2 Kings 23 (Part 2) Bible Study (Josiah & the Passover/Jehoahaz/Jehoiakim) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Let's come to our Bibles now in Second Kings chapter 23.

2 Kings 23 · chapter mention

And as we turn there, I want to testify that the Lord encouraged

my heart earlier this week in a very unique way that made me

even more excited to prepare for the very passage that we'll be

looking at. And before I even began

examining this text, I stumbled upon a headline of a major

secular news article that was titled The following

Archaeologist discovered the fingerprint of a biblical figure

from 2600 years ago. That's something you're going to

click on. And so I did.

And here was the summary of that report dated August 4th, 2025.

Archaeologist found a clay seal with the signature of an

individual whose name is found in the scriptures and the type

of seal it was and the writing on it more specifically showed

that it dated during the first Temple period again 2020, 600

years ago. And the most exciting part about

that discovery was that expert believe that the name that was

on that seal was the son of Asahiu, one of King Josiah's top

officials. What is the name Asahi?

You appear in the study of Second Kings, while I told you

to turn to 2nd Kings 23. But look at chapter 22 verse 12

very briefly. We looked at this not too long

ago in Second Kings 2212. And the king commanded Hilkiah

the priest, and Ahihai the son of Shafan, and Akbar the son of

Micaiah and Shafan the secretary, and Asiah the King's

servant, saying it's that last name underline that Asaya, the

King's servant, isn't that amazing.

I encourage you after the service to look up that article

if you're interested in more details and the technical

aspects of this amazing uncovering.

But I mentioned it briefly at the outset of this study because

when I read it earlier this week on Monday morning, it served as

a providential nudge. A wonderful reminder of the

authenticity of the scriptures and the reliability of what you

and I love with all of our hearts.

Now, I'm always encouraged to see people come here on Friday

nights, but I am not certain of the different levels of faith

that are represented here. And whatever the strength of

your faith may be, know this what we've been devoted to week

after week on Friday evenings, it's not.

It's not us building our convictions or learning lessons

from myths or allegorical stories.

No, we have been immersing ourselves in God's truth that He

has given us and has protected and preserved throughout the

ages and has never failed to be confirmed and uncovered and

realized in undeniable ways. And I praise the Lord for His

ability to provide timely encouragement for our efforts

and studying God's Word, especially in this book as we

near its completion. That's right, we're almost

finished this book, and that will be especially more real to

us because we plan to finalize chapter 23 today.

And while there is much that occurs in the rest of this

chapter, there are three main events that are worth

highlighting this evening. And these events also provide a

wonderful way of organizing our observations and our

reflections. And they are easily identifiable

because they all start with the letter P, the Passover, the

passing, and the progeny. We'll be looking together at the

Passover that King Josiah charges the people of God to

celebrate. Moreover, we will look at the

passing of King Josiah, the report of his death, and

finally, we will consider the progeny, the descendants of

Josiah, and unfortunately, how disappointing they are.

Shall we begin? We're looking at Second Kings

2 Kings 23:21

23, verse 21, and we will read down to verse 23.

And the king commanded all the people.

Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in

this book of the covenant. For no such Passover had been

kept since the days of the judges who judge Israel, or

during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of

Judah. But in the 18th year of King

Josiah, this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

Let's pray. Well, we ask that you would help

us, guide us, illumine our hearts, enlighten our eyes that

we may behold the death of your wisdom, Jesus, who he is, what

he has to offer us, what it means to follow Him.

Lord, we want to know all that you have to say in this passage

and we we rely on your help to discover it for ourselves.

We give you thanks again for the eternal Word of God that is in

our hands. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Well, yet again we're being

reminded that King Josiah's efforts to reform the land, the

country, the nation has reached a new level in the 18th year of

his reign. It was the word of God that was

the driving force for King Josiah to cleanse the land of

all its spiritual filth. And as effective and widespread

as his efforts were, we learn here that it didn't cross 19

verses where good you've been here, second cross been here.

Second Chronicles 35. And while we will not look at

every detail, we will look at key things that made this

moment, this feast, so distinguishable.

And through it we will learn the kind of worship that truly

pleases the Lord. So turn with me to Second

Chronicles 35, verse one. The Spirit expounds on this in

19 verses, but we'll start here at the beginning.

