Thursday 23rd November 2021
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Section One V1-25 Work Hard to Reform
The king of Judah, Josiah, he wanted a change, he longed to live a upright life, and he wished to make things right. He did a lot of things for God, but sadly he died at a young age of 39 years. Today’s chapter talks about his life and explains the reason that he could not finish well.
V2-3 ‘The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord. Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.’ Everyone went up to the House of God to listen to the teaching of God, Josiah wanted to make things right, he wanted to quickly fix the problems, but he forgot that it was supposed to be the responsibility of the High Priest to read out the Law of Moses to the people.
V25 ‘Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.’ Josiah was young, he was passionate about destroying all the idols, false gods, and their prophets. Everything he did was good, and there had been no king like him. The Bible also acknowledged what he did, so what went wrong?
Josiah was so focused on his ‘doing’ that there was no Work of God in everything he did. Josiah read the Law of Moses, then he carried out everything by himself, he seemed to be following the Law, but where was God in all these? There was also no record of him inquiring from the prophets or the priests. A lot of Christians are passionate about doing this and doing that for God, but when we focus too much on our ‘doing’ we will end up living in legalism. Instead of seeking God, we become self-seeking and attention-seeking. The teachings of the Bible are important, but discipleship is also very important. If we only make Bible a book of knowledge and instructions, then we will always be reading the 2-D Bible. If we want to make Bible 3-D, we must live it out and learn from the lives of others.
For king Josiah, his life is black and white, he wanted to make everything right by his doing. It was not wrong, but when he was carrying out all these things, getting rid of everything and everyone that was unholy but did he give an opportunity for the people to turn back, to stand in the right position, and to make things right? We are all sinners, who receive grace from God. No one is more righteous than another, only God is righteous, He is also merciful and compassionate. Josiah saw the wrongdoings of the people of Judah, he wanted to make things right, but he became self-righteous.
II Kings 22:12-13 ‘Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Michaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”’ The reason behind Josiah’s behaviour was fear, he was afraid of the wrath of God therefore he worked so hard to make things right in order to stop God’s anger to arose upon him.
Section Two V26-30 Wrong in Pridefulness
Josiah was really a king and a ruler, because he controlled everything. But he was not a good leader, because he did everything instead of leading others. God said in II Kings 22:19, ‘because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you.’ Everything Josiah did was for himself, he wanted to make things right, but he did not help the people he was leading. He did not teach, and he did not help the prophets and priests to stand in the right position, and he did not help the people of Judah to receive the same grace and mercy he received. Whatever flow of blessings stopped in him; Josiah did not let the blessings go through him to the people following him.
V29 ‘In his days Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went to the aid of the king of Assyria, to the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho killed him at Megiddo when he confronted him.’ Josiah went to help the king of Assyria that he forgot about God’s prophecy to punish Assyria. He only did what was in the Law of Moses but did not listen to the prophecy spoken by the Prophet of God. Josiah was rebellious, he did not seek God and he overestimated his own ability. David sought God in everything he did in life, but Josiah only sought his own righteousness. He thought he was doing the right thing to draw a line between himself and his forefathers.
Section Three V31-37 Total Loss
Josiah did not seek the prophet or the priests, he went to fight Egypt and ended up being killed. His action also influenced the next generation. V33-34 ‘Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. Then Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and he died there. that the Egypt Pharoah captured his son.’ It was supposed to be God, who appoints the king, not the Pharaoh.
It’s never by our doing, but only by love and mercy, then we can draw closer to the heartbeat of God.
