2 Kings 22:1-2
“ Josiah was eight years old when he became king, 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 sight of the LORD, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.”
Josiah crowned King at the age of 8.
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The Jewish people as a nation were in trouble. In fact, they had been in and out of hot water for decades. They kept on going back and forth between following the God of their fathers to outright idolatry, yet time and time again, God rescued them from themselves when their wicked ways lead to subjugation by surrounding nations.
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The Boy King.
Young Josiah was only 8 years old when he was crowned king of Judah. He was the 17th king of Judah crowned after David was king of Israel, 14th since the nation was divided into two kingdoms. The young boy was ascended the throne during a very dark time where pagan worship was more rampant and worship of the true God was very far away.
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Genealogy of the kings of Israel and Judah.
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His grandfather was King Manasseh who did great evil in the eyes of the Lord. He worshipped and offered sacrifices to pagan deities like Molech and the Baals. Humans were included on that list, especially the killing of children. Horrific practices of every kind were espoused, including incest and all manner of sexual perversion.
At the very end of his life he repented of his all his evil, only to be succeeded by his son, Amon, who was even worse. He was so bad that he only reigned two years. His kingship ended very abruptly in his death at the hands of his own court! Doesn’t that speak volumes??! 😮
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Long, Sad History.
Long before our young Josiah came on the scene, the nation had divided into two kingdoms, north and south. The northern kingdom was known as Israel, the Southern as Judah. Regardless of whether you are talking about either north or south, the entire nation had gone totally off the rails, worshipping and sacrificing to pagan gods rather than the One True God. Back and forth they vacillated between true worship and pagan worship.
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(For more on that topic, you may follow the link below and learn some very interesting things about numbers and about our Heavenly Father!:
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Israel divided into two kingdoms.
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During the time of the judges, each time they fell "off the wagon," so to speak, God would send them a deliverer in the form of one of the judges. They would repent, turn from their wicked ways, fall off again, and repeat the cycle.
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(For more on that topic, you may follow the link below:
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Give Us A King.
At last, they wanted to be so much like the surrounding nations that they asked God if they could have a king. The first crowned was Saul, who turned out to be a total disappointment. After him came David, whom God called a man after His own heart. His son, Solomon, was the wealthiest man who ever lived. To this day, no one has amassed as much wealth as he.
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Kings, however, were not going to be the answer to their problems. Both nations continued to spiral further and further down into darkness and pagan worship.
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But fear not! The story that follows is a breath of fresh air into all this evil and darkness!
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Hilkiah the priest finds the book of the Law.
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The Book Of The Law Is Found.
2 Kings 22:3-4; 8-10
“3 Now it came to pass, in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the scribe, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the house of the LORD, saying: 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people.”
“8 Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 9 So Shaphan the scribe went to the king, bringing the king word, saying, “Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of those who do the work, who oversee the house of the LORD.” 10 Then Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king”
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It had been decades since the book of the Law had been read. It was not like what we have today, where the word of God can be had at every corner store or from online book sellers everywhere. Back then it was written by hand on scrolls, accessible only to the a very few.
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The scrolls had been stored away in the temple all these years, just gathering dust. Then, on an errand for King Josiah, the High Priest, “Hilkiah,” told Shaphan the scribe, who had come to the temple at the king’s request, that he has found the book of the law. Shaphan proceeded to read it to the scribe who then reads it to the king.
Upon hearing the Law, Josiah was so distraught that he tore his clothes. He also saw that the House of the LORD had fallen into disrepair.
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Watch what he does next. Let’s continue our story………..
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2 Kings 22:11-13
11 Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes. 12 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Michaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying, 13 “Go, inquire of the LORD for me, 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 aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
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Josiah was right when He said that the wrath of the LORD aroused against the nation was great. He realized that if some drastic measures were not taken, nothing could spare them all from His wrath. That is why this good king was completely undone when he heard the words of the book.
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Prophetess Hulda.
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2 Kings 22:14-18
“ So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke with her. Then she said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read— because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched.’ ” ’
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This was not the answer that Josiah was hoping to hear from God. But that’s not all she said. Let’s read on in verses 19 and 20…………..
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“But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, in this manner you shall speak to him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Concerning the words which you have heard— because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the LORD. “Surely, therefore, 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 calamity which I will bring on this place.” ’ ” So they brought back word to the king.
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Josiah Restores Worship Of The True God.
2 Kings 23:1-3
“ Now the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. The king went up to the house of the LORD with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the prophets and 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.
Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow 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 took a stand for the covenant.”
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Wow! Look at that! When a godly leader stands up for righteousness, the people follow! He determined to follow the LORD, keep his commandments and testimonies and statues with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant written in the book. Amazing!
His were not empty words. He went into action and did a few key things. The entirety of chapter 23 chronicles all he did to cleanse the land of the decades of evil. Let’s continue the story………
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Josiah Cleans House.
2 Kings 23: 4-8
#1: “4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.”
#2: “5 Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.”
#3 “6 And he brought out the wooden image from the house of the LORD, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ashes, and threw its ashes on the graves of the common people. Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image.”
#4 “7 Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image.”
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Josiah defiled the places where human sacrifice was performed.
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#5 “8 And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; also he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate.”
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From here to the end of the chapter the Holy Spirit details everything he did to cleanse the land of all the evil done by all the kings before him. Among other things, he purposely defiled the high places where fathers would make their daughters “Pass through the fire;” in other words, “Human sacrifice.” 😭 He also killed all the pagan priest who perpetrated this paganism by burning them on their own pagan altars, and pulled down all their asherah poles. No more pagan rites on the high hills that so angered the LORD!
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Passover celebrated in Judah.
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A Passover Like No Other,
2 Kings 23:18-21
“ Then the king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the LORD in Jerusalem.”
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There had not been a Passover to the LORD observed in Israel for a very long time. Not since the times of the Judges had an actual feast been held! Unbelievable! Yet this good king, who determined in his heart to follow the LORD with all his heart and soul and mind, had single-handedly turned his nation around and re-instituted everything God wanted His people to do.
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King Josiah dies in battle against Pharoah Necho.
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God’s Judgment Stands.
2 Kings 23: 26-27
“ Nevertheless the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. And the LORD said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.’ ”
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The LORD was so pleased with this righteous king and, true to His word, the judgment which Judah so richly deserved did not happen while this good man was alive.
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Josiah reigned 31 years over Judah. At the age of 39, he and his men went to war against Pharoah Necho who killed him during the course of the battle. He was laid to rest with his fathers.
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One Good Man.
Was God pleased with King Josiah? You betcha! Isn’t it awesome what God can do through one person who is determined to follow God with all his or her might. That speaks volumes in these last days where there evil is rampant and it seems like no one loves or is paying any attention to God at all.
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All of this is a picture of the whole world that completely abandoned worship of the One True God and fell into darkness. But in the fullness of time, God sent The ONE Good Man who would restore truth, goodness, and righteousness: Our Lord Jesus. It is to Him that we look for everything!
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Just like Jesus and because of Him, each and every one of us can make a difference, even turn a nation around in a generation. God can do amazing things through anyone who allows Him to live and work through them.
Because we have Christ in us and are IN CHRIST, we are empowered in a way that Josiah could not be, since the blood of bulls and goats only covers sin. Our Lamb, Jesus, is the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice that CLEANSES sin. Now, the Holy Spirit can live IN us and NEVER has to leave. He leads us from within and protects us as we walk through life.
In these days, we can impact nations through Jesus. He is raising an entire nation of king/priests who will be a big part of God’s cleaning house and restoring right worship in His temple, just like Josiah, the boy King.
