Introduction
I said last week that when Josiah took the throne of Judah it was like a breath of fresh air, because the reigns of Manasseh and Amon were so bad. Manasseh undid all the good work of his father Hezekiah, because whereas Hezekiah cleansed the land of idolatry, Manasseh went back to worshipping idols. And if you were to go to the temple in Jerusalem in those days, you’d see all kinds of altars which were dedicated to different gods. Instead of worshipping the Lord alone, which is what they were meant to do, they regarded the Lord as just one god among many gods. And Amon, the next king of Judah, was a repetition of his father. He too did evil in the eyes of the Lord and he worshipped and bowed down to idols.
And so, when Josiah his son became king, it was as if a breath of fresh air began to blow through Judah, because not long after he became king, everything began to change for the better.
22:1+2
As he normally does, our narrator begins his record of Josiah’s reign by telling us when he became king and for long he reigned. And so, we read in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 22 that he became king when he was eight years old. We don’t know how someone so young as Josiah was able to reign as king, but presumably in the early years of his reign he had people to advise him.
And our narrator gives us his brief assessment of Josiah’s reign in verse 2 where he tells us that Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and he walked in the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or the left. Whereas Manasseh and Amon did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, Josiah did the exact opposite. And in the rest of this chapter and into the next one, our narrator tells us some of the things he did which were right in the eyes of the Lord.
22:3–14
The narrator tells us that in the 18th year of Josiah’s reign, when he was 26 years old, he sent his secretary to the temple. It seems that money had been collected to pay for repairs to the temple; and the king wanted to make sure that the money which had been raised would be used for the purpose for which it had been collected. So, the high priest was to give the money to men who would supervise the repair programme. And the money was to be used to pay the builders for their labour and to purchase all the supplies they needed. And take a look at verse 7 where it says that there was no need for the supervisors to give an account of the money entrusted to them because they were acting faithfully.
Let me repeat that: ‘they were acting faithfully’. This suggests to us that a change had already taken place in Judah, because, instead of acting wickedly, these men were acting faithfully. Instead of being dishonest, these men were doing everything honestly and above board. And, of course, the fact that a repair programme was underway, and that people were giving their money to repair the temple also suggests to us that a change had already taken place in Judah.
So, something was already happening in Judah. Changes were taking place. A reformation was happening. In fact, if you were to read what it says about Josiah in 2 Chronicles 34, you’d discover that in the eighth year of his reign — when he was 16 years old — he began to seek the God of his father. The writer of 2 Chronicles doesn’t tell us what happened that he began to seek the Lord at that age. But at that young age, he began to devote himself to the Lord. And according to 2 Chronicles 34, in the 12th year of his reign — when he was 20 years old — he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places and idols. God was working in his life so that he began to cleanse the land of the wicked influence of his father and grandfather.
Those late teenage years and the early 20s are a significant time in a person’s life, aren’t they? Sometimes, sadly, that’s the time when some young people who are brought up in the faith decide to turn away from it. But sometimes that’s the time when some young people begin to get serious about the faith. The faith begins to take hold of them like never before and what a difference it can make to their lives when that happens. And it clearly happened to Josiah, because, under his influence, a reformation began to take place in Judah.
Our narrator then tells us that while the king’s secretary was at the temple, the high priest informed him that he had found something in the temple. He had found the Book of the Law. What is the Book of the Law? The exact same phrase is used in Deuteronomy 28:61 to refer to the book of Deuteronomy. And the book of Deuteronomy was written by Moses to prepare the people of Israel for life in the Promised Land. After wandering through the wilderness for 40 years, they were about to enter the Promised Land. And to prepare them for their new life, God gave them the book of Deuteronomy so that they would know his will for them. It contains his laws for them to obey; and it contains a list of blessings they could expect to receive if they obeyed the Lord; and it contains a list of curses they could expect to suffer if they disobeyed the Lord.
And presumably that’s the book which the high priest found in the temple. Perhaps when the builders were moving things around to get their repairs done, they came across this long lost book. And they gave it to the high priest and he gave it to the king’s secretary who read it. And according to verse 9, the secretary brought it to the king and read it to him.
And in verse 11 we have the king’s reaction to what he heard. So, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. That’s what people did in those days to show their sorrow. And then he ordered the high priest and some of his officials to enquire of the Lord about what was written in that book.
Why did he want them to enquire of the Lord? Why did he tear his robes in sorrow? The answer is in verse 13: from what he read in the Book of the Law, he realised that God’s anger against them must be very great because of what their fathers have done. Their fathers — Manasseh and Amon and the people in the past — have not obeyed the words of the Book of the Law and they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there. The Book of the Law made clear what God wanted his people to do. And if you were to turn to Deuteronomy 4, for instance, the NIV entitles the first half of that chapter, ‘Obedience Commanded’; and it entitles the second half of that chapter, ‘Idolatry Forbidden’. God commanded his people to obey him and he forbade them from worshipping idols. And what had Manasseh done? What had Amon done? What had all the people done? They had disobeyed the Lord and they had worshipped idols. And what else does Deuteronomy say? It lists all the curses the Israelites will suffer if they disobey the Lord.
