King Josiah
I have long admired this man….he was the last good king that Israel had before the captivity….and under his reign, Judah had a time of blessing.
Soon, the judgments that God had foretold because of Manasseh’s sin….would come….
….but God granted a time of spiritual awakening….if they would have it….and many did. The nation had rest and blessing in this time.
2 Kings 22:1-2 “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah….
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.”
(One Bible expositor noted, that when the kings were named, it was the mother’s name that was said….”and his mother’s name was…”.
How suggestive that is! For it is often the Mother that teaches the child in the formative years! And Jedidah must have been a righteous woman….even though her husband was evil!)
2 Chronicles 34:3 “For 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 groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.”
(You will also notice, that when the kings were righteous….the scriptures speak of them as following “David their father”, who was a man after God’s own heart. There were no righteous kings in the ten tribes of Israel….but in Judah, in the line of David, there were several. Josiah was one of them.)
When a man gets right with God, he seeks to set things right for others, as far as his influence is concerned.
And Josiah was king….his influence was felt all over the nation…and into the other nations that were under his reign.
He began with the House of God….”he brought out all the vessels that were made for Baal,..and for the host of heaven; and he burned them without Jerusalem….” (2 Kings 23:4)
Then he cleansed Jerusalem….”…the houses of the sodomites,….the altars which Manasseh had made,….did the king beat down…and cast the dust into the brook Kidron.” (2 Kings23:7, 12)
Then he made it “that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire” as sacrifice….outside Jerusalem, in the valley of Himmon.
“And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel….2 Chron. 34:33)
Then Josiah in the eighteenth year of his reign….he felt that the Temple needed repair….so he instructed that the money brought into the Temple, should be put to that work.
During this construction….they found the book of the Law….and it was passed from priest to scribe….then to the king.
2 Kings 22:10-13 “…..And Shaphan read it before the king.
And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.
And the king commanded….Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of the book, to do according unto all that is written concerning us.”
How blessed for a nation, when the king repents….and the Word of God is finally honored!
God would not remove the judgements to come…..but because Josiah repented, and sought what to do,…from the Word….
2 Chronicles 34:27-28 “Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest His Words against this place,….and humbledst thyself before Me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before Me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.
Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers…neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place….”
Josiah could have been content with this…..he was taken care of. But real repentance seeks the good of others as well….
…..so Josiah did what he could, to prepare the hearts of the people….by repentance and a turning completely to the Lord.
2 Chronicles 34:29-32 “Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
And the king went up into the house of the Lord….and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found….
And the King stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments….with all his heart, and with all his soul,….
And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God….”
(We can not really make anyone else repent….but we can, to our influence, show them the Word of God and make them aware of what God is requiring at our hand. This Josiah did….with the whole nation….and anywhere his reign was felt!)
Josiah set up scribes from the priestly families…..to be sent throughout the land to teach all the people again about God and the Law. (Jeremiah was one of these!)
And Josiah kept a Passover….making the priests and the Levites prepare themselves and then the service….reminding the people of God’s Provision and deliverance:
2 Chronicles 35:18 “And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover….”
(It is good, when we have been corrected…..to remember God’s goodness to us in times past. And the Passover was God’s showing to Israel the Way of deliverance….to shelter under the Blood of the Lamb.
God often reminded them of His deliverance from Egypt….and it all came to pass because of their obedience in the sacrifice of the Passover.
And we, as Christians, have all our blessings…..in Christ. Ephesians 1:3
How much we should remember His mercy and goodness to us….for it keeps us “humble and tender”….in the good times,…and when we get corrected)
Josiah continued to follow the Law….the next twelve years….he continued to rebuild the Temple and to “prepare” it…..in other words Josiah kept the Temple the central part of the life of Judah, while he lived.
Josiah also….removed the “workers with familiars spirits, and the wizards,….and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah…”
Anytime anything that was against the Law was seen, he would “put it away”…..and cleanse the land from all these things.
Notice his diligence in the things shown in the Word he read!
And we are told to be diligent in “adding to our faith, virtue…and to virtue, knowledge…etc.”…..if we are to be fruitful in “the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8).
2 Kings 23:25 “And like unto him was there no king before him, that 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; neither after him arose there any like him.”
He “turned to the Lord”. He kept The Lord before him in all his reign.
(I want to talk of repentance….or the “turn” we make, when we realize we need the Lord. It generally comes through HIs Word….and makes us see the enormity of our sin….and the penalty of it.
Repentance leads us to “turn to the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul (our thoughts, emotions, and will)….and with all our might”!
The Lord and HIs Word is the focus of our lives….and we seek the good, in the Lord, for everyone else, in our influence.
True repentance is not just wanting things to be different…..but going to the Lord in word and deed….and being obedient, by His grace from the Holy Spirit, to Him….in all things.)
His death was the cause of much sorrow in Judah (2 Chron. 35:25)….and some believe (I believe this)….it did not have to be this way. But he chose to go out and fight the king of Egypt, who was going to fight another king.
The king of Egypt was a horrible man, and had done things wrong against Judah before…..but not now.
Perhaps, he thought that going through his territory was an act of war…..but he was warned….yet continued in his chosen course…and died in battle against the king of Egypt.
Yet….God specifically says in Jeremiah, speaking of four years after Josiah’s death…Jeremiah 46:2, 10….”For this is the day of the Lord of hosts, a day of vengeance…” when Nebuchadnezzar slew Egypt’s king.
The Lord has a time and a way for every purpose of His.
(I want to mention here, that Jeremiah, Daniel, and his associates, were under the influence of Josiah….and by there turning to the Lord….where they were…became lights of influence for God!
How this shows us that our lights for the Lord….give more influence than we think…and can spread beyond what we think!)
Josiah was a good king…..because he turned to the Lord with all his heart, soul and might.
We, too, can do good…..by turning to the Lord the same way. Let us hear HIs Word…..and let it cause our hearts and minds and wills to seek the Lord, always.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 