Welcome to Tuesday and another edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes!!! Ah, Tuesday! Shall I extol its virtues? Shall I tell of its grandiose design? Could I but in one blog, elucidate on the treasure that Tuesday is! Nay, but we should not speak in such tones as one might begin to think we worship the 3rd day of the week when our adoration belongs to Another! Shall I just get on with it? Yup! Let's Go!!!
Tuesday's Musical Notes is the place where Rock-n-Roll meets religion, where Jazz intersects Jesus, where both kinds of music, Country and Western, interact with the one and only Jesus the Christ. You get the picture I hope. This is a blog about music and how it can and should have an impact beyond what may have been intended by its authors.
Today we venture to a place when they turn the pages of history... Cue the flashback music...
Tuesday's Musical Notes is proud to have featured three other songs by one of the greatest Rock bands in history. Click on these links to see the Notes perspectives on these classic songs by the Canadian band:
Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart make up the band Rush (so much music from only 3 guys!!!) and are all credited with writing "Farewell to Kings" a song about how we deal with hypocrisy in our world. The song also explores the use of introspection as a means to find our way through life. As you look across the landscape of our world, "A Farewell to Kings" resonates as much today as it did in 1977 as it asks, "When they turn the pages of history. When these days have passed long ago. Will they read of us with sadness for the seeds that we let grow?" Equally pertinent to the United States, in particular, is the next verse, "Cities full of hatred, fear, and lies. Withered hearts and cruel tormented eyes. Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise. Beating down the multitude and scoffing at the wise." Perhaps the adage about history repeating itself has some merit after all.
The opening acoustic riffs were recorded in the great outdoors by Alex Lifeson. Geddy Lee says of the recording session, "the acoustic was recorded out there to get that really crisp sound and I remember Alex was walking around this mic that Terry (coproducer with Rush on the album, Terry Brown) had set up while he was playing. He was just like a troubadour-he was playing as he walked around and, naturally, every troubadour has his guy trailing behind him playing a Minimoog!" (Take a deeper dive into the making of A Farewell To Kings by clicking on this link from whence the just referenced quote originated: "The real story behind how Rush made A Farewell To Kings" By Philip Wilding, November 14, 2017, loudersound.com)
"A Farewell To Kings", the single, never made the Billboard Hot 100 even though its namesake album peaked at #22 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The single, however, has come to some acclaim. It is ranked #4 at Ultimate Classic Rock's "All 167 Rush Songs Ranked Worst to Best" list ("All 167 Rush Songs Ranked Worst to Best" by Ryan Reed, June 27, 2018, ultimateclassicrock.com) and continues to be a fan favorite from its namesake album.
Oddly enough, the above video was not uploaded to YouTube until 2018.
And thus, ended the Kings of Israel and Judah. While we aren't closing this chapter in the Bible's metanarrative, we do come to the Musical Notes' final analysis of the Kingly dynasties of the nation of God's chosen people. What can we derive from these passages for our personal lives from the history of Israel's kings? Through our chronological exploration, what can we extract, add to the lessons of our own history, and map out as an outline for our future?
We must remember these things:
1) There were no good and righteous kings in Israel (Northern Kingdom)
2) Some of the kings of Judah (Southern Kingdom) started out bad and repented (Manasseh)
3) Some of the kings of Judah started out bad and turned away.
4) All of the kings of Judah and Israel were men just like us
As we bid a farewell to the kings of the Bible, I want to take one last look at the king who in my opinion (feel free to engage in conversation through the comments...) who was the best and last good king of Judah, Josiah.
Josiah was the king after Amon (bad king, 2 year reign) and before Jehoahaz (bad king, 3 months). Interestingly enough, the good kings of Judah all had the longest dynasties. (Asa (41 years), Jehoshaphat (25 years), Joash (40 years), Amaziah (29 years), Uzziah (52 years), Jotham (16 years), and Hezekiah (29 years)) Josiah joins this group of good kings with the administration of the kingdom of Judah for 31 years. His ascendancy to the throne came when he was only 8 years old. His mother, Jedidah, is listed in the opening passages of his reign probably to provide the reader with the idea that an 8-year-old king had some guidance from someone. Jedidah's father was Adaiah of Bozkath, who in 1 Chronicles 6:41 is listed in the genealogy of Gershom, the Levite. This means that Josiah would have come from the line of Gershom which included Asaph, the celebrated musician, and writer of some of the Psalms, from King David's time. No wonder he was a good king...
