Out of the twenty rulers of Judah, including wicked Queen Athaliah, only eight of them could be called “good”: Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah. There’s no question that Josiah was a great king, for even the prophet Jeremiah used him as an example for the other rulers to follow. “He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy,” said Jeremiah of Josiah, while the kings that followed Josiah exploited the people so they could build their elaborate palaces (Jer. 22:11–17). Josiah ruled for thirty-one years (640–609) and walked in the ways of the Lord because David was his model. No doubt his mother was a godly woman and guided her son wisely. He was only eight years old when they made him king, so the court officials were his mentors, but at age sixteen, Josiah committed himself to the Lord and began to seek His blessing.
Cleansing the land (34:3–7). Hezekiah had cleaned up after Ahaz, and Manasseh had cleansed up the consequences of his own evil practices, and now twenty-year-old Josiah had to undo the damage done by his father Amon. What a tragedy that all the leaders of Judah didn’t maintain the law of the Lord and keep the nation honoring Jehovah. The four kings who followed Josiah undid all the good he had done and sold the nation into the hands of the Babylonians. Everything rises and falls with leadership, and young King Josiah provided aggressive spiritual leadership for the people. He had been seeking the Lord for four years, and now he was prepared to cleanse the land.
He purged the land of the high places and called the people back to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. He destroyed the idols and the altars dedicated to Baal and other false gods, and he defiled the places where the people worshipped these idols. After purging Jerusalem and Judah, he moved into northern Israel (Manasseh, Ephraim, Naphtali) and rid that area of idolatry. It’s interesting that the king of Judah could go to these tribes in Israel (Samaria) and exercise such authority, but a great many people had come to Hezekiah’s Passover feast from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun and returned home determined to please the Lord (2 Chron. 30:18). From 2 Chronicles 34:7, we learn that the king personally went on these trips and led the way in removing idolatry from the land.
Repairing the temple (22:3–7; 34:8–13). Josiah’s eighteenth year as king was indeed a stellar one. He repaired the temple of the Lord where the book of the law was discovered; he made a covenant with the Lord; he carried on further reforms in the land; and he hosted a great celebration of Passover. He was twenty-six at the time. The man who expedited the king’s plans for repairing the temple was Shaphan, the father of a remarkable family. His son Gemariah joined with others in urging King Jehoiakim not to burn Jeremiah’s scroll, and his grandson Micaiah heard Baruch read Jeremiah’s second scroll in the temple and reported it to the king’s secretaries (Jer. 36:11ff.). His son Elasah carried Jeremiah’s letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylon (Jer. 29:1–23), and his son Ahikam was among the men who consulted Huldah the prophetess about the book of the law (1 Kings 22:12–20). Ahikam also interceded with King Jehoiakim not to kill the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 26:16–24). After the fall of Judah and Jerusalem, Shaphan’s grandson Gadaliah was named governor of Judah. The only disappointing son of the four was Jaazaniah who worshipped idols in the temple of the Lord (Ezek. 8:11–12).
The people had been contributing money for the upkeep of the temple (v. 4), so the king ordered Shaphan to tell Hilkiah the high priest to distribute the funds to the workers and start repairing the temple. It wasn’t enough just to destroy the idol worship in the land; the temple had to be available for the worship of the true and living God. As with the temple reconstruction under Joash (2 Kings 12), the workers were faithful and there was no need to keep elaborate records. Leadership is stewardship, and leaders must see to it that the work is done with integrity and God’s money is used wisely.
Discovering the Scriptures (22:8–20; 34:14–28). It seems remarkable that the book of the law should be lost in the temple! That would be like losing the Bible in a church building and not missing it for years. This scroll was probably all five books of Moses, but Shaphan “read in the book”; that is, he read the king-selected passages, perhaps from the book of Deuteronomy. Shaphan gave the king a report on the building program and then, almost as an afterthought, told him about the newly discovered book. It’s to Josiah’s credit that he desired to hear what the book said, and when he heard it read, he was smitten with fear and grief. How people respond to God’s Word is a good indication of their spiritual appetite and the strength of their desire to please the Lord.
If indeed Shaphan read from the book of Deuteronomy, then what Josiah heard read from chapters 4—13 would convict him about the wicked things the nation had already done. Chapters 14—18 would disturb him because of what the people had not done, and the covenant spelled out in chapters 27—30 would warn him of what God would do if the nation didn’t repent. In the terms of His covenant, the Lord made it clear that the nation would be punished severely if they disobeyed His law. So deeply moved was the king that he tore his robes and ordered the high priest and several officers to inquire of the Lord concerning Judah’s spiritual condition. Josiah was only twenty-six years old and had been seeking the Lord for only ten years, yet his response to the Word of God was that of a mature believer.
