JOSIAH CELEBRATES PASSOVER
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
2 CHRONICLES 35 1-6, 16-18
Key Verse
“Then Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month”.
2 Chronicles 35:1
INTRODUCTION
Some people think that children are not very smart and they do not understand important things. But this Study Lesson from the Bible teaches the opposite. It teaches young people are very aware of much more of what is happening around them than adults think and they know what God wants from them. Problem is that sometimes adults, fathers, mothers, do not want to do what God wants them to do and their children have no say in these matters. That bad behaviour of adults is just wrong and those behaviours bring the wrath and judgment of God on everybody. Everybody suffers when these wrong things are done and the commandments of God are ignored. So, let us be clear on this. Adults push children in the wrong direction sometimes because they ignore the teachings of the Bible, and they do not like to hear that from children or anyone else.
In our Study we are told about an 8 year- old youngster named Josiah who came to the throne of Judah when his father was assassinated (killed) because of his evil ways. Josiah’s grandfather named Manasseh was also terrible and was the worst evil, violent, and corrupt king of Judah. The Bible describes him as the king that made the streets of Jerusalem run with blood. He followed all the pagan idolatrous worship practices you can dream of and he and his cronies and supporters abused the helpless people. He made the Temple where the people should worship fill up with garbage. He did no repairs at the Temple and the buildings fell into a bad shape. It was so bad the priests had to take the Ark of the covenant out of the Temple to protect it, and they hid it.
When Josiah came to the throne at only 8 years of age he changed all the bad idol worship doings and his parents bad behaviour. He ordered the priests and the Levites to clean up the Temple, take away the garbage, and rebuild some broken down parts. When they started the work, they found the Book of the Law of Moses that Josiah’s grandfather and father had ignored. The priests read what God said in this Book to Josiah the King. God warned in this Book of the Law of Moses that if the people sinned the way they were doing He would destroy the Temple, destroy the city of Jerusalem, allow their enemies to kill most of them and take the rest into captivity. Jeremiah the prophet had been warning the people of that very disaster but they had not listened to him.
But now the young king Josiah determined to clean up the evil. He prepared the nation to observe the Feasts of God which reminded them of their redemption and release from slavery in Egypt. At the 18th year he observed the Passover. It had taken this long to changes the bad things in the nation, plan for the Passover, get the priests and Levites to prepare themselves. It takes a long time to make things better. It also takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of determination to do what is right and to please God.
But this young man was courageous. Over 40,000 animals were slaughtered for the Passover sacrifice to remind the people of the blood shed to release them from slavery and protect them from the angel of death that killed all the firstborn in Egypt in that final plague. Everybody played their part. The singers assembled and sang praises to God for their redemption. The priests offered burnt offering to make God know they were sorry for their sins.
This was the greatest Passover ever help in Israel. This was amazing. Young king Josiah did what was right in the sight of God. He followed the commandments of God perfectly. He did this all because he loved God and appreciated what God had done for his nation. He set an example for us today. We should know the Laws of God, reject the evil ways of everybody around us, no matter who they are. That is the only way we will avoid the punishment of God and suffering for everybody. So be full of courage. Study the commandments and testimonies of God. Vow to do what God wants and live the way He wants us to live. Your youth should not stop you from obeying God. That way we will have maximum blessing, eternal blessings.