Scripture Thought (What I Learned):
Chapter 35: Josiah is Slain
Now
Josiah kept a Passover to theLord in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the
Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month.
And he set the priests in their duties and encouraged them for the service of
the house of the Lord. Then he said to the Levites who taught all Israel,
who were holy to the Lord; “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon
the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a
burden upon your shoulders: serve now the Lord your God,
and his people Israel. And prepare yourselves by the houses of
your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of
David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. And stand in
the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the
fathers of your brethren the people, and after the division of the
families of the Levites. So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves,
and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to
the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses”. (2 Chronicles 35:3-6)
Then Josiah gave the lay people
lambs and young goats from the flock, all for Passover offerings for
all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, as well as three
thousand cattle; these were from the king’s possessions. And his
leaders gave willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the
Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, rulers of the house
of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two
thousand six hundred from the flock, and three hundred cattle.
Also Conaniah, his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel,
and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the
Levites, gave to the Levites for Passover offerings five
thousand from the flock and five hundred cattle.
The service was prepared, and the
priests stood in their places, and the Levites in their divisions, according to
the king’s command. And they slaughtered the Passover offerings; and the
priests sprinkled the blood with their hands, while the Levites
skinned the animals. Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might
give them to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of the lay people,
to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And
so they did with the cattle. Also they roasted the Passover offerings with
fire according to the ordinance; but the other holy offerings they
boiled in pots, in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them quickly
among all the lay people. Then afterward they prepared portions for
themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were
busy in offering burnt offerings and fat until night; therefore the
Levites prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, the sons of
Aaron.
And
the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their places, according
to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the
king’s seer. Also the gatekeepers were at each gate; they did not have to leave
their position, because their brethren the Levites prepared portions for
them. So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day, to
keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord,
according to the command of King Josiah. And the children of Israel who
were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread
for seven days. There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the
days of Samuel the prophet; and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a
Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, all Judah and Israel
who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of
the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.
After all this, when Josiah had
prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight
against Carchemish by the Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him.
Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might
fight with him, to fight in the Valley of Megiddo.
And the archers shot King Josiah;
and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am severely wounded.”
His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second
chariot that he had, and they brought him to Jerusalem. So he died, and was
buried in one of the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and
Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And to this day all the singing men and the
singing women speak of Josiah in their lamentations.
The rest of the acts of Josiah and
his goodness, according to what was written in the Law of the Lord,
and his deeds from first to last, they are written in the book of the
kings of Israel and Judah. Another Lost book of the Bible.
Chapter 36: The People Reject the Prophets
Then
the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in
his father’s place in Jerusalem. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old
when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Now the king of
Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem; and he imposed on the land a tribute of one
hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. Then the king of Egypt
made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem, and
changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother and carried
him off to Egypt.
Jehoiakim was twenty-five
years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he
did evil in the sight of the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up
against him, and bound him in bronze fetters to carry him off to
Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also carried off some of the articles from
the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at
Babylon. The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations which he did, and
what was found against him, are written in the book of the kings of Israel
and Judah. Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place. More LOST books of the
Bible!
Jehoiachin was eight
years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten
days. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. At the turn of the year
King Nebuchadnezzar summoned him and took him to Babylon, with the
costly articles from the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah, Jehoiakim’s brother,
king over Judah and Jerusalem.
Here
we find something very interesting, Jehoiachin was only 8 years old when he did
“evil in the sight of the Lord”, and therefore he was capable of committing
these sins at the age of 8. Now in many churches and religions the age for
baptisim is questioned. Afterall Jesus was baptized when he was about 30 years
old. In the Catholic Church, they baptize you when you are born. Which we have
learned through the Book of Mormon is an evil practice:
“And their little children need
no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the
fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins. But little children are
alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a
partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons;
for how many little children have died without baptism! Wherefore, if little
children could not be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless
hell. Behold I say unto you, that he that supposeth that little children need
baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; for he hath
neither faith, hope, nor charity; wherefore, should he be cut off while in
the thought, he must go down to hell. For awful is the wickedness to suppose
that God saveth one child because of baptism, and the other must perish because
he hath no baptism”. (Moroni 8:11-14)
Other religions and churches
believe that you should be baptized later in life, but what age would God have
us baptized at? The Doctrine and Covenants, a modern scripture revealed to the
Prophet Joseph Smith in November of 1831 clearly lays out when baptisim should
be performed.
“And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in
any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not
to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of
the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on
of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon
the heads of the parents. And their children shall be baptized for
the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive
the laying on of the hands.” (Doctrine and Covenants 68:25 & 27)
So we
see that the Bible clearly states that at the age of 8, Jehoiachin could commit
sin, therefore it is important to have children be baptized from the age of 8,
and on.
Zedekiah was twenty-one
years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did
evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and did not humble
himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of
the Lord. And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made
him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his
heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel. Moreover all the
leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to
all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the Lord which
He had consecrated in Jerusalem.
And the Lord God sent warnings to
them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He
had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the
messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the
wrath of the Lord arose against His people. The Lord’s prophets are
almost always rejected by the people. Including his modern day prophets, like
Joseph Smith and his current prophet in His Church, the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints.
He brought against them the king of
the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their
sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the
weak; He gave them all into his hand. And all the articles from
the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the Lord,
and the treasures of the king and of his leaders, all these he
took to Babylon. Then they burned the house of God, broke down the wall of
Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious
possessions.
Those who escaped from the sword he
carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until
the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by
the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she
lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
In the first year of Cyrus king of
Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be
fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so
that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put
it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of
the earth the LordGod of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to
build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of
all His people? May the Lord his God bewith him, and let him go
up!
No comments:
Post a Comment