VERSES: 2 Kings 22:1-23:30; 2 Chronicles 34:1-35:27
MEMORY VERSE: 2 Kings 23:25 "And like unto him was there no king before him that turned to the LORD..."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Review again all the 39 books of the Old Testament.
PRAYER: When given the opportunity to do good deeds, may we always do the good that we know to do.
SPECIAL SONG: Be Patient And Kind (see April - Joseph Meets His Brothers Who Hated Him on this blog)
VISUAL AID: TV Box (see February - Visual Aid #1 on this blog)
LESSON POINTS:
- Josiah was the last good king of Judah. He was only eight years old when he began his reign as King of Judah and he ruled 31 years. Even when Josiah was young, he walked in the ways of David, staying true to God his whole life. Not many kings could say that! He purged or got rid of all the idols or images of false gods. He not only broke them, but made dust out of them and scattered the dust on the graves of the ones who had worshiped the idols. He stayed and watched them destroy the altars of Baal with his own eyes. He did this same thing in all of the cities of Judah and Jerusalem. When he had finished with breaking down the altars and groves of the gods that were made with men's hands, he went back to Jerusalem, but he did not stop there.
- When Josiah was 26 years old, he sent Shaphan, the scribe, and two others into the temple of the LORD to begin repairing the temple. The temple always seemed to need repairs, didn't it? Josiah told Shaphan to go to Hilkiah, the high priest, and deliver the money that was brought into the temple. They gave the money to repairmen and workers to fix the temple.
- When they brought the money to the temple, Hilkiah found something that they did not even know was there. They found the book of the Law of Moses! God's Law had been lost in His own house! They took the book to the king and Shaphan read the book to the king. When Josiah heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. He told Shaphan and Hilkiah and a few others to go and ask the prophet what they should do since they had not been keeping the law of the LORD at all. They were told that God was still very angry at the people of Judah and told them how God was going to keep His promises. The people of Judah had not been worshiping God and His anger was going to be put upon His people that had forgotten Him and had worshiped idols. But God said that, because Josiah had a tender heart and had humbled himself before the LORD and had cried tears, God was not going to keep those promises while Josiah was alive. Josiah would live in peace.
- So the men brought what God had said back to Josiah, and Josiah gathered all the people together in the temple, and he read the law of the LORD to them. The king made a covenant or a serious promise to God that he would walk in the ways of the LORD with all of his heart and soul and would perform all the things that he had read. Then, he made all the people who were listening to the law stand up and promise they would be faithful, too.
- Josiah kept his promise to God, too. The Bible says that Josiah kept the Passover and instructed all the priests and Levites to do everything exactly like in said in the book of the law. The Bible also says in 2 Chronicles 35:18 that the Passover had not been kept in Israel from the days of Samuel to the prophets and in all the days of the kings of Israel like it had been kept in the days of Josiah. Josiah had done a good job.
- As the years passed by, there was a king in Egypt, a pharaoh, who came up to fight another nation, not Judah, but Josiah went out to fight anyway. The pharaoh warned Josiah that it was not his fight, but Josiah went anyway. The Egyptian archers shot arrows at Josiah and one of the arrows wounded him and he died. All of the people were sad and mourned for Josiah. There was a prophet named Jeremiah who lamented or said sad words over Josiah when they buried him.
- Discuss the definition of 'scribe.
- Talk about the difference in a book today and a book or scroll in Old Testament times.
- Josiah should have turned back from the fight with Egypt, but, since he not, he was killed. He was a good king for many years and ruled over Judah in goodness and tried to do everything that God had told the people to do.
Materials needed: 9" x 36" piece of tan wrapping paper or butcher paper, a small rubber band, 12" of string, a paper clip, markers or crayons.
- Hand out tan paper to students.
- Giving each student lots of space or taking turns to write on the 36" wide paper, write "God's Law Had Been Lost In His Own House!" and "2 Chronicles 34:15."
- Roll up and one side of tan paper, securing the paper in the middle with the paper clip.
- Roll up the other side of the tan paper and secure with rubber band.
- Tie the string in a bow around the scroll of paper (see picture on top).
