Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20070805.htm

1 AND 2 CHRONICLES: GAINING DIRECTION OUT OF THE AIMLESSNESS OF APOSTASY
Part V: Gaining Direction From God's Work In The Rest Of Judah's Dynasty, 2 Chronicles 13-36
T. Learning God Holds Us HIGHLY Accountable To Avoid Our Parents' OBVIOUS Sins
(2 Chronicles 36:1-4; 2 Kings 23:31-33; Jeremiah 22:10-12)
  1. Introduction
    1. Scripture often implies or teaches that the more exposure one has to spiritual realities in his life, the higher his accountability to God to do what is right in regards to them, cf. Luke 12:47-48.
    2. Regarding this subject, unlike his father, Josiah who knew very little of God's ways when he began to reign, Josiah's son, Jehoahaz knew a lot; thus, his failure to learn from his father's final sin that caused his premature death was treated with such contempt by the Lord that God judged him to be taken captive by the same Pharaoh Necho who had slain his father when he had sinned (as follows):
  2. Learning God Holds Us HIGHLY Accountable To Avoid Our Parents' OBVIOUS Sins.
    1. We learn from 2 Chronicles 36:1-4 that Josiah's son, king Jehoahaz, reigned only three months in Jerusalem before the same Pharaoh Necho who had slain his father took him captive to Egypt!
    2. We know from the 2 Kings 23:31-33 account that Jehoahaz sinned against the Lord, following in the idolatrous ways of Judah's evil kings before him. This explains why he would have been deposed by a foreign king in divine judgment that fulfilled the Mosaic Covenant of Deuteronomy 28:15, 25b.
    3. Indeed, God's judgment against Jehoahaz was so steep that He called the prophet Jeremiah, a contemporary of Jehoahaz, no longer to weep for the relatively godly deceased Josiah, but to weep for Jehoahaz who would never return out of captivity to his native land of Judah, Jeremiah 22:10-12.
    4. To explain how God so quickly and severely judged Jehoahaz this way, we only need view his exposure to his relatively godly father's OBVIOUS final sin that left Jehoahaz HIGHLY accountable before the Lord to follow God in place of returning to the idolatrous ways of Judah's past evil kings:
      1. First, Jehoahaz would have been very sensitized to what was right and wrong from his youth on up:
        1. Jehoahaz's father, Josiah had come out of idolatry under Amon, his godless father and from the evil-turned-repentant grandfather, Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:21-25; 33:1-20), but Josiah had begun to seek God early in his reign, 2 Chronicles 34:1-3.
        2. Upon acquiring a copy of the Law and having it read to him for the first time in his life, Josiah had immediately, wholeheartedly sought to obey the Law, 2 Chronicles 34:8, 14, 18-21. He had covenanted with God and the people to heed the Lord, and purged Judah of false idols and hosted a Passover unequaled in greatness since the prophet Samuel's era, 2 Chron. 34:29-33; 35:1, 18-19.
        3. God had thus blessed Josiah, postponing Judah's impending Babylonian Captivity for her past evils until after he had passed away, 2 Chronicles 34:26-28.
      2. Second, Jehoahaz's mother was a third generation believer; her father was named, "Jeremiah," meaning "Jahweh (God as the "I AM") establishes," cf. 2 Kings 23:31; Z. P. E. B., v. Three, p. 434.
      3. Third, for all of his blessings for heeding the Lord, Josiah had clearly erred in not seeking God's advice to weigh the words of Pharaoh Necho who claimed God did not want Josiah to fight him, 2 Chron. 35:20-22. The fact that Pharaoh's archers shot and mortally wounded Josiah versus God's stated will by the prophetess, Huldah that Josiah have a long life and peaceful end shows us his untimely death was not God's initial will; rather, Josiah died this way as a result of failing to check with a prophet of God to test the veracity of Pharaoh Necho's warning.
      4. Thus, since Jehoahaz had seen God's great blessings on his father, Josiah for his great obedience to the Law, only to witness him meet a violent, untimely death for not following the Lord, and since Jehoahaz had several generations of godly heritage in his mother's side of his family, for him then to turn to idols left him highly irresponsible and guilty of gross rebellion in God's estimation!
      5. Accordingly, God quickly, severely judged Jehoahaz to go into captivity for the rest of his life!
Lesson: If we have a godly heritage and have seen the OBVIOUS work of God to bless or discipline our PARENTS, God expects us to LEARN from it all, and He holds us HIGHLY accountable to DO so!

Application: We must PAY HEED to God's dealings in the lives of our PARENTS and a Godly heritage as the Lord holds us HIGHLY ACCOUNTABLE to LEARN from them!