King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Wednesday, August 06, 2025
Chapters: II Kings 22-23
Message: II Kings: Josiah Dedicates Himself to God
Hello My Friend,
As we return to the reading of II Kings we learn that sin holds no boundaries and will lead the most faithful Christian down a spiraling path of destruction not only to themselves, but everyone around them if they are not grounded in Christ. However, repentance goes a long way with God, [Isaiah 1:16-20 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.]
We may be saved by grace through our faith in Christ and nothing more is needed to keep our soul from ending up in hell, but that does not mean that this passage does not apply to us today. We also learn the importance of being faithful to God, not only in getting saved by grace through our faith in Christ, but maintaining good works after we do get saved. While it is not required to live in obedience to God’s Word after we are saved in order to keep our salvation we will be doing ourselves a huge favor if we do, [Titus 3:7-8 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.]
II Kings, also gives the account of Josiah when he reigned, he was only eight years old when he became king, and talk about the mess he inherited from his father. It was nothing, but idol worship and some of his own brothers and sisters were sacrificed to these gods. However, Josiah, was not like his father at all, in fact, he was determined from his youth to follow his God, and committed himself to be fully dedicated to the LORD.
[2 Kings 22:1-2 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 Boscath. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.]
In other words, Josiah did not let anything or anyone influence his faith and remained faithful to God no matter what odds were against him. That is the way that we all need to be, while God does not always expect us to always be walking on cloud nine after we receive Christ as our Saviour He does expect us to stay faithful to Him, [2 Corinthians 1:6-7 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.]
Believe it or not, by our remaining faithful to God through our suffering we are giving hope to not only backslid Christians, but potential Christians as well. The most important step that we need to be taking in our walk with Christ is becoming active in our faith, while we do not need to try to be pastors, deacons, or teachers, we do need to find a local church and get involved with it. And do not think that you need to be a certain age, God will use any willing soul. Josiah, was only twenty-six years old and while he truly loved God he had one problem, he did not know the Law, he was like your average Christian today who just gets saved and does nothing more with their faith. However, Josiah was not okay with just his faith in God, he wanted to be apart of the assembly so he enlists the help of the scribe and priest to repair the temple.
[2 Kings 22:3-5,7 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 the LORD, saying, 4 Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: 5 And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, 7 Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.]
I cannot read this without thinking about this passage, [James 1:21-24 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.]
My goodness as I read this passage all these thoughts came flooding back of just how messed up I was before I dedicated my life to Christ and the day that I looked in the mirror and had no clue who I was anymore. Breaches, are ruptures or cracks within a building or foundation that cause disruption. Breaches, can be applied to any situation, those whom have never received Christ as their Saviour are breached from the Spirit of God living in them, [Ephesians 2:12-14 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;]
Those whom have received Christ can also become breached in their walk with Him by falling into unrepentant sin, which leads to a mountain of obstacles until they reconcile with Him, [2 Timothy 2:19-21 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. 20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.]
God, does not expect us to never go without sin again, I mean we have a sin nature and until we get to heaven or Christ returns we will always fall short, but He does expect us to make an effort to remove sin, even if we have to repent a thousand times a day. In order for us to purge sin from our lives we need to be dedicated to God. The first step to becoming a dedicated Christian is receiving Christ as our Saviour, the second is finding a local church and becoming apart of it. The third is getting in the Word of God and studying it for ourselves. The reason why Josiah did not know the Law is because not even the priests were following it because they did not have it. So, as they were cleaning up the temple they discovered the book and quickly brought it to Josiah.
[2 Kings 22:10-13 And Shaphan the scribe shewed 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. 12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king’s, saying, 13 Go ye, enquire of the LORD 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 the LORD 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.]
This was not just a copy of the Law, it was the original, known as the Pentateuch or first five books of the Bible, penned by Moses himself. Could you imagine such a find? By the way, did you know that every church has a copy of the Bible hidden somewhere in the walls within the building? They do this so that in the event that the building is taken down that someone will find it. With that said, it is important that we get in the Word of God and keep reading it so that it gets ingrained in our hearts so that we might learn of and remove the sins that we had no idea were sins, [Psalms 119:10-11 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.]
Well, talk about a shock to learn of ones family history, not only was Josiah coming to grips with what his own father did, he just learned about his entire heritage. Since there were barely any prophets walking around then the only thing that Hilkiah could think of to get some answers was to go to the college of prophets. It was there that Hilkiah and his men found a prophetess who helped them discern what they had read.
[2 Kings 22:15-17 And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, 16 Thus saith the LORD, 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 works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.]
True leaders are not just concerned about their own welfare, they are also concerned about the welfare of the people. If the people are informed, although we are in the age where the people can care less about others, they are more likely to heed the warning and comply. Nevertheless, God does hear the cries of His faithful and even of those whom have not been, as long as we are humble, sincere, and not just looking out for ourselves, He will hear us. Now, even though the judgment stood, the prophetess did give them a little bit of good news.
[2 Kings 22:18-20 But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; 19 Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, 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 the LORD. 20 Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.]
Is it not such a great peace of mind that all saved, born again Christians will not see the destruction that will take place when God sends judgment upon the earth? In fact, things will be so bad that God will even resurrect the bodies of those who are already in the graves so they will not be there, [1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.]
Knowing the judgments of God to come, and being prepared for them are we supposed to just sit there and wait for Him? No. We have a generation to reach. We need to get back to doing things God’s way. Now, as soon as Josiah got word from the prophetess that the judgment stood because of his own father’s mess he gathers all the elders and they all made a covenant to walk with God.
[2 Kings 23:1-3 And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2 And the king went up into the house of the LORD, 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 the LORD. 3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.]
