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In Second Kings, chapter twenty-three, verse twenty-five, Josiah is described as the most faithful and dedicated of all the kings who had reigned over God’s people, including David himself. In terms of personal commitment and faithfulness to God’s Word, Josiah was the greatest, as in chapter eighteen, verse five, Deuteronomy six, verse five, and Jeremiah […]

In Second Kings, chapter twenty-three, verse four, Josiah’s reforms follow the scriptural principle that repentance for specific sins is essential to true revival. The reformation naturally began with the purging of the temple, so the renewal under Jehoiada, as in Second Kings eleven, verse eighteen, and that of Manasseh in Second Chronicles thirty-three, verse fifteen,

In Second Kings, chapter twenty-two, verse nineteen, Josiah pleased God because he humbled himself before the Lord. The humbling oneself before God is a primary condition for renewal and receiving God’s grace. It involves believing that God’s judgments towards us are right and just by what we deserve: knowing that we, without His grace, are

In Second Kings, chapter twenty-two, Josiah desired to know whether the sins of Judah had reached such a point that divine judgment was inevitable. Through the prophets Huldah, God said that His people would someday fall into the hands of their enemies, as in verses fourteen through seventeen. Josiah recognized what Judah had done, and

In Second Kings, chapter twenty-two, verse eight, the “book of the law” found by Hilkiah had been “given by Moses,” as in Second Chronicles, thirty-four, verse fourteen. It was most likely a copy of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, as in Deuteronomy thirty-one, stanzas nine through twelve, and twenty-four to twenty-six.

In Second Kings, chapter twenty-two, verse three, Josiah’s dedication at twenty-six years of age reveals that a young person can have a zeal for the Lord and His cause equal to or greater than many older adults. When Josiah sent Shaphan, the secretary of state, into the temple in the eighteenth year of his reign,

In Second Kings, chapter twenty-two, verse one, Josiah was the last of the righteous kings of Judah. At the early age of sixteen, he began earnestly to seek the Lord, as in Second Chronicles thirty-four, verse three, and four years later, he began to purge Judah of false worship in verses three to four of

In Second Kings, chapter twenty-one, verse fourteen, Judah was the focus of redemptive history at this time, forming what remains of God’s elected people. Like the northern kingdom, however, a large number of them, by worshipping false gods, cast aside the salvation that God had prepared for them. Only those who persevere in genuine faith

In Second Kings, chapter twenty-one, verse ten, Isaiah was probably still prophesying during Manasseh’s time. Among other things, a prophet was a voice for righteousness when God’s people were conforming to worldly ways. The Lord, therefore, announced through the prophets, to the rebellious and idolatrous nation, the destruction of Jerusalem and the deliverance of Judah

In Second Kings, chapter twenty-one, verse nine, during his long reign of fifty-five years, Manasseh plunged Judah into its darkest era of idolatry. This wicked king had nothing but contempt for the God of his father, Hezekiah. He led God’s people into greater evil than the pagan nations that Joshua had destroyed. Why did God