Title: Reformation/2 Kings 23:1-3
Contents
The public's expectation now is that this reform will be thoroughly continued so that the links of injustice will be exposed and broken up to the root, and that the foundation of this country will be planted anew just as a whole new tree is planted. The goal seems to end there. However, the question is whether the reform will reach that far, and what kind of reforms the current government is pushing for, reforms up to that point are possible, and in this sense, we as believers should think carefully about what kind of perspective we should have on the tasks of this time. I can't help but see it.
Today's message is to take a look at the Bible's precepts on this task before us and to find out there the biblical principles of reform. We ponder God's Word on these political issues because every aspect of our lives is under God's sovereignty. It is also because the Bible provides clear directions for such political and social issues as well as spiritual matters.
Reforms such as the reforms led by President Kim Young-sam have also occurred in Israeli history.
One was promoted by a king named Hezekiah and the other by King Josiah. Strangely, if we look closely, there seems to be no comparison between the reforms of Israel at this time and the reforms of our country today. These reforms were promoted after the division of a nation into North and South Korea, which was stimulated by the collapse of one of the two countries.
If we go back a little bit in history, the nation of Israel established by King Saul was established through the times of King David and King Solomon, but the kingdom was divided into north and south after King Solomon's death because of King Solomon's unreasonable economic development-oriented rule. Discard. However, even the divided North and South Israel did not last for a long time and the northern Israel was destroyed only 200 years after the nation was established by the Assyrian Kingdom. Now, as a remnant nation, Judah, which had been established in the south, barely maintained the legacy of Israel, but even this nation was in the midst of extreme crisis and instability.
Many of the territories that King David had secured were lost, the economy that had grown due to Solomon's trade policy became difficult, and refugees continued to come from the destroyed northern Israel, and the people's feelings became unspeakably atrocious. The country has entered such a crisis and instability due to various international and domestic factors, but the most fundamental cause was the repeated mistakes of the kings.
Rehoboam, son of Solomon, and the successive rulers of Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jeroram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Joash, Uzziah, Jotham, and Ahaz, only a few kings, such as Jehoshaphat and Uzziah, stabilized the nation. The kings only struggled for power, such as usurping the throne by killing or copying, and living a luxurious life when they came to power. Moreover, in a country established by God's grace, the kings change their national ideology at will, attract foreign religions, establish foreign gods, and serve foreign gods. The ruling philosophy is shaken, and the nobles take advantage of this opportunity to accumulate wealth and engage in luxury and indulgence. has been
Social corruption always brings mental corruption, but after the disclosure of public officials' property, President Kim once said that he had never seen the light of penance from a person who disclosed his property and talked about moral insensitivity. It was to the extent of suffering from religious insensitivity.
What country is Israel?
The nation of Israel itself is faith, and faith and the nation of Israel are inseparable enough to say that faith itself is the nation of Israel. However, the society at that time had become a society where this belief did not exert any power at all. At that time, there were a lot of religious events such as worship. However, all these religious practices are mere formalities, and everyday life is full of bribes, corruption and injustice.
This is evident in the sermons of the prophets Micah and Isaiah who were active at the same time, who preached like this.
"Listen to the word of the LORD, saith the LORD, "What is the benefit of your countless sacrifices to me?...I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls, or lambs, or goats... Incense is my abomination. I hate your new moons and your appointed feasts, and they are a heavy burden to me. He said to defend him."
The prophet Micah delivered a similar message.
?쏻hat shall I bring before the LORD to worship the Most High God? Shall I go before him with a calf a year old for a burnt offering? Will the LORD take pleasure in a thousand rams or ten thousand thousands of rivers of oil? It has been shown to me that what the LORD requires of you is not to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."
Not because we exploit the poor, not because we oppress people, but because people are poor and oppressed. When the national flag was waving like this from the root, Hezekiah ascended to the throne and started reforming policies.
His reform policy focused on two aspects. He took advantage of this opportunity to gain independence from Assyria. Second, as the Reformation, he removed all the idols of pagan religions from the Jerusalem Temple, abolished all other places of worship, and destroyed the Jerusalem Temple. It was to unify worship only with Of course, Hezekiah's reform was aimed at saving the nation from foreign powers.
However, there was one problem with Hezekiah's reforms, which were too political. In other words, the unification of worship in Jerusalem and the temple in Jerusalem also symbolized the kingship, so Hezekiah's Reformation strengthened his kingship just as he did in the past when President Park emphasized faithfulness to the people and expected the people to be loyal to him. It is a political calculation. In the past in Solomon's time, the Jerusalem Temple was a symbol of kingship, so there was a political intention behind it. Hezekiah tried to reform in many ways, but his reform did not come to fruition and he died.
The throne passed to his successor, Manasseh. However, Manasseh continued to pay tribute to Assyria to the extent that it is recorded as the most powerless king in history, only protecting his throne and ascending the throne. In a sense, the sense of national independence that had been raised by Hezekiah on the outside was replaced by Manasseh, who seemed to be soaked in water.
Meanwhile, the nationalist Josiah came to power. With the rise of this nationalist Josiah, Israel started a national movement centered on Josiah and started reforming again. Although Josiah did not recapture all the territory that David had secured, he embarked on the Reformation in order to secure considerable territory and reform the nation's spirit. Josiah's Reformation also began, like Hezekiah, by removing the idols of pagan religions and driving out corruption.
But one other thing is that Hezekiah did it for his own political purpose and Josiah did it from a nationalist view and went much more thoroughly.
However, it was difficult to keep reforms going by simply exposing and expelling this corruption. This is because, both in the past and today, people often want to go back to the past when they are in unrest due to a political crisis. It was at this time that Josiah had a wonderful event, such as a fortune, when he drove out foreign gods from the temple in Jerusalem and was rebuilding it.
Old Testament scholars see that this is today's book of Deuteronomy. Through the discovery of this book, if the reform that has been going on until now was just a political program, the spiritual and religious ground for the reform has been established. The discovery of this book began to strengthen and spur Josiah's reforms.
This book presents reform from the inside, not from the outside. Josiah's reformation was supposed to remove foreign gods from the Jerusalem Temple and centralize all Israeli worship to the Jerusalem Temple, but the book found here presented this religious reform in a much more spiritual dimension. Let's just say, the book Deuteronomy found here reminds us that "the dwelling place of the LORD," that is, "the dwelling place of God" is not simply the Jerusalem temple, but the ark of the covenant that God gave to them in the early days of Israel. I found that the place where you are doing is not the form of a place called the temple, but a place where God's covenant is kept in mind and executed.
In the end, the reform is not in the reform of the form, but in the reform of the spirit, and is completed in the reform of the very life that establishes justice, cultivates love, and humbles ourselves before God according to the word and command of God. Only then can God receive worship. that it will be possible.
Today's Word tells us that after discovering the spiritual foundation of this great reform, King Josiah gathered all the elders, the ministers, of Judah and Jerusalem, and gathered all the people and inhabitants, priests and prophets, from adults to children, in the temple. It is a scene of listening to Deuteronomy, which is the spiritual foundation of
Knowing that continuous reform would be impossible without the entire nation returning to these words, Josiah gathered all the people, including the ministers, to read these words. Then he stood by the pillar of the temple and devoted all his heart and soul to the commandments. It is the story of making a covenant before God to swear to keep the laws and ordinances and to keep the words of the covenant written in this book.