Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of II Chronicles Chapter 34
Metaphysically Interpreting II Chronicles 34:1-7
34:1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. 34:2And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. 34:3For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images. 34:4And they brake down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. 34:5And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. 34:6And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, in their ruins round about. 34:7And he brake down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the graven images into powder, and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem.
Metaphysically Interpreting II Chronicles 34:8-21
34:8Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Jehovah his God. 34:9And they came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 34:10And they delivered it into the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of Jehovah; and the workmen that wrought in the house of Jehovah gave it to mend and repair the house; 34:11even to the carpenters and to the builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.34:12And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and others of the Levites, all that were skilful with instruments of music. 34:13Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and set forward all that did the work in every manner of service: and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters.
34:14And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of Jehovah, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Jehovah given by Moses. 34:15And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. 34:16And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word to the king, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they are doing. 34:17And they have emptied out the money that was found in the house of Jehovah, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen. 34:18And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read therein before the king.
34:19And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. 34:20And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, 34:21Go ye, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Jehovah, to do according unto all that is written in this book.
January 9, 1916: II Chronicles 34:1-13
We are told that Josiah “walked in the ways of David his father,” but history says his father was Amon; hence we perceive that the “father” here referred to is the spiritual parent, whom David represents all through the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus was the Son of David; that is, his root source was spiritual, and through acknowledgment of that source he came into the powers of the God-Man.
So Josiah, meaning “Jehovah supports,” is that in man that connects itself with the Spirit, and tries to carry out or substitute Being for seeming. To do this we should begin early, and go right forward, turning neither to the right hand nor the left. The unwavering loyalty to Truth is necessary to success. Vacillation excites distrust in ourselves, our God and our friends. A good affirmation for the vacillating mind is. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him” (Job 13:15)
The purging of Judah and Jerusalem is systematic denial of errors of mind, and wrong practices, that have become habits in both the objective and subjective consciousness. “Asherim,” or “groves,” were the symbols of the Phoenician Venus, the goddess of love, and were usually of a sensual character. Metaphysically, the “molten images” and the “graven images” mean those productions of the imagination which are first in a free, then in a formed state of consciousness. The lascivious imagination is the “molten” state, the second step of which is the “graven image,” or physical sensation. These are both to be purged and denied in mind and body. We thus dissolve or make “dust” of these conditions, and casting them from us utterly, they go back to the formless and inert.
The burning of the bones of the priests on the altars means the sacrificing or giving up of the material or gross forms of our religion or ideas of God. You may have overcome sensuality, and changed your ideas about the personality of God, yet are clinging to some personal spiritual leader or priest. Burn these “bones,” by vigorous denial of human foolishness and ignorance, and affirmations of Divine Wisdom. In ancient times, as now, it was the habit of the devout to give special reverence to priests and spiritual leaders, and to call them “father.” Jesus put a quietus upon this man-worship, in Matthew 23:8: “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven.”
After denying and purging the mind of error we should see to it that we put the builders at work upon the temple. Denial is always destructive, and leaves vacancies in the consciousness to be built up with true statements. When vigorous denial is followed by a feeling of weakness, we may know that we have destroyed some thought structure upon which we have been depending, and have built nothing in its place. The carpenters and builders are the universal constructive forces of Being. These are always at work in the organism, when right thought is holding sway, but after a siege of error it is necessary to start them anew by affirmations of substance based in Truth: “hewn stone,” the unity of good, “timber for couplings,” and the eternity of the now, “beams for the houses.”
– UNITY magazine.
November 3, 1918: II Chronicles 34:1-13
LESSON INTERPRETATION What is the meaning of “Josiah”? “Josiah” means “Jehovah supports.”
What in consciousness does Josiah represent? Josiah represents that in consciousness which connects itself with the Spirit, and tries to carry out the Divine Plan, or substitute Being for seeming.
Why did Josiah begin to reign so young? In order to bring the whole man into harmony with Truth and demonstrate perfection, man must begin to act upon, and be loyal to his first impressions and concepts of Truth.
What was the condition of Israel when Josiah began to reign? Israel (body-consciousness) had been taught to worship false gods.
Why does man turn from the one true God? The ruling faculties of mind have been allowed to set up mortal laws, to give themselves over to sense consciousness, lascivious imaginations, physical sensations, etc. This causes the mind to cling to man-made creeds or organizations, or to some spiritual leader or priest. As a result man loses, sight of the one true God.
What was Jesus' attitude concerning true worship? Jesus taught that God is Spirit. He denied the worship of personality when he said: “Be ye not called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call, no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven.”
