Jewish son of the Law examination of 12 year old Boy Jesus

Jesus Christ, in His Divinity, has existed from eternity when He was generated, not created, from the Father; but Jesus, in His Humanity, has existed only from when He was miraculously conceived, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the womb, and born, of Virgin Mary - an All Holy, All Beautiful, Full of Grace Jewess who was born immaculate of holy Jewish parents, (saints) Joachim and Anne.

And so Jesus was subject, in His Humanity, to the then religious laws of the Jews, laws that included males being required to become what was then known as, a 'son of the Law,' but only if candidates were successful in passing the requisite examination.

And so the day came when Boy Jesus had to undergo such an examination.

The oral answers given by Boy Jesus below, to the oral examination questions posed by His examiners, have relevancy even today. So let's read on below what Boy Jesus had to say, so that we may all learn and thereby become good if we are bad, better if we are good, which are some of the benefits, fruits, to be derived from reading and meditating on the Gospel that Jesus our Lord God dictated to holy mystic Maria Valtorta.

Pursuant to the vision that Jesus gave to holy mystic and 'victim soul,' Maria Valtorta - the "pen of Jesus," being an invisible observer therein:

"[Maria Valtorta narrates the vision, being an invisible observer therein:]

"[Maria Valtorta sees the following and speaks:] The Temple [in Jerusalem circa 12 A.D.] on a feast day. People going in and coming out of the enclosure gates, crossing yards, halls and porches, disappearing in this or that building on the various floors, which form the bulk of the Temple.

"Also the group of Jesus' family go in singing psalms in low voices. All the men are in front, the women come behind. Other people have joined them, perhaps from Nazareth, perhaps their friends in Jerusalem. I do not know.

"[Saint] Joseph, after worshipping the Most High [God] with all the others at the point, obviously, where men were allowed to do so, (the women stopped on a lower landing), [saint Joseph] parts from the rest and with his Son [Jesus] goes back through some yards, he [saint Joseph] then moves to one side and enters a vast room which looks like a synagogue. I do not know why. Were there synagogues also in the Temple? He [saint Joseph] speaks to a Levite and the latter disappears behind a striped curtain, then comes back with some elder priests, I think they are priests, they are certainly masters in the knowledge of the Law, and they are therefore appointed to examine the [Jewish] believers.

"Joseph introduces Jesus. First of all, they both bow down deeply to the ten [religious] doctors, who have sat down with dignity on low wooden stools.

[(Saint) Joseph speaks:]

" « Here »

"[Maria Valtorta continues:] he says,

[(Saint) Joseph speaks:]

" « this in [is ?] my Son [Jesus]. Three months and twelve days ago He reached the age which the Law prescribes to become of age. And I want Him to comply with the prescriptions of Israel. I would ask you to note that His constitution [= Jesus' physique, bodily appearance] proves that He is no longer in His childhood or minority. And I ask you to examine Him kindly and fairly, to judge that what I here, His father, have stated, is the truth. I have prepared Him for this hour and for this dignity of son of the Law.

" « He [Jesus] knows the precepts, the traditions, the decisions, the customs of the fringes and the phylacteries, He knows how to say the daily prayers and blessings. Therefore, since He knows the Law in Itself and in Its three branches of Halascia, Midrasc and Aggada, He can behave as a man. Therefore I wish to be free from the responsibilities of His actions and of His sins [Jesus, though, never sinned, and nor did His Mother Virgin Mary]. From now on, He must be subject to the precepts and He must pay Himself the penalty for His failures towards them. Examine Him. »

[Saint Joseph obviously seems to have treated Jesus as being like any other human being.]

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'We Will. Come forward, Child. What is Your name?'

[12 year old Boy Jesus replies:]

" « Jesus of Joseph, from Nazareth. »

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'A Nazarene. can You therefore read?'

[Nazareth/Galilee, at the time, was a demeaned/scorned region of Palestine.]

[12 year old Boy Jesus replies:]

" « Yes, rabbi, I can read the words which are written and those which are construed in the words themselves. »

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'What do you mean?'

[12 year old Boy Jesus replies:]

" « I mean that I understand also the meaning of the allegory or of the symbol which is hidden under the appearance, as a pearl does not appear but it is inside an ugly closed shell. »

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'A clever answer and a very wise one. We seldom hear that on the lips of adults; in a child, and a Nazarene in addition!.'

"[Maria Valtorta continues:] The attention of the ten [{religious} doctors] has been awakened. Their eyes do not lose for an instant the beautiful blond Child [Jesus], Who is looking at them sure of Himself, without boldness, but also without fear. [Jesus is God.]