In Second Chronicles 35, verse one, we read Josiah kept a

Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered

the Passover lamb on the 14th day of the first month.

So in this introduction alone, there are at least two things on

worth underscoring #1 notice that Josiah kept the Passover to

the Lord, to the Lord. This reinforces what we heard

the past two weeks. The motive of Josiah's obedience

to God? It was for God and for God

alone. Everything that this man did was

stimulated by his sincere ambition to bring pleasure to

God, to honor God, to exalt the Lord.

And this is even shown in the the following 2 verses of this

chapter. Look more specifically at verse

3. We read here that he commands

the Levites to do what? To return the ark to its

rightful place, to bring it back into the most holy place.

Now why is he doing that? Before he does anything, before

he places any Levite at any station, before he slaughters

any animal, he wants to make sure that the ark is rightly

positioned. Why?

Because that ark is a symbol of God's earthly throne, and in

Josiah's mind, he did not see it valuable or profitable to

worship in the temple. If God is not seated where he's

supposed to be seated, if God is not exalted, if he's not the

center, why move forward with this feast?

And so his priority at this moment was bring the ark and

position it where God designated it to be, and everything would

orbit around that. And this is yet another call to

remembrance about our worship. Is it motivated for God?

Is it to the Lord? Is it for his smile?

Is it for his pleasure? That's the essence of worship.

But more than that, we see something else in verse one and

that is how the feast was performed at its designated

time. Did you notice how we're told

that it was celebrated on the 14th day of the first month?

When I first read this I thought why mention it?

Why mention it when God had already said that this is when

it was supposed to be celebrated?

It seems unnecessary. Seems redundant unless that many

of the Passover's before this were not celebrated when God

said it should be celebrated. That's precisely why it's being

brought up. And the overarching lesson is

that Josiah was extremely mindful of the details of God's

Word. There is not one thing he was

relaxed on. There was not one thing he

wanted to miss. Anything that God had prescribed

and mentioned, God wanted. Josiah wanted to honor and

observe with all of his heart, even in the timing of the feast.

And this is something that he longed to do and you see it

throughout these verses. I mean, if you actually take the

time to look at Second Chronicles 35, you just you find

how meticulous and surgical Josiah was and we see it in one

strong example. Just Scroll down again.

We don't have the time to look at everything.

Look at verse 13 and what the Holy Spirit says.

After much organization happened, we read here and they

roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the rule, and

they boiled the holy offerings and pots and cauldrons and in

pans and carried them quickly to all the lay people.

I'm going to pause here and open it up for answers to this

question. What stands out to you from this

one verse? There should be things that

stand out. We are students of the Hebrew

Scriptures. What stands out to you about

this commentary? Somebody said something.

OK, The generosity. That's one thing that we will

consider at a moment. According to the rule.

Absolutely. That's emphasized over and over

again. Anything else?

What do they do to the lamb? They roasted it.

Why is that important? Because when God had given His

original decree about the Passover after slaughtering the

lamb in Exodus 12/8, they were instructed to roast the lamb.

Why? Because again, all of the

Passover points to Christ, and people tend to just limit the

understanding of the Passover to Christ being our Passover lamb

in His sacrificial death. And it's a Tony work, yes, but

when the lamb was roasted, that's a picture of Christ

enduring the fury of God's wrath.

And so they didn't skip this part.

They didn't just slaughter the lamb and apply his blood.

No, they even went to the point of roasting it.

We see something else in this one verse.

What else? This one's a little bit more

difficult to pinpoint, but it's equally important.

Look at it again. There's no rush.

Very, very good. Did you hear it?

Look at the last part and carry them quickly to all the lay

people. Why is that important?

Anybody have an idea? Well, because in Exodus 12,

Exodus 12:11

verse 11, listen to these words in this manner, You shall eat it

with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your

staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste.

It is the Lord's Passover. Even the speed of the feast was

honored by Josiah and his officials.

They were to eat in haste. What's that a picture of?

Well, it's a picture of many things.

One of my favorite applications of this truth is that it speaks

about the readiness and the willingness of the one who has

tasted of Christ to flee out of Egypt, to escape slavery and

bondage, to run into the wilderness, to worship the Lord

in haste. Today is the day of salvation.

