KEY FIGURES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 1 Abraham

KEY FIGURES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT #1: Abraham Genesis 11: 27 - 25: 11

KEY FIGURES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT The Southern Kingdom part 1 Josiah

The Two Kingdoms Saul David Solomon

The Northern Kingdom On the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam ascended the throne; but his conduct was such that ten of the tribes revolted, and formed an independent monarchy, called the kingdom of Israel, or the northern kingdom, the capital of which was first Shechem and afterwards Samaria. After an independent existence of two hundred and fifty-three years this kingdom was destroyed.

The Southern Kingdom The southern kingdom (Judah) had a succession of kings, mostly reported as bad. Solomon began the decline, by setting up “high places” for the gods of his foreign wives.

The Kings of Judah Rehoboam 17 years Abijah 3 years Asa 41 years Jehoshaphat 25 years Jehoram 8 years Ahaziah 1 year Athaliah (Queen) 6 years Jehoash 40 years Amaziah 29 years Uzziah 52 years Jotham Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh Amon Josiah Jehoahaz Jehoiakim Jehoiachin Zedekiah 16 years 29 years 55 years 2 years 31 years 3 months 11 years 3. 5 months 11 years 20 monarchs in 396 years

Josiah • Josiah = “healed by Yahweh”, or “Yahweh will support” • He stands foremost among all the kings of the line of David for unswerving loyalty to Yahweh. • He "did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father. " • He ascended the throne at the early age of eight years. • Eight years afterwards he began "to seek after the God of David his father. " • He distinguished himself by beginning a war of extermination against the prevailing idolatry, which had practically been the state religion for some seventy years

Josiah • His father was King Amon, who “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshiped them. He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. ” • “And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. ” • 2 Kings 21: 20 -24

Josiah • In the eighteenth year of his reign he proceeded to repair and beautify the temple, which by time and violence had become sorely dilapidated. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. And let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house (that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons), and let them use it for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly. ” 2 Kings 22: 3 -7

Josiah And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “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. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord. ” Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. ” And Shaphan read it before the king. 2 Kings 22: 8 -10

Josiah When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us. ” 2 Kings 22: 11 -13

Josiah They inquire of Huldah the prophetess and She spoke to him words of encouragement, telling him that he would be gathered to his fathers in peace before threatened days of judgment came. Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant. 2 Kings 23: 1 -3

Josiah begins a campaign to destroy everything connected with the worship of Baal and the other false gods. And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. 2 Kings 23: 4, 6 -7

Josiah And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. Literally: “Cause his son or daughter to pass through the fire for Molech” Valley of the son of Hinnom is one of the valleys that surround Jerusalem. Later called simply the valley of Hinnom. It became a defiled place and, as a result, a place where refuse was dumped— including corpses. In Aramaic it is known as Gehenna, and became a synonym for hell.

Josiah And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant. ” For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem. 2 Kings 23: 21 -23 Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him. 2 Kings 23: 25

Josiah In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him. And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's place. 2 Kings 23: 29 -30 Within 25 years (4 more kings), the Kingdom of Judah is carried off into exile in Babylon