列王纪下 23 – 错在起跑线
2021年11月11日 星期四
潘锡安牧师
约西亚王不希望活在一个得罪神的环境，渴慕活得对，于是他努力做了很多事。然而，约西亚在39岁的时候就过世了，这本是一个充满力量的年纪，为何他却在壮年的时候离开？
一、努力地改革（v.1-25)
约西亚王招聚了犹大所有人来到圣殿，对他们宣讲神的话语，并与神立约。约西亚看见不对的事情就想赶快处理得干干净净，要把所有不对的东西都改成对的。他是一个行动力很强的王，不仅整顿犹大拜偶像的事，甚至还跑到原以色列国的伯特利去拆掉那里的坛。他做这些事的时候才29岁，血气方刚。圣经评价说“在约西亚以前没有王像他尽心、尽性、尽力地归向耶和华，遵行摩西的一切律法，在他以后也没有兴起一个王像他”（V25）。“归向”就是从不对的到对的，人们看到的都是约西亚在做事，而且也是做律法书上的事，然而，神在哪里呢？约西亚是否凡事寻求神呢？
约西亚之前没有看过律法书，现在自己看了，就凭己意去行事，所有人看到的都是约西亚却看不到神、大祭司、或者先知。很多基督徒刚信主的时候心里为主火热，将家里所有的偶像都拆了，甚至过着律法主义的生活。但是，其实我们在主里都是小孩子，需要被人带领和牧养。约西亚的生命是黑白分明的，并非不对，可是他没有给自己或以色列人一个转变的机会，没有让祭司、先知回归他们的身份。约西亚很迅速地处理所有事情，很多人也像他有这种眼里容不下一点沙子的心态，然而，欲速则不达，越着急做事越容易跌倒。约西亚看到的都是祖先不对的地方，但他自己却没有接受教导。他不放过任何一个他觉得不圣洁的东西，用doing的模式来处理问题，将所有人都招来一起立约，不管人是否愿意。耶稣说我们要尽心尽意尽性尽力“爱”主，所以我们为神做的一切事应该是出于爱。约西亚做事背后的动机却是惧怕（王下22:13-14），他害怕神的烈怒像临到列祖一样临到自己。他忘记了，一切事都是从心而发。
二、错在骄傲（v.26-30）
约西亚是一位很会掌控的王，却不是一个好的领袖。“王听见律法书上的话，便撕裂衣服”，先知也对他说，“就是听见我指着这地和其上的居民所说，要使这地变为荒场、民受咒诅的话，你便心里敬服，在我面前自卑，撕裂衣服，向我哭泣。。。。。”（王下22:11,19）约西亚在这里是为了自己，却没有帮助他下面的以色列人，没有兴起祭司、先知来教导众民。他这样在神面前自卑，得到神的饶恕，却没有让下面12个支派一起来领受这份恩典。神的祝福流到他这里就停下来的，他没有让这份祝福流到他所带领的人身上。
V29 约西亚忘记了神借着先知的话说要去惩罚亚述，竟自不量力去“抵挡”埃及。约西亚做了律法书上说的话，却没有听先知的话。他没有凡事寻问，只是自己做王，所以圣经这里只称他是“约西亚王”而不是“犹大王”。约西亚自以为他做的事是对的，我们也常犯同样的错误，想靠着自己读圣经来帮助自己，不想听教会的教导。神给教会权柄，使教会在万有之上，我们若不能顺服地上看得见的权柄，就很难顺服天上看不见的神。约西亚里面有很典型的宗教的灵，以为只有自己领受的和做的才是对的。
三、一败涂地（v.31-37）
约西亚没有寻问祭司或先知就想自己阻止在攻击亚述的埃及，结果一败涂地，影响了自己的下一代，一手摧毁了神本来给他的祝福。埃及法老不仅杀了约西亚，还抓了他的儿子约哈斯，又将他的另一位儿子以利亚敬立为犹大王，并且“给他改名叫约雅敬”。立王这件事本该是神而不是法老来做的，但因为约西亚没有finish well, 一生没有真正的爱神爱人，只想做他觉得对的事，结果落到祸及子孙的下场。
唯有爱和怜悯才能让我们靠近神的心跳，唯有耶稣基督的宝血才能让我们分别为圣。