Participants in the Covenant

June 25, 2008
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

Standing by the column, the king made a covenant before the Lord that they would follow him and observe his ordinances, statutes and decrees with their whole hearts and souls, thus reviving the terms of the covenant which were written in this book. And all the people stood as participants in the covenant. (2 Kings 23:3)

Lead me in the path of your commands, for that is my delight. (Psalms 109: 35)

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:15)

Piety
Lord, help me to honor the covenants you have made with me. Let me listen only to you, and ignore the false prophets who try to snatch my life.

Study
Today's Readings

Consider the life of Josiah, or Josias if you prefer.

“Before him there had been no king who turned to the Lord as he did,” we’re told later in this chapter of 2 Kings. He was just eight years old at the beginning of his reign, and before he was forty, he was dead, slain at Mageddo.

In today’s reading, he gathers up all the people of Jerusalem, “small and great” and shares the contents of the book of the covenant. He promises his people will follow the Lord’s desires and gets to work. According to The People of the Covenant: An Invitation to the Old Testament, Josiah proceeds to purify the temple, dismantle inappropriate shrines of worship, and demands that the Passover be celebrated regularly.

Not too shabby for thirty years of work.

As for Pharaoh Nechao, whose army killed Josiah, he continued eastward after the battle, defeating the Assyrians and as a result ruling territory from Egypt to what is now northern Iraq. Four years later, Nechao marched again to the Euphrates and was routed by Nebuchadnezzar, who took back all the territory the Egyptians had conquered. Shortly thereafter, he died.

Who had the greater impact, the longer legacy? No real question there. Who followed the Lord’s commands, rather than the false prophets of land and power? Is there any real surprise that almost no one’s ever heard of Nechao, but that Josiah garners such praise?

Our own covenants with the Lord may appear less dramatic, but they involve struggle all the same: faith, obedience, trust, hope, whatever we want to call them. Let us follow the example of Josiah and burn with passion in fulfilling our end of the covenant no matter how much or how little time we are given.

Action
What are God’s covenants with you? Write down three ways you can better honor them this week.