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2
Chronicles Chapter Thirty-four
2 Chronicles 34
Chapter Contents
Josiah's good reign in Judah.
As the years of infancy cannot be useful to our fellow-creatures
our earliest youth should be dedicated to God
that we may not waste any of the
remaining short space of life. Happy and wise are those who seek the Lord and
prepare for usefulness at an early age
when others are pursuing sinful
pleasures
contracting bad habits
and forming ruinous connexions. Who can
express the anguish prevented by early piety
and its blessed effects? Diligent
self-examination and watchfulness will convince us of the deceitfulness and
wickedness of our own hearts
and the sinfulness of our lives. We are here
encouraged to humble ourselves before God
and to seek unto him
as Josiah did.
And believers are here taught
not to fear death
but to welcome it
when it
takes them away from the evil to come. Nothing hastens the ruin of a people
nor ripens them for it
more than their disregard of the attempts made for
their reformation. Be not deceived
God is not mocked. The current and tide of
affections only turns at the command of Him who raises up those that are dead
in trespasses and sins. We behold peculiar loveliness
in the grace the Lord
bestows on those
who in tender years seek to know and to love the Saviour.
Hath Jesus
the Day-spring from on high
visited you? Can you trace your
knowledge of this light and life of man
like Josiah
from your youth? Oh the
unspeakable happiness of becoming acquainted with Jesus from our earliest
years!
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Chronicles》
2 Chronicles 34
Verse 3
[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
groves
and the carved images
and the molten images.
Young — ln the sixteenth year of his age; when he was entering
into the age of temptation
and had the administration of his kingdom wholly in
his own power
and none to restrain him; even then he begins to be religious in
good earnest.
Verse 6
[6] And so did he in the cities of Manasseh
and Ephraim
and
Simeon
even unto Naphtali
with their mattocks round about.
Naphtali — Which was in the utmost borders of the kingdom of
Israel. For it must be remembered
that the ten tribes were now gone into
captivity; and those who were come in their stead were weak and few
and not
able to withstand the power of Josiah.
Verse 8
[8] Now in the eighteenth year of his reign
when he had
purged the land
and the house
he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah
and
Maaseiah the governor of the city
and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder
to
repair the house of the LORD his God.
The house — The house of God
called the
house by way of eminency.
Verse 11
[11] Even to the artificers and builders gave they it
to buy
hewn stone
and timber for couplings
and to floor the houses which the kings
of Judah had destroyed.
Houses — The chambers joining to the temple.
Verse 12
[12] And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers
of them were Jahath and Obadiah
the Levites
of the sons of Merari; and
Zechariah and Meshullam
of the sons of the Kohathites
to set it forward; and
other of the Levites
all that could skill of instruments of musick.
Musick — All these here named
were skilful in instruments of
musick. Which may be here mentioned
to intimate
that as they were skilful
so
they were exercised in both employments
and did successively oversee the work
and praise God with their voices and instruments.
Verse 19
[19] And it came to pass
when the king had heard the words
of the law
that he rent his clothes.
Rent his clothes — Were the things
contained in scripture new to us
as they were here to Josiah
surely they
would make deeper impressions upon us than they commonly do. But they are not
the less weighty
and therefore should not be the less regarded
because they are
well known.
Verse 32
[32] And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and
Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the
covenant of God
the God of their fathers.
To stand to it — He caused them to engage by an
oath or covenant
that they would observe the laws of God
as his predecessors
had formerly done
and which indeed they were before obliged to do.
Verse 33
[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
present in Israel to serve
even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days
they departed not from following the LORD
the God of their fathers.
Even to serve — The repetition shews
that this
was the only thing his heart was set upon. He aimed at nothing in all he did
but to engage them to God and their duty.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Chronicles》
34 Chapter 34
Verses 1-33
Verses 1-8
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign.
Josiah’s early piety
I. The possibility
of youthful responsibility. Other children besides Josiah have been called to
the cares of a kingdom. Manasseh commenced to reign at twelve
Joash was seven
Uzziah sixteen; Henry III and Edward VI of England were both nine; four of the
Scottish kings
James II
III
IV
and V
ascended the throne when children. Of
the French kings
Louis I. began to reign at sixteen
Louis IX at eleven
Louis
XIII at nine
Charles VI at eleven
Charles IX at ten; Louis XIV
inheriting
the kingdom at five
assumed full control by his own force of character at
thirteen. Charles I of Spain
better known as Charles V of Germany
became king
at sixteen; Charles II at fourteen
seizing the kingdom from an ill-governing
regency which had existed since his fourth year.
