2 Chronicles 34:1-13
Notes
Transcript
Song: Choose Someone
Song: Choose Someone
Prayer: Choose Someone
Prayer: Choose Someone
Scripture: Choose Someone
Scripture: Choose Someone
Give Scripture: 2 Chronicles 34:1-13
Give Scripture: 2 Chronicles 34:1-13
1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
4 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
6 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.
7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.
9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.
10 And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and amend the house:
11 Even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.
12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick.
13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.
Give A Review
Give A Review
Last week, we completed our review of the life of Manasseh. Manasseh had reigned for several years and did evil in the sight of the Lord in an almost direct reversal of the policies followed and upheld by his own Father, Hezekiah.
Manasseh instead followed the example set by his grandfather Ahaz and did evil in the sight of the Lord… doing great dishonor to the legacy set by his father and the overall House of David. He continually dishonored the Lord through his actions and eventually reached a point where the Lord had to remind Manasseh of his responsibility to uphold the Lord and his commandments. So the Lord allowed the Assyrians to capture Manasseh and take him into the land of Babylon where he was stuck until he came to terms with his God and was released.
So Manasseh was released from his imprisonment and when he returned to Jerusalem (the capital city) he began to undo all that he had done. He repaired the worshipping places of God the Father and he commanded the people render service unto God. He made sacrifices and offerings to God and he offered his reasonable service for the rest of his life. And yet, despite his actions the people of God still remained turned away from God in such a way that they sacrificed to God but did so in a way that was inconsistent with what his scripture commanded. You can praise God and if you do it the wrong way… your praise can do more harm than good.
So then, Amon (Manasseh’s son) begins to rule in his father’s stead but he continued the evil portion of Manasseh’s legacy and made sacrifices and other graven images without humbling seeking God. And rather than get better as people spoke to him, he instead grew worse until finally his servants killed him while at his house. In his stead, Josiah was raised up as King.
Three Key Takeaways
Do not cause God to seek out ways by which to humble you just to make you realize who God is.
The bill comes due for every sin in your life, even if it must be paid by those who come after you.
If you compromise your witness you can limit your ability to minister to certain people concerning the Gospel.
Allow for Questions?
Allow for Questions?
Write some of the questions down if possible.
Scripture Study
Scripture Study
1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
Josiah did the will of God and not only followed the will of God but did so without declining.
For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
He spent time with God before he went to act on what he thought the problems were.
Even if God calls you into a new season that is not your time to go in and wreck shop with everything but you have to be gentle and even handed to preserve continuity.
Furthermore, it is important that you go into everything with a proper sense of understanding and if you do not take time to gather such an understanding you can make all your actions ineffective.
But, most importantly, he WAITED TO FIND GOD FOR HIMSELF before he went making changes.
We have seen Kings who did not know God and went on to act out of their flesh because their lack of knowledge, something that harmed their reign and their kingdom.
We have seen Kings who allowed others to lead them in certain ways that while consistent with the Lord’s will were not actions for themselves and without the guiding hand these Kings were lost.
However, Josiah wanted to come into the knowledge of God for himself and while he waited a while to do it, we obviously know that he had SOME knowledge of God beforehand because he knew where and how to look.
He had to wait until he could act in his own power without hindrance to be as effective as he desired.
Their is also the element of his age to consider because at the age of 8, he would have had advisors who assisted him in ruling the Kingdom until he reached a level of maturity to understand and make decisions.
These kinds of arrangements were not uncommon in those times and were not uncommon in the lives of the Israelite & Judean Kings.
Jeroboam for Solomon
Jehoida for Jehoash
and others
These individuals could be effective and influential in the lives of the King but could also be a barrier if things were not handled correctly (even after the King reached a certain age this could still be true)
Therefore, it is possible Josiah was waiting on his youth advisors to die or to simply reach an age where their opinion carried no more weight…
The scripture is not clear on this but it is a factor that we must consider.
Remember that despite the people killing Amon they were not the best followers of God so they may have been hesitant to get rid of the High Places even if it was consistent with scripture.
Kind of how we can be in the Church with our traditions or beliefs… We have a tendency to teach things or uphold things with no biblical precedent (or worse that are outright unbiblical) simply because it is familiar, no matter what the scripture says.
