King-Josiah
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“Ye shall NOT ADD TO
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SHALL YE DIMINISH FROM IT, that ye may keep
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אֱלֹהֵיכֶם - the LORD your Eloleichem, which I command you”. Davarim -
Deuteronomy 4:2. (JPS-1917).
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2 Kings Chapters 22 to 25..
With
Rabbi, Dr. Reuven Ben Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
Josiah Reigns in Judah:
Josiah (c 640 - 609 BCE) was eight years
old when he began to reign, and he reined for thirty-two years in Jerusalem -
Judah. He did what was right in the eyes of יְהוָה - the LORD and walked in all the ways of David
his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.
Josiah Repairs the Temple:
In the eighteenth year if King Josiah, Hilkiah the high priest, was required to count the money that had been brought into the house of יְהוָה - the LORD, which the keepers of the threshold had collected from the people. The money would be given into the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of יְהוָה - the LORD and were repairing it. That is to the ‘carpenters’, ‘builders’, and ‘masons’, and for ‘buying timber’ and ‘quarried stone’.
Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law:
Hilkiah the high priest, found the book of the Law in the house of יְהוָה - the LORD, and he told Shaphan the secretary and he read it. Shaphan then reported to the king and read it before him. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. The king had all of his servants inquire of the יְהוָה - LORD for him, for his people, and for all of Judah, concerning the words of the book.
For great wrath of יְהוָה - the LORD had been kindled against them, because their fathers had not obeyed the words of the book, and did not do according to what was written in it.
His servants went to Huldah the prophetess, and they talked with her. She said to tell the man who sent them there that יְהוָה - the LORD would bring disaster upon that place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. Because they had forsaken him and made offerings to other gods, and provoked יְהוָה - the LORD to anger. יְהוָה - the LORD’s wrath would be kindled against them and would not be quenched.
But specifically to the king Of Judah, she was to tell him that יְהוָה - the LORD saw the way his heart was penitent, and how he humbled himself before יְהוָה - the LORD, when he heard how יְהוָה - the LORD spoke against that place and its inhabitants; and how he tore his clothes and wept. Therefore, he would be gathered to his fathers and to his grave in peace, and his eyes would not see all the disaster that יְהוָה - the LORD would bring upon that place. And they brought back word to the king.
Josiah’s Reforms:
Then the king sent for all the elders and leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. They all went up to the house of יְהוָה - the LORD, along with all the inhabitants of both places. The king read to them all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of יְהוָה - the LORD. The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD; to walk after יְהוָה - the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in the book. And all the people joined the covenant.
The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the rest of the priests, and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of יְהוָה - the LORD all the vessels made for ‘Baal’, for ‘Asherah’, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields and carried their ashes to Bethel.
And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places. He also brought out the ‘Asherah’ from the house of יְהוָה - the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook and beat it to dust and case the dust upon the graves of the common people.
He broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of יְהוָה - the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the ‘Asherah’. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings. He broke down the high places and destroyed any altars that went against the words of יְהוָה - the LORD.
Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place was pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. What about the one at Dan?
He also burned the ‘Asherah’. As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were on the mount, and he took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of יְהוָה - the LORD.
Josiah saw a monument and asked what it was. He was told that it was the tomb of the man of אֱלֹהִים - Elohim (God) who came from Judah and predicted the things that he had done against the altar at Bethel. Josiah said to let him be, and no man would move his bones.
Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking יְהוָה - the LORD to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
Josiah Restores the Passover:
The king commanded all the people to keep the Passover to יְהוָה - the LORD their אֱלֹהִים - Elohim, as it was written in the Book of the Covenant. For no Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or Judah. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah the Passover was kept to יְהוָה - the LORD in Jerusalem.
Moreover, Josiah put away the ‘mediums’ and the ‘necromancers’ and the ‘household gods’ and the ‘idols’ and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem.
Before him there was no king like him, who turned to יְהוָה - the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.
Still יְהוָה - the LORD did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which ‘Manasseh’ had provoked Him. יְהוָה - the LORD said that he would remove Judah from his sight as he had done to Israel. And יְהוָה - the LORD would cast out the city that he had chosen, Jerusalem, and the house that he put His Name on.
Josiah’s Death in Battle:
In these days Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria’ to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him as soon as he saw him. His servants carried the dead king in a chariot back to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. The people of the land took ‘Jehoahaz’ the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.
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May the שָׁלוֹם - Shalom = Peace of צְבָאוֹת- יְהוָה= the LORD of hosts, be with you, and
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שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם - Shalom Aleichem - Peace be with you!
Rabbi, Dr. Reuven Ben
Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
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