Josiah Series

• Despite Josiah's age and background, in the eighth year of his reign (age 16 ), Josiah began to seek the Lord of his ancestor, King David.

• Josiah was a direct descendant of David.

• We do not know what sparked Josiah's interest in following in the footsteps of his ancestor, David, but verse two tells us he did not deviate from that path.

• Moving forward and not backward implies that we do not allow the past to stop us from being used by God.

• It also means not allowing a bad past or heritage to get in the way of moving forward with God.

• At age 16, something within Josiah changed.

• This journey with God led him to begin cleansing Jerusalem of the past 55 years of idolatry and pagan worship when he was only 20 years old!

• How often have we held back because of allowing our past to come back and haunt our future?

• Our past can form us to conform to the past actions we saw.

• Abusers usually come from abusive families.

• Or our past can become a catalyst for growth and change.

• I do not think much was expected from Josiah.

• Josiah proved to be a dark horse.

• Let's look at verses 14-21

2 Chronicles 34:14–21 (NET 2nd ed.)

14 When they took out the silver that had been brought to the LORD’s temple, Hilkiah (HILL KIAH) the priest found the law scroll the LORD had given to Moses.

15 Hilkiah (HILL KIAH) informed Shaphan (SHAY FAN) the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the LORD’s temple.” Hilkiah (HILL KIAH) gave the scroll to Shaphan (SHAY FAN).

16 Shaphan (SHAY FAN) brought the scroll to the king and reported, “Your servants are doing everything assigned to them.

17 They melted down the silver in the LORD’s temple and handed it over to the supervisors and the construction foremen.”

18 Then Shaphan (SHAY FAN) the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah (HILL KIAH) the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan (SHAY FAN) read it out loud before the king.

19 When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.

20 The king ordered Hilkiah (HILL KIAH), Ahikam (Ah HIGH CAM) son of Shaphan (SHAY FAN), Abdon (AB DON)son of Micah, Shaphan (SHAY FAN)the scribe, and Asaiah (A SA RHY AH) the king’s servant,

21 “Go, ask the LORD for me and for those who remain in Israel and Judah about the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the LORD’s great fury has been ignited against us, because our ancestors did not obey the word of the LORD by living according to all that is written in this scroll.”

II. Moving forward with rewards.

• As Josiah's reign progressed, when he was 20, he commanded that the Temple be repaired.

• 2 Chronicles 34 describes Josiah's efforts to restore the Temple in Jerusalem.

• After about six years into the renovations (622 BC), the high priest Hilkiah discovered the Book of the Law (likely referring to the Torah or the Pentateuch) in the Temple.

• This discovery had a profound impact on Josiah at the young age of 26.

• HILL KIAH gave the scroll to the Scribe, SHAY FAN, and the scribe read the scroll to Josiah.

• Josiah tore his clothes as a sign of repentance upon hearing the words of the Law.