Emily: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 300 and 47
Manasa was 12 years old when he became king, and he
reigned in Jerusalem 55 years.
He did what was evil in the Lord's sight following the detestable
practices of the pagan nations that the Lord had driven from the land.
A ahead of the Israelites.
He rebuilt the pagan shrines.
His father Hezekiah had broken down.
He constructed altars for the images of Baal and set up a Shira poles.
He also bowed before all the powers of the heavens and worshiped them.
He built pagan altars in the temple of the Lord.
The place where the Lord had said my name will remain in Jerusalem forever.
He built these altars for all the powers of the heavens in both
courtyards of the Lord's temple.
Manasa also sacrificed his own sons in the fire in the valley of Ben Ham.
He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and he consulted
with mediums and psychics.
He did much that was evil in the Lord's sight.
Arousing his anger.
Vanessa even took a carved idol he had made and set it up in God's
temple, the very place where God had told David and his son Solomon.
My name will be honored forever in this temple and in Jerusalem.
The city I have chosen from among all the tribes of Israel, if the Israelites
will be careful to obey my commands, all the laws, decrees and regulations
given through Moses, I will not send them into exile from this land
that I set aside for your ancestors.
But Manasses led the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do even more
evil than the pagan nations that the Lord had destroyed when the
people of Israel entered the land.
The Lord spoke to and his people, but they ignored all his warnings.
So the Lord sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies and they took prisoner.
They put a ring through his nose, bound him in bronze chains
and led him away to Babylon.
But while in deep distress, Manassas sought the Lord his God,
and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.
When he prayed, the Lord listened to him and was moved by his request.
So the Lord brought Manasses back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.
Then Manasses finally realized that the Lord alone is God.
After this Manasa rebuilt the outer wall of the city of David from the west of
the Gahan spring in the Kidron Valley to the fish gate, and continuing around the
hill of Al, he built the wall very high.
He stationed his military officers in all of the fortified towns of Judah.
Manasa also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the Lord's temple.
He tore down all the altars he had built on the hill where the temple stood and
all the altars that were in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city.
Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings
and Thanksgiving offerings on it.
He also encouraged the people of Judah to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.
However, the people still sacrificed at the pagan shrines,
though only to the Lord their God.
The rest of the events of Manassas reign, his prayer to God and the words the
Sears spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are recorded
in the Book of the Kings of Israel.
Man's prayer.
The account of the way God answered him and an account of all his sins
and unfaithfulness are recorded in the record of the Sears.
It includes a list of the locations where he built pagan shrines and set
up a Shira poles and idols before he humbled himself and repented.
When Manas died, he was buried in his palace, then his son.
A amen became the next king.
Am.
Amen was 22 years old when he became King and he reigned in Jerusalem two years.
He did what was evil in the Lord's sight just as his father Manasa had done.
He worshiped and sacrificed to all the idols his father had made.
But unlike his father, he did not humble himself before the Lord.
Instead.
Amen.
Sinned even more.
Then a amen's own officials conspired against him and assassinated him
in his palace, but the people of the land killed all those who had
conspired against King a amen.
And they made his son Josiah, the next king.
Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he
reigned in Jerusalem 31 years.
He did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight and followed the
example of his ancestor David.
He did not turn away from doing what was right during the eighth year of his reign.
While he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor, David.
Then in the 12th year, he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem destroying
all the pagan shrines, the ashera poles, and the carved idols and cast images.
He ordered that the altars of Baal be demolished and that the incense altars,
which stood above them be broken down.
He also made sure that the ashera poles, the carved idols and the cast images were
smashed and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
He burned the bones of the pagan priests on their own altars, and
so he purified Judah and Jerusalem.
He did the same thing in the towns of Manasa, RAAM, and Simeon,
even as far as Naftali and in the regions all around them.
He destroyed the pagan altars and the ashera poles, and he
crushed the idols into dust.
He cut down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel.
Finally, he returned to Jerusalem in the 18th year of his reign.
