because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,' declares the LORD. Because your heart was tenderThe phrase "your heart was tender" speaks to the condition of King Josiah's heart. In Hebrew, the word for "tender" is "rak," which implies softness or sensitivity. This sensitivity is not a sign of weakness but rather a spiritual receptivity and openness to God's word. In the biblical context, a tender heart is one that is responsive to God's commands and is willing to be molded by His will. Josiah's tender heart contrasts with the hardened hearts of many of his predecessors, highlighting the importance of humility and openness in one's relationship with God. and you humbled yourself before the LORD
The act of humbling oneself is a recurring theme in Scripture, often associated with repentance and submission to God's authority. The Hebrew word for "humbled" is "kana," which means to bring low or to subdue. Josiah's humility before the LORD signifies his recognition of God's sovereignty and his own need for divine guidance. This humility is a key characteristic of a godly leader, as it demonstrates a willingness to prioritize God's will over personal or political ambitions. when you heard what I spoke against this place and its people
This phrase underscores the importance of listening to God's word. The Hebrew word for "heard" is "shama," which implies not just hearing but also understanding and obeying. Josiah's response to God's pronouncement of judgment against Judah shows his attentiveness and responsiveness to divine revelation. It serves as a reminder that true hearing involves a readiness to act upon God's instructions, even when they are difficult or challenging. that they would become a desolation and a curse
The terms "desolation" and "curse" reflect the severe consequences of Judah's disobedience. In Hebrew, "desolation" is "shammah," indicating a state of ruin or devastation, while "curse" is "alah," suggesting a binding oath of misfortune. These words convey the gravity of God's judgment and the seriousness of sin. Josiah's awareness of these potential outcomes motivates his reform efforts, demonstrating the transformative power of understanding the consequences of disobedience. and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me
Tearing one's clothes and weeping were traditional expressions of grief and repentance in ancient Israel. The act of tearing clothes, "qara" in Hebrew, symbolizes a rending of the heart, an outward manifestation of inner sorrow and contrition. Weeping, "bakah," further emphasizes the depth of Josiah's emotional response to God's message. These actions reflect a genuine repentance and a heartfelt desire for reconciliation with God, setting an example for true penitence. I have heard you, declares the LORD
The assurance "I have heard you" is a powerful affirmation of God's attentiveness to sincere repentance. The Hebrew word "shama" is used again, indicating that God not only hears but also responds to those who seek Him with a contrite heart. This divine declaration underscores the mercy and grace of God, who is willing to relent from judgment when His people turn back to Him. It serves as a reminder of the hope and restoration available through genuine repentance and faith. Persons / Places / Events 1. JosiahThe King of Judah who initiated religious reforms and sought to restore the worship of Yahweh. His heart was tender towards God, leading to significant spiritual renewal in Judah. 2. Huldah the ProphetessA prophetess in Jerusalem who delivered God's message to King Josiah, confirming the coming judgment but also acknowledging Josiah's humility and repentance. 3. JerusalemThe capital city of Judah, which was under threat of judgment due to the people's idolatry and disobedience to God. 4. The Book of the LawDiscovered during temple repairs, this book (likely Deuteronomy) revealed the extent of Judah's departure from God's commands, prompting Josiah's reforms. 5. The LORD (Yahweh)The covenant God of Israel, who responds to Josiah's humility and repentance with mercy and a promise of peace during his reign. Teaching Points The Power of a Tender HeartJosiah's tender heart towards God led to personal and national transformation. A heart sensitive to God's Word is crucial for spiritual renewal. Humility Before GodJosiah's humility is a model for us. When we humble ourselves, God hears and responds with grace and mercy. The Impact of God's WordThe rediscovery of the Book of the Law was pivotal. Regular engagement with Scripture can reveal areas in need of reform in our lives. Repentance Leads to RestorationJosiah's tearing of clothes and weeping symbolize genuine repentance, which God honors. True repentance can lead to restoration and peace. God's Response to Sincere PrayerGod heard Josiah's prayers and responded. Our sincere prayers, especially those of repentance, are powerful and effective. Bible Study Questions 1. How does Josiah's response to the Book of the Law challenge us in our approach to Scripture today? 2. In what ways can we cultivate a tender heart towards God in our daily lives? 3. How does the principle of humility before God, as seen in Josiah's life, apply to our current circumstances? 