And so, the reason Josiah sent the priest and officials to enquire of the Lord is to find out whether the Lord intends to send those curses on the land and its people.
22:15–20
And in order to enquire of the Lord, they went to see, not a prophet, but a prophetess called Huldah. And she was able to bring them a word from the Lord. Take a look at verse 16: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read.’ The king wanted to know what the Lord intended to do. Well, here’s what he intends to do: he’s going to send disaster on the land and its people. And take a look at verse 17 where the Lord explained that he’s going to send disaster because they have forsaken the Lord and they have burned incense to other gods.
However, the message isn’t over yet. Take a look now at verse 18 where the Lord said to Josiah that because his heart was responsive, and because he humbled himself when he heard God’s word, Josiah will be buried in peace and he will not see the disaster which God is going to bring on Judah and its people.
So, the Lord will send disaster on the land and its people because they have forsaken the Lord and have worshipped idols. However, because of the king’s sorrow, it will not happen in his reign. The disaster will be postponed until some time in the future. The judgment is still going to come, but not yet, thanks to Josiah’s sorrow and the Lord’s patience.
23:1–20
In the next part of today’s passage, we read that Josiah and all the people gathered in the temple where he renewed the covenant with the Lord. A covenant is a relationship based on a promise. Marriage is a covenant, because when they’re married, a man and woman make certain promises to one another; and in this way they begin a new relationship with each other as husband and wife. And when God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, he took them to Mount Sinai, where they made a covenant with one another. The Lord promised to be their God and to look after them; they promised to be his people and to do all that he commanded. And now, in the days of Josiah, after years of unfaithfulness, Josiah renewed the covenant with God. As it says in verse 3, he promised to follow the Lord and to keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and soul. And it wasn’t only the king who renewed the covenant, because the people did likewise. They too pledged themselves to the covenant.
And what that meant in practice is set out for us in verses 4 to 20 and in this list of the reforms which the king introduced. Since he began to cleanse the land when he was 20 years old — it’s possible that he carried out some of these reforms before he discovered the Book of the Law and renewed the covenant. And so, these are the reforms he introduced at various times during his reign.
He removed from the temple all the articles used for pagan worship and burned them in the Valley of Kidron. The Kidron Valley was the city dump and it was regarded as a place of defilement. Whatever was spiritually unclean was dumped there. Then he got rid of the pagan priests. He removed the Asherah pole from the temple and burned it in the Kidron Valley. He also tore down the living quarters of the male shrine-prostitutes in the temple. He removed the priests from the high places and defiled the high places so that they couldn’t be used for worship again. He also removed the shrines at the gates of Jerusalem. He defiled Topheth, where they used to offer child sacrifices. He removed the horses from the entrance to the temple which had been used for sun worship. He removed altars which has been used by the kings for pagan worship. He also removed high places to the east of Jerusalem which Solomon had built. He removed the sacred stones and more Asherah poles. He even went over the border of Judah into what was once the northern kingdom of Israel and destroyed the altar at Bethel. He removed bones from nearby graves and burned them on the altar in order to defile it so that it couldn’t be used again.
Our narrator then refers to a story from 1 Kings 13 involving a man of God who spoke against the altar at Bethel. After he died, his bones were buried nearby. The bones of another prophet were buried there too. And since they were prophets of the Lord, Josiah gave orders for their graves not to be disturbed.
And then Josiah also defiled the high places in Samaria and he killed the pagan priests. So, these are the things Josiah did to cleanse the land of idolatry and to reform the life and worship of Judah according to the word of the Lord.
23:21–23
After that, he gave orders for the people to celebrate the Passover. This, of course, was the annual feast to remember how the Lord rescued them from Egypt. On the night they left Egypt, the Lord went through Egypt, killing the firstborn males in every home. However, the Lord ‘passed over’ the homes of his people, where they had put the blood of a lamb on the doorpost. The Lord saw the blood the lamb and ‘passed over’ that home and spared their sons.
And the narrator says that the Passover had not been celebrated like this since the days of the judges. That’s not to say they did not celebrate it at all, but that there was something outstanding and remarkable in the way they celebrated it now.
23:24+25
And that’s not even the end of Josiah’s reforms. According to verses 24 and 25, he got rid of mediums and spiritists and household gods and all other detestable things. So, he reformed public worship in the temple and high places; and he also reformed private worship in people’s homes. He did this to fulfil the word of the Lord. And so, neither before nor after was there a king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength. He was truly a great king.
23:26+27
‘Nevertheless’. Do you see that word in verse 26? ‘Nevertheless’. Nevertheless — even though he was a truly great king; and turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength; and even though he cleansed the land of idolatry and reformed the life and worship of Judah — the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah, because of what Manasseh had done. As the prophetess Huldah said in chapter 22, because Josiah humbled himself, Josiah would be buried in peace; but the judgment of the Lord was still coming. Nothing Josiah did could avert it. The Lord still intended to remove Judah from his presence as he had removed Israel from his presence. He was still going to reject Jerusalem and the temple. He was still going to bring disaster on them.
