The results of habit: JosiahHistory. Hezekiah had been a good king, but his son was not. That son Manasseh reigned for 35 years, perhaps longer than any other Judean king. Practices, rituals and habits under him became the norm and were accepted. He was bad, put idols all round what was left of the temple Solomon had built about 400 years before. When he died the officials had a rebellion and the heir only lasted two years as king, before they assassinated him. That left a boy of eight called Josiah to become king of a disorganised state that had forgotten God. The story that followed is repeated almost verbatim in our bibles in Kings and Chronicles, so it might be important. This boy, Josiah, took time to find out what was happening. He was probably at school with a lad called Jeremiah who was a great and wise thinker. We are told that Josiah had a “tender heart”.<br>Do good. When Josiah was sixteen his school must have told him about history and what David had done in setting up the state. So he gave orders to start clearing out the idols, to cut down and smash the Asherah poles not only in Jerusalem but also in the surrounding settlements. In the temple they found and threw out many old things and intricate images. Some of the scrolls looked interesting and they kept them and some of the educated priests started to read them. Josiah was not a bad boy and got rid of many of the bad things, but he was not yet doing many of the good things. One of the first good things he did was to use up some of the tax money to pay craftsmen to repair the temple and clear out some of those back rooms where ornaments and valuable things given in lieu of tax were stored. Lots of good works, and he was still only twenty four years old.<br>Think good. It was in these back rooms that they found some old scrolls (books to us) and they started to read them. Dr Whyte says in his commentary that without Josiah’s spring cleaning we may not have heard about the creation, the exodus or even Moses and the ten commandments as these scrolls could have been the only copies of all the first five books of our bibles. Modern scholars teach that the “Book of the Law” that they had found was our book Deuteronomy. The word Deuteronomy means “repetition or copy of the law”. The book summarises the commandments and forecasts disaster on those who ignore it. They had found Moses’s records of the start of their nation and what God had done for them by bringing them out of slavery in Egypt and into the fertile land where they were now. They were so excited that they went and read it all to king Josiah. He seems to have been ignorant of what God had done for them in the past and he made the sign of great drama by “rending his clothes”. (This was probably only his royal robe, so don’t worry). Not content with being sorry, he decides to so something and tells the High Priest and his aides to find a wise woman and pray for him. They go for advice to a wise woman or prophetess. Their prayer is answered when they consult this old lady called Hulda – probably a second cousin to Jeremiah, as she had a reputation of being wise and close to God. She is said to be one of the seven prophetesses mentioned in the Hebrew calendar.<br>Sorry. She was brave and honest. She tells them bluntly that, because the people had turned away from God, all the disasters foretold in the book would happen - but not for some time now that the king was really sorry. King Josiah will have peace if he honours God before the disaster overtakes the nation. “Because you took seriously and responded in humble repentance, tearing your robe in dismay and weeping before me, I am taking you seriously. I’ll take care of you. You won’t be around to see the doom I am going to bring on this place and people.” That was God’s message from Hulda.<br>Acts good. Just being sorry was not good enough. Now Josiah acts. He assembles all the people and reads this “book of the law” in public. They too are excited and take it to heart and commit themselves to obey the rules. These are not just the ten commandments, but also some detailed principles for living. Actions are dramatic. There were a lot of habits to break. They broke down the shrines and altars which had been built for the “vile and detestable” deities. One was even where they had sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. (Was a kiln worse than the pill?) The quarters for the male prostitutes were knocked down. Then Josiah immediately calls all the people together to celebrate the Passover feast – that was in memory of when those who trusted and obeyed then survived when escaping Egypt. (now our modern Communion). Temple worship is restarted with a feast that Josiah provided. Everything was done properly, as in the rules Moses had recorded in the scrolls. Josiah led a reformation. There are said to be over 100 references to and quotes from Deuteronomy in the New Testament, many by Jesus Himself. The reformation petered out within a few years of Josiah’s death and the old habits started again.<br>Lessons. The country had been politically stable but religiously devoid. Jesus quotes the Old Testament to explain about Himself. Jesus says it is now by faith we are saved, not just by keeping rules The Epistles are full of references to “the law”. Would we have reacted in the same way when hearing Deuteronomy or even the whole Pentateuch read out? What do we learn from Moses and those other old ones? Do we ever take notice of old ladies’ opinions? Or even from Josiah? Being sorry. Prayer. Making decisions. Taking action. Persisting. The people didn’t. They were back to their rituals within a few years. Habits die hard. Leadership is needed. Josiah died in 606 BC and his reforms were soon ignored. What should have been done to prevent this retrogression away from God? Would a suitable leader have made any difference? Should Josiah have been training leaders? What are the qualities of a good leader? Was Josiah’s reformation based on fears rather than love? Is a Trump-like imposed approach to change destined to be temporary? Nine years later in 597 the Babylonians “resettled” those with potential to Babylon (Daniel was among them). The remnant still had not learned and revolted. So the Babylonians came back in 595 to devastate the temple, Jerusalem and the country. Hulda was right. It was a long time before the city was resettled. See Haggai and other minor prophets. .<br>Sources: Bible: 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, Josephus, commentaries and of course, Google.<br>Bob<br> <br><br>
