Bible Lost Until Rediscovered By Josiah.
THE BIBLE FOUND AFTER PAGAN TRASHING OF THE TEMPLE
Josiah was one the best kings in Judah's history. He secured funding for the cleaning and restoration of the Temple of God after years of pagan abuse. They discovered the Book of the Law the LAST Bible. It is clear that much knowledge of how Israel was to behave had been lost.
2Ki 22:5 and let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen that have the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and let them give it to the workmen that are in the house of Jehovah, to repair the breaches of the house,
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We can assume this had been a deliberate act to destroy the Words of the true God by the paganized kings and priests that held sway in Judah many years prior to Josiah. Probably some wise, loyal priest hid a copy of the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
2Ki 22:11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he rent his clothes.
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Josiah realized just how far from God, the nation had been led by pagan influences. The people had all lost Godly Knowledge. Why did previous kings despise God's laws? THE KING ASKED HULDAH A PROPHETESS WHAT DANGER the nation was in because he read about the curses associated with disobedience. He got a shocking answer.
2Ki 22:16 Thus saith Jehovah, 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 work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched.
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WHY DO PEOPLE HATE GOD'S LAWS
God had already decided that the nation had gone too far astray to be saved from captivity, but God would delay the punishment so that Josiah would see none of the horrible collapse of Judah. Pagans had appealed to the side of human nature that resents God Laws. But Josiah was an exceptional young man.
2Ki 22:19 because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before Jehovah, 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 Jehovah.
20 Therefore, behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.
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Josiah's repentant soft heart would be rewarded by God. About a hundred years separated the restorations of Judah by Hezekiah and Josiah's restoration. Neither was more than a short pause in the spiritual decline of the nation. People who resent God's Laws have a direct interest in getting rid of the law as described in the Bible.
Isa 9:16 For they that lead this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
Jer 23:13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
14 In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, so that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the land.
PAGANS INSPIRED BY SATAN HAVE LONG DESIRED TO ERASE THE BIBLE
It is clear that the people including the good King Josiah had lost a lot of Godly knowledge. The pagans thought they had succeeded in eliminating the Word of God, the Bible. Paganized kings hated the words of God if they were rebuking their evil behavior.
Jer 36:22 Now the king was sitting in the winter-house in the ninth month: and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him.
23 And it came to pass, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.
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The bad King Jehoiakim burned the scroll or words of the prophets which became part of the Bible. Many, in years after Josiah's generation, have burned Bibles, and those that translated them into the common man's language. They wanted those words verboten to the public. Men like Tyndale ( martyred in 1536 ) and Wycliffe, who translated the Bible into English, set off a spiritual revolution of questioning false doctrines. The powers of God's Word is enormous. The world wishes to deceive and hide truth from us. A famine of the truth of God is somehow coming again on the world.
Am 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah.
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it.
2Th 2:8 And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming;
9 even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie:
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We must learn to love the truth and study our Bibles correctly so we may become masters of understanding the Bible. Note II Pet 3:16-17.
YOUNG PEOPLE LIKE KING JOSIAH CAN DO GREAT THINGS FOR GOD
Josiah had good teachers and advisers. But he, at the age of 16, decided to really seek the true God of Israel. Young people like David, who also began as a teenager, can do exploits in the service of God. Young people should not think that because they are young they must be sinful and rebel against all authority.
Josiah was also balanced in his approach to God. He was not self-righteous or libertine.
2Ch 34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem.
2 And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images.
He took action. He smashed the pagan asherah poles and idols. He tried to clean up the nation and
led a great revival, teaching the people from the Bible.
Ch 34:33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were found in Israel to serve, even to serve Jehovah their God. All his days they departed not from following Jehovah, the God of their fathers.
35:1 And Josiah kept a Passover unto Jehovah in Jerusalem: and they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2 And he set the priests in their offices, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Jehovah.
Young people can choose God when young and avoid a lot of hurting that will come if they wait until they are senior citizens before repenting. Timothy was a wonderful young man who assisted Paul as a young evangelist. Josiah was one best Kings of Israel at the age of sixteen. Our future is a battle for all young and old to not be led astray.
2Ti 3:13 But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 But abide thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
