Wednesday, July 8, 2009
2 Kings 23:1-3; 21-23
23:1 Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.
And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem. (ESV)
by John H. Camenga
Passover kept Israel connected to the release from Egyptian Slavery. God gave specific instructions for Israel to observe. At some point Passover was lost. King Josiah reestablished Passover as soon as he understood it was important.
No one outlawed the celebration. No generation made a conscious decision to abandon it. Over time its importance was lost to new generations. Probably some form of observance continued, fading gradually. Perhaps we should review the more rigorous Sabbath observance of our spiritual ancestors and compare it to present practice. Is the Sabbath fading?
Copyright Information
Daily Bible Meditations are taken from The Helping Hand,a Sabbath School student quarterly for youth and adults. Copyright © 2010, Seventh Day Baptist Board of Christian Education, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service.

