"...Our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book..."

 What would YOU do if you found out that your

parents and grandparents had been wrong religiously?

King Josiah faced such a decision!
2 Kings 22-23 & 2 Chron. 34-35

2 Kings 22:1-2 – Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem…he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left…

Josiah repaired the Temple [vv. 3-7]; during this process “the book of the Law” was found – (this was the Law of Moses) vv. 8-10 states, “And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, ‘I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD’…and Shaphan read it before the king.”

Josiah’s reaction—vv. 11-13:

“When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes and said, “great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us." 

[In the parallel account of 2 Chron. 34:26-28, it reads: But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD. Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants’."]

Josiah’s repentance/commitment to faithfulness

2 Chron. 34:29-33 — “Then the king…gathered…all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem…and…went up to the house of the LORD, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem…and he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant (Law of Moses) that had been found in the house of the LORD…and the king…made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book….then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.  And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.”

Josiah Restored the Passover feast

2 Kings 23:21-23 – “And the king commanded all the people, Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.  For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah.  But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.” 

{2 Chron. 35:18 — “No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”}

In closing, we read:

2 Kings 23:24-25 – “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, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. Before him there was no king like him, who turned to 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.”

CONSEQUENCES (PUNISHMENT) WERE NOT AVERTED:

2 Kings 23:26-27 – “Still 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. And the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there."

Lessons:

His motivation: We find that Josiah’s efforts to return the people were motivated by his “setting his heart to serve God fully or faithfully."  [2 Chron. 34:3 – “…while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father…”]

He was diligent:  2 Kings 22:2, “…and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left…” 

When he found that their worship was not as it ought to be, he faced and made a tough decision.  He recognized that anything less than a return to the commanded pattern would be futile.  There were religious errors that existed in his day.  He took action against them…the proper action: GO BACK AND FOLLOW JUST THE BIBLE (the Book of the Law/Covenant-i.e. the Law of Moses)!  See again 2 Chron. 34:31-33 above.

Josiah recognized (2 Kings 22:13), that his parents and ancestors had been wrong religiously:
“…our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us." 

Josiah’s father was Amon.  We are told of him in 2 Kings 21:20-22, “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did.  And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them: And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD.”

Josiah’s grandfather was Manasseh.  We are told of him in 2 Kings 21:2, “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.” 

Thus, God said, in 2 Kings 21:11-12, “Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.”

But Josiah did not do as his father and grand-father.  He had the courage to follow God in spite of the condemnation it meant regarding his relatives.  This alone is more than most are willing to do today.  What of your relatives…what if they are wrong, even though religious.  What do you need to do?

You will not change God’s will in removing the punishment for sin.  However, you can do something about the sin.  In doing something about the sin, you can avoid the punishment.  You can save others, by your decision also.  Do you believe God?  Do you care for your relatives?  If you truly cared for them and for yourself, you would do as Josiah did.

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