Hilkiah didn’t consult Jeremiah about this matter, or even the prophet Zephaniah, one of Josiah’s kinsmen (Zeph. 1:1), who was ministering at that same time. Perhaps Jeremiah was not in the city but at his family home in Anathoth, and Zephaniah may also have been out of Jerusalem. But the king’s committee found a capable servant in Huldah the prophetess, whose husband Shallum was in charge of the royal wardrobe. Along with Huldah, the prophetesses in Scripture include Miriam (Ex. 15:20), Deborah (Judg. 4:4), Naodiah (Neh. 6:14), the wife of Isaiah the prophet (Isa. 8:3), Anna (Luke 2:36), and the four daughters of Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:8–9).
Huldah’s message was in two parts. The first part (22:15–17; 34:23–25) was addressed to “the man who sent you,” meaning Josiah as a common man before the law of God, just like all the other people in Judah and Israel. The second part (22:18–20; 34:26–28) was addressed to “the king of Judah,” that is, Josiah as an individual with spiritual needs and concerns. As far as the nation was concerned, God would indeed send His wrath because of their repeated disobedience, but as far as Josiah was concerned, he would be spared this impending judgment because of his godly life and humility before the Lord (see 2 Chron. 33:12, 23). Even though Josiah died as the result of wounds received in battle, he went to his grave in peace because Nebuchadnezzar and his army hadn’t yet invaded the land. God called Josiah away before the terrible judgments fell.
Covenanting with the Lord (23:1–3; 34:29–33). The delegation reported Huldah’s message to the king, who immediately called the elders, priests, and prophets together, with the people of the land, and shared the message with them. Then he called them to enter with him into a covenant with the Lord. The “renewing of the covenant” was a familiar event in Jewish history. When the new generation was about to enter Canaan, Moses had them renew the covenant, as recorded in Deuteronomy. On two occasions, Joshua called for a renewal of the covenant (Josh. 8:34ff.; 24), and so also did Samuel (1 Sam. 7:2ff.; 12:1ff.). After Nehemiah and the people completed the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, Ezra led them to rededicate themselves to Jehovah (Neh. 8—10). We must never assume today that because our churches are growing and our ministry prospering that God’s people are necessarily at their best. There are times when corporate renewal of our dedication to Christ is the right thing to do.
The king stood by a pillar of the temple (see 11:14) and read the words of the law to the assembly. He covenanted with them to walk before the Lord in obedience and devotion. He set the example, for if the leaders don’t walk with God, how can God give His people His best blessings? This meeting wasn’t a demonstration of “civil religion” where everybody obeyed because the king commanded it. What Josiah pled for was a yielding of their hearts and souls to the Lord in sincerity and truth.
Reforming the land (23:4–20; 34:33). The king then began to implement the terms of the covenant and obey the law of the Lord. First, he removed from the temple everything that belonged to idolatrous worship, burned it in the Kidron Valley and had the ashes taken to Bethel and scattered to defile the shrine of the golden calf that Jeroboam I had set up. He also broke down that shrine and destroyed everything associated with it (23:15; Hos. 10:5; Zeph. 1:4). He brought Manasseh’s infamous idol out of the temple (see 21:7; 33:7), burned and pulverized it, and sprinkled the ashes on the graves of those who worshipped it so as to defile them. Josiah destroyed the houses of the sodomites (male religious prostitutes; 1 Kings 14: and 15:12), in obedience to Deuteronomy 23:17–18.
He also removed the Levitical priests who ministered at the high places throughout Judah (23:8), from the northern border (Geba) to the southern border (Beersheba), desecrated those places, and brought the priests to Jerusalem. They were not permitted to serve at the temple altar, but they were allowed to share the food from the sacrifices. Then he went to Topheth, the place of human sacrifice in the Valley of Hinnom, and defiled it. (See Isa. 30:33, Jer. 7:31–32, and 19:6, 11–14.) He removed the horses dedicated to the sun god and burned the chariots in the fire. Imagine stabling horses in the temple precincts! He pulled down and destroyed the altars to the heavenly host that had been placed by Ahaz on the roof of the temple buildings (16:1–4, 10–16; 21:3, 21–22), removed by Hezekiah and replaced by Manasseh. (See Jer. 19: and 32:29.) He also did away with the altars Manasseh had put in the temple court. All these things were smashed and thrown in the garbage dump in the Kidron Valley.
On the southern slope of the Mount of Olives, Solomon had provided special altars for his heathen wives where they could worship their gods (1 Kings 11:5–7), and these altars and idols Josiah removed and destroyed. To make sure the area would never be used for idol worship again, he buried human bones there and defiled it (Num. 19:16). He even took his crusade into Samaria and destroyed the shrine at Bethel that had been established by King Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:28–33). He took the remains of the dead priests of Bethel, buried nearby, and burned them on the altar, scattering the ashes to pollute the area. Thus he fulfilled the prophecy made three centuries before (1 Kings 13:31–32). When Josiah saw the grave of the man of God who had prophesied those very actions, he commanded that it be left intact.