II. Early piety is
possible and desirable. When does the period of moral accountability begin? We
cannot fix it definitely. But this much is certain: whenever the child can
intelligently choose this or that because it is right or wrong
then has moral
accountability commenced
and the child can be a Christian.
III. The influence
of good advisers. Josiah was but a boy
and yet around him were spiritual Titans--Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Jeremiah.
IV. The energy of
youthful piety.
V. The influence
of the surrounding atmosphere on piety. We must be watchful against irreligious
influences. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Importance of early piety
Ancient nations would not receive old men into their armies
as
being unfit for service. Let us not wait until we can only offer unto “Him who
hath loved us” dry and worthless bones. (W. M. Taylor
D.D.)
The example of Joash
There is at the top of the Queen’s staircase in Windsor Castle a
statue from the studio of Baron Triqueti
of Edward VI.
marking with his
sceptre a passage in the Bible
which he holds in his left hand
and upon which
he earnestly looks. The passage is this concerning Josiah: “Josiah was eight
years old when he began to reign
and he reigned thirty and one years in
Jerusalem. And 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.” The statue was erected by the will of the late Prince Consort
who intended it to convey to his son the Divine principles by which the future
governor of England should mould his life and reign on the throne of Great
Britain. (T. Hughes.)
Early piety
I was admitted into the Church at the early age of eight. I don’t
remember that I experienced at the time any extraordinary work of God on my
soul. I loved Christ
and felt a strong desire to be identified with His
people. When I mentioned the fact to some of the deacons some of them looked
askance
and expressed grave doubts as to the propriety of allowing one so
young to sit at the Lord’s table. Among them
however
there were wiser men.
Their counsels prevailed
and after some months of probation I was admitted.
From that day until now I have never ceased to thank God that I was induced to
take the important step at the time I did. Had I not done so I doubt whether I
should have been a missionary--if a member of the Christian Church at all. (Griffith
Johns.)
Josiah the old-fashioned young man
As the sensitive plate in the photographic camera
when the
person who sits for a likeness is placed in a powerful light
takes an
impression of him in which every line upon the countenance and every furrow
upon the brow are exaggerated
so that the artist has to touch the negative in
order to do him simple justice
so
when a man sits in the fierce glare of
public light
his failings are so prominently recorded
and his defects so
clearly brought out
that it is necessary for us in fairness to touch the
negative with the pencil of charity
and thus soften down the defects.
Remembering this
this description of Josiah fills us with wonder. Consider--
I. His
disadvantages.
1. His extreme youth.
2. The degeneracy of the times. He ascended the throne in a dark age.
3. He was the son of a bad father.
II. What is the
explanation of his piety? It may have been largely due to the quiet but
all-powerful influence of a good mother. But there are wonders of grace often
wrought in the lives of the children of wicked men which you cannot explain.
III. The
manifestation of his piety. He “walked in the ways of David his father.” Four
hundred years separated Josiah from David. Thank God
there are seasons
even in
degenerate times
when the old purity of things is restored
when the grand old
faith is received and lived over again
and when the heroism of those who are
gone comes back like a new inspiration to young lives. “Ah! he is an
old-fashioned young man: he lives behind the age; he ought to have been living
in the time of David
for he has quite adopted his ancient ways
” exclaimed
some young men of the period. All the conceited striplings of the day would
join in the
chorus
“Poor Josiah
he does not move with the age. He is an eccentric young
fellow
very puritanic in his notions
and sings psalms as if he lived in the
days of old King David.” My young friends
a true man likes to be old-fashioned
sometimes. It is noble to move with the age when the age is going forward; but
it is grand to remain with the past when the age in which we live retrogrades
from ancient purity and ancient faith. When there is no spiritual vigour or
moral fibre in our
day
it is well to stick to the old days when there were strength and fibre in
religion and morals. Do not be afraid of the charge of being old-fashioned. It
is cheaply made
and is often meaningless
save as it is the highest possible
compliment. Be in the company of the world’s best and noblest men: never mind
whether they live to-day
or whether they lived eighteen hundred years ago
or
even more. (D. Davies.)
