Contemplative Bible Reading

2 Kings 23:13-14 (New International Version 2011)

¹³ The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon. ¹⁴ Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.

Here is another episode in the life of good King Josiah – one of the last good kings of Judah. Here is a (hi)story of Josiah ridding Jerusalem and the country of idols. Note the “high places,” i.e., places of idol worship that Josiah desecrates or destroys in verse 13. These places of idol worship were built by King Solomon.

A little research on Wikipedia (among other places) shows that Solomon was King about 330 years before Josiah. Through all the ups and downs and good times and bad times over 330 years, the people of Jerusalem and Judah kept these places of idol worship in tact.

330 years!

It seems that someone in those 16 generations, someone would have said, “Hey, these things shouldn’t be here!”

Nope. That never happened. I guess the people just became accustomed to these places and left them in place. I mean, they seemed to have been there forever. Perhaps the attitude was:

If those things were wrong, someone would have removed them.

Perhaps that is my attitude today. I see things that are wrong, things that shouldn’t be. Things that are not good for me or for my neighbor. But hey, they’ve been here a long time, so who am I to do something. I am a person who follows Christ. That’s who I am. I should do something.

God, get me going like Josiah. Get me to remove the places of idol worship that are about me.