That's the picture. So you see, every single

ingredient and instruction points to an element of the

gospel. And Josiah honored every part he

could. The roasting of the lamb, eating

it in haste. And when I meditated on Josiah

zeal and discipline not to deviate in the slightest from

God's word, I was reminded of Jesus words and what He expects

of us as worshippers, as obedient servants to Him.

This verse was opened to me many, many years ago and I

praise God for it because it transformed the way I view God's

word and the way I apply it to my life.

This is worth turning to in Matthew 5 and look at verse 19.

I pray that it makes an impact on your heart and even a greater

impact than what it's done for me.

Matthew 519. Jesus says, Therefore, whoever

relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches

others to do the same will be called least in the Kingdom of

heaven. But whoever does them and

teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of heaven,

not powerful. Whoever relaxes.

What does it mean to relax something?

Ah, it's not a big deal. I don't take it too seriously.

I don't get too caught up in the minutiae of God's word, of his

commands, of his instructions. Whoever relaxes one of these

commandments, the least of these commandments, what did Jesus

say? They'll be called the least in

the Kingdom. I don't know about you.

I don't want to be called least in the Kingdom.

You can call me the least in this world all you want, but

when it comes to the eternal Kingdom of the Son of David, if

there's a way to be commended by God beyond this, I'm pursuing

it. And one of the qualifications of

knowing excellence in the eyes of God is by looking at every

detail on His Word and saying this is God's Word.

I'm not going to relax one element of it.

But whoever does them, notice the emphasis here.

Notice the priority. Whoever does them and teaches

them. There are a lot of people who

want to teach but not do. Whoever does them first and then

teaches them will be called great.

What is greatness in the eyes of Jesus?

Those who look at every part of his word and say, God, by your

grace and strength, help me honor the least of these

commandments. Josiah was such a man.

And I'm sure you can see how we can linger here for a while.

But for the sake of time, let's consider one more trademark of

this Passover. And somebody already alluded to

it, and it is the radical willingness and sacrifice it

took to carry it out. Second Chronicles 35, Look at

verse 7. Very quickly then, Josiah

contributed to the lay people as Passover offerings for all who

are present, lambs and young goats from the flock to the

number of 30,000 and 3000 bulls. These were from the King's

possessions. This is remarkable.

So Josiah doesn't just instruct the people to honor this feast,

he helps them honor it. This is impressive generosity on

the King's part, and though the amount of the donation is

impressive, it's the reason why he is charitable that's more

moving. It could be that many of these

people couldn't afford to give at the Passover.

And so Josiah saw this need and because of that, he did what he

could from a personal level to help people encounter God.

He didn't just enjoy this feast for himself.

He sought to do what he could do to draw people to the Lord and

allow the Lord to make himself known to the people.

And here's what I took from this.

What a change it would bring to our attitude in giving and our

even even our experience in giving if we viewed it in a

similar way. I want to encourage you and I

want to encourage myself to view giving as a means to help people

come into contact with Christ, to experience the Lord.

I mean, is there any other way of knowing greater thrill in our

giving than that mission, than that purpose?

Here's Josiah reaching into his own possessions, his own

resources, and doing what he can to ensure that as many people as

possible can taste the lamb, can see their need for a Savior and

praise God. Even this day and age, there are

many ministries that are working very hard to do just that.

And one of the ways that we can advance such a purpose is by

doing what Josiah did, sacrificing, investing, thinking

critically and eternally. How is it that I can help move

forward the things of God? And what I love about Josiah is

that his passionate priority was contagious.

Look at verse 8 right after and his officials contributed

willing to the people. Do you see that as soon as

Josiah stepped out with his wholehearted commitment and

radical worship, radical generosity, others saw and they

said, we want to do it, sign us up.

Is there any other need? You know, sometimes it just

takes one person to step out and do something for the Lord to

move others. And perhaps in your own circles,

you're looking around, you're wondering why aren't people

doing more, praying more, loving more, serving more, evangelizing

more? Will you ever consider you

stepping out and seeing what would happen out of your

obedience? That's exactly what this man

does. His officials followed him and

it just became this infectious spirit.

