The Biblical Blueprint For Reformation
If I asked the average Christian or Jew who the most righteous ancient biblical king was, probably 99% would answer either Kings David or Solomon. Yet there was another king of whom Scripture records, “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.” (2Kings 23:25) There was no king more righteous than he in all of Old Testament history; and yet, few Christians today know anything about him. Few even know his name! Who was he? King Josiah, Hebrew name Yoshiyahu, meaning “Supported by Yahuah” [the Hebrew name of God]. He was 16th king of Judah, reigned 31 years from 640 BC to 609 BC, and we read about him in two Old Testament books: 2 Kings 22 and 23, and 2 Chronicles 34 and 35.
It may seem surprising that Josiah was such a noteworthy and righteous king when you consider that his father and grandfather were extremely evil men. His grandfather was the wicked King Manasseh, not to be confused with the Northern Israel tribe of the same name. His father was Amon, who was so hated that he was assassinated when Josiah was only 8 years old.
How did Josiah become such a righteous king? As a child he had received a pious education from his mother. How important a godly mother is! Josiah followed the devout teachings of his mother and not the immorality of his pagan father. When he ascended the throne, his mother placed him under the guidance of pious men who were faithfully devoted to the law of the Lord, and who turned his heart to the God of their fathers. Josiah’s character is described succinctly in the phrase, “he turned not aside to the right hand or to the left,” from that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as is enjoined again and again in Deut. 5:29; 17:11, 17:20, and 28:14. He had an unwavering adherence to the law of the Lord.
We are first told about Josiah’s reign during an event that was life-changing for both he and the nation. The Temple building had been allowed to fall into serious neglect and disrepair, and a collection had been made to fund the restoration. But then something unexpected occurred. We read about it in 2 Kings 22 beginning with verse 3, “And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD…And Hilkiah the high priest said unto 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. And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hiliah the priest hath delivered me a book. 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.”
We are not specifically told what portion of Scripture was read to the king that caused him such consternation that he rent his clothes in despair. Then we read in the next verses: “And the king commanded…Go ye, enquire 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 this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.” (2Ki. 22:12-13)
The Prophet Jeremiah himself lived and prophesied during this time. In a chapter headlined in the King James Bible, “The Broken Covenant,” we read: “For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.” (Jer. 11:13-14) Will things get so bad in this land of ours that God will not listen to our own prayers? Are things nearly that bad already?
Jeremiah repeats his charges against the sins of the people in Jeremiah 25:11, “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” This prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. Judah suffered a 70 year punishment, from 605 to 536 B.C. The land was desolated, the Temple and houses destroyed, and only a few of the very poorest of the land remained in Palestine. The Lord decreed, “I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.” (2 Ki. 21:13) In other words, Jerusalem was wiped clean!
Despite the dire prophecy, King Josiah set about to turn the hearts of the people from their wicked ways, both in obedience to God’s Word set out in the Law, and perhaps also in the hope that a sincere revival would turn the Lord’s heart and avert the prophesied coming national destruction. We read, “And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. 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, the God of their fathers.” (2Chr. 34:31-32)
We read, “Jerusalem and Benjamin” not “Judah and Benjamin” because the Assyrians in 701 B.C. conquered all of Judah except Jerusalem, 46 fenced cities, and exiled them from the land. Historians refer to remaining 7th-century Judah as “a rump state,” largely desolate except for a remnant in Jerusalem itself.
“And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.” (2Ki. 23:3)
Why is it important for the text to tell us that Josiah stood by a pillar? There are some scholars who believe that this pillar was the sacred stone anointed with oil by the Patriarch Jacob at Bethel in Genesis 28:18, and that this stone was preserved as a sacred relic of their forefathers.
Continuing in 2Kings 23:4-5, “And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron…And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.” Astrology is still popular today, even among many Christians.
King Josiah’s valiant efforts at reformation continued. We read in 2Ki 23:6-7, “And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem…and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.”
The word “sodomites” is the Hebrew “qadeshim,” Strongs #6945, meaning “a male devotee by prostitution to licentious idolatry,” in other words, homosexuality. It is referenced six times in the Old Testament. This sin is being defended today even by Christians. Good King Josiah strictly enforced God’s Laws in the Torah and even put to death idolators. In 2Kings 19-20, Josiah offered up the priests of the high places upon the altars, i.e., slew them upon the altars on which they had offered sacrifices.
We read other details in the parallel account in 2Chronicles 34:4, “And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence…” Think of that! He not only ordered the idols and pagan altars to be broken down, but he went in person to ensure it was done; it gave Josiah great satisfaction to watch these idols destroyed, and I can imagine that he might have even taken a few swings with a bludgeon himself!
2Chronicles 34:6-7: “And in the cities of Manasseh…in their ruins round about, there he pulled down the altars.” This was in the land of the now-exiled Northern House of Israel. Keil & Delitzsch Commentary explains, “He pulled down pagan altars in the ruins round about; for the land had been deserted since the times of [Assyrian King] Shalmaneser, and its cities were in great part in ruins.” The House of Israel, the ten tribes, were exiled nearly completely, and their land was left a deserted ruin, but Josiah marched in and destroyed the remaining altars in that deserted land.
Following the religious reformation, finding of the Law, and repair of the Temple, a grand celebration of the Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread took place. 2 Chronicles 35:18 tells us that there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel. It wasn’t the largest, because only two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, and a smattering of remnants of the ten tribe House of Israel took part. The Assyrians in a series of invasions in 732, 721, 684 and 701 BC had attacked and exiled large numbers of both Israel and Judah.
Imagine the amount of time and work involved if all the world’s 14 million or so Jews converged for Passover at Ezekiel’s supposed “Millennial” Temple! I gave a talk exposing the falsehoods about this titled, “A Temple Tale” that you can find with a quick search on YouTube. It’s had over 10,000 views.
Finally, let’s look at the End of Josiah and his Reformation. 2 Chronicles 35:20 says, “After all this…”—that is, 13 years after in 609 B.C.— Josiah died in battle with Pharaoh Necho. Josiah and the Israelites had an understandable longtime hatred of the Assyrians, and when Pharaoh and his army marched north from Egypt to aid Assyria in its final struggle with Babylon, Josiah stepped in with his army to prevent the Egyptians from accomplishing their task. Although Judah lost the battle, they may have delayed the Egyptians long enough to ensure the end of the Assyrian Empire. Josiah had disguised himself, but still fell to an enemy arrow.
Josiah’s reform was short-lived, only a little over a dozen years until he died. His sons undid his reforms, and the first Babylonian attack on Jerusalem was in 605 BC., when Daniel was taken. Incredible as it seems, Josiah’s Reformation ended only four short years after his death. It was truly a lost reformation, a hope that went astray.
The fate of Josiah was unprecedented. No king of Judah had, up to this time, fallen in battle. None had left his land at the mercy of a foreign conqueror. Hence, the extraordinary character of the mourning (mentioned in Zech. 12:11-14). Historians say that a “Book of Dirges,” once existed but is now lost. It was a collection of poems lamenting the passing of righteous leaders including Josiah.
Barnes says, “The death of the pious king was deeply lamented by his people. The prophet Jeremiah composed a lamentation for Josiah. And they made [these lamentations] an ordinance [a standing custom] in Israel, and they are written in the collection of lamentations, in which, among others, that composed by Jeremiah on the death of Josiah was contained.” The entire collection is now gone. Josiah’s revival did not last and is now gone as well. Let us learn from this and pray for a new righteous revival and reformation in America!