What is the next step after man has denied personality, ignorance, and false worship? After man has denied personality, ignorance and false worship, he affirms his allegiance to Spirit, sets up true worship in the consciousness, affirms his spiritual strength and power and life and substance, and so builds anew his body-temple.
May 21, 1922: II Chronicles 34:14-16
How do we read the book of the law into the ears of all the people? All the people, that is, all centers of thought in the body and every cell connected therewith, are charged with the affirmations, declarations, thoughts, and words which we express.
Who is the king who stands in his place and makes a covenant before Jehovah “to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul”? The king is the directive I AM; in other words, the king is the will that moves the whole man to action. When, with heart and soul, we affirm our loyalty to the Lord, and earnestly declare our purpose to do his will, we enter into a new state of consciousness and come into a higher dispensation of the law.
May 5, 1929: II Chronicles 34:14-16
What does “Hilkiah the priest” represent? The Hebrew word Hilkiah means “God my portion.” The word priest is to be construed as one who interprets and teaches spiritual law. So “Hilkiah the priest” represents that in man which recognizes God and at the same time realizes that God is his universal resource.
What is the metaphysical significance of the house of Jehovah? The house of Jehovah is man's body temple.
What does the money in the house of Jehovah represent? In one of its uses money represents effort or industry. The significance of money in the house of Jehovah is that reserve vital energies (the result of our activities in our past lives) are stored up within our body temples.
Explain the statement, “Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Jehovah given by Moses.” When the reserve abilities that are stored up in consciousness begin to assert their progressive power, the law of human evolution is revealed. This revealing is signified by the finding of the law of Jehovah which had been given to Moses.
What does Shaphan the scribe represent? Shaphan the scribe represents the subjective memory, or the recurring consciousness of the law, which brings out the inner rule of action that leads on to higher and better things through mental and physical evolution.
Metaphysically Interpreting II Chronicles 34:22-28
34:22So Hilkiah, and they whom the king had commanded, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter;) and they spake to her to that effect. 34:23And she said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Tell ye the man that sent you unto me,34:24Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah. 34:25Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore is my wrath poured out upon this place, and it shall not be quenched. 34:26But unto the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: As touching the words which thou hast heard, 34:27because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and hast humbled thyself before me, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith Jehovah. 34:28Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof. And they brought back word to the king.
January 16, 1916: II Chronicles 34:14-28
What is the “book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses”? It is the Divine Law working into expression in human consciousness.
Who is “Shaphan the scribe”? The subjective memory.
What is spiritual growth? It is that progressive change in the consciousness of man which brings into expression the perfect mind and the perfect body.
What is the anger and wrath of the Lord? There is but One Power, God the Good, Omnipotent. This One Power is law “without variableness.” When man works in harmony with the One Power he realizes it as love. When he goes contrary to it, he sets his own forces into adverse activity and experiences discord. The righteousness of the Law cannot be changed. The “wrath and anger of the Lord,” or of the Law, is Divine Mind establishing its inherent law and order. In this re-establishment of Divine Law the false conditions which men have built up are destroyed, and this destruction they call the “wrath and anger of the Lord.”
What does money represent? Money represents the reserve vital force in man.
January 16, 1916: II Chronicles 34:14-28
The poet says, “There is neither good nor ill, but thinking makes it so” (Hamlet Act II Scene 2). The standards of good and evil, which we are in our human way setting up, are not the true, enduring standards of Being. Being itself must set up those standards which correspond to its perfect nature, and we shall never be at peace until there is a conformity thereto in thought and body.
Some people are satisfied with a restoration to normal good health, others dream of perpetual youth, and others go still further and see the possibility of not only youth, but comeliness of mind and body far exceeding the wildest dreams of the beauty-intoxicated poet or artist. There is a divinity within us that will never be satisfied, until it works out its ideals in a perfect mind and body. This is the teaching of this lesson.
Josiah had built the temple and restored things to their normal condition, when, in bringing out the money that was in the house of the Lord, they found the “book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.” Money represents the reserve vital energies of the mind and body. When these begin again to assert their progressive power in consciousness, there is revealed a divine law of human evolution. This is the law of the Lord given to Moses.
“Shaphan the scribe” means the subjective memory, which brings out the inner rule of action that will lead on to higher and better things through mental and physical evolution. In the subjective consciousness is stored the memories of the past, and we carry in our minds and bodies all the results of the thoughts and acts of the whole race. We are our own ancestors, and when the subjective begins to come to the surface it is revealed to us that our “fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according unto all that is written in this book.” There are higher standards of life, character and body to be attained, though it be seemingly through evil conditions.