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'You honour Your master [Master], who, certainly, was deeply read.'

[12 year old Boy Jesus replies:]

" « The Wisdom of God was gathered in His [God's] just Heart. »

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}, seemingly also turning towards saint Joseph whom they thought Jesus was referring to:]

" 'But listen to that! You are a happy man [saint Joseph], father of such a Son!'

"[Maria Valtorta continues:] Joseph, who is at the end of the room, smiles and bows down.

"They give Jesus three different rolls saying:

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'Read the one closed with the golden ribbon.'

"[Maria Valtorta continues:] Jesus opens the roll and reads. It is the Decalogue [= the Ten Commandments]. But after the first few words, one of the judges [= one of the ten {religious} doctors] takes the roll from Him saying:

[One of the ten {religious} doctors commands Jesus:]

" 'Go on by heart.'

"[Maria Valtorta continues:] Jesus continues so sure of Himself, that He seems to be reading. Every time He mentions the Lord, He bows down deeply.

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'Who taught You that? Why do You do that?'

[12 year old Boy Jesus replies:]

" « Because that Name [Lord] is holy and It is to be pronounced with a sign of internal and external respect. Subjects bow down to their king, who is king only for a short time and he is dust. To the King of kings, the Most High Lord of Israel, Who is present even if He is only visible to the spirit, shall not every creature bow down since every creature depends on Him with eternal subjection? »

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'Very clever!'

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}, obviously addressing saint Joseph:]

" 'Man [= saint Joseph - at the time, 'man' and 'woman' were the acceptable, usual terms to address individual men and women, respectively]: we advise you to have your Son educated either by Hillel or Gamaliel. He is a Nazarene. but His answers give us hope that He will become a new great [religious] doctor.'

[(Saint) Joseph replies:]

" « My Son is of age. He will decide according to His own will. If His decision is an honest one, I will not oppose it. »

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'Listen, Child. You said:

" '« Remember to sanctify feast days. Not only for yourself, but also for your son and your daughter, your servant and your maidservant, even for your horse it is said that they must not work on Sabbaths. »'

" 'Now tell me: if a hen lays an egg on a Sabbath or a sheep lambs on a Sabbath, will it be legal to use the fruit of its womb, or will it be considered as an opprobrium?'

[12 year old Boy Jesus replies:]

" « I know that many rabbis, Shammai is the last of them and is still alive, say that an egg laid on a Sabbath is against the precept. But I think that there is a difference between man and animals or whoever fulfils a natural act, such as giving birth. If I compel a horse to work I am responsible for its sin, because I force it to work with a whip. But if a hen lays an egg which has matured in its ovary or a sheep lambs a little one on a Sabbath, because it is ready to be born, no, such a deed is not a sin, neither is the egg laid or the lamb born on a Sabbath a sin in the eyes of God. »

[It seems to me that a man might sin in how he may treat an animal.]

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'But why, if every kind of work is a sin on Sabbaths?'

[This erroneous belief by the ten religious doctors, might help us understand why, later on, the scribes and pharisees relentlessly pursued Adult Jesus with their false accusations that He had not respected the Jewish Sabbath, and so slandered Him that He was sinner. Jesus NEVER sinned when He was on earth.]

[12 year old Boy Jesus replies:]

" « Because to conceive and give birth correspond to the will of the Creator and comply with the laws which He gave to every creature.

" « Now, the hen does nothing but obey the law according to which after so many hours of growth an egg is complete and ready to be laid, and the sheep also obeys the laws laid by Him Who created everything, according to which laws twice a year when springtime is on the meadows in bloom, and when the trees in the forest lose their leaves and men muffle themselves up because of the intense cold, sheep should mate so that later they may give milk, meat and nourishing cheese, in the opposite seasons of the year, that is in the months when the toil for the crops is harder or the bleakness is more painful because of frostbite.

" « If therefore a sheep, when its time is up, gives birth to a little lamb, oh! little lamb can certainly be sacred also on an altar, because it is the fruit of the obedience to the Creator. »

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'I would not examine Him any further. His wisdom is greater than the wisdom of grown up people and is really surprising.'

" 'No. He said that He is capable of understanding also the symbols. Let us hear Him.'

" 'First, let Him say a psalm, the blessings and the prayers.'

" 'Also the precepts.'

" 'Yes. Repeat the Midrasciot.'

"[Maria Valtorta continues:] Jesus repeats a long litany of « Don't do this. don't do that. » without any hesitation. If we [men] were still obliged to keep all those limitations, rebels as we are, I am sure that no one would be saved.