What Josiah did at Bethel, he did throughout the land of Samaria, destroying idols and the shrines dedicated to them, and slaying the idolatrous priests who served at their altars (Deut. 13:6–11; 18:20). Don’t confuse the idolatrous priests of verse 20 with the disobedient priests of verse 8. The latter were allowed to live in Jerusalem but were not permitted to serve at that temple altar. Finally, Josiah removed the various kinds of spirit mediums from the land (23:24), people who were at one time encouraged by King Manasseh (21:6). But in spite of all the good that Josiah did, he couldn’t stop the Lord from sending judgment to Judah. The sins of Manasseh had been so great that nothing could prevent the Lord from pouring out His wrath on His people.
Celebrating the Passover (23:21–23; 35:1–19). In many respects, King Josiah was following the example of King Hezekiah in cleansing the nation of idolatry, repairing the temple and restoring the worship, and celebrating a great nationwide Passover in Jerusalem. While all the appointed feasts in Leviticus 23 were meaningful and important, the feast of Passover was especially significant. For one thing, Passover reminded the Jewish people of their national origin at the exodus when the Lord delivered them from Egyptian bondage. This was a manifestation of the grace and power of God. He took them to Himself as His own people and entered into a covenant relationship with them at Mount Sinai. They were God’s chosen people, God’s covenant people, a people to bring glory to His name.
Hezekiah had celebrated his great Passover during the second month of the year, but Josiah celebrated during the first month. Note in 2 Chronicles 35 that there is an emphasis on the Levites and their important ministry during the Passover (vv. 2, 5, 8–12, 14–15, 18). According to 2 Kings 23: and 2 Chronicles 35:18, this Passover was even greater than the one celebrated in Hezekiah’s time because “all Judah and Israel … were present” (35:18; see 30:18). Hezekiah’s Passover lasted two weeks, but at Josiah’s Passover the people offered almost twice as many sacrifices. At least 37,600 small animals were offered, plus 3,800 bulls. The priests and Levites were cleansed and sanctified, ready to serve, and there were many Levites who sang praises to the Lord and played instruments.
Josiah obeyed what he had read in the law of the Lord.
What is the meaning of King Josiah’s admonition to the Levites about carrying the ark (35:3)? Bearing the sacred ark had been the task of the Kohathites (Num. 4), but the nation was no longer a pilgrim people and the ark had been placed in the Holy of Holies in the temple. Inasmuch as the book of the law had been misplaced, and it was kept in the ark (Deut. 31:24–29), it has been conjectured that perhaps the ark had been taken out of the temple and hidden during the evil days of Manasseh and the ark and the book were separated. It’s also been suggested that Manasseh replaced the ark with the image he had made and which he worshipped (23:4–6; 33:7). The Hebrew word translated “put” in 35: can be translated “leave,” so the sense of his command might be, “Don’t bring the ark—we don’t need it at this time. We’re no longer on the march.” Some of the enthusiastic Levites might have wanted to add the presence of the ark to the great celebration, even though the law didn’t require it.
Josiah ruled at a time when Assyria was on the decline and Babylon hadn’t yet reached its zenith, the times were more peaceful, and the people could travel in greater safety. The celebration was indeed a great rallying time for the Jewish people from both Judah and Samaria. God’s people need occasions like this when together they can celebrate the Lord and His goodness and fellowship with one another.
Sacrificing his life (23:28–30; 35:20–27). Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, was taken by the Babylonians and the Medes in 612 BC, and Assyria was definitely on the decline. In 608, Pharaoh Neco led his army from Egypt to assist the Assyrians against the Babylonians. Josiah was pro-Babylon and wasn’t too happy about the Egyptian forces marching along the western border of Judah, so he personally led the army of Judah against him. The two armies met at Megiddo, about fifty miles north of Jerusalem, and there Josiah was fatally wounded. His officers took him back to Jerusalem where he died and was buried with the kings.
Josiah had no mandate from the Lord to interfere in the dispute between Egypt and Babylon, yet Pharaoh Neco claimed that the Lord had commanded him to help Assyria. According to 2 Chronicles 35:22, this message was “from the mouth of God.” Egypt and Assyria failed in their attempt to hold back Babylon, but Neco’s defeat of Josiah did give Egypt control of Judah for a few years (2 Chron. 36:3–4). Josiah was greatly mourned in Judah and Jeremiah even wrote laments to honor him (35:25; see Jer. 22:10). These laments have been lost and must not be confused with the book of Lamentations.
From the death of Josiah in 608 to the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586—a period of twentytwo years—four different kings sat on David’s throne, three of them sons of Josiah but not imitators of his faith. Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin each reigned for only three months. It was a sad time for the people of God, but there was still a believing remnant that followed the Lord and helped seekers in each new generation to know the Lord.