Whatever this this amazing sense of inclusiveness and we find it

here in verse 18. I won't read it, but if there's

one more thing we can say about this unique Passover is how a

united Judah and Israel. In a manner that the nation had

never experienced in a long, long time.

We see there that Israel, whoever was left after this year

in exile, joined Judah to celebrate this Passover.

No wonder it stood out. If you want more reasons you

have, you have the permission to study it further and look into

it. But we must move forward and

look at the passing. Let's come back to Second Kings

23, the passing of King Josiah. We read the first 3 verses of

the section. Let's read on in verse 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 Hill Kai, the priest found in the House of the Lord 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. 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. And the Lord said, I will remove

Judah also out of my sight as I've removed Israel, and I will

cast off the city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the House

of which I said my name shall be there.

So Josiah's wonderful efforts did not change God's indictment

against Jerusalem and Judah. He knew this already.

Hold of the prophetess assured him that nothing would alter

God's judgement and His wrath being poured out against his

people. And we're being reminded of

that. That is awesome as this Passover

was. It did not change God's mind.

It was sealed, and this is the main part now of the second

element of our study, verse 28. Now the rest of the acts of

Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of

the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

In his days Pharaoh Nikko, king of Egypt, went up to the king of

Assyria, to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him and

Pharaoh Nikko killed him at Megiddo as soon as he saw him,

and his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddon,

brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb.

And the people of the Atlantic Joaz, the son of Josiah, and

anointed him and made him king in his father's place.

Oh, how I had hoped that Josiah's story would have ended

in that wonderful climax. Wouldn't a bit?

Wouldn't have been refreshing to just simply read that Josiah led

the people in exuberant praise, faithful worship, and then he

died. That's not what we find.

Instead, we find Josiah dying in a very questionable manner.

There are a few questions you and I should have.

The first one is why are we being told that the Pharaoh at

the time was making his way to meet with the king of Assyria?

Second, why did King Josiah feel the need to intervene and try to

impede this Egyptian advancement?

And lastly, why was he killed the moment that Pharaoh saw him?

Where do you think we're going to find our answers?

You're right. So let's go there.

In Second Chronicles, we're told in far greater detail exactly

why this happened. Chapter 35, verse 20.

After all this, all what? The Passover after all that was

done, all that was accomplished, all that was celebrated, when

Josiah had prepared the temple, Nikko, king of Egypt, went to

fight at Carcamish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out

to meet him. But he sent envoys to him,

saying, What have we to do with each other?

King of Judah, I am not coming against you this day, but

against the house with which I am at war, and God has commanded

me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with

me, lest he destroy you. Interesting.

So we already have more light. Egypt was moving forward because

they were on the move for war. This is what's taking place.

But war with whom? If you just had Second Kings and

Second Chronicles, you would think that he's going to war

with Assyria. But when you look at Jeremiah in

chapter 46, we discovered that Egypt was actually preparing to

go to war with gas Babylon, which means that he was meeting

with Assyria to make an alliance to come against the rising power

of Babylon. That's what's happening here.

So we answer that. But the following question is

why is Josiah including himself in this?

This has nothing to do with Judah.

There is no mention here whatsoever, no hint that Egypt

or Seer or Babylon have Judah on the radar, and yet he he feels

compelled to interject himself and to try to hinder Egypt.

No explanation is given. Could it be though, that Josiah

is looking at these geopolitical shifts and remembering hold of

the prophetess and her word about the coming judgement

against Judah, is seeing all of this as preparation for that

prophecy to come to pass? And for whatever reason at this

point he wants to try to prevent it from happening?

That's just speculation. It's just a thought to consider.

Nothing is told, nothing is explained plainly, but whatever

the reason was, Josiah believes that stepping in in this way

would somehow benefit the Kingdom of Judah, when in

reality it would lead to his own demise.

There are a few important truths from this that we need to apply.

The first thing is how we as believers need to be very

careful involving ourselves in squabbles that do not directly

involve us or God's Kingdom. The strongest example of this

today is how many believers are investing most of their time and

energy in things like cultural, political battles at the expense

of them growing and investing in what truly matters, the gospel

ministry, the Word of God. Now, I'm not suggesting at all

that we should avoid or be passive from engaging in various

aspects and spheres of society when opportunities arise to

promote righteousness or to denounce wickedness.