[Today's voluminous Catechism of the Catholic Church, and today's voluminous canon laws, were not in existence when Maria Valtorta had received the vision herein. Sadly, some clergy today relish treating canon 212 indecorously.]

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'That is enough. Open the roll with the green ribbon.'

"[Maria Valtorta continues:] Jesus opens it, and He is about to read.

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'Further on, yes, further on.'

"[Maria Valtorta continues:] Jesus obeys.

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'That is enough. Now read and explain it, if You think there is a symbol.'

[12 year old Boy Jesus replies:]

" « In the Holy Word [= the Holy Bible], it [= symbol] is seldom missing. It is we [including especially the haughty religious theorists] who cannot see and apply it. I read: Fourth Book of the Kings, Chapter twenty-two, verse ten:

" « 'Then Shaphan, the secretary, informed the king [= king Josiah: see PS below for further particulars] saying: "Hilkiah, the High Priest, has given me a book';" and Shaphan read it aloud in the king's presence. On hearing the contents of the Law of God, the king tore his garments, and gave the following.' » [RSV - II Kings 22.10-12]

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'Read after all the names.'

[12 year old Boy Jesus continues:]

" « '. the following order: Go and consult Yahweh [God], on behalf of me and the people, on behalf of the whole of Judah, about the contents of this book that has been found. Great indeed must be the anger of Yahweh blazing out against us because our ancestors did not obey what this book says, by practising everything written in it.' » [RSV - II Kings 22.13]

[This blazing of God's anger seems also to apply to today's humanity: haughty, rebellious, that refuses to repent and believe that the corona virus plague is a divine chastisement - as explained by me previously, elsewhere.]

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'That is enough. This happened many centuries ago.

[This is a downplaying, a minimising, of the open sinfulness, that we read below in PS, of then Judah that had 'lost the faith' in the true only God, and thus went after, and worshipped, pagan gods - as many people likewise do today, thereby provoking the Lord to anger.]

" 'Which symbol do You find in an event [= a very severe event: looming divine punishment - see PS below] of ancient history?'

[12 year old Boy Jesus replies:]

" « I find that time cannot be related to what is eternal. And God is eternal and our soul is eternal, and the relation between God and our soul is also eternal. Therefore the thing that gave rise to a punishment then, is the same thing that gives rise to punishment now [then, in ancient times; and also now in 2020, in today's current times], and the effects of the fault are the same. »

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'That is?'

[12 year old Boy Jesus replies:]

" « [Then ancient] Israel [as well as today's 2020 humanity] is no longer acquainted with the Wisdom, which comes from God. It is to Him, and not to poor men, that we must apply for light, and it is not possible to have light if there is no justice and loyalty to God. That is why men sin, and God, in His anger, punishes them. »

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'We are no longer acquainted? But what are You saying, Child? And the six hundred and thirteen [613] precepts?'

[12 year old Boy Jesus replies:]

" « The precepts exist, but they are mere words. We know them but we do not practise them. That is why we are not acquainted with them. This is the symbol: every man, in every period of time, must consult the Lord to know His will and comply with it to avoid drawing His anger on himself. »

[King Josiah did consult the Lord, but very much too late - see PS below.]

[One or more of the ten {religious} doctors speak{s}:]

" 'The Child is Perfect. [Of course! Jesus is God: Perfect, Infinite, Almighty.] Not even the trap of the tricky question has upset Him in His reply. Let us take Him to the real synagogue.'

"[Maria Valtorta continues:] They go into a larger and more splendid room. The first thing they do there is to shorten His Hair. His big Curls are picked up by Joseph. They then tighten His red tunic with a long band turned several times round His Waist, they tie some little fringes to His Forehead, Arm and mantle. They fix them on with a kind of studs. They then sing psalms, and Joseph praises the Lord with a long prayer invoking all blessings on his Son.

"The ceremony is over. Jesus goes out with Joseph. They go back to where they came from, they join their male relatives, they buy and offer a lamb; then, with the slaughtered victim, they reach the women.

"Virgin Mary kisses Her [Boy] Jesus. It seems She has not seen Him for years. She looks at Him, now that He is more manly in His clothes and in the style of His Hair, She pats Him.

"They go out and it all ends here."

Sweet loving, adorable Jesus Christ continues to be, now and in eternity, true God and true Man.

Saint John says to us:

"Let those who blaspheme by saying that Christ was not true God and true Man cease to blaspheme out of mercy on their souls." [Implicit punishment not revealed.]

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us.

