She Made A Josiah Out Of Amon’s Son

SHE MADE A JOSIAH OUT OF AMON’S SON

2 Kgs. 22:1-2

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. Eight year old Mary wrote: "Dear Mother, here is the box of candy I bought you for Mother's Day. It is very good candy. I know, because I already ate three pieces."

2. Eight-year-old Carol writes, "Dear Mother, Here are two aspirins. Have a happy Mother's Day."

3. Eileen wrote: "Dear Mother, I wish Mother's Day wasn’t on Sunday. It would be better if it were on Monday so we wouldn't have to go to school."

4. Little Diane wrote; "I hope you like the flowers I got you for Mother's Day. I picked them myself when Mr. Smith wasn't looking."

B. TEXT

1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His mother's name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left” 2 Kgs. 22:1-2.

C. TRIBUTE TO MOTHERS

1. Mother's Day is traditionally the day when children give something back to their mothers for all the spit they produce to wash dirty faces, all the old gum they held in their hands, all the noses they wipe, and all the bloody knees they "made well" with a kiss.

2. This is the day mothers are rewarded for washing all those sheets in the middle of the night, driving kids to school when they missed the bus, and enduring all the football games in the rain.

3. It's Appreciation Day for making your children finish something they said they couldn't do, not believing them when they said, "I hate you," and sharing their good times and their bad times.

4. One mother said, "The easiest part of being a mother is giving birth... the hardest part is showing up for the job each day. So mothers, all the cards probably won't reflect it, but what they're trying to say is, "Thank you for showing up." [APPLAUSE FOR MOTHERS]

5. We're going to look at one of the dimmer lights of motherhood in the Bible. We're going to bypass such great mothers as Sarah, Rachel, Mary, Rebecca, Jochabed, Miriam, Esther, Elizabeth, and Ruth, and turn our attention to an unknown named Jedidah.

I. ACCOMPLISHMENT OF JEDIDAH

A. RAISING THE GREATEST GODLY KING

1. What did she do? She trained a son named Josiah who was the greatest king in the life of Judah, according to the Bible. Josiah abolished idolatry from the kingdom of Judah, threw down the heathen altars, banished false worship, and led in a great revival.

2. “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.”2 Kg. 23:25

3. Jedidah was his mother and she reared the greatest king who ever sat upon the throne of Judah. She planted the seed of a mother's faith, watered it with a mother's tears, fertilized it with a mother’s prayers, and reared a son who saved the nation.

B. DESPITE HER WICKED HUSBAND

1. Here's what made her so great: she reared the greatest king who ever sat upon the throne of Judah -- but remarkably -- she did it upstream against the godlessness and evil of her husband. He was one of the foulest blots on the pages of the history of Judah.

2. Amon was a vile, wicked, and corrupt. Amon’s father was Manasseh, the most wicked king ever to reign in Judah. Manasseh rebuilt the high places, he erected altars to Baal and placed an Asherah pole in the Temple. He sacrificed his own sons in the fire, practiced sorcery and consulted mediums and spiritists. 2 Kgs 21:16 says, “Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end.” The LORD said…"Manasseh king of Judah…has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him”2 Kgs 21:10-11.

3. When the Bible speaks about Amon, it says, “He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon worshiped and offered sacrifices to all the idols Manasseh had made. But unlike his father Manasseh, he did not humble himself before the LORD; Amon increased his guilt.” 2 Chron. 33:22-23. He was an equal to his wicked father!

4. And yet Jedidah, in spite of him, raised Josiah; she made a Josiah out of Amon’s son! The best out of the worst!

II. TRIBUTES TO MOTHERS IN DIFF. CIRCUMSTANCES

I want to honor, especially this morning, the mothers who raise their kids under difficult circumstances, the Jedidahs of our church. Everything Jedidah taught Josiah, Amon her husband was opposed to it. She taught him honesty; Amon taught him dishonestly. When she taught him purity, Amon taught him impurity. And against the stream and with him contradicting her, she was faithful and made the son of Amon a great king.