After he had purified the land and the temple, Josiah appointed Shahan,
son of Zelaya Maia, the governor of Jerusalem, and Joah son of Joah,
has the royal historian to repair the temple of the Lord his God.
They gave Hima the high priest the money that had been collected
by the Levites who served as gatekeepers at the temple of God.
The gifts were brought by people from Manasa, RAAM, and from all the remnant
of Israel, as well as from all Judah, Benjamin, and the people of Jerusalem.
He entrusted the money to the men assigned to supervise the
restoration of the Lord's temple.
Then they paid the workers who did the repairs and renovation of the temple.
They hired carpenters and builders.
Who purchased finished stone for the walls and timber for the
rafters and beams, they restored.
What earlier kings of Judah had allowed to fall into ruin.
The workers served faithfully under the leadership of j Hath and Obadiah
levies of the Marai clan and Zachariah and Machu Levites of the Kohe clan.
Other Levites, all of whom were skilled musicians were put in charge
of the laborers of the various trades.
Still others assisted as secretaries, officials, and gatekeepers.
While they were bringing out the money collected at the Lord's Temple
Hilah, the priest found the book of the Law of the Lord that was written
by Moses Hilah, said to Shahan the court secretary, I have found the
book of the law in the Lord's temple.
Then Hilah gave the scroll to Shahan.
Shahan took the scroll to the king and reported your officials are doing
everything they were assigned to do.
The money that was collected at the temple of the Lord has been turned
over to the supervisors and workman.
Shahan also told the King Hillah, the priest has given me a scroll.
So Shahan read it to the king.
When the king heard what was written in the law, he tore his clothes in despair.
Then he gave these orders to Hilah, a chem son of Shahan, AK Bor, son of
Makaya, Shahan, the court secretary and Isaiah the King's personal advisor.
Go to the temple and speak to the Lord for me and for all the
remnant of Israel and Judah.
Inquire about the words written in the scroll that has been found.
For the Lord's great anger has been poured out on us because our ancestors
have not obeyed the word of the Lord.
We have not been doing everything this scroll says we must do.
So Hilah and the other men went to the new quarter of Jerusalem
to consult with the prophet Halda.
She was the wife of Shalom, son of Tikva, son of Haha, the
keeper of the temple wardrobe.
She said to them, the Lord, the God of Israel has spoken.
Go back and tell the man who sent you.
This is what the Lord says.
I am going to bring disaster on this city and its people.
All the curses written in the scroll that was read to the King of Judah will
come true for my people have abandoned me and offered sacrifices to pagan gods.
And I am very angry with them for everything they have done.
My anger will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched.
But go to the King of Judah who sent you to seek the Lord and tell him
this is what the Lord the God of Israel says concerning the message.
You have just heard you were sorry and humbled yourself before
God when you heard his words against this city and its people.
You humbled yourself and tore your clothing in despair and wept
before me in repentance, and I have indeed heard you, says the Lord.
So I will not send the promised disaster until after you have
died and been buried in peace.
You yourself will not see the disaster I am going to bring
on this city and its people.
So they took her message back to the king.
Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, and the king
went up to the temple of the Lord with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem,
along with the priests and the Levites, all the people from the greatest to
the least there, the King read to them the entire book of the Covenant that
had been found in the Lord's temple.
The king took his place of authority beside the pillar and renewed the
covenant in the Lord's presence.
He pledged to obey the Lord by keeping all his commands, laws, and
decrees with all his heart and soul.
He promised to obey all the terms of the covenant that were written in the
scroll, and he required everyone in Jerusalem and the people of Benjamin
to make a similar pledge the people of Jerusalem did so renewing their covenant
with God, the God of their ancestors.
So Josiah removed all detestable idols from the entire land of Israel and
required everyone to worship the Lord their God, and throughout the rest of
his lifetime, they did not turn away from the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
The then Josiah announced that the Passover of the Lord would be
celebrated in Jerusalem, and so the Passover lamb was slaughtered on
the 14th day of the first month.