The foregoing is pursuant to the Gospel that Jesus dictated to Maria Valtorta, the Holy Bible, and my analysis.

All for the glory of Jesus our Lord God and Master.

With kind regards.

Joseph Costa

PS

What follows below, that was very briefly mentioned above, is an account of the acts of holy king Josiah of Judah, that's in the Old Testament of the most Holy Bible.

Above, one or more of the ten {religious} doctors said, in effect, dismissively, that the time of king Josiah's reign was '... an event of ancient history.'

But that 'ancient history' is now being repeated around the world today, by today's humanity, albeit in different ways, in form, but not in substance.

Just as the then inhabitants of Judah did not obey the 'book of the Law' of God, above, that Hilkiah, the High Priest, had found and gave to Shaphan, the secretary, and read out aloud in king Josiah's presence, so today people, including some clergy, do not respect nor obey the most Holy Bible: the Book of the true only God.

In principle, the situation of today's humanity - a spiritual cesspool - is no different to the spiritual cesspool - idol worshipping and other abominations - that holy king Josiah found himself in, in his then kingdom of Judah.

But holy king Josiah of Judah was no fool; and so he took immediate, decisive action when he realised that he was unknowingly in a spiritual cesspool, hoping thereby to avoid the looming divine punishments that hung over his kingdom like the mythical 'sword of Damocles.'

The solution to today's plague-troubled times is simple: a true return back to Jesus Christ, God, and to obeying His immutable Ten Commandments, in weeping repentance and humility.

So, let's now read what Judah and its inhabitants were doing, that provoked the anger of the true only God, and into being punished by God, by Justice.

Pursuant to the Old Testament of the most Holy Bible:

"[Bible narrator speaks:] Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in all the way of [king] David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. [i.e. He did not depart from the righteous path.]

"In the eighteenth year of king Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house [first Temple?] of the Lord, saying,

[King Josiah commands Shaphan:]

" 'Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may reckon the amount of the money which has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people; and let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord; and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house, that is, to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, as well as for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money which is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.'

[Some savvy corporate accountants today usually have well thought-out, sound, internal control procedures in place in order to prevent or reduce any dishonesty or other imperfections within their business entity.]

"[Bible narrator continues:] And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary,

[Hilkiah the high priest speaks to Shaphan:]

" 'I have found the book [Torah ?] of the Law in the house of the Lord.'

"[Bible narrator continues:] And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

"And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king,

[Shaphan the secretary speaks to king Josiah:]

" 'Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.'

"[Bible narrator continues:] Then Shaphan the secretary told the king,

[Shaphan the secretary speaks to king Josiah:]

" 'Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.'

"[Bible narrator continues:] And Shaphan read it before the king.

"And when the king heard the words of the book of the Law, he rent [tore] his clothes [in repentance and humility]. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,

[King Josiah commands the above 5 persons:]

" 'Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.'

"[Bible narrator continues:] So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they talked with her. And she said to them,

[Huldah the prophetess speaks:]

" 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel:'

[The Lord speaks via the words of prophetess Huldah:]

" ' « Tell the man [king Josiah] who sent you to me [prophetess Huldah?, the Lord?], Thus says the Lord,

" ' « Behold, I will bring evil [punishments] upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. Because they [inhabitants of Judah] have forsaken Me and have burned incense [= an act of idolatry] to other gods [thereby worshipping pagan gods], that they might provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore My wrath will be kindled against this place [then Judah], and it will not be quenched.

" ' « But as to the king [Josiah] of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel:

" ' « Regarding the words which you have heard, because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have rent [torn] your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you, says the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil [all the punishments] which I will bring upon this place [then Judah]. » '

[Most of today's humanity refuses to repent and humble itself before our Lord God Jesus Christ, much like Judas Iscariot refused to repent.]

"[Bible narrator continues:] And they brought back word [from prophetess Huldah] to the king [Josiah].

"Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people joined in the covenant.

"And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the Temple [first Temple ?] of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal [= a pagan god], for Asherah [= a pagan goddess], and for all the host of heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.

[Visible idol worshipping must have been rampant in then Judah.]

"[Bible narrator continues:] And he [king Josiah] deposed [removed] the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense [= an act of idolatry] in the high places at the cities of Judah and round about Jerusalem; [and removed] those [idolatrous priests] also who burned incense [= an act of idolatry] to Baal [= a pagan god], to the sun, and the moon, and the constellations, and all the host of the heavens. And he brought out the Asherah [= a pagan goddess] from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it [the Asherah] at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people.

"And he [king Josiah] broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah [= a pagan goddess].

