Teaching Notes

TH1068: II CHRONICLES

As we move into II Chronicles chapter 34, you can hear the footsteps of the coming judgment fast approaching for the Southern Kingdom of Judah. In fact, judgment was only some 35 years away. The Northern Kingdom of Israel has been in captivity for some 80 years now, as the Assyrians came against them in 721 BC. God brought judgment upon the Northern Kingdom of Israel for their idolatry, and you would think that the Southern Kingdom of Judah would have learned the lesson, but they did not. But before God brings judgment upon Judah, one last spiritual reform will take place under the reign of king Josiah. One last chance for the people to get right with God before He pours out His judgment upon them.

II CHRONICLES 34

VERSES 1-2

1. The Southern Kingdom of Judah had five good kings that brought spiritual reform to the nation as a result of their returning to the Lord and their obedience to His Word. These kings were Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and now Josiah.

VERSE 3

1. Josiah took the throne in Judah when he was only 8 years old. Then, when he turned 16 he began to seek the Lord with all his heart. And as God was working upon his heart, by the time he was 20 years old, he was purging the land of all the false worship that his grandfather Manasseh had started before he got saved, and all that his father Amon had done. They had filled the land with evil and now Josiah is removing all that garbage.

2. The ministry of Jeremiah began in Josiah's 13th year as king, when Josiah was 21 years old. And his ministry continued some 41 years, all the way into the Babylonian captivity. A ministry of speaking the Words of God which the people refused to heed, throwing him in prison and-so-on. They refused to get right with God even though Jeremiah warned them of what was coming.

VERSE 4

1. Josiah wants everyone to know what he thinks of these false places of worship and of those who sacrificed to these gods. So he goes and destroys these places of false worship, grounds them up into dust, and then he takes that dust and pours it over the graves of those who were sacrificing to them. The king led the way in showing what was wrong and what was right. By example, he will led the people back to God.

VERSE 5

1. What Josiah did here was the fulfillment of a prophecy that was made some 300 years earlier, back in I Kings chapter 13. To set the stage for this prophecy, the kingdom was divided, Rehoboam to the south, and Jeroboam to the north. And Jeroboam was concerned that many of his people would go to the temple in Jerusalem, in the south, to worship God, and they would not return to his kingdom in the north because there was no temple, no place of worship. So he makes two golden calves, sets one in Dan and one in Bethel so the people could now go and worship God.

Now we are told in I Kings chapter 13 that "...a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, 'O altar, altar! Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you.'" I Kings 13:1-2. God called Josiah by name 300 years before he was born and Josiah fulfilled this prophecy, just as God had said he would.

VERSES 6-7

1. Josiah's heart was like his great grandfathers, Hezekiah. He not only cleansed the land of Judah, but also went into the Northern Kingdom of Israel, as far as Naphtali, because he wanted all of God's people to get right with the Lord.

VERSE 8

1. Josiah is now 26 years old, and he is going to get the house of God, the place of worship, fixed up. You see, for some 75 years or so it was in disrepair. Manasseh reigned for 55 years and had desecrated the temple. He only turned to the Lord towards the end of his life, and he never fully repaired the temple. Then, his son Amon reigned for 2 years, and he was wicked, doing all kinds of evil before the Lord. Now, 18 years into the reign of Josiah, he is ready to repair the temple.

VERSE 9

1. So Shaphan goes throughout all Judah and Israel collecting money for the restoration of the temple, and when he is finished, he brings the offering to Hilkiah, the high priest.

VERSES 10-13

1. Now this massive temple restoration project begins. They are removing the garbage, repairing that which was broken, and restoring the house of God to a place of worship.

VERSES 14-15

1. It is so easy for something that is precious to get lost in the garbage, and that is what happened to the Word of God. But Hilkiah finds a copy of the books of Moses, the Pentateuch, from Genesis to Deuteronomy.

2. In many churches today the Word of God has been lost in the garbage of this world. That is the philosophies of men, psychology, and-so-on. And Paul the apostle warns us of this foolishness in Colossians 2:8-10 when he says "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." We need to re-discover that which has been lost - THE WORD OF GOD!

VERSES 16-19

1. As the book of the law is read to Josiah, he tore his clothes, why? Because as the Word of God was read, he was convicted in his heart. He understood why judgment had come upon them. As Paul said in Romans 3:20 "Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Josiah rightly recognized that not only did he stand guilty before God, but so did the nation.

VERSES 20-22

1. Josiah wanted Hilkiah and his men to go to Huldah the prophetess, to inquire of God in what they should do next. Their sin was exposed and now they needed direction.

