Study Desk

Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah. Isaiah said, "The Lord , the God of Israel, says this: You prayed to me about the message that came from King Sennacherib of Assyria. I have heard you.

One day Sennacherib was in the temple of his god Nisroch, worshiping him. His sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword and ran away to Ararat. So his son Esarhaddon became the new king of Assyria.

"Go back and speak to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord , the God of your ancestor David, says: I heard your prayer and I saw your tears, so I will heal you. On the third day you will go up to the Temple of the Lord .

But the people did not listen to God. Manasseh did more evil things than all the nations that lived in Canaan before Israel came. And the Lord destroyed those nations when the Israelites came to take their land.

So the Lord , the God of Israel, says, ‘Look! I will bring so much trouble against Jerusalem and Judah that anyone who hears about it will be shocked.

Amon left the Lord , the God of his ancestors, and did not live the way the Lord wanted.

Josiah did what the Lord said was right. He followed God like his ancestor David. Josiah obeyed God's teachings—he did exactly what God wanted.

Then Huldah said to them, "The Lord , the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me:

"King Josiah of Judah sent you to ask advice from the Lord . Tell Josiah that this is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: ‘You heard the words I spoke against this place and those who live here. And when you heard those things, your heart was soft, and you showed your sorrow before the Lord . I said that terrible things would happen to this place. So you tore your clothes to show your sadness, and you began to cry. That is why I heard you.' This is what the Lord says.

Topheth was a place in the Valley of Hinnom's Son where people killed their children and burned them on an altar to honor the false god Molech. Josiah ruined that place so that no one could use it again.

In the past the kings of Judah had put some horses and a chariot near the entrance to the Lord 's Temple. This was near the room of an important official named Nathan Melech. The horses and chariot were to honor the sun god. Josiah removed the horses and burned the chariot.

Josiah looked around and saw graves on the mountain. He sent men, and they took the bones from the graves. Then he burned the bones on the altar. In this way Josiah ruined the altar. This happened according to the message from the Lord that the man of God announced. The man of God announced these things when Jeroboam stood beside the altar at the feast. Then Josiah looked around and saw the grave of the man of God.

Josiah said, "What is that monument I see?" The people of the city told him, "It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah. This man of God told about the things you have done to the altar at Bethel. He said them a long time ago."

Josiah said, "Leave the man of God alone. Don't move his bones." So they left his bones and the bones of the man of God from Samaria.

Then King Josiah gave a command to all the people. He said, "Celebrate the Passover for the Lord your God. Do this just as it is written in the Book of the Agreement."

Zimri's son was Carmi. Carmi's son was Achar. Achar was the man who brought many troubles to Israel. Achar kept the things he took in battle, but he was supposed to give them all to God.

Jabez prayed to the God of Israel and said, "I pray that you would bless me and give me more land! Be near me and don't let anyone hurt me! Then I will not have any pain." God gave Jabez what he asked for.

The men from the tribes of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad prayed to God during the war. They asked God to help them because they trusted him, so God helped them. He allowed them to defeat the Hagrites and those who were with the Hagrites.

Many Hagrites were killed because God helped the people of Reuben win the war. Then the tribes of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad settled in the land of the Hagrites. They lived there until the time when the Israelites were taken into captivity.

But they sinned against the God their ancestors had worshiped. They began worshiping the false gods of the people God had destroyed, the people who had lived in the land before them.