"And he [king Josiah] brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled [despoiled] the high places where the priests had burned incense [= an act of idolatry], from Geba to Beer-sheba; and he [king Josiah] broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city.

"However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.

"And he [king Josiah] defiled [despoiled] Topheth [= a place where children/babies were burned alive in sacrifice to pagan gods], which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom [of the sons of Hell], that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech [= a pagan god].

[If that 'burning' of children and babies is abhorrent, and patently it is, then consider the fact, the reality that, in today's times, 'tacit unpunished sinful mothers' murder their babies in their wombs, many by dismemberment. And some abortionists secretly sell some of those limbs or other tissue for profit or for embryonic stem cells research or other. And there's yet even more repugnance, not mentioned herein. All awful, awful, that must surely have provoked the Lord to anger, and to inflicting the divine punishments as they exist in the world today via the corona virus plague.]

"[Bible narrator continues:] And he [king Josiah] removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts; and he [king Josiah] burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars [for worshipping pagan gods] which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he [king Josiah] pulled down and broke in pieces, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.

"And the king [Josiah] defiled [despoiled] the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which [not so very wise] Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth [= a pagan goddess] the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh [= a pagan god] the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom [= a pagan god] the abomination of the Ammonites. And he [king Josiah] broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim [= a pagan goddess], and filled their places with the bones of men.

"Moreover the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he [king Josiah] pulled down and he broke in pieces its stones, crushing them to dust; also he [king Josiah] burned the Asherah [= a pagan goddess].

"And as Josiah [king Josiah] turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount; and he sent and took the bones out of the tombs, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled [despoiled] it, according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. Then he [king Josiah] said,

[King Josiah enquires:]

" 'What is yonder monument that I see?'

"[Bible narrator continues:] And the men of the city told him,

[The men of the city said:]

" 'It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things which you have done against the altar at Bethel.'

"[Bible narrator continues:] And he [king Josiah] said,

[King Josiah commands:]

" 'Let him be; let no man move his bones.'

"[Bible narrator continues:] So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. And all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger, Josiah [king Josiah] removed; he did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. And he [king Josiah] slew all the priests of the high places who were there, upon the altars, and burned the bones of men upon them. Then he [king Josiah] returned to Jerusalem.

"And the king [king Josiah] commanded all the people,

[King Josiah commands all the people:]

" 'Keep the passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant.'

[The then 'Passover' was an annual Jewish ritual that commemorated the time when the angel of death passed over the land of Egypt and killed every first-born therein, except those of the then Hebrews. Only after such deaths, did pharaoh relent and set the enslaved Hebrews free, but not before the divine punishment.]

"[Bible narrator continues:] For no such passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah; but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah this passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.

"Moreover [king] Josiah put away the mediums [occult practitioners] and the wizards [occult practitioners] and the teraphim [pagan idols] and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the Law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.

"Before him [king Josiah] there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor did any like him [king Josiah] arise after him. [Nor to this day.]

"Still the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, by which His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh [by reinstating worshipping pagan gods] had provoked Him. And the Lord said,

[The Lord speaks:]

" « I will remove Judah also out of My Sight, as I have removed Israel [removed, because of Solomon's worship of pagan gods], and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My Name shall be there. »

"[Bible narrator continues:] Now the rest of the acts of [king] Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

"In his days pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him; and pharaoh Neco slew him at Megiddo, when he [Neco] saw him [Josiah]. And his [Josiah's] servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. [And so king Josiah did not see all the subsequent divine punishments that God said He was going to inflict on Judah.] And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead." [RSV - II Kings 22-23]

Thereafter, very briefly, Judah and its inhabitants were plundered and devastated in various ways, in no uncertain terms: first by pharaoh Neco of then Egypt; and then by king Nebuchadnezzar of then Babylon. [RSV - II Kings 23-25]

Today, the world, in effect, is also being plundered and devastated, not by a modern day pharaoh Neco or by a king Nebuchadnezzar, but by a very tiny whip - the corona virus disease: an unmistakable plague that fake-news people refuse to acknowledge.

Yet, there's Hope, and that hope is called Jesus Christ: by appealing, not to pagan gods, but to the Divine Mercy of Jesus Christ - in weeping repentance and humility, and to turn away from sinning.

Excerpts from the Writings of Maria Valtorta cited herein are with permission from the Italian publisher:

Centro Editoriale Valtortiano srl, Viale Piscicelli 89-91, 03036 Isola del Liri (FR), Italy.

http://www.mariavaltorta.com/

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