Verse 3
For in the eighth year of his reign
while he was yet young
he
began to seek after the God of David.
Seeking after God
I. Why we should
seek after God.
1. We are by nature without God.
2. To be without God is certain misery.
3. In God alone we can obtain peace and rest.
II. How we are to
seek after God.
1. With respect to God Himself. Josiah sought--not the God of nature;
not the God of Providence; but “the God of David his father.” And why? David
was a type of Christ; the covenant made with David a type of the covenant of
grace
and “the sure mercies of David
” symbols of the better blessings of the
New Covenant.
2. With respect to ourselves. By repentance
faith
and obedience.
III. When we are to
seek after god. (Robert Stevenson.)
Early piety and its advantages
I. Enlightened
piety consists in seeking God.
1. Earnestly.
2. Promptly.
3. Perseveringly.
II. Seeking God early
will conduce to honour.
1. It keeps alive religious susceptibilities.
2. It saves from snares.
3. It brings eminent usefulness in life.
4. It prepares for happy death. (J. Wolfendale.)
Youth the best time to serve God
Let us think of some reasons why we should seek God in childhood.
1. The first reason is because youth is the best time.
2. Another reason is because youth is the most important time.
“Satisfy us early with Thy goodness
that we may be glad and rejoice all our
days.” What seems a slight mistake at the beginning may make a terrible
difference at the end.
3. Another reason for seeking God in early life is because it is
noblest to do right now
not to wait until we have spent most of our life doing wrong. (Christian
Age.)
Well started
I. That any soul
should begin early to seek the Lord
is an event that would be thought
unimportant by some
but it is chronicled in heaven.
II. Every man must
search carefully his own heart
and determine whether the definite desire after
God is there or not. The desire is equivalent to spiritual sight. To help to
build up righteousness is serving God.
III. Some will say:
“but i have no such opportunities as josiah.” Have you sought them? Is not
influence on relatives
friends
comrades
fellow-workers an opportunity? Can
you never seize suitable occasions for uttering a Christian sentence or
scowling on a social sin?
IV. A further
objection is “but i have so many difficulties in my way
that i can do nothing
useful.” Think of those Josiah must have met with.
V. Others say:
“but i never had any special call to serve God.” What if parents
or brothers
or sisters
or friend never mentioned it? Have you never heard it in your
heart
and cannot you hear it now? The very passage of time calls you to serve
God.
VI. Those who begin
life with Christ as Saviour
Guide
Helper
Eternal Friend
and who are
honestly trying to serve Him
may be sure that He will rejoice over them
and
remember them
even though them names may not be emblazoned on any great
world-roll of honour.
VII. Some are
conscious that they are not making a good beginning of life. They are drifting
onwards and towards dangerous rapids and a deathly abyss. Christ comes to save
and to give a fresh start. This is an opportunity which is worth seizing. (F.
Hastings.)
Early piety
I. What Josiah
turned from.
1. From what is familiarly called “the way of the world.”
2. From the carnal appetites of youth
which craved to be pampered by
their gratification.
3. From all vanities of the imagination.
4. From the exercise of power
before weighing its responsibilities.
5. From false friends and evil counsellors.
6. From the delusions of the gaudy appendages of a worldly Court.
II. What Josiah
turned to. He fixed his heart and the faith of his soul upon God
as his--
1. Friend.
2. Father.
3. Guide.
III. He was faithful
and pious from his earliest days. (A Gatty
M.A.)
Early piety
I. Nothing is more
amiable in itself
or more pleasing to God
than early piety.
II. Youth is a
season in which you have the greatest advantages for cultivating the principles
of piety
and the greatest need of religion
as a defence from temptation and
dangers.
III. By early piety
you will prepare tranquility and joy for old age
whilst by an opposite conduct
you will fill it with remorse and fears.
IV. Regard to the
feelings of all pious persons in the Church universal
a respect to the
happiness of your parents
should induce you early to devote yourselves to God.
V. On your conduct
in youth
your salvation or perdition almost infallibly depend. (H. Kollock
D. D.)
Early piety
I. We shall
briefly notice the striking example of youthful piety here presented to our
view.
1. He was a decidedly religious character.
2. His genuine religion commenced at an early period.
3. An exemplary life and conversation abundantly proved the sincerity
and ardour of his piety.
