Reformation

The continual need to turn from idolatry

1 Sa 7:3 Idolatry was the besetting sin of Israel and the point at which all reforms had to begin.

See also Ge 35:2; Jos 24:14–24; Jdg 6:25–27; 2 Ki 10:18–27; 2 Ki 11:17–18; 2 Ch 19:3; 2 Ch 33:15; 1 Co 10:14; 1 Jn 5:21

The reform of Asa

He removed idols

1 Kings 15:12–13 LEB

12 He put away the male shrine prostitutes from the land, and he removed all of the idols that his ancestors made. 13 Also, he had Maacah his mother removed from the office of queen mother, as she had made a repulsive image for the Asherah. Asa also cut down her repulsive image and burned it in the Wadi Kidron.

He repaired the altar of the temple

2 Ch 15:8; 2 Ch 15:18

As a result the people sought and found God

2 Chronicles 15:9–15 LEB

9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those sojourning with them, from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for many had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him. 10 And they were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 And they sacrificed to Yahweh on that day from the war booty they brought back: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. 12 And they entered into a covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their inmost being, 13 but all who will not seek Yahweh the God of Israel should be killed, from young to old, from men to women. 14 And they took an oath to Yahweh with a great voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with horns. 15 And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they swore with all their heart. And they sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and Yahweh gave rest to them all around.

The reform of Hezekiah

He removed idols and even local shrines dedicated to God

2 Kings 18:4 LEB

4 He removed the high places, and he smashed the stone pillars; he cut down the poles of Asherah worship and demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to those days the Israelites were offering incense to it and called it Nehushtan.

He established worship in the renovated and consecrated temple

2 Ch 29:3–7; 2 Ch 29:15–28

The covenant between God and his people was renewed

2 Ch 29:10–11; 2 Ch 29:29–31; 2 Ch 30:1–27; 2 Ch 31:2–19

The reform of Josiah

He repaired the temple

2 Kings 22:3–7 LEB

3 It happened in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent word to Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the secretary of the temple of Yahweh, saying, 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and let them count the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh that the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people, 5 and let them give it into the hand of those appointed doers of the work at the temple of Yahweh. Let them give it to the doers of the work who are at the temple of Yahweh to repair the breach of the temple: 6 to the skilled craftsmen, to the builders, to the masons, and to buy timber and hewing stones to repair the temple. 7 Only the money being given to them is not to be accounted for by them, for they are dealing with honesty.”

He ended false worship

2 Ki 23:4–24; 2 Ch 34:33

The results of Josiah’s reform

2 Ki 22:11–20 The prevailing attitude was that God would ensure that no disaster would befall his chosen people. Now the need to turn from sin and complacency was reiterated and repentance ensued; 2 Ki 23:1–3; 2 Ki 23:3; 2 Ki 23:21–23

The reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah

The problem of intermarriage was dealt with

Ezr 10:2–3 The objection to intermarriage was based on religious not racial grounds. It led to a corruption of the faith.

See also Ezr 9:1–15; Ezr 10:5–17; Ne 13:23–27

The temple was purified

Nehemiah 13:4–13 LEB

4 Before this, Eliashib the priest who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God—the one related to Tobiah— 5 prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had formerly put the grain offering, the frankincense, the temple objects, tithes of grain, wine, and oil commanded for the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the offerings of the priests. 6 During all of this, I was not in Jerusalem because in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. At the end of some days I asked permission from the king to leave. 7 So I came to Jerusalem. And I came to learn of the wrong that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by making him a room in the courtyard of the house of God. 8 It was very displeasing for me, and I threw all of the objects from the house of Tobiah outside of the chamber. 9 And I spoke in order, and they cleansed the chambers. Then I returned the objects of the house of God—the grain offering and the frankincense. 10 And then I came to learn that the food of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, the doers of the work, had gone back each to his field. 11 So I quarreled with the prefects, and I said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them and set them at their station. 12 So all of Judah brought the tithe of grain, new wine, and olive oil into the storehouses. 13 I appointed as treasurer over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, Pedaiah from the Levites, and as their hand Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered faithful. The responsibility given to them was to distribute to their brothers.

The Sabbath-rest was reaffirmed

Nehemiah 13:15 LEB

15 In those days I saw in Judah people treading the wine press on the Sabbath, bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys along with wine, grapes and figs, and every kind of burden and bringing it all to Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath. And I warned them at that time against selling food.

See also Ne 13:16–22

Incomplete reforms

2 Kings 10:28–29 LEB

28 So Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. 29 Only Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat by which he caused Israel to sin; namely, the calf-shaped idols of gold that were in Bethel and Dan.

See also 1 Ki 15:14; 2 Ki 3:2–3; 2 Ki 12:2–3

The call to reform

To Israel

Jeremiah 7:3 LEB

3 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Make your ways and your deeds good and let me dwell with you in this place.

See also 2 Ch 7:14; Is 1:16–17; Is 55:6–7; Je 18:11; Je 26:13; Je 35:15; Zec 1:3; Ac 3:19–26

To the church

Revelation 3:2–3 LEB

2 Be on the alert and strengthen the remaining things that are about to die, for I have not found your works completed before my God. 3 Therefore remember how you have received and heard, and observe it, and repent. If therefore you are not on the alert, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come against you.

See also 1 Co 5:1–13; Re 2:5; Re 3:15–20

To individuals

James 1:21 LEB

21 Therefore, putting aside all moral uncleanness and wicked excess, welcome with humility the implanted message which is able to save your souls.

See also Ro 12:2; 2 Co 6:14–7:1; Eph 4:22–24; Col 3:5–10; Jas 1:22–25; Jas 4:7–10