December 15—Josiah Recovers the Scrolls

The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. 2 Kings 23:3 (Full context: 2 Kings 22, 23:1-30)

Today we examine the life of Josiah, the last good king of Judah. At only eight years of age, he became leader of the nation following the death of his father, Amon. For the last 57 years, both previous leaders—his father and grandfather, Manasseh—had turned away from following God’s laws. Because of this, the nation had drifted back into worshiping idols.

Eighteen years into Josiah’s reign, he’d commissioned the temple’s monetary assets to be distributed to the various laborers to continue the restoration of the temple. While the high priest was collecting the monies, he discovered the scrolls containing the law of the Lord. These scrolls were eventually read to Josiah and he was immediately convicted of Judah’s wrong-doing. He gathered the nation together at the temple and made a covenant, along with all the people, to follow the Lord and all the commands set forth in the scrolls.

One of the many things Jesus did during his brief time on earth was to reveal the truth of God’s kingdom. The Jewish leadership was so threatened by His words that they sought to destroy Him. However, when the truth was revealed to Josiah, he and the nation chose to turn back towards God. When we’re presented with a similar situation in life, will we choose to rationalize our previous actions and continue to ignore the truth, or will we embrace what is right and make the decision to restore our broken relationship, regardless of the consequences?
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~Brian Johnson

​Ornament Credit:  Tracy Patterson