4. Josiah’s early piety is adduced as the pledge if not the basis of
his future eminence in religion.
5. Josiah and his country reaped great advantages from his early
devotedness to God.
II. We shall
produce arguments urging upon all our young people the exemplification of
similar decided piety.
1. A due regard to your personal welfare.
2. The plea of relative usefulness--
3. Many whom you dearly love feel deeply interested in your spiritual
welfare.
4. The compassionate Saviour not only claims but kindly encourages
youthful piety. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
Early piety exemplified in Josiah
I. Josiah imitated
david.
1. God was David’s teacher.
2. God was David’s comfort.
3. God was David’s delight.
4. God was David’s defence.
II. The manner how
he sought after god. He sought God--
1. From a deep conviction that his conduct and the conduct of Israel
generally was highly offensive to God
and that they were exposed to imminent
peril.
2. In deep self-abasement of soul.
3. By destroying the idols out of the land.
4. By restoring God’s true worship and frequenting it.
5. With all his heart (2 Kings 23:25).
III. The period of
life when he did it. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
Josiah
Josiah was--
I. An early
seeker. Our Queen wears a velvet cap under her crown lest it should hurt her
head: this eight-year-old king had more need of such a covering. The crown is a
heavy burden for young soldiers. Yet there have been younger kings than Josiah.
An old Norse king was called Olaf Lapking because he was king while on his
mother’s lap. Royal boyhood is often poisoned boyhood. The people of Israel
around little Josiah were doing worse than the heathen. The sins and sorrows of
that time are described in the Lamentations of Jeremiah
whose heart they had
broken
Yet Josiah at the age of eight did that which was right in the sight of
the Lord
and at sixteen began to seek the God of his father David with more
earnestness than ever. God calls us to seek Him earlier. In our Latin exercises
there was a story about a simpleton sitting one evening at the river’s brink. A
traveller coming up wished his company in crossing. “No
” he replied
“I am
waiting till the river flows past.” The tiny stream of difficulties between you
and Christ won’t flow past
but will flow on
and broaden and deepen
till it
grows like an angry torrent
swollen with winter floods
that threatens to
sweep down the old man who would ford it.
II. Josiah was also
a hearty hater of evil. He did not hate in others the sins he practised
himself
He was not like the Czar of Russia who used to say
“I reform my
country
and am not able to reform myself.” Dr. Arnold used to say
“Commend me
to boys who love God and hate evil.” Love without hate makes a mere milksop
and Christ’s disciples are to be the salt
and not the sugar of society.
We need boys who will hate all evil as young Hannibal hated Rome. The young
Christian ought to be the sworn foe of the kingdom of darkness.
III. Josiah was a
real hero. A hero is one who
in doing duty
scorns great dangers. He had the
spirit of Chrysostom
who replied to the threats of the Empress Eudoxia
“I
fear nothing but sin.” Josiah’s love for the Bible would open his soul to all
the best influences from the heroic lives of Noah
Abraham
Joseph
Moses
Samuel and Gideon. Thus was developed in him what Dr. Chalmers calls “the
expulsive power of a new affection.”
IV. Josiah was
missed and mourned when he died. There is a night in Spain called “the sad
night”: and so in the history of Judah
the death of Josiah was “the sad day.”
The Rabbis say that “the memory of him was like costly incense
and sweet as
honey in the mouths of all.” (James Wells
M.A.)
And when they brought out the money that was brought into the
house of the Lord.
Restoring God’s house
I. Spiritual
desolation.
1. The negligent priesthood (2 Chronicles 34:5).
2. The dilapidated temple (2 Chronicles 34:7).
3. The perverted utensils (2 Chronicles 34:7).
II. Abundant
offerings.
1. Opportunity to give (2 Chronicles 34:8).
2. Called to give (2 Chronicles 34:9).
3. Giving cheerfully (2 Chronicles 34:10).
III. Effective work.
1. Skilled workmen (2 Chronicles 34:12).
2. Diligent service (2 Chronicles 34:13).
3. Renewed devotion (2 Chronicles 34:14). (Sunday
School Times.)
The book of the law found
1. We to-day are in some danger of losing the Scriptures. Not as a
volume of literature.
2. The discovery of “the book of the law” gave Josiah a new basis for
faith. He must have felt when he read it
that he was supernaturally
strengthened in his great task of reformation. There are few of us who do not
desire to have our various undertakings approved by those in whose sagacity and
moral discernment we trust. Josiah undertook his work with a new heart
for he
felt that the Lord was with him.
