2 Kings 23 & 24: The Man Of God Proclaims
Verse of the Day: (23:16) And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.

1. Proclaim (23:1-20)
Then he said, What title is that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel. (23:17)

King Josiah did what was right before God as he read God’s Words before Judah, that they must obey Him. He removed and destroyed all the false priests, and also disposed all the false altars by placing them with human bones. However, he preserved the bones of a man of God, when he discovered that the latter had prophesied his name that he would be the one who removed idolatry from Judah, and made them worship the true God. (1 Kings 13:1-2) Indeed, let us proclaim that Jesus is our Saviour and Lord! (Isaiah 61:1-3)

2. Passover (23:21-37)
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. (23:21)

Josiah reinstituted the Passover celebration held yearly where a lamb was slaughtered and its blood applied to the homes and its meat was eaten by each family in obedience to God. (Exodus 12:21-30) However, he made a grave mistake at the end of his life when he aligned himself with Assyria which was at war with Egypt, and King Pharaohnechoh of Egypt killed him. Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, then became the king, and he did evil before God. God allowed the Egyptians to control Judah, and Pharaohnechoh removed Jehoahaz, and made Jehoiakim, another son of Josiah, the king. Jehoiakim did evil before God. Let us thus repent of our evil, and believe in Jesus Christ, our Passover. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)

3. Poorest (24:1-20)
And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. (24:14)

When Jehoiakim died, his son, Jehoiachin became the king, and he did evil before God. Soon the Babylonians were in power, and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated Judah, and looted all their treasures and took many including Jehoiachin as captives, except the poorest. Nebuchadnezzar then made Zedekiah, Jehoiakin’s uncle, as the king, and he did evil before God. Indeed, we may be the poorest in this world but we shall be the richest in heaven when we believe in God, and trust and obey Him. (Matthew 5:3)

Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, please help me to always proclaim that You are my Saviour and Lord.