That's what I'm saying. I'm talking about those who

identify more strongly, who are energized with greater thrill to

a political party than the church, or coming to a point

where they think that they should involve themselves in pop

cultural scandals discussed on podcast instead of knowing the

promises of God and prophecies in scripture.

There are many Christians like this.

In fact, we can even add this dimension.

This is a wonderful example of being careful, of not getting

ourselves sucked into trivial theological debates, Debates

that are fruitless, UN Christ like, ego driven, unproductive.

So many Christians are fighting the wrong battle.

They're so preoccupied with things that don't truly matter.

And Josiah is an example of that.

He steps outside of where he's supposed to be and into an arena

that is going to be dangerous for him.

And I'm afraid there are many Christians who are doing the

same to the detriment of their own spiritual vitality and

growth, even to the tarnishing of their own testimonies.

Josiah shows us that even the most righteous and Bible

obsessed believers can get distracted and lose focus and

what God tells us to keep our eyes on.

The second thing to notice how we can lose our sensitivity to

God's counsel. One of the most remarkable

things about the verses we just read was that when Pharaoh

learned that Josiah was on his way to actually fight against

them, he warns him. And how does he warn him?

God told me I'm supposed to do this, get out of the way.

And Josiah, if you don't get out of the way, you're going to be

destroyed. There's debate here.

Is Pharaoh lying? Is Pharaoh saying that Yahweh is

the one who spoke to him? Or is he claiming that one of

his own deities gave him this Commission?

The answer is actually in verse 22.

Look at the first part, more in the middle.

Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but

disguised himself in order to fight with him.

He did not listen to the words of Nico from the mouth of God.

There's your answer. It was the real God, the true

God, the only God that made this known to Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh is telling Josiah. God told me to do this, so it

must have been in the dream, or perhaps a prophetic word that he

received. We're not given the explanation

of how Pharaoh knew that God was the one who gave him this

revelation, but the commentary is clear.

God did tell him and Josiah chose to ignore him.

And we can sympathize with Josiah.

God told you Pharaoh, A Pagan king, to do this.

However, there is something that Josiah could have done and

should have done. The least that he could have

done was take this very grave warning and bring it before the

Lord. Was there a king who received

more than one letter? More specifically, a threat from

a foreign king who claimed to speak on behalf of God?

Yes, Hezekiah, you remember that right?

Where the Syrian king on more than one occasion tried to

persuade him that God told them to surround Jerusalem and to

ransack them. But what did Hezekiah do with

those threats? He didn't fold them in his

pocket. He went to the temple of the

Lord and laid it before the feet of God and say, Lord, what's

this all about? What am I supposed to do with

this? And God gave him a word.

Josiah does no such thing. Pharaoh says God told me to do

this and it didn't matter to him.

He didn't stop and think, He didn't receive counsel.

Instead, we realized that he disguises himself and goes ahead

anyway. This seems so out of character

for a man who was known for his tender heart and wisdom.

In fact, it's even more startling than you think.

I want you to see something in verse 20 to verse 23 and tell me

if it sounds familiar. Nevertheless, Josiah did not

turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to

fight with him. He did not listen to the words

of Nico from the mouth of God, but came to fight in a plane of

Megiddo, and The Archers shot King Josiah, and the king said

to his servants, Take me away, for I am badly wounded.

Does this sound familiar? Oh, I see a lot of heads

nodding. What does it sound like?

The way Ahab died in First Kings 22.

Do you remember? Ahab received the prophetic word

that if he were to go to battle, he was going to what?

You're going to die? So what does he do?

He disguises himself and once he's on the field, what

happened? An arrow shot him.

And once he was shot, what did he say?

He made a request to the driver of the chariot.

Take me back home. This is so intentional.

What's the lesson that a man for most of his life who imitated

the love and devotion of King David died the death similar to

wicked King Ahab? If it hasn't registered yet,

hopefully Josiah will convince us.

It's not how you start, it's how you finish.