VERSES 23-28

1. Huldah tells them that the judgment of God will come upon them for their wickedness, but Josiah will be spared for his actions. But judgment was going to come. Now that doesn't seem fair. Josiah and the people repented of their sin, why the judgment? Because Josiah and only a few truly repented of their sin, and turned to God. The rest just jumped on board the band wagon and wanted to do what pleased the king. Jeremiah points this our when he says "'And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,' says the LORD." Jeremiah 3:10. You see, it was only a false appearance, for their hearts were far from the Lord. And when Josiah dies, the people will turn from God for the last time before their captivity comes.

2. In Jeremiah chapter 7, God rebukes Judah for her false loyalty. The temple was filled with people, and they felt the temple was their security as they cried out "The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD." That was where their trust was in, not the Lord. How many today trust in the church for their ticket into heaven? But God said in Jeremiah that if you don't trust in Him then "Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit." Jeremiah 7:8.

VERSES 29-33

1. Again, you have to love the heart of Josiah. He could have just kicked back in his lazy boy chair, waiting to go home with the Lord, he was saved. There was nothing he could do to stop the judgment, it was going to come upon the nation. But instead of sitting around, he leads the people by giving them the Word of God and being an example to them. And yes, many did not follow with a loyal heart, but that did not stop Josiah, he forged ahead, doing all he could do, and allowing God to do the rest.

2. In Luke 19:13 Jesus said "...Occupy till I come." That tells me that we are not to sit around but give the people the truths of God from the Word of God. Yes, many will follow after with a divided heart, some will laugh at us, but never stop doing the work that God has called you to do. Be busy doing the work till He comes or you go home to be with Him!

II CHRONICLES 35

VERSES 1-3

1. Just as his great grandfather Hezekiah had done, Josiah was going to re-institute the Passover celebration.

2. For some reason the ark of the covenant was removed from the holy of holies, during a time of apostasy, and now Josiah is having it placed back where it belonged, in the holy of holies.

VERSES 4-5

1. David had organized the priesthood so that once a year, for two weeks, they would serve in the temple. Then at the end of their service they would return home and minister to their people. There were 48 Levitical cities throughout Israel so that no man was more than a days journey from a priest. Solomon also picked up on this and followed his fathers footsteps in organizing the priests. (I Chronicles 24, II Chronicles 8:14).

VERSES 6-7

1. Here we see Josiah give out of his own resources for the sacrifices used in the Passover celebration, and the other sacrifices that were being offered. He gave 30,000 lambs and young goats for the Passover (Exodus 29:38-45), and 3,000 of cattle for the fellowship or thank offerings (Leviticus 3:1-5).

VERSES 8-9

1. Now the spiritual leaders give to the people, as Josiah had done. How many times do you see that happen today? Not to often. You tend to see spiritual leaders taking from the people, looking to gain from them instead of being a servant to them. Listen to the indictment in Ezekiel 34:1-4. We read "And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.'" Why was God so angry with the spiritual leaders? Because they were feeding on the sheep, and they should have been feeding and caring for the sheep. They did not have the heart of a shepherd, but a hireling, who is only interested in self!

VERSES 10-13

1. As they celebrate the Passover they eat their meal quickly, just as they did in Egypt during the first Passover. In Exodus 12:11 we read "And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover."

VERSES 14-15

1. I love what they do here. The priests, the worship people, the gatekeepers, were so busy that they did not get a chance to partake of this meal, so the Levites prepared a meal for them and brought it to these men. That is a servants heart. To many times, because of our position, we like to lord over the people, and have people take care of us, minister to us. But in Mark 10:45 Jesus said "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

VERSES 16-19

1. This Passover celebration was even bigger than Hezekiah's!

2. In the next several verses we are going to come to the end of Josiah's life, and I think it was a premature death, as you will soon see.

VERSE 20

1. The year is around 610 BC and the Assyrian empire was on the decline. The city of Nineveh had fallen to the up and coming Babylonians in 612 BC, forcing the Assyrians to concentrate their forces around Haran and Carchemish, in the area of the upper Euphrates River. Egypt also was weak and ineffective by themselves. So Pharaoh Necho is coming to make an alliance with Assyria to fight off the up and coming Babylonians. And Necho will meet these Assyrian forces in the area of Carchemish. Now for some reason Josiah is coming against Pharaoh Necho, trying to prevent him from reaching Carchemesh.

VERSE 21

1. Pharaoh Necho warns Josiah not to get involved in this battle because it did not concern him. In fact, Pharaoh Necho says that God has commanded him to do this, and to get in his way would be coming against God. And if you do get in the way, God is going to destroy you! Now it may seem strange that God would use this pagan king to come against Josiah, but God does use various people to accomplish His work. He called king Nebuchadnezzar His servant. He spoke to Balaam, who was not a Israelite. So don't let that trouble you, God could use a rock if He wanted to, but instead, here He is using Necho.