In other words, the people dedicated themselves not only to God, but in obeying His Word as well. Salvation, is more than accepting Christ as our Saviour, it is actually giving our lives in return as a living sacrifice to Him. While it really is not a requirement
[Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.]
Josiah, could have just left things the way they were because there was nothing he or any of them could do to stop the judgment from coming after they were gone, but he did not. He literally cleaned up the entire nation from everyone and everything that brought idolatry into the kingdom.
[2 Kings 23:4-5,7 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of 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. 7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.]
Wow! It was no wonder why God was so angry, they brought that garbage into the very temple that He was to be dwelling in. Not only that, they literally had whorehouses for men right next to the temple, while the women wove garments for the goddess Astarte, the men prostituted their bodies to each other, much like in the days of Sodom before it got destroyed for doing the same thing. This is a reminder that while we are all sinners by nature, the lusts of the flesh holds no boundaries, it will take things beyond the limits if we just let one sin take over, [James 1:14-15 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.]
Sin is no respecter or persons and really does not have any boundaries especially when one is lost and does not have Christ in their lives, and this includes the saved whom have lost their way. Since every saved, born again Christian has God living in them through the Holy Spirit we ought to be removing anything that not only brings us to sin, but the temptation. This is exactly what Josiah was doing, he wanted to make sure that there was no way that sin could even be thought of so he destroyed every place that enticed them to sin.
[2 Kings 23:10-11,13 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 entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 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 Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.]
I do not blame him for wanting to destroy the very altar that his own father used to sacrifice some of his brothers and sisters. Again, sin has no boundaries, especially for the wicked, sadly life has no value to the wicked other than their own. God, has never required human sacrifices as every human is valuable to Him, this is exactly why He came here Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. He became the sinless sacrifice to save our soul, but He will only save those who come to Him willingly, [Matthew 10:32-33 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.]
You can see the Josiah even took down the groves and altars that were set up centuries ago, even the ones Solomon set up when he had turned on God. He successfully removed every altar, grove, and worship center in Jerusalem and Judah as well as the people who were a part of worshiping these idols. Then when everything was cleaned up in Judah they moved on throughout the rest of Israel, he even took out the altar the Jeroboam set up to the false gods he made up when Israel was divided. As they were going through the area, Josiah notices something quite interesting, a grave site.
[2 Kings 23:15-18 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, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. 16 And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. 17 Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Beth-el. 18 And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.]
These were the graves of idolatrous priests and worshipers of the idols who chose to be buried near those places of idolatry. The man of God spoken of is referring to the prophet who went to Jeroboam and was deceived by a prophet who thought he was lying about the judgment placed on Jeroboam’s family, [1 Kings 13:18,24,29-30 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. 24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase. 29 And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him. 30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother!]
The most incredible thing about this was that it was foretold that Josiah would be the one to burn down these altars by that very prophet who was killed. This was something that was prophesied three hundred twenty-six years before Josiah was even born.
[1 Kings 13:1-3 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Beth-el: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee. 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.]
My goodness, do you see how we all play a part in God’s plan? Believe it or not, we are playing a part of something that could have taken centuries for God to line up, and while no one knows the future, we do know who holds the future and he can make things happen in a heartbeat, [Romans 8:28-31 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?]
These are some powerful words to live by, as long as we have God on our side then we are covered. While God accepts all who come to Him through His Son, we cannot ignore His Word, He will remove anyone or thing that corrupts the church out of his sight. Now, that Josiah had cleaned up Israel for all its abominations, they observed the first Passover since Hezekiah was king, but it was the first time that it was observed as it was written since Samuel was around. While observing the Passover they all rejoiced in the fact that Josiah played a part in removing everything that brought idolatry to the nation, including people.
[2 Kings 23:21-24 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. 22 Surely there was not holden 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, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem. 24 Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.]
Josiah, even executed those practicing witchcraft, and this goes beyond those who really are not psychics and casting spells, these were those possessed with evil spirits led by Satan himself, [Acts 16:16-18 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: 17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. 18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.]
I use to believe that it was gift from God to be able to read tarot cards, the lines on the palms of ones hands, and tell how a person was by the month they were born, but in reality those are all things from the devil. The true gifts of God come from the Holy Spirit and yes, He does teach us discernment, especially when it comes to knowing which spirit is getting our attention, [1 John 4:1-2 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:]
Our walk with Christ is not about how much we can do for Him after we are saved, it is about doing what we can or are called to do with what time we do have left. Josiah, knew that he could not change what was about to happen to Judah, but that did not stop him from doing the best he could to please God with what time he had. Sadly, Josiah lost his life when he got involved with a war between Egypt and Assyria.
[2 Kings 23:26-27,29-30,32 Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. 27 And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. 29 In his days Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. 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. 32 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.]
How sad it is that we learn of how quickly Josiah’s son turned on God after his father died and he reigned? And it was not as if he not teach his children to dedicate their lives to God. We do not want to leave this earth with the attitude that, “I just got by on the thread of my salvation!”, we want to leave it with, “I have finished my course with honors!” because that is all that counts when we leave this earth, [2 Timothy 4:6-9 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. 9 Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:]
Today’s Prayer: God, I know that the Bible is not some ordinary book, it is Your Word, it contains life and gives life to all who want You in their lives. Reading Your Word, studying it, and following it will never return void as we allow the Holy Spirit in us to guide us to Christ, and then unfolding Your mysteries. Lord, lead me and guide me, give me Your power, mercy, grace, to follow Your Word with all might, heart and soul. Keep my heart tender and me humble so that I can be a faithful witness of Your Son in me. Lead me to others who need You so they too can learn the truth and be saved before Jesus comes to claim us. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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