Jeremiah to 2 Kings

So I opened the bible last night to the start of Jeremiah and I was remembering what I heard a teacher say one time, "Being a prophet was not cool. You think it would be cool, like alright I'm a profit. And then you find out that God wants you to stand in front of all your friends and basically tell them that they've sinned and God is mad and they're about to be taken over, killed, various other gloom and doom. Not such a cool job."

So I started in Jeremiah 1 and in verse 8 when God is calling Jeremiah he says, "Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the Lord. (I have the NIV Quest study bible). So in all fairness the Lord is letting Jeremiah know up front that the job is not going to be great. In verse 16 God really gets to the point, "I will prononce my judgments on my people/ because of their wickedness in forsaking me,/ in buring incense to other gods/ and in worshipping what their hands have made."

At that point study bible said that if I wanted to read about the wickedness Jeremiah confronted to go check out 2 kings 23:4-14 and 2 Chronicles 34:3-7. The first thing I noticed (on the second reading to be fair) in 2 kings 23:4 is that "The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest," So we learn that Jeremiah's padre (you can check it out in Jeremiah 1:1) was the high preist Hilkiah. Everyone else may be smarter than me and already drew that dotted line, but I like to try to remember how everyone is connected. But the king (Josiah) orders this. So then I got curious about Josiah.

From what I can tell (in my ten minute skimming of the Kings (right ahead of chapter 23) Josiah comes on this scene right at the end of chapter 21 in 2 Kings. It's announced that he wil suceed his father (Amon) to the throne. In chapter 22 we learn that he was 8 years old. He reined for 31 years. His momma was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah, she was from Bozkath. Verse 2 is the clincher, "He did what was right in the eys of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father Dvid, not turning aside to the right or to the left."

Google told me that Bozkath is not identified but it in Judah and it is near the lowlands kind of close to the Philistines.

Something interesting happens in verses 3 - 10. Josiah sends his secretary to the high priest Hilkiah to ask him for the money to fix the temple. And Hilkiah gives the money and says to the secretary, "I found the Book of the Law."

The study bible says to me that because there was so much idol worship going on that God's law got lost to everyone but probably the most high preists. So that makes part of me wonder if when the king sent his secretary to the high preist in essence saying. Hey we need some supplies to get things fixed. If Hilkiah was saying, I have the supply you need.

In 11 - 13 the book is read. And we find that Josiah was not aware until the laws were read. That the intent was there, the background knowledge, pit of your stomach, this isn't right, was there. But not the "Oh, this is what is wrong and now we need to fix it."

But Josiah was smarter than that (smarter than me a lot of times) and instead of going in like gangbusters he says, "Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all judah about what is written in this book that has been found." So basically, yeah we're serious broken and we need so much work go inquire of the Lord about what we know. So checking with God for the plan. Seeing that it's not enough that I messed up, but saying. Hi God, forgot your word a bit/ a lot, sin is sin though and I've messed up and I'm not on the right path and it's been pointed out to me, and God show me where the right path is and how I get there."

Now, we're in the old testament. And the God of the old testament is still the God of the new testament. But like I said. We're in the Old testament. So the answer we get back is, "I'm going rein destruction upon you. but because you have repented and torn your robes, you won't see it." And I know God didn't say it, but I just almost hear at the end of that, "kisses."

It's always hard to reconcile the forgiveness we have in Christ to the wrath of the old testament. And what I mean is that the fire and destruction still happen. But we don't see them as much. Christ is taking it. We're not ripping our robes. But we are tearfully approaching the throne in prayer, humbled, asking for forgiveness and guidance. In some ways we're Josiah spared to not see the total destruction and yet aware that it is coming (or has come). I'm not sure the theology on that. I'm not sure if that's the right interpretation. I just kind of put it together tonight reading and thinking. I'm going to pray about it and see if I have it right. That for Josiah the wrath was coming. For us the wrath has passed. Meaning that Christ took our wrath. And that we still must humble ourselves in prayer and seek direction and in this case help. Josiah went to the preists and about three other people and said, seek this out for me. Admiting that it could not be done by him alone. Not just that he needed God but he needed the others help as well. It's something to think about and pray about.

Lord I pray for guidance. Show me the way through your word. Help me to be discerning to see the meaning that you have there for me. Open my eyes to your truth and help me to stay to your path.