And no matter how strong your start is, if you're not

dependent on the Lord daily, even men of such caliber can end

in unthinkable ways. If you ever heard of a minister,

a ministry crashing and burning, a thought to yourself, how did

that happen? Here's Josiah, one of the most

renowned praised individuals in all of redemptive history.

And the Holy Spirit portrays his end and mirrors it to King Ahab.

May God keep us. May you cling to the Lord.

May I cling to the Lord. This is amazing to witness.

The artistry of the Bible is astounding.

So we find here something about the passing.

But there is one more thing I'd like to mention before we go to

the final part of our study. As we're still processing the

passing of King Josiah, look at the intensity of the lament for

this man in verse 25, Second Chronicles 35, verse 25,

2 Chronicles 35:25

Jeremiah also uttered A lament for Josiah.

Pause. That says something about Josiah

for this prophet who denounced most of the nation throughout

his ministry, that when Josiah died, he lamented for him.

Josiah was a truly godly man. He had a lapse of faith.

He did not finish in the most exemplary way, but that did not

disqualify his walk with God. Jeremiah was broken.

He grieved. Can you imagine the sight of

Jeremiah not just weeping over the sins of the people, but

weeping over this man of God? He was raised up in the 13th

year of his reign. I wonder what kind of

conversations they had. I wonder how they encouraged one

another. This signals to me that Jeremiah

surely knew Josiah and he understood that Josiah was a

true man of God, and he lamented when he died.

But it wasn't just him. We go on and all the singing men

and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this

day. They made these a rule in

Israel. Behold, they are written in the

laments, a book that we don't have today.

So the grief over Josiah, the words that were spilled over

him, the accolades, the acknowledgments, they were

recorded and kept. That's how monumental this man

was. That's the kind of impact he

made in this Kingdom. And here's the most remarkable

thing. So great was this lament that

Zechariah the prophet used it to reference a future brokenness

that will come to the people of Israel.

In Zechariah 12 we learn of a time, a time to come, when

Israel will look on him whom they have pierced, and they will

mourn after him as one mourns after an only child.

They will realize that Jesus Christ is their Messiah, that

they did indeed reject him and Pierce him and kill him, but in

one moment the nation as a whole will turn to him, repent, and

crown him as their Messiah. And here's a reference that is

made in Zechariah 12/11. On that day, the morning in

Jerusalem will be as great as the morning of Haddad Ramon in

the plain of Megiddo. So whatever's happening here in

Second Kings 23 and Second Chronicles 35 has an element of

prophecy to it, and it encourages us yet again to see

Josiah as some type of a Christ. We've touched on this throughout

our study in Josiah's life. And here's yet another one.

What we find here is just as Josiah was killed after leading

Israel, one of the greatest Passovers, the Lord Jesus, was

pierced after celebrating the fulfillment of the Passover.

Is that right? However, Josiah is different in

this way, inferior, far more inferior than Jesus.

He celebrates the Passover, then he's killed.

Jesus celebrates the Passover. The fulfillment of the Passover

inaugurates the New covenant. He is killed.

What's the difference? Josiah walks to his death

because of disobedience and stubbornness.

Jesus walks to his death because of selfless love and total

submission to the will of God. That's the difference.

Let your heart enlarge in tonight to see how these

passages are perfumed with prophecy pointing to the

substance Jesus. This is the passing.

Let's look at the final thing. That's the progeny, which is

another word for descendants. Let's come back to Second Kings

23 and let's read from verse 31 down to verse 37.

Joe Has was 23 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 3

months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamotel,

the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna.

And he did what was evil in the side of the Lord according to

all that his father's had done. And Pharaoh Nico put him in

bonds at Ribla in the land of Hamas, that he might not reign

in Jerusalem, and laid on a land a tribute of 100 talents of

silver and a talent of gold. And Pharaoh Nikko made Eliakim

the son of Josiah king, in the place of Josiah his father, and

changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jowaz away, and he

came to Egypt and died there. And Jehoiakim gave the silver

and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money

according to the command of Pharaoh.

He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land

from everyone, according to his assessment, to give it to

Pharaoh. Nikko Jehoiakim was 25 years old

when he began to reign, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem.

His mother name was Zebeda, the daughter of Padaya of Ruma.