Josiah also assigned the priests to their duties and encouraged them in
their work at the temple of the Lord.
He issued this order to the Levites who were to teach all Israel and who
had been set apart to serve the Lord.
Put the Holy Ark in the temple that was built by Solomon, son
of David, the King of Israel.
You no longer need to carry it back and forth on your shoulders.
Now, spend your time serving the Lord, your God, and his people Israel.
Report for duty according to the family, divisions of your ancestors, following
the directions of King David, of Israel, and the directions of his son Solomon.
Then stand in the sanctuary at the place appointed for your family division, and
help the families assigned to you as they bring their offerings to the temple.
Slaughter the Passover lambs purify yourselves and prepare to help those
who come follow all the directions that the Lord gave through Moses.
Then Josiah provided 30,000 lambs and young goats for the people's Passover
offerings, a along with 3000 cattle, all from the king's own flocks and herds.
The King's officials also made willing contributions to the
people, priests and Levites.
Aya, Zechariah and Jaha, the administrators of God's temple, gave
the priests 2,600 lambs and young goats and 300 cattle as Passover offerings.
The Levite leaders, Kanaya and his brothers Shaea, and Nathaniel, as well
as has Shabiah and Jbad, gave 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 cattle to the
Levites for their Passover offerings.
When everything was ready for the Passover celebration, the priests and the Levites
took their places organized by their divisions as the king had commanded.
The Levites then slaughtered the Passover lambs and presented
the blood to the priests who sprinkled the blood on the altar.
While the Levites prepared the animals, they divided the burnt offerings among
the people by their family groups so they could offer them to the Lord
as prescribed in the book of Moses.
They did the same with the cattle.
Then they roasted the Passover lambs as prescribed, and they boiled the
holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans, and brought them out quickly so
the people could eat them afterward.
The Levites prepared Passover offerings for themselves and for the
priests, the descendants of Aaron, because the priests had been busy
from morning till night, offering the burnt offerings and the fat portions.
The Levites took responsibility for all these preparations.
The musicians, descendants of Asaf were in their assigned places following
the commands that had been given by David Asaf, Heman, and Juhan.
The king's seer, the gatekeepers, guarded the gates and did not
need to leave their posts of duty for their Passover offerings.
Were prepared for them by their fellow Levites.
The entire ceremony for the Lord's Passover was completed that day.
All the burned offerings were sacrificed on the altar of the Lord.
As King Josiah had commanded all the Israelites present in Jerusalem,
celebrated Passover and the festival of unleavened bread for seven days.
Never since the time of the Prophet Samuel had there been such a Passover.
None of the kings of Israel had ever kept a Passover as Josiah did.
Involving all the priests and Levites, all the people of Jerusalem, and
people from all over Judah and Israel.
This Passover was celebrated in the 18th year of Josiah's reign.
After Josiah had finished restoring the temple, king Niko of Egypt led his army
up from Egypt to do battle at Carish on the Euphrates River, and Josiah
and his army marched out to fight him.
But King Nico sent messengers to Josiah with this message.
What do you want with me, king of Judah?
I have no quarrel with you today.
I am on my way to fight another nation and God has told me to hurry.
Do not interfere with God who is with me, or he will destroy you.
But Josiah refused to listen to Nico, to whom God had indeed
spoken and he would not turn back.
Instead, he disguised himself and led his army into battle on the plane of
Megiddo, but the enemy archers hit King Josiah with their arrows and wounded him.
He cried out to his men.
Take me from the battle for I am badly wounded.
So they lifted Josiah out of his chariot and placed him in another chariot.
Then they brought him back to Jerusalem where he died.
He was buried there in the Royal Cemetery, and all Judah
and Jerusalem mourned for him.
The prophet Jeremiah composed funeral songs for Josiah, and
to this day, choirs still sing these sad songs about his death.
These songs of sorrow have become a tradition and are
recorded in the book of laments.
The rest of the events of Josiah's reign and his acts of devotion carried
out according to what was written in the law of the Lord from beginning
to end all are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.