2 Chronicles 35:1-27
Thursday, 20 February 2025
“……that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.”’ –2 Chronicles 35:6
King Josiah started his reign at the age of eight! When kings and people of the land had turned away from God and yielded to other gods, here is a young king who started right and made a difference! While the kings of that time did evil in God’s sight (2 Kings 21:20; 23:32), Josiah did what was right in God’s sight (2 Kings 22:2). A good testimony!
2 Chronicles 34:33 states his actions that accompanied his devotion to God: Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the LORD their God. All his days they did not depart from following the LORD God of their fathers. The Book of the Covenant discovered in the Temple became the turning point of the reforms in the life of the king and the nation.
Today’s reading points to Josiah reinstating the Passover Feast in Jerusalem. He made sure that all the guidelines for keeping the Passover were followed—the different duties of those who served in the house of the Lord were reinstated and they were instructed to carefully follow the ordinances for the Feast. He even made provisions for the Passover offerings for the lay people. It is observed that none of the kings of Israel after Samuel the Prophet had kept such a Passover as the one Josiah kept (v.18).
As a leader, Josiah took the right steps to return to the ways of the Lord and bring about the reforms to renew their covenant with God. He set a good example very early on by seeking God and when the understanding came to him on how to keep the commands of the Lord from the Book of the Law, he diligently set out to do them. He led the entire nation to follow the right way as was laid out in the Book of Covenant.
Today, for the New Testament believer, Jesus’ example and how He interpreted much of the Law as is outlined in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is relevant for all our lives. Many of us have God’s written Word in our hands which needs to enter our hearts as we meditate, seek His commands, correction and counsel. God’s Word is our daily bread that sustains a believer every day of His walk on the earth. Many like to listen to the Word from pulpit or preachers rather than spend time to listen to what God speaks to them personally.
Have you based your life on the centrality of God’s Word? Here is a reminder in James 1: 22-25:
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
May we like Josiah be diligent seekers of God and His Word all the days of our life that we may be His blessed children!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, please forgive me for the times I have not heeded God’s Word; cleanse me and help me walk in the way of the Lord that is written in His Word.
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