And he did what was evil in the side of the Lord, according to

all that his father's had done. An unthinkable and tragic

reversal just took place in the broader narrative.

God's story, this crucial transition of power in the

Kingdom of Judah is unlike anything that we've seen.

Think about it this way. We just read how the king of

Judah, including the northern part, all of Israel, celebrate

the Passover. What's the Passover about?

Recognizing and remembering their deliverance from bondage,

from slavery, their original exodus.

They commemorated that together. And once King Josiah dies and is

replaced by his son, Pharaoh takes Josiah's successor and

brings him back to Egypt. And then he takes Josiah's other

son, places on the throne, gives him a new name, and then taxes

him. And the people.

What do you have here? In essence, the people of Israel

going back to their bondage, to their original slavery, to who

they were before God brought them out and made them a people.

This is massive. This is the big picture.

This is the overarching theme of this section.

They're going back, and it's setting the stage for yet

another massive turning point in God's grand story.

But here's how we view it on a personal level.

Why did Pharaoh, after just three months of Josiah's son

becoming king in such a vicious way, arrest him, seize him,

abduct him, and then supervise over the Kingdom of Judah?

I think the best answer is the context that we just covered.

Josiah poked the wrong bear. Josiah ignored God's word, made

a move against Pharaoh, and it could be that Pharaoh, even

after Josiah's death, thought that Josiah's descendants would

potentially be a future threat. And so he acts early and he

subdues them in this moment of transition and vulnerability.

Here's what ran through my mind when I meditated on this earlier

today. There are many here who aspire

to be parents, many here who have become new parents.

Wherever you are in that area of life, never forget Josiah's

sobering example. A parent's willful disobedience,

prayerless decisions, and hard headedness can even lead their

children into bondage. Josiah's foolishness didn't just

affect him, it affected his sons.

Pharaoh didn't just go after Josiah, he went after his

children. And I think there's a very

practical illustration here that you and I, especially the men of

this house, have to understand that your devotion to God does

not just impact you. You can't do anything about

that, by the way. It's inscribed in God's law.

You're the head of the house. Your decisions or lack thereof,

your walk with the Lord or lack thereof can have generational

effect. Now, you can hear that and that

scare you, or you can hear that and that excite you.

And I hope it excites you because God has given us

everything we need to be men of God.

And that's what we find here, an unfortunate story of a man who

was a remarkable king, but perhaps not the best dad.

Oh, there's much more that we can say here, but I'll just end

it on this point. We're never going to see a good

king after Josiah. There will be a handful of kings

after this, and it'll just be one big failure after another

until the Lord brings Babylon to sweep up the place.

And this will change our Bible study and a major way moving

forward. We're not there yet.

A cliffhanger, perhaps a couple of chapters left, but I think

that's enough for us to meditate on.

Let's pray and thank the Lord. Father, we've heard so much in a

short amount of time. Thank you for these truths in

the Passover, in the passing of this man, and even in the

progeny of this king. Lord, what a great mistake it

would be to hear these things and not use them to inspect our

own hearts. Lord, we want to finish well.

We've heard it over and over again in our study of kings, and

there's a reason why you repeat it.

Lord, help us not get involved in conflicts, battles,

investments that you've not called us to will help us not

lose our sensitivity to your counsel that when you speak, we

would hear it. We would take heed that we would

have enough discernment to see your providential interruptions.

Oh Lord, we can't wait for the day when Israel will crown your

Son Jesus as a Messiah. We pray for the nation of

Israel. Help them, Lord, more

importantly than anything else, we're not asking for political

gain, military victories, We're not asking for any of that.

We're asking for their eyes to be open to see the the gospel

and how Christ is a fulfillment of what they are looking for.

Well, we ask finally that we would see the joy of walking

with you and that we would feel the weightiness of what it means

to be your servant, especially if we are leaders in any

capacity. Lord, give us the grace like

Josiah in the beginning of this story, inspiring others to live

for you, but help us do it where it matters most in the home and

it for it to flow from there. Lord, with all that was said,

help us retain it. Help us remember it, chain it

around our hearts. We trust that you'll bring these

things to remembrance and for that we say thank you.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen and Amen.

Why don't we stand and worship the Lord?

Isn't his word wonderful? Oh, this is God's word.