Hezekiah, Josiah, and Nehemiah were three of the greatest leaders ever over God’s people. Each was a prime mover on religious occasions of such a striking nature that those occasions featured God’s people recovering aspects of their worship that had been lost for many years.
Under Hezekiah, the Passover was observed in a manner that had not taken place since the time of Solomon:
2Ch 30:26 So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.
Under Josiah, an even more noteworthy Passover was celebrated that hearkened back to the even earlier days of Samuel:
2Ch 35:18 And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Under Nehemiah, the people observed the Feast of Booths in a manner that had not been done since the even earlier time yet of Joshua.
Neh 8:17 And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.
Nehemiah thus recovered something of great value that neither Hezekiah nor Josiah did, even though both Hezekiah and Josiah were great, godly kings.
Interestingly, each of these leaders successively recovered aspects of proper worship that went back to an earlier time than the time of the aspects of worship recovered by those who preceded him.
Let us learn from the examples of these three great Jewish leaders that there may be aspects of proper worship that we need to recover in our day, aspects that hearken back to periods long ago when God’s people rightly worshiped Him in those aspects. Let us also be alert for situations in which we can recover aspects of the true spirituality of God’s people in even greater ways than our predecessors have who similarly recovered aspects of worship that God’s people have not properly observed for many years.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