Naaman, a discovery and a resolution The bible does not only record the history of Israel. This incident is the humbling of an important and successful commander in Syria, one of Israel’s main enemies. Syria was at the junction of the North, South and East trade routes and was prosperous. It picked off neighbouring fertile lands at will, including Samaria, and of course took prisoners. The Syrian army commander was a bloke called Naaman who was popular and very important. But he had leprosy. This is a disfiguring disease and usually fatal. Sufferers were excluded from society. One of the prisoners taken from Israel was a bright young girl and she was appointed as a maid to Naaman’s wife. She told her mistress about the “prophet” in Israel called Elisha whose god could heal. With the backing of the Syrian king, Naaman immediately sets off with a huge reward in gold and silver and ten new suits for the puppet king of Samaria and asks to be introduced to this prophet he had heard of. This incident deals with the pride that he had and probably was not aware of and then a good resolution. There are a number of other incidents recorded about Elisha which we may look at one day Panic. The Israeli king in Samaria thinks Naaman’s visit is an excuse or even challenge for war. Elisha only hears about this by chance and sends a message to Naaman that if he wants to be healed, he should go and bathe in the local river Jordan. Not just a single dip, but a complete bath seven times over. Naaman is incensed as he thought Elisha should have done a proper diagnosis and then waved his hands about or something and anyway his local mountain rivers were much cleaner than Jordan was in those days. This prophet man did not even come out to see him but just sent a message. He goes away in a temper. (Wouldn’t you?) Luckily, he had some sensible people with him who pricked his pride and told him to give the humble wash a try instead of formal ablutions just in case the preacher was right. Results. Naaman the honoured commander decides to try the humble treatment and discovers that he is healed of his leprosy. He tries to reclaim his dignity and offers the gifts that he has brought to Elisha, but Elisha refuses to take anything. Naaman has recognised that God is God and only asks for a load of local soil. This request may seem a bit odd until you realise that the common belief at that time was that a god could only be worshipped on the soil of the nation where that god was recognised. In other words, Naaman is declaring publicly that he believes that God is the real God and so he asks for forgiveness for when he has to take part in official religious rituals in Syria. Elisha accepts this. Fair is fair. Gehazi, Elisha’s servant who usually struggles to support his master, sees this huge fortune being taken away and returned with no benefits to Elisha. So he decides to run after Naaman and comes out with a lovely story that they had just had a visitor with a need for charity and could he spare just one of the talents. Then comes one of my favourite verbatim quotes from the Bible when food is being handed round when Naaman says “Be content, take two”. Gehazi accepts the two talents and the new suits offered and takes them home and hides them. Next time he goes in to see Elisha he is asked where he has been and denies ever going out. Elisha tells him that he has seen where he went and tells him in no uncertain terms that Naaman’s decision and cure could not be bought with money and Gehazi himself immediately displays the symptoms of leprosy. Lessons. This story is one of several apparently stand-alone incidents about Elisha. It shows that God is not just for the in-crowd (the Israelites) as Naaman was an enemy to Israelites. He fought them and took prisoners – one of which told him about Elisha. Then Naaman is proud, too proud to wash in the inferior stream. Next his servants “advised” him to obey this apparently unhygienic and humbling action. He did it. It must have taken some courage and it worked. Elisha’s apparent approval for Naaman to participate in the rituals of idolatry seems at first sight to be contrary to the teachings of the likes of Daniel, Amos and of course, Paul. What do you think? Some things may be insignificant. See the full story in 2 Kings chapter 5. Conclusions. Naaman first made a fearsome discovery. He was a leper. He was one of the most successful army commanders of the time, greatly honoured and rewarded. But he was a leper. He had to forget his pride to make a desperate resolution. An interviewer once asked Sir James Simpson. “What was your greatest discovery?”. “That I was a sinner and that Jesus Christ is my saviour” replied that brilliant chemist and obstetrician. Sir James whose discovery of the use of chloroform mitigated the pains of so many people and enabled operations to take place saving people from agony. What a benefit to society. Naaman’s similar discovery and resolution effected his recovery from leprosy where he also found God to his great benefit. Naaman kept his word and did not attack Israel, but his replacement did attack which led to perhaps one of the most extraordinary victories recorded both in contemporary documents and in the Bible.