3. We have here suggested the broad distinction between our certainty
of what seems to be true and our certainty of what is vouched for as true by
the Word of God.
4. This discovery of the law enlarged Josiah’s conception of duty.
The knowledge that came to him and to the nation
through this book
was what a
flash of light is to a ship on a dangerous coast; the light reveals the rocks
upon which she nearly struck; it also reveals the safe channel and the course
to the harbour. The Bible performs this double office for all to whom it comes.
It reveals sin; and it discloses the path to a better life. God’s prohibitions
are not restrictions upon life
but protections to it. God’s calls to men are
calls to blessedness.
5. This narrative illustrates the way truth enters a human life and
recreates it.
6. Two reflections.
The book of the law found
I. The results of
losing the law.
1. Knowledge of the truth was lost.
2. True religion passed away.
3. The services of the temple ceased.
4. The sanctuary was polluted.
5. False religion “came in like a flood.” “The land was full of
idols.”
6. “Crimes of violence and deeds of oppression abounded everywhere.”
When man ceases to fear God he begins to hate his fellow-man.
7. “ Immorality was rampant.” Morality does not live without
religion.
8. Misery and final destruction followed.
II. The results of
finding the law.
1. False religion was put away.
2. The people repented and turned to God.
3. The truth was learned.
4. The temple was beautified and opened for services.
5. A measure of mercy was found.
6. The truth was handed down to other ages.
Miscellaneous lessons:
1. Temple and services are vain without the truth.
2. Those who seek to serve God discover his will
3. When men desire to do wrong they hate the Word of God.
4. The Bible will survive all efforts of man to destroy it.
5. Where leaders set an example of piety the people follow.
6. Sin
vice
misery
and destruction come where the truth is not
possessed.
7. If the times are bad we should hold up the law of God.
8. The Bible is a lost book to those who
(a) neglect it;
(b) disbelieve it;
(c) disobey it.
9. Every child should own
read
and love the Bible.
10. One can be loyal to God amid the most opposing surroundings.
11. One’s course in childhood generally determines what the youth and
manhood will be.
12. The world greatly needs the services of children and men and
women of righteousness. (J. E. Jacklin.)
Josiah and the newly found law
I. The discovery
of the book of the law. We see here--
1. A striking instance of the indestructibleness of God’s Word. It
has a charmed life.
2. That honest efforts after reformation are usually rewarded by
clearer knowledge of God’s will. If Hilkiah had not been busy in setting wrong
things right
he would not have found the book in its dark hiding-place. We are
told that the coincidence of the discovery at the nick of time is suspicious.
So it is
if you do not believe in Providence. If you do
the coincidence is
but one instance of his sending gifts of the right sort at the right moment.
3. That the true basis of all religious reform is the Word of God.
The nearest parallel is Luther’s finding the dusty Latin Bible among the neglected
convent books. Faded flowers will lift up their heads when plunged into water.
The old Bible
discovered and applied anew
must underlie all real renovation
of dead or moribund Christianity.
II. The effect of
the rediscovered law. If a man will give God’s Word a fair hearing
and be
honest with himself
it will bring him to his knees. No man rightly uses God’s
law who is not convinced by it of his sin
and impelled to that self-abased
sorrow of which the rent royal robes were the passionate expression. The first
function of the law is to arouse the knowledge of sin
as Paul profoundly
teaches. Without that penitential knowledge religion is superficial
and
reformation merely external.
III. The double-eyed
message of the prophetess. Josiah does not seem to have told his messengers
where to go; but they knew
and went to a very unlikely person
the wife of an
obscure man
only known as his father’s son. Where was Jeremiah of Anathoth?
Perhaps not in the city at the time. This embassy to Huldah is in full accord
with the high position which women held in that state
of which the framework
was shaped by God Himself. In Christ Jesus “there is neither male nor female
”
and Judaism approximated much more closely to that ideal than other lands did.
Huldah’s message has two parts.
1. The confirmation of the threatenings of the law.
2. The assurance to Josiah of the acceptance of his repentance and
gracious promise of escape from the coming storm.
These two are precisely equivalent to the double aspect of the
gospel
which completes the law
endorsing its sentence and pointing the way of
escape. (A. Maclaren
D.D.)
