Douglas Jacoby Podcast

OT Characters: Josiah

Episode Summary

Douglas continues his series on Old Testament Characters now looking at the story of Josiah. Douglas shares what we can learn from Josiah’s life as well as what we can learn about God from his story. He also shares ideas for how to share this story with your kids.

Episode Notes

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Hebrew words:

• Yoshi’yahhu (Josiah) -- “healed by Yah[weh]”
• Appears 55x in the Old Testament.

Further study:

Mentioned in passing: Deuteronomy 2:27, 5:32, 17:20, 28:14; Joshua 1:7; 1 Kings 22:34; Psalm 119:72.

See the parallel account in 2 Kings 21-23.

Contrast Josiah's reaction with the dismissive attitude of his grandson Jehoiakim, in Jeremiah 36.

See also 1 Kings 13:2, where an unnamed prophet prophesies the iconoclast king by name. This is very unusual, though for a parallel see Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1, where the reign of the Persian king Cyrus is foretold.

Is Jeremiah the uncle of Josiah? Click here.

Some things we learn about God:

• God brings us his word through others, who were in turn taught by others, and so on...
• He expects a response to his message: not a dismissive but a determined effort to follow his Word.
  • The right reaction is not: “Well, I obeyed the gospel when it was explained to me. I have arrived."
  • It is, rather, “I continue to search and investigate and make whatever changes in my life that are required by the word of God or in step with the leading of the Spirit of God.
• Though the Lord honors those who fear him, and is a God who answers prayer, he does not pardon everyone on account of the vision of a single person. Repentance is an expectation not only of leaders, but of all the people of God.

For kids:

• Write out a number of passages on brightly colored (or otherwise obvious) slips of paper, rolled up in the shape of a miniature scroll, and place them in different rooms (or areas) of your home.
• Using whatever pretext is necessary to bring about the discovery of the scrolls, ask the children to go into these various areas (one per child). When they return (having discovered the passages), talk about the implications, and how God is looking for change – for a responsive heart.
• Then send the kids out a second time (to other locations); this time they are actively looking for anything they may have missed in the word of God. When they return, let them unroll and read and talk about what they are reading.
• Ask, How should we respond when we discover something in the Bible we did not realize was there? (We ought to take it seriously, and if there is something we should change, we ought to make this change quickly and without delay.) And how can we actively search for God’s word? (Read it, pay attention in church, think about the ideas and stories in the Bible, etc.)
• See the lesson on Josiah in Good Kings, Bad Kings – these sheets may be colored.

Key verses:

• 2 Chronicles 34:2 – Sought the Lord at a young age (8)
• 2 Chronicles 34:14 – Hilkiah the priest finds the book of the law of the Lord (material from Deuteronomy)
• 2 Chronicles 34:19 – Josiah responds humbly, and the Lord hears him (v.25)
• 2 Chronicles 34:30ff – He reads the Torah aloud, and he and the people make a covenant.
• 2 Chronicles 35 – He celebrates the Passover, in a way not done since the time of Samuel (v.18).
• 2 Chronicles 35:24 – Dies of battle wounds, and the prophet Jeremiah chants a lament (v.25).

Next lesson: Ezra & Nehemiah