King Josiah - Part 1

The following is a paid program by Zola Levitt Ministries. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. Zola Levitt Presents Considering the times and seasons of our world today, here's Zola Levitt. Shalom, hello again. Our subject tonight is one of my favorite Bible people, King Josiah. I'm saying that in English, his name is Yoshia. And it's very like Yeshua, as you can hear. Both the names pertain to salvation. But I'll keep it in English. Josiah is in 2 Kings 22, if you have your Bible handy. And if you don't, I'm going to warn you. Our subject is when Israel lost the Bible. That's what this amazing couple of chapters are about. And we're going to look into a particularly obscure and difficult period in Israel's history. When Josiah became king. As far as my cancer goes, and I don't want to keep you up to date. I was saying right along that I haven't had any new calling or any new ministry. I've just been ordered to keep my post, and I have. But yesterday, March 30th, I went to the doctor. And we looked at the chemotherapy and radiation treatments I was taking. And they didn't do very well. The disease is progressing. And I do feel a new assignment coming on, and it's to get to heaven pretty soon. So, hey, we'll see you there. And my commander knows I'm wounded, and he's going to take me out of here. So, excuse me. My voice, of course, is not what it would be. I'm sorry for that. But soon we'll all be together. There's no further treatment available for this cancer. Okay, 2 Kings 22, a chapter that begins with the reign of King Josiah. Now, he was only eight years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. You know, the reason is, two bad kings before him, and you can read the chapters before, Manasseh, who was awful. That is awful in the sense of building pagan altars and encouraging all sorts of, you know, pagan worship and so on. I mean, even Solomon had done that back in his time, but this was, God was really mad at this. And finally he died, and his son, Ammon, came to the throne. And God just wouldn't put up with it. He waited two years while Ammon did the same thing as his father. And finally, like Yitzhak Rabin, he was assassinated by his own staff. It says, and the servants of Ammon conspired against him and slew the king in his own house. I don't know how to tell you how rare it is for a Jewish king, and I'm talking about thousands of years, to really be assassinated, but that happened here too. So Desai was a kid, but he was in that line, the line of David, and he took the throne in account of a regency. He was just a kid, but he had helpers. Now, it's refreshing, verse 2, 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 his side to the right hand or to the left. And it came to pass in the 18th year, this is just ordinary business, now he's 26 years old, and that the king sent Shaph and the son of Azaliah, the son of Mishalom, a scribe to the house of the Lord saying, Go up to Hilkiah, the high priest, that he may summon the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered. Let them deliver it to the hands of the doers of the work that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. And he mentions here that there's preachers in the house, the temple was from Solomon's times just a couple of centuries anyway, and more, and they need to simply make repairs unto carpenters and builders and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. Here's a verse you don't see often. Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. They may be pagan, but money transactions, they could be trusted. Now, the shocking verse in his whole lifetime, verse 22-8, And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaph and the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. He found the first five books of the Bible, the book of the law is Deuteronomy, I mean, from Genesis to Leviticus and Deuteronomy and Numbers and all of them, put together somewhere had been lost, somewhere back in the walls. When they went back in there to repair the place, they found a copy of the Bible. Can you beat that? And there's a second shock in the same verse. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaph and he read it. Hilkiah couldn't read. He's a high priest. If the high priest can't read the scriptures, how much attention to scripture is there? But he has a scribe who can read, so he gives it to him. They just take it as some ordinary thing that happened. Shaph and the scribe came to the king and brought the king word again. And he gives a report of the work. First off, the servants have gathered the money, then they delivered it in the hand of them to do the work. And third, he says, verse 10, and Shaph and the scribe showed the king saying, Hilkiah, the priest has delivered me a book. And Shaph and read it before the king. Well, he must have been shocked. He didn't know how a believer acts when something like this happens. It says, and it came to pass when the king had heard the words of the book of the law that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah, the priest, and a bunch of these others to go to a prophetess. He says, go ye and inquire 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 to all that which is written concerning us. Can you imagine some liberal church here that hasn't read the Bible for years? I mean, and this king, oh boy, he catches fire. And they go and inquire of, well, Hilkiah, Achahim, and Achbor, lots of names here, but finally Hilda, the prophetess, the wife of Sheolam, the son of Tekva. This lady is a prophetess. And she said to them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, that's Josiah, Thus 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. Because they have forsaken me and have burned incense unto me and to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of thine hands. Therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place and shall not be quenched. And then about Josiah he says, But to the king of Judah, which sent you to inquire of the Lord, Thus shall you say to him, and he spells out here that he cannot forgive Jerusalem its punishment, but he says, Because thine heart was tender and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, a desolation and a curse, he says, Behold, 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. It's really very dramatic. Okay, we'll be back with some more of this story. You