Responding to God's Scriptures (Josiah & Jehoiakim)

What do YOU do when you are confronted with the correction of God's Scriptures?

We see two very different responses to the Scriptures from King Josiah and one of his sons, Jehoiakim.

While Josiah, his father, responded in repentance to the correction of Scripture (2 Kings 22:11-13 - see 2 Kings 23 to see the extent of Josiah’s repentance), Jehoiakim did what many in our day do with the Scriptures - toss them aside and disregard what God says (he literally cut the writing apart and threw them in the fire - Jer 36:23-24).

First, we begin with King Manasseh.

2 Kings 21:1–7 CSB

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done; he also bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served them. He built altars in the Lord’s temple, where the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where I will put my name.” He built altars to all the stars in the sky in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He sacrificed his son in the fire, practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him. Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

His son was Amon.

2 Kings 21:20–22 (CSB)

He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father Manasseh had done. He walked in all the ways his father had walked; he served the idols his father had served, and he bowed in worship to them. He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors and did not walk in the ways of the Lord.

Amon’s servants assassinated him.

Josiah became king in his father’s place.

2 Kings 22:1–2 CSB

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. He did what was right in the Lord’s sight and walked in all the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn to the right or the left.

Josiah was trying to repair the damage to the temple (2 Kgs 22:3-7).

While cleaning up the temple, a book was found.