The End of Beginning or the Beginning of the End: II Kings

I finished teaching the book of II Kings this week.  I prefer to teach the New Testament.  However, there are some treasures in the Old Testament narratives.     

Manasseh is the worst of all the kings of Judah and probably Israel.  His reign is the nail in the coffin.  There will be inevitable, irrevocable punishment, exile, and destruction.  He destroyed all the copies of the law (which is why his grandson Josiah is so shocked to find one during his reign).  Tradition says he sawed Isaiah in two (referenced in Hebrews 11).  However, the II Kings narrative says "the rest of his acts are recorded in II Chronicles."  If we look at Chronicles 33:10 we do get the Paul Harvey rest of the story.  I have to wonder if his repentance put off the destruction that came in 609 B.C.  When it says "he was led off by hooks," that is "hooks in his nose, an Assyrian specialty.  

Manasseh's son Amon reigns for two years.  Like Hezekiah, he had the not-so-rare privilege at that time of seeing his father sacrifice his brothers to Molech by burning the, probably alive.  Amon's short reign was relatively pointless, as he didn't choose to change the pattern of his father.  But his son Josiah did.

Josiah starts by doing the right thing.  He knew tradition but not the root of the tradition.  Until the priest, while cleaning out the temple, finds the root.  When he comes in contact with the root of the tradition, the real book of Deuteronomy, he has a radical experience and performs radical obedience, which only happens with an encounter with naked Scripture.  

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     Josiah's s zeal is radical.  We are not in the position to burn down false places of worship, so let’s start with radical obedience in ourselves.  What would change if we were radically obedient in just area of our lives

o   It wouldn’t stop there

o   We would stop making excuse

 
March 9 is the start of Lent.  Lent is not about giving something up.  It is about preparing our hearts for Easter.  It is a 40-day period, which always means testing in the Bible (40 days in the ark, 40 years in wilderness, 40 days for Jesus tempted).  I think it gives us an opportunity to quietly, without making a big deal of it, say to God that in preparing for the most important Holy Day, we are going to not do something so that we can do something.  You can’t say no until you have said yes, to quote Rob Bell (who I will be addressing this week).  Last year I gave up Fox News.  And I have not watched it to the same extent since.  This year I have a plan to fast from Facebook.  
 

What is Josiah’s purpose in this narrative, since the destruction and judgment that were prophesied because of all the other kings’ sins (especially Josiah’s grandpa) isn’t going to change?  Babylon is still coming.  I believe Josiah led the people in a revival so that they would survive the captivity.  We want there to be a revival to save America.  Maybe there will be one.  Maybe instead there will be a revival within the church to prepare us for judgment that we will not be able to stave off. 

Josiah died in 609.  This is the same year that Babylon conquered the Assyrian Empire and took over for about 70 years.  This is the year that Daniel and Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego went to Babylon.  It marks the beginning of the 70 years of captivity that had been prophesied.  This is also the period of time when Jeremiah is staying with the people in Judah who are left.  There will be another deportation twelve years later and another in 586.  So this may be the beginning of the end for Judah, if you look at it one way.  

I prefer to think of it as the end of the beginning.  They are going to come back to the land two more times.  The message here is hope.  I heard a great quote on the radio the other day, a secular source, and I wish I could find it.  But he was explaining the difference between hope and optimism.  Optimism is when things are looking good.  Hope is when things look like they couldn’t possibly get any worse.

We have hope that American will go back to what it was.  That’s not Biblical hope. Biblical hope is not that the Republicans will win in 2012.  Biblical hope is that God will bring real justice to the world, whether here or in eternity, no matter how unjust things look now.

So what happens at the end of II Kings:  After Josiah, there are three more kings:  Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoachin, the last real king.  Zedekiah is a puppet ruler but he rebels against  the king of Babylon, and then Gedaliah is put in charge. Jehoiachin is deported to Babylon but after many year is treated well.  

What happens then, the real rest of the story?  Daniel,  Ezra, and Nehemiah.   Christ.  1948.

Hope is what happens.