Immerse: Bible Reading Experience - NLT Daily Bible In A Year

Immerse Day 240: The Reign of King Josiah and His Reforms

On Day 240 of the Immerse Daily Bible Reading Experience, we explore the life and reign of King Josiah, who became king at the tender age of eight and ruled for 31 years. Known for his dedication to doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord, King Josiah enacted significant religious reforms, including the restoration of the Lord's temple and the removal of idolatrous practices. Key events include the discovery of the Book of the Law, the king's reaction and ensuing nationwide religious reforms, and the celebration of Passover in a manner not seen since the days of the judges. Despite Josiah’s devotion, the kingdom faced inevitable judgment due to the previous sins of his predecessors. The episode concludes with details of Josiah's demise in battle and the brief, unfavorable reign of his son, Jehoahaz.

00:00 Introduction to Josiah's Reign
00:26 Josiah's Temple Restoration
01:11 Discovery of the Book of the Law
03:52 Josiah's Reforms and Covenant Renewal
04:36 Josiah's Religious Purge
09:08 Josiah's Passover Celebration
09:57 Josiah's Legacy and Death
11:12 Jehoahaz's Short Reign
11:47 Conclusion and Farewell

Buy Immerse: Kingdoms Now!
Volume 3 — Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel–Kings
Kingdoms
Immerse: Kingdoms is the third of six volumes in Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience. Kingdoms presents a new and unique journey through the story of Israel from the time of its conquest of Canaan (Joshua) through its struggle to settle the land (Judges, Ruth) and the establishment of Israel’s kingdom, which ends in a forced exile (Samuel–Kings). The nation of Israel, commissioned to be God’s light to the nations, falls to division and then foreign conquest for rejecting God’s rule.

4 Questions to get your conversations started:
1. What stood out to you this week?
2. Was there anything confusing or troubling?
3. Did anything make you think differently about God?
4. How might this change the way we live?

QUICK START GUIDE
3 ways to get the most out of your experience
  1. Use Immerse: Beginnings instead of your regular chapter and verse Bible. This special reader’s edition restores the Bible to its natural simplicity and beauty by removing chapter and verse numbers and other historical additions. Letters look like letters, songs look like songs, and the original literary structures are visible in each book.
  2. Commit to making this a community experience. Immerse is designed for groups to encounter large portions of the Bible together
    for 8 weeks–more like a book club, less like a Bible study. By meeting every week in small groups and discussing what you read in open,
    honest conversations, you and your community can come together to be transformed through an authentic experience with the Scriptures.
  3. Aim to understand the big story. Read through “The Stories and the Story” (p. 483) to see how the books of the Bible work together to tell God’s story of his creation’s restoration. As you read through Immerse: Beginnings, rather than ask, “How do I fit God into my busy life?” begin asking, “How can I join in God’s great plan by living out my part in his story?”

What is Immerse: Bible Reading Experience - NLT Daily Bible In A Year?

Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.

This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.

Ethan: Welcome To Immerse: The
Daily Bible Reading Experience.

Day 200 and 40

josiah was eight years old
when he became King, and he

reigned in Jerusalem 31 years.

His mother was Judiah, the
daughter of Adah from Boscov.

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.

In the 18th year of his reign,
king Josiah sent Shefa son

of Asiah and grandson of Ms.

Shula, the court secretary
to the temple of the Lord.

He told him Go to Aliah, the high
priest and have him count the money the

gatekeepers have collected from the people
at the Lord's temple and trusts this, this

money to the men assigned to supervise
the restoration of the Lord's temple.

Then they can use it to pay
workers to repair the temple.

They will need to hire carpenters,
builders, and masons also have them

buy the timber and the finished stone
needed to repair the temple, but don't

require the construction supervisors to
keep account of the money they receive

for they are honest and trustworthy.

Men.

Hel chia, the high priest said to Shahan
the court secretary, I have found the

book of the law in the Lord's temple.

Then Aliah gave the scroll
to Shahan and he read it.

Shahan went to the king and reported
your officials have turned over.

The money collected at the
temple of the Lord to the workers

and supervisors at the temple.

Shahan also told the King Haaa,
the priest has given me a scroll.

So Shahan read it to the king.

When the king heard what was
written in the book of the law,

he tore his clothes in despair.

Then he gave these orders
to hel chia the priest.

Hiem son of Shahan, AK Bor, son of
McKay, and Shahan, the court secretary

and Isaiah the King's personal advisor.

Go to the temple and speak to the Lord
for me and for the people and for all.

Judah inquire about the words written
in this scroll that has been found

for the Lord's great anger is burning
against us because our ancestors have

not obeyed the words in this scroll.

We have not been doing
everything it says we must do.

So Kyah the priest, a haiku, AK
bor, Shahan, and Isaiah 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'm going to bring disaster
on this city and its people.

All the words written in the scroll
that the King of Judah has read

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 burn against 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 the Lord when

you heard what I said against this
city and its people that this land

would be cursed and become desolate.

You 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 will not see the disaster
I'm going to bring on this city.

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 prophets, all the people

from the least to the greatest 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.

In this way, he confirmed all the
terms of the covenant that were written

in the scroll, and all the people
pledged themselves to the covenant.

Then the king instructed Aliah, the
high priest and the priests of the

second rank and the temple gatekeepers
to remove from the Lord's temple.

All the articles that were used to
worship Baal as Shira and all the powers

of the heavens, the king had all these
things burned outside Jerusalem on

the terraces of the Kidron Valley, and
he carried the ashes away to Bethel.

