiah's heart.)




2 Kings 23

(Josiah's story continued.)

¹ And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
² And the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of Jehovah.

(Josiah gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. Josiah read the Law to all the elders…the king read the Law himself.)

³ And the king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant.

(Josiah covenanted with God, to keep His commandments, testimonies, and statutes. All the people agreed to the Covenant.)

(Verses 4-20: the record of Josiah destroying idolatry throughout the land.)

⁴ And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el.
⁵ And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
⁶ And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Jehovah, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust thereof upon the graves of the common people.
⁷ And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of Jehovah, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
⁸ And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he brake down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city.
⁹ Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened bread among their brethren.
¹⁰ And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
¹¹ And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Jehovah, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
¹² And the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Jehovah, did the king break down, and beat them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
¹³ And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.

(The "mount of corruption" was the mount of Olives. Josiah destroyed the high places that Solomon had built. Apparently in 2 Kings 18:4, Hezekiah took down the common high places but not the special high places Solomon built. Perhaps the high places Solomon built were so fortified, they were the most difficult to take down. It looked like Josiah was the greatest king of Judah.)

¹⁴ And he brake in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.
¹⁵ Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he brake down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah.

(Josiah, the king of Judah, took down a high place put up by Jeroboam in Israel. Josiah took down all the high places.)

¹⁶ And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount; and he sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of Jehovah which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.
¹⁷ Then he said, What monument is that which I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Beth-el.
¹⁸ And he said, Let him be; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.

(This referenced the story from 1 Kings 13 concerning the "man of God" who was deceived by the "old prophet." Remember, that "man of God" prophesied about Josiah's birth.)

¹⁹ And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Jehovah to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Beth-el.
²⁰ And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there, upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them; and he returned to Jerusalem.

(Verses 21-23: Passover for the nation.)

²¹ And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto Jehovah your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.
²² Surely there was not kept such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah;
²³ but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this passover kept to Jehovah in Jerusalem.

(Verses 24-25: the change Josiah was making had a wide affect.)

²⁴ Moreover them that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of Jehovah.

(Josiah totally removed the idolatrous people from all the land, then commanded the people to keep the Passover. There was not such a Passover since Judges judged Israel.)

²⁵ And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to Jehovah with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

(Again, more proof Josiah was the greatest king of Judah...not only Judah, but everywhere.)

²⁶ Notwithstanding, Jehovah turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations wherewith Manasseh had provoked him.
²⁷ And Jehovah said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

(There was no king like Josiah, before or after. He turned to God with all his heart, soul, and might. However, God was still going to equal out Justice on Judah, because of Manasseh, but God gave them mercy and lovingkindness because of Josiah.)

²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
²⁹ In his days Pharaoh-necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and Pharaoh-necoh slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

(Josiah was killed in battle in Megiddo, the site of the battle of Armageddon.)

³⁰ And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.

(Verses 31-34: Jehoahaz's reign.)

³¹ Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
³² And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done.

(David was the fourteenth from Abraham. Jehoahaz was the fourteenth from David in the lineage of Christ according to Matthew's genealogy. Jehoahaz reigned over Judah and did evil.)

³³ And Pharaoh-necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
³⁴ And Pharaoh-necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim: but he took Jehoahaz away; and he came to Egypt, and died there.

(Verses 35-37: Jehoiakim's reign.)

³⁵ And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaoh-necoh.
³⁶ Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
³⁷ And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done.

(Jehoiakim was the eighteenth king to reign over Judah and he did evil.)




2 Kings 24

(This chapter covered Babylon taking control of Judah.)

¹ In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.

(Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years: Daniel 1:1.)

² And Jehovah sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by his servants the prophets.
³ Surely at the commandment of Jehovah came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did,

(Moab and Ammon came from Lot. The cause of Judah being removed was Manasseh's sins. Remember, Manasseh would not have been born if Hezekiah did not pray in 2 Kings 20. However, not all of Judah was taken into captivity.)

⁴ and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: and Jehovah would not pardon.
⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
⁶ So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers; and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

(Jehoiachin was the nineteenth king of Judah.)

⁷ And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

(Verses 8-16: Jehoiachin's reign.)

⁸ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem three months: and his mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
⁹ And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father had done.

(Jehoiachin reigned over Judah and did evil.)

¹⁰ At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
¹¹ And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came unto the city, while his servants were besieging it;
¹² and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
¹³ And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, as Jehovah had said.

(Nebuchadnezzar carried the treasures of the temple to Babylon.)