Huldah the prophetess, dwelling in the “second quarter of Jerusalem,” and keeper of the “wardrobe,” is the intuitive perception of the “second” or subjective consciousness. The brain through which this “divinity within” functions is between the breasts, and is connected with the love nature. This is why it is designated as feminine.
Some Bible authorities claim that the “wrath” of the Lord might with equal propriety be translated the “blessings” of the Lord. We do know that in the destruction of limited and inferior forms of life other and higher forms take their places, and it is actually a blessing in the end. So the wrath that comes to our fleshly tabernacles is an ultimate blessing.
When we are tender and humble, that is loving and non-resistant, we do not suffer under the transformations that go on, when the Mosaic law is being carried out. Some people give up the body when this change takes place in consciousness. But this is not necessary under the Jesus Christ dispensation, which had not been given when this Scripture was written. Through the strength, power, purity and love Jesus imparted to the race consciousness, we may rise superior to the penalty of transgressed law and live forever in these body forms. The evil conditions will be gathered to their graves by the love of the Divine Feminine, so beautifully exemplified by the forgiving love of Jesus, and we shall come forth in the glory of the new body in Christ.
– UNITY magazine.
November 10, 1918: II Chronicles 34:14-28
Who was king of Israel when the “book of the law” was found? Josiah was king of Israel when the “book of the law” was found.
What in man's consciousness does Josiah represent? Josiah represents loyalty to Truth in man's consciousness that is seeking to make at-one-ment with God.
What is the “book of the law”? The “book of the law” is the Mosaic law, or the order of action proclaimed by the Lord (man's higher self) for the purification of the natural man, which purification enables him to receive the spiritual Truth as proclaimed by Jesus Christ.
Where was the “book of the law” found? The “book of the law” was in the “house of Jehovah.” This means that in the center of man's consciousness the law of the Lord is written, and that as man begins to set his house in order, higher rules and standards of action are revealed.
Through what avenue does this revelation come? The subjective memory (Shaphan the Scribe) receives through the religious tendencies (Hilkiah) the impression of the higher standards of life, as man consecrates himself to God and begins to use the energies of his mind and body (money in the house of Jehovah) in the restoration of his body-temple.
What faculty is brought to bear upon this revelation of subconscious activities in order that man may rightly interpret and use the increased powers? The intuitive perception of the subjective consciousness working through the love nature illumines the thoughts and makes man tender and nonresistant. This state of mind enables man to go through the transforming processes without hard experiences.
How is this transforming work carried to completion? The complete transformation of man comes through regeneration. We enter into the regeneration through letting the purifying fire of Spirit sweep through the body-consciousness, as we awake to Truth, then identifying ourselves with the Jesus Christ consciousness of strength, power, purity, life and love.
Metaphysically Interpreting II Chronicles 34:29-33
34:29Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 34:30And the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, both great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of Jehovah. 34:31And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. 34:32And he caused all that were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. 34:33And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were found in Israel to serve, even to serve Jehovah their God. All his days they departed not from following Jehovah, the God of their fathers.
May 21, 1922: II Chronicles 34:29-32
What does Hilkiah, the priest, mean? The Hebrew word Hilkiah, means: “God my portion.” The word priest means one who interprets and teaches the spiritual law. Hilkiah is that in man which recognizes God and at the same time realizes that God is his universal resource.
What does money in the house of Jehovah represent? In one of its uses, money represents effort or industry. We have within us the stored up results of our activities in all our past lives. In the soul this is reserve ability.
When we discern that we are the temple of God, or the house of Jehovah, what do we find within ourselves? When the awakening comes, and we find that we are the very temple of the living God, we begin to search for not only what has been brought into the temple, but also for the Divine Law. This is symbolically represented by the law given by Jehovah to Moses.
What does Shaphan, the scribe, represent? Shaphan, the scribe, represents the subjective memory, or recurring consciousness of the law, which brings out the inner rule of action that leads on to higher and better things through mental and physical evolution.
May 5, 1929: II Chronicles 34:29-33
What is the metaphysical significance of the statement that the king read the book of the law into the ears of alt the people? The spiritual ruler (the king) in man's consciousness charges all the different centers of thought (“all the people”) with affirmations and declarations until the very cells of the organism express the purity and intelligence of Spirit. In this way the directive I AM (the king) moves the whole man to action. When with whole heart and soul man affirms his loyalty to the Lord and earnestly declares his purpose to do His will, he enters into a new state of consciousness and comes into a higher dispensation of the law.
What does Josiah, the king, represent? Josiah, the king, represents the ruling power over man's spiritual nature. The word “Josiah” means “Jehovah supports,” signifying that power in man which connects itself with the spiritual Source of being.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 01-11-2014