He did away with the idolatrous
priests who had been appointed by

the previous kings of Judah for
they had offered sacrifices at the

pagan shrines throughout Judah and
even in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

They had also offered sacrifices
to bail and to the sun, the

moon, the constellations, and to
all the powers of the heavens.

The king removed the Ashra pole
from the Lord's temple and took

it outside Jerusalem to the
Kidron Valley where he burned it.

Then he ground the ashes of the
pole to dust and threw the dust

over the graves of the people.

He also tore down the living quarters
of the male and female shrine

prostitutes that were inside the
temple of the Lord, where the women

wove coverings for the as pole.

Josiah brought to Jerusalem,
all the priests who were

living in other towns of Judah.

He also defiled the pagan shrines
where they had offered sacrifices.

All the way from Giba to Beersheba,
he destroyed the shrines at the

entrance to the gate of Joshua,
the governor of Jerusalem.

This gate was located to
the left of the city gate.

As one enters the city, the priests who
had served at the pagan shrines were not

allowed to serve at the Lord's altar in
Jerusalem, but they were allowed to eat

unleavened bread with the other priests.

Then the king defiled the altar of tophi.

In the Valley of Ben Ham, so no one
could ever again use it to sacrifice

a son or daughter in the fire As an
offering to Molech, he removed from

the entrance of the Lord's temple, the
horse statues that the former kings

of Judah had dedicated to the son.

They were near the quarters
of Nathan Melech, the eunuch,

an officer of the court.

The king also burned the
chariots dedicated to the son.

Josiah tore down the altars that the
kings of Judah had built on the palace

roof above the upper room of Ahaz.

The king destroyed the altars
that Manasses had built in the two

courtyards of the Lord's temple.

He smashed them to bits and scattered
the pieces in the Kidron Valley.

The king also desecrated the pagan shrines
east of Jerusalem to the south of the

Mount of corruption, where King Solomon
of Israel had built shrines for ash.

Tore the detestable goddess of the
Ians and for mosh, the detestable

God of the Mo Moabites, and for
Molech, the vile God of the Ammonites.

He smashed the sacred pillars
and cut down the as poles.

Then he desecrated these places by
scattering human bones over them.

The king also tore down the altar
at Bethel, the pagan shrine that

Jar Boams son of Neba had made.

When he caused Israel to sin, he
burned down the shrine and grounded to

dust, and he burned the ashera pole.

Then Josiah turned around and noticed
several tombs in the side of the hill.

He ordered that the bones be brought
out, and he burned them on the

altar at Bethel to desecrate it.

This happened just as the Lord
had promised through the man of

God when Jar Boem stood beside
the altar at the festival.

Then Josiah turned and looked
up at the tomb of the man of God

who had predicted these things.

What is that monument over there?

Josiah asked, and the people of the
town told him It is the tomb of the

man of God who came from Judah and
predicted the very things that you

have just done to the alter at Bethel.

Josiah replied, leave it alone.

Don't disturb his bones.

So they did not burn his bones or
those of the old prophet from Samaria.

Then Josiah demolished all the buildings
at the Pagan shrines in the towns of

Samaria, just as he had done at Bethel.

They had been built by the
various kings of Israel.

And had made the Lord very angry.

He executed the priests of the
pagan shrines on their own altars,

and he burned human bones on
the altars to desecrate them.

Finally, he returned to Jerusalem.

King Josiah then issued this order
To all the people, you must celebrate

the Passover to the Lord your God, as
required in this book of the Covenant.

There had not been a Passover celebration
like that since the time when the judges

ruled in Israel, nor throughout all the
years of the kings of Israel and Judah.

But in the 18th year of King
Josiah's reign, this Passover was

celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.

Josiah also got rid of the mediums
and psychics, the household gods,

the idols, and every other kind of
detestable practice, both in Jerusalem

and throughout the land of Judah.

He did this in obedience to the laws
written in the scroll that hel chia the

priest had found in the Lord's temple.

Never before had there been a king like
Josiah, who turned to the Lord with

all his heart and soul and strength,
obeying all the laws of Moses, and there

has never been a king like him since.

Even so the Lord was very angry with
Judah because of all the wicked things

Manasses had done to provoke him.

For the Lord said, I will also banish
Judah from my presence just as I have

banished Israel and I will reject
my chosen city of Jerusalem and the

temple where my name was to be honored.

The rest of the events in Josiah's Reign
in all his deeds are recorded in the book

of the history of the Kings of Judah.

While Josiah was King, Pharaoh, Niko,
king of Egypt, went to the Euphrates

River to help the king of Assyria.

King Josiah and his army marched
out to fight him, but King Niko

killed him when they met at Megiddo.

Josiah's officers took his body back
in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem

and buried him in his own tomb.

Then the people of the land
anointed Josiah's son Jehoahaz

and made him the next king.

Jehoahaz was 23 years old when
he became king, and he reigned

in Jerusalem three months.

His mother was him Mutal, the
daughter of Jeremiah from Lyna.

He did what was evil in the Lord's
sight just as his ancestors had done.

Pharaoh, Niko put Jehoahaz in prison
at Rla in the land of Hamoth to

prevent him from ruling in Jerusalem.

He also demanded that Judah
pay 7,500 pounds of silver and

75 pounds of gold as tribute.

This concludes today's
Immer Reading experience.

Thank you for joining us.