¹⁴ And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

(Nebuchadnezzar also carried the people away to Babylon, except the poorest of the land.)

¹⁵ And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the chief men of the land, carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
¹⁶ And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths a thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

(Verses 17-20: Zedekiah's reign.)

¹⁷ And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's father's brother, king is his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
¹⁹ And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

(Zedekiah was the twentieth king to reign over Judah and he did evil. He was made king by the king of Babylon and ruled over the poorest people.)

²⁰ For through the anger of Jehovah did it come to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

(Israel had nineteen kings and a period of anarchy. Judah had nineteen kings and one king appointed by the King of Babylon over the poorest people in the land. Even then, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. How much longer would there be kings in Judah?)




2 Kings 25

(This chapter covered the fall of Jerusalem and the captivity of Judah.)

¹ And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about.
² So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

(The city of Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar.)

³ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
⁴ Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about); and the king went by the way of the Arabah.
⁵ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
⁶ Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him.
⁷ And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

(The army of the Chaldeans (from Babylon) killed Zedekiah's sons right in front of him. Then they blinded Zedekiah and bound him.)

⁸ Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem.
⁹ And he burnt the house of Jehovah, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burnt he with fire.

(Nebuzaradan, Nebuchadnezzar’s captain of the guard, burnt the temple. Solomon's great temple was now in ruins and it would stay that way for many years. The temple would be rebuilt by the returning exiles in the days of Ezra.)

¹⁰ And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

(The walls were also destroyed. The walls would take even longer to be rebuilt. Nehemiah and more of the returning exiles would restore the city by rebuilding the walls.)

¹¹ And the residue of the people that were left in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away captive.
¹² But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

(The rest of the people were taken captive except the poor of the land which they left to be vinedressers to tend the vines and husbandmen to plow the fields.)

¹³ And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of Jehovah, did the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.
¹⁴ And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.
¹⁵ And the firepans, and the basins, that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.
¹⁶ The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah, the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
¹⁷ The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of brass was upon it; and the height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capital round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with network.

(The parts of the temple that were taken to Babylon were listed. Where was the Ark of the Covenant? The last mention of the Ark was 1 Kings 8:21 when Solomon dedicated the temple. Did Nebuchadnezzar take it? Did one of the other foreign kings take it when a king of Judah paid for protection? Did the people of Judah hide it?)

¹⁸ And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold:
¹⁹ and out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war; and five men of them that saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the city.
²⁰ And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.
²¹ And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

(Certain men of Judah, including the high priest and second priest, were brought to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar killed them. Judah was officially taken captive.)

²² And as for the people that were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor.
²³ Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
²⁴ And Gedaliah sware to them and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not because of the servants of the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

(Nebuchadnezzar left Gedaliah as the governor over the land. It seemed he was a godly man and even a friend of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 26:24; 39:14).)

²⁵ But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, so that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah.
²⁶ And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

(Many people left Judah for Egypt to escape the oppression of the Chaldeans (Babylonians). Did they take the Ark with them?)

²⁷ And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
²⁸ and he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,
²⁹ and changed his prison garments. And Jehoiachin did eat bread before him continually all the days of his life:
³⁰ and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.

(The Book of 2 Kings was the seventh of the the twelve books that made up the historical section of the Old Testament. It was believed that Isaiah and Jeremiah compiled the Book of 1 Kings and the Book of 2 Kings from what was recorded by scribes and/or prophets between 1046-616 BC.)

(The Book of 2 Kings documented Israel's and Judah's time prior to their being taken into captivity by a heathen king: Nebuchadnezzar. This was a time of tremendous upheaval. Several prophetic books were written during the time period covered by this book: Jonah, Joel, Amos, Micah, Hosea, Isaiah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel and Daniel...all of the "major prophets" and eight of the twelve "minor prophets." During this time, God went from loving to not loving because it would have been enabling.)

(This book concluded the chronological historical portion of the Old Testament. Except for the Book of Ruth, the progression from the Book of Genesis through the Book of 2 Kings gave an uninterrupted historical account. The Book of Ruth gave a specific account of the circumstances surrounding David's great-grandmother. This book documented the final kings of Israel and Judah prior to all of God's people being taken captive. Throughout the Books of Kings, the Books of Chronicles was mentioned. The next two books were the Book of 1 Chronicles and the Book of 2 Chronicles which covered roughly the same time period as we have seen from the Book of 1 Samuel through the Book of 2 Kings. The Book of 1 Chronicles and the Book of 2 Chronicles will serve as a summary for the previous four books.)

Day 111