23:28–30
And the record of Josiah’s reign ends with the news that he was killed when he went out to fight against the king of Egypt. He was buried and his son succeeded him as king.
Application 1
Let me make two points before we finish. When we put 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles together, we learn that when Josiah was 16 years old he began to seek the Lord; when he was 20 years old, he began to cleanse the land of idolatry; and when he was 26 years old he discovered the Book of the Law and heard from Huldah that God was going to bring disaster on the land and there was no way to avoid it.
And yet — even though the Lord had announced that disaster was coming, and there was no way to avoid it — Josiah and the people renewed the covenant with the Lord and celebrated the Passover. So, disaster was coming, but they would still devote themselves to the Lord.
And we might ask ourselves, ‘Why?’ Why didn’t they throw up their hands in resignation and say to themselves, ‘What’s the point in obeying the Lord, because it’s not going to do any good?’ And since the disaster was coming, and could not be averted, why didn’t they think to themselves that they may as well eat and drink and be merry before the disaster falls on them? Why didn’t they say to themselves: ‘What’s the point of obeying the Lord?’
Here’s what one of the commentators (De Graaf) says about this:
Josiah knew that the judgment upon Judah was sure to come, but he wanted to press ahead with the reformation of Judah anyway…. He wanted to go ahead with the reformation solely for the sake of the honour and righteousness of the Lord. The Lord has a right to be served, even if our service does not bring about our salvation.
The Lord has a right to be served. Whether the Lord saves or destroys, whether he blesses or curses, whether he fills our life with good things, or whether he sends trouble into our lives, the Lord has a right to be served. He always deserves to be served. He deserves our worship and adoration and praise and our obedience. He deserves it, because he is great and glorious and worthy to receive it.
This is the lesson of Job. Satan said at the beginning of the book of Job that Job only worships the Lord because of what he can get out of God in this life. He said that God had put a hedge around Job and his household to protect them from trouble. Satan said that the only reason Job was devoted to God is because God have made Job wealthy. Satan said that Job was worshipping God for selfish reasons only: he’s only worshipping God for what he can get from God in this life. And Satan said that if God were to stretch out his hand and strike everything Job has, then Job will surely turn from God. But Satan was wrong. After Job lost everything he had, including his wealth and his health, he continued to worship the Lord. And that’s because Job understood that whether God blesses us or not, God deserves our worship.
Has God filled your life with trouble and trials? Perhaps he has. And troubles and trials are hard to bear. But God still deserves your worship. He still deserves your worship, because he’s still God. He’s still great. He’s still glorious. He’s still praiseworthy. No matter what your life is like — whether it’s full of good things or whether it’s full of troubles and trials — God is still God and he deserves your worship and your obedience. And so, you should give it to him; and you should continue to give it to him even if everything in your life goes wrong.
Application 2
And the second point to make is simply to compare Josiah, this great king, to Christ our King.
Despite Josiah’s humility, despite his obedience, he wasn’t able to turn away the heat of God’s fierce anger from Judah and its people. God was willing to postpone the judgment, but he was not willing to stop it. The day was coming when God would send his people into exile, far away from the presence of the Lord and Josiah could do nothing about it.
And what about Christ our King? Like Josiah, he humbled himself and he was obedient. He humbled himself by coming down from heaven to earth as one of us. And when he was on the earth, he was obedient to God. In fact, he was obedient to God even to the point of death on a cross, because it was his Father’s will for him to suffer and to die in place of his people and to offer himself as the perfect sacrifice to pay for all that we have done wrong. And because of his humility, and because of his obedience, he was able to turn away the heat of God’s fierce anger from us. He was able to turn it away from us, because the heat of God’s fierce anger was directed on him. He suffered the wrath and curse of God in our place. He took the punishment we deserve for our disobedience. He suffered the wrath of God in our place so that we would never have to suffer the wrath of God. He felt the heat of God’s fierce anger so that we would feel the warmth of God’s love. He died so that we would live forever in the presence of God.
Josiah was a great king. But Josiah was not able to turn away the heat of God’s fierce anger. But Christ our King has done what Josiah could not do. And having died for us, he was raised from the dead and he was exalted to heaven. And from heaven, he sends his Spirit into our lives to change us and to renew us and to enable us more and more to give up our sins and all that is not right in our lives; and to give up our idols — all the things we rely on for happiness; and to remove our greatest idol, which is self, because all of us have a tendency to put ourselves first of all. He enables us to give up these things and to serve God with all of our heart and soul and strength. And then he works through us to reform the world around us according to his word. And when the time is right, he will come again with glory and power to renew all things and to give his people everlasting life and peace and happiness in the presence of God forever.
Josiah was a great king, but Christ our King is far, far, far greater. And so, we should give thanks to God for him and rejoice, because he has turned away from us the heat of God’s fierce anger and he has established peace between us forever.
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