4 And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
He not only took down the altars but he destroyed them to prevent their recovery an reuse.
The yolk is not meant to be broken but destroyed and these items represented the bondage and servitude of a yolk held tight by the enemy.
He destroyed them to prevent their use and to break the spiritual hold these items had on the people
He exemplified to God the dead nature of the gods and images by placing them on the grave.
He did so to show God that these individuals took their false belief and desecration to the grave with them.
5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
6 And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.
He then put the false gods and their remaining servants on notice by burning the bones of their priests on their altars.
They were not worthy of a traditional burial and were unfit for burning on God’s altar so he offered them as an atonement and a warning for their actions.
He did not start anything without finishing it but he moved outside of the capital
Hezekiah enlisted the help of the people to do similar actions but sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands...
Josiah took action in ever city of Judah and even in the cities of the other tribes that remained.
7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
If you take care of God’s business, he will take care of your business.
Until recent years, it was uncommon for any head of state or head of government to leave their country or even their capital city for fear of being attacked and to maintain their role in governance.
However, over 2000 years ago, Josiah set out on a mission that placed service to God above service to the people and he forsook managing his Kingdom to ensure that everything foreign or dishonorable to God was destroyed and taken down.
8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.
9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.
It is not enough to maintain the spiritual life of the House if it is in ruin
We have an epidemic in the Church where you have so many buildings where their is not power, no Holy Ghost, but they have marble and stone and beautiful glass, technology, and other features that bear forth nearly no fruit.
But then we have people with all the power in the world and plenty of Holy Ghost but the building is in disrepair and dysfunction.
But in this scripture we see he maintained the spiritual life of the Church but he also then went into a season where he repaired the physical edifice.
Are we building a Kingdom without thought for our King.
Or are we waiting for a King without building the Kingdom.
And so, the priests gathered the money they had saved during the reigns of Manasseh and Ephraim with other monies from different people… forming a bond (if you will) for the repairs of the temple.
10 And they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and amend the house:
11 Even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.
Money is not the root of all evil… it is how we handle money.
They then gave the money over into the hand of the Trustees to handle the project and the trustees then gave it to the actual construction company who came into the repair the house.
Do you have an organized process for handling money in your household, in your business, in your church, in your auxiliary?
Or are we just passing around money without a thought for saving, budgeting, cash controls, or anything else.
And so they gave money to the appropriate people to buy things for the house of God to repair what had been broken/ or destroyed.
12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick.
Faithful work requires faithful payment
I do not want to stay on this money thing but the men worked faithfully, but the scripture makes clear they were paid faithfully before it tells us they worked faithfully.
13 Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.
Everyone had a place in this work
The work did not only include those who were good with their hands, or who could use tools.
But the work included everybody including the musicians according to verse 12.
The scribes, officers, and porters all did their job in repairing the temple.
The scripture is not clear but in my holy ghost imagination I imagine;
The scribes writing expense reports and purchase orders
I imagine the officers managed the schedules and established direct management systems.
Perhaps the porters carried supplies from the cart to the job site or carried water around to the workers.
Meanwhile, the musicians offered some inspiration music or even worked on the fine tune things that required a gentle and delicate hand.
But no matter what everyone did… the scripture tells us that EVERYONE DID SOMETHING.
Do not allow anyone to push on you the narrative that because you cannot sing, play, or preach that you have no reasonable service.
Maybe the Church needs a lawyer to help with paperwork
Maybe we need an accountant to balance the books
Maybe we need an administrator to organize our files
Maybe we need an IT person to integrate a new software
Maybe we need a carpet cleaner to freshen the House of God
Perhaps we need a plumber to put in a new sink...
But whatever your gift is do not discount God or yourself and USE THAT GIFT.
Provide Key Takeaways
Provide Key Takeaways
Talk to God before you do anything because your best intention and best effort has nothing on God’s best work.
Handle your money well and you will not have to worry so much about the “evil affects” of money.
Their is room in the House of God for every gift, even unconventional things not typically associated with Church.
Allow for Final Questions?
Allow for Final Questions?
Write some of the questions down if possible.
Roll Call & Prayer Requests
Roll Call & Prayer Requests
Prayer: Do yourself unless otherwise led
Prayer: Do yourself unless otherwise led