#512 Rent is Due

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.

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 aside to the right hand or to the left.

3 And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying,

4 Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people:

5 And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house,

6 Unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.

7 Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully.

8 And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

9 And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord.

10 And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.

12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying,

13 Go ye, enquire 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 unto all that which is written concerning us.

14 So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her.

15 And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,

16 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:

17 Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.

18 But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the Lord, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard;

19 Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.

20 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. 2 Kings 22 KJV

I barely remember being 8, but I suppose the call here is not so much of grooming or maturity, but of the necessity of the line. One may easily imagine that he is more of a poster child, that those who held offices and the court in this time, provided advisement to him as what to say, but they held the power. Being that they were so long in the dark, that we already recognize how fast a society can fall away, one must wonder what sparked his interest in the repair of the temple. It is that time of year  here, Halloween, I see the carved pumpkins and feel the somewhat cooler air, and I am always reminded now of a greater change than the leaves. It was on October 31st that an Augustinian monk added to a conversation, voiced an issue with the Papal state, 95 issues. Matthew Henry puts it well, "the church of Rome could not keep up the use of the images but by forbidding the use of scripture." As they set about to clean and repair the temple, they found a book. They read the book, and rather than filter it, they take it and read it to Josiah, and upon the hearing of the Word of God, he rents his clothes. Oh my God! Look at us, we have not kept the laws of God, and look what those before us have done against Him. Oh Lord, I am in a bad way, I did not know all of these things, I see the way of my fathers was not right. He sends for help, these words are somehow new to them, even to the priest, or the priest only carried a portion in oral tradition, but now it is speaking with authority, straight into the heart of the young king. This is not the occasional word of prophets before going to battle, this is not the advice of someone holding a religious position or claiming spiritual enlightenment, it is God's law. It is that thing that I held up, that mirror that I looked into and began at some point, finally, to have such logic bestowed upon me so as to tremble. This same book that would lay on my coffee table for years, it became that which upon the reading changed who I was, how I lived, I could see, I could hear, changed my outlook upon the world. This is why we teach our children how to read. 

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4: 11-13

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God[b] not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,[c] a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. 2 Timothy 2: 14 -17

Go ask her, what must we do to be saved? He sees the affront of his kingdom to God's holiness, and he wants to know what will come of it, I am expecting that His holiness is also just. This book of the law is also a covenant between our people and the only true God, and we are in breech of this. Huldah tells them, tell the king, God says, I will do what I wrote. He is just. He does hate sin, and this will never change, and He lays out His position clearly and also His judgment. The boy has become a young man now and can see before this that they have worshiped other gods, have made silly idols, burned incense, prayed to, worshiped empty things. But, to the king who sent you to inquire of me, what a brilliant move. You didn't know, now you heard, but you also grieved the error, and the worse error of your fathers. You don't have all the answers, you can't give the people or yourself an answer here, not with any authority. You will have to go outside of yourself and your normal circles. Where does the one who the people look to as a little god go when he does not own the answer? He goes to the real God, where it is known that he is just a man, and what greater epiphany can a man have then his humility. Now listen to Huldah's comforts, the words of God to a broken and humbled man, "because thy heart was tender", Lord take this heart of stone. "Thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord", I am not worthy to be called a son, let me please be your servant. Because you were sincere and had the integrity that was missing in your fathers, I will let you go to the grave in peace. You will be taken up before this calamity. 

 

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18: 9-14