Joseph’s dilemma Hello, my name is Joseph. Things are going well at present. Lots to look forward to and no real worries. I’d got quite a profitable little business going and what’s more I’d got this very pretty girl friend called Mary. And even better her father has agreed that we can get married. So we are officially engaged.Then to my horror she told me she was pregnant. What are her parents going to say? Will customers keep coming to the business? I think I had better cancel the engagement because she must have been with someone else when I was not looking. I had thought she was a nice girl, but how could she do this to me?That night I could not get to sleep for worry. I kept turning over and thinking. At last I must have gone to sleep because I had a very vivid dream. This person was talking to me in the dream. He seemed to know all the things I had been thinking. He told me not to be afraid. Mary had not been with someone else but that something he called the “Holy Spirit” had made it happen. That was why she was pregnant. Then he went on to say that it would be a son and we have got to call him Jesus or something because he would save his people from their sins. Well, her being pregnant seemed something like sin to me, but the dream was very real and must mean something.I was still a bit doubtful. Then Mary told me that she too had seen an angel like person who had told her that her pregnancy was “good news”. He had gone on about thrones and reigning and a permanent kingdom. He even said nothing was impossible with God. She was totally confused because she knew we had not done anything together to get her in that state, but the angel told her about her relative too so the message must have some truth. That old relative of mine, Zechariah, had had a vision of an angel who went and made him dumb for a while because he had not believed what he had been told. His old wife Elizabeth was going to have a baby at last. He said to us afterwards that it was so extraordinary that he thought he had been dreaming. So we went to see Elizabeth who seemed to know all about us without our saying anything. This was such a relief to Mary that she quoted Hannah’s song of praise and thanks when she found she was pregnant a thousand years before. Mary knew the old songs by heart although she did change some of the words.Then disaster. We had been living up North and the government told us we had to go and register for a census in Bethleham. Now that was three day’s journey away and we did not know where we could stay when we got there. Still we had to go. My fears were quite right. No rooms anywhere. The best I could find was a sort of barn where they kept animals, but at least it was warm and dry. Then even more problems because we had thought we would only be there for a day or so, but you know what these bureaucrats are like and they kept us waiting for days.Perhaps it was the effects of the journey or the accommodation or even bad food, but Mary started complaining about tummy ache. That really was the last thing we wanted because it might be the baby coming. It was. Panic. If I were a bit later I would have rung 999 or even 111 and got a midwife. But I did not know anyone here and there was no one to help. What midwife would allow a baby to be born in that messy place? Who knew anything about deliveries in a stable?Well the baby came. It was a boy, so that bit was right. It was still pretty dark so we were working by just a single candle. It wasn’t half messy. We found some bits of cloth to wrap him in, but even they were none too clean. I had just got him feeding when a group of rough looking blokes came in. They said they were shepherds and I thought, good, if anyone knows about deliveries in the open, they do. Perhaps lambs are similar to humans. Relief, as they found some better bits of cloth to wrap him in. They knew where to find some clean hay for a bed and things began to look up. What really shook me was when things had quietened down a bit and they started talking. They too had seen angels or something who had told them exactly where to find us and, wonder of wonders, this baby was the Christ who we had been taught about at school.Those shepherds were a real help. They went out and told lots of people about the angels and the baby. Soon we were offered a house to stay in until we had to take the baby up to the temple to obey the rules. So while waiting for the census and about a month after the birth we went the five miles up to the temple in the capital city. We could not afford the regulation lamb so made do with a couple of pigeons instead. Now imagine our surprise when an old bloke there grabbed the baby and started off praising God and even saying he “could now die peacefully as he had seen our baby who he said would save people”. Not to be outdone an old woman came over and said almost the same things. Now I was really confused. They had said wonderful things about our baby and that was nice, but we had no money to pay the rent and even buy food.Now came one of those extraordinary things. We must have been in that house for several years for the census and getting the baby organised and worrying about money. Then one day there was a clattering outside and when I looked out there were some important looking people asking for us. They said a new star, a comet actually according to Chinese history, had appeared and had led them to the house so they knew where we were. They had been going for nearly two years. Money? They gave us gold as well as some precious spices which we could sell on for enormous profit. Another thing surprised me as they addressed the baby first and Mary and me afterwards as if the baby were more important than us. Where they had come from I do not know but it was certainly somewhere foreign. Now I thought I could really settle down except that night I had another dream. This was not a good one as it was a warning to emigrate.Well, we had some money now and set off that very evening. We went South for several hundred miles until we came to a country where I thought I could find work and a house. We stayed there for quite some time. Then I had another one of those dreams and this one was much nicer. We could go back home. When we got there I heard that all the young children had been killed in the village where the baby had been born just after we left, so that was another dream that had worked out well for our baby but not for the village. We cried over that for a while. Was it no coincidence that the king man who ordered the killing himself died soon after?With the capital those travellers had given us we were not too badly off now and the business was going quite well. The baby grew and was healthy and seemed very bright. Mary had more children now and I knew these were mine. Both James and Jude had a great love for their elder brother Jesus. Rules are rules and so we went up to the temple every year for the festival. Lots of us went from the village and the practice was for all the men to go first and women and young children to come on behind. Well, when Jesus was twelve I thought he was coming back with the women but Mary had thought he was with me, as twelve was the age he could come with the men. It was not till we had walked all day that we realised he was not with us. Panic again and a rush back. There we found him sitting with the official teachers, not just listening to them but asking them questions. And not only asking questions but answering as well. Even the teachers were amazed at his understanding. We quietly took him home and of course told him off for not coming with us. He just smiled and suggested that he had bigger things to do in his life. He even spoke about his “father’s business”. I can see now that was not carpentry or building because I knew I was not his father. He grew and became very popular in the area. He studied a lot and people said he was very wise. I was proud of my wife’s son. Looking back, those dreams had all come true. God was working in every detail of our lives. That first message from the angel to the wife had proved quite right when he had said that nothing was impossible with God.
