Today's
Scripture Reading (April 10, 2020): 2 Kings 23
"Porches are America's lost
rooms." The words belong to American Journalist Barbara Grizzuti Harrison,
and they bring our minds back to a former time in our history. There was an era
when the neighborhood would gather on their front porches in the cool of the
evening, waving to neighbors, and even have conversations across their front yards.
It was a time when we knew the names of our neighbors and exhibited genuine
care for them.
But there has been a shift in most
of our neighborhoods. Maybe the most critical change was to attached garages
with doors that entered directly into the house from the garage. Now we can go
from our cars inside the house without ever stepping outside and never even
seeing our neighbors. The porch has also moved from the front of the house to
the back, where it is guarded by fences and trees to increase our privacy. I
have noticed a resurgence of the porch in some neighborhoods, where the garage
has become the center of social activity, especially in the hot summer months.
Families and neighbors are once again invited to sit lazily in the cool of the
day, sharing the news of the neighborhood with their friends. These garages
have banished the cars in favor of recovering the front porch.
The author of 2 Kings comments that
Josiah "stood by the pillar and renewed the
covenant in the presence of the Lord." The
pillar that he speaks of is likely one of the great pillars, likely
freestanding and not load-bearing, that stood on the porch of Solomon's Temple.
These two pillars were named Jachin and Boaz, but the verse does not indicate
which of these pillars beside which Josiah stood. The imagery is of Josiah
standing in front of the Temple, renewing his commitment to the God of Judah.
It would have been inappropriate for the king to step inside the Temple; that
was the domain of the priests. But he could stand on the porch.
But
there is a second image that we need to see in this verse, and it is of the king
humbling himself before God in a very public way. The people would have gathered
and watched this ceremony that was taking place on the porch of the Temple. And
there was a double edge to the commitment that Josiah was making. First, it was
a personal commitment. Josiah was declaring that he was willing to follow God
and keep his commandments, decrees and statutes. The second edge was that he was
committing on behalf of all the people to do the same thing. He made this commitment
on behalf of those who were present for the ceremony, and those were not
physically present in Jerusalem, and therefore could not attend the ceremony.
And
the people who had gathered echoed their support for the king, promising to
support him by following God and keeping his decrees.
Tomorrow's
Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 35
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