The Scriptures found and searched
I. The bible lost.
1. It is lost to nations. Sometimes kings and governments forbid its
circulation.
2. In communities where it freely circulates in the vernacular of the
people--by misconstruction
false teaching and disregard.
3. It is lost to individuals by the way they treat it. How many a man
suffers the Bible to lie in his home unused
dust-covered
like the sacred roll
in the Temple
until it be almost forgotten! How many cast it away because it
reproves them as it reproved the wicked kings of Judah!
II. Degeneracy
inevitable without it. The Word of God is the great source and conservator of
moral life and health. It is
sunlight to the moral world. It is the invigorating element in the moral
atmosphere. No more surely do plants grow pale without sunlight
or animal life
grow feeble without oxygen
than all that makes a worthy life in man
individual or collective
wanes and fails when deprived of the Word of God. How
true was this of Judah! When the Word of God was lost
the nation sunk rapidly
into wickedness and consequent weakness. False religion ran riot. The smoke of
incense to heathen gods filled the land. The consciences of the people were
debauched. And whenever the Word of God has been lost by prohibition or
neglect
the downward tendency of national life has been marked. Other elements
of strength may have withstood it
and
for a time
upheld with seeming success
the fabric of state. But
the best elements being wanting
degeneracy and
feebleness sooner or later inevitably appear. But illustrations of the matter
under consideration are more open to observation in regard to communities.
Whenever the Word of God is not set on high
and honoured as the arbiter in
morals
the teacher in religion
and the guide in life
there wickedness and
vice will prevail. But individual life furnishes the best illustration. Without
the word of God abiding in the mind and regnant in the life
deterioration in
all things good certainly supervenes. Take out of a man’s life the distinctive
truths of the Divine revelation
and he is utterly exposed. Every avenue of his
being is open to temptation. He will surely run down
sink to a lower plane
and ordinarily to a plane lower and lower the longer he lives. How many parents
weep over sons and daughters tarnished
degraded
lost
because they would not
heed the voice of God!
III. Its effect when
found.
1. In the case of Josiah
it was astonishment. That such a book
should have existed
stating so clearly the Divine will
so full of
denunciations against the sins of the land
filled him with amazement. This is
natural and legitimate. Only let men to whom the Bible has been lost wake to the
solemn reality that its statements are everlasting truth
and that they will
hold with unrelaxing energy in life
in death
and in eternity
and amazement
must overwhelm them. “Is it possible that these things are true and I have not
realised them?”
2. Another effect was to set him to earnest study. God was speaking.
It was necessary for him to know what was said that he might order his conduct
accordingly. Investigation of the Bible follows naturally a realisation of its
nature.
3. Another result was to awaken anxiety. Study of the “book of the
law” revealed his true condition. And so it is always. The Bible does not
create the facts of our existence
but it does reveal them. In it we see our
necessities and our danger. The past is marked with sin
the present full of
corruption; the future forbidding
through fear of coming doom.
4. Again
the Bible found leads to repentance and reformation. How
thorough was it in the case of Josiah! How deeply he deplored the sins of the
land
how strenuously put them away! So it is always. It shows men what they
are
and what they have done. It reveals the intensity of their sinfulness and
the multitude of their sins. New thoughts
new desires
new affections
new
purposes dwell within; new conduct
new habits mark the external life. And the
same thing occurs in a wider field. Communities are waked to newness of life by
finding the Bible. All this is true of tribes and nations. Many are the nations
which have been revolutionised by it in the past
and it is doing the same to-day.
Freedom of conscience attends the Bible
and civil liberty follows close
behind. The Bible is the charter of the world’s hope and the mainspring of its
reformation. How sad is the thought that to so many of our race there is no
Bible! (Monday Club Sermons.)
Finding the book of the law
1. Many precious things are found when we set to work at repairs. Try
to remove the dust from old sanctuaries of life and memory
and see what you
will light upon.
2. How one good thing leads to another. First “walking in the way of
the Lord”; then interest in the house of the Lord; then the book found.
3. The connection between pecuniary integrity and the Divine
blessing. When they brought the money they found the book.
4. How many old things are new to us when we are in trouble and
distress of mind.
5. The age of sixteen is a time of his life which no man ever
forgets.
