2 Chronicles 34: Serving the Lord
Saturday, November 4, 2023
Leonaert Bramer: The Scribe Shaphan Reading the Book of the Law to King Josiah
A Favorite from October 10, 2009.
Several years ago we looked at a portion of this chapter in which we see the story of a leader and a people who come back to Yahweh, back to a life of honesty and integrity. Here is the brief reflection.
2 Chronicles 34:14 to the end – This is where the young king Josiah ushers in reforms after the corruption which causes the Jewish kingdom to be invaded. They find the book of the law left with them by Moses and this young king realizes how derelict he and his people have been. He tries to make reparations and is rewarded with a new covenant.
We might think about how we try to balance making reparations without enabling people to continue bad behavior. It is such a tight-wire walk.
The tight-wire is the razor’s edge we call living a life in Christ. Nepotism, a coveting of power, and a desire to live life as we see best rather than as God sees, always leads to downfall. Downfall often leads to exile. Return from exile is a gift sometimes granted by God; and we ought not miss the opportunity it brings us to reform, transform and restore.
Josiah cleanses the temple. He and the people weep as they hear the law read out which ought to govern their lives; they acknowledge that they have strayed. They work faithfully to restore the structures of the temple that housed the God who chose to live with them. They put aside their desire for comfort, they turn away from a life in which they idolized themselves, and they renew their covenant agreement with God.
The tight-wire walk re-commences, and a people once lost in themselves returns to serve the Lord.
Image from: http://jesselatour.blogspot.com/p/the-bible-book-report.html
The Noontimes 