Old Testament # 30
“Come to the House of the Lord”
2 Chronicles 29–30, 32, 34
Introduction
When I joined the Church in Germany, the nearest temple was 260 miles away in Switzerland. A few years later, President Benson dedicated a temple just outside Frankfurt, a 20 minute drive from where I lived. Then I moved to Provo and could walk to the temple from BYU where I was studying or drive in 10 minutes from my house. Finally, the Provo City Center Temple is within walking distance of everyone in our ward. As a ward we were intimately involved in the open house and dedication of the Provo City Center Temple and I am sure we have shed many tears of joy at the blessing of having temples so close to us. It is perhaps the holiest place we can be. Lately I have been struck with the impact of being totally away from the distraction of technology (although I do wear my watch)—so maybe it isn’t technology so much as social media, games, chats, video/phone calls. Not all bad by any means, but distracting. Being in the temple is a time either to listen to the Lord yourself or facilitate others being able to do so.
There is a verse in this week’s reading that follows the scriptures being rediscovered as the temple is repaired after years of idolatry. Josiah, King of Judah, is shown the Book of Law and realizes what his people have become:
“Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord” (2 Chronicles 34:27).
I just re-read Elder Bednar’s talk on meekness[1]—definitely something I need to work on, sadly—and I wondered if reading the scriptures have that profound effect on me, and if not, how do I get there?
Once again, one of the excellent videos that Kent Brown produced is available to us and I have posted it at the end of the blogpost. This is about Josiah and the Book of the Law. But first to Hezekiah. Josiah’s great grandfather.
1. Hezekiah orders the house of the Lord to be cleansed.2 Chronicles 29–30.
Our study this week concentrates on the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Hezekiah is the king and the Assyrians are the enemy. Incidentally, Isaiah is the prophet at this time and the time period is paralleled in 1 Kings. There have been some 200 years of idolatry, so Hezekiah deciding to go against that, and especially against his wicked, now dead, father, Ahaz, was a bold, courageous move. He knew that all the wars and persecutions his people had and were experiencing was a direct result of their abandoning their God, so his first order was to repair the temple and cleanse it, then he sanctified it and called for all Israel to come and celebrate the Passover there. The situation in both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms prior to this seems to me to parallel the futile efforts of the 850 priests of Baal and Ashtaroth to force a non-existent god to bless them. The Assyrians had successfully waged war against all Israel and taken the Northern Kingdom (10 tribes) captive; up until now, their sole recourse appears to be to plea to gods of wood and stone.
It’s Moses telling the children of Israel to look upon the brass serpent and live, all over again. One wonders how many times they have to learn this lesson, and then we think how many times do we?
2. The Assyrians invade the kingdom of Judah. Isaiah and Hezekiah pray for help, and an angel of the Lord destroys much of the Assyrian army.2 Chronicles 32:1–23.
But the tide is turning for the Southern Kingdom of Judah as a righteous king takes the throne. Sennacherib is the King of Syria and he has set his sights on Jerusalem. We have just learned that “They that be with us are more than they that be with them” (2 Kings 6:16). And the other scripture that comes to mind is “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37). Because Hezekiah had cleansed the temple and turned his people to the true God, Sennacherib was halted in his desire to take Judah captive. Here is President Nelson
Foster your faith. Fuse your focus with an eye single to the glory of God. “Be strong and courageous” (2 Chr. 32:7), and you will be given power and protection from on high. “For I will go before your face,” the Lord declared. “I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (D&C 84:88).[2]
The manual points out that Hezekiah and his people were rescued from captivity and death at the hands of the Assyrians because they had re-established temple worship. Surely there is a corollary for us in today’s circumstances. The blessings of the temple are available to us as never before. I am minded of the story related by Elder Godoy in last April’s conference:
Some years ago on fast Sunday, an elderly sister came to the pulpit to share her testimony. She lived in the city called Iquitos, which is in the Peruvian Amazon. She told us that from the time of her baptism, she had always had the goal of receiving the ordinances of the temple in Lima, Peru. She faithfully paid a full tithe and saved her meager income for years. Her joy upon going to the temple and receiving the sacred ordinances therein was expressed in these words: “Today I can say that I finally feel ready to go through the veil. I am the happiest woman in the world; I have saved money, you have no idea for how long, to visit the temple, and after seven days on the river and 18 hours by bus, I was finally in the house of the Lord. When leaving that holy place, I said to myself, after all the sacrifice that has been required for me to come to the temple, I will not let anything make me take lightly every covenant I made; it would be a waste. This is a very serious commitment!”[3]
3. Josiah and his people covenant to serve the Lord.2 Chronicles 34
I’ve said a fair bit about Josiah in the introduction, but it is important to realize that even though Judah was saved from the Assyrians by their turn to God and His temple, it was short-lived. Hezekiah’s son Manasseh re-introduced idol worship, even in the temple itself. And his son Amon followed suit. Josiah was made king at age 8, but it was most certainly in his adulthood that he restored the temple, some 60 years after Hezekiah died, and also destroyed the high places and groves, for a more lasting conversion. Interestingly, Jeremiah was called to be a prophet while Josiah was a very young king, before the return to the worship of Jehovah.
In 1986, I was teaching early morning Seminary in the Frankfurt Germany Serviceman’s Stake. We had a few highlights from General Conference shipped to us in video format, but I well remember this talk by President Ezra Taft Benson. It was then I decided that I needed to read the Book of Mormon every day:
In 1829, the Lord warned the Saints that they are not to trifle with sacred things (see D&C 6:12). Surely the Book of Mormon is a sacred thing, and yet many trifle with it, or in other words, take it lightly, treat it as though it is of little importance.
In 1832, as some early missionaries returned from their fields of labor, the Lord reproved them for treating the Book of Mormon lightly. As a result of that attitude, he said, their minds had been darkened. Not only had treating this sacred book lightly brought a loss of light to themselves, it had also brought the whole Church under condemnation, even all the children of Zion. And then the Lord said, ‘And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon’ (D&C 84:54–57). …
If the early Saints were rebuked for treating the Book of Mormon lightly, are we under any less condemnation if we do the same?” (Ensign, Nov. 1986, 4–5).
The Book of Mormon and the other Standard Works will never again be taken from us, but it is we who decide if we take ourselves from them.
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