6. Devotedness to God at sixteen is so great a step in the life of a
youth that it cannot be alone; you must make another onward into the sphere of
spirit and of life.
7. God always finds some work to do for those who are His.
8. There is no deeper distress possible to us than that which pierces
us in the discovery of our enmity to God. (B. Kent
M.A.)
The loss of the Scriptures
Consider what we should lose if we were to part with the Christian
Scriptures
and with all the institutions and blessings for which we are
indebted to them.
I. We should lose
the knowledge of the true god. Mankind needs a book to keep alive in the earth
the knowledge of a spiritual and personal God.
II. We should lose
sooner or later our institutions of benevolence.
III. We should lose
our institutions for popular education. Popular education is of Bible origin.
Other than Christian religions build themselves on the ignorance of the masses.
IV. We should lose
sooner or later our institutions of civil liberty. History shows that the great
charter of freedom in the world is the Word of God. The great free nations of
the earth are the great Christian nations. (A. Phelps.)
Verse 27
Because thine heart was tender.
The tender heart
We see that waters of the same colour have not the same nature and
effect
for hot waters are of the same colour with plain ordinary waters
yet
more effectual; so the words of man coming from a man may seem at first to be
the same with others
yet notwithstanding
the words of God coming from the
Spirit of God carry a more wonderful excellency in them even to hearts of
kings. Therefore Huldah speaks to the king
“Thus saith the Lord
” etc.
Josiah in uprightness sends to inquire
and the Lord returns him a full and
upright answer. Whence we may learn--
I. That God doth
graciously fit prophets for persons
and His word to a people that are upright
in their hearts. Where there is a true desire to know the will of God
there
God will give men sincere prophets that shall answer them exactly. But those
that are false-hearted shall have suitable teachers
who shall instruct them
according to their lusts. If they be like Ahab
they shall have four hundred
false prophets to teach falsehood to please their lusts (1 Kings 22:6); but if they be Davids
they shall have Nathans. If they be Josiahs they shall have Huldahs and
Jeremiahs. God commended Josiah because his heart was tender. A tender heart
is--
1. Sensitive.
2. Pliable.
3. Yielding.
II. That it is a
supernatural disposition of a true child of God to have a tender
soft
and a
melting heart. All by nature have stony hearts in respect of spiritual
goodness. Say what you will to a hard heart
it will never yield. A hammer will
do no good to a stone. It may break it in pieces
but not draw it to any form.
So to a stony heart all the threatenings in the world will do no good. You may
break it in pieces but never work upon it. It must be the Almighty power of
God. All that are gracious must of necessity have soft hearts.
III. Therefore i
will show--
1. How a tender heart is wrought. It is made tender by Him who made
it (Ezekiel 11:19).
1. God through the use of means softens it by His Word
in producing
apprehension of judgment.
2. It is wrought by an apprehension of tenderness and love in Christ.
Many say that an adamant cannot be melted with fire
but by blood. I cannot
tell whether this be true or no; but I am sure nothing will melt the hard heart
of man but the blood of Christ.
3. When the heart is made tender by the Spirit
many things will work
tenderness.
2. How it may be preserved and maintained.
8. How it may be discerned from the contrary. By applying of the soul
unto objects--
(a) Its threatening (Isaiah 66:2; 2 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Peter 3:11); its promises
its
directions (Isaiah 6:8; Psalms 27:8).
Conclusion:
1. What an excellent thing a tender heart is (Isaiah 57:15).
2. It fits a man for the end for which he was created. The service of
God.
3. It is fit for any blessedness. It is capable of any beatitude.
4. Consider the wretched state of a heart that is not tender
and
will not yield. (R. Sibbes.)
A tender heart
I. Give a general
account of a tender heart. It implies--
1. A quick and ready sense and feeling in spiritual things.
2. A pliable disposition to yield to Divine influences.
II. Describe the
way in which such a temper should express itself.
1. In relation to the Word of God. A man of religious tenderness of
spirit will--
2. In relation to sin.
3. In relation to providential events.
4. In relation to the honour of God.
III. What foundation
is laid for such a temper in Christianity.
1. The rule of our faith and practice is more complete.
2. The recompenses of the life to come are more fully revealed to us.
3. Richer discoveries of grace are made to us.
4. Ceremonials have given way to substantials of religion.
5. The softening spirit is more plentifully communicated.
IV. Inferences.
1. Discern the differences between a truly Christian temper and some
things mistaken for it. It is not--
2. Let us all seek after and cultivate this tenderness of spirit.
3. If conscious of its possession
take the comfort of it as good
evidence of a renewed and Christian state. (J. Evans
D.D.)
