Josiah's Spiritual Leadership - 2 Kings 22.1-23.30; 2 Chronicles 34 & 35

by J.W. Archibald, Wembley | Category: Great Spiritual Revivals | Aug 1981

His Times

Josiah became king of Judah in the seventh century before the birth of Christ. The first millennium of Israel's history as the people of God can be considered as two periods of about five centuries each. The first period extended from the Exodus to the time of D avid and Solomon, in the course of which Israel advanced from being a nation of slaves to the highest point of their national power and prosperity in the kingdom of Solomon. The second period of five centuries began with that time of spiritual and material greatness and concluded with the captivity of Judah and the spoiling of Jerusalem by king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. This part of Israel's history saw a divided kingdom and can be regarded as a period of steady spiritual decline relieved only by brief times of revival under certain kings of Judah who "did... right in the eyes of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David". Josiah was one of these notable examples and he came to the throne of Judah near the end of the five hundred year period. Israel had already been carried captive to Assyria and after Josiah's death the passage of only a further twenty-two years saw the end of the kingdom of Judah in the Babylonian captivity.

The kings of Judah who immediately preceded Josiah were Amon his father and Manasseh his grandfather. Manasseh reigned for fifty-five years, longer than any other king of Israel or Judah. Amon reigned only two years and was assassinated by his servants. Both of these kings "did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD". Of Manasseh we read that he "made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, so that they did evil more than did the nations, whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel" (2 Chron. 33:9). It seems clear from 2 Kings 23:26 and 24:3,4 that the wickedness of Manasseh was so outstanding that he led the people of God past the point at which God determined to remove them from their place by defeat and captivity. It was against this background that Josiah came at an early age to the throne. Without the benefit of divine insight, is it possible to imagine a more unlikely situation in which to find the development of the spiritual revival that Josiah pursued? Against the darkness of his time and so near to the final judgement he shines the more brightly in his faithfulness to God and in his single minded determination to put right what had gone wrong in the conduct and service of God's people. From this we may conclude that there is no set of circumstances or spiritual condition of men so unfavourable that God through His servants cannot give deliverance and make evident His glory and His reviving grace.

His Youth

Josiah's grandfather Manasseh died when Josiah was six years old. Although Manasseh did so much evil during his long reign, in his later years he humbled himself and came to know the Lord and His mercy. (2 Chron. 33:12-19). It is perhaps possible that the repentant old king spent time with his infant grandson and, in the terrible knowledge of his own wasted years, charged the impressionable child with the importance of seeking after the God of David his father. If so, then Josiah greatly profited from the instruction at a time when there must have been little godly teaching,

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign. At the age of fifteen he began to seek after God and when he was nineteen he began to remove the many trappings of idolatry and its foul practices from Jerusalem and Judah and also from outside the kingdom of Judah in the cities of the other tribes of Israel. It is worth noting that all of his comprehensive work of reform and restoration in the things of God was set in motion by the time he was twenty six. Here is one of the most outstanding examples in the Scriptures of the power of a young life spent in the Lord's service.

There are three lessons we may derive:

(1)In the things of God there is no substitute for a well-spent youth.

(2)It is never too early to start.

(3)The importance of teaching very young people the ways of God cannot be over-emphasized.

The House and The Book

When Josiah was twenty five he turned his attention to the condition of the house of God and set in hand a programme of repair. Here is another example of Josiah walking "in all the ways of David his father". It was David who said, "I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains" (2 Sam. 7:2), thus earning the divine commendation "Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house for My Name, thou didst well . . ." (1 Kin. 8:18).

The work of repair in the house of God gave rise to a very important discovery. Hilkiah the priest found in the temple the book of the law of the Lord. It had been lost for a long time through the carelessness and wilful neglect of kings and people. Shaphan the scribe brought this precious find

and read it before the king. When Josiah heard the contents he rent his clothes and humbled himself before the Lord. Nearly twenty years later Josiah's son Jehoiakim sat before the fire in his winter house and heard the book of Jeremiah read to him. Jehojakim's response to the words of God was very different from his father's. When he had heard no more than three or four columns Jehoiakim took the roll from the reader, cut it to pieces with a knife, and burned it in the fire. This contrast with Josiah, broken and weeping because of the words of God, brings to mind the message of the Lord through Isaiah, "to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word" (Isa. 66:2).

We may therefore conclude that, in the matter of spiritual revival among the people of God, concern for the house of God is a vital ingredient, and humble and contrite attentiveness to the Word of God is all-important.

The Leader and the People

Josiah displayed great strength of purpose in purging the land and the temple of idolatrous effects. This task seems to have taken six years to complete, having involved the destruction of accumulated errors of five centuries. The earliest examples dated even from the reign of Solomon whose alien wives turned away his heart in old age after other gods. 2 Kings chapter 23 provides a catalogue of the religious antiques of human design that the faithful Josiah destroyed. It was all a sad monument to the fatal tendency in men to follow their own wills and deviate from the plain instruction of God. Josiah gave a bold and uncompromising lead in the removal of all this offensive obstruction to the true service of the Lord.

When Josiah sent to inquire of the Lord concerning the words of the book, he was given to understand that the Lord would not go back on His determination to bring judgement on the people and the city. "My wrath is poured out upon this place, and it shall not be quenched". It is significant that the pronouncement of certain judgement did not deter Josiah at all in his efforts to put things right. There was no fatalistic acceptance that nothing was worth changing because doom could not be avoided. He went on to read the book in the ears of the people and with them he made a covenant before the Lord to walk after Him and keep His commandments.

He further emphasized this new beginning by keeping the passover in Jerusalem. The first passover had been kept nearly a thousand years before. It marked a new beginning for Israel when they left Egypt's power and bondage for ever behind, and surged out into the wilderness to become a holy nation to the Lord. In the closing years of their freedom as a nation they again kept the ancient feast in all the freshness of the spiritual renewal that Josiah's leadership had achieved. We are told that there was not kept such a

passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel nor of the kings of Judah. Why was Josiah's zeal unimpaired by the sombre tidings of certain judgement from the Lord? Surely because his concern for the honour of the Lord was so much greater than any other consideration.

Jeremiah began to prophesy in the year after Josiah began to purge the land, and in his prophesy we have some indication of the true spiritual condition of the people. "The word of the LORD is become unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it" (Jer. 6:10). "Judah hath not returned unto Me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD" (3:10). We sadly conclude that the spiritual state of the people did not match that of their leader. Echoing down the centuries from a much earlier day of success for Israel come the words of the song, "For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, for that the people offered themselves willingly, bless ye the LORD" (Jud. 5:2). For true spiritual prosperity, the leaders must lead but it is essential also for the people to follow.

From all of this we learn that:

(1)There is no place for compromise in obedience to the Lord's word.

(2)The honour of the Lord's Name is the most important motivation in spiritual revival.

(3)The effect of good leadership can be quickly nullified if the people hold back in their hearts.

The Last Mistake

After all this, when he was thirty nine years old, Josiah made a fatal mistake. He went out and engaged in battle with the king of Egypt without divine sanction and in the face of a warning through the words of Neco from the mouth of God. Before we hasten to describe Josiah as over-confident, careless or forgetful of his need to be dependent always on the Lord, let us soberly reflect on our own lives and take heed. It is a reminder that Josiah was a man of like passions with us. May we learn from his strengths and his failing. Here is the divine assessment of a very great servant of the Lord. "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". Josiah was the last good king before the coming of Christ and surely that is how he would wish to be remembered.

J.W. Archibald, Wembley | Aug 1981
Great Spiritual Revivals