22ND JUNE 2022
Our reflection is based on our first reading 2 Kings 22:8-13;23:1-3
The reading describes what is referred to as the Josiah's Reforms. The king ordered for the repair of the temple and in the process the fundis find a strange book that contains the Covenant between God and His people. Our today's reading tells us how Josiah received the book of the covenant from Hilkiah the high priest and Shaphan the Secretary. Upon reading it he noted that for ages his people had not lived according to the Davidic Covenant. This means that they had consistently gone against God's law.
Remember last week we noted that in the history of Israel King's were judged as either food or bad in accordance to their keeping of the Davidic Covenant and teaching the people to keep it OR not.
Joash, for instance, was judged as a bad king because he neither kept it nor taught his subjects. The same with Ahab and many others.
Hezekiah, on reading the content of the law ordered for a public gathering - including the priests, prophets, and all the inhabitants of Israel - where the law was read for all to hear.
He then commandeered a revolution for the Law: he made a covenant before the Lord on behalf of the people- all were ordered to "keep the law and to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his covenants and his statutes .."
Josiah is certainly a model king in several ways:
1. He seeks God's will in his reign
2. He fears God and desires to follow His statutes.
3. He intercedes for his people before God.
4. He is humble and repentant.
Let us pray for the above qualities in our lives and in the lives of our leaders- both religious and political.
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