4. What are some practical steps we can take to ensure that God's Word remains central in our lives and communities? 5. How can we encourage a culture of repentance and restoration within our families and churches, following Josiah's example? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 28This chapter outlines the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, which Josiah would have read and understood as the basis for the impending judgment on Judah. 2 Chronicles 34Provides a parallel account of Josiah's reign and reforms, offering additional details about his response to the Book of the Law. Psalm 51:17Highlights the importance of a contrite heart, similar to Josiah's response, which God does not despise. James 4:6Emphasizes that God gives grace to the humble, reflecting the principle seen in Josiah's life. People Achbor, Adaiah, Ahikam, Asahiah, Asaiah, Azaliah, David, Harhas, Hilkiah, Huldah, Jedidah, Josiah, Meshullam, Micaiah, Michaiah, Shallum, Shaphan, TikvahPlaces Bozkath, Jerusalem, Second QuarterTopics Accursed, Affirmation, Astonishment, Clothes, Curse, Declares, Desolation, Ear, Garments, Grief, Hast, Heardest, Hearing, Heart, Humble, Humbled, Inhabitants, Laid, Low, Penitent, Presence, Rend, Rent, Responsive, Reviling, Robes, Says, Signs, Soft, Spake, Spoke, Spoken, Tender, Thereof, Thyself, Tore, Torn, Truly, Waste, Weep, Weeping, WeptDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Kings 22:19 5017 heart, renewal
6735 repentance, examples
8276 humility 2 Kings 22:11-20 8160 seeking God 2 Kings 22:13-20 8129 guidance, examples 2 Kings 22:14-20 5745 women 2 Kings 22:15-20 1429 prophecy, OT fulfilment 2 Kings 22:18-20 5932 response Library The Rediscovered Law and Its Effects
'And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord: and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. 10. And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureJosiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant.
"Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."--2 Kings …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII A Traveler's Note-Book
A tourist who roams for a brief while through some great country like England or Russia may jot down a few of the impressions which come home to him, making no pretense at completeness or symmetry of description. So, one who has journeyed like a hasty traveler over some passages in that vast tract of years which we describe as the classic and Christian civilizations, notes down in the following pages a few of the salient features that have impressed him. He has already prefaced this with a sort …
George S. Merriam—The Chief End of Man Whether Determinate Things are Required for a Sacrament?
Objection 1: It seems that determinate things are not required for a sacrament. For sensible things are required in sacraments for the purpose of signification, as stated above [4343](A[4]). But nothing hinders the same thing being signified by divers sensible things: thus in Holy Scripture God is signified metaphorically, sometimes by a stone (2 Kings 22:2; Zech. 3:9; 1 Cor. 10:4; Apoc. 4:3); sometimes by a lion (Is. 31:4; Apoc. 5:5); sometimes by the sun (Is. 60:19,20; Mal. 4:2), or by something …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica The Instrumentality of the Wicked Employed by God, While He Continues Free from Every Taint.
1. The carnal mind the source of the objections which are raised against the Providence of God. A primary objection, making a distinction between the permission and the will of God, refuted. Angels and men, good and bad, do nought but what has been decreed by God. This proved by examples. 2. All hidden movements directed to their end by the unseen but righteous instigation of God. Examples, with answers to objections. 3. These objections originate in a spirit of pride and blasphemy. Objection, that …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion The Medes and the Second Chaldaean Empire
THE FALL OF NINEVEH AND THE RISE OF THE CHALDAEAN AND MEDIAN EMPIRES--THE XXVIth EGYPTIAN DYNASTY: CYAXARES, ALYATTES, AND NEBUCHADREZZAR. The legendary history of the kings of Media and the first contact of the Medes with the Assyrians: the alleged Iranian migrations of the Avesta--Media-proper, its fauna and flora; Phraortes and the beginning of the Median empire--Persia proper and the Persians; conquest of Persia by the Medes--The last monuments of Assur-bani-pal: the library of Kouyunjik--Phraortes …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8 The First Blast of the Trumpet
The English Scholar's Library etc. No. 2. The First Blast of the Trumpet &c. 1558. The English Scholar's Library of Old and Modern Works. No. 2. The First Blast of the Trumpet &c. 1558. Edited by EDWARD ARBER, F.S.A., etc., LECTURER IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, ETC., UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. SOUTHGATE, LONDON, N. 15 August 1878. No. 2. (All rights reserved.) CONTENTS. Bibliography vii-viii Introduction …
John Knox—The First Blast of the Trumpet Why Should we not Believe These to be Angelic Operations through Dispensation of The...
