May the mumbling commence!
Sometimes, it is just way beyond time to clean
house. King Josiah of Judah found this to
be the case. He made it a clean
sweep. Read from Second Kings chapter
twenty-three:
Josiah tore
down the altars that the kings
of Judah had built on the palace roof above the upper room of Ahaz. The king destroyed the altars that Manasseh had
built in the two courtyards of the Lord's
Temple. He smashed them to bits and
scattered the pieces in the Kidron Valley.
The king also desecrated the
pagan shrines east of Jerusalem and south of the Mount of Corruption, where
King Solomon of Israel had built shrines for Ashtoreth, the detestable goddess of the Sidonians;
and for Chemosh, the detestable god of the Moabites; and
for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. He smashed
the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. Then he
desecrated these places by scattering human bones over them.
The king also tore down the altar at Bethel, the pagan shrine that Jeroboam son
of Nebat had made when he led Israel into sin. Josiah crushed the stones to dust and burned the Asherah pole. Then
as Josiah was looking around, he noticed several tombs in the side of the hill.
He ordered that the bones be brought out, and he burned them on the altar at
Bethel to desecrate it. This happened just as the Lord had promised through the man of God as Jeroboam
stood beside the altar at the festival. Then Josiah turned and
looked up at the tomb of the man of God who had predicted these things. "What
is that monument over there?" Josiah asked.
And the people of the town told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who
came from Judah and predicted the very things that you have just done to the
altar at Bethel!"
Josiah replied, "Leave it
alone. Don't disturb his bones." So they did not burn his
bones or those of the old prophet from Samaria.
Then Josiah demolished all the buildings at the pagan shrines in the towns of
Samaria, just as he had done at Bethel. They had been built by the various
kings of Israel and had made the Lord
very angry. He executed the priests of the pagan shrines on their own altars, and
he burned human bones on the altars to desecrate them. Finally, he returned
to Jerusalem. (Verses 12-20)
Josiah did not contain his actions to Judah. Josiah tore down and desecrated altars
throughout Israel. It was a thorough
house cleaning that did not recognize the boundaries put up between Judah and
Israel/Samaria.
Sometimes much must be torn down to start building again
in a positive way… in a way that will return to the Lord. Let’s find our way to return to our spiritual
Jerusalem… to return to the City of God.
May the Kingdom of Heaven come soon!
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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