Then the king instructed Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the Temple gatekeepers to remove from the Lord’s Temple all the articles that were used to worship Baal, Asherah, and all the powers of the heavens. The king had all these things burned outside Jerusalem on the terraces of the Kidron Valley, and he carried the ashes away to Bethel. He did away with the idolatrous priests, who had been appointed by the previous kings of Judah, for they had offered sacrifices at the pagan shrines throughout Judah and even in the vicinity of Jerusalem. They had also offered sacrifices to Baal, and to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all the powers of the heavens. The king removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s Temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. Then he ground the ashes of the pole to dust and threw the dust over the graves of the people. He also tore down the living quarters of the male and female shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the Lord, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole. [2 Kings 23.4-7]
Lest we think our devotion to God cannot become polluted, we should consider Judah and Jerusalem - we should consider this period of Josiah's time as king of Judah - we should consider what the Temple had become.
In Josiah's time, the Temple of the Living God had become a place for worshiping all kinds of entities besides the LORD. The Temple had even become home to both male and female shrine prostitutes!
Why? Because the people had become separated from the Word of God.
Modern Christians should not be so proud as to think this would not happen to us! Furthermore we should not be so proud as to think this has not happened to us!
How many "God-fearing Christians" really and truly know the Bible? My silly rants here in this blog prove my own ignorance of the Bible! Are we to think we can have so little knowledge of God's Word and be any better than Judah described in today's OYCB reading?
We must get back to the Bible. We must demand of ourselves that we learn God's Word!
Father, please help us to get back to the Bible!
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