16. Why should we not believe these to be angelic operations through dispensation of the providence of God, Who maketh good use of both good things and evil, according to the unsearchable depth of His judgments? whether thereby the minds of mortals be instructed, or whether deceived; whether consoled, or whether terrified: according as unto each one there is to be either a showing of mercy, or a taking of vengeance, by Him to Whom, not without a meaning, the Church doth sing "of mercy and of judgment." …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead. The Credibility of Scripture Sufficiently Proved in So Far as Natural Reason Admits.
1. Secondary helps to establish the credibility of Scripture. I. The arrangement of the sacred volume. II. Its dignity. III. Its truth. IV. Its simplicity. V. Its efficacy. 2. The majesty conspicuous in the writings of the Prophets. 3. Special proofs from the Old Testament. I. The antiquity of the Books of Moses. 4. This antiquity contrasted with the dreams of the Egyptians. II. The majesty of the Books of Moses. 5. The miracles and prophecies of Moses. A profane objection refuted. 6. Another profane …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Authorship of the Pentateuch.
The term Pentateuch is composed of the two Greek words, pente, five, and teuchos, which in later Alexandrine usage signified book. It denotes, therefore, the collection of five books; or, the five books of the law considered as a whole. 1. In our inquiries respecting the authorship of the Pentateuch, we begin with the undisputed fact that it existed in its present form in the days of Christ and his apostles, and had so existed from the time of Ezra. When the translators of the Greek version, …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Synagogues: their Origin, Structure and Outward Arrangements
It was a beautiful saying of Rabbi Jochanan (Jer. Ber. v. 1), that he who prays in his house surrounds and fortifies it, so to speak, with a wall of iron. Nevertheless, it seems immediately contradicted by what follows. For it is explained that this only holds good where a man is alone, but that where there is a community prayer should be offered in the synagogue. We can readily understand how, after the destruction of the Temple, and the cessation of its symbolical worship, the excessive value attached …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life The Greater Prophets.
1. We have already seen (Chap. 15, Nos. 11 and 12) that from Moses to Samuel the appearances of prophets were infrequent; that with Samuel and the prophetical school established by him there began a new era, in which the prophets were recognized as a distinct order of men in the Theocracy; and that the age of written prophecy did not begin till about the reign of Uzziah, some three centuries after Samuel. The Jewish division of the latter prophets--prophets in the more restricted sense of the …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Of the Power of Making Laws. The Cruelty of the Pope and his Adherents, in this Respect, in Tyrannically Oppressing and Destroying Souls.
1. The power of the Church in enacting laws. This made a source of human traditions. Impiety of these traditions. 2. Many of the Papistical traditions not only difficult, but impossible to be observed. 3. That the question may be more conveniently explained, nature of conscience must be defined. 4. Definition of conscience explained. Examples in illustration of the definition. 5. Paul's doctrine of submission to magistrates for conscience sake, gives no countenance to the Popish doctrine of the obligation …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Of the Effects of those Prerogatives.
From these prerogatives there will arise to the elect in heaven, five notable effects:-- 1. They shall know God with a perfect knowledge (1 Cor. i. 10), so far as creatures can possibly comprehend the Creator. For there we shall see the Word, the Creator; and in the Word, all creatures that by the Word were created; so that we shall not need to learn (of the things which were made) the knowledge of him by whom all things were made. The most excellent creatures in this life, are but as a dark veil …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety Meditations for one that is Like to Die.
If thy sickness be like to increase unto death, then meditate on three things:--First, How graciously God dealeth with thee. Secondly, From what evils death will free thee. Thirdly, What good death will bring unto thee. The first sort of Meditations are, to consider God's favourable dealing with thee. 1. Meditate that God uses this chastisement of thy body but as a medicine to cure thy soul, by drawing thee, who art sick in sin, to come by repentance unto Christ, thy physician, to have thy soul healed …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.), …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links 2 Kings 22:19 NIV2 Kings 22:19 NLT2 Kings 22:19 ESV2 Kings 22:19 NASB2 Kings 22:19 KJV
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