Dave Burnette's Commentary

2 Kings Chapter 22

Written By: God through Inspiration
Penned By: Jeremiah
Date Penned: (586 BC)
Overview: A History of the Kings of Israel and Judah (c 1-25)
Theme: The Surviving Kingdom (c 18-25)
Message: Josiah Rules Judah (v 1-20)

2 Kings 22 Commentary 

(22:1-2) Josiah Follows God - In reading the biblical lists of kings, it is rare to find one who obeyed God completely. Josiah was such a person, and he was only eight years old when he began to reign. For 18 years Josiah reigned obediently; then, when he was 26, he began a series of reforms based on God's laws. Children are the future leaders of our churches and our world. A person's major work for God may have to wait until he or she is an adult, but no one is ever too young to take God seriously and obey him. Josiah's early years laid the base for his later task of reforming Judah. God can accomplish his will through you regardless of your age.


(22:4) Keepers of the Door - The keepers of the door controlled who entered the temple and supervised the collection of the money.


(22:8) God's Word Changes Things - This book may have been the entire Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy) or just the book of Deuteronomy. Because of the long line of evil kings, the record of God's laws had been lost. Josiah, who was about 26 years old at this time, wanted religious reform throughout the nation. When God's Word was found, drastic changes had to be made to bring the kingdom in line with God's commands. Today you have God's Word at your fingertips. How much change must you make in order to bring your life into line with God's Word?


(22:11) Josiah Applies God's Word - When Josiah heard the law, he tore his clothes in despair and immediately instituted reforms. With just one reading of God's law, he led the people of Judah to repent, so God promised to put off his judgment until after Josiah's death (22:18-20). Today many people own Bibles, but few know what the Bible says and how it should affect their lives. The Word of God should cause us, like Josiah, to take action immediately to reform our lives and bring them into harmony with God's will.


(22:14) God Chooses His Servants - Huldah was a prophetess, as were Miriam (Exodus 15:20) and Deborah (Judges 4:4). God freely selects his servants to carry out his will-rich or poor, male or female, king or slave (Joel 2:28-30). Huldah was obviously highly regarded by the people of her time as a person who spoke for God.


(22:19) Josiah Weeps Before God - When Josiah realized how corrupt his nation had become, he tore his clothes and wept before God. Then God had mercy on him and the nation. Josiah used the customs of his day to show his repentance. Today, we are unlikely to tear our clothing in sorrow for our sin, but weeping, fasting, and making restitution and apologies (if our sin has involved others) demonstrate our sincerity when we repent. The hardest part of repentance is changing the attitudes and habits that originally produced the sinful behavior.

 


Dave Burnette's Life Application

Applying God's Word

 

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter, making application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Today we continue the book of 2 Kings with Chapter 22.  In our text, we see Josiah rules Judah and discovers a book of God's Law with the book of Deuteronomy and possibly the Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy). In reading, God's Word made sweeping changes in the nation. God's Word reflected the wickedness in the nation, and Josiah applied what he read to govern Judah. In applying, we see that God's Word demonstrates our wickedness and need for a Savior. Today we have the completed canon of Scripture. Reading the Bible daily will instruct, encourage, rebuke, guide, and direct our lives because it is the "Living Word." How about you? Do you read your Bible every day and apply the Scriptures to your life? Let us learn from our text today and the life of Josiah, who read God's Word and applied it to his life, which changed a nation

 

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2 Kings 22

2 Kings 22

 1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.

 2And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

 3And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying,

 4Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people:

 5And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house,

 6Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.

 7Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.

 8And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

 9And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.

 10And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

 11And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.

 12And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying,

 13Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

 14So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her.

 15And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,

 16Thus saith the LORD, 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:

 17Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.

 18But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard;

 19Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, 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 the LORD.

 20Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.