And thou didst humble
thyself.
Self-humbling
I. The acceptable
act.
1. It was a real and personal act.
2. It was voluntary. “Thou didst humble thyself.”
3. It was a sincerely devout act.
4. It was a very deep and thorough one.
II. Reasons for
imitating it.
1. A deep sense of sin
its heinousness and the punishment it
deserves.
2. Our origin and our end.
3. The sovereign grace which has made us to differ.
4. The greatness of God.
5. The life and death of Christ.
III. The encouraging
results which followed.
1. Humiliation will often avert judgment.
2. It always brings a positive blessing with it.
3. It will improve our spiritual health.
4. It promotes our usefulness.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The art of self-humbling
I. That it is a
disposition not unbefitting kings to humble themselves before God.
II. That the
actions of grace are reflected actions. They begin from a man’s self
and end
in a man’s self. Yet we must not exclude the Spirit. For the further expression
of this humbling of ourselves before God
we will consider--
1. The kinds and degrees of it.
(a) Humiliation in the mind in regard of judgment and knowledge
when
our understandings are convinced
that we are as we are.
(b) Affections of humiliation
shame
sorrow
fear.
2. Some directions how we may humble ourselves
3. The motives to move us to get this humiliation.
4. The notes whereby it may be known.
(a) In a serious purpose and resolution not to offend God in the least
kind.
(b) There must be a constant endeavour to avoid the occasions and
allurements of sin.
(c) There must be a hatred and loathing of sin in our confessions (Psalms 51:4).
The art of mourning
“Rending of clothes” was a thing frequently used in old times
and it was a visible
representation of the inward sorrow of the heart (Job 1:20; Job 2:12; Acts 14:14; Mark 14:63; Isaiah 37:1). It was frequently used
among the heathen also. Observe--
I. That the body
and soul must join together in the action of humiliation.
II. That when God
will afflict or humble a man
it is not a kingdom that will save him.
III. That tears and
mourning for sin
when it comes from inward grief
is a temper well befitting
any man.
IV. That it
concerns magistrates above all others
to take to heart any danger whatsoever
that is upon their people.
V. That it is the
duty of every Christian to take to heart the threatening of God against the
place and people where he doth live.
VI. That God takes
a particular notice and understands the prayers we make unto Him. God hears our
prayers
because--
1. He is gracious and merciful.
2. He is our Father.
3. He has promised to do so (Psalms 50:15).
4. They are the motions of His own Spirit (Romans 8:26-27).
5. They are offered up in the name of a Mediator.
6. They are made according to His will.
Conclusion: If we would have God hear us
then--
1. Let us hear God as Josiah did.
2. Our prayers must proceed from a broken heart.
3. We must add to them the wings of love
faith
hope and
earnestness
as Josiah did here.
4. Let us have such a resolution and purpose of reformation like
Josiah’s. (R. Sibbes.)
Verse 28
Behold
I will gather thee to thy fathers.
The saint’s refreshing
I. That God takes
notice of every good thing His children do and rewards them for it even in this
life.
II. How the Spirit
of God in common matters doth raise up the soul to think highly of them. It
sweetens death with the phrase of “gathering.”
III. That death is
nothing but a gathering.
IV. That the
changes of God’s children are for the better.
V. That burial is
a comely and honourable thing.
VI. That death is
less miserable than the ill which a man may live to see in this life
VII. That our times
are in God’s hands.
VIII. That it is the
sight of misery which works the deepest impression.
IX. That those
which be dead in the Lord are freed from seeing of any evil or misery.
X. Another
conclusion
that takes away their invocation of saints.
XI. That the lives
of God’s children do keep back judgment and evil from the place where they
live
and their death is a forerunner of judgment. Because--
1. Gracious men do make the times and the places good where they
live.
2. Gracious men do bind God by their prayers.
XII. That the evils
which we suffer are from the evil of sin.
XIII. That God will
give good men faithful servants that shall deal faithfully with them. The
messengers dealt faithfully with Josiah.
XIV. That the care
of the commonwealth and of the Church is a duty.
──《The Biblical Illustrator》