VERSES 22-24

1. I think Josiah got involved in a situation that God had not called him into, and he died a premature death. And we can take the principle and apply it to our Christian life. There are certain things that are not our concern and we are not to be involved in. And as we fight these battles for others, we come out bloodied and beaten. There is nothing wrong in helping others, but make sure you are doing what God has called you to do, Josiah did not and it cost him his life!

VERSES 25-27

1. Josiah was truly a godly king and yet he had his weaknesses, just as we do. Josiah was still a man, just as we are.

II CHRONICLES 36

VERSES 1-2

1. With the death of Josiah, the people placed Jehoahaz his son on the throne in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. But he only lasted 3 months, as we shall see.

VERSES 3-4

1. As Pharaoh Necho defeated Josiah, he now takes control of the kings kingdom. He not only imposed a sort of protection payment on Judah, but he also replaced king Jehoahaz with his brother Eliakim. Now what the victorious kings would do many times is to change the names of the leaders they defeated, as Necho did here. It showed who was in control now. So he changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim, and Jehoahaz is imprisoned in the area of Syria, the land of Hamath.

VERSES 5-8

1. In 606 BC Pharaoh Necho is defeated by the Babylonians, led by their captain, Nebuchadnezzar. On the throne in Babylon was his father Nabopolassar. As the Babylonians are victorious in the battle of Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar gets word that his father, Nabopolassar has died, and now he is the king of Babylon. On the way home he stops in Jerusalem, and he takes captive to Babylon some of the cream of the crop from Judah. The Babylonians would take the best, the most talented, captive and train them to be leaders in Babylon. Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshack and Abed-Nego were taken captive during this first invasion. The Assyrians and the Egyptians are no longer a world power, the Babylonians took that position away from them.

2. We are told in II Kings 24 that Jehoiakim was a vassal king to Nebuchadnezzar for 3 years, before he rebelled against him, and Nebuchadnezzar took him away captive to Babylon.

VERSES 9-10

1. Jehoiachin, also known as Jeconiah and Coniah, is now king in Jerusalem, and he too was wicked. Here we see the second deportation to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place in 597 BC. In this invasion many of the temple implements were taken and more of the people were deported to Babylon. Also Jehoiachin is taken away captive to Babylon. We are told in II Kings 24:13-14 of this time. We read "And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house, and he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said. Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land."

2. Now his uncle, and the son of Josiah is on the throne, his name is Zedekiah.

VERSES 11-12

1. It is at this point that Jeremiah the prophet is crying out that it is all over, don't fight against the Babylonians, for this is of God. In Jeremiah 21:3-10 we see the words he spoke concerning this time. We read "Then Jeremiah said to them, 'Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the walls; and I will assemble them in the midst of this city. I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath. I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. 'And afterward,' says the LORD, 'I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword. He shall not spare them, or have pity or mercy.' Now you shall say to this people, 'Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be as a prize to him. For I have set My face against this city for adversity and not for good,' says the LORD. 'It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.'" The tragedy is that no one wanted to listen to his repeated warnings of judgment and they tried to rebel against Babylon, which God said would be a foolish thing to do.

VERSES 13-16

1. At this point the nation is sinking deeper and deeper into idolatry, becoming more and more wicked, even after the judgment of God has begun. God even tries to warn them over and over again by sending them prophets, but they refused to listen and "mocked the messengers of God." God's long-suffering has come to an end, and the people and the nation had come to the point where "there was no remedy." In Jeremiah 32:1-5 we read "The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, 'Why do you prophesy and say, 'Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face, and see him eye to eye; then he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him,' says the LORD; 'though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed?'"

VERSES 17-21

1. The time is now 586 BC, and the Babylonians make their third and final invasion into Jerusalem, destroying the city, the temple and taking with them the rest of the people, killing many of them. Zedekiah and his sons are captured, and his sons are executed before his eyes. Then the Babylonians put out the eyes of Zedekiah and the last thing he saw before being led away captive to Babylon, was the death of his sons.

2. The Southern Kingdom of Judah was in captivity for 70 years, from 606 BC to 536 BC, because of their idolatry and because they did not give the land its proper rest, as God had instructed them to do. For 6 years they were to work the land and in the seventh they were to let the land rest. God was going to provide enough food for them during that time, but they neglected to obey God's command for 490 years, and thus God was letting the land get its 70 years of rest, the years they were in captivity.

VERSES 22-23

1. The end of II Chronicles shows us the faithfulness of God, as He will once again gather his people into the land. As the Babylonian empire came to an end, and the Medo Persian empire came on the scene, Cyrus is going to let the Jewish people return to the land. And as you read over these verses here in II Chronicles you will see that they are similar to the opening verses in the book of Ezra. Thus, we will continue on in our study as the Jews get ready to return home, but as we shall see next time, not all will return.