Josiah was the best king of Israel for a number of reasons.
First of all, the Bible says that he "Did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked entirely in the way of his father David..." The Bible continues "...and did not turn aside to the right or to the left." (yes there is a political conjecture we might draw here, but we leave that interpretation to the incredible insights of you our highly discerning readers!)
Josiah did what was right in the sight of the Lord. Notice that he did not do things that were right in the sight of his mom, his advisors, or his subjects. The Lord was his standard of right living. To borrow from the prophet Micah 6:8 NASB/AMP/KJV, Josiah acted justly, loved mercy, and walked humbly before God.
Secondly, he revered the temple as the house of God. Josiah went about releasing resources of money and manpower so that the temple of the One True God could be utilized in the glory to which it deserved. Now, please don't take this to mean that Josiah revered the building over the One who was to reside there, but he had a healthy respect for the temple and what it represented. To borrow from the writer of the letter to the Hebrews 10:19-25 NASB/AMP/KJV, Josiah realized the importance of gathering together to worship God.
Finally, Josiah realized that Scripture and covenants were the most important thing to the people individually and the nation as a whole. Today's readings about Josiah's life reveal that while the temple was being repaired, a book was discovered. Many theologians think this would have been a copy of what we now call Deuteronomy. The reading of this book caused much remorse as Josiah and his leadership realized just how far away from God Judah had drifted. So what does Josiah do? He sets about immediately obeying Scripture. He gets the priestly order in a right relationship with God (sanctified, per the law of God) and brings about the first Passover celebration since the days of Samuel, the judge and prophet. To borrow from the last book written by Moses Deuteronomy 6 NASB/AMP/KJV "Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."
Depending on the timeline, there were anywhere from 300-500 years that the land had gone without the Passover, one of its founding celebrations. No wonder they had lost their way. They had tossed away the reminder of how God had delivered them. Don't judge! We must constantly consider how we may have been casual in remembering how God delivered us!
Josiah began the reforms necessary for his generation to get right with God. The Jesus Movement and prolific songwriter Keith Green once said, "This generation of believers is responsible for this generation of souls". Perhaps Keith Green drew inspiration for this quote by reading the account of how, even though in the long run the nation as a whole was too far gone, Josiah brought about a sense of hope for his contemporaries. Josiah renewed the covenant with God and went about demolishing all of the pagan worship in the land.
22 1/2 years and 4 bad kings later the reforms of Josiah were forgotten and the Southern Kingdom of Judah fell, as had the Northern Kingdom of Israel 134 years prior, to Babylon. It would be over 2500 years later that the nation of Israel would once again be recognized, as prophecies were fulfilled (more on that later), as an independent nation.
There is much for the modern church to learn from Josiah and the revival experienced in the Southern Kingdom of Judah during his time as king. Our devotion should always be to God, doing what is right in His eyes, not our own. We should never seek counsel from the left or the right (places of great distraction), looking only for God's guidance and leadership. We must take action when we read Scripture that shows us how we stray. (Note: not how others stray...We should tell them the Gospel first and pray that Holy Spirit will convict them of their sin, then and only then are we allowed to provide loving guidance) We have invested much into our places of worship so we can gather together and worship the One True God in Spirit and Truth. These facilities should be maintained, yet never worshiped. We must remember the covenant relationship we have with God individually and collectively and be about telling our generation of the glorious Gospel of Jesus who redeems us from our wrongdoings, restores our relationship with God, and prepares a place that we can forever be together with God.
Maybe Rush had the right idea in 1977. "Ohh, Can't we raise our eyes and make a start? Can't we find the minds to lead us closer to the heart?"
Let's say a farewell to the kings that may be ruling our lives right now. Let's embrace THE King who waits to save us, restore us, and make us like Himself. For more on how Jesus can do all of these things, keep reading The Notes, check out the archives in the upper left, or go to The Gospel of Jesus according to the tax collector Matthew NASB/AMP/KJV, The Gospel of Jesus according to Mark NASB/AMP/KJV, The Gospel of Jesus according to the physician Luke NASB/AMP/KJV, The Gospel of Jesus according to the fisherman John NASB/AMP/KJV
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
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