Old Testament - 2 Kings 23 & 25 - July 17 2022

7/17/2022 – 2 Kings 23-25

2 Kings 23

The sad information in chapter 23 is that after King Josiah had ruled for 31 years, he was killed in a battle. After his death, two of his sons, Jehoahaz and then Jehoiakim, ruled in wickedness and led the people again into idolatry. V 25 describes him: “And like unto him was there no king before him, that 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; neither after him arose there any like him.”

 Why do we, as a people, remember—and keep—the Lord’s laws….why can’t we, as a people, remember the sweet peace that fills our hearts when we work to stay close to the Lord by consciously working to keep His commandments, and by simply working to be a little better in our today than we were in our yesterdays.

President Kimball wrote this in his book Faith Proceeds the Miracle: “My uncle, David Patten Kimball, left his home in Arizona on a trip across the Salt River desert. He had fixed up his books and settled accounts and had told his wife of a premonition that he would not return. He was lost on the desert for two days and three nights, suffering untold agonies of thirst and pain. He passed into the spirit world and described later, in a letter of January 8, 1882, to his sister, what happened there. He had seen his parents. ‘My father … told me I could remain there if I chose to do so, but I pled with him that I might stay with my family long enough to make them comfortable, to repent of my sins, and more fully prepare myself for the change. Had it not been for this, I never should have returned home, except as a corpse. Father finally told me I could remain two years and to do all the good I could during that time, after which he would come for me. … He mentioned four others that he would come for also. …’ Two years to the day from that experience on the desert he died easily and apparently without pain. Shortly before he died he looked up and called, ‘Father, Father.’ Within approximately a year of his death the other four men named were also dead.” 

2 Kings 24-25

The problems multiplied quickly under the wicked reign of Josiah’s sons. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came against Jerusalem carrying many captives to Babylon. Then many other countries came against what was left in Jerusalem the Chaldees, the Syrians, the Moabites, and the Ammonites—all intent on destroying Jerusalem and the people there… and they were horribly successful in their efforts. 

 

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