27th March 2023 – 2 Kings 23:24-27

2 Kings 23:24-27

"24 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. 25 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.

26 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. 27 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.”"

 

The importance of these verses lies in the corroboration they give to the prophetess Huldah's pronouncement in 22:15-20. Notwithstanding the thoroughness of Josiah's reformation and the widespread changes he effected, the die had been cast so far as Judah was concerned, and the sins of Manasseh it is reiterated (26) had brought the nation to the point of no return. It has sometimes been said that the revival under Josiah did not go deep enough to stop the moral and spiritual rot in the land, and this may well be true, but this passage seems to stress the fact that no kind of renewal, however radical and extensive, would have sufficed to turn away the wrath of God after Manasseh's provocations had finally kindled it. We have to go to the New Testament to find words to describe this fearful situation. The Apostle Paul says, in Romans 1:18:32 - 'God gave them up' and this is the plain truth that is expressed in this passage . 'The Lord said, 'I will remove Judah also out of My sight... and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen!' Ah, let us learn how desperately, seriously God takes sin, and how impossible it is for Him to pass over it, even in His chosen people - nay, especially in His chosen people!